同僚交換

Dearest Loved Ones,

I hope all is going well. We had companion exchanges this last week and I had the opportunity to go to Chiba for a day! We met with a potential investigator for the first time, and I committed her to be baptized! Now if only I could do that with some of my own investigators... I also got to help teach kodomo eikaiwa, and it was fun to see Sister Chapman's recent convert Manami and her adorable son, Mau. Even with only two kids, children's eikaiwa was way fun!

On Sunday we had our last planning meeting for the Halloween party, and this time one of the members joined us to help. We should've had him help from the start because he was WAY effective at getting things done and tasks assigned. It was amazing. I'm hoping that the Halloween party is a huge success. We plan on handing out chirashis at the eki every spare minute we have.

We've come to the conclusion that all of our investigators are at the point where they either need to have a baptismal date or they need to be dropped. We really need to find some new investigators. We've made plans to confront baptism with everyone, which should be fun. I hate dropping people, but sometimes it's got to be done.

Today we needed to buy curtains for our apartment (or face the wrath of Sister Nagano, which probably isn't that bad, but...), so Sensui Shimai drove us to a store called Joyful Honda. It has to be the most amazing store ever. It's similar to Ikea - it has a lot of stuff for your home, inside and out. But it also had a super cheap grocery store. It was so fun just to look at all the meat they had, and how cheap it was! I wish I could grocery shop there every week. The only thing they don't sell is cars.

I had the opportunity to speak in church yesterday about examples. I am so grateful for the many examples that I have in my life. I am particularly grateful for my amazing mom and my three wonderful sisters. I am so blessed to have grown up with such wonderful women.

My ponderizing scripture this week is John 15:13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I may not have to lay down my life, but I want to do whatever I can to serve and love my friends. Remember, charity seeketh not her own!

Have a fantastic week! And happy birthday to Darci this Saturday!

Love, Crandall Shimai

Sister Amelia Crandall

Japan Tokyo Mission

4-25-12 Nishi Ochiai Shinjuku-ku

Tokyo-to 161-0031

Japan

Charity Never Faileth!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Week one of the transfer is already gone. I can't believe how quickly October is flying by! We've been planning a Halloween party for the 31st, so hopefully it turns out alright. I'll attach a picture of the flyer we made.

We had the opportunity to go to a festival in Tateyama with an investigator this last week, and it was way fun! There were these giant wooden floats that people would pull through the streets. There were drums and flutes going the entire time. There was so much food, and I almost didn't have to buy anything because the people we were with kept sharing their food with me! We watched this weird little skit of some samurai fighting an evil samurai. It was pretty intense. The costumes were way cool, but our investigator told me she thinks the costumes my sister made were better. We took a refreshing walk on the beach and then watched a short firework show before taking the hour long train ride home.

We've been meeting consistently with Mami, and she is soaking up everything we tell her. This last week, she told us about how she was talking with someone about the Bible and she asked him why God preferred Abel's offering over Cain's, and she could tell that he hadn't thought about it before. She told us, "I don't think his answer was right, because it was different from yours!" We asked her why she was so convinced that Crandall Shimai's answer was right, and she immediately responded, "Because I trust you!" It was very touching. I love Mami, and I am so grateful for the amazing relationship that I have been able to build with her. It's relationships like these that make me so grateful for my mission. I am so grateful for the amazing experiences that I have every day. I'm grateful for the miracles and for the friends. I am most grateful for the opportunity that I have to draw closer to my Heavenly Father. I know that He will magnify me as I strive to further His work.

Lastly, I'd like to go over my ponderizing scripture for the week. This last week, my scripture was D&C 121:45: "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men... And let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then may thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God;" This is the first of many scriptures that go along the theme of "Charity Never Faileth." I want to develop more charity in myself, and this first week I focused on "charity thinketh no evil" by striving to always have clean thoughts and hold no grudges or anger. For this next week, my focus is "charity vaunteth not itself." Charity is not prideful, but builds people up through humility. My scripture is 1 Corinthians 8:1: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth."

I love you all! Have a great week, and don't forget to memorize the Family Proclamation!

Love, Crandall Shimai

The Five o'Clock Song

Dear All,

Yes, I recorded another song. Starting in October, the city started playing a new song at five o'clock. The sun sets earlier now, so they play the song earlier. It's way cute, and I was able to get a recording last week.

We had transfers today, and I am so happy to be in Kasarazu once again! I love this place and wish I could spend the rest of my mission here.

