If you have a edged tools please see security. (Week 26)

Osoku narimashita. Sumimasen. Sorry I'm late. I just got back from Naha this morning so I've been busy.

This week was pretty interesting. Not much happened here in Ishigaki. But last Thursday we flew to Naha on my 10th plane and stayed until Monday morning when we flew on my 11th plane. Naha was so much fun. The best. But I'm happy to be back in Ishigaki.

We had our last zone conference with President Margetts on Friday. His very last zone conference. That was awesome. And so sad. And so amazing. I can't believe he goes home so soon. I love that man. And his wife. They are such wonderful people. Sister Margetts spoke and said when they were called by President Eyring he told her that she didn't need to learn Japanese but to try to share her testimony with her missionaries in Japanese. And so she did. And it was so powerful. And then she had a minute when she just broke down and cried. I cried too. Big surprise there. I'm going to miss them so much. And then President Margetts spoke. And he too had a minute where all he could do was just cry. I did a lot of crying that day. It was so sad. I love those people so much. This zone conference was a very special experience. I also got to hug Sister Margetts. President said that would be ok just this once.

And I junkaied a lot with the zone leaders. We stayed with them all weekend to go to stake conference and stuff and we all went out to dendo together trading companions so we could work with everyone. And I learned so much. And I saw so many miracles. On Saturday night I went out with Elder Anstead and went streeting. That was scary. And fun. We can't do it much in Ishigaki because there aren't many people on the streets. We talked to a bunch of people and taught like 8 lessons and got a bunch of potential investigators. And it was awesome. The first guy I talked to was mean though. Part way through he told me I was too slow and left. My Japanese isn't that good but I understood that. In fact he used the first two words of this email. It means I became late or slow. How's that for a confidence booster with this psychotic language? But then the very last guy we talked to when it was late and we were heading back was awesome. I talked to him first and then Elder Anstead took over. And we had a great little lesson with him. Part way through some marine came up to me and talked to me to say he appreciates what we do and stuff. He was a member. It was nice talking to a white guy who speaks english. And then Elder Anstead asked me to share my feelings on the Book of Mormon with that wonderful Japanese man and so I did. And I felt the spirit. And so did Elder Anstead. And then he took a Book of Mormon and we got his phone number and stuff. And then Sunday night I went out with Elder Anstead again and we saw more miracles. We stopped on our bikes at a light and gave some old man on a bike an eikaiwa flyer and then took off. And on the other side of the road my hand clenched the front brake. I really don't know why. And the bike stopped and almost flipped over. And somehow the chain fell off and got all caught up in the wheel. So I wasn't going anywhere for a while. And that old man rode by and asked if I was ok and then Elder Anstead talked to him while I fixed the bike and he gave the man a Book of Mormon and stuff. It was cool. And then later up that road at another light we said Konnichi wa to a woman standing waiting for the light and she said our Japanese was really good and then we walked and talked with her and she said she wanted to come to church and we gave her a Book of Mormon and it was cool. She could tell how special the Book of Mormon was because when we offered it to her she was hesitant to take such a special book away from us. And then we got back to the apartment with 15 minutes before we had to be back so we went to street a little. And we talked to a guy who was stopped on his bike. And he took a pamphlet and we made arrangements to meet him again. He didn't resist at all. Everyone is always like well I don't know if I can or I forgot my phone so can't give you my number but he was all for it. It was so awesome. Lots of miracles. the work is moving forward for these wonderful people.

That was basically my week. It was good. I'm excited to get going on Ishigaki. I've already picked out the place for the Ishigaki temple. I was going to call President Monson tonight to let him know.

Well be awesome. Have a good day. Have fun in Didneylan.

Love Josh

If the result is beauty, the method is justified! (Week 25)

What's up? I fine sank you, and you?

I hope all is going well in the hood. It sounds like things are going ok. Sounds fun. I'm glad none of you got shot on the phreeway.

