Hey,
How is everyone doing? Is it pretty cold out there? Its gotten a little warmer here which is nice.

Thats cool about everyone getting their calls. I am sure that Riley will be great. Let me know where the other guys end up going.

Man, I can see everyone playing rock band. That makes me laugh I am sure that Morgan is quite the singer. I bet our family makes quite the band even if it is just in front of the T.V.

The new stake presidency sounds great. Brother Hilton was my Physics teacher in HS he was a great teacher and a great guy. He will be good as well as the other 2 I am sure.

So not much luck again this week. We tried hard but nothing really happened.

Tuesday

We taught Sister Hirota a lesson and tried to figure out how we can help our new convert who is currently leaving the church. Sister Hirota was her dance teacher when she was little so they have a good relationship and probably can help us out quite a bit. After the lesson we went out contacting but we didn't have any luck at all.

Wensday

It was zone conference and since we had eikaiwa (English Class) the day before we had to wake up at 5 Am to make it on time the next day which wasn't too fun. It was a really good conference though and I learned a lot. President is awesome and always gets everyone pumped up to be good missionaries and all of that so its always fun. It took us the rest of the day to get home afterwords so we didn't have time to do anything else that day.

Thursday

We had an appointment with the Kashiyama's to do a home teaching lesson in the morning. It went well and they were really nice to us. They gave us some Mikans (Mandrin Oranges) which I am now addicted to. Where we live is famous for them so we eat quite a few of them and they are way good. Afterwords we contacted for awhile and housed but no interest. We also had another appointment with the Sugimoto family later that night for another Home teaching appointment. It went well and they fed us dinner which was great. After the lesson we headed home.

Friday

We went contacting all morning and housed too but didn't find anyone. We had an appointment that night with the Enamotos and they fed us Sukiyaki. Its really really good and something I will try to make once I get home. Its a pot filled with sugar and soy sauce and you boil different veggies and meat and man its good stuff. After the lesson/dinner we headed home.

Saturday

We had a totally open day and were hoping to find someone but no luck at all. We did get one phone number from a guy but I don't think he really has that much interest so...yeah. That was pretty much our day.

Sunday

We went to stake conference. The Branch President took us there. I got to meet Fujita Shimai (Brandons Grandma) it was really cool and she was super nice and even gave me a bag with some treats in it. I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't get a picture with her. Man I am kicking my self way hard for that. Man dang. Oh well she was really cool and who would have thought I would have met Brandon's grandma crazy huh. The conference was good and we had a good time. We didn't get home until around 5 Pm so we didn't have a lot of time to go out. We did some housing but no luck there. We visited some investigators that we have been trying to get a hold of. The family that we taught once but went on vacation. They weren't home and we called too and couldn't get a hold of them. We are wondering if they went to the phillipeans or something (the wife is from there). After that we went back to the apt and called all of our investigators and couldn't get appointments with any of them. None of them are really very solid and I think we might have to wipe the board down and start over I dunno.

So yeah another disappointing week. I wish things would pick up but I dunno what to do anymore. I guess we just keep trying but I don't know how we are going to find anyone. Hopefully something good happens this week.

As for the birthday package I can't think of anything special. Maybe one or 2 more CD's? President changed the music rule at ZC so now we can listen to it anytime we want to instead of just before study which is way awesome. I have plenty of Mormon tab. but whatever you feel like. Other than that I can't really think of anything. Thank you for doing that and thinking of me.

Thanks for everything
Love you
Cam

Thank you so much for the package. I got it yesterday and it was great. All the music is awesome and I actually was going to ask you for Goldfish but I forgot to in the last email but you knew anyways so that was awesome. Thanks a ton. Oh and the Triple was perfect its going to make things so much easier.

Thats cool that you got to take Jake to the MTC and all that. I am sure that he will be a great missionary and have an awesome time in Brazil. Yeah I think that the curbside drop off thing is a lot better than the meeting and makes it a lot easier. We actually got to help with it in the MTC the first time they did it. It was pretty ackward but it's a lot better and easier I think.


Anyways another kind of boring week for us. We tried our very best to find someone to teach but things just are not working out for some reason.

Monday thru Thursday were all finding days and we tried our best and worked hard but no one seems to want to listen at the moment. I am not sure what we are doing wrong but it isn't effort that's for sure. Thursday night we had the branch family home evening and one of our investigators came. Turns out that one of the 2 families in our ward is friends of his family and some how found out that he is investigating or has some interest. We haven't been able to get a hold of him because he hasn't paid his phone bill but they invited him and he came which was really great. He is really busy with work right now so he can't meet but hopefully soon.

