Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Dear Family,

Hey hey hey hey how's it going.  Long time no seeee :)

Quick update on life in Yachiyo.  We had Seiji's baptism as planned on the 29th and it was absolutely awesome!  We had a lot of ward members and less active people come to it and it was way spiritual.  He had been an investigator for over 5 years so he had a lot of friends that came to his baptism.  He will get confirmed next week and hopefully go to the temple not long after that.  Both of his parents passed away when he was very young and so did his siblings so he is very excited to do baptisms for the dead for them. 

Transfer callz and I have a new companion! Elder Shibuta got transferred to the Brazilian branch out in the boondocks and he is pretty excited for that.  My new companion is Elder Clark and he is from Bozeman Montana.  He went to Montana State for a year but he doesn't know Ben, haha.  He is dirt ped in Japanese, fluent, and is on transfer 12.  He is 6'6" and just towers over all of the Japanese people.  He is a way fun guy to be with, not one for many words, but a very powerful missionary and a way loving guy. 

Unfortunately, he doesn't speak Spanish so we are kinda in trouble as far as the Spanish investigators go.  We are going to have to drop a lot of them.  But the one gator named Ninoska who is very close to baptism didn't get baptized this last week, but we are working to get her in the tub within this month :)  She is awesome, but we are not quite sure how we are going to teach her, we will have to use Fernando and some other recent converts to finish her lessons I guess.  IDK, not gonna lie, I was pretty frustrated at the fact that President transferred a Spanish speaker out and not another one in, it's way difficult and we are going to loose a lot  of investigators.  But I know that the Lord knows who is ready now to hear the gospel and He is in control of who is where and we are suppose to be in our areas for a reason :) it's all good!

We have had two dinners so far for New Years and it's been way fun to work with the shimai and ward members over sushi and lots of meat :)

One of the sisters transferred out and the sister who transferred in was a sister that was with me the whole time I was in Kohoku, haha.  She is following me around Japan, but she is way funny and is fluent in English although she is Japanese. 

I got the letter from the Ward and it was way way very much amazingly super to hear from them :)  Please give them my love and wish of a Merry Christmas.

And thanks to the boyz who wrote me the good email.  You guys got an iPad Mini?!??! Doshite!!  Is it superly awesomely cool? I'm not even gonna talk about how I feel about Halo 4 and especially the Hobbit.......mecha trunky dayo. It's weird cause it doesn't even feel like Christmas over here.  The spirit of Christmas is a lot like Japanese Fathers, practically non existent cause they are too busy at work :) sad, but true, haha

Ma, things are going way good here.  Last transfer, we were the most successful area in the entire mission.  We taught the most lessons on average and found the most investigators per week on average.  Last transfer, in Kohoku, I taught 15 recorded lessons.  Last transfer in Yachiyo, I taught 75 lessons. :)  pretty big difference than the average area right, haha.  This place is special and I have hope and faith that we can be just as successful this transfer as we were the last.  Honestly, I worked my self to the point of exhaustion last transfer.  I'm dead tired, but I need to do it again this transfer and the amazing thing is that through the gifts of the spirit we are physically as well as emotionally re-energized every week, every day, and every hour if we are truly giving it our all in this work.  I realized that I can't hardly do anything by myself.  I was significantly humbled.  But as I continue to remember that thought and rely on the Lord in all that I do, the miracles will continue to flow and we shall see a great harvest here in Yachiyo :D

Akemashite Omedeto! Kotoshimo, Ichinen, Yoroshikuonegaishimasu!  Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Crandall

Seiji's Baptism