Well this week has been exciting I guess. Not the best week ever. But whatever. We dropped a bunch of our investigators because they were going nowhere and had been going nowhere for a long time. So we only have 4 people that we are still working with. Aside from less active members. O_____ san and the Toyokawa family. Which has Toyokawa san and the kids Hank and Vivian. We didn't really enjoy dropping a bunch of people. But it had to be done. And now we are trying to do a lot of finding and stuff so we can teach more people. No one really wants to listen to us when we go housing. We have a few potential investigators. But not many. And our most promising one we can't visit until July. So we'll see how it goes.

The T_____ family didn't come to church yesterday but that was because they were all sick. I think if they were healthy they would have come again. They are going good I think. We just need to be able to meet them again. Them being sick is getting in the way. We have so much we need to tell them. And they are so close to amazing progression. I am very anxious to get to meet them again. I love those people. So much.

O_____ san is still doing good. She is still waiting for the letter from her Catholic leader in Nagoya. I don't really care if the letter is good or bad. I just want it to come. Its slowing her down. She won't do anything until she gets a response. She keeps reading the Book of Mormon and when we teach her something new about our church she always gets really excited and never stops telling us how the Catholic church doesn't have that. She believes it all. And we have a wonderful sister in our branch that has come to visit her with us and can do the Japanese we can't do and can teach her so much better. Oyama shimai. She is so wonderful. The members here are the best in the world. I think she is the reason O_____ san is doing so well. She and the Naha stake president. He talked to Onaka san for like 2 hours about a month ago and ever since then O_____ san has been progressing so well. Members are so important. Missionaries can't do it alone. And members can do it so much better than missionaries. So I think O_____ san will get baptized. It will just take more time. Which makes me nervous. But it will be ok.

So I conducted in church yesterday again. This time with no mistakes. Just stumbling over words. It is really hard to speak this language. I can't get it to come out. It is indescribably difficult to speak it. I can understand quite a bit when people speak especially about church things. But not everything. And I have such a hard time responding. Japanese doesn't come out of my mouth very well.

So. I get to ride two more airplanes this week. To Naha and back. This will be the last time I see President Margetts. He's going home very soon. And then at the beginning of July I get to go to Naha again to meet President Gustafson. So I'm still getting lots of planes. I heard a rumor that the Japan Fukuoka Mission spends the most money out of any mission on transportation. I'm not sure how true that is. But I don't think many missions get to ride airplanes four times a transfer. And if this is the most expensive mission then I am the Lord's most expensive missionary. Because within this mission Ishigaki is the most expensive to transport. Miyako is a close second. But it is cheaper than Ishigaki. I thought that was cool. I might be the Lord's most expensive missionary.

So Happy Phathers day dad. I should have told you earlier. I forgot it was fathers day. The Japanese people don't seem to care about fathers day as much. I think I saw one sign that said fathers day on it. Mothers day was everywhere. But no one cares about fathers day. They didn't even mention it in church yesterday. But I hope yours was good. I'll send you something awesome when I get around to sending a package home. I have a few things I want to send. But I don't think about it very much and so forget. My b.

So my home boy Eliason Choro is on Okinawa island right now. That's where he was transferred. And so I get to see him this week at zone conference. And Elder Amor transferred to Okinawa island too. So I don't get to skype with him every week anymore. But I'll get to meet him in person finally. Twice this transfer.

Well. I think I'm going to make like a rock and roll. Peace out. You are the saiko family. Yes. That is pronounced like psycho. Go look it up.

Love Josshu

I'm Still in Ishigaki! (Week 24)

So this was a pretty good week. We went to Taketomi island for last P day. We both stayed in Ishigaki. We had three investigators come to church yesterday. I learned to Japanese word for hand grenade. I found out that Elder Munro and I were connected before our missions through three people. One of those people being in the band Maroon 5. And I walked three minutes from the church to our apartment yesterday and was completely soaked by the rain about half way to the apartment. Good week.

