Hey
Man, it was great talking with everyone. I think that was the fastest hour of my life. It went by way fast. I can't believe how much Derricks voice has change it made me laugh. It was a ton of fun talking to you all, I thought after I was done I would be way trunkee but I wasn't which suprised me a bit. I do have to admit that it was hard to hang up but it was great talking to you all.

How was Christmas? What did everyone get? Did you have fun? I have to say that Christmas as a missionary in a place that does not celebrate Christmas at all was very different but was still fun. I will talk about it later.

So its been a long time since I last emailed, but we haven't had a whole lot of success lately. All of our investigators at the moment are too busy to meet because of Shogatsu (New Years). Its basically like Christmas and everyone goes out and shops and gets together with family and goes on trips and stuff so its kind of frustrating.

Anyways last week we went out and dendoed a lot but couldn't find anyone. We found a potential investigator which was cool but of course he can't meet until after Christmas. We were outside a store after buying some treats and I felt like I should talk to a guy standing outside the door. I said hey its really cold huh, and the conversation started from there. He said he has a lot of interest in learning english and about the bible. We got his phone number and said we would call him after the new year. Hopefully something works out.

We also had an appointment that night with an investigator but he never showed up. He hasn't payed his phone bill and won't be able to use it until after the new year so we couldn't get a hold of him. His name is Kosei and is a pretty big punk. He has dyed hair and wears gangster clothes and stuff but has come to church before and likes to read the Book of Mormon so we are teaching him. Once we get to the commandments it might get a little hard but we have hope for him. We just need to find a way to meet with him.

We had Zone Conference on Thursday and since it was in Kobe we had to head out to Wakayama to spend the night there. We got there and had rootbeer floats which was awesome. Rootbeer is way hard to find out here and you can only get it at import places. Some member bought them a ton (around 3 12 packs). It was a ton of fun.

Zone Conference was great. We are really going to try to start getting the members fired up and have them help us out a lot more with missionary work. We learned a lot about that and how to work with them more effectively. I got to see some old friends including Akina Choro who was in the MTC with me who I hadn't seen since then which was awesome. After Zone Conference we had a Christmas program which was pretty fun. We heard all these Christmas stories and a few musical numbers. It was really great. Then everyone went and got their mail and packages and headed back. We went back to Wakayama and stayed the night there. We all opened one present and read from the bible. It made me laugh and reminded me of home.

Christmas day was a lot of fun. We all woke up and opened all our stuff. We made Eggs, French Toast (and our own maple syrup) and bacon. it had been a long time since I had had any of that. Everyone talked to their families then we went to Shingu's baptism. It was a great service and awesome to see them get a baptism. After that we headed back home to Tanabe. We rushed to a Yaki Niku place and had the closest thing you can get in Japan to a steak. It was super good. We headed home and Enta Choro talked to his family and Christmas was over. It was really weird, everyone was still working, had school and all that stuff. There was no celebrating of it all which actually made it a little easier I think. I did miss it and it came super fast and didn't really feel like Christmas because well no one had lights or anything up. I had a good time though and it was a blast with the other missionaries.

Yesterday we were able to go to some members house and have a meal with them. It was super good and we had a good time. This week flew by I can't believe it. This week during the New Year we have a big sports meeting for all of the missionaries in the mission. It is going to be a ton of fun. We also found out that Elder Oaks is going to be coming to our mission in February. It should be way cool.

I hope you all had a good Christmas, thank you for the packages they were awesome.

Love you
Cam

Side Note from Lisa

I just wanted to share a quick experience we had yesterday. Our home teachers came to visit and had a young man with him. We just assumed he was one of our new home teachers. He had just recently returned from his mission in Japan and wanted to show us some of his pictures. The last picture he showed us was of him and Cameron. Cameron was his last companion. Elder Payne has been home for 3 weeks. Our home teacher's business partner is Elder Payne's father. It was a great surprise!! It was great to hear about Cameron and how he is doing. Before he left he prayed in Japanese (Morgan giggled through it because she thought it was very funny sounding). It was a great Christmas gift.

Sounds like everyone is busy like normal. Man I would love to eat a thanksgiving dinner it sounds way good. I would kill for Grandma's stuffing right now.
I got another one of your packages they are pretty fun, I think there is still one more on the way. Thanks for all of them they are way fun. I actually need a few things I swear I always think of them way too late. So we had a way crazy rain storm this week and I forgot to take out my mini Triple out of my Backpack that I bought in the MTC and it totally got ruined. I will send you some pictures but its a Triple (BOM,DC,PoGP) that is way small and has a nice leather binding and stuff. I think you can get it from anywhere but I would love to get another one. I will send you some pictures of it so you kind of know what to look for. Also this is weird but will you send me my retainers if they are still around? I want to see if I can fit them in my mouth still. Yes I know, I know its all my fault but Im just curious. Ok anyways thanks for everything the packages are awesome.

Ok this week

Monday - After P-day we had a lesson with our new investigator Maruyama that we found while we were housing. We were pretty excited to go and got all ready and met our member at the church to head off. He was a bit late which was frustrating so we were late to the lesson by 5 min. We taught the first lesson and it went alright, when I committed her to read and pray about the BOM, she said something along the lines of `I will read and pray when I feel like it not because you ask me to` Kind of weird but whatever. The problem was that our member did not like that answer at all, and he actually kind of got into an argument with her right there at the lesson. Not good. Anyways after that we kind of had to try to smooth things out but the damage had already been done. We got another appointment with her for today but she called and canceled on us and said she didn't know when she could meet again. Kind of disappointing but we couldn't really do much about it. After that lesson our day was over. Hopefully we can get a lesson with her soon.

Tuesday - It was a long day. We headed out and housed for most of the day but didn't really get to talk to anyone. After housing we ate dinner and got ready for Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa was way crazy. We had some people come from a halloween party that Payne Choro and I went to and they were all way little kids. So I taught 2 different lessons at the same time. It was nuts but pretty fun. After that the day was over not a lot really happened.

Wednesday -We did the same thing in the morning as the day before. We went housing and had no real luck. We had to go to Gobo to teach Eikaiwa so we got ready and headed out there. Only 2 people came this week, I think we might have to stop going soon. I am going to talk to president at our interviews to see what he has to say. I would feel bad just totally leaving the Gobo Branch with no missionaries at all but its a waste of our time and mission money. We will see what happens.

Thursday - We had an exchange with the Zone Leaders. They came down and we had a 4 man day in Tanabe. Burton and I went out and tried to do some different things besides just housing. We went to a park, a big study hall, some stores (Including a fishing one) and a few other things. We found one good Potential but other than that not much luck. Cutler and Enta on the other hand found 3 new people to teach. They found a wife and a husband housing and another guy outside the train station. It was pretty awesome and something we really need at the moment. We taught the family last night and it went pretty well. It was my first time teaching a family and is like a missionaries dream. It was awesome. After going out contacting we went to our wards Family Home Evening and had pizza there. Yoshi Nobu came and it was great to see him.

Friday - It was a crazy day. It POURED rain all day and we headed out in the morning in it. There was no one out so we didn't have much luck and I totally forgot about my small Triple so it got ruined. I was way sad about that. We had to be back at the apt. by 3 because our roof started leaking and some people were coming by to fix it. We were in the apt most of the day while they were there and we did DKK (weekly Planning) while they were there. After that we went to service and walked around but didn't really get a chance to talk with anyone promising.

Saturday - We decided to go to a place called Shirahama. Its about an hour away on bike and is really the only other city in our area. We rode all the way out there to find it totally dead. Its pretty much a beach tourist town. Most of the shops were closed and no one was around. It was pretty frustrating because no one was there and we went all the way out there but oh well we know now. After exploring out there we headed back did some housing, streeting, and called it a day Sunday - Yoshi Nobu was suppose to come to church but he never showed up. We called him and he called us back during our lesson so I couldn't answer and haven't been able to get a hold of him yet. Church was pretty normal. Afterwords we did some streeting and housing then headed to our lesson with the Yamanaka family. The husband is Japanese and the wife is from the Philippeans. They are both really great and have a little boy that is around 1 or 2 years old. We taught about the BOM and prayer and we will be teaching them the Plan of Salvation next time. Its really exciting to teach a family and they also have a little bit of a Christan background too. Its really weird teaching someone who already knows what prophets are and who Jesus is and we will have to change our teaching style a little bit but we will figure it out. We have another appointment with them for next week. It should be great.

It was a good week. I wish we could of had more lessons but we found quite few people this week so we are pretty happy. Oh also about phone calls, P-day is being moved to Christmas day so I won't be emailing you next Monday. You will be calling me when it is Christmas day in Japan so I'm guessing the 24th in the States. If you could call me around 12:00 my time it would be a good time I think. Our number is 080-2149-6209. They really haven't told us much about it yet and I just found out this morning. I am not sure what time it will be over there but 12:00 - 12:30ish my time would work out best. Sorry that's probably pretty late over there. I can't wait to talk to you all and will be waiting for your call. It will be great. I am guessing it can only be 45 min to an hour but I am way excited.

Things are going great we just have to keep working hard and we will see miracles.
Thanks for everything
love you tons

Wow sounds like you guys are getting a ton of snow right now. We won't see any snow down here I don't think but it really has gotten pretty cold. In your last package could you send me my Underarmor top also? I think I have a white one that should work just fine. Also a sweater if you haven't sent one yet already. Other than that I am pretty much good to go.

The present thing is way fun. Its always something I look forward to in the morning. I opened the 3 musketeers bar this morning and the scripture that went with it made me laugh. It was pretty clever.

