Christmas Pictures

12/21/10

Hello!

MERRY CHRISTMAS (kinda)! How are you guys? I cant believe its already the week of Christmas, I seriously cant believe how fast its going! I swear it was just barely the start of December. Why is my mission going by so fast? Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Oh and for the calls, YOU need to call ME on December 24th. (that`s 12/24/10...just making sure) I, over here in Osaka, will receive your phone call on December 25th. You need to call me at 11:30 am Japan time. I don`t know exactly what time that will make it over in Utah, but I`m going to assume that it will probably be sometime in the evening. So...yeah. Yoroshiku.

Thanks so much for sending me that shaver and watch! I still haven`t gotten it but thanks so muchx2. Yeah, everything in Japan costs ridiculously a lot over here. I would`ve bought a watch but the cheapest one I found was 80 bucks! And it wasn`t even a good watch either! Granted that I didn`t look around much though...but still. I`ll try to send you guys some Christmas schtuff this week. It won`t make it by Christmas but...oh well. Last week I didn`t even realize it was Christmas week. I got a few Christmas gifts from other people so I`ll try sending them thank you cards...eventually.

So what are you guys doing for Christmas? I swear I`ve asked Dad this question for the past two weeks but he`s avoided answering it. Is Selena and Richard coming over for Christmas party or something? Oh, but you gotta watch a Christmas Story. I mean come on, thats the Saito family Christmas tradition. This is probably the first year that I`ve gone without watching that movie! But its okay, because we`re having a Mission Christmas zone taikai. I heard we get to watch Kung-fu Panda and I`ve even heard rumors that we might be able to watch Toy Story 3 too!

I`m glad Obachan got my letter! I`m actually surprised she was able to read it though. I`m terrible at Kanji. Next one to write is Gunma no Obachan! Her address is super hard to write in Kanji so hopefully it will get there.

Well, anyways, this week has been pretty slow. Its almost Oshogatsu so its almost impossible to get lessons in for the next few weeks. I heard Oshogatsu is THE party time of the year for Japan. (insert techno beat here) All our investigators are super busy until January so its hard to schedule lessons and follow ups...but hey, this is the time of the year to strengthen our relationships with ward members with all the member visits and less actives we shove into our schedules. Okamachi ward is really amazing. I love everyone in here! They`re so nice, they gave us a bunch of Christmas gifts this Sunday. So yeah, dendo will probably be a bit slow for the next week. But, its okay because we have two caroling dendo activities set up this week so I`m super stoked. Oh and we`re singing in a Christmas concert too, which should be awesome!

Oh man, we had a super emergency this past week in the zone though. One of the Elders got bit in the face by a member`s dog. I feel so bad for him! The dogs tooth cut through his nose and through his lip so his nostril was flapping around. The ward members were old, I guess, so he biked to the ER. When he got to the hospital, the doctor only gave him two stitches to hold his nose together. What the heck was that doctor thinking about! That nose needed at the very least 10 stitches to hold it together! Well...he`s okay I think. I guess he`s going to get plastic surgery soon so hopefully it will heal. He`s such a trooper though, he dendo-ed the day after with a mask on. Man, I love that Elder, I hope he heals up quickly without too much scarring. Pray for him!

Well, twas good writing to thou. I`m loving the mission experience and I still haven`t gotten hit by a car yet so no worries about me! I hope you guys are doing awesome and having fun! Merry Christmas famiry. Tell Selena and Richard I love them and hope they feel guilty for not writing me for a month. Tell Pochi and Monty that I love them too! And I hope Rupert has a terrible Christmas. OKBYE.

Love you guys,
Elder Saito

12/13/10

Hey Hey Hey,

Hola everybody! I`m so happy to hear from you guys! Well, seems like its been quite the week for you guys with finals and such. Especially you Mom, are you still alive? Its so weird how everything is getting all Christmas-y over there in America. Over here it doesn`t even feel like December. There`s a few Christmas lights here and there but thats about it. I did, however, see a huge santa sitting in a Star of David in one of the Shotengai`s over here. Talk about irony. I think whoever put that up missed the whole point of Christmas.

