The Obihiro Week!

This week's exchange was in Obihiro, which is a 3.5 hour bus ride from Sapporo. There are two companionships there right now, so we were there from Tuesday night to Friday morning and it was a ton of fun! It was my first time going out there. The highlight was... meeting my trainer Masuda Shimai! She is married now and living there so I got to go to her house with the other sisters. It was a party. But more on that in a sec! I shall tell this story with pictures.

First ones are from last week's p-day! We had another music fireside this past week (did I remember to tell you about that?), so last week was our last practice. And we had a special guest of Kawasaki Choro, who was in my first district but then went home only a couple of weeks after I got here to Japan. So it was fun to see him again! These are from the room where we practice upstairs in the mission home. Yep.

In front of the Obihiro Eki! (This makes it look like pretty big city, but it is actually more of an agricultural area other than the main downtown. It is super pretty with lots of flowers!)

Travel!

And there were super adorable kittens at one of the members houses that we visited. That is important.

And dinner with Masuda Shimai (ok, now it is Hashimoto Shimai) at her apartment with her husband! It was sooo happy! And delicious! She made all of my favorite foods we ate together because she is so wonderful -- pizza and crispy little apple pies.

Making dinner at the Obihiro apartment for the six of us. It was pretty packed with futons practically on top of each other to get us all in, but way fun!

From the group pictures left to right: Kise Shimai, me, Furue Shimai from Kagoshima Japan, Yabutani Shimai from Wakayama Japan, Sugihara Shimai from Washington, and Coyne Shimai from all over (most recently Oklahoma? But she lived in Germany for like five years too and is super super fluent, which is awesome).

View from the bus back.

The four Odori Sisters in front of the old Hokkaido government building on the day of the music fireside. It was a our meetng spot to go out to lunch with a member and it was just so pretty that we couldn't resist taking pictures while waiting!

And pics from DTM lunch last tuesday! And a road stop on the way to Obihiro. A little out of order.

And that is all I can do today! Love you all! Things are going great, and the weather is finally getting nice! I am going without tights for the first time today. Freedom!

Ok, until next week!

The Kotoni and Ebetsu Week!

As my highly creative title suggests, this week's exchanges were in Kotoni and Ebetsu!

Ebetsu was especially fun because I got to meet pretty much all of my investigators, and then some members too! It was actually pretty crazy how many people we were able to meet -- there are definitely miracles that come with exchanges!

And here are some pics from the exchanges of the week (I am still way behind on pics from the past transfer of course, but I figure it would be good to keep at least a little up with time. If I have some time after I'll send some of the old ones!)

Oh first, a pic from a way fun member dinner last week! They are in the Kotoni ward.

And last Monday was Osterloh Shimai's birthday! She is living in the same apartment as us, so we all went out to dinner.

#1 is me and Amada Shimai in Kotoni during a rain storm. The cherry blossoms have finally started coming out!

Me and a favorite person from Ebetsu.

Me and Miyamoto Shimai, who I worked with in Ebetsu.

Plus me and Kise Shimai in front of the Ebetsu church!

Ebetsu members!

All of us.

And the Nopporo Eki (the train stop we always use in Ebetsu).

And that is it for now! We've been super busy, running from place to place and it is crazy, but there are definitely a lot of great things that have been coming along with it. I am excited to see what happens!

Love you all!

STL Adventures begin!!

Hello everyone!

I am officially in Odori, my new area, with the new sisters training responsibility, and I feel like we've had a running start!

It was kind of funny because almost nothing about this transfer was normal -- to start off, we always have transfers on Thursdays but because of a mission president conference in Tokyo this week we had it on a Saturday. And then because we have another music concert this month, instead of going to the normal transfer spot at the Sapporo train station we all went to the church in Kotoni for music practice. Then Kise Shimai and I ended up going on a split of sorts so weren't even together our first official day of our companionship  haha.