Sounds like the soccer dinner was fun. Sorry my letter was so lame, I just haven't had enough email time for the last few weeks to think of something good. I am excited to read them all. Its weird thinking that it is Christmas time. You don't really see it that much out here which is nice because it doesn't make me trunkee.
Sounds like everyone is having fun back home, Morgan scoring baskets derrick fishin, Whit doin her stuff hopefully it all works out with this new doc.

So this week was a lot better than last.

Monday - After P-day we went housing like normal. Our last door we talked to this guy who has a bunch of interest about religion and stuff. He was more interested in the thinking part of it and not really the feeling part which was disappointing. We invited him to come to church but he didn't show up yesterday. Hopefully we can get in contact with him.

Tuesday -This was a pretty boring day. We went out and got stood up by our investigator we found the previous week which wasn't that big of a surprise. He was pretty iffy when we talked to him the first time so it wasn't too big of a let down. We went housing for the rest of the day until Eikaiwa. I taught the Eikaiwa classes and called it a day.

Wednesday-We went housing in the morning before going to Gobo for eikaiwa out there. I am thinking of asking president if we can stop going. Its kind of turning into a waste of time with no missionaries out in Gobo advertising it and we won't really ever get someone that wants to hear the gospel out of it so I think I am drop it soon. We didn't have much luck during our housing but when we got home that night we got a call from the Elders in Wakayama. Actually one of the Elder Cutler is the Mosses cousin. He has been to our ward a few times crazy huh. Anyways they found a guy that had interest and he lived in Tanabe. We called him and set an appointment with him for Friday. We were pretty excited and couldn't wait to meet with him.

Thursday - This was a long rainy day. We headed out in the morning and did some contacting but no real luck there. After that we went to a members restuarant called Hachi Ju Hachia. It is a way way good all you can eat restuarant. I love it. It was super good and she made us a dessert (SP?) that was really good. After that we went to a pretty countrysideish area and housed out there but didn't really get a chance to talk to anyone. We headed back home after housing without much luck.

Friday -We decided to try to do some more creative things for contacting so we went out by the train station to try to contact even though its a little town but no one was there. So we went out to the beach hoping to talk to someone but it was dead there too. We went to this giant, awesome park to see if we could find someone but again it was dead, we even went to an art gallery but no one. So we gave up and just went housing again. We had service and after that we got ready for the lesson we had with our new investigator. His name is Yoshi Nobu and is 23 years old. We met with him and talked about the BOM and prayer and it went really great. We invited him to read and pray about it and he accepted. We also invited him to come to church on sunday and he accepted that also. It was a great way to end the day.

Sat.- We housed a bit before our lesson with Kinoshita san. Kinoshita is an awesome family man but we found out this last lesson he doesn't really have any desire to change what he is doing at the moment. He is well off has a small family and is happy. He is always super nice to us and gives us food. It was a little disappointing, we were hoping to be able to have some progress with him but it doesn't look like he really intends to go anywhere. He invited us to come back around the new year and he was going to feed us. It should be way good because new years is the big thing out here. Should be fun.

After that there was a little festival that we went to but couldn't really talk to anyone. We headed out to do more housing and about an hour into it we knocked on a door and a girl answered it. When we talked about our message she started to smile and when I asked if I could share it she said yes. It was the first yes we had gotten in a few days so I was a bit surprised but went on and talked about the BOM. She accepted it and wanted to meet again. We are going to meet tonight and hopefully the lesson goes well. We headed back to the apt. had our district mtg. on the phone and called it a night.

Sun. - We had church and Yoshi Nobu came! It was pretty awesome, we were able to teach him lesson one. When I asked him what he thought God was like he said that he thought we lived with Him before earth and he made earth for us to learn and grow, Then after we die we go back to live with him. Needless to saw we were pretty surprised. The lesson went great, I actually felt like I should talk about Baptism with him and president has been asking us to commit people to it in the first lesson, so I brought it up and committed him to it and he accepted it. I tried to get a date set for it, but it was a bit too much for him but he said he would be baptized when I committed him to it. He has already read parts of the BOM and we are way excited to teach him more. After church and his lesson we went out and did housing for around 4 hours but didn't get to share our message with anyone which was a little disappointing.

So things are starting to look up for Tanabe. We have some new people to teach that look like they have real interest and hopefully we can help them out. This coming week will be busy and should fly by. I can't believe it is already almost 9 months. I haven't heard anything yet about the whole calling on Christmas thing but I will let you know when I find out about it. Have fun during this Christmas time, I am going to miss it but we are doing good.

Thanks
Love you tons
Cam

Well it sounds like everyone had fun except for whit. Man I could kill right now for some Turkey and Stuffing. It sounds really good. I actually forgot that it was Thanksgiving until we started planning. Its a little weird being in a place where people don't celebrate it and kind of ignore Christmas too. I hope that everyone had fun. It sounds like most of the family had a good time.

Wednesday - I was still in Wakayama with the other 2 elders. In the morning we went out and talked to some investigators and did a bit of streeting. We headed back and ate while Magleby Choro packed his stuff up and got it ready to send it off for transfers. After lunch we headed out to meet their new convert. He was a really great guy. He really has been converted and is going to be a strong member. It was cool to see how fast he became such a strong member in such short of time. After that we headed back and on the way we ate at a Ramen Place. It is famous for this really bad smelling ramen but it tasted pretty good. A fun experience that's for sure. After dinner we taught Eikaiwa which is always fun.

Thursday - Man this was a long day. Because my new comp is a new missionary I had to go all the way back to the Mission Home in Kobe. We woke up at 5:45 and started off. We got to the Honbu and got some training from President and the AP's then they brought in the new missionaries. They assigned us all our new comp.s and then we took pictures and ate lunch. My new comp is Enta Choro. He is from Japan, a place just above Tokyo. He is already a great missionary and we are going to have fun even if we don't understand each other sometimes. He speaks no english. After that we all headed out to our areas. We got to Wakayama and had to stop there so we could buy a bike for him because there isn't a decent place in Tanabe to do it. Once we got that done we took it on the train with us and headed home and got to the apt. around 8:50. Man it was a long day.

Friday - Ok it was Enta Choro's first day as a missionary. We did all of our transfer planning in the morning, ate lunch and then headed out. We first went to the beach but no one was there so we headed out to go housing. He did a really good job for his first time and we were even able to talk to a few people. They didn't have interest at the moment but are decent Potential Investigators. Hopefully they can become real investigators soon. After housing we headed to the church to prep. Eikaiwa. We got that all finished up and I taught Eikaiwa which is always fun. We have a really good, fun Eikaiwa class that I really like.

Sat. - In the morning after study we decided to go out near the beach and train station and try to street. We actually were able to find a new investigator at the beach which was awesome. He was kind of dodgy and I am not sure if he will actually show up to the appointment or not but it was great for us to see I think. After the beach and train station we went back to the apt., ate and headed out to do some housing. We housed for around 4 hours but didn't have much luck. We went back and did our district meeting before planning. We are so far apart we do it over the phone. I thought I had preped and gotten ready but man I was wrong. I failed pretty hard and man it was embarrassing. I hope i can do it, maybe next time will be better. I got some tips from one of the Elders in Shingu that has been a DL before. He is the branch president right now or he would be DL i think. After the call we ate and called it a day.

Sunday - We had our study in the morning and then headed to church. We had asked a past investigator that was at eikaiwa that has interest again to come to church and she did. That was good but when we tried to do a lesson man....I failed pretty hard here too. I couldn't speak any Japanese or really give a good lesson.I felt really bad and the members that were helping just kind of took over. After words i got some words of advice from them, but I am still feeling down about it. I hope I can become a good teacher and fast because man, we need it. After church we went out to a place called Shirahama its pretty far but way pretty place. We had a good bike ride out there and when we got there it was pretty dead. We talked to some people but no one with real interest which was disappointing. After that we headed back home ate, planned, and called it a day.

So yeah its been already pretty crazy. I have a lot of learning and practice to do. I get lots of Japanese practice with my comp because he speaks no english at all so thats a good opportunity for me. Hopefully I can get better soon. Its going to be a fun transfer we just need to make sure we work hard. I hope I can do it. Thanks for the package i got one of them already, be careful sending too much, I don't want my brand new comp to get trunky in his first transfer haha.
Love you
Cam

Hey well crazy stuff has been going on this week so far. After Payne Choro left I had to head up to Wakayama to spend these 3 days with 2 other missionaries. We actually weren't able to do email because it was a holiday so I probably won't have a lot of time to do it today. Anyways we had transfer calls and well its pretty crazy. I am of course staying in Tanabe but I am going to be a Trainer and also am going to be District Leader. I was pretty shocked to say the least. It is exciting and scary at the same time. I know that if we work hard we will be just fine. I won't find out who my new Comp. is until this Thursday when I go to pick him up. Its going to be a lot of fun.

Ok anyways here is our week.

Monday - We had just a normal P-day but afterwords right before we headed out we got a call from the Enamoto's. They invited us over for Sukiyaki. It has got to be one of my favorite things to eat in Japan so far. It is a pot with a mix of soy sauce sugar and a few other things and they put a bunch of Meat, Veggies and tofu and stuff in it and boil it up. You then grab whatever you want dip it in raw egg and eat it. It is way, way good. I love it. It was a ton of fun.

Tuesday - We were suppose to have a lesson with Risa but she cancelled on us again. She said she would come to church on sunday but didn't show up. She started out with so much potential but kind of has dropped off of the map. Its a little disappointing. Instead of meeting with her we went housing I think. We went to see if we could find any service activities at the community center but we couldn't find any that didn't involve kids (we can't do service with kids). We also got together our Eikaiwa class and went out to eat that night. It was a ton of fun and we ate a ton of food.

