In the morning, we wake up, work out, shower, have breakfast, have personal study, have companion study, do the twelve week training program, have lunch, and then language study; we usually leave our place at like 1:00. Then we dendo, way hard, all day. We come back at eight or nine for dinner. After dinner, we plan and fill out our teaching records, which is all online now if you were wondering. I live about an hour and a half, by train, from the mission home; they send all our mail to our apartments from there. So no, I do not go pick it up from the Mission Home like TeJay did in Hong Kong. I have plenty of email time, plus all my friends are missionaries, so they totally understand if I don’t write them for a couple weeks, but yes I have time. All your emails are fine, I love reading every single one of them!!! Please do NOT shorten them so I have "more time."
We go to a hair cutting place, you know a barber shop, it is pretty cheap; and it is just an item we need to budget into our monthly mission fund. I am not sure if there are Laundromats, I really am fine with our laundering solution, I just think that it is hilarious to hang our clothes outside to dry! My blog site is actually blocked ... apparently it is inappropriate for a missionary, so I don’t know what you guys have been putting on there; I think that we can only use Google translate, maps, the specific email addresses, and approved church websites. My watch still works fine, which is a miracle, see rainy story for more on this. About not having baskets at Wal-Mart, we don’t even have a Wal-Mart ... and we have to bag our own food here, the checkers take it from a basket, check it, and put it in another basket and then hands us bags and we bag the purchase ourselves! Talk about a major first world problem! We also don’t have carts! We have little basket things that fit in these containers with wheels ... now that is different!
There was no typhoon, but there was a hard core rainstorm ... more on that later, little teaser, the story starts with "So I didn’t pack my rain pants this morning” Even during typhoon season, we dry our clothes outside, we have a little balcony that is kinda sheltered from the elements, it works quite nicely. Yes mother, we have an iron. I’m in a first world country ... actually that argument is invalid, I hang my clothes to dry and beat my bed with a switch to get the dust off; and yes, I just used the word switch … I have discovered that when I am stressed my bowel movements suffer, but I have been feeling a lot better recently. On Wednesday there was a small earthquake, but it was pretty big for my first one, we were just chillin in the apartment when it happened though, it was sick!!! Or as they say here, Yabai
I have not made a funny noise in quite some time ... I feel so ashamed ... just kidding, I just made one ... and it was GLORIOUS!!!!!! (In our home if you think someone is stressed, frustrated, or upset; and they won’t admit it, we ask them to make a funny noise. If you can’t or won’t make a funny noise, then it forces the admission or it relieves the perceived tension. Thus, the question, “Have you made a funny noise lately?”) I received Sam’s letter which she mailed on the 28th on the 9th of September; so it sounds like I should get the next letter from you today … I think. I ate the fish at Zone P-Day; it was like three hours long, last Monday. It was a lot of fun, it helped that I was blind folded. I have been doing well this week, I went on splits with one of the zone leaders and a kid from my MTC district on Friday, it was way fun! I was up in Narita for a day and it was way great!! I learned so much and had such an amazing time!!! I hope that I can become the type of missionary that I want to be!!
 |
| Back: ..., Griffiths Choro, Ormond Choro, Aoyagi Shimai ... Front: ... Watanabe Choro, is next to Aoyagi Choro |
I believe we interview with President Budge once a transfer. Usually people stay in areas for three transfers, and Watanabe Choro has been here for four now; Chiba is getting two more elders, so there is a good chance that it will be me and two new missionaries. I realize that I will be able to do whatever the Lord wants me to do if I have enough faith, and if am willing to work for it too! On Tuesday night we went and had dinner with Elder Koichi Aoyagi and his family, he is in the Second Quorum of the Seventy; here’s a picture.
