Elder Wheelwright: Wheew.

Since Brandon, (Elder Wheelwright#2) has been writing me, it's been getting harder and harder to write everything that I feel like I need to.

But that just comes down to time management.

I was talking with my Zone Leader and I pointed out that our English is getting slower. We both have Japanese companions, and because we've got a new American missionary in the Zone, he did the announcements in English, and his companion in Japanese. There were some- "I think" 's put at the end of sentences and stuff. I was pretty funny.

Jya. Just cause my English is getting worse doesn't mean my Japanese is getting better.

I don't know if it's just because I'm American, cause I swear I'm saying the same things as them, but when ever I talk, everyone always "huhs?" or "What's?"

But then other times it's like I'm native-

Let me tell you what's been going on.

We had zone training meeting in koriyama (the place missionaries can't go because the radiation is too high... yep. went there. I'm growing a 2nd head on my shoulder. I named him Goichi, because he was born in Japan.) (alright ignore that) and after we got back- I checked my pocket... guess what. No phone.

Yep. A missionary with out a phone, is like a basketball player without arms. I mean you can still play the game, but you've gotta use your head (the pay phone) and it hurts (six dollars worth).

It's an hour and a half ride to koriyama, and a thirty-minute walk to the church, which we weren't even sure it was there.

We called our Zone Leader-sama, and he told us it was okay to go back and get it. I laughed....

I thought maybe I left it on the bus, so the next day we went to the bus station- and luckily I've got a Japanese companion- cause we were able to figure out if it was on the bus. Another six hundred yen and we got the phone on a return bus to Iwaki. yay!

It's weird not having a phone.

We were just about to eat on the day we didn't have the phone, where we hear someone pounding on our door.

Sasaki Shimai was standing outside giving me the weirdest look. (she's 70 something, and kinda looks like grandma Dickson)

"Are you guys okay?" She blurted. "I've been calling you all morning!"

"jya, we kinda lost our phone in Koriyama. Sorry."

"Are you guys coming?"

"coming to where?"

"We're going to Yakiniku! We'll see you there in 15 minutes!"

Yakiniku is where you have a grill in the middle of the table and you have all you can eat, thinly sliced meat of every type, and just stuff yourself.

Of course we're going.

It was glorious to get the phone back.

This week we had a crazy festival called the Iwaki odori. Thousands of people gathered in the main street and did a crazy dance. it was crazy.

I met an Irish guy and talked to him about the gospel. He made me laugh when he said, as we were watching a guy with a crazy white clothes vest thing, wave a five or six meter tall bamboo pole in the air with a giant flag, "Well that's something you don't see everyday."

No awesome Irish man. That's not.

One member wanted to go to the festival with us, and he showed us a bunch of random things. Then, I wasn't really sure what was going on, and we ended up at his friend's house, who has six computers that he build himself all hooked together to make a super computer.

He started showing us anime and I started at the floor for like thirty seconds then whispered to Igari kyodai (he's like 70.. same with his friend) "um we can't watch this as missionaries." He chuckled. and didn't do anything. I whispered to him again. "Um. Igari kyodai, is it like okay, if we leave and go and do missionary work."

"iiyo" (Ya that's all cool.)

So we did.

Yokoyama-San is doing well, same with Red Man- We invited them both to come to church and they both said no.

Yokoyama-San has work, and Red Man just laughed at my invitation.

We started a second English class. We're doing one on Wednesday and one on Saturday as well.

It's pretty great. The Saturday one is only conversation (i planned some sweet conversations. We told embarrassing stories, which somehow ended up turning into hearing about different high school relationship problems. I suppose it's just a universal thing. Since the Saturday English class isn't an official one, we can talk about God freely. So I just took a chance to tell people about the church's standards, and how we date for fun in Utah- and why that's better and stuff. It was pretty great.

I'm teaching one of the students how to play guitar after class, and I hope we can start teaching him the gospel soon.