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
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
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
Sunday, June 3, 2012
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
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
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Your Ishigaki are continually before me. (Week 22)
Ishigaki is in the Book of Mormon! Read 1 Nephi 21:16. Ishigaki means stone wall. Don't ask why the Japanese one says stone in it.
So this week we went to Naha for zone conference. I got to meet new missionaries and make new friends and go on junkai with Elder Kusakabe! I love that man. And Junkai means companion exchanges. Basically. Anyways. I love Kusakabe Choro. He is my zone leader again but in a different zone. He is so cool. Anyways. I also got to see president again and meet with him. That wonderful blessed man. He goes home at the end of June. And I'm really going to miss him. I got a Japanese Book of Mormon that is really nice and pretty and small like my english ones. And a Japanese bible to match. Reading the Book of Mormon is fun because there is a lot I understand now and that I can figure out because I already know the stories and stuff. Its hard but fun. And slow. I've read like 4 chapters in a few days. And this last trip to Naha and back to Ishigaki were my 8th and 9th airplanes! On my mission. I love flying. It's so much fun. except that on flight to Tokyo. I still haven't recovered from that one. That was way too long.
So yeah. I gave a talk yesterday about family. That was way hard. It was like 4 minutes long and most of the time was filled with me stumbling over my words until I found the right ones. It was quite the experience. But it went kind of ok and I was able to say that I love my family very much and that I left them so I can help other families be together forever too.
I'm glad to hear school is about out. That's fun. I just thought about that yesterday. It hit me that you are all celebrating school being out and I just barely realized it was May. But now May is gone and its about June. And today marks the 5 months on my mission! I can't believe how much time is flying. Its crazy.
I saw Elder Buckingham for the last time last week at zone conference. He goes home after this transfer. This transfer ends on June 7. That's sad to me. But I'm happy for him. He's a good man.
Elder Munro and I are getting along great. We are going to call President Margetts and tell him that we have a plan for Ishigaki but that it takes six months to accomplish so neither of us can transfer until then. And the I will have to transfer back for the last six months of my mission to make sure nothing in ishigaki falls apart or anything. So I like Elder Munro enough to be ok being his companion for six months. He's pretty cool.
We are trying to get [our investigator] to progress but she wants to write to a leader of the catholic church in Nagoya first. Before she agrees to be baptized. So we'll see how that goes. If he says yes to converting then she will convert. If he says no then she will study and pray more. So pray that she will get the answer she needs from God. She is really close though. We are pretty excited.
We found a new guy to teach kind of. He wants us to go to his house to teach him English. And then we said at the end we like to share a spiritual message and stuff. And he said yes please do. So we met him for the first time yesterday. He is such a nice wonderful man. And we had a great time teaching him English and then we shared a good message about the restoration. He has a friend in our branch. So he already knew about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and so that was cool. And he seemed to think everything was pretty good with what we taught. And he prayed at the end of our appointment. So he could really go places. I hope things work for him. We can't consider him an investigator yet. But soon.
We are also making a little bit of progress with a family that speaks perfect english. The kids are progressing really slowly but I think they are progressing. And I don't think the mom is progressing. But we are going to change that. I think we have a good chance at getting at least the kids to church this next week. We will see. That wonderful blessed family. I love them.
Well I'm going to head out. I love you. My saiwai de aru kazoku. Good luck translating that. I had to learn it from a Japanese missionary. And the Book of Mormon. De aru is plain form desu. See if you can figure the rest out. I love you very much. And I love this tiny little island. Pray that they don't transfer me next week. Or Elder Munro either. Peace out.
Love, リドル長老
So this week we went to Naha for zone conference. I got to meet new missionaries and make new friends and go on junkai with Elder Kusakabe! I love that man. And Junkai means companion exchanges. Basically. Anyways. I love Kusakabe Choro. He is my zone leader again but in a different zone. He is so cool. Anyways. I also got to see president again and meet with him. That wonderful blessed man. He goes home at the end of June. And I'm really going to miss him. I got a Japanese Book of Mormon that is really nice and pretty and small like my english ones. And a Japanese bible to match. Reading the Book of Mormon is fun because there is a lot I understand now and that I can figure out because I already know the stories and stuff. Its hard but fun. And slow. I've read like 4 chapters in a few days. And this last trip to Naha and back to Ishigaki were my 8th and 9th airplanes! On my mission. I love flying. It's so much fun. except that on flight to Tokyo. I still haven't recovered from that one. That was way too long.