Wendsday - We had interviews with president this day. After interviews we went to a Yaki Niku all you can eat restuarant. Yaki Niku is one of my favorites also. You go and get a plate fill it with a bunch of raw meat and then cook it at your table over an open grill that is built into the table. Its really good, I wish they had them in the states but oh well. It was a 3 hour ride one way so we went back and taught the Gobo Eikaiwa and the day was over.

Thursday - We had a totally open day so we went housing most of the day. We went and contacted a bunch of old Former and Potential investigators but none of them had any interest anymore. It was a little disappointing that we couldn't find anyone but it happens.

Friday - We had to wait for the Airport people to come pick up Payne's luggage so we waited for that for 3 hours or so. After that we went housing then to service and then ate dinner. We did some more housing afterwords but didn't have much luck this day either.

Sat. - In the morning we headed out and started to dendo. We were able to talk to a guy Payne has met before. He is a guitar teacher that studied in the U.S. A really cool guy, has a family and all that. He is a good potential investigator and hopefully we can get him to change into a real investigator soon. After that we went back and ate lunch. While eating payne choro started cleaning up his stuff and we ended up cleaning the apt. I didn't realize how disgusting it actually was until we started doing it man it was bad. We got it all cleaned up though and man it looks half decent now. After all of that we went out and housed for the rest of the night without much luck.

Sunday - We had 2 people come to church which was awesome. One girl is the daughter of a member that we need to start teaching once she gets some free time. Her mom is really great and helps us out with some of our new converts. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling on her soon. She said she would give us a call when she has some time. The other girl that came was an old investigator that is friends with the girl Payne choro baptized last transfer. When she was committed to be baptized she kind of fell off. She said this time though that if she finds it to be true she will be baptized. We are really excited to start to teach her and hopefully will make a date for her next time we teach her. For the rest of the day we talked to members did a little bit of contacting and got Payne choro ready to head home.
Monday - We had to get up a little early and took the bus to Wakayama. On our way we got a call from President McIntyre and i found out that I will be training and also be the new District Leader. We dropped Payne Choro off in Osaka with another elder that is headed home and I left with the Wakayama Elders. I will be with them until Thursday morning then I have to head back to Kobe and get my new comp. It should be fun

Thanks for all of the emails this week. I want to try to make that bread for people in the ward as christmas presents we will see how it goes. I will try to get some of those questions answered I hope i have time.

love you tons thank you for everything.

Love you
Cam

Hey how is it going? Sounds like it is starting to get cold out there. It is here too but I don't think we will be having snow or anything like that.
Springville is actually good at football? Maybe getting that new coach was a good idea I guess. I am sure they will get destroyed by Timpview but you never know. Hopefully they pull it off. Sounds like Morgan is going to have fun at basketball. I hope she scores some baskets this year. Thanks for the Package stuff. I have interviews this week so I can ask president for permission. One thing you sent in the last package that you actually are not suppose to send is beef jerky. Some weird thing in Japan about it I am not sure but don't send any please. Thanks for the info on the ward. It was weird getting their newsletter and having a bunch of names I didn't know.

Ok this week wasn't the most exciting week ever but we tried.

Tuesday - We had made Brownies and some Pumpkin bread from some stuff that Payne Choro's mom sent to him on P-day. We went around and delivered a bunch of it to investigators, Less Actives, and other people. While we were doing that we visited some Potential Investigators and housed but didn't find anyone new. We did have a lesson right before Eikaiwa with an older man named Sengo. He said he has interest but it isn't really very big at the moment so we will see what happens with him over the next few weeks. Hopefully it turns out right. We taught Eikaiwa after that nothing really special happened there. After the class we got a ride home from a member because it was pouring rain like crazy.

Wendsday - Before we could start we had to walk back to the church in the morning to grab our bikes. After that we grabbed some lunch and went out for a bit before we went to Gobo for Eikaiwa. We went to Gobo and visited Azuma again for Payne choro's last time. He was still crazy as ever. Afterwords we taught Eikaiwa which is starting to get old. We ride a train way out to Gobo just to teach 2 or 3 people. If it ends up being a waste of time we might not do it anymore in the coming transfer. After Eikaiwa we headed home.

Thursday - We had an exchange scheduled this day with the other 2 elders in our district. We went to Shingu and it is 3 hours by train...yeah way out there. So we left in the morning and headed out there. They are in an interesting situation out in Shingu. They have only 1 active member and the senior comp is the branch president. It is a little smaller than Tanabe. I can't imagine trying to work without a branch. It has to be really hard. Can you imagine going to church on Sunday and having 3 people at church and 2 are missionaries? Man its crazy. Anyways we went out and did contacting for awhile then we went to a sushi place. My first time eating sushi in Japan actually. It was really good but pretty expensive. Afterwords we taught Eikaiwa and the day was over.

Friday - We headed back home and didn't get back until around 2:00. We did service for the dance place and did Weekly Planning. We did visit a Less Active Sister Okemoto. She was baptized around 20 years ago but did it for the missionaries and didn't really know what was going on. She doesn't have a testimony and we are trying to help her get one. Hopefully we can help her.

Sat. - We had lunch with the 4 other Gajin in Tanabe on Saturday. We went and ate hoping that we would have a chance to talk about religion and stuff but one of the ladies at the start kind of shut us down by talking about her pastor and stuff back home. It was kind of weird because they all talked about movies, tv, and things on the internet that we had no idea about. It kind of made me laugh how much is going on and we have no idea about it. It was fun to eat lunch with them. After that we rode way out to Shirahama and I saw a little more of the area. We talked to one guy that is a photographer that Payne has met before. He has talked to missionaries in the past and hopefully we will be able to get a lesson again with him sometime.

Sunday - We went to church and had lunch with members afterwords. I actually had to give a 15 min talk in Japanese which isn't the easiest thing in the world. I did alright. After church we went out looking for some Former Investigators but they moved away which was way frusterating. We were able to Visit Risa which was great. Her son got the flu also so we couldn't do a lesson and she couldn't come to church but we have a lesson for tomorrow. She will try to come to church next Sunday too. Hopefully it all works out.

Other than that not a lot really happened so hopefully this coming week is a better one. I guess we will see what happens.

Ok so tons of missionaries keep asking me about the mini PMG so could you tell me the story behind that and where you got it so I can tell them where they could get it and stuff. Thanks. Also your Banana Bread recipe is something I want to try to make when we make things for members and things. Is it hard to make? Could you send that to me also? Thanks

Love you tons Thanks for everything
Cam

Hey how is it going back home for everyone? Having fun?
Sounds like everyone is having a good time teaching the dog how to sit and all that made me laugh. Think sage will still be around when I get back home?

I've been thinking about Joe and Phil. The MTC is a hard place to be at sometimes. It is a great spiritual place but it can be really stressful, the food sucks, and other things too but you learn a lot and grow a lot too so its all worth it. I'm sure they are both doing great and will be awesome missionaries.

I was thinking about how some of the guys I know are hitting their year marks which is way weird. I will hit my 1/3 mark in 2 weeks which is pretty crazy too. It feels like I just left but it also feels like forever ago that I was home so its a weird feeling.

So the new ward is good? I have to admit it will be weird coming home to a new ward. The Peterson's are in our ward now? I didn't know that. Oh before i forget could you send me the information for our new ward so I can tell the honbu that my stuff has changed. I bet dad is way fun in YM with Craig too its gotta be a blast.

Christmas package already? Ok well somethings I thought of are Sweaters for sure. Could you send me my under armor leg things in the next package sometimes it gets cold enough you will want them I guess. I can get gloves and things out here. I think I am fine on shirts and all that. Things I want would be that Kansai Ben book I talked about earlier. Other than that surprise me!

This week was alright but not as successful as the last 2 weeks.

Tuesday we had an exchange with the elders in Wakayama. We were suppose to have a lesson with Risa but she had to cancel or something like that so we weren't able to teach her. We spent most of the day walking around because we only had 2 bikes and the other 2 took them. I was with Elder Magleby a way cool guy and we walked around for awhile when we saw this festival thing going on. We walked over and there were these guys carrying this golden shrine thing on their shoulders that looked a lot like the ark of the covenant. Then there were some guys carrying a guy that was dressed up like a monkey. The guys with the gold thing had to get past the monkey guys without dropping it. It was pretty crazy but kind of cool too. Once they got in we watched some guys pretend to fight each other then they threw free mochi (Rice stuff) at everyone it was awesome and totally crazy at the same time. After that we did Eikaiwa and called it a day.

Wednesday- We finished up our kokan and ate at a tabehodai (all you can eat) which was way good. We tried to dendo at a small mall in our area but we didn't find anyone interested. We left to Gobo and visited a member over there and then taught eikaiwa. Only 2 people came so it's a little frustrating because we have to go all the way out there spend money and time to teach hardly anyone. After class the day was over.

Thursday - We started the day off by doing our weekly planning. Elder Payne got permission from president to register for his BYU classes so we came back to the email place and he registered for all of his stuff. Afterwords we went out housing but didn't have much luck.

Friday - We did a practice lesson with a member in the morning. It helps our Japanese a lot, and we get good feedback so its been something we have been trying to do lately to become better teachers. After teaching we decided to go way out into the countryside area and try it out and let me see some parts of the area I hadn't been to yet. We got all the way out there and of course we have bike troubles. Something happened to Elder Payne's bike and his gear got stuck in the very highest one because the wire just snapped randomly. We tried to find a shop around that could fix his bike but no one had the parts. We headed back to the apt. so we could get it fixed. Just bad luck. We were suppose to have a lesson with Risa but we couldn't get a male member to come with us. That is one thing that isn't fun about the country side is only have around 4 or 5 priesthood holders and when all of them are tied up we can't do much about it. After getting back we went out for a bit and then headed back home.

