Sister Crofts-Called to Serve

August 25, 2014

皆さんこんにちは!お元気ですか?

I am feeling lots better this week and have been doing my best to eat no gluten!! Thank you so much for the gluten free food Dad, and thanks to everyone for all the love/support/letters. Kartchner Shimai looked at the mail box and she said "Holy cow Sister Crofts, you are loved." I can’t tell you how much it helps me. The gluten free diet is still a work in progress. It is hard when people make things specifically for you and then have it sitting on a tray when you show up at their house... I feel so bad.

It has been unusually rainy lately. It wasn’t rainy at all during rainy season so I was thinking that maybe God knew I wasn`t a fan of working in the rain so He said "Crofts Shimai, I will cut you a break this year." But of course, God chastens who He loves, so we are having lots of rain. I was thinking I was a genius for just spending one dollar on a raincoat, because I didn’t really use it, but I guess you could say I am having regrets. (The one I brought with me soaks up everything.)

We had a lesson with Kobayashi san that was SO GOOD. He is slowly understanding more and more. He talked about how he can’t do the pressure, but how he thinks that it was God`s divine guidance that led us to meet him. Whenever he talks about us he calls us "his angels." He said he thinks that we are on a different level than him. But then when we told him that we have bad/negative thoughts too and that we are imperfect. He was completely shocked and he felt 110 percent happiness. Hahaha I love him so much. He came to church to hear the member we teach him withs lesson and he is learning so much.

Well, we had a lesson with Mika and the Warners last week and it was really awesome! Mika just talked about how she knows that this church is 110 percent true and that she has changed so much. We have asked her to be baptized so often, but she always makes different excuses. She doesn`t read the Book of Mormon because it is too hard to understand. So we are trying to start studying it with her almost every day so that she can understand it and have the faith to act!

While we were riding the train to Nagoya for a companion exchange there was a lady I sat by on the train who I started talking to. When I started talking about our message about God and Jesus Christ, she was so moved and said that she had been to a Christian church once, read the bible and that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever read. She didn’t go after, but she said she wanted to know more! As I was telling her about eternal families and Jesus Christ I just felt the Spirit burn in my heart. It turns out she lives really far away in Okinawa but she said she wants to go to our church and wants to learn more. I loveeee how much I feel the Spirit testify through me. That is probably one of my favorite feelings.

I went to Gokiso and I couldn’t eat the yummy sauces so I ended up eating just boiled meat in water at the restaurant. One day I will find a way to eat delicious shabu shabu. megumi shimai fed us SO MUCH IT WAS DEATH. After, we went to this thing called niko niko eikaiwa. These girls are orphaned and live together in a house. They go and teach them English almost every week. It was one of the funnest things ever just talking to them. All they say is how cute we are. It was so much fun to go to Gokiso, it is a huge city. Furlong Shimai and I talked to several hundred people as we were trying to go to this member’s house. There was a woman we stopped who said "ARE YOU MORMON MISSIONARIES?!?" We said yeah! She talked about how she has only seen the elders and has been searching for us for years because she wanted to talk to us. She is from some other Christian church, but she just said how much she respects us and admires us. She said "I want you to know that I am a believer too!!!! ganbatte!!! (Work hard) “It was so awesome to have someone so excited to talk to us, because everyone else had straight up rejected us the moment we said "Jesus Christ."

We went to a 祭り(festival) with Marina Chan!!! It was soooo crazy fun. There were fireworks, and lots of food stands. It was so awesome to just have the chance to get to know her! We talked a lot about the temple. When she saw the picture of the San Diego Temple she nearly died because she wanted to go there so bad. She loved the idea of eternal families, but when she heard you have to be baptized she seemed a little bit sad. She loves what we teach her so much, but I think the fact that her mom is against the church is a huge barrier in her progressing.. ahhh どうしよう? She is studying to be a midwife so she is really busy, but we can usually meet with her at least every other week.

My very very very favorite thing is to teach about Jesus Christ. Every single time I tell someone about the atonement I just feel so much love for our Savior and for that person I am talking to! I love our Savior so much. Being a missionary is the best/hardest/most wonderful thing ever. Have a great week! 頑張りましょうね

愛

クロフツ姉妹