Evelyn

Dear family and friends,

Evelyn was the highlight of my week last week. We had been struggling finding all week, so we finally went to Souka Eki and just pushed through it. As it was coming to about time for us to go home for dinner, someone calls out to us, "HEY! Can we take a picture together?" What the? We proceeded to talk with Evelyn and her husband, Yuuji, for the next fifteen minutes (yes, we missed our train. Luckily they come every ten minutes and not ever hour like in Kisarazu). Evelyn is one if the funniest ladies I've ever met. She just kept talking, and talking, and talking. She and her husband have lived all over the world (she's Filipino, he's Japanese). She told us about how they believe in love. She was like, "Christ taught us to love our enemies. Well, I married mine!" She then proceeded to tell us all about the unfriendly feelings between the Philippines and Japan. At the end we were able to get in the new Hallelujah video, and their comment was, "wow, it's nice that they included people of all different colors!" The whole interaction was just so hilarious that we were laughing for the next 15 minutes as we returned to our apartment.

Sakaniwa Kyoudai spoke in church yesterday! I've decided that he is also one of the funniest people I know. He is so quiet and reserved, but every once in a while he says something that is hilarious! As he was introducing himself, he was like, "my family consists of me, my extremely beautiful wife, my daughter and my son." But the way he said it was priceless. He was just so serious the whole time! Anyway, his talk was really good. He has such a strong testimony. He bore testimony of how the gospel has blessed his family since he got baptized and shared an experience he recently had while working (I may have zoned out midway through and missed the important parts of that story). Anyway, it was great.

We were able to meet with two less active Filipino families yesterday - the Hipos family and the Ano/Tuling family (referred to us by Hipos Shimai). Both families are going to do their best to come to church this next week, which is way exciting! It is so fun to work with them, as they are so willing to work at becoming more active.

Lastly, we had dinner with Bishop Node and his wife on Saturday! I ate so much that I was still full when I woke up Sunday morning. I love spending time in their home.

I know that the church is true! I am so grateful for restored truth! This last week I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese for the first time, and it was amazing! Reading the last chapter, I felt so much peace. I know that that book is true. I know that through the Book of Mormon we can draw closer to God, we can draw closer to our Savior.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Crandall Shimai

#Hallelujah #ハレルヤ