Saturday- We went and got his bike fixed first thing in the morning and after that we had a lesson with Kinoshita. We taught him lesson one and showed him part of the restoration video. It went well but we think that the Joseph Smith experience kind of freaked him out. He was definatley different after the lesson. He really likes to cook and made us apple pie. It was totally awesome and tasted like the stuff back home. He is really cool I hope we can help him out. After that lesson we went around and housed for a bit. It was Elder Payne's 2 year mark as a missionary so we ate with some members. That was pretty fun. After eating the day was over.

Sunday - We were really excited because we had called Risa and asked her to come to church earlier and she said she would come but she never did. We tried calling her twice but she didn't answer so we are a little worried. Hopefully it all works out. After church we went out and contacted some old investigators and some potentials and didn't have much luck there.

I still really like Tanabe its an awesome place. I can't believe how fast the transfer has gone by. It only has 2 weeks left which is way crazy I can't believe it. Its a lot of fun and we are trying our best. These next 2 weeks are going to be busy and this transfer will be over before I know it. Its been a lot of fun so far out here.
Love you so much thanks for everything
Cam

Hey how are you doing? Sounds like you have been really busy with all of the Halloween stuff going on. It is kind of weird, it didn't really feel like October at all because I didn't see any Halloween stuff anywhere. It sounds like all the kids had fun. I remember all the little parties I use to do fun times.

Sounds like everyone is doing good. I am glad he is playing my guitar and keeping it in good shape. I want to take real lessons when I get back home and get good. Sounds like YM is going to be a blast with dad and Craig in there. I bet it will be a ton of fun.

Alright so this has been a super super fast week. I can't believe how fast it went by. It was way crazy this transfer is already half over. Ok anyways...

Tuesday - So we have been talking to this lady at a Cell phone store and we were walking by and decided to talk to her. We ended up talking for around an hour and a half about life and the gospel and stuff. She isn't super solid but we are going to teach her tomorrow again. Hopefully it goes well. We have given her a BOM and challenged her to pray. After talking with her we went and ate lunch and went out contacting some Potential Investigators but nothing really came from it. We got ready for Eikaiwa and taught it after that. The day went by really quick.

Wednesday - In the morning we actually came back to the place where we do email because Elder Payne had gotten permission from president to register for his BYU classes but the date got moved back or something. That took most of our morning and went and ate lunch. Afterwards we went out and walked around town trying to find people to talk to but didn't have much luck. We headed out to Gobo the area next to us that has been closed, to teach the eikaiwa that is still going on there. We visited a member named Azuma and he took us out to eat. We ate Sukiyaki and man it has to be one of my new favorites. You cook a bunch of meat and veggies in this sauce right on the table then pick out the stuff dip it in egg, and eat it. Man it was so good. Afterwards we taught Eikaiwa and headed back home.

Thursday - Today was Zone Conference. We actually had to wake up around 5:15 to get there on time and ride the train for 3 hours. Not too fun. We got there and learned from president and the zone leaders about using the spirit in our work. It was really great, zone conference is always really spiritual and tons of fun. After Zone Conference we headed back and took the 3 hour train back to our area. We were able to stop by our branch's Halloween party for a few minutes and then went back to the apt. and finished the day.

Friday - We had 3 appointments scheduled for this day but all of them fell through. Our first one was with a member that was baptized a few years ago. We are working with her to get her daughter baptized but her daughter caught the flu so we couldn't meet with her this week. She is really great and hopefully we can help her daughter also. We had a lesson with Risa the lady we found the other week. She totally forgot about our appointment but we were able to get another one for this week. She is reading and praying right now and we plan on talking to her about baptism at the next appointment. It should go really well I hope. While we were eating lunch we got a call from a guy we call Taxi man. I guess Elder Payne gave him a BOM awhile ago but he doesn't have a phone so he is really hard to get a hold of. Anyways he wanted to meet at the church so we finished up really quick and ran over there. He is really hard to teach and is kind of all over the place but it went alright. Hopefully we get another chance soon. We also had an appointment with someone we found earlier that week housing but they didn't show up which was a little disappointing. We went by again last night but they wouldn't come to the door. After that we headed back and called it a day.

Sat. - In the morning we did a part of our weekly planning and then headed out to meet with Kinoshta. He is a dad and is a really cool guy. We taught him the plan of salvation and he is really interested. He said he really is going to think hard about what he believes in now and wants to read the Book of Mormon. We are pretty excited about him and are hoping for the best. We have an appointment with him this week but after that he is going to be away with work. Hopefully everything works out. After the appointment we headed to a Halloween party that one of the sisters in the ward asked us to go to. It was for a bunch of little kids at school. It was pretty funny, they were all dressed up as witches and that's about it. We did a costume contest, we taught them our style of Rock,Paper,Scissors which for some reason is a big thing out here, and a few other things. It was fun, but totally different than back home, it kind of made me laugh. We took them trick or treating to 2 houses then came back. After that it was over and we were able to talk to the parents and hand out a lot of flyers about church and english class. Hopefully something good comes of it.

Sunday - My 3rd Sunday in Tanabe. It has gone so fast I can't believe it. Anyways this week we didn't have a lot of people come. Only around 13 I think. After Church we finished our weekly planning and went out housing. We didn't find anyone interested but talked to a lot of nice people and got chewed out by one lady because it was dark.

This week just flew by I couldn't believe it. The transfer is half over and man it feels like I just got to Tanabe. I still really like it here and the people are great. For Utah it would be a really big city (Provo and Orem area put together) but for Japan it is really small. I think the population is around 60,000 so while it is Inaka it still feels big sometimes. I like it a lot and members are awesome and really great. We are staying busy and having a good time, we have appointments for this coming week so we should be busy next week too.

Thanks for the Package I got it this week. I handed out some of the smarties at the party. They loved them thanks a ton.

Love you,
Cam

So Phil is finally out now huh? Man thats crazy I bet he was really excited. It sounded like a lot of fun, man I would die for some enchiladas right now. I think that is the food I miss the most. Mexcian Food. Trent is in the Branch Presidency? Thats awesome. The area in our district that is 3 hours away is the same. They have One active member so on Sunday it is usually just the 3 of them sometimes if he can't come its just the missionaries.

Sounds like Thanksgiving is going to be fun. I have been wondering what we should do on Thanksgiving. Maybe we will just go to a nice restaurant or something. Some elders did that last year here in Tanabe and ended up baptizing the lady that works there. She is way cool and a strong member and helps us out a lot.
It looks like Whit had a good time at the dance. They can be a ton of fun or really bad but I am glad she had a lot of fun. The pictures turned out really good. Dad did a good job. I will remember her next Sunday in my fast.

So everyday I am in Tanabe I like it more and more. It is an awesome place. It's really green and we can see mountains and things its pretty sweet.

Monday - After P-day we went back to the apt and ate and rested until it was time to head back out. We went out housing and hadn't really had much luck. We walked up to a house and 2 dogs came out barking at us. We went up and started to pet them and stuff when a car came flying into the driveway and kind of surprised us. We hurried and knocked on the door so it looked like we were doing something and the guy came out of the car and we started talking to him. He was really nice and we told him we were missionaries and he told us to wait for a bit and ran inside. He told us his wife was really interested but had just gotten into the bath so we made an appointment to come back another day. It was really great.

Tuesday - We went and walked around Tanabe and talked to people most of the day. We actually handed out a Book of Mormon to a girl that was working at a phone store. Hopefully we can turn her into an investigator soon. We also had Eikaiwa this night which is always fun.

Wednesday - We did some more walking around Tanabe in the morning and then we had to go to Gobo the area next to us to teach Eikaiwa and visit a member. It use to have missionaries in it but got closed down so it is our responsibility now. We visited a member named Azuma and he is way crazy but needs to be visited. He is way funny and does some crazy stuff but its fun. We taught Eikaiwa then took the 50 min train back home and the day was over.

Thursday -Today was our weekly planning session. After planning we went back out housing and went back to meet that guys wife that had interest. We ended up giving her a book of mormon and got a return appointment to teach her on sunday. It was really exciting. We did a bunch of housing after planning and didn't find anyone but may get a few new Eikaiwa students.

Friday - In the morning we visited with a sort of less active member. She teaches dance and does tons of volunteer work but is too busy sometimes to come to church. She also wants her daughter to be baptized so we are working with her to help her with that. She is awesome and we should be able to baptize her daughter soon it seems like. After that we ate lunch and looked up a bunch of names in the area book to go visit and hopefully get some new investigators. We went way way out into the middle of no where to get some of them and were really only able to contact one of them. She knows some members better and we will have to talk to them about her. Hopefully we can start teaching her soon. After that we went back and had our so called "District Meeting" that we do over the phone for around 20 min because we are too far away from the other area to actually meet. After that we went out and talked with some people and came back home.

Saturday - We did contacting in the morning and around dinner time we had an appointment that Elder Payne had made with a guy around a month ago. Suprisingly enough he remembered and had made sushi and stuff for us. It was really cool. We are going to teach him again this coming week. He is a really nice guy and has a small family also so it could turn out to be really great.

Sunday - This was a way good day. We went to church and had a good time there. It is still surprising to me how small our branch is. We only have around 4 priesthood holders. Definately different from Utah. After church we ate and went and did a little lesson with a member. After that we went to Risa (the lady we gave a bom to and made an appointment with) to teach her with the branch president. The lesson went really great and she really wants to know about the church and said she plans on reading the BOM cover to cover which was way cool. We will be meeting with her again this week. After that we headed home and the day was over.

It was a great week and we have some really good potential right now. We just have to keep trying our best. Tanabe is an awesome place I really like it out here. I hope I get to stay out here a little longer than my last 2 areas.

Anyways it sounds like everyone is doing good back home. I hit my 7 month mark yesterday which is way crazy. Its gone by really fast and at the same time it feels like forever ago its a weird feeling. Thanks for everything i can't wait for the package.

Love you tons Cam

Tanabe

Hey how is it going back home? Sounds like you are all busy and have alot of stuff going on with school and all of that.
My new comp. Elder Payne is really great and We get along well. Tanabe is a cool place. It is way Inaka (Country) and I really like it. I thought it would be tough being in countryside because most missionaries don't like it but so far it has been great. It's really funny because people don't see foreigners much, hardly at all actually, so its a blast. They always look at us and say Hello and other things. The other day we rode by some kids playing soccer and they said "We soccer together?" We played soccer with them for 15 min. or so and it was a blast. Its a way cool place and all the members are awesome.

Ok so last week

Wednesday
Not much really happened this day because we had to get ready for transfers. Almost the whole morning was spent packing and getting ready to go. It was a little weird it felt like I had just gotten there. After packing and all of that we went out housing. The investigator we dropped called us and wanted to meet again. I told him about me transferring and he said he would buy us dinner so we went. We didn't really bible bash this time but I think they will probably keep him dropped. He isn't going anywhere.

Thursday
Transfer Day. We woke up and met in Kobe with the other missionaries I rode trains all day for around 8 hours until we got to Tanabe. It is really far away from everywhere else in the mission. The next area to us that has missionaries in it is around 2 hours away. The area in our district is 3 hours away and we do district mtg. over the phone. Its pretty crazy but it's fun. By the time we got to the apt. The day was over so we did our planning and called it a night.

Friday
Friday we did alot of planning for the transfer, unpacking, and just getting things ready. We went to a place to eat to kick off the transfer. A recent convert works there and it was fun to get to know her. We came back and unpacked, planned for the transfer and put my bike together. At 5:00 we had service for a less active in our ward. She teaches dance and does it for some handicapped kids for free. They bang on the mirrors and things so we go and wipe it down for her. It didn't take long but it was fun and we got to know her better and got an appointment with her. After words we did some more planning and that was it.

Saturday
We finished up all our weekly and transfer planning in the morning and headed out. We went out to a place called the Big U. It is like a giant study hall and we talked to some people there. We did a practice lesson with a member there too. We practice with them and they help us with our Japanese and how we can improve. It's really useful and we are planning to do it with Less Actives in our ward as a way to reactivate them and it helps us become better teachers too. We did some talking to people out there until it was time to come home.

Sunday
I was excited to see how the branch was and how big it was in Tanabe since the Akashi and Nishinomiya both were pretty big wards. We had around 15 people there so it will be easy to get to know everyone. It was a good meeting and I got to know some of the members. Since it is small most people have 2 or 3 callings it's amazing how hard they work. They are going to be great to work with. After church we came back and ate, then we visited a Less Active and talked to her. She was doing well and praying everyday. We challenged her to read also and she said she would. Hopefully we can get her back to church soon.

We went to this giant park to do some contacting at afterwards. It was gigantic I have never seen one in the states even close to how big this one was it was really cool. Not very many people were there so we went back to the Big U place and talked again to some people we knew. We were able to give out a Book of Mormon but unable to get a new investigator which is sad but it will happen soon. After that we had to go home and our day was over.

Tanabe is a way cool place I like it here. Its pretty small but it reminds me of home and Springville being the little hick town it is :). All the members and people here are really nice to us and try to help us out in any way that they can. Its going to be a way fun transfer I am sure.

The flu thing isn't much of a problem I don't think over here but you see people wearing masks all the time because its Japan. It might be Im not quite sure to tell you the truth. I know some missionaries have gotten sick. Whats it like back home right now?

How was the new ward? You go to our old building now? Thats kind of a weird change too I bet. How is everyone adjusting to it all? I hope whit is ok let me know what happens with her. She is being watched over thats one thing I am sure of.
Thanks for Joe's address I will send him a letter sometime when I get the chance. When does he leave for the field?

For the Christmas package the only thing I could think of would be gloves. Something I could wear while riding a bike that keeps my hands warm but not like way hot sweaty ones. Other than that I think I am fine. It has gotten a little colder so winter is coming.

Tanabe is great, I really like it out and and am having a fun time. I hope everything is going well back home. Have fun Love you tons.

Cam

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for all the pictures they were all really great. It was a lot of fun to see pictures of everyone.

So today we got our transfer calls and..... I am transferring again! I am going to a place called Tanabe and it is way way far away almost as far as you can get in the mission. It is really really countryside, I am pretty excited. It sounds like it will be a fun place.I am way excited to go to my new area it should be a lot of fun. My comp is Payne Choro. He is the one that was Renae Olivas business partner's son right? All the crazy stories come from the countryside areas so it should be awesome. I know its just a small branch. The other area in our district that is the farthest in the mission has 3 members in their branch and 2 of them are missionaries so I am sure ours is small also.

Anyways this week not a lot really happened Tuesday - We went tracting all day nothing really happened at all. We biked really far and did some housing but nothing really special.

Wednesday - same story here. Lots of contacting but nothing really happened. We taught Iwamurasan but he just bible bashed really hard and I told him we were not going to teach him anymore so we dropped him.

Thursday-
We had District mtg. for the last time in Miki. It was fun we went and ate afterwords. Later that night we had baptismal interviews. Elder Fukui and Shinozaki actually got 2 baptisms this week. It was really great. After the interviews we didn't have much time so we went back and did weekly planning.

Friday -
I had service and it ended up turning into an exchange with elder Fukui. It was fun I enjoyed it. We did our normal service but we also did service at an english club with a bunch of old ladies. I taught about Halloween and brought some of that candy you sent me. I think they liked it, but the candy was really sweet for them. It was a blast.

Saturday -We got to watch conference this day. We went down the the Mission Home with our zone and the one next to us and watched conference all day. It was great I really like a lot of the talks but my favorite was elder Hollands on Sunday. Man he is a bold guy.

Sunday -Another busy day. We went back to Kobe and watched conference. We had a baptismal service for 2 of Elder Fukui and Shinozaki's investigators. It was a really spiritual service and really great. Everyone was really happy and I am sure they both are going to be great members.

Monday -We went out tracting all day but nothing happened. P-day got switched because it was a holiday I guess.

Tuesday (today) -Today we got transfer calls and I found out I was transferring I am pretty excited. Anyways after that we went to Kyoto. There we went to 2 way cool places. One was Kinkakojin a golden building shrine place and to Nijo castle both were way cool. I will send you pictures next week if I can. Both were really awesome I loved it.

The Typhoon missed us so it didn't do much. We just had a lot of rain. It has started to get cold here also. It's nice not being so hot all of the time.
I would love to get Joe's address in the MTC I would love to write him sometime. If you could send it to me that would be great. That is too bad about Matt Prawitt. I hope he gets better soon, will keep him in my prayers.

Thanks for everything,
Love you tons
Cam

Sweets Paradise

Snow already? It's still hot out here for the most part but it is slowly starting to cool down, which is way nice it was so hot. It has been raining a bit the last few days too.

Sounds like you all had fun with Jason over there. That was a way cool story about the guy's in Sapporo. I don't think we will run into that anytime soon but if we get desperate enough I will start taking matches around with me.

Yeah I will send Joe a letter soon, today I have a bunch to write so I will get him one. I am sure that you have his address. Could you send it to me please. I got your package this week. It was really great thanks for everything I will be sending pictures back this week I hope you like them and those USB keys were awesome now I don't have to worry about losing my pictures like before.

Eggrolls? I have yet to eat those over here yet. They are actually Chinese food so we don't see a lot of them but they do eat a lot of chinese food. Its good stuff.

Ok anyways, here is my week:

Tuesday - We had interviews with president in Kobe. We ate as a zone at a place called Sweets Paradise. It is an all you can eat dessert place. Tons of cake, Ice cream and all sorts of other stuff. It was really good even though we pretty much ate until we all felt sick. It was a blast. The all you can eat places seem to be a big thing in Japan there are a lot of them and it usually is pretty good food. Afterwards we had interviews with president and district meeting. We also had an exchange planned so I was with my old District Leader Muai choro. We went back to Akashi and the day was over. We also had the Elders from Akou over too. So we had 6 people in the Apt. that night. McBurney (From my MTC Group) is in Akou right now so he was there. It was a blast, maybe a little too crazy but we had a ton of fun. It was a really nice break for me. Man, it was a crazy night but it was way fun.

Wednesday - It rained all day so Muai choro and I went housing. Not much luck there. After housing we went to teach Iwamura, the bible basher guy. Same old story there. I think we are going to drop him this week. He isn't making any sort of progress at all. It is nice to have a lesson each week but he just wants to argue. After that lesson we went back switched comps. and the day was over.

Thursday - We went out contacting most of the day but we didn't have any luck. We were suppose to meet Nicholas and have a lesson but he didn't show up. I talked to him on the phone last night. He said he has been super busy and kind of sick so we won't be able to meet with him for awhile. He really is the only decent investigator we have at the moment. It's a little disappointing.

Friday - We had service in the morning nothing different there. After service I had another exchange with an elder in Kakogawa. It was fun, I like going to the different areas and seeing how other missionaries do things. It was a good exchange. We went housing and found a potential investigator that was really nice but nothing really solid.

