March 3, 2014

Happy March! 

It has been a really hard week for me and Sister Aso!  Lots of tough lessons, tough rejections, long bike rides, hours spent talking to people/knocking houses, the death of Sister Ogata... All around, just hard.  But I am sooooo lucky to have Sister Aso. I love her sooooo much.  We were able to just have fun, try to laugh it off and keep trying.. We are honestly completely exhausted, but we did our best this week!  Even though there were lots of disappointing moments, we weren`t disappointed in ourselves because we did the best that we could, and that is ultimately all that God asks of us. We went to go visit the Ogata family Tuesday and the daughter answered the door.  She looked so upset and there were police in her home.  She said that now wasn`t a good time and so we left.  We were so scared and didn`t know what to do.  So we called the Relief Society President but didn`t hear anything all day.  The next morning, we found out that Ogata Shimai had passed away Tuesday morning. I was soooo upset because I loved that woman so much. We have been visiting her almost every week since October.  We would go clean her home, endure the cockroaches, share a message and leave. We put wallpaper up in her home, we spent hours and hours trying to make her home more beautiful so they could feel the Spirit there. Every time I went there, I felt the love of God.  I felt how special she was and I also just felt an infinite amount of love in return from her.  We tried to help her to understand that alcohol and tobacco were not good for us. We tried to help her understand the gospel. We did everything we could for her and I think that is why we loved her so much. Thursday we had the opportunity to go to her funeral with the Relief Society President, Miyuki Shimai, and the Bishop and his wife. It was a Buddhist ceremony because all of her relatives are Buddhist.  There was incense burning, little shrine things that are pretty standard I guess.  So we got there pretty early and I just felt so much peace. She was so sick before she died that I knew that she had returned to our Heavenly Father, and was happy. :)  I was sooo grateful for the Plan of Salvation in that moment. Then a Buddhist monk came in and began chanting and then the dreaded "GONG" that made me nearly fall off of my seat every time he hit it because it scared me so bad.  I was the only non-Japanese person there, and I 110% had no idea what was going on.  So then every person began going up one by one, bowing to the Ogata family and then they went to this little table in front of her dead body where they did something with incense that I was not able to see.  So I turned to Miyuki Shimai and asked her- wait, is that something WE are going to be doing??!?  She said yes, of course.  I maybe... started to freak out a little bit.  I was watching every single person like a hawk, just trying to figure out what they did at that little table.  So I went up and bowed as respectfully as I knew how to the family, knowing that everybody was watching my every move and saw my little name tag that said "Jesus Christ" on it.  I turned around to the table and there where these two random bowls... I moved the contents of one bowl to the next and hoped that it was the right thing to do.  That ritual is so sacred to them and I literally had no idea what was going on. I went and sat down and noticed that the Bishop was kind of laughing at me. Hahaha whatever.  They put food, clothes and important things to Ogata Shimai in the casket.  I saw someone put in a case of cigarettes and just thought "dangit," but I couldn`t help but laugh because it was sooo true.  The service ended and I was grateful to have my first Buddhist funeral service over with.  It was really hard that Ogata Shimai died, and I wished that there was more that I could do for her, but we did everything we could for her and I just feel happy that she is in a better place. This last week all the ward has done is talked about how much we did to help her, but I feel like I was more blessed than she was.

Another wonderful highlight is we found a 91 year old woman to teach yesterday. SHE IS SO CUTE!!!! Hahaha 

We are crazy busy and tired.  However, we are happy, we are learning so much we love these people and are trying and that is all we can do! 

Love youuuuuu

Sister Crofts

SPRING IS COMING!!! Sakura sakura sakura

Japanese food

FIRSt SIGN OF SAKURAS!!

February 24, 2014

Hello everyone!!! 