So, Sunday morning, I forgot to pack my rain pants; I had my coat though, cuz I thought it might sprinkle a little bit, I also didn’t change out of my suit pants. We to teach a lesson at an apartment twenty minutes away, when it starts to rain while we are there. It just gets worse and worse, so after the lesson we went and housed an apartment building or two that were fourteen floors tall ... the rain just got worse ... so at like eight we start the trek back; it’s like a twenty minute ride ... so I put my planner and my watch in a "water proof pocket" of my coat, (i.e. the one on the inside with a zipper) ... so we ride!!! It was thrilling! My pants were soaked and my shoes were full of water by the time we rolled out from under the balcony, but alas, we sallied forth. Long ride short, by the time we got back to our apartment, we were soaked, so I take out my planner and watch, only to find out that the pocket was filled with water ... don’t worry, everything dried; but yeah, I can still use everything and my pants look like they will be fine, I think, but my planner is what I am most broken up about. I can still use it, but it just looks a little sketchy ... well actually, a lot sketchy. Is this where I say, “Whatever?”
Parentals, thank you for all that you do; especially you, father of mine, thank you for the information on my camera! It is very helpful!! I hope that all is going well with the turkeys; maybe they will kill one for you guys on Thanksgiving and let y’all devour it! That would be nice; I heard that there is also a parrot? I hope that they are making your lives all sorts of fun. I hope that dad does not go to overboard with the flowers boxes, remember that we will have to fill them all with flowers, and Abi is pretty much the only one who likes to garden. I hope that all is going well and that your eye is doing better mom! Sorry that it got infected, I know how much you hate eye things. Also father, thank you for the tip on working on understanding, I have actually been working on that a lot this week! I feel as though I can say a lot of stuff, but I have no idea what anyone says to me, it’s pretty rough, but I am praying that I will get better!!! I was delighted to hear that Porter likes to climb on things! That is always a good sign that he is going to be an active, healthy person!! Sorry to hear about TeJay’s throat, but hopefully it will heal up nicely (and maybe a little bigger). I am glad that you guys were able to get out and take a vacation! That sounds way nice actually! I am also glad that you were able to have sushi, I have yet to eat it here, but I hear that it is marvelous! Stay the course on teaching Porter to call me Uncle Awesome, a worthy goal for the next word after mama and dada, and whatever dad is trying to teach him for grandpa. Abi: sorry that Chases little sister died, tell him that I am sorry for him. I hope that all is going well on the Asian roommate front, and that Herbert is doing well, I hope that all is going well with school and that you feel as though you have made the right decision about things, and yes, when I return we shall make so much junk food it is going to be ridiculous (mom: I eat more vegetables now then I probably ever have in my whole life before) there are no sweets in this country, a single doughnut is like 130 yen, and a snickers is the same price!! It’s outrageous!! I hope that you are doing all right with school! I heard that Japan won the bid for the Olympics yesterday from some German actually, it was very interesting to talk to them about the world events that were going on, pretty much just the Olympics though. They were all on an airplane crew, so naturally I was way psyched to talk to them about flying!!! Sam, I hope that all is going well with you and being at work, which rocks that you get to sleep in a little bit more now! Also you should know that I love getting your letters, they always make my day!!!
This week has been good, we found a guy who is golden! His name is Brother E, and he really wants to know all about everything, I’m pretty sure that he will have no problem accepting the gospel! We are also teaching a Chinese man named Brother S! He’s a college student studying engineering ... he’s a boss. He loves learning and wants to know where we came from, why we are here, and where we go after this life ... right, I’m thinking we should teach the plan of salvation, and call it good. We also have an investigator named Brother H, also from China, he is Taoist, and pretty legit, he mainly just has a ton of questions. We also teach a chap named Brother O, from Japan! He’s a stud, he finally came to church this week! And is reading the Book of Mormon! We are teaching some less active members, one is from Bolivia, and some other people that are off and on about the gospel, I hope that they all come unto Christ and realize that this is the way to be happy! There are a lot of foreigners here in Chiba.
Not much else to say this week, I hope that everything is going well for all you guys and that you don’t miss me too much! Love you guys so much!!! I got out my white pants to take to the temple, and they had some blue stuff on them, suggestions? Can I wash them with my white shirts? I’m not sure what to do. Thanks for all your help!!! LOVE you guys!! (Note from Sam: Are there just a million missionaries coming? Insane, and awesome, go missionary work. And go you! And for the record, I am still baffled that there are A MILLION people in your ward boundaries. I can't even comprehend! Crazy!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment