Talent Show

Me with Ishibashi san.  She wants me to teach her how to Hula dance!

Dearest Family, Friends and Missionaries,

Wow, it has gotten really hot here! The humidity is pretty bad. I can literally feel the moisture in the air. Apparently with humidity, the temperature yesterday was about 111 degrees fahrenheit. Pretty crazy. I'll try not to bask in it too much. I'm trying really hard to drink lots of water. As Elder Hansen says, "Copious and clear!" =D

We enjoyed visiting with Morishita san last week. She sent us a text one morning saying that she saw my favorite band on a tv show, and she was excited because she knew I like them. She said she was surprised at how popular they were (and I'm surprised, too, since no one here seems to have heard of Kalafina). I love meeting with Morishita. She has so many good insights. She loves the scriptures, and she especially loves to study. I have seen her progress so much these last two months I've been here, and I think she will eventually be baptized. She is so receptive of the Spirit, and truly has an understanding of her Savior's role in her life.

We also visited with Saitou Shimai, an older less active sister in the branch. We usually go sit in her little piano room, and she will play as we sing hymns. She will talk our ears off forever if we let her, although we usually keep her to an hour or so. She always insists on giving us something to drink, which is usually some kind of juice or sports drink. Recently she has been giving us a lot of plum juice. I don't know why the Japanese people love that terrible drink so much. We always drink the whole cup and tell her how grateful we are, and then book it outside where we can drink water to wash out the flavor. It's pretty great.

The branch had a talent show on Saturday, and Chapman Shimai and I were pretty worried about no one planning it. We set up the program and found some people to present talents. We made cookies and had the chouroutachi bring drinks. We were worried that no one would show up and that it would just be really lame, but it actually turned out to be a really good activity. There were six members that came, and we had seven investigators come! It was a bunch of fun, and everyone freaked out when I danced some hula for them. It was a great activity, and I am so grateful to the Lord for how it turned out. I really felt the Spirit during parts of it. I think that the investigators really enjoyed the laid back activity (and the members acted pretty normal for it, so it was great!).

I am so grateful for this Gospel! I am grateful for the Book of Mormon. It brings so much guidance in my life, and I know that it can guide anyone who reads it.

I am so grateful for my amazing family and friends, who have all been such wonderful examples to me!

Love, Crandall Shimai