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