Dearest Family and Friends,
Today we had tenkin happyous, and I am excited to say that I
will be staying in Kisarazu with Chapman Shimai for another transfer! This marks
the end of my third transfer, which means a fourth of my time in Japan is already
gone! Where does the time go? Next month I'll hit my one year left mark.
Wow, this last week was super busy! We texted Takahama san on
Monday to see if she was going to be able to meet with us that night, but she never
responded. Then, she randomly showed up at the church! Sadly, we weren't there,
but the chouroutachi were there, and they were able to set up an appointment for
us on Wednesday before Eikaiwa. This is how the conversation went: Elders: "can
you come to Eikaiwa a bit early? The sisters can meet with you then." Takahama
san: "Yeah! How early? Two hours?" Elders: "!! No, probably just
one hour early is fine." Wow, Takahama san seems so eager to meet, and she
has so much interest in learning! It is so nice to meet with someone who doesn't
cancel appointments all the time, someone who is willing to make time to meet. I
love Takahama san, and I feel that she will progress a lot. She said that she loves
the feeling that she gets when she comes to the church. Takahama san is a miracle
- she really came out of nowhere, and now she has a lot of potential!
We met with Sanae san after Eikaiwa, and she started asking weird
questions about why only Alma was able to see God, and so on. It's hard, because
we try so hard to explain things simply, and she totally understands, and then the
next time we meet, everything is jumbled inside of her head. We've told her several
times now that there is only one Holy Ghost, but every time we meet she thinks that
there are more... It's really frustrating, but we'll keep working with her. We'll
try to teach more simply...
We called Eiko to see if we could visit her, and she said no...
then Sister Chapman skillfully talked her into letting us come over for ten minutes.
We went over and ended up staying for close to an hour. Eiko said that she always
wants us to stay longer so that we can talk more... so it makes me wonder if it's
because she is worried about taking up too much of our time that she seems to be
avoiding us. Anyway, we had a good lesson with her, and then on Saturday we went
to her son's ballet performance! It was my first time going to a ballet, and it
was fun to watch everyone dancing so gracefully. They danced the story of Sleeping
Beauty, and I'm pretty sure the evil witch was a boy. It was super entertaining,
although we had to leave early because we had another appointment. Eiko was super
happy that we came, and Atsushi kun was super cute.
We went to Tateyama last week, and we got to see the ocean! We
also saw Fuji san, so that was cool. Tateyama is a beautiful place. It's about an
hour train ride away, but is still in the area.
I am so grateful for the message that I am sharing. I am not
the best of teachers, but I know that I can still be an instrument in the Lord's
hands. I may be weak in speaking, but He can strengthen me to accomplish the purpose
that He has sent me to do.
I love you all so much!
Love, Crandall Shimai
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