One Month Mark

July 1, 2011

Konnichiwa!

Well, I guess Jake either slept in or just forgot to come, cuz i didn't see him this morning. O well, Elder Dinkel probably would've been mad.  OK, so here's the deal, let me know when you get back from the family trip and I'll send home the first bunch of journal entries. I was plannin on doing it at the end of each month.  Sound good?  Another thing for mom, the backpack is from Opsgear.  it's a store on Redwood Road in North Salt Lake.  You can just go to their website. It's a sling backpack made by Maxpedition.  Just email me a picture and I'll tell you if it's right. Take money out of my bank account to get it, I wanna get it myself.

So how are things?! That's so exciting that you guys are leaving tomorrow.  I loved hearing from all the siblings.  Sorry I probably won't reply to every letter.  It gets really busy and stressful here and I promise I will do my best.  I love you guys so much! I hope these emails can answer most your questions and tell you how it is.  You guys generally ask the same questions, haha.  I love it here tho.  One month! That's so crazy! I can't believe it haha the next 23 will go pretty fast I can already tell.  The Senpai leave on Monday.  I am soooooo sad! Some of them are my best friends! and none of them are goin' to Nagoya :( Oh well, I know they'll all work hard and do their best to serve the people of their respective areas. 

I've started waking up at six to work out every morning. It's not tough workouts, but I'm hoping to get into better shape and maintain some muscles.  The temple closes all next month. I'm so sad :( hopefully we'll get to clean it up once or twice during a p-day.  Thanks for everything you guys, the letters and packages. They all mean so much to me.  People are jealous of all the love and support I get, til they get some food from the packages haha.  Japanese is comin better, it's still way tough.  But I had a 30 minute interview with Mortensen Shimai and it was a real confidence booster.  She just said to hang in there and she kept telling me that I was on a great pace.  She kept saying I can't learn a language, especially Japanese, in a short 12 weeks.  So I'm just staying tough and working my hardest so that the Lord will help me do whatever he wants me to do in Japan. 

I can't think of any really great stories.  I sent that mid week letter that had some pretty good stories.  After I sent that letter, nothing really stands out.  I did send my SD card, I'll probably send that at the end of each month with my journal entries.  Sound genki?  I added a little video clip, hope you all enjoy! The pictures are all great, I've takin a lot.  There are some great people here.  I can tell you who everyone is if you can't figure it out.  I've been gettin everyone's contact info so that we can find each other when we get back and we can facebook or hang out.  Ok, here's somewhat of a story, Elder Lee's Japanese passport expired, so he almost lost his Japanese citizenship.  He was extremely bummed.  So he got to fly to Colorado for the day and get his passport renewed.  It's kinda funny.  Elder Sonntag gave me a plastic unco so I can play tricks on people.  I put it on Elder Kowalski's pillow and he freaked out haha it was really funny.  Sorry this letter isn't as exciting, you guys will have a great time on the vacation and when you get back, my journal entries will be there! You can all read them.  I've got nothin to hide.  If you guys have any specific questions, just let me know and I'll be sure to write them down. 

Andrus Sensei has been working with the seminars and been in New York, so he's only taught us like twice in the last two weeks.  It's sad, but we've had some fun subs.  I started reading the Japanese Book of Mormon yesterday and marked a few scriptures! Exciting huh?! haha Elder Dinkel gets lots of support from family and friends.  The kids leaving on Monday gave him two suits and he was so grateful.  He doesn't have much.  He's the oldest of 9 and both his parents are high school drop outs.  He also has trouble washing stuff and taking care of his stuff so he's ruined like 3 white shirts and soiled some garments.  It's tough for him.  He might be really arrogant and annoying sometimes, but I still gotta love him and realize that my time with him will end before I even realize it.  Love you all sooooo much. Miss ya. Take care

ki ni shinaide kudasai,

Elder "S.B." Parry