Saturday -We went out for a little bit in the morning and then the exchange was over. Went back to Akashi and ate lunch and streeted for around an hour. Afterwords we went back to Kakogawa for this big activity for the YSA in our stake. It was mostly missionaries there but it was still a blast. We played this sport called Kinball. Its a sport from Canada it was pretty crazy. You play with a HUGE ball, 3 teams of 4 people and you have to hit it to other teams and they catch it. If they miss you get points its hard to explain but it was a lot of fun. We got to see all of the missionaries from the zone, it was a blast.

Sunday - We didn't have any of our investigators come this week. Fukui and Shinozaki are doing really great right now though. They should have at least 2 baptisms next week with the possibility of 4. They had a few people come to church. Hopefully all of their baptisms go through. Do you remember that lady I gave a BOM to at church that the member brought. She and her 2 kids are scheduled for next week hopefully it all works out. Also another guy is probabely going to be baptized next week too. They are doing great. Anyways we just went to church and afterwords we went out tracting all day but no luck.

Thanks for the Package it was great. We will get to listen to conference the coming saturday and sunday one week after everyone back home does. I am excited for it. I heard that they are building a temple in Sapporo, Japan. All the members yesterday were excited.

Next week we are going to go to Kyoto. It is where all the big temples and shrines and things are. I am not sure how much of an email if any I will be able to send you but I think you will get one. I am going to send some pictures too today let me know what you think. Tell everyone I love them.
Love
Cam

Six month and 1 pair shoes

Hey how is everyone doing? We just got back from going to Himeji Castle it was really awesome. I am going to wait to send pictures until I get the memory stick thing because when I send pictures it sometimes screws them up on my camera. Anyways it was really awesome the place is huge. It is going to be closed for the rest of my mission starting in October and a year or so after I go home too I think. They are really going to do a lot of work on it. If I ever come back and visit it will be place for sure I will go to again. It was great.

Ok this week.
Monday - After P-day not much happened we went streeting but didn't find anybody to teach.

Tuesday - We went knocking on doors that morning for around 2 hours then we headed back to lunch. After lunch we went to Akashi Eki to street. Maeno Choro had been a little under the weather and he had to take a break so we did that and then went back out looking for people. We were also suppose to meet our new investigator but unfortunately he did not come. We didn't get his phone number either so we had no way of contacting him so we were pretty disappointed that night.

Wednesday - In the morning we went to a place called Nishi Akashi and did some street contacting there. We got a few people to stop but we couldn't get any return appointments. After lunch we went out streeting again until Iwamura's lesson. His lesson was the same as all the others. He just wants to Bible bash and really isn't open to anything. I think we will give him one or two more chances then drop him. He is just wasting our time.

We headed home afterwords around 7:30 and on the way I saw our investigator we were suppose to meet with the day before. It was dark and I have no idea how I spotted him or how we could cross paths but we did. We stopped turned around and went and talked to him. He said something had come up and he couldn't make it but we got his phone number. Hopefully we can get an appointment with him soon.

Thursday -
We had district meeting in the morning. Afterwords we went to lunch as a district. We went housing for around 5 1/2 hours after lunch but didn't find anybody that was interested. A few were excited about Eikaiwa but that was about it. After all the housing we went back home.

Friday -
We had service this day. I always look forward to service we always seem to have a good time. After service we ate and did our weekly planning. We rode out to Okubo station and did housing and streeting out there but couldn't find anyone but we did talk with a lot of people.

Saturday -
This was a fun day. We had Eikaiwa in the morning. Every last Eikaiwa of the month Elder Fukui likes to do a little party after the class. It was fun. Did I say anything about the guy that was a little crazy that ended up coming to Eikaiwa last week? Anyways, he came this week too. He actually came the church a little late last week. He poked his head into the chapel and saw that it was full and went back home. Man, I wish I would have seen him poke his head in. When I told him about that he said he would come the next day. We started talking and he told me about how he doesn't believe god exists because his 5 year old son died. It was really sad he started to cry, but he kept saying he has no interest but still came to church the next day. He is looking for something more and i hope it all works out for him. We are trying to get a lesson with him but he is kind of crazy so its tough.

After Eikaiwa we went to Kobe with one of our investigators. They do YSA activities all the time and if you bring an investigator with you, you are allowed to go. It was suppose to be a hawaiin party. For some reason Japanese people love hawaiin stuff anyways it ended up being fun and we had a good time. Our investigator we took was Shinkuma. He is 31 and we are trying to teach him slowly. He says he has no interest but wants to meet with us. We will see what happens I guess.

Sunday -
This was the craziest Sunday of my mission so far. Elder Fukui really wanted to get a lot of people to church this do so we tried hard. We got 2 of our investigators to come Nicholas and Marou the one from Eikaiwa. Fukui choro and Shinozaki choro got around 8 people to come no joke. So we had around 10 non members there it was great. We had a potluck lunch afterwords and talked to everyone in the ward and got the members involved it was really great. After Church it was around 4:30ish. We had been invited by the ward mission leader over for dinner, he lives pretty far so we headed out to his house and had a really great dinner. After that we headed back home.

Today -
We went to Himeji Castle it was really cool. It is huge with 6 stories a moat and all sorts of other stuff. I will send you some pictures once I can back them up to the memory stick. I definately want to go there again.

The rest of this week should be a lot better than this one. We have Interviews with president tomorrow. I also have an exchange coming up too. We have a few appointments this week also. It is a weird feeling hitting my 6 month mark. I feel like I just left but it also feels like forever ago too. It's weird to explain but it has gone by fast. I have already gone through my black slip on pair of shoes the sole of the right basically fell apart. The insides of both were really torn up. I am fine though, still have the other 2 and they are a lot nicer and should hold up well.

It sounds like everyone is busy back home and having a good time for the most part. Sounds like Joe had a good farewell and I am sure he will be a great missionary. It will be fun writing him.

Thank you for everything,
Love you,
Cam

I am going to talk to president tomorrow about other books from home for study tomorrow in the interview. I will let you know next week. Also did you send that t-shirt I talked about in the last email. That would be awesome. Thanks for everything.

Love you Cam

Hi,

I don't have very much time at all today so this email will end up being short. Tell Muff and the others I am sorry I can't email them I just don't have time today.

Wednesday -

I had an exchange with a new elder from Miki. His name is Ishihara Choro and is from Okinawa. He is only on his first transfer but knows Japanese so it really wasn't that big of a deal. We went out streeting and things the first day. We were suppose to have a lesson with Iwamura but he didn't show up. Probably a good thing because it would have been a terrible first lesson for Ishihara Choro. We streeted some more after that but no luck we headed back home afterwords. On our way home at a stoplight on my bike some crazy guy came up to me and asked if I was American in English I told him yes and gave him a chirashi he was really weird. He actually came on that Saturday I was way surprised. He was still crazy but maybe he will start coming every week.

Thursday -

We ended the Kokan around lunch time and streeted at the nearby train station before it ended. We didn't have much time so we didn't really get any good contacts but we got one had interest in Eikaiwa maybe he will come. We had gotten a new investigator the day before. He is a friend of the other comp's investigator came to the ward festival, and to eikaiwa. We both were really excited but he told us he had no interest in the gospel when we got there. He just wanted to talk about why we came and are missionaries. We will still teach him I think hopefully along the way we can peak some interest in the gospel from him.

Friday

One of the AP's came down to do a Kokan (exchange) with Elder Fukui because they do them with the ZL's all the time. We were suppose to do one with him this day but they ended up being late and we had to do it the next day. We had service in the morning and just tracted all day without much luck.

Saturday

We did our Exchange with Ito Choro on this day. We really learned a lot and how to make our streeting approach much better than it actually was. We didn't actually find a new investigator but we really learned a lot Sunday After Church we went out streeting. There was a younger guy that I saw so I stopped him, introduced my self and started talking. I let Maeno Choro introduce himself and they started talking and found out he is christian. We asked if he would like to meet again and he said sure. We have an appointment with him tomorrow I really hope that he comes soon. It would be really great to have someone new to teach.

Today

So the reason I am so late writing today is that we went with some members and Ichigawa san to a Grape Vineyard. You go there and pay 500 yen (Around 5 bucks) and you get to eat as many grapes as you want to. Yeah it was cool it was kind of far away and on the way back traffic was bad but it was fun. I got a picture that I will try to send next week. Anyways that has been the week. This week also should be busy and hopefully we get some new people to teach we really need it.

It sounds like everyone is really busy back home. Sorry, I think I am going to cut it short right here we don't have anytime left but I love you all. I will be going to Himeji Castle next week so the email will be late again I am sure. I should have some great pictures in the next email. sorry its short and I will try to email everyone next week.

Love you all
Cam

Hey Everyone,

Time is flying by isn't it? This week felt a little longer than normal but September is halfway over already and I can't believe it. It's crazy stuff.

Sounds like dad is going crazy in the house with the bedrooms. When he wants to get it done he just goes for it makes me laugh hearing about it all. Sounds like all of the kids are really busy with school, basketball and dances. Hope they have fun and all of that.

Ok this week

Wednesday we had District Mtg. but we wanted to meet as a zone so we took the train for around an hour to the mid point in our zone. We had our individual District Mtg. and then went to lunch. All you can eat restuarants are a big thing in Japan. Get 10 missionaries together and you can bet where they are going to want to eat. We went to a yaki niku place where you get a bunch of meat then cook it at your table on a little bbq thing that is built into the table. It was a ton of fun and really good too. I got to talk to a bunch of missionaries that I hadn't seen and that is always a blast.

After DM we taught Iwamura but it went about the same as usual, I think we may have to drop him soon but we will see what happens with him. I hope he starts to make some more progress soon.

