It's June, June 1, 2009
I go home this month next year. Scary. It feels so short.
Anyway, I am happy to report that progress in Ina is exploding. We, as of this week, have (drum roll please) two investigators with a baptismal date! Unfortunately, the dates are both toward the end of next transfer, they have some commandments to start following, but we are so happy! It always seems like the fruit starts to happen at the end of a transfer period, right before someone transfers out. I guess it is to keep us humble. Either that or the Lord likes to poke some fun at his missionaries. I think it is a little of both, personally.
The District Presidency came to visit Ina branch this week, making our Sacrament Meeting a whopping 16 people large! It was insane! And on top of that, I was asked to conduct the meeting. Yes, with the District Presidency sitting behind me, and the District Relief Society President there too. The most embarrassing thing is, I remembered everyone’s name and acknowledged them EXCEPT the Relief Society President, because she wasn’t on the stand. So Elder Katanuma quickly hit my knee with a hymnbook from behind the pulpit where nobody could see and whispered “Shimai” (sister), which saved me a little face, but made District President Matsuhashi laugh a little bit. I was slightly embarrassed, but it turned out well. They all praised me, wrongfully, about how great my Japanese was and how leadership-ish I was. It was an interesting experience.
We also got three names of people to teach from the members this week! That is a pretty good percentage, 12 active members and three referrals in one week! I think we are starting to kindle the member missionary fire a little bit. I hope it just gets bigger from here.
We also had the opportunity to do some secret service this week. Kitahara-san wanted to introduce us to one of her friends, and have us move a refrigerator across the street for her. While doing this, the friend kept mentioning how she needed to pull weeds in front of her house, but being slightly old, her back didn’t want to allow it. So secretly, the next day when we knew she was at a town meeting for the area she lives in we threw on a pair of jeans and did our best to clean out the whole front of her house of weeds, put them in a bag, and burned them back at our place (it is normal to burn the weeds here). We got it looking pretty good, and we are convinced she has no idea who did it. We know that Kitahara-san will figure it out, and we hope it will lead to something. It was a great way to spend an hour of downtime, and it really felt good to give service that is meaningful and necessary. Plus if all goes well, we might make it into the Liahona/Ensign, eh? Ha. joking.
Anyway, today we are going to eat lunch with Kitahara-san and we will likely find out then if they have figured it out yet.
Good to hear that everyone is doing well. Mom, I hope you have fun with the Relief Society President calling, though it might be a little rough at times. I have learned here that having fun in church callings is the best way to magnify them. Of course, there is always a level of seriousness, usually pretty high, but without humor and fun I think the position is worth a lot less. I’m sure you will have no problem with that. I just wish I was there to eat all the leftovers from prepping for activities! Sounds delicious.
I was given a very awesome book this week by a missionary going home called ‘330 Top Secret Recipes’ or something. It has everything from A1 Steak Sauce to Oreo Shakes from Jack in the Box, even an In-N-Out Double Double! I’m pretty excited about that. We will see if it lives up to the real thing, or your home cooking.
Thanks for the bit of Apple news, Dad. Sounds like Apple is tearing it up. The Branch President of the area next to us is a huge Apple fan, and is basically an Apple missionary for the whole branch. He has his full outfit - iPhone, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro w/Cinema Display, everything. We go to Matsumoto (his branch) once or twice a week, and usually see him once every two weeks or so, so he has been giving me full updates. I’m pretty excited about the progress, especially with some of the iPhone rumors. If it is adding this kind of stuff now, just wait until I get back next year. Should be exciting.
Good to hear Derek is having fun in France, though castles do get repetitive to a high-schooler pretty quick I think. I’m sure he will remember the trip for a long time.
Kathryn, when you get to BYU, don’t date too much.
Jacob, tell me how the new Transformers movie is, there are posters everywhere in Japan!
By the way, to quickly explain (Mom) how LeeAnne got switched missions, it looks like the mission actually split into three, and you are placed into whatever mission your area falls into at the split. Because she transferred to the San Jose area before the split, when it split, her call was changed to the San Jose mission. I think. Maybe… I am printing out her email since I don’t have a ton of time here so I’m not sure I read it correctly either. Sounds right though.
Let’s see, other than that, I’m doing great. I’m healthy, getting tan (believe it or not, I actually have a sweet watch tan line already - I’m trying to get a good line there to see before and after color, and to take an awesome photo of it at the end of summer), and still not gaining weight, no matter how hard I try. I guess I’m just going to be stuck skinny. We got a ton of food from the members this last week, so we have plenty to eat.
Oh, I sent LeeAnne’s package thingy off Friday, and the memory cards are going to be sent off tomorrow morning. We have money now, and a bit of time too.
I think that is about all for this week. The foundation seems to have been laid, now whether it is me who reaps or not, Ina seems to be in a much better place than when we came. I almost don’t want to leave to a new area, but I think the country is getting to me. Next week we will have transfer announcements so I can let you know in email what happens. I will likely stay here and become District Leader I think, since our district leader is transferring away 100% and his companion will likely go Senior. These are all just guesses though. I tell you when I know the facts.
Love you all, miss you, have a good week!
Greg
Greg Burnham
gregburnham@myldsmail.net
1-304 Itakadai
Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
465-0028 Japan