So yeah. I gave a talk yesterday about family. That was way hard. It was like 4 minutes long and most of the time was filled with me stumbling over my words until I found the right ones. It was quite the experience. But it went kind of ok and I was able to say that I love my family very much and that I left them so I can help other families be together forever too.
I'm glad to hear school is about out. That's fun. I just thought about that yesterday. It hit me that you are all celebrating school being out and I just barely realized it was May. But now May is gone and its about June. And today marks the 5 months on my mission! I can't believe how much time is flying. Its crazy.
I saw Elder Buckingham for the last time last week at zone conference. He goes home after this transfer. This transfer ends on June 7. That's sad to me. But I'm happy for him. He's a good man.
Elder Munro and I are getting along great. We are going to call President Margetts and tell him that we have a plan for Ishigaki but that it takes six months to accomplish so neither of us can transfer until then. And the I will have to transfer back for the last six months of my mission to make sure nothing in ishigaki falls apart or anything. So I like Elder Munro enough to be ok being his companion for six months. He's pretty cool.
We are trying to get [our investigator] to progress but she wants to write to a leader of the catholic church in Nagoya first. Before she agrees to be baptized. So we'll see how that goes. If he says yes to converting then she will convert. If he says no then she will study and pray more. So pray that she will get the answer she needs from God. She is really close though. We are pretty excited.
We found a new guy to teach kind of. He wants us to go to his house to teach him English. And then we said at the end we like to share a spiritual message and stuff. And he said yes please do. So we met him for the first time yesterday. He is such a nice wonderful man. And we had a great time teaching him English and then we shared a good message about the restoration. He has a friend in our branch. So he already knew about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and so that was cool. And he seemed to think everything was pretty good with what we taught. And he prayed at the end of our appointment. So he could really go places. I hope things work for him. We can't consider him an investigator yet. But soon.
We are also making a little bit of progress with a family that speaks perfect english. The kids are progressing really slowly but I think they are progressing. And I don't think the mom is progressing. But we are going to change that. I think we have a good chance at getting at least the kids to church this next week. We will see. That wonderful blessed family. I love them.
Well I'm going to head out. I love you. My saiwai de aru kazoku. Good luck translating that. I had to learn it from a Japanese missionary. And the Book of Mormon. De aru is plain form desu. See if you can figure the rest out. I love you very much. And I love this tiny little island. Pray that they don't transfer me next week. Or Elder Munro either. Peace out.
Love, リドル長老
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Maternity on Board. I am safety driver. (Week 21)
So this week was pretty good. We flew to another island called Miyako to go on companion exchanges with the district leader and his companion. We flew there on Tuesday and flew back on Wednesday in a tiny plane that holds like less than 40 people. A propeller plane. It was fun. That brings me up to 7 planes on my mission. Its crazy. I like flying. And in a couple days I fly to Naha on Okinawa island for zone conference. When I was on Miyako I was with Elder Ogita. Not the district leader. And he doesn't speak english very well at all. So we struggled communicating. But it was ok. And scary. He made me speak Japanese to people. It was hard but I do it a lot these days so its not as scary as it once was. Elder Ogita is super funny. He would tell me things like every companion he has had who had a girlfriend got dear johned and then he said because we were companions for a day it will happen to me too. He said its his power to curse missionaries with girlfriends. He is hilarious. I love that man.
We went to the immigration office this week because Elder Munro's visa was only for one year and he just hit a year on his mission so we had to take care of it. And when we walked into the building no one was there and I said this feels like we just walked into the ministry of magic at night. And as we walked through hallways lights were turning on and I expected to look in an office and see a bunch of goblins or something arguing in a language I can't speak. Which pretty much happened. And then when we found the office we were looking for a guy there had a shirt on that said Ministry of Justice. How's that for weird.
We've been teaching this lady and she is Catholic. But she really doesn't like the Catholic church she goes to anymore and she loves that we have the priesthood and stuff and she is totally going to get baptized. We just need to giver her some more time. I can't understand her at all and elder Munro can barely understand her because she just speaks really sloppily. But we get by somehow. She is also probably trying to become a nun. We may have misunderstood that but we're pretty sure that's right. But we are still confident she will get baptized soon. She is just loving our religion.
I conducted sacrament meeting on sunday. And that went horribly wrong. I couldn't understand any of the Japanese I was using so I just said what Elder Munro said to say and I put the names where he said. But he told me wrong. I said sister Izumi was conducting. And that Elder Munro was doing something else that I didn't understand. And it all went crashing down in flames. But then I used my limited japanese to pull it back together and corrected the problems. And it was all good. What a good experience.
