New City, New Experiences

Alex sent just one photo and it was taken with his iPad so it's blurry when I blow it up. He didn't say much in his letter to me. I get to Skype with him next Sunday so maybe I'll find out more then, but if it's like the Christmas Skype, he won't talk much and no stories. We'll see.

 

I was able to be in contact with his other companion's moms on a Facebook group for moms of missionaries, but it doesn't seem like his current one's mom is on there. So no sharing pics or stories. Sad.

 

This is what he said about the new area in his letter to me:

 

The branch is bigger than the Yonezawa and is three hours instead of two, but it's hard to compare anything else. It is cooler, but not chilly most of the time. There are four Elders, and three sisters. The sisters are all Japanese, and one of the sisters that was supposed to come got appendicitis right before transfers, so she isn't here. Two sisters came in her place, but we don't know what's going to happen with transfers when the hospital says she can leave. 

 

Here's his letter to everyone:

 

This week was my first week in Hachinohe, and it has been fun. It is
quite bigger than Yonezawa, and I will definitely enjoy my time here.

The kanji of the week is: 花見 pronounced hanami, and means to have a
picnic while watching Sakura.

And now for the weeks events.

Monday: we went and did some last minute shopping and I got to say
good bye to some people. We had dinner at a member's house, and shared
a short message.

Tuesday: I can't remember too much from that day, but we did have
lunch with a friend of ours to say goodbye, and we also went to a
hanami party with some friends. We got lots of potential English class
students, and it seems like it will be really fun.

Wednesday: we rode a bus in the morning up to Sendai where I met Elder
H. (one of the other elders in Hachinohe), and then we took a 5
hour bus ride up to Hachinohe. When we got there, we walked to the
church, but it turned out that they cancelled. We eventually found the
other two, and went to the apartment for the night.

Thursday: we went to seminary early in the morning, and then tried to
find a lady's house that Elder B. had only been to once. We got
lost, and couldn't find it, so we just housed in the area. After a
while of that, we went to a park, but no one was there, so we just
housed some more before going and eating dinner.  We then went to
institute until the rest of the night.

Friday: we had weekly planning, and then we went and housed for a bit.
We didn't have too much time after that, so we ate dinner and then
went to the church. Ever Friday we do a thing called fun Friday in
Hachinohe, so we did that. But no one showed up, so we just played
card games and I played piano. The sister missionaries arrived, and we
talked for a little bit before we went back to the apartment for the
night.

Saturday: we met a missionary couple at the church in the morning to
give the sister missionaries a bike (there are three of them and they
only had two bikes. We led them to their apartment, and then after
that they inspected our apartment. When we got back to the church, we
met sister B. unexpectedly.  We talked for a few minutes and did
some studies there while we waited for a member to come pick the two
of us up. When she came, she took us with a recent convert to her
house for s taco party. The recent convert doesn't speak any Japanese
really, so we went to translate for him. The tacos were delicious and
nostalgic, and we also got flan.
We also got to go to more parks, and had housed for a bit before
English class (they have two a week here). It was fun, and I got to
play more piano afterwards. Everyone loved it for some reason, and one
of the youth here kept asking me to play hymns she liked. It was good
practice.

Sunday: we had a great testimony meeting, and I was able to bear my
testimony. We also taught a class for one of the hours (it isn't that
usual). After church we had a lesson with the recent convert, and it
went well. It was really interesting teaching in English though. We
then housed for a bit before we went back to the apartment and had
studies for the rest of the day.

I hope you are all doing well, and that you know that I seriously care
about you all.

Love,

Elder _______