July 28, 2014

I kind of want to cry... I just wrote this whole e-mail with everything including pictures. But, it died and didn’t save. Ohhhh myyyy nooooo... 

Well.. I am really sorry I don’t have a lot of time. 

Moore shimai and I are staying together another transfer in Yokkaichi!!!! YAY!!! I LOVE HER! 

It is crazy how missions bring so much happiness and highs but so many lows at the same time.  Moore Shimai and I have been having such a hard time lately. All of our investigators are falling through and nobody will listen. We are doing all the same things we did at the first of the transfer when we were seeing so many miracles and finding so many people to teach, but nothing was happening. We were praying so hard and just working so hard, but it was rough. 

I ended up going to the hospital last week on Tuesday for 5 and 1/2 hours. They didn’t find anything, but I just got some medicines and what not. It honestly didn’t help at all.  So after I decided I would get a priesthood blessing.  Before the blessing, I prayed so hard and with everything I could muster that God would just heal me so I can work with everything I have.  I KNEW that God could heal me, that I could get better. As they gave me the blessing, I felt the Spirit enter every ounce of my body and I just felt so much peace warmth and happiness.   It gave me so much strength.  So the next day, I still felt a weak, a little dizzy, and a little nauseous, but I remembered the promises of healing that I had received from my blessing.  So we just worked SO HARD from there on out. As we were going out super far on our bikes in the blazing hot sun, there were several times where I honestly felt like crying because it was so hard and I felt so weak. But I just kept praying that God would strengthen me through the atonement of my Savior, Jesus Christ that I would be able to do it. Even though I felt physically weak, I felt happy because I felt the Spirit so strongly burn in my heart. I received the strength to just make it through even though it was hard. I know that the Savior was carrying me through every moment.

After several weeks of just struggling and working so hard to get the work going, we met someone!!!  We were riding our bikes along this absolutely beautiful river and we stopped our bikes to talk to this lady walking her dog. She had no idea what we were saying because she was from Brazil and only spoke English and Portuguese but she started speaking to us in English. We talked to her and she was so happy to talk to us, but she told us how she has been searching for the truth. As we shared the first vision, the spirit was soooo strong and all she could say is "that is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. So do I just get your phone number or what?" AHHH!!!! Finally!!! SO we are meeting her next week and she is just awesome. It was such a miracle and after that me and Moore Shimai just looked at each other and started crying because we were so grateful we could find someone so prepared after such a struggle to find people. We have had many cool experiences and found so many people who are great. We are trying so hard, and I know there is so much I need to do to be a better missionary... But we are doing the best we can. 

On Sunday, I was thinking about how nobody is coming to church and felt a little bummed. I prayed so hard on the way to church, "God, we invited everyone who rejected us to church this week. We tried so hard, please, if there is someone who is ready to hear the gospel, please let them come to church."  We walked into the chapel, and what do you know. CHIZU SAN CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!  We were so surprised because before she only came to church for the nursery time before and didn’t really want to learn. She said how she liked the feeling she had before and wanted to come!  They have me put together a musical number almost every week. They love it. So I played the piano again.  Chizu san was going to head home after, but right after sacrament, it started POURING rain. So we were able to teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ!  She recognized how she feels the Spirit and what not and how she likes that feeling. She said that she will be baptized, but she wants to read the Book of Mormon first. At this rate, it may be a few years... But she is coming unto Christ and progressing so much! She read the Book of Mormon and shared the scripture she liked. I think it was in 1 Nephi 11. It was the most strict, and scary scripture about how you can’t return to God if you are unclean. She said she absolutely loved it and the strict scripture was her favorite. Hahahaha me and Moore Shimai were kind of shocked. I am so proud of her! Right after the lesson, the rain left and it was sunny for the rest of the day. God works in small ways to make miracles happen... 

Well! I love you all! Sorry no pictures this week!

Love

Sister Crofts