Its been really hot and humid here. So humid that I really can't even comprehend it. And so hot. Except when we go outside. Then it starts raining. And that is completely true. It happened today. And it happened a couple days ago twice. It really only rains when we go outside. This place is really small. There are a lot of businesses and stuff and a lot of houses. And its all close together. Its like no tall buildings. Just like two story buildings that just keep going for a while until you finally make it to houses then to nothingness. If that makes sense. we live close to the middle of the city. Which seems small. But that's because everyone is spread out evenly until you just reach wilderness. So its kind of big. But not nearly as big as like cities in Utah. Anyways. That was really confusing.
I do remember the Northridge 3k with you mom. I was just thinking about that the other day. That was fun. The good old days. I miss my cane. Take good care of it for me. And maybe I'll be able to do another 3k with you when I get home.
I hope you all don't get too sick back home. I hope you get better and stuff. Sick isn't too fun. And I do have the ward newsletters mailed to me already. So that's ok if you don't mail them to me. But I would like Laurel's stuff. It would be nice to hear how things are going down in that part of the hood.
Take care of Kujo for me. I miss her. That little blessed puppy. Saiwai de aru koinu. And at least touch my car every once in a while so it too knows that it is loved. I would appreciate that.
I love it here. I am having a great time. Japanese is kicking my trash but I'm ok. Ishigaki is the best place on earth. I love it here. I can't transfer from here. Time is flying so fast here. We are already over half way through this transfer. I better not transfer soon. I need a good six more months here to finish my work. And then I need to spend the last six months of my mission. Anyways. I love you.
Bye bye.
Love リドル長老
P.S. I went in for vegetable juice and I came out with peanut butter cup.
We went to the immigration office this week because Elder Munro's visa was only for one year and he just hit a year on his mission so we had to take care of it. And when we walked into the building no one was there and I said this feels like we just walked into the ministry of magic at night. And as we walked through hallways lights were turning on and I expected to look in an office and see a bunch of goblins or something arguing in a language I can't speak. Which pretty much happened. And then when we found the office we were looking for a guy there had a shirt on that said Ministry of Justice. How's that for weird.
We've been teaching this lady and she is Catholic. But she really doesn't like the Catholic church she goes to anymore and she loves that we have the priesthood and stuff and she is totally going to get baptized. We just need to giver her some more time. I can't understand her at all and elder Munro can barely understand her because she just speaks really sloppily. But we get by somehow. She is also probably trying to become a nun. We may have misunderstood that but we're pretty sure that's right. But we are still confident she will get baptized soon. She is just loving our religion.
I conducted sacrament meeting on sunday. And that went horribly wrong. I couldn't understand any of the Japanese I was using so I just said what Elder Munro said to say and I put the names where he said. But he told me wrong. I said sister Izumi was conducting. And that Elder Munro was doing something else that I didn't understand. And it all went crashing down in flames. But then I used my limited japanese to pull it back together and corrected the problems. And it was all good. What a good experience.
Its been really hot and humid here. So humid that I really can't even comprehend it. And so hot. Except when we go outside. Then it starts raining. And that is completely true. It happened today. And it happened a couple days ago twice. It really only rains when we go outside. This place is really small. There are a lot of businesses and stuff and a lot of houses. And its all close together. Its like no tall buildings. Just like two story buildings that just keep going for a while until you finally make it to houses then to nothingness. If that makes sense. we live close to the middle of the city. Which seems small. But that's because everyone is spread out evenly until you just reach wilderness. So its kind of big. But not nearly as big as like cities in Utah. Anyways. That was really confusing.
I do remember the Northridge 3k with you mom. I was just thinking about that the other day. That was fun. The good old days. I miss my cane. Take good care of it for me. And maybe I'll be able to do another 3k with you when I get home.
I hope you all don't get too sick back home. I hope you get better and stuff. Sick isn't too fun. And I do have the ward newsletters mailed to me already. So that's ok if you don't mail them to me. But I would like Laurel's stuff. It would be nice to hear how things are going down in that part of the hood.
Take care of Kujo for me. I miss her. That little blessed puppy. Saiwai de aru koinu. And at least touch my car every once in a while so it too knows that it is loved. I would appreciate that.
I love it here. I am having a great time. Japanese is kicking my trash but I'm ok. Ishigaki is the best place on earth. I love it here. I can't transfer from here. Time is flying so fast here. We are already over half way through this transfer. I better not transfer soon. I need a good six more months here to finish my work. And then I need to spend the last six months of my mission. Anyways. I love you.
Bye bye.
