Sup homies. (Week 35)

I don't have much time to write today because it is Elder Munro's last P day and some members are taking us out to see some cool Ishigaki scenery. So yeah.

I have been good with Typhoons lately. We have no way to know about Typhoons really until they come or if we call members about them and stuff. So dad knows better than I do about them. All I know is that the biggest one in a long time was going to hit Ishigaki but turned to Okinawa instead. And that one kind of hit last week that is circling around for another go at Ishigaki. Probably to hit today. We've had rain today. Nothing major. Yet. But its all good. They can get intense but if you just stay inside you're safe. So don't worry about us. Japanese people almost never die in Typhoons. They just use common sense.

So yesterday the branch president and his daughter and a guy from Naha and one other person were going to speak in church. And the day before we got a call from our wonderful branch president saying he went to Naha early with his family to avoid the typhoon. And the guy from Naha couldn't come because of the typhoon. So we had like 12 hours to figure out sacrament talks and who would teach sunday school and who would teach priesthood. I just barely didn't have to give another surprise talk. We luckily ran out of time. And someone took sunday school for us. But we had to get priesthood. And Munro 長老 spoke in sacrament. That was exciting. I don't actually enjoy those surprise phone calls from Naha.

This week is transfers. And it is for sure that Munro 長老 is transferring. Don't ask me how I know so early. And if I don't get a call today saying I'm transferring too then on wednesday they will tell me that I'm staying a 4th transfer on Ishigaki! Which I am excited about. I love this place. And odds are I will get a Japanese companion but we'll see. I sure hope I do. I need to talk to native speakers more.

So this week we didn't actually get to see any of our regular investigators. So that was sad. But we are going to get to them this coming week to see how they are doing. As of right now no one is really progressing that much. But that will change.

I'm praying for Kate. She will adjust. It will be ok. It just takes time. I want to write to her specifically but today I have no time. So I'm sorry. I wish I could. I am excited to hear that she has a Japanese roommate. That sounds like fun. Japanese people are the most wonderful people on the earth. I love them. Learn Japanese from her Kate.

When Dad told me what is going down with preparations for tailgate parties this year at BYU I said Oh no. He's one of them. But I hope you have fun Dad. It sounds like it will be exciting. I wish I could join you. But I'm busy with other things these days. Maybe someday.

Also something interesting is that lately I have been feeling this need to go to the temple. I can't stand being away for as long as this. I am having trouble seeing how people can stay away especially in Utah where there are about 800 temples. I really need to go. But I don't think I can get a Taiwan trip approved.

Well I am kind of running out of time. I wish I could email more. Have a good week. Keep doing what you should be doing. Life will always be happy if you do. I love you all so much. You are all the very best.

Love Elder.

Typhoon Tracking Map

This map shows the entire track of Typhoon Tembin so far, along with it's projected path.  The current model shows Taiwan as taking the brunt of it all.

There's something called the Fujiwhara effect, which explains the interaction between two "cyclonic vortices".  It's the reason Tembin didn't make landfall in Hong Kong, but is being pulled by the more powerful Bolaven to come back east and then north.

Ishigaki is no longer in the projected path of Tembin, but does have some weather advisories.

Weather Forecast

There are a couple of Typhoons in the area.  Looks like Okinawa will get hammered with the strongest typhoon in 13 years.

And there's another lurking which just might pass through the Ishigaki area around Tuesday, as a category 1 typhoon.  So far the only warnings issued for Ishigaki is high waves.

We are prepared for unseen events that may or may not occur. (Week 34)

So here I am emailing again. It seems like it was just yesterday when I was here emailing last week. Time flies here like you wouldn't believe. This week was pretty good. We couldn't get as much teaching and stuff done as I would have liked because of zone conference but that was awesome. We went to Naha and back on my 16th and 17th planes. Flying never gets old. I love it. The zone conference was so awesome. We had a couple of guys from central Kyushu talk to us about contacting people. And it was so good. They were just regular Joes from Kyushu that are just amazing at knowing how to talk to people about the gospel and not be weird about it. I learned a lot. And then we broke off into pairs and practiced. I was with Elder Neki who is in fact a Japanese man. And guess what. I experienced the gift of tongues and understood everything he said. Almost. There was like two things I didn't know because he was being so polite. But I understood as fast as he was speaking. That was way cool. I love it when that happens. It keeps me going just a little longer. This language is nuts. And being with President Gustafson is just the best thing ever. I love that man. And his wife. So much.