Friday was the same as Monday thru Thurs. We are trying lots of different kinds of methods from housing to doing it off of our bikes to going to gyms and community centers to see if they have activities we could go to. We have tried music dendo where Elder Enta plays his trumpet (He is super good) and other things but I dunno what we are doing wrong at the moment. Its really frustrating.

Saturday -
We had an appointment with Kinoshita who is the nicest guy I have ever met I swear. He always feeds us and likes to talk about religion. The truth is I don't see him getting baptized anytime soon but he really likes talking about it and finding new ways of thinking I guess and is really nice. After the lesson he gave us a New Years (Shogatsu) Dinner. I had told him in the lesson we had around a month ago that I was excited for it and had never had the shogatus food and stuff. So he decided to give us it. We had Ebi (Looks like lobster without the claws) really nice tuna which is way expensive, and a bunch of other special new years foods. It was really great and a lot of fun. We are going to teach him again in 2 weeks.

Sunday
A less active brought her daughter to church that is not baptized. We have been working with her to get her baptized but she has been busy and all that stuff so we haven't really had a chance. They only were staying for sacrament and left after so we didn't have a chance to teach her but it was a step forward for her I think. Hopefully we can get her moving soon. Other than that we went out housing in a pretty countryside area that was filled with old people who didn't want to be bothered. I was really hoping to find someone that night but oh well.

Not a lot really happened this week. I really am hoping things will pick up soon. We just have to increase our faith and get excited again I think. We are following all the rules and working hard and I hope the blessings come soon.
Thank you so much for the package it was great.
Love you
Cam

Whitney - Ok so the Frog Bridge is in a place called Inami. A family from our branch lives there and when we went to do Home Teaching I just had to take a pic. for you. Inami is TINY, there is absolutely nothing there and it's just houses with a school and post office. They don't even have a Konbinin (7-11) which they are everywhere in Japan. Every city in Japan seems like they have to have something to be famous for and make a big deal out of it. I guess Inami needed something to make them special or have something to brag about so they built this crazy bridge.

This might be a short email this week. Its actually a holiday today so we had to go to a place that is a bit more expensive so I can't spend a lot of time sorry.
Thanks for sending the package I am excited to get it. Its going to be way nice to have that triple again and some new music. We have a CD player and almost every apt. has one. No worries there.

All right this week was again a little disappointing. We have been trying to recover after the new years and get in contact with all of our investigators but it isn't working too well. Most of them won't answer our phone calls or anything so we may have to start from the bottom and work our way back up again. Frustrating.

Monday
We went housing after P-day and didn't have too much luck. After housing we called a bunch of our investigators and was able to get one appointment with one of them which was nice. We also tried Bike dendo which is something I really like doing now. Its where you just stop people on your bike instead of walking around and it seems like we can talk to a ton more people that way. We are going to keep doing it for the rest of the transfer.

Tuesday
We went looking for service activities, sports activities anything that we could go to where we could maybe have a little more natural conversation but were unable to find any. Most of the service things they had going on were with children which we can't do. Bummer. We went housing and did Eikaiwa later that night. Not much really happened. We have our meeting with the branch presidency every week after eikaiwa so we did that and headed back to the apt.

Wednesday
We had a bunch of finding time and visited some Potential Investigators but none of them were home. We went housing and contacting but no one seemed interested. I started feeling sick so I took a 30 min nap after lunch hoping I would get better but it didn't help much. The elders from Shingu came down and stayed the night because the next day was transfer day.

Thursday
I got sick! Not fun at all, I had a really nasty cold and headache so we stayed in the apt most of the day. We got out at night but trying to contact while being sick isn't the best idea in the world but we tried our best. Iam feeling fine now but it wasn't a very fun day.

Friday
Enta Choro got sick! yeah I think this usually happens in a companionship. If one gets sick the other is bound to get sick. we stayed inside most of the morning until he felt ready to go out and we headed out but didn't have any luck. we had a lesson with Myuki later that night that went alright. We had a couple that had been couple missionaries in the area a few years ago but the lesson went a little too deep and I think she was pretty confused. She is progressing at the moment and I hope we get another lesson with her soon. She is really the only investigator we have at the moment.

