Ok here we go.

1 Note. Not that I looked at my blog or anything but possibly a little Japanese lesson is in order. So names are interesting here. For example they have the Shirai. But you can:t just call them that so you add something to the end. Normally -san which is like Mr. or Ms. But if they are a member it will be -kyodai (brother) -shimai (sister). So when you edit out names just have this in mind. I noticed you missing one.

Fun thing. From the *News of the Church* in this last Ensign Sister Rasmussen (Mission presidents wife) is quoted.

Next week the area doctor is coming to zone conference and Sister Rasmussen wants me to talk to him and then after that I will probably talk to the branch members and find a doctor and then finally get this ear test done. Figured you should now. Church pays for it so not really anything you need to worry about but I will tell you when it happens and you can follow up with the Americans.

Something I have noticed in this mission is people always have big plans but little follow through as missionaries. Kinda frustrating. Why do I share this, no idea.

Ok so all these areas are closed in what used to be the zone that Aizu belonged to, and they will be probably closed for a long time (this week they started pulling the furniture out so that they could break the leases on them I believe). President wants the Aizu Choros to visit these areas once on Sunday each month, so that means soon I will be going to Koriyama, Iwaki, and Fukushima ward. As part of the build up for this, yesterday the two senpais (Fukuta Choro and Shinno Choro) needed to get everything set up in Koriyama because thats the biggest hurdle and has the most investigators.

Anyway so what does that mean for Aizu?.....Kano choro and I had to run the area yesterday. I have decided I never want to be the senior companion! Running back and forth in church. Members running up to you asking you questions in really hard Japanese. Taking phone calls from who knows who. Running dendo(proselyting) meetings with the Branch president and auxiallary leaders! Tiring. On top of that we have the two companionship's investigators to babysit. Actually none of Shinno choro and I:s showed up so that was probably a good thing. So I was the senior companion. Fun stuff. Anyway. So we taught Kano choro:s *golden investigator* (basically just wanted to be baptized and follows everything whole heartedly from the beginning) which was easy. Then we get to Shinno choro and I:s. Since we white washed we kinda picked up the scraps of Aizu sometimes. So we visited one of them. Super annoying. We are at his door first thing he says is *Only 10 minutes right*
Well yeah if thats all you have. Ok go. Can we come in. Can:t we just do it here. Ok, so what do you think of the pamphlet we left for you, did you get a chance to read it? Eh. Basically answered *eh* to everything. *Beautiful family you have* *Eh* *What image of God do you have?* *Eh* *Can we come back at a more convenient time* *Eh.* Finally I just told him I would come back next week even though he said he was busy. Oh well. Americans can ignore what they say.

So next we bike to H and U. He had called me that morning and basically all I understand is he won:t come to church because of a cough. So I don:t even know if they want to be taught but whatever. So we go and get in there. They are their good happy selves but they I ask if they have any questions or concerns up until this point. Bad idea. U then goes on for like 30 minutes (not at one time but throughout the lesson) about Europe, Through the name of Christ destroying people, Our message isn:t so unique, blah blah blah. I was getting a little frustrated honestly. Finally I basically I picked up my Book of Mormon, hold it up to his face, and say something alone the lines of, *This is it, we may believe in the same Christ but we have the authority restored through Joseph Smith, they don:t. This book was translated by the power of God and is a true word of God. You just need to figure that out. Either this was translated by the power of God, God:s authority is on the earth today or we are liars. We are here to invite you to decide which, but you have to put it to the test.* And at this point I about pee my pants. Didn:t really do much but shut him up but that was good with me. And it was super fun. Ha. Always kinda wanted to do that. Then I finally had a chance to flip over to H and give the death punch. She committed to be baptized once she knew it was true. And then when I told her that she could be prepared by 1/27 she just right way accepted. It was like the most exhilarating experience of my life and I don:t know where it came from. Definitely wasn:t all me too. Spirit was strong with the Kano choro too. Our japanese stunk but oh well. The point got across. Yay! If she comes to church she can easily do it.

Ok now about Y. I don:t even know. Talked to President about her during our interviews and he wants the members to take over teaching her and thinks she needs more help with knowledge so finally we have a direction to go with her which we didn:t quite get from Ikeda Choro but all is well. I don:t really actually see her getting baptized while I:m here in Aizu but she could I guess. It will come.

Ok so I don:t know what packages I can open. You should ask Lyssa too. Not that it really matters because by the time I get the answer it will be almost the 13th and her package says 12 days of christmas.



Other than the written about stuff, this week was really chillaxed. We had Service Monday and Tuesday. Friday was specialized training, and Saturday was our sports activity where one of our members broke her finger. Ha. So not a whole lot of normal missionary work this last week.

Ok so I have cleared the time of 2pm here or 10pm (on the 24th) for you. As for a plan B I would say plan b would be to try to use not Google Voice although as said earlier that could be expensive. Also calling the mission home could be helpful maybe. If I get transferred I:m in trouble because my number will change and the open time could collide with my companion so that would stink. And I:m a little scared because when Shinno choro saw how much money I had in my account he laughed and said, *Normally that happens right before you get transferred* I hope its just because they reimbursed me for all the busses I need to take soon. Anyway. Sigh. Yeah. I can:t call you. That was specifically prohibited and I think that would reverse the charge too so it would charge our phone company here too. If you have questions or concerns I would say email president. Also you should be able to maybe call them to test your calling internationally. Although I also am concerned with google voice and it seems in japan land line and cell phones are super different on the system they run on because a lot of times Shinno choro will ask if it is ok to call a company from a cell phone. Not sure the reason but yeah. Hm. And the hombu number you have is a landline so....yeah. Maybe that wouldn:t help. Not sure they want to you to do that anyway. So yeah. Super helpful.

I think that is all for this week. Love you all. Thanks for all your support. Talk to you next week.