Well, it was really awesome to see you guys take some family pictures. It looks like Rupert has some lasers shooting out of his eyes. Thats really awesome(x2) that Selena and Richard had a talk in sacrament meeting this week because I actually did too! Mine was only ten minutes though...and I rambled about the Book of Mormon for most of the time. I actually didn`t take time to write the talk so I completely winged it. But, the two investigators who came to church seemed to have liked it so I dont feel bad. Things are going great over here! We had transfers last week and my new companion is Elder Rahn. He`s a superb missionary from Cali and has been out for about a year and a half. Our dendo/teaching and normal personalities are really alike so we get arong rearry good. So on Thursday I went to Sanomia to drop off Elder Hinton for transfers and when we got out of the station, I saw a marvelous sight! Richard should know, he`s taken a picture right next to it! It was a statue of a bunch of butts stacked on top of each other. Thats right. Butts. But, I was still super happy to see it because my bro-in-law took a picture by it a few years ago. I`ll try to send a picture of it.

So yeah, dendo is going awesome. I feel like this transfer is going to go fantabulous! Elder Rahn and I started the transfer off right by witnessing an organized crime. We were dendoing by one of the parks when we saw three random guys sitting on benches. They were kind of distant from each other and didn`t really talk to one another...so Elder Rahn and I decided to go dendo them. We were talking to one of the guys and had a good contact but couldn`t get a appt...so we left the area for about an hour to go dendo the college by there. When we came back an hour later, we saw the same guys walking towards a street light with a pricey looking Mamachadi (a bike) that was locked. Two of the guys were carrying the bike and the other guy was somewhat ahead of the other ones. When they stopped at the stop light, a white van screeched up and one of the guys ran to it and opened the back door. The two other guys shoved the bike into the van and slammed the doors closed. The white van then floored it and screeched out of there while the other three scrambled to their scooters. Keep in mind that we were about ten feet away from them, watching the crime unfold right infront of our eyes. I then saw the guy I was talking to earlier trying to make a break for it so I did what I do best (which is getting in peoples way) and walked up towards him and started re-contacting him again. Haha he realized that I was trying to talk to him and he got scared so he gunned it out of there. I was able to get his license plate number so we felt that we should be good citizens/missionaries and report it to the Koban (police). Pretty fun experience, I would have to say. Grand Theft Bicycle, Osaka Style. Thats how we roll in Japan.

Anyways, our investigators are doing well. We were finally able to meet with Hatakeyama! (he`s the one with hantai parents) I was so happy we were able to meet with him! I`ve only been able to keep contact with him over the phone for the past two months. His parents are still super against him being baptized so we`re trying our best. He has one of the strongest testimonies and faith that I`ve ever seen. Even through all of these hardships, he still wants to be baptized because he knows that its the right thing to do. Unfortunately, his parents are still hantai. That doesn`t make them bad parents at all though. They`re just concerned of their sons welfare. I really want the parents to meet with us or the bishop so that we can show them that we`re not some cult but the real church of Christ. Its a really tuff situation, but we were able to fast this Sunday with him so that his parents hearts will be softened. Our next plan is to get him to write a note to his parents with his testimony on baptism. I almost have no doubt that he`ll be baptized though. Just need to have patience on my part. Plus, all this hardship will just make him a stronger member!

Well, life is good. I hope everything is going well for you guys! I`m lovin life over here so no worries. In the mission, you just work work work over here that you end up forgetting all the hard times. And all the miricales you see just make it better. Well, I love you guys! Stay safe over the Christmas season! Ok.Bye

Mucho love,
Elder Saito

12/6/10

Hellooooo parents,

OH MY GOSH! RYAN`S GOING TO JAPAN! Ah, I`m so happy for him! Tell him that we`ll be super Japanese once we both get back. Peace signs forever! So, if he goes in this January, he might have some of my old teachers like Bro. Christensen or Bradley. I can`t believe he`s going to Japan though! He`s going to love his mission, I promise that.

