June 3, 2014

皆さんこんにちは

It has been an AWESOME week and I am super grateful to be a missionary! Last week, we had some pretty crazy experiences and I wish I had time to tell you more about it, but I will do my best. So basically, as if Alicia couldn`t be more awesome she totally sent me a PINATA for my birthday!  It was the hugest package and it was so awesome to get some American candy. We did it with our children’s English class (because nobody in Japan knows what a piñata is) and I think they might have had more fun than going to Disneyland.  It was awesome!  Thank you Alicia!!! Everyone loved it! Also, all are non-members but they are using the CTR rings and loved them! Also, Kristy sent me some DELICIOUS chocolate from New Zealand. So So yummy.

We did lots of finding and taught so many people. The theme for this week’s e-mail is the image of God/Jesus. So we were talking to some girl who was walking on the street and we asked her what her image of God is and if she thinks He is there. She said of course he is there, but he is made of gold and has millions of hands coming out of his head and body and he is super strict. We talked to her about a loving heavenly father and she said he absolutely has to be strict and she couldn’t get  an image of a God who loves her. We got her number and she wants to learn more though so I am way stoked to continue teaching her!  Hahaha.  Also while we were talking to people on the street, this woman came running up to us and said "don`t worry don`t worry I am coming to church again soon!" and then ran away. Hahaha me and Kawai Shimai could not have been more shocked yeah?  Also after watching a movie about Jesus Christ with one of our investigators, we got a surprise when she started to compare Jesus to an alien and the extraterrestrial bodies. She said ETs come when people start being bad to make people good again. Then she talked about how Jesus is an alien.  I was so shocked I didn`t even know what to say...  hahaha. It was rough. One of our other investigators talked about how she couldn`t believe in our God because she believes there is a god of water and trees and all objects and she can`t believe that God is a Heavenly Father. That was hard. We watched this video about Jesus Christ with one of our investigators and I realized how much our church movies are meant for people who know about Jesus Christ. It was kind of hard for her to understand and I think she felt the Spirit, but then she said asked "you really believe in this? I can`t."  Basically, we are trying to help people with the very basics...... Hahaha

Also we visited a lady who was an investigator 8 years ago; she went on vacation and lost contact with the missionaries. When we opened the door she just started screaming because she was so happy! We can`t meet her this month, but in July we`ll start teaching her again. Me and Kawai Shimai were once again, shocked. That never happens! People never cheer when you visit them. Hahaha but I was super grateful that the spirit led us to go and try to visit her. 

I love my mission and I will tell you straight up, I have never been more physically, spiritually, emotionally demanded in my entire life.  It is so hard and sometimes you just have to do everything you can to fight a smile after a day filled with rejections and people who don`t want to listen, but it makes me grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. The fact that He knows perfectly what I am going through.  And even though a lot of these people don`t yet know about Him, He loves them PERFECTLY. The BOM  is true! LOVE YOU

Sister Crofts

Yummy chocolate from Kristy in New Zealand

Huge package from Alicia

Pinata on the bike

Pinata fun with kids

Kids enjoying American candy

Sister Kawai & Sister Crofts the Sister Trainer Leaders

Dear Family, 

Wellllllll it has been another AWESOME week! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes and love:) I can`t believe that if the mission age wouldn`t have changed; I would JUST be leaving on my mission. I am so grateful that I didn`t have to wait because I love my mission so much. 

Well, it is starting to get super-hot, there are four sisters trying to cram our futons into one tiny little room (like sleeping in a cocoon and it gets soooo hot nobody can sleep. Anyway, me and my companion are now sleeping outside on the balcony so there is more space and it isn`t so hot. Hahaha. Last night, was honestly one of the best night’s sleeps of my mission. We had the cute little frogs chirping, a breeze, absolute bliss. Also! I made my first apple pie last week for one of our investigators and can I just tell you it was absolutely delicious?  She was SO happy and just said "EHH?!?!  You came all the way out here to bring me a pie?!"  I hope she felt lots of love because she is awesome. 

We were on a kokan and of course it starts POURING rain. I didn`t have a kappa or anything so I pushed through with a cheap little poncho and borrowed one of the other sisters boots. We arrived at a member’s house and I realized that the bag with my favorite missionary shoes had fallen out of the basket amidst our travel to her house. It was about an hour by bike and it honestly could have been anywhere because the rain was pouring and it was hard to see. So we decided to go to the member’s house and just check it out on the way back. We said a prayer before we left and we talked to everyone on the way back. We had gotten halfway there when I saw this bush that we had passed forever ago in my head and felt like I should go look there.  We turned around, checked the bush, but it wasn`t there. So I was like what?! But then this woman came riding out on her bike and I realized. Oh. We need to talk to her. So we started talking to her and she just stared at us completely in shock that we were here in Japan helping other people. We were riding our bikes next to her for a while and she was just speechless and said that she saw light in our faces. So the sisters are going to meet her again and teach her children 30 minutes of English then 30 minutes about God and our church!! (That is a program we do a lot in Japan right now) Anyway it was way cool how touched she was. 

Over the course of talking to people, streeting and what not... We bumped into these 2 girls who were sitting along the side of the road in down town Yokkaichi. We asked them if they were students and they said "he he.. no.. We are working right now."  They were both 19, super pretty, lots of makeup, skimpy clothing.. (you think it would have sunk in by that point) But then we started talking about the purpose of this life and why we are living. One had a lot of interest and really wanted to know why she was living, she thought it was so we could die. Then right as we were about to set up a time to meet, this guy comes over and says "hey you`ve got one." So then she walked off, and of course there was this older man who was waiting for her... OH NOOOO. They were prostitutes. So then the other girl who didn`t really have interest just kind of laughed and shrugged her shoulders.  I guess you could say we were in the wrong part of town because after that we realized that they were everywhere. They need the gospel too, it is just a little hard when they are on duty. 

