Tuesday Aug. 20th, 2013

Dear Family,

Man, I am tired.  It's hot and we are getting worked over by the sun and the heat.  We have been riding the trains like nothing else going to the first ever Tokyo South Zone Conference, zone meeting, district meeting, referring investigators, going to members house's for dinner, going to the church for lessons and going to get food everyday.  We are always on the train! Through all of our train riding, we found 1 new investigator, but he lives in a different ward so we had to refer him.  The trains are fun, but it is expensive and full of sketchy pics and drunk old people, haha.  But, ya gotta love it!  Love is the motivation. 

This past week was what Japan calls Obone.  It is a massive holiday where everyone goes back to their home towns and dress up in kimono's and blow up tons of fireworks.  There was a large firework show last Saturday that we went to with some ward members and I learned some new explosive vocab words, haha.  It was really hard to meet with investigators this last week since everyone goes back to their home towns.  However, Masaru is doing well and is looking to be baptized on the 31st.  It's interesting to be working with a 10 year old boy.  He really is converting unto the Lord and changing himself in his own way, in a 10 year old way.  I think of all the experiences that I had when I was a 10 year old in the church and I am so grateful that I had a strong foundation and friends and family in the church.  It has helped me grow so much and has blessed me throughout my entire life. 

We are nearing the end of Elder Kuniyuki's training.  We are going to the honbu tomorrow to receive some training from President Wada and he has asked me to train some other trainers and new missionaries.  I'm getting pretty nervous.  This is the exact situation I was in when I was in Kawagoe and they transferred me out of there!  Transfer calls are next week and I don't know what is gonna happen.  I want to stay here and keep on working with Elder Kuniyuki, but who knows.  I'll just keep doing my thing and I will be fine. 

I am attaching some pictures and what nots.  I've got one of Masaru and Kensuke, Marilyn's kids playing around, he is way flexible!  And another picture is a drawing from Elder Kuniyuki of one of our members, it was his birthday.  One is of a train station table, the Kanji for the Noborito station means "Mexico"and "forbidden", hence Noborito station :)  One is a drawing by Elder Mitabi of all three of us before he left. 

          I hope all these pictures get to you well. 

We are going to keep calm and carry on over here.  Or rather, keep cool and carry on. The ward has begun to put a lot of trust in us and has been reaching out to us on almost a daily basis with inviting us over for dinner and what not.  They always say, "Come over for dinner!  And if you have an investigator available, invite him to come over as well!"  But in the back of our minds we think,  "We will be happy to go over to dinner.  If you have any friends or trusted people that are available invite them over as well." That is the ideal situation. 

I hope that the transition into regular life will be an easy one for you :)  It is weird to hear about school starting up again and stuff like that.  Nothing is changing for me!  It's only one more school year till I will be home.  The end is coming all too fast, and yet I feel as though I just started my mission, haha.  がんばろう日本！！！！

I love you and my prayers are always for you, even if my heart is for the people here :)

愛

クランダル長老

Drawing of a member by Elder Kuniyuki

Norborito station

The 3 amigos drawn by Elder Mitabi

Masaru and Kensuke

Tuesday, August 13th, 2013

Dear vacationing people,

 

I'm gonna have to make this letter short.  First of all, because we went to the temple this morning; we still get to go to the temple once a transfer.  And two, because I don't want you guys to spend too much time thinking about me while you are in paradise. ;)

 

This week was a good week for us.  Masaru and Yuki are preparing nicely for baptism.  We are meeting with both of them twice this next week and we are excited to continue to help them progress.  We haven't found any new solid investigators for like 3 weeks now.  We find lots of friends and talk to lots of people, but the people here are very hard hearted.  Especially in the neighborhood that we live in, it is mostly really really wealthy people that are busy with work.  Much like the wealthy Zoramites in the Book of Mormon.  The trick for us is to find those humble and prepared people, the people like Yuki.  So far, out of the dozens of people we have been talking to, no one wants to meet again to learn more.  It has been rather frustrating, however, this past week I have come to realize maybe my purpose in being here in Kawasaki. 

 

I have been reflecting and pondering on the last President's interview that I had a few weeks ago.  In that interview, President Wada told me that I have a very attractive and bright personality and that people tend to flock around me.  He told me that I needed to figure out how to use that skill or "talent" (reference to the parable) in our daily dendo and that is how we will see more success.  At the time, I reflected on this and was like yeah, I do tend to get groups of people to flock around me.  Like in Yachiyo and Kawagoe, we had a very large group of investigators and pi's (potential investigators) that we were always actively working with.  At the time, I thought that what that meant was that I needed to get a large group of friends and investigators and pi's to be constantly working with, just like in my previous areas.  But in Kawasaki, I don't think that is what the Lord intended in this case. 

