Last week of the Transfer (Week 87)

This week was ok I guess. I can't really remember most of what happened. I just know we sure didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked.

We got a new investigator this past week. His name is T_____ san. He came to Eikaiwa and I taught him there about the church a little. He was a referral from a different mission where he met missionaries and had some interest. And it turns out he wants to go to BYU and someone in Tokyo told him he should learn about the religion in Utah before he goes. So that's what he wants to do. And he said he will come to church on this coming sunday. So he seems pretty good. I am excited to work with him.

On this past Saturday we went to the temple. That was really nice. I am sad that I can't just go whenever I want. I really like it. It feels nice there. So that was really good. And I saw a ton of people all over the temple that I recognized but had never been close to from Tsuboi. That was cool. And then just before I left I ran into one of the young men of Tsuboi ward that I used to spend some time with. His name is Hiroyuki. And we had a nice talk. He told me that in a little bit Momoko would be coming to the temple. But not for another hour or so. And then my bus left. So I missed her. That was sad. I would have really liked to see her. I know she got her mission call. Does anyone know when she leaves? So that was the temple. I always like it there.

On Sunday we had a dendo fireside with Elder Tashiro of the seventy there. He is so cool. He is my favorite person ever. He lives in Kumamoto so when I was in Tsuboi I saw him all the time. And then he spoke at stake conference in Hiroshima when I first got here in January and he changed my life forever. And then he came here again but just to Hikari ward. And he changed my life again. He keeps doing that. And he remembered me. I just love that guy. The day before when we were at the temple I talked to one of the APs and he told us that for the dendo fireside Tashiro choro wanted the Hiroshima zone leaders to take half of the fireside. So that was scary. We had no time to prepare. We got like 15 minutes with Tashiro choro during gospel principles class to prepare for it. And it was going to be awesome. But then all kinds of technical difficulties went down and it just was not so great. Satan was really trying to mess something up. Something is about to happen in Hiroshima. Anywho. Afterwards Tashiro choro pulled us aside and we talked about the fireside a bit. He said it was the first experience for this presentation that is going to be done everywhere. And he said now we know how to do it. Now do it in the rest of Hiroshima stake. So I might be doing firesides all over the stake now. Crazy. And then at the very end I got some one on one time with Tashiro choro. He is my favorite guy. In our few minutes of talking he changed my life. He is the most amazing guy. I love him. I really hope I can meet him again.

Something is about to happen in Hiroshima. That is why Hikari area went from two missionaries to six. That is why next transfer Saijo is going from two to six. And that is why it is so difficult to do any missionary work right now. It is hard lately to have anyone listen or to just be able to get the work done. Satan is trying to get into everything up in here. Its yabeh. But we will keep working hard. And then make whatever sick miracle that's going to happen happen. That's how we do it up in the Hiroshima hood. Home skillet biscuit.

Today is transfer calls. I don't know what is going to happen. I can't imagine much is going to change in Hikari area. But the sisters will probably go threesome. I don't think I will ever transfer again. This is almost guaranteed to be my last area. But at some point Elder Eckman and I will actually become companions. I don't know when. I really want it to be this transfer. Its too hard trying to train and be a zone leader and then just do both of those not very  well because neither can get the time and attention they need. Its hard. So we'll see what transfers brings later today.

You asked about translating, mom. I'll respond just because its interesting. I had to translate stake conference from Japanese to English. And it was hard. I also had to translate some of the fireside on Sunday. Japanese to English is very hard. I don't always understand what they say and so I don't know what to say in English. And you are always an entire sentence behind because the verb is at the end in Japanese so you need to wait until the end until you know what they are saying. I also translated a district meeting for one of the district leaders this week English to Japanese. He is a really young missionary and so President told him to not be too prideful to ask the zone leaders for translation if he needed it. So he asked. And I can basically say almost anything I want in Japanese and I understand English perfectly so it was rather easy. There are still some challenges to it. And my Japanese isn't pretty. But it is easier to go from English to Japanese. I just thought that was interesting.

Tell Kujo I love her. Take her to my room and remind her of me. Don't let her forget. I love that stinky little dog.

Well. I love you all. I hope you all have a good day. Be cool. Stay in school. I'll talk to you next week in probably the same location and situation as now. So 楽しみにしてください。日本語で書くのはスーパー大変です。大嫌いですよ。フリーキングクラップ。

愛
トム・りドル長老

Oh by gosh by golly (Week 86)

Well this week was just as taihen as the last week if not more taihen. We had zone conference though and President came. That was a lot of fun. I love him and Sister Gustasfson. I made them one of mom's cheesecakes. They loved it and want the recipe. I gave it to a lot of people there and they all loved it. It really is the best cheesecake to bless the human race.

We still don't have any investigators. We have a couple of possibilities coming up. We'll see how those go.

We had stake conference yesterday and me and Elder Eckman had to translate it for all of the Americans with the microphone thing. It was so hard. I can't believe how hard translastion is. Its just a pain. But it worked out ok.

I only have two transfers after this one. And this one is almost done already. I don't know whats going on. Its so fast. I will have 15 transfers total. I am already almost done with number 13.

Well I have no more time to email today. sorry. I'm busy busy. But I love you. Sorry this is so short. I'll do better next week.

Love Josh

Kyou no nekutai wa murasaki janai (Week 85)

Well I had a real interesting week. I guess. I can't remember most of it. But I'm sure it was interesting.

