I am soooo sorry that I couldn't write an email last week! I already told you why, but I will explain it more in detail today. We were super dooper busy so I'll just get going and let you know what happened!
This week was the beginning of a whirlwind of events. Transfer Week. Monday morning President Wada decided that he wanted to have Transfer Calls over with before the end of study time. Therefore, Elder Call and I had to scramble around to call everyone in the mission and let them know if they were transferring or not. It was pretty funny because no one thought we were being serious. Transfer Calls were supposed to be on Tuesday, so while I was calling people they thought that I was joking... (For some reason I have a bit of a jokester reputation... I don't know why!) Plenty of people were really surprised, but we have a lot of new combinations of missionaries that are really looking promising!
After Transfer Calls we had Musashino Zone P-Day! It was really fun because we were able to go and climb Mount Takao together as a Zone. President and Sister Wada as well as the Office Couple, Elder and Sister Yamashita were able to join us! It felt really good to do some WashIngton style hiking up trails. We took a paved path up and were able to talk to many, many people, as well as see Tokyo laid out before us. It was really beautiful. There were some people running up the mountain for Fireman training and we were able to work out with them for a bit! Super fun! There were lots of Shrines on the mountain and lots of wooden boards with names of people who donated to the shrines.
On Tuesday we spent a long time on a tour bus. We traveled over to Narita airport to pick up the new missionaries. There were a whopping 24 of them! That is the biggest group of missionaries we have ever had come in at one time! Busy, Busy, Busy! While we rode home on the bus, Elder Call and I were able to answer a lot of questions the new missionaries had, and hopefully calm/create fears as well. :) We were trying to make sure that everyone got off the bus quickly, which resulted in my companion leaving his iPad on said bus... sad day. Good thing people in Japan are so honest! The bus driver mailed it to us later. Woo!
Thursday we had training with the new missionaries and also with their Trainers. That was a pretty big event. Seeing as there were 24 missionaries, that meant that there were at least 24 trainers. We weren't able to get new apartments for some of our areas though so some trainers came in sets of 2 giving us 70 people all together for trainings. That was CRAZY! We had a great time though!
After we got everyone sent off to their various areas we had the opportunity to take Returning Missionaries to the airport. This time around there were only 2 Americans, and 5 Japanese that went home. The Japanese Missionaries and the American Missionaries flew out of 2 different airports, so Elder Call and I went with the other Elder Call to Narita Airport. (Now there is only 1 Elder Call... It's a bittersweet feeling.) We rode the Narita Express train there and back which was pretty fun. It's about $30.00 one way, but you have seats that face forward. You can even turn the seats around if there are four people and have your own little pod. It was pretty fun to ride, but it wasn't too fun to send him off. I can't believe that time is coming up for me. Doesn't seem right, but we're too busy to think about it anyway.
We had a pretty amazing experience the other day! I've talked a little bit about Yuichi before. He's one of the members of our Bible Class. He has really been enjoying learning from the Bible and the Book of Mormon with us but has basically been in contact with the Church for 30 years or so. He doesn't believe that he can do what we do, and he always tell us that we are amazing for teaching things so simply and clearly to him, even though we are 20 and he is 75. He actually doesn't live in our mission. He lives in the area next door called Nakano. Yep, the Tokyo Mission's Main Office Area. The Assistants in the Tokyo Mission are Elder Hall and Elder Dunbar. They too are currently working with Yuichi. So basically Yuichi has been getting double doses of Assistant Missionary Power. Haha. Elder Hall called us the other day and told us something interesting though... During a lesson they were having with Yuichi, he said to them, "I want you to recommend me for being baptized!" We freaked out. This is a huge miracle! He wants to get baptized before I leave so he should be prepared and ready for baptism sometime within the next 5 weeks! We are so excited! It just shows that really nothing here happens on the missionaries time. Yuichi has heard the lessons and been challenged to baptism for many, many years, but it is fully his choice to exercise his agency and choose to come closer to God. We just get to be here and Rejoice when he does choose that! Happy Day!
This is getting a bit long, so I will just end with something that I read in personal study the other day.
"But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God." - Mosiah 16:5
I was thinking about this quite a bit. Not only do those large grotesque sins do this to our souls, but even those small, seemingly trivial sins as well. Forgetting to Pray, Forgetting to study the Scriptures daily, lying to others and things like this are all sins. Even those little things hold us back from our Father in Heaven. He truly does love us and wants us to come back to Him, therefore He provided the power of the Atonement by His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. As we remember Him and use that wonderful gift of the Atonement, we too can be made better each day, until eventually we are perfect.
"Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father, Amen." - Mosiah 16:15
I couldn't say it any better myself.
I love you all, I love the work.
Hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Crandall
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