Then later that night we went out to dendo with the Naha zone leaders and the Miyako Elders. That was fun. And scary. I was with Elder Jeffery the zone leader and Elder Bunderson the Miyako elder. We went out to find people on the street. And we met some really nice people. And then Elder Bunderson contacted a man and was teaching him and then Elder Jeffery went to help him just in case he got stuck so I was left alone to pass out eikaiwa fliers and whatnot. And their lesson went forever but I didn't join because three missionaries on one man is scary. So I contacted people knowing that there wasn't a soul to help me with the Japanese. And I was ok because everyone only listened for a little bit and then walked off. So I didn't run into hard Japanese. And one guy was chinese and didn't speak Japanese. But it was kind of new and exciting to know you are not going to have someone help you with the Japanese. So I'd say it was another legendary Junkai.

So Elder Munro has a brother serving in the Kobe mission. Right next to our mission. You creeps. But I don't know who Oliver is.

Sounds like things are getting exciting at home. With school starting and Kate booking it out of there. I hope you all enjoyed your summer vacation. I know I did. Except this isn't really a vacation exactly. I hope all goes well with Kate moving out and stuff. That should be exciting. I was nervous when I moved out too. But it was fun. At first I was a little scared because it was so new to me. But I got used to it quickly. And it was fun. So don't be too nervous Kate. Just have fun with it. And don't be too sad mom. Its all good.

I'm sorry to hear about the saturn freaking out. But it spices up life so its fun right? I hope all goes well with that car. I don't want it to die or anything. I was sad when old mercy kicked the bucket. Don't put me through that again.

Yesterday we had a dinner with a couple in our branch with one of our investigators there. And it was so good. That woman knows how to cook. And she made these way awesome brownies. They reminded me of mom's brownies. But maybe a little bit better... I'm just kidding mom. And we taught about the Book of Mormon. When we were preparing for the lesson yesterday it was cool. We prayed and thought about what to teach and we threw around ideas and then we both just had the same overwhelming feeling of the importance of the Book of Mormon. And we knew that is what we should teach. So we did. And it was good. I don't know exactly how well it got to our investigator. Y_____ san. But I think she will actually read the Book of Mormon now. And then its all up to God. And we can sure trust him to help her out the way she needs it.

So this transfer is coming to a close pretty quick. We get transfer calls on the 28th and then we actually transfer on the 29th. One day to prepare. That's fun. Elder Munro is on 5 transfers in Ishigaki and that is almost unheard of. So he will almost definitely transfer. And they will probably not take us both out so I will probably stay for a 4th transfer here. Elder Munro has been in Ishigaki longer than I have been in Japan. He has been here forever. And I will be here for a long time too. But it still feels like I just got here. I don't want to leave. I want to stay here forever.

So I have really sad news. O_____ san was our closest investigator to baptism. And we had to tell her that we won't meet with her regularly anymore. She isn't praying about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and stuff. She prays every day but won't pray about that. She is moving very slowly away from the Catholic church. And we have taught her everything more than once. So we can't do anything more for her. Its up to her and she isn't acting. So we will visit someday again. But not often. I can't tell you how sad that makes me. Why won't people just do what we say? They have no idea how much this will change their lives. They have no idea how important this is. But they can know. If they just do it.

Some better news is that we had an investigator at church yesterday that we haven't met with in a long time. She isn't progressing but she came to church because the branch president's daughter got baptized and was confirmed in sacrament meeting. She went to the baptism. Maybe she will start progressing soon. She was telling me how good my Japanese has become. But I only understood like half of my conversation with her.

The baptism was really good. I love going to baptisms. The spirit is so strong. I love it so much. Baptisms are such sweet experiences.

So I didn't have a talk yesterday. But I did sing a duet with Elder Munro in sacrament meeting. The things I do these days. I would never have done that in the home ward. But now I do crazy stuff. I basically have just left behind all fear and I do whatever will bring the Spirit to other people.

