Japan 5 Dec. 2010 Nishinomiya

Week 23

Mission Log



Sister Yamamoto at her baptism

The baptismal service was great. There were like thirty people there. That`s as many as come to church on most Sundays. Sister Yamamoto was referred to us by a church member who lives up in Sendai. The member from Sendai flew down here to see the baptismal service. It was great. I didn't do the confirmation on Sunday. A member of the bishopric did it instead. His name is Brother Suzuki. There are a lot of people named Suzuki here. It`s a very very common name. Brother Suzuki served a mission in Sendai. He just got home from his mission a few months ago. When he was on his mission, he baptized Sister Yamamoto`s friend from Sendai. It was such a crazy coincidence. Sister Yamamoto`s husband didn't come to see here baptism though. I thought that was kind of sad.

My companion went to leadership training in Kobe on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. So, I went and worked in Kitarokko. Kitarokko is in the middle of the mountains. It is all hills. It`s very difficult on a bike. And, it`s freezing cold. It was a fun three days.

Tomorrow morning we will get the phone call telling us if we`re transferring or not. It`s exciting and nerve racking. I think that I`m going to transfer and my companion, Elder Hashimoto, is going to stay here. I don`t think I`ll transfer very far though. I don`t think I`ll leave the Kansai area. I think I`ll go to Osaka or very close to it. That`s my prediction. Next week I`ll let you know what happened. I really hope I get to go somewhere that isn't full of rice fields. My companion thinks I`m going to the island of Shikoku. There are practically no people there.

When Japanese people are being polite, they speak in a high pitched nasally voice. Especially the women. I think it`s really funny. We were talking with a member, she was talking perfectly normally. Then, she got a phone call and she answered it and spoke and her super nasally voice. I was way surprised. When she hung up she went right back to speaking normally. It`s funny when you walk through the mall and all the workers talk to you in a super high pitched nasally voice. They`re hard to understand because they use super polite honorific Japanese. It`s wishing minute right now.

Tomorrow is December 7th. I`m unsure if I should pretend that it`s a super big deal in America and everyone just cries and acts sad all day or not. It could cause problems.

Everyone is ready for Christmas here. In Church we sang only Christmas songs. All the lessons had to do with Christmas. Everywhere, all you can hear is Christmas music. There are decorations everywhere. Everyone loves Christmas.

I`m out of time now. I have to get going. I`ll write again next week. Bye.

-Elder Isaac D. Swift