Sat.
We have been wanting to visit Sister Tsubasa for quite awhile now. She is the girl that Payne Choro baptized before I got here. 2 weeks after he left she stopped coming to church, Eikaiwa, and we had called her a million times but she never answered so we decided to take the hour long bike ride out to her work and visit her. She wasn't as happy to see us as I hoped and could tell something was wrong after the visit. We went to talk to another sister that is good friends from her and we found out that she is at the moment really lost. Her mom is against the church and Tsubasa doesn't believe anymore. We are going to be working with the branch to help her get back to church soon. I really hope that we can help her out. She seemed so strong just a few weeks ago when Payne was here but she is in a tough spot. Definately a sad day. Sunday no one came to church this week but we were able to help the branch put together their ward mission plan. We will have a lot of less actives and part members to visit and hopefully we can help them get their kids baptized soon. We went contacting at night but no luck there.

So not a very fun week. It kind of feels like everything fell apart with us getting sick, our investigators, Tsubasa, and not finding anyone but we just have to keep working and I am sure that the blessings will come soon. We just have to make sure that we keep our chins up and work hard right? Thank you for all the support and for everything else.
Love you
Cam

Well we just got our transfer calls this morning and everything is staying the same for Enta Choro and I. We will be in Tanabe again for another transfer. Our district and zone changed but we are still here. I am excited and I really hope that things pick up soon.

Thanks for getting that triple and stuff. CD's work best for the music stuff. I just need something to listen to in the morning and the same stuff over and over gets old really quick so its nice to have a variety. I stole some Mormon Tabernacle Choir from Payne Choro that I am burning today so I should be ok. Thanks for everything. Oh, I got a letter from Phil this week. Can I get his address please? Thanks.

I got the letter from Brandon's mom. I have been to Shirohama twice we are planning on going back this week sometime maybe we will give them a visit. It could be a lot of fun. The Sennan elders are in my zone. I will have to say something for them. What is her moms name? I got a letter from Brandon this week and it sounds like he is doing good. I wish I could speak Japanese like he could man it would be awesome.

This last week was fun but a little disappointing. We really haven't found anyone new to teach for a long time and we really need to find someone new fast. All of the investigators that we did have kind have fallen off the map during the holidays. We are going to try our best this week to get back in contact with them all but we will see what happens with it. Hopefully it changes soon.

Monday we went out and dendoed after p-day but didn't really have any luck and didn't get to talk to anyone that had much interest.

Tuesday we went out tried our best to find someone new but we didn't have any luck. We have been trying some new ways to do contacting but we didn't really have a lot of luck with any of it.

Wendsday we had to go home teaching. I recently found out that we are apparently suppose to home teach around half of the branch. We went out to go teach one family and they lived in the middle of no where. We got out there ate some food and taught them. By the time we were done we didn't have time to go back to Tanabe and make it to Gobo for Eikaiwa. So we stayed in the tiny little town and tried to get some stuff done there but it was pretty tough. It was great to meet with the family and to get to know them better but it felt kind of like we wasted a day.

Thursday - It was super cold this day and that made it a little harder to contact outside. It was the day before new years so there were lots of people at stores and things so we did a bunch of contacting by stores and places like that. We also had a big Sports Meet for all the missionaries in our mission this week on Friday so we had to go to Wakayama to stay the night. We left Tanabe a little early and headed out there to stay the night.

Friday - we had our annual Sports meet for the Kobe mission of Friday. It was a blast and we even got to watch Kung Fu Panda which is an awesome show and has some application to missionaries. I got to play soccer, which brought back a ton of good memories and reminded me of how much I love it. I was pretty rusty but it was fun. We also had a huge dodge ball game which was a blast. I got to see a lot of missionaries I hadn't seen for awhile and it was a ton of fun. We stayed in Wakayama again this night. We didn't have enough time to make it all the way back home.

Saturday - We rode the bus back to Tanabe and did our Weekly planning. We had a dinner with the Enamotos that night which was really good. We had Nabe. Its like a pot with a broth on the table and they cook all sorts of different meat,fish, and veggies in it. Its super good and was a lot of fun. A missionary who served in Tanabe around 3 years ago came with his wife. It was fun talking to him and what the area was like back then. Tanabe was actually part of the Nagoya mission when he was around so its changed quite a bit.

Sunday - An investigator was suppose to come to church but he never showed up. His phone is broken at the moment so we can't call him which is frustrating. We went out that day really hoping we could find someone but it is still holidays so its tough. Housing is really hard to do right now. We almost had a new investigator and as I was trying to find a day we could meet he just said he would read on his own and didn't want to meet. I really hope things change soon we really need some new people to teach bad.

It was a fun week but we need to find people and teach more lessons. I hope I can get it going again this week. I am excited to be here for another transfer it should be fun. Sounds like Christmas and New years was fun I wish I could have been there but I am where I am suppose to be.
Love you
Cam