Monday, December 16, 2013

Japan week #19

Hey everyone!!
    I'm so sorry to hear that you all have been sick. :( That's NO FUN! I know how that is though, I had three weeks of it. :P
     So yes, the news is out, I transferred. I am now in Otofuke, central Hokkaido, and my companion is Elder Kozuma, a Japanese man from Fukuoka, which is the farthest south island of Japan. And he speaks next to no English, so yeah, that's fun. ;) I have a good feeling about this transfer though. I think we're going to see some good things, and have lots of fun. Elder Kozuma is a goofball, and we get along well enough now, so hopefully that continues. The ward here is huge. About 100 active members. They want to split it into two wards, but they just need a few more Melchizedek priesthood holders in order to do that. The bishop is another young guy, and he's way cool, so I'm excited to work with him. :) The ward mission leader is a guy who just got back from his mission to Brazil four months ago, and as a result he speaks Portuguese, Japanese, AND English. Learned English from his comps. And he's WAY COOL.  Such a stud, I love him already. Otofuke is pretty cool, and Obihiro is way cool too. It's much different from Muroran though. As far as the scenery goes, it is VERY lame in comparison. It's flat, and out in the middle of nowhere, but that's ok! I have only heard the best of things about the members here and the area from other missionaries, so I'm very excited to be here. And my Japanese is going to be amazing by the end of this transfer. ;) I've already learned a TON just being with a nihonjin comp for 3 days. It's going to be great.
   So Thursday was transfer day, and we met up in Sapporo. We had a huge music practice there for the music night, and then we went our separate ways. It took us 4 hours by bus to make it to Otofuke. Man was that long. Sitting on a cramped bus for that long, but we made it! The apartment is pretty new, and it's very nice. I'm still working out the routine here. Otofuke is like an extension of Obihiro, and so we're constantly going to Obihiro to do things. The church building is in Obihiro, so we have to travel for that, and we stay overnight a lot too, so I get to see the other elders which is way fun. I'm the only one who isn't fluent in Japanese though! And we have lots of Japanese missionaries here, so what only gets spoken is Japanese, which is good for me. Hard sometimes, :P But good!
   There really isn't a ton to write about this week. We haven't done much yet. We've been getting situated with transfers and what not, and figuring that kind of stuff out. OH! We have tons of snow out here though, it's been coming down pretty good, and we can't bike anymore. The boots are working out great, and I've been staying plenty warm. :) Although it is WAY COLD. This morning Elder Kozuma and I went to a member's house to help him build a shed ish thing, and we were STUPID COLD. Afterwards though he took us out to lunch, so that was nice. :) Tonight we're going with another member to go eat Yaki niku, all of the missionaries. Yaki Niku is basically a buffet of grilled meat. That's it. And I hear it's the greatest thing in the world. So yeah, I'm stupid excited. :D
  And I may not be in the music night because I got sent to the boonies. I may end up getting cut, or I could get transferred back in to the city limits next transfer, who knows, I don't. ;)
 Thanks for everything you guys do!! I love you all! Know that I'm happy, doing well, and loving the work. :)
   Love, Mike

P.S. By the way...as of now I can't dropbox on this computer... : / So yeah, I'll see about next week, but no pictures from me this week, I'm SORRY!! :( 

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