So, how`s the family doing? I see all that Christmas shopping is going good. Thanks for getting me that electric shaver by the way! I`m super excited to get it...which is odd. You know you`re getting old once you start getting excited for electric shavers for Christmas presents...but anyways. I was going to send you pictures that I took when I was over in Osaka Shinai...but unfortunately I forgot the usb cord. El sorryo. I`ll try to remember to bring it next week.

Sweet, I was just going to ask for the Obachans addresses. I`m kinda embarrassed to write them in Japanese though...but I shall try. I probably won`t be able to write them until next week though but I promise I`ll try writing them before Christmas. ......... Can you believe my calculator watch broke on me? Failure.

Anyways, things have gone awesome this week. This was the last week with my trainer and I`ll be getting the transfer calls tomorrow. I`m almost guaranteed to stay in Okamachi so its more of "who`s going to be my new companion?" Can you believe that its my third transfer already? Wow. Well, this week we went to a Bless4 concert in our area. I guess they`re a pretty big band here in Japan and have a lot of songs in commercials and stuff. Don`t worry, we`re not wampsacks, (wampaku) this concert was chanto (this is what happens when you start forgetting English) run by the church. All the band members are lds! A funny thing was that we were supposed to give some tickets to our investigators but none of ours could go because of work and stuff. So we went around the eki, 15 min before the concert, and found three kids smoking by the eki. Some how we got them to come to the concert with us! We couldn`t get them to become investigators but it was still awesome.. Okay this story isn`t as cool when I type it, but I promise it was an amazing experience and we were super blessed.

Lets see...our investigators are still...well, investigating. Its going to be hard once my trainer leaves though because I`ll be the one in charge to stay in contact with all of them but I think I`ll be fine. Hopefully we can see a baptism before the end of the year! President really wants every area to see at least one before it ends. Well, I`ll just work as hard as
I can and trust in the Lord. I`m sure every area can see a baptism!

Well, I gotta go. Hope you guys are doing fantabulous! Can`t wait to hear from you guys again!

Love ya,
Elder Saito

I got lazy...sorry

Hey Hey Hey,

Herro, how are you family? It looks like you guys had a sweet Thanksgiving and Black Friday! Thanks for sending me those pictures Dad! Mom looks like Yoko Ono and it looks like Selena drew on her eyebrows...but other than that, Richard and Dad look exactly the same. Its good to see the family is doing awesome. So, looks like Richard and Selena were lucky when they were Black Friday-ing again I see. It seems that somehow Richard is always lucky when it comes to video games. Wow, I can`t believe its almost December already. This will be the first Christmas away from home...I think. Do you guys have any plans for Christmas break? Oh and for a Christmas present...lets see maybe a tie or something will do. Oh, or you could get me some electric shaver at TJ Maxx or something. That would be greatly appreciated too. What about you guys? Do you have any requests of things you want from Japan?

How is everyone? Oh, has Ilikea gotten any of my last two letters? The one with a drawing of a cat? She mails me things like Gospel supplies and stuff but I haven`t gotten an actual letter, like things that are going on in her life etc, for about a month. I have a feeling that none of my letters that I`ve sent to people have actually made it to their destination. I mean, I sent you guys, Bishop Edgington, and a few other friends a letter too. Well, its probably because I used weird envelopes from 100yen shop. Those probably never make it to America. Or everyone just hates me. Could be both.

Well anyways, it looks like its been snowing quite a lot this past week in Provo. It still hasn`t gotten super cold over here yet, nor have we had any rain or snow. Its really annoying weather. When the sun is shining, its hot, but when the sun goes down or we`re in the shadows, it turns freezing. Dang you Osaka and your weather.