Love リドル長老
P.S. I went in for vegetable juice and I came out with peanut butter cup.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Let's Value a Sea Indefinitely (Week 20)
So this week was so busy and I'm still exhausted but we didn't do like any dendo stuff. Dendo is like missionary work or mission or stuff. Its a universal word. We spent all week decorating the church for the open house we had and for branch council and stuff and it took forever. Elder Munro made a room dedicated to the plan of salvation that was super cool. And I made one for the restoration. I even made the first vision out of paper. And everyone loved it. Crazy Japanese people. It was a lot of fun. I love our branch.
I'm glad to hear everyone is leaving on their missons and stuff. It is so awesome. I've already learned so much from mine. And I still have 19 months to go. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to come home pretty awesome. Tell everyone that I love them for going on missions. It really is an amazing experience.
Yesterday I was talking to this Japanese lady for like an hour and it was just funny because she would speak to me in Japanese and I would understand her and I would speak in english because I didn't know the Japanese to express myself but she understood the english. It was just kind of funny. She is super cool.
One of the branch presidents daughters taught me how to use a Harry Potter spell in Japanese that they actually translated because it wasn't like made up words. When Ron says to Malfoy Eat Slugs! it is english. So they translated it into Japanese. Namekuji Kurae!
By the way it was super fun to talk to you this morning. Or last night to you. It was exciting. I hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day, Mom. Haha no Hi Omedeto!
So I don't really have much else to say. I love you all. 愛しているよ。 Have a wonderful evening and sleep well tonight. Now I must dendo.
Love リドル長老
I'm glad to hear everyone is leaving on their missons and stuff. It is so awesome. I've already learned so much from mine. And I still have 19 months to go. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to come home pretty awesome. Tell everyone that I love them for going on missions. It really is an amazing experience.
Yesterday I was talking to this Japanese lady for like an hour and it was just funny because she would speak to me in Japanese and I would understand her and I would speak in english because I didn't know the Japanese to express myself but she understood the english. It was just kind of funny. She is super cool.
One of the branch presidents daughters taught me how to use a Harry Potter spell in Japanese that they actually translated because it wasn't like made up words. When Ron says to Malfoy Eat Slugs! it is english. So they translated it into Japanese. Namekuji Kurae!
By the way it was super fun to talk to you this morning. Or last night to you. It was exciting. I hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day, Mom. Haha no Hi Omedeto!
So I don't really have much else to say. I love you all. 愛しているよ。 Have a wonderful evening and sleep well tonight. Now I must dendo.
Love リドル長老
Sunday, May 6, 2012
I've got nothing to write here this week. (Week 19)
Well it has already been another week. I hope you are all doing well. I know I am doing pretty well. Life in Ishigaki is exciting and busy. So yeah. It sounds in your emails like you are doing alright these days. I'm happy to hear that.
So I'm getting to know some of the members here more. That's nice. They are wonderful people. I love them. Only they don't speak english. But I'm kind of learning japanese so maybe it will turn out ok. I was sharing a scripture with a member yesterday and she said that she really likes how I speak slowly because it gives every word meaning and she likes how I speak very politely and she felt the spirit because of that. So that's good. People can feel the spirit when I speak. And that's all that really matters I guess. It was cool to hear that she appreciated my japanese.
The other day some van pulled over next to us and the lady asked if we teach english. And we said yes and gave her a flier and she showed up to class that night with her son. It was super cool. People don't just pull over and and ask where they can go to take another step closer to the gospel. And they came on our saturday class too. So that's cool.
Every morning except sunday we do rajio taiso with an old Japanese man. They are like weird stretches and stuff. Its super weird. But I'm liking it. I have fun with it.
As a branch activity this week we climbed a mountain to this big rock on the top and ate lunch up there and stuff. And it was beautiful. Ishigaki is so beautiful. There was an amazing view of the ocean from there. The ocean on both sides of the island. We had a great time up there. Elder Munro brought his ukelele and we played and sang. And then we all got on the rock and danced to the ukelele and someone filmed it. So there is a video out there of me dancing like a fool with a bunch of japanese people. And I was asked if I was a dancer before my mission. That was a surprising question. They thought I was good. But they are crazy Japanese people. So they probably don't know what real dancing is. The branch is tiny. One family makes up like half of the branch. More than half. There are like 14 people or something. And after the mountain we went to see a lighthouse with more beautiful ocean. It was so beautiful. I loved it. Ishigaki is so beautiful. I have seen the ocean a couple times already. We ride our bikes past it sometimes. its super cool.