I did learn something quite big this past week. I found out that for the past year and a half I have been gay. Or at least I sounded like it. A member had all 8 missionaries over for dinner this week and the sisters here in Hikari are both Japanese. One is named Nihei shimai. She is awesome. A great missionary. And then I said something to her companion and then she said to me after a moment: "Elder Liddle, when you say that it sounds a little okama." "Eh? What was that?" "Okama." "I don't know what that means. Hold on. Let me look it up in my dictionary. Oh. I see. Wow. I sound gay? What are the rules for that particle? Oh wow. I have been gay my whole mission. That's awkward. Well thank you Nihei Shimai for letting me know. Now that this way of speaking has become habit and I probably have no chance to change it now and now I will just always be aware of my gay talk right after I say it every time now. Yeah. Thanks." So I talk like a gay guy in Japanese. And I didn't even mean to. But the bright side is I am really good at it in two languages now. And another bright side is Kashida shimai told me that if I talked like that to younger girls, which I have done countless times because it was young girls I learned this way of talking from, then it will give them the impression that I like them and they will want to be my boyfriend. Who doesn't want that kind of power? Yeah. That was really a weird revelation to me this past week. Kind of funny though. I remember talking to all the girl members and investigators we had in Tsuboi. And that is where I learned most of my Japanese. That and the branch president's daughters in Ishigaki. And I even asked the girls in Tsuboi if I sounded weird because I knew I was just learning how they talk. They told me I sounded normal. Maybe I was just so bad at Japanese that they didn't notice and it just sounded like a gaijin who couldn't speak Japanese. But thanks to them I learned to talk gay.

That was probably the highlight of my week. I also got to do a sick junkai with the Elders in Yasufuruichi and Takasu. That was way fun. Just lots of zone leader duties that are actually fun. Working with other members of the zone.

I feel like I have switched my focus to being a trainer rather than a zone leader. Which is not that good. I can't quite find the right balance. But I'll keep working on it.

Mom I have no idea what you are talking about with Costco and pictures and whatever. I never knew there was a relation between a big american food store and pictures.

We went to see the atomic bomb dome again this past week as a district. It was pretty fun. Really sad. We went the day before the anniversary and I didn't even know it. So that was interesting. A lot of people there. And they were all trying to get the americans to stop liking war. Tanoshikatta ne.

Well. I got more zone leadery duties to see to so I best be off.

Love Elder Liddle

Nani ittara ii ka wakaran (Week 84)

So here I am again emailing you on a fine Monday. This p day we will have district p day and go see the Genbaku Domu (Atomic Bomb Dome) again. And then go to costco to get apple vinegar. Did I tell you I got my own Costco card?

Well I'll just get the bad news out there first so we can talk about something more fun at the end. We have no investigators. R_____ is not answering his phone. And there is just no one else. We are looking and looking for a new one but no one seems to care about God. I'd say about a third of the people I talk to actually laugh at me when I mention God. Its pretty difficult to get anyone to even listen to a lesson on the street these days. I just feel bad for my bean. Every bean comes out of the MTC expecting to have investigators that they can practice all their new teaching skills on and they expect there to be huge miracles and kinjin and stuff. But we are still looking for our investigators. I hope he is doing ok. Not having anyone to teach is pretty hard on the beans I think.

Speaking of my bean, let me tell you about him. He is Elder Braswell from Ohio. He is 19 years old. He loves to run. Which makes me feel bad because there is no way I am going with him to run again. And he is very enthusiastic and excited about life. He just wants to go share the gospel. I like him. Sometimes I feel stress from him but I think that is normal for trainers. I was stressed in the beginning with my last bean too. They just need time to learn how missionary life really works out here. And not think they already know everything as some beans seem to think. I feel like its really challenging to train again because my bean right now has such different strengths and weaknesses as my last one. So I feel like I have to relearn how to be a trainer. And a zone leader. At the same time. That is still really stressful. I never feel like I can put enough time to either one of my jobs and so I constantly feel like I am failing. It's very hard. But I guess I'll make it ok. So yeah. My bean is cool. I don't really know him that well right now either but I like him.

Everyone keeps making comments about how old I am as a missionary. The missionaries and the members. It makes me sad. I don't want to leave Japan.

So yesterday we had a big party at our ward mission leader's house. And then the ward mission leader's wife and some other members and the sisters all started to make fun of my name. It was weird because people don't really make fun of my name anymore. Most Japanese people don't understand that my name is close to little unless I tell them. But these people just went off forever on their little Japanese jokes. It was quite funny just because they thought they were so clever. For Japanese people that was pretty clever. But we get that all the time in America. The most common joke they make about my name is Tom Riddle because in Japanese the spelling is the same. I think I told you that once. Well it was just funny. I love Japanese people so much.

Has the world changed since I left? The new beans I talk to keep telling me about all this crazy stuff that they say is going down. How's the music? It's probably just the same garbage as always only different songs. But I heard Apocalyptica released a song from someone. That will be something to look forward to. I haven't ever thought about what the world was doing until these beans came. 後もうちょっとね。well I hope its fun. I don't want to come back to a boring world someday.

Sometimes I see star wars playing in stores here for various reasons. And I walk past it to hear if its in Japanese or if its only Japanese subtitles. And usually all the voices and everything are in Japanese. Which makes me want to stay and watch and call it Language Study. But I never do. Don't worry.

I feel like the way I'm talking may seem like I am getting too excited to go home and stuff. But don't worry. I just don't have much to report as far as dendo goes so I am just saying stuff so you have something to read. I hope you like this well prepared and thought out email.

Well just pray that we will be able to find a new investigator who wants to hear the gospel. That's what we need right now.

Have a wonderful day. Mom, you are such an お疲れ様。Love yall.

From トム・リドル長老
エリカ、キャン　ユー　リード　カタカナ？