Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (: I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! (: 

This is my friend from Nara and he is a deer and this is my deer face because they pretend to smile at you and ask you for crackers and then they bite you from behind and I'm pretty sure I've explained this process to you before but I just think it's super genius. But Nara was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (: We'll have to take a pit stop at Nara when we travel back to Japan!!! 

Anyway, this week was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! Croft shimai rocks. Kobe rocks. I wish I could write my whole life out on here because there are so many tiny tender mercies that happen each day but I only have enough time to write a few things. There's a lot of prayer and testimony building and rejection and lessons and people being prepared in between all of the experiences I relate to you each week. BUT I'm going to tell you two super awesome things. 

1. ELDER AOYAGI OF THE QUORUM OF THE 70 CAME TO KOBE THIS PAST WEEK AND HE DID A MISSION TOUR. He is definitely a man of God. Each time a member of the 70 comes to the mission a few missionaries get super lucky and have a one-on-one interview with him. Daniels shimai got to be one of those and really more than anything else the thing that I learned is how the gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect. Whatever challenge or trial or question we have, Christ teaches us how we can fix it. It's kind of like a tree and Jesus Christ is the trunk. and He teaches us doctrine which become the big branches. And from the doctrine we can learn principles which basically just help us understand. those are the smaller branches that branch off of the big branches. Then comes the application where we learn to live the principles that we've acquired from the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Those are the little pear and cherry blossom buds. 

Theoretically, if we are struggling to know what to do to fix a problem, we need to look at the principles behind our problem. And then we match those principles with the words of Jesus Christ in the scriptures where we find the doctrine. And then Jesus Christ just loves us and gives us the power we need to overcome our problems if we rely on Him. This might not make any sense but it definitely does in my mind. 

2. I GOT TO GO ON COMPANION EXCHANGES WITH MACKENZIE SHIMAI AND IT WAS SOOOOOO NATSUKASHIIIIII. I love her with all of my heart. We went up to Maizuru and it snowed almost every minute that we were there. it was so awesome and also the craziest feeling ever of talking with my trainee about how training is going with her trainee. I caught a glimpse of my life in like 40 years and I bet it rocks to be a grandma. I'm so proud of MacKenzie shimai. She has the purest heart and just an insane amount of faith. We went out shovel dendoing!! an old investigator of theirs lives pretty close by and we went to go shovel her out. On the way over we figured out a super good system where I stood in front and shoveled the snow in front of me and took a break to throw it in the snowbank, leaving some behind, and continuing forward. it made a dashed line of show which MacKenzie shimai scooped up and threw into the snowbank, making a perfectly paved path. I'm not sure how to explain things anymore in english. But it was super fun and we wore our Mormon Helping Hands jerseys over our coats and just shoveled for the people on the road. One family we shoveled for let us inside and we played with the little boy and taught a lesson. Missionary work is just living and telling people about why you're happy. 

sorry, there's a #3 too. We went over to a less active's house and had squid ink pasta!! it was actually super delicious. and the ink stains like wildfire spreads so your lips and teeth turn black. haha It was awesome. 

I love you all!! If my explanations aren't understandable just know that following Jesus Christ brings never-ending happiness. Because it's true!

Love,

Daniels shimai