Things are going by so quickly over here. My second transfer is almost already over! My trainer is going home in about a week or two...which seems crazy to him. I`ll already be in my third transfer! fdashklfdsahfkla I can`t believe how fast its going. BUT, awkwardly, I feel as if I`ve been here in Okamachi forever. Its like I`ve been going to church with everybody in this ward and roaming around Toyonaka for a long time...which I haven`t. Its really an interesting feeling. It`ll probably go away once I transfer though. Anyways, you know you do a lot of dendo once you start dreaming about missionary work. I sometimes have dreams where I`m contacting people and trying to set up appointments...or it could`ve not been a dream and my life is just turning into a blur...Well, our investigators are doing pretty good. I mean there`s the up`s and down`s but thats just dendo. You just learn how to deal with it and be optimistic. The good news is that these past few weeks, finding has gotten better. We really need to start refilling our investigator pool because a few of our investigators are at that "spiritual standstill" and are not really progressing. For those investigators, we just need to be patient and help them progress with the help of the members. The statement "patience is a virtue" means so much more when you`re out in the field. Some of our investigators have really legitimate testimonies but unfortunately, have a few commitment problems. Two of our yakusokusha`s have told us that they believe that the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus is their Savior, but feel that it isn`t their "time" to get baptized. I swear it feels like your insides are exploding when an investigator tells you a few days before their baptism that they don`t feel ready and they want to postpone it. Just being patient at that time is tuff...Its hard to understand the balance between them really not being ready and the adversery working against us. I just want to yell at that point, throw a Book of Mormon at them and say "you`re more than ready!" But of course I would never do that, because I dont really know their situation and I have no right to judge. Maybe all of this is the Lord just trying to teach me a lesson on patience. It will come in time though. All I can do at this point is show love and support the investigators while helping them understand the importance of baptism more clearly.

Well anyways, I`m too lazy to type more.Hope ya`ll are doing good good. I hope that work is fabulos for you guys and that you`re all just enjoying life as much as I am. Okay, talk to you in a week! OKBYE.

Love ya guys,
Elder Saito

PS. I still hate you Rupert.

chubby?

Rex is totally gaining weight!!! haha

Hellos!

Hi Mom and Dad! You guys genki? Hope you guys are doing awesome as usual. Well, I guess Thanksgiving will already pass once I hear back from you guys but I hope your `sushi party` goes well. So it was Richard`s birthday this week too? haha that debu is already 24 now huh? Well, tell him happy birthday for me and that I`ll have to punch him once I come home because he celebrated without me. Speaking of debu...I guess I`ve been getting pretty debu(fat) myself without even noticing. We have this scale in the bathroom that`s in kilograms so I wasn`t sure how much I really weighed. I weigh 85 kilos right now...which for some reason I thought was just 170 pounds. BUT...according to the mass converter on our cell phone, I weigh 187 pounds. So now I`m in denial and have convinced myself that the scale is actually off.

Anyways, how`s Pochi? Is he alright? Did you find out whether or not he has arthritis in his legs? Because I would be so sad sad if he did...my poor puppy. Why couldn`t this happen to Rupert instead? Well, I`m really happy that Dad was able to send a few pictures of the pets. Why don`t ya send some pictures of the family sometime too? I wanna see all of you guys. Its actually not cold at all in Osaka right now. Which I guess is kinda weird because it should be freezing.

Well, this past week has gone by pretty slow. A lot of things have occurred over the past few days though, both good and bad. But, I think I would rather concentrate on the good things more. We really have been blessed this week with an amazing investigator. His name is Ryoma and he`s a son of a member in our ward. His situation is kinda interesting but I don`t feel like I should go much into detail. The main point is that he`s really progressing towards baptism and is recognizing the Spirit. He explained to us that the past few years he felt that he was straying away from "the right path." He told us that things went downhill once his mom left for America for a year and his job became a disaster. He told us at one point he felt an urge to get back on the right path and he thinks that baptism is one of the ways to do that. It really is amazing though, he had already quit smoking before he even met with us and now is trying to give up coffee, beer and tea in order to be baptized. We invited him to begin coming to church about a month ago and he`s been coming almost every time since. He told us that he feels peace when he comes to church and prays. Its the picture perfect explanation of the Spirit! I`m really happy for him and I`m praying for him that things go well!

