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