 

We have been very blessed to have built a great relationship with many ward members. I've realized that instead of having tons of investigators flocking around us, we have tons of members flocking around us and helping us out.  Maybe instead of rallying up a group of investigators, the Lord wants me to rally up a strong group of members.  This might be in preparation for the next few transfers where the missionary force in Kawasaki might triple. 

 

Regarding our finding, I am doing the exact same things that worked in every other area and they just aren't working here.  This leads me to believe that the Lord wants us to be doing things differently.  Perhaps as we continue to build up a strong herd of members, we will be able to start finding more prepared people.  Perhaps the Lord wants us to fortify some walls and help man the towers on the home front before we go out to attack the world.  I am not 100% sure why we are getting the results we are in our dendo, but I feel confident that the direction Elder Kuniyuki and I need to head is building a strong force of members to assist and serve. 

 

Man, I am doing all that I can to not think about Crescent Bar.  Call some beer drinkers in the hot tub to repentance for me. 

 

がんばろにっぽん！！！！

愛愛愛していますよ！！！

 

Have a great week and talk to you next week!!!

 

Love,

Elder Crandall

Monday, August 5th, 2013

Hi Family!

So I learned that President Wada is going to break up the twins this next week :(  A few elders are going home a few weeks earlier than the end of the transfer so they need to use the extra people to fill in the vacancies.  Elder Mitabi is going to transfer down a few wards into the heart of Yokohama city :(  I am really gonna miss that guy, but at least he is still in the same zone so I will see him every once in a while.  Elder Kuniyuki and I are still gonna be tearing it up here in Kawasaki!!!

We had an awesome experience this last week with our investigators at church.  We had three people come this week.  Out of those three people, it was Yuki's first time coming to church.  He is the 260 lb. all muscle rugby player.  He is just the nicest guy in the world and he stands out way hard against all of the 120 lb. Japanese people.  All of the ward members, literally all 120 of them, came up to Yuki to shake his hand and tell him how buff he is, haha.  Usually just a few people try to talk to the investigators, but this time everyone was going out of their way to talk to him and get to know him.  We just sat back and smiled while the members did their best to fellowship him.  Usually we struggle in Japanese wards to get members to fellowship people well, usually they just say a general "hi", but don't try to exchange info and become friends.  It's just kinda Japanese culture to not do that, but this last week was totally different.  We gained a lot of trust from the ward this week. 

Last week's priesthood and relief society topic was missionary work and in Sunday school the members were challenged by their ward leaders to step it up and give referrals and dendo their friends.  We quietly sat in the back with our investigators listening, but then they called on us for some input or advice on the topic.  I responded by saying that we appreciate the ward trying to step it up and give up referrals, but honestly we don't expect any so we will go out and find people and baptize them ourselves.  I could tell that that wasn't the answer they were expecting, but I think a lot of members were impressed by that attitude. 

And then this week that is exactly what we did.  We brought Yuki to church and everyone was very surprised and impressed by the caliber of investigator he is.  We had a great lesson with him after church and he told us that he wants to and is ready to make Jesus Christ a part of his everyday life.  We then read 1Nephi 1:1 with him, helping him to see the relationship and connection that he has to Nephi and how they relate, then read Moroni 7:45 with him showing him how charity is the principle that we want him to gain as he learns more about Jesus Christ and makes Him a part of his life, then showed him how (like Nephi and his family) on his way to the promised land, namely baptism, he will learn about charity.  He told us that he really likes baptism's and understands it well, so we set a baptism date with him for September 8th!!!!  I am waaaay stoked for Yuki and he is gonna be such a powerful bearer of the priesthood. 

So there have been a few missionary dress standard changes this past week and so now we are not allowed to use backpacks as often anymore.  Therefore, this morning we went shopping for shoulder bags!!!!  I found a really nice, water proof brown bag at this giant mall that we went to.  But I had to pull out a little bit of money before I went.  Could you check to see how much I have left, Mommy?? :)  I still have enough to last me a a while so I wont have to pull any out any time soon. 

Also, I am starting to run low on contact lenses.  I have 6 more right ones and 11 more left ones.  For some reason my right always go out before the left.  I don't know, haha!  But, if you could use the same prescription that I used the last time I got my eyes done and send me like 3 packages of each, I would be eternally grateful.  Thank you for blessing me with the gift of life.  Could you also bless me with the gift of sight again??? :D  The contacts I use actually come from Japan, but I went to a contact store to look at how much they are and it was like 30 bucks for one package.  It's ssssoooooo expenseeve!!!  (I typed that in a Mexican accent) 

This day last year was the time when we baptized and confirmed Thomas. I can still remember it like it was yesterday, but I have come a looong way since then.  Who knows where I will be this time next year!!!

Have fun at Crescent Bar!!!!  I'll do my best not to think about it, but be sure to give all of our cousins and friends there my love!!!!

Don't have too much fun without me and Sean around. 

I love you!!!

クランダル長老