This cute woman we met on the street has now come to church two times with her 2 year old daughter. Yesterday we were able to teach her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon in the nursery. After we taught the first vision, she just said "woahhh" and looked down at her arms covered in goosebumps. She knows a lot about Christianity, but she said over and over again "I want to read this book!" She is way awesome. 

Well it has been a good week, and to be honest, it is hard to go all day long talking to people and sharing what is important to you with people and them having no interest or rejecting you. But when you find people who will listen, it is that much more special. I am SO LUCKY to be here. Every day is a test of faith and I talk to everyone and do my best because I want God to know that He can trust me. 

LOVE<3 愛

クロフツ姉妹

Birthday wise- I was feeling lots of love! We had a softball/tennis activity (also can I just add that it was hilarious that the members thought that I was super amazing at softball and tennis..? I am sooo bad) The bishop brought donuts for everyone for my birthday and they sang! One of the elders in a different area made a SUPER yummy cheesecake for me and I was super surprised about that, and then me and Sister Kawai went and ate some yummy waffles. My only birthday in Japan, but it was amazing!

Our apple pie

My cheesecake

This is Mi Chan. She is the cutest dang thing.

We had a tim tam slam activity. Waddell Chourou spilled his hot chocolate on his pants in this picture. So funny.

Got a little sunburn. Bring on the farmer's tan.

Sleeping outside

May 19, 2014

It was so awesome to talk/Skype to everyone last week on Mother’s Day. It is super crazy that it was my last!  This week, I hit my ONE YEAR MARK.  I actually only have 5 months left in my mission. Also, I am officially 21 as of this week too.  Whoa.  It is so crazy to think how much my life has changed because President Monson changed the missionary age.  SERIOUSLY a miracle. :)  There are good things going in our area, but this last week was actually really hard for us.  Two of the people we are teaching committed to start preparing for baptism two weeks ago, but now we haven`t been able to meet with them. NOOOOO!   We taught one of them about the Word of Wisdom and she totally understood the logic and everything about it, but she has absolutely not even an ounce of a desire to quit smoking and coffee.  So we are really praying for a miracle.

 So last week we were doing TONS of finding.  We were talking to every single person we saw about God and about our message. On Saturday, we talked to over 60 people within just 2 hours, but we weren`t able to find one person who would listen or who had interest. But, I guess the miracle is that we gave 1 cute girl a Book of Mormon, talked to 60 people about God and Jesus Christ, and did the very best that we could.  It was a little bit discouraging when last week we were just working our hearts out and weren`t able to see the difference it was making.  But we have no regrets and all that God can ask of us it to try!  

Also my skin is absolutely wigging out... I have like this giant rash that is covering my entire body.  It started small in March, and I thought it would just go away and was no big deal but now it is seriously everywhere.  I called the mission doctor and he sent the images to a dermatologist in Utah. Pending... My body is literally dying. Hahaha.  

It was absolutely pouring rain, but we went out to visit some people away from our apartment. We started housing and found this cute lady who we thought was Japanese, but she was actually Brazilian. She wanted nothing to do with religion. She felt like all religions were not teaching what Jesus Christ taught.  At first, she didn`t want to listen, but we kept talking to her and then talked about Joseph Smith.  We pulled out a lesson 1 pamphlet. It was absolutely pouring rain. We could barely see, the pamphlet was totally kawai sooo..... But the spirit was SO STRONG! She was speechless. She couldn`t read kanji, but she wants Portuguese and we are going to go back.  It was cool to see how much she changed from the beginning of our conversation to the end. 

Well, we are working hard, no regrets, doing the best that we know how to do.  Also, it is fun to be a Sister Training Leader because we get to go do comp exchanges/training with other girls in our area and help them get STOKED about missionary work and opening our mouths. Last week, I went with a sister who hadn`t been able to find anyone to teach for weeks and weeks, then we went on our kokan, had an awesome time, found some new people to teach and then she found a bunch of new people the rest of the week! She was sooooo excited!  It is easy to get discouraged, but I know that God is helping us every single day, we just have to keep pushing through and showing our faith. We had a crazy experience last week where we visited lots of members that aren`t coming to church, nobody was home of course. So later that night as we were returning to the apartment, we ran into a lady who was a less active member for over 30 years. But, she had been feeling super depressed that day and thinking about why she was here, and of course.. SHE MET US.  She hasn`t had contact with the missionaries because she moved, but she wants to learn more. Yayyy. Anyway, I love being a missionary. I will tell you straight up. It. is so hard. It makes me appreciate so much more that Jesus Christ knows what it is like. I love you, always praying for you! 

Love, 

Sister Crofts

Trying to teach the Brazilian lady in pouring rain

Our pamphlet didn't survive the pouring rain

Japanese rice fields

An arukokai with our ward. We went hiking and one of our friends came

This is called an onzen. They are the rage in Japan. Usually, it is a giant bath that everyone goes naked.  We took the beginners level and just had to put up with people's "naked feet"

Yes we are eating Krispy Kreme Donuts. Insanely Expensive!

Sister Kawai & Sister Crofts somehow became "wingmen" for a crazy investigator

4 Sisters in our apartment. Cunha Shimai & Omine Shimai are from Brazil

So sorry to leave Aso Shimai

Mayumi. I love her and will miss her like crazy

Loved the members in Kariya

Sister Crofts & Yuchan

They decorated my desk

We met this girl riding our bikes and became immediate friends