Thursday was an open day. We went out housing in the morning then did weekly planning. Afterwords we went to a part members house and visited with them. The dad was baptized around 2 or 3 years ago I think but the mom thinks baptism is weird and she won't be baptized or let the kids be baptized either. It's difficult and we have been working with them but they don't seem to have any motivation to be baptized. After that short lesson we went back to the apt.

Friday I had service which is always fun and an english class that we teach at once a month. The class was my first time and it was a good time. We did a lesson on cooking in english and gave them some cinnamon rolls that Elder Fukui had made. They were really good, but Mom's are still the best I think. We went out contacting afterwords but no luck.

Saturday we had Eikaiwa. It was a way good class because we got around 4 new students it was awesome. Some of them will be coming back for sure too. Hopefully some of them can turn into investigators. Afterwords we went housing for awhile but didn't get anything

Sunday was Kobe's stake conference so we went to that. Nicholas came along too. It went well and the conference was great. President McIntyre spoke, it was great to hear from him. We came back after that and went out to Tarumi. They had this big dance festival going on. It was really cool and some of the groups were pretty good. We tried to go contacting during it but people were too busy to stop and talk. We went back and watched for a little bit right before we went home then left for the apt.

Monday was Zone Conference and it was really great. We all gave little presentations of things we wanted to teach. Our's wasn't very creative but some of them were really funny. I am sure you will see some pictures on his blog in the next few days. It was alot of fun. I also got to see some old friends and all of that. Zone Conference is always a blast I love it. We headed home and only had an hour left so we housed for a bit and went home.

That was the week, we were going to go to Himeji Castle today but it was raining so we are planning for the 28th of Sept. It should be a lot of fun. I think you should still get an email from me that day. I will take a lot of pictures I promise. It will be sweet. This next week will be busy too. I am doing well with my new comp. there are definatley times where I don't understand what all he is saying but I understand most of what he says. I get alot more opportunities to speak Japanese now and I am trying my best to get better everyday, but there is still lots of work to do. It should be fun

Thanks for everything,
Love you,
Cam

Hey sorry our P-day changed this week to Tuesday. Elder Fukui had some Zone leader stuff and we wanted to shop all four of us together.

So yeah, thats right, Akashi has turned into a 4 man area. My new comp is Maeno Choro he is from some of the southern Islands of Japan and speaks no english :). Needless to say, I am learning Japanese quickly. Elder Fukui's new comp. is Elder Shinozaki Choro. He is from Sapporro but can speak pretty good english. He actually went to UVU for a semester, lived right by the mall. This is the first time president has put 3 Japanese elders all in the same apt. I am going to be learning Japanese quickly and its already helped me out. Shinozaki Choro and I have study sessions every night. I answer and help him with all his english and he helps me with all my Japanese. It's way fun.

Alright so since last week whats happenened?

Ok Monday last week was crazy I told you about Osaka and all of that it was cool. Everything worked out he got his visa this week and should be good to go.
Tuesday we got our transfer calls. We found out that we both would have new companions but still be in Akashi area. Good things are happening and it should get better I hope. I am really excited for this transfer my Japanese skill should get much, much, better from having 3 Japanese in the apt. and speaking Japanese all the time. I thought it would be tough but, I guess my Japanese is better than I thought it was. I can understand a lot now and can say what I want, in a broken sort of way. Anyways after calls we went out and contacted but not much success.

Wednesday was a busy day. We had to get the apt. ready for the 2 new guys coming in so we got cleaned up and did all that. After that, we went out and contacted for a few hours then came back to the apt. Fukui Choro has a meeting with Stake leaders once a month with another zone so he had to get ready for that, then we headed down to Kobe to the mtg. After the mtg. was over we headed back home.

Thursday was transfer day. We woke up and headed back out to Kobe where transfer take place. I got to see some of the Elders from my old area which was fun. I also got to see McBurney Choro. He is staying in Ako and getting a new Comp. that was in my old district. They should do well out there. After we met our new companions we headed to the Mission Home to get some more Futons (Japanese Beds) for the 2 that just came in then we headed back out to Akashi. Transfer day is usually crazy because they have to unpack an get everything ready. That took awhile and afterwords we did transfer planning. We went to Tarumi and did the first tracking of the transfer. Afterwords, we went and visited the Bishop all together and let him know what was going on.

Friday was service day. I will still go with Elder Fukui to this because they like Gaijin and I am the only one here. It's usually pretty fun. I like it. After Service we came back ate lunch, then headed back out. We went and tracked for the rest of the day but didn't have much luck.

Saturday we had the Ward Matsuri (Japanese Festival) They had music and lots of food. I got to try some new food that I really liked. My favorite was okonomiyaki, It is kind of like a pancake but tastes totally different I will have to get the recipe and make it when I get back. It was a lot of fun there. After we went out and dendoed but not luck.

Sunday was church. The lady I gave the Book of Mormon to came that was great to see. She is really busy but wants to hear the lessons. I hope something good comes of it. Nicholas the man from Ghana came also. He had some things he had to do so we couldn't teach him but he said he will be there next week and we will teach him there. After church we went housing for quite awhile. Housing in Japan is hard because they have the little intercom boxes on every house with cameras in them sometimes. We call the Kekko boxes (kekko usually means I am good). Sometimes they come to the door but usually just kekko us through the box. Anyways, thats what we did for the rest of that day.

Monday we had a totally open day. We went and housed for around 6 hours but didn't get to talk to anyone for more than 3 or 5 minutes. We went street contacting too but, same deal there also. Hopefully we get some better luck in finding soon. We need some new investigators a lot of the ones we have right now are a little shaky.

Its been a great week lots of good changes that are really good for Akashi. I am really excited because I know my Japanese will really improve especially if I try my best. It sounds like everyone is busy back home. Whit with 2 dances, Derrick with fishing,Muff with school and well just being Muff. You with all the painting and carpet stuff, Dad with work. Man it's crazy how fast time is flying by.
Oh for the Package, could you send me some white notecards? They don't have them here for some can't find any. Other than that I am fine. One thing the states definately has over Japan is the junk food. Gotta love it.

Next week I will email on Tuesday also we have zone conference on Monday. We will either go next week or the next to Himeji Castle so if you don't get an email next week from me its because we went. I have some pictures I will send in another email, hope you like them. Well everything is going good out here hope you are having fun too.

Love you,
Cam

Answering all your questions

Another busy week, I can't believe this transfer is over already.

Monday was p-day. P-day lasts from 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM During that time we usually come do email first, then go shopping, then back to the apt. to write letters or my favorite take a nap. Then after 6:00 we go out and do missionary work for the rest of the day. I can't remember what we did last week, nothing special I don't think.

Tuesday was a day full of contacting. No real luck there, it was a super hot day I remember that. We had an appointment with a guy later that night. I think he was from Australia? Anyways we went to his place and he wasn't there. We went out contacting again and do you remember the big guy I talked about that we met 2 times and spoke way good english? Well we met him again. He is really nice but refused to take a book of mormon and said he would try to come to eikaiwa but never did. I think he feels like he isn't good enough or something. I am sure we will see him again soon.

Wednesday we had an exchange with The Kakogawa elders. It went well, I and my new comp. for the day went and taught Iwamura again. It went the same as usual. I asked him to read the book of mormon this week and come up with something to talk about next week. I hope that it gets him reading.

Thursday we had district meeting. During District Meeting we got a call from one of our investigators and he wanted to go to outreach in Kobe. Outreach is ran by Elder and Sister Wade. It is for YSA and is a great place to take investigators to make friends that are in the church. We made Japanese doughnuts. Good stuff. Our investigators name is Ichigawa, he seems interested but we are not 100 percent sure or not so we are going to ask him next time if he really is or just wants to make friends at english class and things. He is a great guy, I hope it all works out with him.

Friday we had another exchange with the elders in our district. Not a lot really happened we went out contacting but no luck. It's always fun to see different styles of contacting from different missionaries and get new ideas.

Saturday we had eikaiwa. Afterwords we went out to a Gajin (forigner) Matsuri (Festival) It was fun but not a very effective place to do missionary work. We got out there went around a bit and went back home.

Sunday was another way busy day. I had to give a talk, I talked about the restoration and what it does for us. I think I made sense, it went better than I thought it would. After that since it was the 5th Sunday they do a big potluck dinner. A member brought a friend with her and I talked with her there at the dinner and gave her a book of mormon. I hope she comes again she was really nice. After Church we went to Nicholas' house. The guy from Ghana, he is a way nice guy and always cooks for us. He gives us food they eat in Ghana its not bad I like it. We taught him about some of the commandments. He told us that he has been praying a lot but received no confirmation and that's why he doesn't believe or want to be baptized but knows that it will come in god's time. I guess we just need to be patient. I hope he get's and answer soon he is a really great person.

Today already has been a little crazy. Usually we study from 8 until 9:30 on p-day then clean until 10:30 but, Elder Fukui had to go to the American embassy in Osaka to get his student visa stuff started up. So we left pretty early and got out there and got it all finished. I thought my area had a lot of people. Osaka is huge there were people everywhere, I couldn't believe it. I hope I get to serve out there some time.

This transfer is over it went by so fast I can't believe it. Tomorrow phone calls go out for transfers. I could end up moving out of Akashi again, there is a decent chance of it. We will see what happens though I like Akashi but I will go where I need to go right? I will let you know what happens next week.

I have been eating well, Elder Fukui is a way good cook and I am trying to learn from him. Haven't been sick yet but, everyone out here is way scared of the flu they all wear masks its kind of funny lookin. We do see little kids walking to and from school. In my last area we had some follow us once, it was funny. I will have more pictures for you all next week. Thanks for sending all the emails to me.

