モニュメント

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was pretty crazy. We had a mission conference on Wednesday, and immediately afterward we had exchanges with the sister training leaders. We also had to prepare two lessons for Sunday and some talks. Sister Moore spoke yesterday, and I will be speaking next week. Notwithstanding being busy with other stuff, we got more than twice as many lessons this week as last week. Crazy miracles everywhere!

For our mission conference, Elder Whiting came and spoke to us. He was very straightforward about how we as missionaries need to have more faith to baptize. I feel very inspired to work harder to talk to more people, especially younger people. I feel inspired to work harder and have more faith. If I have faith, God will work miracles. A marvelous work and a wonder... Often we focus too much on the work part and miss the wonder of seeing God lead His own work.

I think our eyebrows got a little singed in that meeting.

We have been striving to teach with the Spirit more, especially in asking inspired questions. I feel that our lessons have improved a lot. We met with an investigator named Mami on Saturday, and we just talked about Christ the entire time. We talked about His birth and His ministry. We focused a lot of time on the atonement, and what that means for us. It was a really powerful lesson. I feel so grateful whenever I have experiences like that.

We had the opportunity to teach Primary yesterday, and it was so much fun! Japanese children are the cutest. Just sayin'. I also basically singlehandedly taught the gospel principles lesson on tithing, so that was fun. Sister Moore spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and I felt like a proud mother. Her testimony was very simple yet powerful.

This morning, we decided to go find some statues on the top of a hill. I've been seeing these two statues for three months now, and I decided I really wanted to find out what they were for. We biked up a hill and then hiked up a little more until we came to a lookout with the two statues towering over us. It was a beautiful view, but there were no signs anywhere describing the statues. After a few minutes, a lady joined us on the platform, and we started talking. We talked a little about church, and she told us how she sees the elders biking around a lot. She believes in God, and was curious about our relationship with Him and with Christ. We talked a little about that, and then she told us the story behind the statues! Apparently there was a huge Typhoon, and It was becoming very dangerous for Kanagawa prefecture. So, a princess (one of the two statues) went down to the bay and prayed, and then some kind of god (the other statue) came down and calmed the water. It is supposed to be some kind of love story between the princess and this god.

Within minutes of that lady leaving, Morishita came to the platform as well! I feel like we see her everywhere. She kindly took some pictures for us, and we were able to get some pictures with her, too. She's so cute.

We had zone Pday in Toke, so we got to ride the trains a lot. It was fun to talk to a lot of different people. As we were walking to the park in Toke, a man stopped us because he wanted to talk to gaijin (foreigners). He told us about how he might want to study English, and he played a leaf for us. (Grass whistle?) It was way cool, then he said bye and left. We got a little lost looking for the park and found ourselves in a cool forest-y area. We saw a cool shrine and lots of pretty scenery. Every day I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be in Japan right now. This place is so beautiful and the people are so kind. I know that the Lord has prepared the Japanese people. The work here will explode, and I hope to be a part of it!

Stay safe! Be fun! Have a great week!

Love, Crandall Shimai

Sister Amelia Crandall

Japan Tokyo Mission

4-25-12 Nishi Ochiai Shinjuku-ku

Tokyo-to 161-0031

Japan