I went out to dinner with one of my favorite families ever that I met housing with Masuda Shimai just over a year ago and a bunch of the missionaries that they've become friends with in between then. It has been so wonderful to see the relationship that they have made with so many missionaries and the members too, even though only one small daughter has joined the church-- it has really become a part of their lives.  Then we actually went to Atsubetsu for their ward FHE. It was so much fun to see all of the members from my first area! Such a blessing. It was kind of funny though because since it was transfers I lugged my red suitcase with me the whole time, from Asahikawa to Sapporo, then the church, then the other end of the subway line and then on the street car... and it was raining the whole time so it got soaked, haha. But it was a team effort. Even the kids helped!

And without further ado, since I am now going to be at the mission home for emails (at least most of the time, I think) I can send some pictures! Let's see what I can do... (I may be super behind)

Puricura (korean style awesome pictures) with Lundstrom Shimai! I'll have to scan some of those gems in when I get home...

Lundstrom Shimai's bean shower (welcome for new missionaries)!

Picture on our balcony for Ai Chan's birthday card -- it was deceptively cold...

Lundstrom Shimai's first day on her new bike!

Trying out some natural dendo in Asahikawa's Kaimono Koen

The snow was finally gone! It was time to celebrate (I saw some of my first cherry blossoms this week after coming to Sapporo!)

The ward potluck with Ai Chan ans her sister before her baptism!! (They are so awesome!!)

The lunch group pic! It's a little off center... don't worry about it.

Asahiyawa Zoo: Round Two!

Hello family and friends!

The running theme of my mission life continues -- we`ve been super busy so I don`t have time to write much...

Today was a lot of fun though! We went to the zoo with all of the Elders in our district plus half of the Takikawa District. I have a year passport so I was more than happy to use it again! I love going to the zoo. Like a lot.

We also have to go to Sapporo tonight though because I have a meeting first thing in the morning and then an exchange in Shin Kotoni (with Northrop Shimai, my MTC companion so it will be a lot of fun), and it is a little over a two hour bus ride so we have to finish this up real quick and then grab our bags to head over to the bus station.

I`m kind of exhausted though. But in a good way.

Especially because this past week, after I did my last email, we had Ai Chan`s baptism! Hopefully next week I will be able to email a picture. Baptism, if you aren`t too familiar with the term, is a church ordinance that was taught in the Bible (and Book of Mormon, of course) that cleans us of our sins, or mistakes. We promise to follow Christ and keep His commandments, and then God promises to forgive us of the things that we do wrong as long as we repent and continually try to follow Christ`s example to do better. That`s a terrible
explanation, but it is really great.

Anyways, she had her baptism last week and it was fantastic -- you could feel the Spirit so strong. It was awesome to see how she was able to have the way prepared for her to come to the church, even if it took some time. And her sister also came up from Abashiri, which is like a 4 hour drive away, and it was perfect. Her sister just joined the church like a year ago, and actually was introduced to the church by her sister Ai Chan. So cool!

Ok, have to go!!! I feel like these emails are always a sprint!

Crazy, Fun Mission Life Continues!

Hello! Just a brief message today because we are pretty busy with mission awesomeness! Today we have Ai Chan`s baptism planned, and it should be a ton of fun! We also have two shokujikais, or potluck style meals, at the church with members too so we`ll be running over to one of those in a few minutes.

We got another crazy surprise this week though when I got a call from President Evans on Tuesday... apparently in connection with the rapidly growing number of girls on missions they have created a new responsibility for sister missionaries, and I and Sister Kise, a super cute always happy missionary from Okinawa, are going to be the first ones to try it out in Sapporo!

Since no one has done it yet before we`re still figuring it out, but it is called a Sister Training Leader, and our main responsibility will be pretty much what the title says -- training other sisters. We`ll be conducting a training meeting to help all of the other sisters become trainers soon. And then our other main responsibility is that we have to go on 24-hour exchanges with all of the companionships in the area -- so we will be going on splits twice a week next transfer! We`ll hardly ever be in our own apartments, but it will be a ton of fun because we will be able to work with everyone and see all of the areas that sisters are in in Hokkaido! I do love myself a little travel... I`ll probably like die on the plane home though.