Also, this past Tuesday we had the opportunity to go and see Brother Aki in the hospital. He and his wife are in their 90`s and I guess Brother Aki was on the verge of dying earlier this month but suddenly became healthier again! What`s amazing is that he was the first Japanese missionary to ever serve a mission in Japan! He`s a stud! Brother and Sister Aki are the most genki people you`ll ever see. It was a miracle that we were able to see them though because when we went to the hospital, he was out taking a walk with his wife (yeah he`s that genki) and we only had a half an hour before our next lesson. When we only had a few min left so we wrote them a letter and decided to leave. Right when we were heading to the elevator down, the elevator we were going to take opened and Brother and Sister Aki were just coming back from their sampo. It was perfect timing! They were so happy to see us and Brother Aki kept on telling us that we were so tall. Meeting them really lifted our spirits. They`re so tiny though! They`re both about 4 feet I swear (yes smaller than `ilikea) I`ll try sending you guys a picture. I hope I get to see them again before I transfer.

Well, there`s so much more I could write...but I`m far too lazy. Plus my P~day is almost over anyways. Where does all my time go? Well, now I`m gonna try to catch up on my letters I have to write. Has Selena got my letter? Either the 100yen envelopes failed me and never made it to America or they just forgot about my existence. Both are ideas are plausible. Anyways, you guys have a great Thanksgiving! Hope you guys are doing fantastic as well as Pochi and Monty. As for Rupert...hopefully dad forgets him outside in the snow for a week. OK bye bye.

Love ya guys,
Elder Saito

11/15/10

Herro Famiry,


How are you guys? Its so good to hear from ya! Is it really almost time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping? I can`t believe it. It seems just like yesterday that Richard, Selena and I were sitting in front of Old Navy just so Richard can get some stupid Lego Starwars game for free. When is Thanksgiving anyways? I`ve kinda forgot already. There`s already Christmas things going on over here in Japan so I have no idea of whats happening holiday wise anymore. Oh yeah, thanks so much for the packages! They came in this week.



Well, maybe by the time I come home from my mission Ryan will finally get his mission call. haha give him a good slap on the head for me. Hopefully, he gets it within this week then...maybe. I still can`t tell where he`s going either...I hope its Mexico or something. Thats great that Trent was able to baptize his son! I bet it was an amazing experience for him. Tell him that I is happy happy for him!...or I`ll just write to him sometime.



......I dont know anything about Japanese grammer. I just know that if it sounds right, then it is right. Really, I have this huge Japanese grammer book that I got at the MTC but I haven`t even looked at it yet. Some day I`ll learn proper Japanese grammer...but at this point I`d rather just learn more Kanji.



Well anyways, yet another week has passed by on my dendo...its amazing how fast its going! This week was pretty eventful. There`s still a lot of `mission drama` going on between us and one of our investigators who was supposed to be baptized. We`re still working to get all of that resolved. But other than that our investigators are doing well.



Lately I`ve been thinking a lot on how it would feel to be an investigator. While thinking...I realized on how difficult it would be to accept the Gospel if I were to be born in the Japanese culture. A lot of the stuff that is contained in the gospel is so...different or contrary to the normal beliefs here. When investigators do accept this Gospel they have to change their lives so much. They sacrafice a lot too. A lot of new converts have a really hard time staying active because of the outside pressure from family, friends, environment, etc. I`ve now realized that true conversion takes time. I think a lot of missionaries don`t realize that. We have to help investigators realize that they have to change their lives inorder to be in better harmony with Christs teachings...I just need to learn to be more patient with my investigators. Rushing for a baptismal date might be good, but I`ve realized that there isn`t a reason to force them. I learned from experience that that doesnt work. I would much rather have only one baptism my whole mission and have them stay active then baptizing hundred of people and having them fall away.



While streeting or teaching lessons you hear a lot of interesting ideas and teachings from different beliefs. Buddust, Shinto, Atheist, Christian all sorts of ideas. They`re all really good to hear and i find it amazing how differently people can think. I really do respect their ideas, religions and ways of thinking. I sure that all of the different teachings have truth within them though. But, it is true that only the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has all of God`s true teachings. I think I realize that fact little by little everyday after hearing all these ideas.



Well, I dont have time to write anymore. My P-day is now over. I bet the last two paragraphs didn`t really make sense...I didn`t have time to read through it. I hope you guys are doing great! Stay safe you guys!


