March 28, 2011

Dear Family,

This week went by really fast but I didn’t think I was going to make it past Saturday. I had a really bad experience with English class and some parents getting angry that their teenage daughters came to our church. It just made me really angry because it’s not like that in the United States. I went to Harvest all the time for lunch but it wasn’t a big deal. It seems like religion in America is much more civil believe it or not. There are people here that won’t even talk with me when I asked them questions. I asked an old woman for help and she said, “No I’m good.” I was just trying to figure out where we were on a map. Another time it was really late and rainy and I was trying to ask a man what the address was so that I could find where we were on a map. He wouldn’t even speak to me. He just waved his hand back and forth. It’s really frustrating and makes me angry but at least in the end I decided not to throw the eggs at their house. I just happened to eat a lot of French toast every week.

I’m glad that everyone is doing well, besides Monica being sick and BYU losing. I found out Monday last week right before I was suppose to go to Nagoya that I actually wasn’t suppose to go. It was a mix up on the Assistant’s part. So maybe I should have bought food on p-day last week. It was good though because I just used it as an opportunity to clean out all the cans of soup and older food that we were just kind of ignoring.

I feel like I deserve to be called an adult after this week. I’ve never had so much need for mental discipline. I was stressed out of my mind this week as I was having to worry about people at church and teaching people lessons during church and taking care of their children’s problems because they don’t: speak any Japanese or English. I can ignore huge problems and not be super stressed about them anymore.

I like our two new missionaries a lot. I don’t know if I told you their names last week. Elder Bednar who is Elder Bednar:s grand-nephew, and Elder Furugen. Elder Furugen is like the Japanese companion I’ve always wanted. He is way cool and willing to put up with crappy Japanese (at least for the time being). He also is a hard worker and a good teacher.

They were in the parts of Tokyo that weren’t too affected by the earthquake but they still saw some devastation. I know the news in America is saying that people are being really patient about it and stuff, which they are. They aren’t rioting or looting. It seems like the rest of the country isn’t too upset about it though. People here don’t: really care. They are donating stuff (especially church members) but I feel like people in America pay closer attention to it.

Oh tell Grandpa Miller I visited Azechi Shimai this week. I will try to write him a letter about it but tell him that I visited her and she was genki. She was very happy to see me and we talked a lot about him. I felt really bad though because her door frame was really low so I had to bend down a little bit. At one point it hurt too bad so I leaned in the apartment a little to stretched my neck out and my hair caught hold of some loose paint on the ceiling and tore it off. I felt bad but I guess that’s what I get for being tall. She sure loves grandpa a lot and everyone here remembers him and says he was a very handsome and suteki guy. Also his Japanese was better than his companions’. I have to go now. I’ll write you next week. I love you all. Bye.

Tyler