The other thing is that the two sister training leaders are supposed to be companions, so I will be transfering to Odori (the area in the center of Sapporo) next transfer to be companions with Sister Kise, who is actually extending her mission another transfer to do this. She was originally supposed to be going home at the end of next week! There are just all sorts of crazy stuff going on with so many new sisters coming into the field. I don`t know that I am qualified to help train them all, but I will do my best! It is a little sad though that I`ll have to part with Lundstrom Shimai; it has been a ton of fun being with another American! One of the other sisters will finish up her training though.

And I have to go!!

Four Minute Email!

Hello family and friends!

I have now three minutes to write. Just know that we`re still having lots of fun here, and things are going great! Just wishing it would stop snowing for good though... the streets are clear now though, which is a wonderful thing. And I have seen a couple fo crocuses coming up! This week we also had stake conference, which was a lot of fun and the mission president and his wife both came up to speak. 

The Asahikawa stake covers a lot of ground, so some of the wards that were furthest away all rented a bus and rode on it for a couple of hours to make it up here for the 10 am session! It really made me feel like I needed to appreciate having a stake center over my fence some more...

Next week on Monday we have a baptism, so I am not sure if/how much I will be able to write (it is also a work holiday, so the email place closes early), but it will be awesome and I will do my best!

Love ya!!

In case you were wondering.​.. it snowed again today

Hello again from the ever-snowy Asahikawa!!

I am having a ton of fun working with Lundstrom Shimai here! We had to go get her registered with the city this past week, so I have some updated citizenship stats (I think I sent these when I went before?).

Right now in Asahikawa, there are:
349,332 people living here
674 people are non-native (including all Asian countries, etc.)

Moral of the story, we have a tendancy to stand out! It has been funny to see some people get super nervous when we like go up to a counter at a store, and then the relief when I start speaking Japanese. So far we haven`t had too many language problems yet! People tend to stop on the street more (possibly because they might think we`re lost), so it has great benefits.

We had general conference this past week, which was fabulous as always! We also had a really fun lesson at a members house. This week went by ridiculously fast! I also forgot to mention this last time, but one of the little girls of a family I absolutely love that I met while housing in Atsubetsu, my first area, was baptised at the end of last month! It was seriously the happiest thing ever. I wish I could have been at the service, but it doesn`t matter where I am as long as she will be able to receive such blessings!!

Ahh, and I am out of time again already! Until next week,

Sister Crofts

Wait! Bonus letter and photos arrived this week!

4/8/13 The weather today is a mixture of rain and snow, but we are having fun getting Lundstrom Shimai all set up with a bike and everything!  But without further ado, the pictures:

In front of one of the fun displays for the zoo at a bank in the city.

Asahikawa is lucky because there are two districts that meet in the same building (the Elders in Shibetsu and Takikawa are like two hours away from each other so they meet in the middle, which happens to be Asahikawa)!  This is the group shot from last transfer!  Back row left to right is Elder Harper from Utah, Elder Sims from Texas, Eler Itee from Hawaii, Elder Nishima from Okinawa, Japan, Elder Jo from Japan/Korea, Elder Hatch from Utah, Elder Fepuleai from New Zealand.  Front me, Tsichida Shimai from Japan, Elder Brown from New Zealand.

My newest companion, Sister Lundstom, and I!  All the flowers were made by Sister Hansen, one of the senior missionaries.

Having fun with the flowers.

All of the newest Sisters together.  The first four are natives (the group includes 19 and 20 year old’s), the next two are half and have lived in various places, and then Lundstrom Shimai.  They just happened to stand in that order and I thought it was funny.

I forgot to say this in the email, but one of the little girls I love from my first area got baptized!  She is 10 and I love her and her family.  Since I was in Asahikawa and couldn’t go to the baptism I took a picture to send as a message.

And this is the long requested picture of me at my desk!  (I straightened my hair for like the first time in six months so I figured I should take a picture to document it).

And more pics from the Sapporo Mission Facebook page:

Yakiniku Lunch with New Companions

Sisters Training Meeting on April 4th with paper flowers made by Sister Hansen.

Cookies!

Elder and Sister Yamashita zone conference

March birthdays!