Love you guys,
Elder Saito


Hey guys, this is Selena. If you would like to leave a little note for Rex, write something in the comments and we'll add it into our weekly emails to him. Thanks!

pikachures

11/8/10

Hey Mom and Dad,

Herro parents! How are you guys? I is happy to hear from you guys again. I can’t believe how quickly weeks go by when you’re on your mission. I feel as if I just was emailing you guys yesterday. This second transfer is going by even faster than the first though! Can you believe I’m already starting my third week? I swear this mission is going to be over before I know it. So is it already snowing a lot over there in Utah? Lets see, its starting to get kind of cold over here in Osaka though. Definitely not Utah cold yet, it just gets a bit chilly so we’ve busted out the vests and scarfs for dendoing. I heard it doesn’t really snow in Osaka...its just cold like how I imagine a frozen tundra would be. Thanks for sending me the packages though! I haven’t received them yet though but I’m going to pretend like I did. Gloves should come in handy though when I’m biking in the freezing wind though! Tell Shirley thank you, thank you very much. Has Ryan got his mission call yet? I was talking to a sister who was companions with Emma and she told me that Ryan accidently turned in his papers saying that he was 530 pounds or something. Is that true? I can totally see it happening though!

Well, this past week was pretty good. I feel like I’m improving and getting more and more comfortable streeting and getting more involved in lessons. Being able to stop people and strike up conversations seems natural to me. Which I assume is a good thing. I figured once Elder Hinton leaves I’ll be the one responsible to keep up the connections with investigators and members. That is if I stay in Okamachi though...which I probably will because we have investigators with baptismal dates who need to be baptized. One of our investigators is supposed to be baptized this week but unfortunately, has a big problem. His name’s Hatakeyama and he has one of the strongest testimonies I’ve seen yet. He really understands that importance of baptism and wants to get baptized but his parents are super hantai. I guess he was supposed to be baptized quite a while ago but his parents got really mad at him and told him that if he were to be baptized, they would disown him. Its such a complicated situation. We’ve tried to meet the parents with the bishop but he told us it would be a bad idea. He’s kinda shy so its hard for him to bring it up with his parents again so we’ve been trying to support him. He’s not supposed to even have contact with us missionaries but he still lets us call him. I’ve been calling him for the past few weeks and trying to encourage him to talk to his parents again. Amazingly, he did. But his parents became even more angry so things just got more difficult. I couldn’t really do much but comfort him and give him scriptures of hope and faith. He really believes though, which gives me faith that he will get baptized sooner or later. Hopefully, we can get him to talk to just his mother because she seems to be more understanding. If we have atleast her support, I think that things will workout.

Well anyways, I can write for hours about our investigators but I’m far too lazy and I’d rather hear from you guys. So, whats the plans for Thanksgiving this year? Are you guys sending me a frozen turkey this year? haha jk. I’ll just have a slab of tuna or something instead. Oh and for MOM’S WEEKLY QUESTIONS that I always forget to answer. No, I don’t need a Pants Guard Band Device That Protects Pants from the Chain That Spins to Move One’s Bicycle. My bike has a chain guard so I think I’m fine.

Oh and this Sunday there was a return sister missionary that was visting our ward because of her cousins baptism or something that looked really familiar. I asked if we knew each other and she said she wasn’t sure. Later her parents came and I saw her mom staring at me...then all of a suddenly she yelled ’RIKI! RIKI!` and came scuffling towards me. Turns out her and her family lived in Provo about 6 years ago and eat dinner at our house once...or something like that. I forgot their name...I think it was Sakuma or something...but I`ll send you guys a picture. Anyways, the family’s dad worked at BYU for a year or something teaching math...and dad befriended him or something? I can`t remeber the details but the picture should be enough.

Well, I gotta go now. Things are going well over here in Okamachi. No worries about me dying or getting hit by cars. I is careful. The pictures I`m sending are in order: That one family I met, a huge Mcdonalds, and the city lights of the area we are dendoing.

Hope you guys are doing well! Be safe and don`t work too hard!

Love you guys,

Elder Saito

There are pictures but for some reason they won't upload on my computer so stand by, I'll get them up eventually.

