Monday, April 8th, 2013

Okay, this week was for sure the busiest, funnest, hardest week of my mission.  This week felt like a difficult entrance exam into a top notch university if you know what I mean.  I had to use all of the skills that I have gained as a missionary thus far and after this last week, I feel both more confident and more uneasy about the near future at the same time, haha! :)

 

Getting settled into the new area was a pain, but more than that, having to grab the bull by the horns when I didn't even know what kind of bull I was riding was a pain too.  My companion and I did all we could to contact the 20 or so investigators that we have during the week and introduce ourselves.  Also, we did all we could to make friends with the bishop and other ward leaders so that they would trust us with this new area.  They absolutely loved the Elders before us and personally chewed out President Budge after they got the transfer call.  However, after the success that we saw this weekend and after Sunday's church, they 100% trust with the ward and the investigators.  That was probably one of the biggest things I was concerned about since the majority of our ability to help these investigators correlates to the relationship we have with the ward.  If we don't have success, the ward won't trust us to do our job and then the area will spiral into a no success place.  But once we get the trust, then the wards help will shoot our area up into the best in the mission.  Which, to be honest, in the near future might be one of the best areas in the mission if the ward's goals and our goals are accomplished.  It's crazy! 

 

To just give you a little summary of all the crazy miracles we saw, it all started on Friday at our zone meeting.  Our Zone Leaders (Elder Coleman and Fuller) were personally asked by President Budge, with the approval of all the other mission leaders, to make our zone a case study for a new missionary ideology.  We are to focus on Sacrament Meeting attendance and make that ours and the members highest priority.  Since 2 weeks ago, our ward had 13 people come to Sacrament Meeting, the Kawagoe Ward was to be a especially watched closely to see what is going well and what can improve.  This last week, unfortunately, we had 4 people come out of those 13.  However, we had about 8 people already commit to coming this next week to General Conference and what not.  People didn't come 'cause there was a big storm and the weather, unfortunately, plays a big role in church attendance.  But, yeah, our area is under close examination by the mission leaders, which is freaking me out, haha.  We are committing people to church like on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, so that we can prepare the ward leaders for them throughout the week and know which members are going to fellowship who.  As much of a no-brainer as this sounds, it's actually a new concept, haha. 

 

After zone meeting, me and one of the zone leaders, Elder Fuller, went through the area and he showed me where everything is and we taught 3 lessons that split.  One to a half Dutch/ half Japanese 19 guy named Kohji and he is a baller.  He is the man.  He is the funniest guy ever and has perfect English.  He is training to be a pro soccer player and is way interested in the gospel and he recognizes the importance of God in his life and is a really deep thinker.  In that lesson we committed him to be baptized and he said he would!  His date is on 4/28 and we are going to meet with him tomorrow and play basketball and teach him the POS (Plan of Salvation). 

 

Then, the next day, we taught an older man named Wada who has been investigating for a while now.  We taught him the doctrine of Christ and committed him to be baptized and he said he would!  His date is on 5/12 and he is a very funny old man who loves English and gave me a chili con carne recipe :)

 

Then, we taught a Chinese man named Rin.  He is about 26, works at a trading company in Tokyo, hasn't been here very long so he doesn't speak Japanese super well, it's kinda hard to teach him.  We taught him the doctrine of Christ way simply and then called up a Chinese elder and had him review it with him and he understood everything and wanted to get baptized!  We committed him to 5/12 as well and he said Hai!!!!! 

 

Then, Sunday after church, we taught another Chinese man named En Ka and he is about 32, perfect Japanese, his family will move from China to here in about a month, brought his friends to church the other day cause he loved it so much, was looking for a church when he met the missionaries a few weeks ago, and wants to learn everything that he can.  We taught him the doctrine of Christ in combination with the idea of eternal families and he wants to get baptized!!!!  We set a date with him for 5/12 as well and he is way stoked for it!!!!!!

 

In one weekend, we set 4 baptismal dates!!!!!!!!!  It was by far the best splits that I have ever had.  The big thing that was challenging for me was that the zone leader was there so that he could introduce me to the investigators and hand them off to me.  So after we were done building the relationship, I took over the lessons and taught them what they wanted to know.  The thing that I really tried to focus on was things out of the Power of Everyday Missionaries Book, such as teaching investigators actually want they want to know and not just lessons.  For example, Kohji asked me why do people have to suffer?  I then took the time to figure out what his question was exactly, like was it why do bad things happen to good people or why does God let bad things happen?  Then, I gave Kohji a list of scriptures that would answer his question, Alma 60, Helaman 5, Ether 12, and taught him how to prayerfully read the scriptures so that he could receive a spiritual answer.  Now, he has learned that he can and how he can get answers to his questions through the scriptures, how to listen to the Spirit when he prays about spiritual questions, and has learned important gospel fundamentals that will lead to conversion. 

 

I tried to do things like that with every investigator, especially focusing on the Sacrament and the blessings that come from that in our daily lives. Elder Lee and I are on the same page in our teaching which is fantastic and hopefully we can set another 3 baptismal dates this week.  At least!!!  We have soooo many people who are excited about church and the great atmosphere and Spirit that resides there. 

 

Most of the Sakura are gone now, a big storm blew all the leaves away.  But the fishing here sure is good.  We have to cross a river to get to our church and we see hundreds of fish feeding in this river.  Fishing Dendo!!!!

 

You guys sure talked a lot about me coming home this last email, haha.  They were not super big and like 30% of both of them were about picking me up, but not thinking about it yet ;)  Have fun in Florida!!!  Jealous!!!   

 

We got a lot of people to teach and a lot more people to find in this great area!!  I love Japan!!!

 

Talk to you soon!!!  LOVE YOU!!!

 

Elder Crandall