Love you
Cam

Ok so talk about a busy week this week. It was crazy.

Tuesday we went up to Himeji for an exchange. One of the elders is hurt right now and can't go out so I stayed with him in the apt. while elder Fukui went out and contacted a few of their investigators that they hadn't met with in awhile. That took the whole day.

Wednesday we helped a less active family move out of their house. We did that until around 1:00 afterwords we went contacting and taught Iwamura again. He likes to argue a lot and really isn't going anywhere still. I sometimes wonder if he is trying to convert us but it's fun talking to him he is a nice guy and has good intentions. I just need to learn more about the bible he knows it through and through its crazy.

Thursday was really busy too. We had a lesson in the morning with one of our investigators named Lelia. She has been investigating for awhile now and been committed to baptism twice but rejected both times. We had 2 members with us and they really helped us out. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and the Restoration again with her. We committed her to baptism again and she had a lot of concerns but the members jumped in and helped us out a lot. They shared a lot of experiences they had when they were investigators and she accepted for the 27th of Sept. We will have to keep working with her but it was really good.

After that we went to District Meeting which is always good. Then we took the bus back again and had a lesson with the Kondo family. They are a part member family. The father is a member but the wife and 2 kids are not. The wife thinks that baptism is weird and doesn't want the kids or her self to be baptized. I don't know why the dad doesn't push harder but we tried. It is hard with her, I am not quite sure what will happen. We ended the day after the lesson. Way busy day.

Friday was a little more open. We had service like usual. After that we did study and weekly planning. We looked through the area book and called up old investigators and was able to get an appointment with one of them on Tuesday it should be good. We went out and handed out English class flyers for a good 2 or 3 hours hoping to get some new students for class the next day.

Saturday we had english class but no new students sadly enough. After class we went out and did a lot of finding but didn't have any luck there.

Sunday was a great day. Yoshidasan's baptism went really great. He has been coming to church for 20 years but never been baptized.He had a hard time with some commandments and everyone had given up on him except for Fukui choro. He got him all ready and good to go, it took a few months but it happened. A member baptied him it went great he had a lot of support there which is always good too. I will send a picture to you in a separate email I remembered today. He is the older one.
We also had a lesson with a member and her daughter. Her daughter is not baptised because the father doesn't want her to be but we talked with her about it and she also has a date now for baptism in Sept.

We did a short lesson with Arima and he is doing well too. After church and stuff we went out finding didn't find anyone but there was this group of break dancers by the station it was awesome. I couldn't believe some of the stuff they were doing it was really cool.

One of the busiest weeks I have had in Japan so far. It went by fast and the transfer is almost already over. Sounds like everyone is doing well back home too. This week will be busy too we have a lot of exchanges planned to finish off the transfer. I am not sure where I will be after this transfer but we will find out next week.

Love you,
Cam

Haha (Mom..No I am not joking it really is haha)

Sounds like a busy trip. The plane ride was really long but I just slept most of the time I think a good 7 or 8 hours. I took some dramamine so I would fall asleep or else I wouldn't have been able to do it. Sounds like they are trying really hard to find out what is wrong and its going to all work out. Let me know what happens with everything.

I got an email from Burns this week sounds like he is having a good time in Norway. I can't wait until we all get back and I get to hang out with the guys again those were fun times.

School shopping, no I can say I don't really miss that but this week during our exchange the day was over and Elder Fukui needed a shirt so we went into this mall. One store had pretty good Ingrish (Terrible english what we call it) on them and I found a shirt that has a hand on it that says Index Finger on it and below it it say's "Even Homer sometimes nods" I had to buy it maybe I will get you a picture some time.

This has been a pretty good week.

Tuesday we had a really open day so we went around trying to talk to people but no one was really interested in what we had to say.

Wednesday was open as well and same situation, no one really wanted to listen. We had a lesson with a guy named Iwamura who is christan. He really knows the bible well and we are trying to show him why need prophets and the book of mormon but it's difficult to get it through to him sometimes. I hope it gets better with him. He is a really good person, if he was baptized he would be a very strong member, we just have to get him there.

Thursday we went up to Miki for district meeting and then came back to Akashi and did Weekly Planning. We only had around 1 1/2 hours for contacting. We were walking down the street and this really big guy, big for back home huge over here walks up and says "Hey Elders how are you doing" All in english. I was surprised to say the least. He has lived in the states and I think heard the lessons but doesn't want to take them again. He said all this stuff how he really respects us and stuff, but didn't want to meet. He was a great guy.

Friday we went out to Himeji and went to their District Mtg. and then had an exchange and I got to see McBurney again. We had a lot of fun trying to talk to people even with our broken Japanese but we got a Potential Investigator. After wards we were going to cold stone when we saw that Huge Guy again. We talked to him again for awhile and he still didn't want to meet but was really nice and friendly.

Saturday we had English class and finished up our exchange. We went out the rest of the day but couldn't find anyone with any promise.

Sunday was super busy. We were at church for 8 hours, and I thought 3 was bad! Anyways, we had a lesson with Armia and committed him to baptism and set a goal with him. He has a problem with coffee but, we will try to help him work it out. I don't think I will be here in Akashi when he is baptized but, he will be baptized this year. I also met another one of our investigators on Sunday. His name is Nicholas Attigah and is from Ghana. Really cool guy, he fed us some Ghana food that night it was good. I am not sure how close he is to baptism but hopefully he will be soon. He is a really great nice guy. Miki the other elders in our district also had a baptism in our building because they don't have a font. Their investigator actually asked Elder Fukui to baptize her so he did that and everything went really well. It's the second baptism I have seen so far and next week that should change to 3. We also planned Yoshida's baptism program and got him all ready I am excited for next week it should be great.

That's the week. It was a good one. I can't believe that I am already 4 weeks in to this transfer and its almost over. It's gone by really quick. I got the package this week. Thanks for the coat it looks like it will get the Job done. The food and treats were great too. Thanks

Thanks for everything,
Love you,
Cam

Hey I got your email from Minnesota. Sounds like you both are running around like crazy out there. I am glad they are taking it seriously and are going to try their hardest to find out whats wrong with her. I got her letter this week the 10 pg one with the pictures. She makes me laugh. Did you say another one was coming? I hope so her letters are always alot of fun.

Sounds like a big mall. In my last area it had the biggest mall in the Kan Sei area. (KanSei area is basically the Kobe mission) it was 5 stories with a garden on the top with a fountain and an area where they do concerts no joke. I have some crappy pictures I will try to send to you sometime. I am sure you both would love it.

Wow, school starts next week for everyone? That is weird. It's gone by fast for me out here, what about everyone back home? I hope everything works out at school for everyone.

Yeah, it will be nice to get the jacket. Actually a typhoon is coming through here this week and its been raining like crazy. It will be nice to get a new one. It's way humid out here I can't believe it half of the time, especially since we are so close to the ocean. It will be bad through august but after it won't be so bad...hopefully.

This week was really busy. On Tuesday we went up to Miki the other 2 elders in our district and went around with them for a bit. Afterword's Elder Fukui interviewed their investigator and she will be baptized this coming Sunday. Really cool, it will be great for them to get a baptism. Miki is countryside Japan it was really weird for me since i am so use to just city. It was nice to see some green and some mountains. After the interview we stayed and helped with their Eikaiwa class (English class) and then went home after that.

Wednesday was interviews with president so we went out to Kobe and did those which are always good. Afterwords we all went to a place called brazilianos just like
Tucano's style. It was really good we also had one of our investigators there so we got to talk to her but, not a lot of progress. After that we went back to Akashi to teach Iwamurasan. He likes to talk a lot so it didn't go as well as we hoped it was all in English so I could understand. Hopefully it goes better next time but we gave him a BOM and committed him to read it and got another appointment. Then we had to go back to Kobe for SMCC some stake meeting Elder Fukui had to go to. I ended up going out with one of the AP's to contact. We ended up staying the night there, way busy day.

Thursday we took Yoshidasan out to outreach where all the YSA people have activities and stuff. So we went back to Kobe again and did that. It was a lot of fun.
Friday we had service and an exchange. For service we go to a place that provides work for handicapped people. We help them package food or make Nabari or Sushi. Its fun and they feed us afterwords so that's a plus for sure. The exchange went well, its always fun getting to know other guys from the mission most of the time.
Saturday we finished up the exchange, had Eikaiwa and went out to visit 5 old investigators that we found in the area book. None of them were interested so we just went contacting after that, but no luck.

Sunday we had a new investigator come to church, we taught him the first lesson and gave him a BOM. Hopefully it goes well with him, I think he liked it hopefully he comes again. Yoshidasan's interview went well and he will be baptized in 2 weeks. He is really excited and can't wait. I don't think I can either.

A super busy week and this one should be too. We are doing exchanges again, and it will be with Elder McBurney a way good friend from the MTC it will be a ton of fun.
The Language is still tough if not tougher because my Comp. is Japanese.They talk a lot faster and more complicated because of it so I am lost 80 percent of the time. When I talk they look at me then look at him and wait for him to talk it makes me laugh. It's a slow process so I am just trying to learn patience, but I hope it comes soon. I just wish I could speak Nihongo (Japanese) but if we have the spirit it doesn't really matter what I say, the spirit is really the only thing that converts people not language or lessons.

Elder Fukui is a really good missionary and knows what he is doing out here. I am learning a lot from him. He is a way good cook too and likes to cook so that's always a plus too :). We are getting along just fine and its nice to have some success.

Anyway's long email this week, everything is going well out here, time is just flying by I can't believe it. Thanks for everything
Love you,
Cam