Well I will probably be going now. I'm glad to hear you got my letter mom. I just sent that a week ago. I feel like that was way fast. And the package hasn't been sent yet. There is one more thing I wanted to put in it but I have to wait to get it. And I figured its best to wait just a little and send it with this package rather than hang onto it forever until the next one. So. You will know it is sent when I deposit money in the account that I didn't use.

Have a nice day. And a nice week. I love you all. Peace. Heian soto.

Hi. I'm emailing again. (Week 33)

So this week was pretty good. We spent the first few days on Miyako island and had a good time there. Me and the junior companion on Miyako, Elder Bunderson, went out to dendo together. It was fun. That man is so full of wisdom. And it was scary because both of us have really rocky Japanese. But it was good. And I felt the spirit when we taught. We gave a Book of Mormon to a girl. Giving out Book of Mormons is not really that common here. So that was very exciting. Its hard to get people to take the Book of Mormon unless they can really feel that it is important. Japanese people don't like to take things from you especially if it is something like a book. Its too big of a thing to accept from someone. They are worried about costing us money. And its really hard to get them to listen at all. Once they hear the word church they put their hand up and tell us they don't have any interest. And they close the doors really fast. Sometimes they close the door while we are talking. Its weird. But whatever. Its still fun. Ish. Japanese is scary.

So yesterday we had a couple Relief Society leaders come from Naha to visit our branch. And the speakers were going to be those two and President Yonaha. Well earlier this week President Yonaha's wife called us and asked us to teach the sunday school lesson because she was going to Okinawa. And then on Sunday morning President Yonaha called and said Surprise! I'm in Okinawa! And by the way I won't be able to speak today. So guess who got to pull a talk out of the air yesterday. Me. Those blessed women who were visiting and they gave long talks so I only had to give like a 7 minute talk. That was scary. But I was able to do it. It was about feeling the spirit through music. And I knew all the Japanese I had to use and I felt the spirit so it went good. I shared a story about the previous day when we had eikaiwa with only one person. But we didn't really have eikaiwa. We actually just talked to her and she played some stuff on the piano. She is way good and has a concert today. It was really fun. She played lots of classical music for us that I recognized and it was very nice to hear that again. And I felt the spirit during her music. It was nice to just talk to her and focus on her. Usually her husband comes to eikaiwa too but he dominates her. She kind of fades into the background with him around. So I think it was nice for her to be appreciated. And the spirit was there. I think she would accept the gospel if her husband didn't dominate her so much. He is happy to hear our spiritual messages but has no need to change or anything. And his wife just kind of goes along with it. Anyways.

And while I was talking to her she told me of a person she knows with a cello on Ishigaki. She wants me to go visit her. So we will probably do that. But the way to find her is at a tea place. And so we kind of can't buy anything there unless they have mugicha. So it could be awkward.

Did I tell you about a guy who wants to be taught the cello? President Yonaha came to me one day like a week ago and told me a man wants to learn the cello and he has a cello but no teacher. No one on Ishigaki teaches the cello. So he asked if I could teach him until I transfer. And I said yes. So we will see how that goes. We still haven't contacted this man. So we'll see.

So our investigators are really starting to just sit where they are. No one is progressing. Even O_____ san. That makes me sad. She was doing so well. I hope we can get her to start moving forward again. She just won't pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and stuff. We will meet her tomorrow. So I hope that goes well. I am going to take the lead in that one. So pray that I will be ok with Japanese.

I hope all is going well at home. I am praying for you all. I hope you have a speedy recovery, Mom. And I hope everything works out for the best with deciding which way to go at work, Dad. I'll be praying for you. I'm confident things will go the way God wants. And I pray for you too Kate. I am glad you weren't mugged at work and stuff. I'm glad people wanted to buy food instead.

I'll try to answer some questions now. Elder Munro's first name is Elder. Nothing is really new in Ishigaki these days. The members are as wonderful as ever. Even the less active ones. They are just the best ever. I love them so much. The members here have become my family. I never want to leave. Japanese is very difficult. But I'm getting better. I study every day and I use it a lot every day. So its getting better. But its very difficult to understand people.