11/1/10 Spanish Speaking???

Hey Mom and Dad!

Hey, hey, you, you, I don`t like your cat. How are you my famiry? Did you have a little get together AND eat sushi without me? That`s lame. But it`s okay though...because seafood is supahcheap over here! You can get 10 tarakos for about 800 yen and a huge fish for 500 in the super over here. Well, lately the weather has gotten pretty cold here. The temperature dropped significantly around Tuesday so we had to bust out our sweaters and Hitler overcoats. The day before yesterday there was a typhoon warning but nothing really happened. Yesterday, it rained quite a bit though but nothing too bad. I heard it gets pretty cold over here in Osaka so I shall prepare myself by eating and having my fat protect me throughout the winter.

So this week has been pretty hard...ish. As you may have known, Okamoto was supposed to be baptized this past Sunday...but unfortunately things got really complicated on the day before his interview. Well, we had one of our ward member doseki with us in the lesson. We figured out that he knew the doctrine picture perfectly but didn`t have a testimony of his own. The situation is so much more complicated but I feel that I shouldn`t go into detail. So I wont. But just know that things went up and down from there. As of now, I`ll just tell you whether or not he gets baptized. For this week, all we can do is show him that we love him and that this baptism is not for us but for his own well being. Well, if he doesn`t get baptized now at least he`ll be ready for the next time he has a chance to listen to the Gospel.

Other than that...this week has been pretty amazing. We`ve seen so many other little miracles! We were able to get two new yakusokushas throughout the week. Also, we got a new missionary who just transferred in named Elder Johnson. He`s a really awesome missionary who`s half Japanese and...well half rest of the world. He`s like Alisha...but a guy. He`s an amazing asset to the district and I think this transfer is going to be a success with him here. This week we also had a Prep Mission class that the stake and put on. I was set up with a threesome and we dendoed in Ibaraki. One of the members I worked with named Senba who was a return missionary from Sapporo and was an AP for 7 months of his mission. This guy is a stud! I`ve never seen someone have such dendo fire! While we were dendoing he literally talked to EVERYONE on the street. He even stopped people who were driving by on scooters! Absolutely fearless. I guess in Sapporo he was in a pretty inaka area so he would sprint to people if he saw them. He taught me a bunch of tips and shared inspirational mission stories. He taught me that we have a huge responsibility to spread the Gospel to everyone we can. We are responsible for everyone`s salvation who walks past us. I swear one day, I want to be as an amazing missionary as he is. After our mission prep class, he gave me one of his favorite ties and wrote on the back Love is Motion. It really is isn`t it? Love is not just going through the motions, but the action itself. After seeing his example, I keshinned to talk to everyone I can to fulfill my responsibility and purpose as a missionary.

Well, this week has been tuff but we`ve definitely been supahblessed. I`m not dead yet so now worries about me. Hope everything is going well back at home! Tell Rupert he should eat more beef jerky! Haha Peace!

Love,
Elder Saito


Well can I also onegai you to send me my spanish verb conjugation chart sheet, { I might be transferred to the Spanish speaking area says President. It should be in my desk or something} pictures of the family and me playing football to show ward members.

Elder Saito

10/25/10

Herro Mom and Dad,

HI! Um, unfortunately I don't have much time to write emails today. I spent most of my P-day making Navajo tacos and playing board games with the other Elders...but I shall hurry. But before I start, how are you guys? I see you guys went down to Las Vegas without me huh? It clearly looks like it wasn't fun at all. Probably because I wasn't there. I didn't know that they made a bridge near the Hoover Dam...hm well now I know and knowing is half the battle.