Taketomi rocks. It is so beautiful. And we got to ride in a wagon thing being pulled by a suigyu. Which I think is like a water buffalo or something. I'm not sure what a water buffalo looks like and I only heard the Japanese name for this animal. It means water cow. But it is probably a little different in English. I also had ice cream there that I thought tasted like butter. I think the flavor was like salt or something. I'm not sure because it was Japanese. But it was buttery. And super delicious. Also I would appreciate it if you would buy me a shamisen to have when I get home. It is also called a sanshi in some places. I want to learn old Okinawan music.

 

We didn't transfer. Elder Munro is going on 4 transfers here. That's a long time. After 3 transfers you are probably transferring. So after 4 its pretty much for sure you will transfer. So I have a really good chance of staying another transfer here because they aren't likely to take both of us out. But it has been known to happen. In fact it just happened in Okinawa. Elder Buckingham returned home this past week. And his companion did too. So now there are missionaries there that don't know anything about my beloved Okinawa trying to dendo it up. I sure hope they take care of those people properly.

 

This morning I got to see my two favorite old people. Sunagawa san is the guy we do rajio taiso in the park with every morning. He is so funny. It started raining and when the first half of taiso ended he asked if it was ok or if we should leave. And I understood him which I almost never do. And I yelled Daijobu desu! Which means its ok to stay. And he got so happy. He said Tanoshiku Ganbarimasho with extra vigor after that. That means like lets funly hang in there. And after he said thank you and we got so much genki out after that. He was so happy that I wanted so much to stay. And I think he was so happy that I understood him and then replied. It was just a good morning for that man. Also most mornings we see this crazy old lady walking around. And we say ohayo gozaimasu to her every time we see her. Even across the street now. She says it back and then starts laughing in her crazy old lady way. That never fails to put a smile on my face. She is so funny.

That lady that we found housing last week at the third to last door we still haven't been able to see. That was a pretty Japanese way to structure a sentence. My bad. But its cool at the same time. Anyways. She's going to Naha for a while and we won't be able to see her until July. I think July will be a really awesome month. It seems like everything is being set up for a good July.

And if you send a package for my birthday please send manly deodorant. You can't find much deodorant here. And I'm almost out.

 

And I did get the package. Just yesterday. Thank you. It has been fun and tasty. I have enjoyed it. Thank you very much.

 

So that mom that prayed last sunday said she would come to church this week. And we visited them again on saturday to remind her but she only came out long enough to see if we transferred and then had to go watch the volleyball game. But we talked to her kids. And we weren't really that confident that she was going to show up to church. But she and both her kids came. And it was so awesome. We haven't had many investigators come to church. Hopefully we can keep that up. I love that family. They are so awesome. We went and watched the son play basketball a while ago. He's pretty good. It was just a small game so we were commentating ourselves. And we didn't know anyone's name except Hank's so we made up names. Like Yellow Belly, Goggles, Iron Man, Addict, Sir Lunacy, and my personal favorite: Whitey Tightey's Got His Genki Out. They are a high school team. And they are good. But the middle school team they were playing beat them. So that was sad. But it was fun. And as we were leaving a random girl said Otsukaresama desu to me. Which literally means you are mister tired. It means like good work you hard worker. I don't know why she said that. She must have fallen in love with me.

 

Which reminds me of that eikaiwa girl that fell in love with me last week. She was there again. And the first thing she said is so you get your call tomorrow from Fukuoka saying if you transfer or not. I sure hope you don't get transferred. Her English was a little more broken than that but that's what she said. And she was dressed up this time and wearing perfume. I don't know if that was because of me or if she just goes out like that to eikaiwa at 8:00 pm. Poor girl. I really didn't mean to make her fall in love with me. My bad.

And the Japanese word for grenade is shuryuudan. Dad. I expect you to teach that to everyone at work. The double u in the middle is an extra long oo sound.

 

We hear that the rainy season is almost over here. And we were surprised because it hasn't rained that much. Its rained way more than Utah has in the past 10 years but for Ishigaki it hasn't been very much. And then we had the rain storm of our life yesterday. Right after we heard it was almost over and that it had been a gentle rain season. That was fun. I've never seen such rain. And such humidity. I am seriously dying. It is way too humid. But Ishigaki is still awesome. I love it so much.

 

Yesterday Elder Munro said he woke up in the night to an earthquake and everything was shaking and stuff. I didn't though. But then the branch president said there was an earthquake. So that is scary. I sure hope there won't be a tsunami here. That would not be fun. But it is possible. President Yonaha even has plans in the next few weeks to teach the branch about tsunami safety. I hope that doesn't scare you mom. I'll be fine if there is a tsunami. We already know where we are going to go. There is a tall building near our apartment. So we're good. Shinpai shinai de kudasai.

 

Well I'm peacing out. I love you all. Have a good week. I'll talk to you later. Mata ne. Bye bye. Shitsureshimasu.

Love リドル長老

Today we make new legend. Taketomi P day (week 23)

Hi. The other day I saw a shirt. It said: The youth has vigor. Young people can take advantage of others. I just thought I'd share that with you. The Japanese English is everywhere here. I love it. I see it all the time.

So I hope things back in Utah have been good. I hear its hot. Its not really that hot here right now but its more humid than you can imagine. Its raining a lot. Rainy season. And that just makes it more humid. Like death. I can't believe how humid it is. I can't stand it. I want Utah's weather back. That is the good weather of the world. If Ishigaki had Utah weather then this would be the best place on earth.

This week has been pretty good for me. I've seen some pretty cool stuff happen. We went housing for hours and hours on Thursday. We housed this huge building that took forever. And almost no one answered the door. We taught a few quick lessons but no one really seemed to be solid. And we were tired and hot and we wanted to go. On the top floor is where we always start. Because its easier to go down than go up. So we stay to do the whole building. I said beranda kara tobimasu a couple times. You can try to figure that out on your own. And then on the bottom floor something happened. It was the third to last door. And we almost forgot that area because it didn't look like apartments were over there. But we went. And an old lady came to the door that said she teaches her grandkids or something to believe in God and liked what we had and she took a pamphlet and Book of Mormon very happily and said of course we could come back and wants to hear more. That doesn't happen very much. So that was cool. That blessed woman will get baptized soon.

So there is this Japanese lady here who is fluent in english. She is better than I am at english. She uses words that are too big for my vocabulary. And she teaches eikaiwa at her house every week and we go to help out because we are native speakers and she still has an accent. And while we were there she told one of the high school girls to come read to me and then have me help her pronunciation and then we were just talking and stuff. She was really good at english. And she asked what I want to do when I go home. And I said I'm interested in entering the FBI. And she got all excited and basically fell in love with me. And that is not an exaggeration. High school girls love white guys. And everyone thinks the FBI like is secret agents and does stuff you see in movies and stuff so they think that is really cool. So I accidentally made her fall in love with me. My bad. The Japanese lady's husband speaks english too. And when he heard that he said he has never met a boy with so much ambition. Japanese people are so funny.

Also we taught a lesson yesterday. there is a family that is fluent in english and japanese. So we can teach in english. And Elder Munro keeps telling me when we get there that I have the lesson with no preparation. Last time we met them it went real good so he thinks I am just the best and should always take it when we teach them. So I did. And it was only the mom. And we talked and had a great time. And then we taught her. And I took the lead again but it was ok. And I felt the Spirit really strongly. And that was way cool. And then at the end she volunteered to say the prayer. That never happens. And she prayed in Japanese so I couldn't understand very well. But after Elder Munro said she said she felt a good feeling as we taught her and that she wants it back. We invited her to go to church on sunday. And I think she will keep that commitment. I really hope so. Anyways. It was just good. I feel like the Spirit told me exactly what to say to help her concerns. It was a super cool experience.

And this week is transfers. So I might get transferred away from Ishigaki. But I kind of doubt it. Elder Munro has been here three transfers so he is pretty sure he's leaving. He really doesn't want to go. I don't either. I would love to spend the rest of my mission here.

And Japanese people love to see pictures of the family so I always carry them around. And everyone says Dad is so young. And they ask how old and they all say my parents are so young. You are weirdly young to them. Just so you know.

Well. I should go now. I love you. Have a good week. I know I will. If I stay in Ishigaki.

Love Josh