読んで見て (To see to read)

Alright, I'll cut out a little bit of my personality for this letter,

just to show I can.

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was excellent. We recently received the transfer phone call
last night, and none of us are going anywhere. (Not serious me: It was
probably the most boring transfer call I've ever gotten.) It appears
that my time in Tsuruoka is going to be prolonged. I receive this
knowledge with joy, for I had been praying that the Lord would allow
me the privilege to stay in this beautiful town a little longer.
(Time to talk about the weather!) The skies have been clear for the
most part this week. We have had some of the chilling Sea of Japan
winds push though the city this week. It makes riding a bike rather
difficult. At one point I realized that I was not in fact moving forward
as my mind had previous perceived, but rather, that I was heading
backwards. (Okay, that whole last sentence was a lie. But one morning
we were running late for seminary. It was 5:55 and it started at six.
So... I pedaled
harder and faster than I ever have before in my life, luckily the wind
was also the strongest it had been in a while. What would take a
normal Japanese person 15 minutes on a bike... took us... 2 minutes. I
almost couldn't even walk after. But we made it on time. The teacher
asked me if we had any recent missionary experiences that we wanted to
share, and I, almost breathlessly told a story... The transition is
too perfect, I'll tell you now: We'd taken the train down to Sakata (I
suppose I should say we took it "up" to Sakata because it's north.)
And Sakata, is a beautiful little city (that's probably bigger than
Tsuruoka kana? (I wonder)). Apparently Sakata has a free bike rental
thoughout the whole city. However, the bikes are absolutely
horrible... However... I loved them. I raised the seat as high as it
could go, and still my legs were almost to my chest. It was a cute
little maroon cruiser with a basket on front, that you might picture an
old woman or a little girl riding. It was amazing. It had one gear.
I'm not being sarcastic when I say I genuinely loved it. It was
probably the most fun I've had in a while because I felt ridiculous.
Man... I love that bike. Anyways, not related! (that's what they say
in Japanese when you get off track "That has no relation!"... this is
ironic) We were riding to visit an LA that translates the Book of
Mormon and bible into like 6 different languages at once for his
hobbie. He's got pictures of Christ and Joseph Smith, pioneers etc,
but he just doesn't come to church. But we got another LA woman from
Sakata to come. Side side side (side?) story: we went a HUGE
apartment complex, and had to go though a crazy gate system where she
had to okay us to come in, but she did thankfully, and I talked with
her for a while about tennis (which she loves) (She's like 60's) and
she showed me all of her 'soft tennis' rackets. Soft tennis is totally
different, but... still tennis. So we talked for a while. We shared a
scripture and invited her to come to General Conference.... SHE CAME!
Yay!..., so back to the original side side story: We're riding to the
Book of Mormon man, and we ride past a park. There was a man, in his
30's, just sitting there on a bench, with tangled hair, all by
himself.
The Spirit: Stop and talk to that man.
Me: Na... my companion is clear ahead of me, and we've gotta hurry so
we can visit everyone we've had planned
The Spirit: Talk to that man.
Me: Alright. "MOFFAT CHORO, we need to talk go back to the park and
talk to that man."
So we did.
He greeted us with a smile, and we started talking to him about
sports. He loves basketball, and he knew the Utah Jazz, and said they
were his favorite team...
I asked him what he did for work and he said he couldn't work. He,
translated directly over, said "My body is half-broken." And I noticed
a cane on the other side of the bench. He was only 32. 
"Do you believe in God?" Moffat Choro asked.
"... Hum. That's a hard one... Probably not. But if God does exist,
there's one thing that I wonder." and paused for a moment, as tears
brimmed in his eyes "Why do all these bad things happen?" He asked.
Looking up, directly at me, in a pained smile.
I shared with him Ether 12:27, and I testified that to be honest, I'm
not exactly sure why, but that I know that though overcoming
hardships, we can be strengthened, and that God loved him. He nodded,
and smiled grimly, and said "Thank you" in a way that felt like
"Thanks for trying." (Gave him an I am Mormon card and told him to
call us.) -I finished the story-
Then I told that single uncaring seminary student that memorizing
scripture mastery is like having ammunition to battle many of the
trials, questions, and temptations of life. She didn't care. やっぱり.
The Murakoshi-San Story:
"This week was amazing. As you probably know, I've been praying for
Murakoshi-San a bunch. And as we were planning our lesson, we felt
like we shouldn't teach what we had planned to teach during our weekly
plan. We prayed that we'd be inspired about what to teach her.
We prayed, then acted. Thinking about all sorts of different ideas,
none of which seemed to fit, we talked until companionship study was
out and we had to move on.
We finished our studies, ate lunch, and had district meeting, all the
while thinking about her. I felt calm, knowing the Lord would provide.
After district meeting, we felt good about teaching her a little about
modern prophets and having her read some of their words from the
Liahona. Moffat Choro found the excellent quote by President Monson

 from last General Relief Society Meeting, when he said essentially
that God's love was unconditional, "It never changes. It is just
simply there."
When we shared that with her, she read it over and over, marveling
at every sentence.
She looked up and asked: "Where do they have this meeting?" We told
her the details and said she could come on Saturday or Sunday to the
church and watch it. To my faithless surprise, she accepted and instead
of us convincing or coxing her to come, she pushed forward herself.
Instead of us filling her with information, she was pulling the
information out of us. "What kind of clothes do I need to wear?" "Is
the church by [this] building?" etc.
Saturday rolled around the next day, and there she was looking as
happy as ever.
After all of this time we've been trying, the Spirit had finally
worked on her to the point that she came, that she'd left her house.
The joy was sweet, and it was in it's own way, a small victory, a battle won;
Another set to which the Spirit spiked it into her heart.
It's a good feeling knowing that we're on the winning team, and I'm
totally happy with only making assists....
General Conference was glorious. The Spirit of the Lord was poured out
upon me particularly, and He taught me all of the bad habits and
weaknesses that I have.
And instead of a feeling of anger or worthlessness coming upon me, as
I often act when corrected, I rejoiced in the opportunity for growth
that I have. There is joy in looking forward to the harvest of the
seeds being planted now. If there's anything that I've learned from
growing up in the middle-of-no-where, Utah, is that in order for
plants to successfully grow, the ground first must be broken. And we
are, through this mission, breaking ground in Japan, and the Lord,
through the same mission, is breaking ground in our hearts."
Madamada fukanzen desu kedo, sukoshi zutsu, seichoshite imasu. )
Yep. Looks like I couldn't be serious for an entire letter. But bla,
"I can't change... It's just who I am." (FIRE WRATH FROM CONFERENCE
TALKS UNHEARD!!!)
I feel like life is to enjoy, as well as act justly. I believe acting
justly is often enjoying life. Why limit oneself to bore when he has
the power to soar? Man now I'm just making up weird stuff.
I can now get across almost everything I want to say in Japanese, but
still there's a long way to go.
Just about everyone in the Branch is my friend.
Now you're saying: "Elder Wheelwright, that's only five people!"
I say: "Wrong, we have six."
Times six...
Take care my family and friends!
Elder Wheelwright
I have a question for you all, I've been trying to figure out what to
tell my English Class,
But what defines American culture?