Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The Hachi Statue!

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Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow, this has been an eventful week! There is this building near the church that says エレベーターreally big (Elevator), so we decided that we wanted to go up it. We rode our bikes out there, and when we entered the parking lot this security guard ran out to us and said, "You cannot be enter!" I guess no one is allowed to go up the elevator.

We've started working harder at finding recently, since all of our progressing investigators disappeared over the holiday. While I still don't like finding much, I find that it's becoming more bearable. Maybe someday I'll actually look forward to doing it. I think the hardest part about finding is just starting the conversation. But once you've done that, it's easy to keep going. It helps though when your companion is way natural at speaking to people. I have felt that I've improved a lot, though, and I feel more confident that I can find people. Even us old missionaries struggle with things as simple as finding (yes, I finally feel like an old missionary. At transfer 8, I am the second to oldest missionary in my district, my companion the only one older than me.).

We visited with a member this last week, or at least we tried to. We followed the address to her home... but her house was gone! Just a bunch of rubble. We called her, and she informed us that she had moved a few blocks over. We visited with her, and she told us about how she had given a Book of Mormon to one of her son's friends. She then proceeded to give us a referral for another of her friends! This sister is on fire! We've tried a few times to visit this referral, but she is never available. We did visit with her husband, though, and he gave us some flowers from his garden. Really sweet guy.

We visited with Kanno Shimai (I think I mentioned her last week. She is a member from Kasukabe and is in the hospital here in Koshigaya area) a few times this last week. We visited her on Tuesday, and it was her birthday! Luckily we didn't try to take her balloons, because I think the hospital wouldn't have allowed them. We did give her a little charm for her phone, and she was way happy that we knew it was her birthday (thank you to her husband and the Kasukabe Sisters!). Later she called us and asked us to bring her three or four Books of Mormon. When we went, she was asleep, so we just left them and a sweet note. She called later and apologized, and asked us to bring two or three more copies. This lady is also on fire. She said that she will probably be changing hospitals soon, so she wants to write messages to all of the staff members that have helped her in the Books of Mormon and give them to them as farewell gifts. She also wants to introduce us to several people that work there, so hopefully we can work that out. She is such a sweet woman, and she knows how important our message is. She is an amazing missionary and a wonderful example to me. And her fake eyelashes are pretty great.

There was a wedding reception for our dendou shunin (ward mission leader?) on Saturday! Congrats to him! We really wanted to go, but we both felt strongly that we shouldn't. Instead we did some finding near Souka Eki, and it was great. I am so grateful that I didn't go. We've been thinking a lot about using time more effectively, doing activities that will help us see real growth among our investigators, and we both felt that the wedding reception would not be ideal for missionary work (even though there would be less actives and referrals there). It sounded like it went really well, though.

 Today we had the opportunity to go to the temple. I am so grateful for the peace and guidance I can receive there. I love the temple! And it is always so great to see friends and previous companions there. This transfer was a bit different than previous transfers. Instead of sending all the sisters on one day and all of the elders on another day, they just had all of the missionaries in the Chiba and Saitama zones go together. The other zones are going on different days. I was blessed to be able to see two of my previous companions there. Woohoo!

The last thing we did was run to Shibuya real fast so that we could get pictures with the Hachi statue, the dog that would wait for his master at the eki every day. It is such a sweet story. After that we came straight home. Well, we did talk to one girl who said, "I've been wanting to learn more about Christ!" Well, let us tell you more!  Way cool! I know that miracles happen! I know that this church is true! I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and that He listens to and answers our prayers!

Love, Crandall Shimai

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