September 9, 2013

Hello family!

Sorry about the e-mail last week. I had thought I sent it, but I guess I was trying to get everything done so fast that I accidentally didn`t send it. So hopefully the one I sent goes through! I am safe, not to worry. There was a typhoon warning in our area last week, so we had to stay in our apartment for the rest of the night, but it wasn`t anything to worry about. Hahahaha of course the one week I totally blank on the e-mail there is a tornado in Tokyo, that is honestly hilarious. But I really am sorry!!!!!!!!!!!! I am safe!!

I got the package, thank you much! That completely made my week! The shoes are kind of massive, but I honestly could care less. I am just going to get used to it. I really appreciate all the letters, inspiration, it was much needed.

This week has been super busy, we probably visited a million people. I kid you not. Last Monday we went to lunch with a member (she`s a rm, and she has dendo fire up the wazoo) and two of her friends. One is from America, and the other is Japanese and is the cutest human alvie. THey were asking lots about our purpose as missionaries and our church, so we are ina  really good position with theｍ。We are going to get together with them sometime in the next 2 weeks and invite them to hear more about our church!

Tuesday we met with one of our PIs. I absolutely love her. We got to know her and bonded and what not. At the end when we were about to say goodbye I asked her if she would want to hear more about our church and testified a little bit. She was like Yeah! I`d like that. So we are going to meet with her soon to hopefully start teaching her. She`s super busy so it might be hard to meet with her, but all we need is 15 minutes. She has a member friend that lives in California right now, so we talked to the member friend`s mom and asked her to tell the member friend. We are hoping that she can receive some support from her. It was way awesome!

Visiting a million people... For several days this week we went to members, less actives, potential investigators, investigators and either nobody was home or every one was too busy. So we seriously worked so hard this week, but it may not have shown through in our stats. Oh well, God knows how hard we worked and how much we are trying. We got to the end of the day and me and Smith Shimai just said, "you know, we honestly can`t complain. We worked so hard." We felt really good to know that we`re just doing the best we can.

We had zone conference and it was incredible. I got so pumped to be a missionary. I was seriously so excited! The goal right now is to get the Nagano area to be a stake in two years. It will take a ton of work, but I think it is possible. So we are working to find people in our area to be baptized so that we can strengthen our ward. We have 4 investigators, and it is hard to schedule with all fo them right now. So this week we are focusing on finding. President Yamashita`s goal, or motto is "one companionship, one baptism, one month." We think it is possible, and through the Lord we know it is. We are working our butts off to try and make this happen. Even if we can just find more investigators, it will get us closer to that goal.

Anyway, thanks for the love and support! I really appreciate everything you do! I hope school is going well, and that you are all relying on the Savior every single day. He knows each of you. He wants to help each of you. All you have to do is ask for His strength. The church is true!

                                               Love, Crofts SHimai

roasting marshmallows on the stove.. on chopsticks.

 

massive japanese grapes.

The Train from Nagoya. 

Trainers Training.  Elder Ho left our zone, he was hilarious. We miss him

 

 

 We went to lunch with Sister Asai and her friend from her work who is American. 

Nagoya