Another week and it is sooooooo freezing right now it is not even funny.  It is honestly to the point of pain because of the wind.  So riding our bike outside is such a treat!  Sister Aso has been here 2 weeks and the thing she absolutely hates the most is riding our bikes.  She is absolutely hilarious and we have a lot of fun together and are working hard. We always speak in Japanese and she is such a trooper and helps me so much!  I am sleep talking in Japanese all the time so she always makes fun of me...  We do a lot of gesturing and actions if we don`t understand each other so it is absolutely funny. 

This week, my interesting "open your mouth experience" was with two Japanese deaf people.  So I studied sign language before right?  So they were doing Japanese sign language and of course it is 110 percent different, but I really just wanted to talk to them.  Hahaha, so I said hi and introduced myself in ASL and at first they were reallllllly surprised.  I asked them if they could understand ASL and they said a little bit.  So then... they started to do all these signs to me and I didn`t understand a THING and it quickly become one of those awkward "we are doing all these random gestures at each other but neither of us as any idea what the other is saying" hahaha.  So fortunately, after a few short minutes of that it was my time to get off the train.  I pointed at the stop trying to say "okay it is me."  Hahaha I just gave them a mormon.org card but it was really so funny.  All 3 of us were laughing so hard because it was just an absolute fail.  I tried though? Check that off the bucket list. 

Also, one of the people we teach maybe just has interest in hooking us up with her brother in law.  This past week, we have been trying to set an appointment with her and she keeps saying "oh well I won`t be there, but you can just go and meet  my brother in law."  It seriously doesn`t end. Hahahahha, we keep saying "no, like we want to meet with you!" but I don`t know if she is understanding us.

Chikachan is doing so awesome and we went to the mission home for an FHE with President Yamashita and some of the YSA.  I love her so much.  She said that she believes all religions are good, but that she feels closer to God through the things she is learning from us than with any other religion. (Buddhism, Hindi.. etc.. etc..)  We talked about the Spirit with her and how it is the way we feel the love of God and she said "I feel that every single time I am around you!  I always feel so happy around you!"  She is absolutely awesome and she really loves learning about God. 

One of the other people we teach is so busy and it is hard for them to come to church, but she told me how grateful she is that we remind her about God because she and her husband are so busy and they need to remember. They can’t come to church right now, but learning more about God and His love for them is making such a difference and giving them hope.

One of the members brought a friend to church that we had the opportunity to teach and she is sooooooo awesome!!!!!!!!!! (chikano shimais friend)  Also, a family that hasn`t come to church for a long time (that we have visited quite a bit) came to church yesterday.  I honestly couldn`t believe it and I was so happy!  We are super busy right now and it is kind of insane actually, but we are so blessed and lucky. My companion is sooooo awesome and we are learning together. I am so grateful for the miracles that we are seeing every day and the way that God is blessing us.  The church is true! 

Love, 

Sister Crofts

Jessica, a girl we met OYMing. 

February 17, 2014

Happy P-day! 

Well, my new companion is Sister Aso from Hokkaido Japan.  She is 24, a convert, soooooooo sweet, and just got here from the Provo, MTC.  She is also super patient because she doesn`t speak very much English and I don`t speak Japanese very well, so I am seriously so grateful for her.  It is hard and we absolutely have the whole language barrier problem, but we are doing our best and she is just super positive. I miss Sister Silva, and it is really weird having everything change so suddenly.  However, I love my new companion and  we will work really hard together! 

