June 17, 2010

Dear Family

The last two days have been a little crazy. I’m actually in a hospital waiting for them to deal with Elder Howells. We’ve been here for about an hour and then said they can take him about in about another hour. I want American Hospitals. They don’t air condition them here. Also the doctors aren’t the best that’s for sure.

We had interviews yesterday. It sounds like I will probably be transferring next Wednesday. President leaves to go home on Thursday. He wants me to be pushed harder with my Japanese. Currently my only practice is with Arisawa Kyoudai. It’s good because he doesn’t talk with me at full speed but other than that I don’t speak it very much.

Jason your phone sounds pretty sweet and there is a huge advertisement push over here for the same phones actually. They are 12.1 mega pixels and you can use them under water (that’s the biggest thing). What carrier are you on? Do you have a sim card? If you do then I might have a pretty cool trick for you.

I actually got the package from home in 7 days. I got it last Wednesday. Thank you so much. It is great. I think the Kit Kats are my favorite. Katie once again thank you for all the wonderful letters and cards. I sent you off a letter yesterday. Hopefully you like what’s in it. I was a little surprised when they told me it would be 3 dollars to send. They pulled out a customs slip of some kind then asked me a question I didn’t fully understand but I think they asked if it was just a letter. I said yes because that’s my default answer when I don’t know what they say. He then put away the customs slip and gave me a weird look. You will realize why it’s funny when you get the letter. It’s obviously not just written letters. They also considered the regular American sized envelope “over sized.”

It was really sad yesterday. The Travllers are leaving. Elder Walter one of my zone leaders who I’ve gotten to know pretty well is going home next Thursday. Also Elder Insch my trainer doesn’t have a ton of time left and if I get transferred I might not see him again. I guess it’s just part of the mission. I don’t know if there are people as funny as them though. Elder Walter was trying to get these two elders to run for their train yesterday and teach them a lesson on seeing miracles. They were not cooperating so Elder Walter decided them we would demonstrate. So our goal was to get to the train station and get to the ticket machines in 4 minutes. We made it in 3:15. I would usually care that I look pretty stupid with a backpack and a short sleeve white shirt running down the busy streets of Kanazawa but I really didn’t mind at all. It’s just part of the job. Speaking of Kanazawa train station, you should totally look it up on the internet (all who read this email). Look up Kanazawa eki. Eki means train station. It’s one of the coolest man made structures I’ve ever seen. I love going there. It’s so stupidly over the top (literally)

Funny story. I asked my companion if he used AOL when he was younger. He said, “You mean AMERICA online” I didn’t see his point until I remembered he was from Canada.

Hey does Abby have a college address? I don’t remember if you sent it to me. If you did I didn’t write it down. I’ll look after I send this. Resend it anyway please.

Quincy your laptop sounds way cool. It sounds like that one that I used for college won’t be used at all. It’s sad but maybe my stuff will still be on it when I get back.

Here is a funny story. President Erying’s grandson used to be my Zone Leader but now he is AP. At the last zone conference the President made a joke about how the new president is bringing his daughters but one of them is only staying for a couple of months. Then he said that President Beard will love us all and especially Elder Erying because he might be his new son in law. I guess it’s the only reason why one of the daughters is coming. I’ve never seen someone handle a situation so well. It was still quick awkward though.

Quincy thanks for the letter in the package. I actually read that same talk the morning I got that letter.

Japanese is going all right. I’m slowly getting better. I’m at a hard point right now where it seems like I’m getting worse. I might be but I think I’m just trying to speak more advanced so I’ll be digressing for a while.

At the wedding last week I had some of the most awkward experiences of my life. It was so great I loved it. First of all I met the wife of the man that put together the p90x program. Maybe I’ll buy it for real someday now. She said Tony is a really nice guy. Also there were tons of cultural differences. In the Japanese culture you like never tell someone that you love them. The bride said “ichiban daiski desu” to her mother. It literally means you are my number 1 favorite. I’ll be sure to tell you that I love you Mom on my wedding day.

Thanks for the music in the package. I enjoy it. It’s relaxing and helps the apartment time go by a little faster some days. Maybe next time you could send that Mormon tabernacle choir CD that I really liked. I just thought of it.

So I weigh 200lbs now. I need to go real quick. Maybe more later.

Love, Tyler

Now we are waiting in a different spot. It’s been forever now. We left the apartment at 2:00 and it’s now 4:30. Anyway, I weigh 200 pounds now. I think it’s because I’m not taking advantage of my lactose intolerance. I don’t ever drink milk and so I think my food stays in my longer. None of my pants fit me. I almost couldn’t get my pants on this morning because they are the smallest pair. It’s embarrassing. I have a feeling that after next week though I won’t have a problem.

This week has been alright. I’ll have news next week of where I will be going (or I guess if I’m staying one more). President said he might put me with a Japanese companion so I can be pushed harder. We will see though. He also wants me to resume Portuguese in a couple transfers. My hope is that I will train a Brazilian when I go senior but that’s a long shot and I’d have to get really good at Japanese first. Sorry I have to go but I love you all. Have a great week.

Love, Tyler