Well I love you all. I'm pretty much out of time. So have a good week. I love you. This place rocks. I am way happy here. These past couple days have been crazy and hard and scary but they have been my happiest. I love it.

愛しています。いい一日を
リドル長老

Sorry I'm late. The plane to Miyako took forever. (Week 32)

A new condition. A new state of mind if you will: Sweet shiny hearts of acceptance.

So this week was exciting. We didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to because we were nailed by a typhoon and stuck in the apartment for a couple days. That was interesting. There is only so much you can do in the apartment. And then you explode and have to leave and go preach some gospel. I've never seen so much rain an wind. It was pretty intense. Today is another typhoon. It is just kind of hitting Ishigaki with the edge right now. And hitting Miyako more directly. And its taking Okinawa out. And going towards China. Just so you know. We were in the super tiny Miyako plane that takes a half hour to get from Ishigaki to Miyako. That is fun. My second time on that plane. My 14th plane. And the turbulocity during the landing was basically way scary. The plane kept dropping like 40 feet and was being jarred left and right as we were inches above the runway. I thought we were dead meat. But the pilot successfully landed softer than I have ever experienced in an airplane. So yeah. Today has been an adventure.

So I had a couple dreams in Japanese this week. It was still like way hard to communicate but I was dreaming in Japanese. And I thought that was pretty cool. One of them was one of the scariest dreams I've ever had though. We don't have to go into it. But it was in Japanese so I still loved it. Just so yall know whuts going down in the hood.

So missionaries always make jokes about all the Japanese girls that fall in love with white guys and always yell kakkoii at them and stuff. That basically means you're cool. And I thought that was all fun and whatever but I only have ever seen them get giggly and stuff around me. Only the truly bold ones speak. And they only speak to ask me if I want to go out with them. So I thought the screaming girls was just exaggeration. But this week three of them were together and started screaming kakkoii at us and stuff. And I just busted up laughing. The stories are true. Girls really do that. Can you believe that?

And before I forget. This morning on my way to the airport I saw some guy walking the streets of Ishigaki wearing a BYU shirt.

So I want to send a package home. But I don't have the money to do it. So think about that I guess. And decide whether mom's birthday present is really worth sending.

On Saturday we went to a matsuri. That's like a big festival. It was so much fun. I'll send pictures sometime. It was so awesome. We saw some guys that hold these huge poles with cool flag stuff on top. One guy holds it and two guys have a rope and two guys have poles to help keep it balanced and they pass it around and walk around with it and almost drop them and stuff. I was almost hit by one. It was so fun. And there were parades and cute little Japanese kids dancing and playing drums and stuff. It was way awesome. And then it was getting dark. And they had two platforms with a bunch of people under them holding them up and then they meet and the two guys on top started fighting and stuff with sickles and spears. It was cool. And at one point drums were going and chanting and stuff and it was getting way intense. And then we had the biggest tug a war. How do you spell that? I don't know English. Anyways. The rope was so big around that I would probably barely be able to bear hug it. with little ropes coming off so you can actually grab it. It was 130 meters long. And hundreds of people were involved. It was the coolest thing ever. And my side won. We wasted. It was so good. I am amazed with Japan. They have progressed so quickly in the world and yet they keep their history better than anyone else. It was way cool. So much fun. Though there was one bimyo part. There was a guy in the parade who was dressed weird. It was inappropriate in a weird way. But we don't have to get into it. But he saw the branch presidents 7 year old daughter and charged her to scare her. And then went away. And the thoughts that went through my head were what in the world is that?! and then I'll punch you square in the face if you get closer to her and then again what in the world was that!?. It was so weird. And then the branch presidents wife started apologizing to me. Come on Japan. Sometimes Japan is a little bit different. Kind of weird. Anyways. That was quite the experience.

And the branch says we made it into the newspaper because someone took a picture of our area on the road. But I haven't seen it.

So about our investigators. They have all kind of stopped in their progression for a bit. But they are about to make more progress real fast. I can tell. So its ok. Just sad for this week. People are just kind of doing nothing right now. But soon. They will all receive baptism. So worry not.

Well that is kind of how things are this week.

Inner peace and enlightenment can only be achieved after there are no places left on your body to bruise.

Loves. Elder Josh 長老