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