New Experiences

Alex sent quite a few interesting photos this week, but none of him. I'm really glad to hear that he is eating new food and liking it. I sure miss him, but glad he's having these amazing experiences.

Pig Tongue

Octopus

This week I have done some new things, and they were all good experiences.

The kanji of the week is: 手話 pronounced "Shew-wah," and means sign
language. (sorry if I already sent this one)

I don't have all that much time this week, but I would like to share
some of the new experiences I've had this week.

On Monday, we went with the branch president to a famous all you can
eat place in a nearby city. There, I had the chance to eat horse. It
was good, and I enjoyed. it. I got to also try pig tongue, and as
gross as that sounds, I liked it. One of the most rare (no pun
intended) things I ate was raw horse (called horse "sashimi"). Before
anyone freaks out, it was all safe.

The guts from the octopus

We also went to an fish market where you pick what fish you want to
eat, pay for it, get rice, and then eat it as you get it. Most of it
was raw, but it was good. While we were there, we got transfer calls,
and I found out that I am getting my first Japanese companion. I
already know him, because he was in this area already, but the area is
going down to two elders, so it is just me and my new companion now.
He's also a new missionary, so it's my first trainee. In the way that
we say it here in Japan at least, he is now my "son." Since he's been
here a transfer, he was being trained by a different missionary, but I
think it still counts. It's like adoption. I guess.

Alex's new companion, Elder T.

The other missionaries in the area minus Alex and his companion

There was also a festival going on, and it was really big and had some
cool traditional Japanese stuff. It was big, but there's an even
bigger one coming up soon. I'm looking forward to that!

Well, that's all I'm thinking about right now that I'd like to share,
but I hope you all know that I know that there is a Father in Heaven
that cares about you. He wants you to be happy.

Love you all!

Love,

Elder _____

長老

An old looking firehouse that is still in use

A line for a famous restaurant in Hachinohe (this was
taken around 8:30 in the morning).

A man who has a ground hog on his shoulder at a festival

Here's the explanation Alex gave for this set of strange photos. Ummmm, ok.

The first picture is a friend and old investigator in a dark hallway
underneath a fish market that we went into because we thought there
might be something, but the only thing down there was closed. The
second and fourth one are of a fridge down there that was still in use
but looked abandoned. The third is of the light fixtures in the
basement, and the fifth is a picture of barnacles (still alive).

Video of a barnacle that is moving

A lady at the shop preparing octopus

Just to end on a not so gross note, here's a pretty flower photo that Alex sent.