家族へ
神奈川ゾーンリーダになってしまいました。すごく心配していますよ。
My Dear Family,
It feel upon a day that I got a call from the Assistan'ts to the President. They told me I had done good in Kawasaki and thanks for training two missionaries there. They then informed me that the Lord wants me in the Kanagawa Ward as Zone Leader. So here I am, same stake, same zone, two areas over in the Kanagawa Ward.
It's really bitter sweet. The sweet part is that my first area, Kohoku, is the adjacent ward, they use the same building and do all of the activities together, and so I have been able to see and greet a lot of my old friends. Also, I pretty much know half of the members in Kanagawa ward already and we are getting along just famously. My companion's name is Elder Nathaniel Terrance Hill and he is from Detroit. He is like 6'4, way good at basketball, a way good missionary, and the funniest guy that I know. I've been working along with him for some time now and we know each other pretty well. He has been in the Kanagawa area for 6 transfers now as zone leader and he knows his stuff. He is getting pretty old as a missionary, but he has never worked harder than before now. We are in a 4 man apartment, the Kohoku Elders and us. One of the Kohoku elders is a new missionary and so it's really weird seeing someone where I was last year and me being where all the missionary legends were. I don't feel any different or as good of a missionary as them, but I'll do my best to be like them.
I always thought being a zone leader was all fun and games, but man it is a lot of work and we are way busy. Tomorrow we have Stake Presidency Meeting with all the stake leaders and Pres. Wada, we have 3 districts to help out and train so that means we have to travel to 3 district meetings every week, we have a bunch of new missionaries in the Zone so we will go on splits a bunch, and we have mission leadership council this week. I have never had to do so much planning in my life!!! But Elder Hill is a boss and knows what to do and is showing me the ropes well.
We also have two sister missionaries in our ward as well. Sister Hathaway from Denver, and Sister Matsumoto from Shizuoka. They are both rather young missionaries, but they go way hard and are very happy and enthusiastic missionaries. Our ward has only seen 1 baptism this year, but we have a few people right now who are close to baptism. One of them is a man named Sasaki. He is 71 years old, on the brink of being homeless, no money, little food, but he loves coming to church and 100% believes in God; we know- he told us like 20 times. The ward seems to like him and he has a baptismal date in a few weeks. The only problem we have is that he doesn't want to meet with us any other day but Sunday and we can't teach very much in one day so his progression is slower than we want. But he is a very humble, kind person who is trying to enjoy his life and do the right thing.
This last Saturday, I was able to go back up to Kawasaki and attend MASARU'S BAPTISM!!!!!! It was a way cool experience. Masaru felt a little bit nervous and uneasy and he was a little bit shy, but after the baptism he was way happy and running around and talking to all the people. Marilyn and Marie gave me a bunch of farewell presents and made me promise to visit again before I go back to America. I plan on visiting them, just letting you know.
I am glad to hear that everyone over there is transitioning back into normal life well. Connor, this school year counts the most. It's gonna be a reflection of the rest of your years in high school. Kyle, tough schedule, but you can handle it. You got the Crandall genes and the Crandall Jeans だからさ. ;) Mom, the relief society and priesthood quorums in the Kanagawa ward have really been struggling for a long time with missionary work. The Bishop told us on Sunday that he wants the quorums and auxiliaries to focus more on every day missionaries in the weekly lessons. Maybe they could learn from your example how to teach and how to talk about that stuff at church!!!
Dad, I laughed pretty hard at that missionary story, haha. I can totally hear you saying that. The plug is important, as little of a thing as it is. The difference I think between Adachi and your friend is that Adachi has gained all the knowledge and intellect he can from the scriptures, but his faith is too small to act on it. I tried really hard to commit him to baptism, but he isn't interested in acting on his knowledge for like 10 years. He says that once he feels like he needs the salvation he will get baptized. We taught him about exaltation and becoming like God and he said that he is fine with being in the lowest degree of the celestial kingdom. I gave him a good talking to about what I thought about that and shared lots of scriptures with him and the last thing he committed to before I left was to pray and ask God exactly when he should be baptized. He came to church this last Sunday and had a great time, although I wasn't there, but I have the faith that he will push aside his pride, get his answer, and I will go visit my friend's baptism in a few weeks :)
I love you all and could use your prayers now more than ever :)
Love,
Elder Crandall
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