So every week we have district meeting with skype. And before I forget I'm pretty sure you need to call me on skype next sunday for you at 6 pm. it will be monday morning for me. so. If that doesn't work then try 7. we'll see how it goes. Anyways. District meeting. That is fun. We do it with the tiny island Miyako and the tiny island Naze. Naze isn't in our district but the islands get together because its more convenient that way. And Elder Amor is on Naze right now. so I get to have district meeting with him every week. That was fun. I love that man.
And last week I ate something horrible. It was like pounded rice into something sticky and weird and it had a weird wheat flavor to it like it was solid ish tea and it was so hard to eat and it was huge and you had to chew thoroughly so it didn't stick to your throat and make you gag and stuff. It was awful. That was the worst thing I have eaten in Japan. I hope I never have to repeat it. The pounded rice with bean paste in the middle is super delicious. But this thing was just horrible. But I ganbarued. And we got a potential investigator out of it. The second worst thing I've eaten was something in Okinawa that tasted like peanuts but it was the texture of snot. And I had to eat it with chopsticks. That was just a bad experience. But whatever. I also had tea the other day. The bad kind. My bad. I thought it was mugicha which is ok. The wheat tea. But I knew once I tasted it that it was not. So I stopped. Mugicha is actually kind of good. Though some people say it tastes like an ash tray. but I like it.
So. That is my week I think. I must go now. I love you all. Be happy. And pray that I will learn this alien language.
Love Elder Liddle
So I'm getting to know some of the members here more. That's nice. They are wonderful people. I love them. Only they don't speak english. But I'm kind of learning japanese so maybe it will turn out ok. I was sharing a scripture with a member yesterday and she said that she really likes how I speak slowly because it gives every word meaning and she likes how I speak very politely and she felt the spirit because of that. So that's good. People can feel the spirit when I speak. And that's all that really matters I guess. It was cool to hear that she appreciated my japanese.
The other day some van pulled over next to us and the lady asked if we teach english. And we said yes and gave her a flier and she showed up to class that night with her son. It was super cool. People don't just pull over and and ask where they can go to take another step closer to the gospel. And they came on our saturday class too. So that's cool.
Every morning except sunday we do rajio taiso with an old Japanese man. They are like weird stretches and stuff. Its super weird. But I'm liking it. I have fun with it.
As a branch activity this week we climbed a mountain to this big rock on the top and ate lunch up there and stuff. And it was beautiful. Ishigaki is so beautiful. There was an amazing view of the ocean from there. The ocean on both sides of the island. We had a great time up there. Elder Munro brought his ukelele and we played and sang. And then we all got on the rock and danced to the ukelele and someone filmed it. So there is a video out there of me dancing like a fool with a bunch of japanese people. And I was asked if I was a dancer before my mission. That was a surprising question. They thought I was good. But they are crazy Japanese people. So they probably don't know what real dancing is. The branch is tiny. One family makes up like half of the branch. More than half. There are like 14 people or something. And after the mountain we went to see a lighthouse with more beautiful ocean. It was so beautiful. I loved it. Ishigaki is so beautiful. I have seen the ocean a couple times already. We ride our bikes past it sometimes. its super cool.
So every week we have district meeting with skype. And before I forget I'm pretty sure you need to call me on skype next sunday for you at 6 pm. it will be monday morning for me. so. If that doesn't work then try 7. we'll see how it goes. Anyways. District meeting. That is fun. We do it with the tiny island Miyako and the tiny island Naze. Naze isn't in our district but the islands get together because its more convenient that way. And Elder Amor is on Naze right now. so I get to have district meeting with him every week. That was fun. I love that man.
And last week I ate something horrible. It was like pounded rice into something sticky and weird and it had a weird wheat flavor to it like it was solid ish tea and it was so hard to eat and it was huge and you had to chew thoroughly so it didn't stick to your throat and make you gag and stuff. It was awful. That was the worst thing I have eaten in Japan. I hope I never have to repeat it. The pounded rice with bean paste in the middle is super delicious. But this thing was just horrible. But I ganbarued. And we got a potential investigator out of it. The second worst thing I've eaten was something in Okinawa that tasted like peanuts but it was the texture of snot. And I had to eat it with chopsticks. That was just a bad experience. But whatever. I also had tea the other day. The bad kind. My bad. I thought it was mugicha which is ok. The wheat tea. But I knew once I tasted it that it was not. So I stopped. Mugicha is actually kind of good. Though some people say it tastes like an ash tray. but I like it.
So. That is my week I think. I must go now. I love you all. Be happy. And pray that I will learn this alien language.
Love Elder Liddle
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