I was looking at our transfer goals last week, one of which was to get two new solid investigators. I realized that we did get two new investigators, one of which is way solid! Her name is Mami. I've probably mentioned her before. This last week, we gave her a Bible, and she was way excited. She had previously been using a Jehovah's Witness one. She asked again what the difference between the Book of Mormon and the Bible was, and after I explained, she said, speaking of the Book of Mormon, "are you going to offer it to me?" I replied, "do you want it?" She cried out "yes!" Oh, she is so cute. I'll have to get a video of her singing America's National Anthem. It's priceless. Anyway, the first time we offered her a Book of Mormon, she refused, but this time she was so excited to take one! She has progressed so
far, and she doesn't even know it!

We watched conference this last weekend, with only half hour breaks in between each session. It was pretty intense, and I definitely need to go back and study the talks some more. I love conference. I'm so grateful for living prophets and continuing revelation!

Ping Pong Pro

Sorry, I'm short on time again. I love you all! Keep working on memorizing the Family Proclamation! Christmas is coming fast!

Love, Crandall Shimai

The Hike

Dearest Family and Friends,

I apologize for the short message last week.

This week was great. We went to the temple on Tuesday, and I was able to do the temple work for one of my almost ancestors, Sada Shimogawa! It was great to feel the peace that can be found there. We had new missionary training, so we weren't able to do any sightseeing in Tokyo. It was still fun to be in the big city, although I was very happy to return to the countryside in Kisarazu.

The General Women's Session talks from conference became available in English this last week, so I took the time to watch those. They won't be broadcast here for another two weeks. I loved the talks, especially President Uchtdorf's. His parable was so beautiful, and it really helped me to hear what I needed to hear.

Saturday... Was not conference, but our talent show! (We'll be watching conference this weekend) I sang two songs, one with Moore Shimai and one on my own. I had a lot of fun, although we didn't get any videos. I'll see if I can get some this week. It was great that Morishita was able to come and teach everyone how to do yoga. I did some in my exercise this morning, and it was great.

Funny story: Before the talent show, we were practicing the songs we were going to sing, when suddenly Ozawa, an Eikaiwa student, walked in, gave me a plastic bag with huge (fake) sunflowers coming out of it, bowed weirdly, and left. I just kind of looked at Moore Shimai and said, "Did Ozawa just give me flowers and chocolate? What the?" He's been giving me sunflowers ever since I told him my mom loves sunflowers. It kind of creeps me out, but I guess I'm not complaining about free chocolate.

Today we went on a super intense hike to a Daibutsu. I previously visited a big white one with Sensui Shimai. This one was cut out of stone in a mountain. It was way cool. We also hiked to the top of the mountain and took a bunch of pictures. It was an intense hike – really steep with lots of stairs. It was so spiritually refreshing to spend the day in the mountains. Nature truly is evidence that God lives. I'm so grateful to live in such a beautiful world!

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be in Japan right now! The experiences I have every day are one of a kind. I will not ever be able to have this kind of experience again. I'm grateful for the wonderful friends I can make and the wonderful places I can go.

I love you all! I hope that all is well wherever you are! Please be safe and make good decisions

Love, Crandall Shimai

Temple Pday

President & Sister Nagano in center... Sis Crandall 3rd from left in front

Hello all!

I am short on time today, but please know that I love you all!  I am going to the temple and then we have new missionary training after that.

I know the church is true!  Be fun!

Love, Crandall Shimai

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

Caterpillar

Beautiful Kisarazu

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm glad to hear my cougars won again. <3

There was an earthquake Saturday morning, about a 4 I think. At least that's what we felt it at. We didn't get any flooding, which is great. Right after the earthquake, though, we hear sirens going off and the city's intercom system was saying things. We couldn't understand it, and we decided that if there was a tsunami coming, someone would call us and tell us, so we went back to bed.

We had zone meeting last week, and I feel super inspired to set better goals and work towards twenty lessons every week. I really want to make use of the phone and help people get spiritual nourishment every day.

I got sick last week and had to cancel several appointments, but I am feeling mostly better now. We were able to visit with a less active member and his wife yesterday. We asked the wife if we could come back and visit sometime, and she said, "Yes, please!" Hopefully we can help her to grow a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She is such a sweet lady, and I think she could really help her husband.

I know that the Lord is aware of our circumstances. He does not ask unrealistic things of us. As we are obedient to Him, we will receive more blessings that could have been expected. I know that He loves everyone individually. I have felt His love for me, and I have felt His love for His other children as well. I know that He is proud, even when we are imperfect. He is proud when we do our best.

Love, Crandall Shimai

PS: We saw a caterpillar last week.