Last week, was really busy- with Silva Shimai and the Elders leaving, going to Nagoya several times for trainers training, and Sister Aso coming. It is crazy! All I can say is that the Lord called me in my weakness. I really feel so inadequate to train and do this, but I am really feeling the strength and power of the Atonement every single day. Also, God has a sense of humor. I can barely read maps in English let alone in kanji.  So we both are terrible at maps. There was one point where we were trying to find this bike shop that I had been to once before.  I thought I knew the area where it was, but I was soooooo wrong.  So we ended up walking for 1 hour and a half trying to find it.  We finally got to the point where we were showing people a map and asking people "excuse me, do you know where we are on this map?" Hahahaha, absolutely terrible.  But we had the opportunity to talk with lots of people and had lots of laughs. We eventually found it.  We also tried to find this ladies home that hasn`t been to church in a while, but we also couldn`t find that because the address was different than what was in there. So we were both a little bit aggravated, we were trying so hard and everything just wasn`t working out. All week, I had felt like we needed to visit one of our investigators on Saturday night(she was the elder's and is from the philipines) .  So we finally went and she looked so upset.  Her husband had had a heart attack.  We ended up both just crying for an hour because she was so scared and afraid and didn`t know what to do.  We shared a message with her and I think that it really helped her.  So it was honestly just so inspired.  I had been wanting to visit the Relief Society President for the whole week and knock on some doors by her house to find someone who went to the Christmas party. So we showed up and the lady that I had met before was standing RIGHT IN FRONT of the door and I honestly couldn`t believe it. We were both so happy and she kept saying how badly she has been wanting to see me again. So the week finished and it was absolutely hard, because I was doing lots of things I had never done before.  But there were moments like that where I realized just how much God is helping me and blessing me.  I was really just so grateful.  This is sure humbling, but my companion is awesome and we are really learning so much together. I think sometimes you have to be humbled so much before you can become a proper instrument in the hands of the Lord.  I know that He answers our prayers and is always with us. I pray for you always! 

Love,

Sister Crofts

PS- I am DYING for Bobby’s mission call. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

My new companion, Sister Aso:)

In Nagoya to pickup Sister Aso

In Nagoya for trainer's training

Curry after picking up our bean chans!

It was soooo funny to watch aso shimai struggle to get her luggage to our apartment

February 10, 2014

Well, I AM TRAINING. I won`t find out until Wednesday who my companion is, but I am super excited and we are going to work hard.  I have no idea where she is from.... But someone from the mission home said that there was an Australian and Japanese sisters?  There are 3 sisters training.  I am excited to learn together, love the people, be diligent and really just give it our best.  I still don`t speak a lot of Japanese, but we will totally ganbaru through together.  Sister Silva, Elder Gibb and Elder Sambongi are all finishing their missions. So,I will miss them a lot. This last week, we spent a lot of time saying goodbyes to people and it made me a little bit sad, but mainly grateful.  I still have more time in Kariya and these people mean the world to me.  We visited lots of members and people that we teach and it was just a really good week.

So I never thought I would say this, but I actually drank beer last week......... One of the members gave it to us... He was a former bishop. So I figured it was okay. But, actually this beer was non- alcoholic so don`t you fret.  Fortunately for all of us, I thought it was disgusting.  Hahahaha.  I am finally starting to overcome my cold so I am absolutely stoked about that.

We had a music night ("bye bye party") with the missionaries from the Okazaki area and it was really great!  Some people did some solos.  I played the piano and the Spirit was so strong. A lot of people came that were non-members and I think that they probably felt something, because I sure did.

It is kind of funny because since all of the other missionaries are leaving everyone thinks that I am dying too!!!  I have learned so much these past few transfers with Sister Silva.  I think I have grown a lot too.  She taught me so much about showing love to everyone and helping people to feel like they are important.  She is absolutely hilarious and I will miss her daily dose of sunshine.  I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is always there for us, waiting for us and trying to help us.  All we have to do is ask for his help.  I think that this training experience is going to be super humbling, but I will do my best.  I am so grateful to know that I always have somewhere to go for help. I am super excited for my beanchan to come.

Love you!

Sister Crofts

Saying Goodbye to Sister Silva

Learning to make Chikano Shimais famous lasagna! 

FHE with the Tsukiyammas and Chika Chan

Hyoudo shimai and chikachan

The sugiuras are probably my favorite people ever. They gave missionaries alcohol free beer. haha

I wrapped a blanket around my head it is so cold

It snowed!