April 3, 2011

Dear Family,

I do email in a library in a hospital. Now that there are four of us there is some time to kill while I wait for the computer. I didn’t get on the computer first so I went to sit down to wait. I’m pretty tired and I noticed a couch and then remembered that I haven’t sat on a couch in like 6 months. I was really excited as I walked over to the couch with my arms spread in joy. As I got closer I realized that right next to the couch in the same direction that I was walking was a big poster about breast cancer which wasn’t afraid to depict with real pictures. As I figured out what was on the poster I quickly dropped my arms and sadly returned to a table where Elder Soliai and Elder Furugen were sitting. Elder Soliai couldn’t stop laughing and all the old people wouldn’t stop giving me weird looks.

Last week after emailing we went to a, all you can eat meat place (I mainly eat pineapple though). We went with the Komatsu Elders so there were 8 of us. When we got there, we stuffed ourselves and then we got ready to leave. As we were leaving there was a huge group of teenagers that came in to eat. Seeing a large group of Americans (7) and a Japanese person from Okinawa (they don’t look Japanese at all) they started to freak out. I was pretty embarrassed because they all started to yell the little English they knew. I’m just not an outgoing type of person but I decided to just go with the situation. So we all ran through the group with our hands up and they gave us high fives. Elder Furugen is a good sport about it. Poor guy. He gets a lot of crap for betraying his country’s religion. Americans are adored and loved. To say the least, it will be tough going back to being a no one in America.

Our Brazilian investigator and I watched the same TV shows when we were young. We talked about Mighty Max for a while the other day. He still won’t accept a baptism date but he is doing well. I’m just stalling until we have to talk about marriage. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to talk about now.

This week was alright. We are doing a lot of finding but planning is going a lot easier. We are trying to do fun activities to get people to come out. President Baird wants us to act a lot like advertisers. He says we should act like we are selling something, but it’s free. I feel like I’m Vince (the Sham Wow guy) but with more morals. Our streeting approaches sound kind of weird but he promises us it will be more effective. I’ve sensed a difference but it still just feels weird to be so abrupt when telling people that the Book or Mormon help us get rid of our unsightly sins.

Things are going really well. I’m glad I have so much work to do and I love being here in Fukui. President Baird just keeps telling me that I will leave a legacy here but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The members in Japan look at missionaries to solve all of their problems. It gets really stressful. I like stress though so I guess it’s okay. Thanks for all the emails and letters. I’m excited beyond belief for my new shoes and taco seasoning. I am getting a tortilla maker from my trainer on Wednesday. It will make life so much greater. I love you all. Have a great week. Bye

Tyler