BOOOOOOOOOORRRING

As you may have guessed from the title, this week was incredibly boring. A whole lot of nothing happened, so allow me to do my best to explain why. Due to some of the Elders having car trouble, we've been the only ones in the district with a functional car. This, as you may have guessed, was slightly problematic in a number of ways. But mostly it just means that this week was spent almost exclusively in the car. So... Not much to say on that front.

Anyway, I'll email you all on the details next week, after we get ourselves back into action. Until then, Tata!

Happy late St. Patty's day! This week has had many things in it, as weeks out here tend to do. Again, I apologize for the lack of detail on my part, but I try to give enough pieces of this puzzle that you can figure it out on your own. Problem is, there's a lot to tell, and time is a resource I'm in short supply of, so I'll do my best to tell what I can, and I hope that my Facebook fills in the rest. General Conference is on its way yet again, you all know what that means: Yet another general conference abridged session is inevitable.

I'll include some previews of the new and improved dead end with this email, but it's not digital yet, so the art isn't in color like it will be when it releases, but hope you like it anyway!

So now, an update on the questions you've all been asking:

How did the Japanese Lesson go?

Well, it kind of went? We didn't actually end up having the appointment, and the lesson fell through. The good news is that the person we were going to teach is already a member, and the thing we were supposed to help her with is getting to the temple. We were able to meet her anyway through a dinner with a member in our ward. Much Japanese ensued. It was sort of a roundabout way of getting there, but it happened, it was cool, and it took place entirely in Japanese. The lady was an older person, so Elder Durrant and I had to use formal Japanese when talking to her. It was very difficult, mostly because at Mikuni I only ever really spoke informal, and me and Elder Durrant speak to each other in informal Japanese all the time, so catching myself and correcting what I was about to say to be more formal was a bit of a challenge, but it was very fun. I was very very happy during that lesson of sorts, and we'll definitely be teaching her more to help her get to the temple. I was nervous I was going to say something wrong, but all went well, thanks in no small part to the spirit I suppose.

Next up: What's it like to speak Tongan? I don't know, I don't speak Tongan. Elder Taka is fine with speaking for me and Elder Durrant, and though we try to learn, we only pick up a bit. Elder Durrant is better at it than me, the only words I know are "io" and "tiki tiki". Don't ask me why, I just do. Missionaries have a weird way of teaching you things.

Finally: What's it like in a tripanionship? Cramped. So I'll be sending a lot of things home. The pad was small to begin with, but even though it's cramped and can be a little hectic at times, for the most part we all get along really well. We're going out and working with new and amazing people every day, and we've been working super hard. We're working with a ton of new people right now. I'm not as stressed as I was before, and I find that I'm actually enjoying my mission experience more. We find that music is our common ground. Often we spend our spare time singing together to whatever song is stuck in our heads that day. I'm not talented, so I do my best to sing while the others play the uke. So far our favorites to sing are Hallelujah, Somebody that I Used to Know, Kataomoi, Sukiyaki (Ue wo Muite Arukou), and Hey There Delilah. And hymns. We can't forget the hymns.

Solomon's baptism went well, and the spirit was super strong. He's really made an effort to change this life. When he had his baptismal interview it was taking a long time, so the three of us were a bit nervous but we later learned that the reason it took so long was because Solomon was bearing testimony on each of the questions. Apparently it was a super spiritual experience. He decided he wanted to be baptized as soon as possible, so instead of Saturday he ended up getting baptized on Friday at 7:30pm. It was my first baptism in a while and I'm honored I get to work with Elder Durrant and Eder Taka with Solomon.

We've also been working with a girl named Tiani and her younger sister. I love getting to teach kids the gospel. They're so honest and innocent...and curious. They always ask the most interesting questions, and they love to learn. My first lesson with Tiani was on the plan of salvation and now she knows it well enough to relay it back to us!

So there you go! Comics, companions, abridgements, and more!

I hope you all have a great week!
I'll talk to you all later! じゃね!

Solomon's baptism

Switching It Up

Well, well, well..... What a week!!! It was such a blur that I can barely even remember it all, but that's what we have journals for right? Let's see here...

*flips through pages*

Aha! Heres the stuff!

This week we pulled the double switcheroo by having exchanges two nights in a row! Exchanges are an easy way to stress me out, especially when you throw in the abject terror of my past companion being the one we were exchanging with. Seeing past companions in the mission, I've come to discover, can result in one of two meetings. It can be like seeing an old friend you haven't seen in years again, or it can be like running into your ex girlfriend at the shopping center and awkwardly talking to them even though you don't really want to, because you're trapped in the same check out line and it's packed. Maybe some of you out there understand what I'm talking about, but either way I'll just move forward. The second exchange was with me and Elder Durrant, and it happened on every Nintendo fan's favorite day of the year: March 10! (Mar 10) I celebrated the great day by whistling aloud the grand sounds of Super Mario Bros, but other than that, not much to do within the mission boundaries. That exchange was actually pretty hard on us for some reason. We felt unable to really work that hard, like there was some kind of hazy darkness over us, but we did our best to push through it, and that's when things got interesting. After working hard despite the adversary trying hard to get us not to, we were rewarded for our efforts in a remarkable way.

We met an amazing man who loves to play Nintendo games. His whole family does in fact. It was so cool to meet him, his wife, and his grandson and get the chance to speak with them! It brought back many a childhood memory, and as the grandson is unbaptized, well be visiting more often it seems.

Our Japanese teaching appointment is this Saturday. Wish us luck.

Going to church twice in a row, an equivalent of 6 straight hours by the way, is difficult to get used to, but because we're finding so much success, it's not been as hard as I thought it would be. We actually have a baptism this week! It's for our investigator named Solomon and he's super solid! He aced his baptismal interview and is ready to go! And he's not all! We actually have 3 more baptisms coming up in the near future, so stay tuned for that great news!

Stay warm out there. I hear there's a bad storm in your neck of the woods.

Later!

Elder Taka

The Explosive Week of Awesome

Holy crap!!!! Seriously this week was such a strange and adventurous one. So much is constantly happening that it's all I can do just to keep my journal updated. I'm going through paper in the new one VERY quickly, but I'll be sure to let you know when I start running low again. I'm not even sure where to begin with all of the insane adventures, and I for sure can't give you the full details, so let me try and decide what the ultimate highlights are, because there are way too many to even count!

In just a week I've blessed the sacrament at a Tongan branch, had crazy good pictures of the amazingly cool valley, seen the Ghostbusters, taught the Law of Chastity twice (and both times they were actually really spiritual), I braved a terrifying spotted dog to teach the plan of salvation to some awesome kids, we have a guy getting baptized before the end of the transfer, I've eaten almost non stop, and, what may be the best part of all-

(ok Brace yourselves for this because trust me you aren't ready. You may think you're ready but you aren't. OK... Deep breaths... 1....2.....3..... Here we go)

This week, Elder Durant and I will begin teaching somebody in Japanese. We've been specifically requested to teach in Japanese. When I found that out I lost it, so just do your best to stay calm about how awesome that is!

My new companions are awesome. Elders Taka, Durant, and I really get along and honestly that's made all the difference for me. This week has been an incredible one, and like I said, I'm always suuuuuper busy.

Sorry this isn't much of an informative email, but hey, at least you get cool pictures.