Ah there was so much that went on this week! First of all, I've now finished my first full transfer. Can you believe how fast time is going? I only have 16 transfers left! NO! Its such a awkward feeling. It feels like I've been in Japan forever but at the same time it feels like time is just slipping by. I need to work hard every moment of this mission and be sure I don't come home regreting anything. {Thats from Elder Holland's talk btw. I loved that talk too. Thanks Mom.} Well anyways, I had my second interview with the President this week. Turns out that he wants Elder Hinton and I to stay for another transfer in Okamachi. This will be Elder Hinton's last transfer before he heads back home to the states so were gonna tear it up over here. As for our yakusokusha, Okamoto, we've decided to move his baptism date to the 31st of October. He's such a stud though! He has progressed spiritually throught out the past month. This past week we were able to teach the Law of Tithing. I thought this would be the one commandment he would have the most problems with and I was kind of dreading to teach it. Elder Mclaws and I taught him the commandment on a kokan and surprisingly, he had no problems with it! He understood how tithing is a test of our faith rather then a sacrifice of our money. We've now set up this weeks schedule to meet with him too. We're planned to meet with him everyday until his baptism and his interview is on Thursday! Wish him luck! I'm so excited for him and I have faith that he can pull through. Its really amazing to see how the Spirit can change people. He seems a lot brighter now and smiles more often even if his life is pretty hard. He works a lot throughout the week at some bar type thing. His schedule really sucks and he doesn't get much sleep. His work starts at 10pm and goes till 7 am so its hard to get a hold of him at times. He's a still a stud though!

Well, my Pday is coming to an end. Sorry again that this email is short. There's a bunch more I'd like to tell you but I don't have much time left. I'll try to update you on the baptism next week! Hm yeah I still have that calculator watch. It serves me perfectly fine! haha Oh and thanks for the packages you guys! That extra food was awesome! Hope you guys are doing great back in Utah. Tell Pochi and Monty I miss them...but punch Rupert in the kidneys if he goes in my room at all.

Love, Elder Saito

gold mine of pictures 10/18/10

Oh Herro!

How are you my famiry? I`m happy to hear from you guys! It sounds like everything is going awesome over there in Utah. I finally got the package you sent to me during zone conference this Wednesday. Thank you so much! It was good to get letters and shtuff from all you guys. I can`t believe how slow the mail system is though. I`m getting letters from my kohai that they sent in the MTC two weeks ago. I think they`re already in Japan already though...but I`ll get around to writing them back sometime...sometime...someday. Well, good news is that I`m still alive. Surprisingly, I haven`t been hit by a car nor have I crashed on my bike yet...so it must mean I`m invincible. No worries about me! Oh and for Dad, if my lungs do somehow collapse I`ll be sure to take advantage of the ambulances here. I heard people call the ambulance if they get a papercut over here cause its so cheap.

Well, tell Akemichan thanks for the advice! Mostly all of my contacts have been from natural conversations that transition to religious conversations. Its also really funny when we do awkward contacts on purpose...Well anyways, its usually really easy to start talking about religion with people because they`re always wondering what in the world we`re doing in suits on a hot sunny day. Oh and tell Connie that she`s amazing.

For Selena and Ilikea...urge them to eat the chestnuts. I heard if you eat enough poisionous chestnuts they`re actually not poisionous and you grow a foot taller.

OMG! LOL! I can`t believe how fast time is flying by! I`m on my last week of my first transfer already. This past week has been pretty sweet though. We were only able to find a few new investigators contacting but we`ve had huge blessings this week. We were doing some bike dendo towards Hatori park when we came upon this awesome 19 year old college student named Furukawa. He seems really interested about the Gospel and trying to figure out what true happiness is. We found him on Saturday and gave him a BOM/invited him to church the next day. We couldn`t get contact information from him because he was too scared to give us his phonenumber...which is understandable when two random guys start talking to you on the street...but he said he would come to church. The next day we were waiting in front of the church for him and I was almost sure he wouldn`t come because we didn`t have contact info...but surprise! He showed up! AND he went through a lesson and all of church. He`s really an amazing guy. So young and so interested. We have a return appointment with him later this week so I hope everything goes well!

Rest of this week has been amazing too. We had zone conference this Wen and guess who I saw? Elder Burns and Elder Chappell [my old companion from the MTC] I was so happy to see them there! Turns out Elder Chappell finally flew in to Japan about two weeks ago. He`s the one who was quarantined and had to stay longer in the MTC. Funny thing is that he had to stay 3 weeks longer because he had an allergic reaction from the medication he took for his throat and got chicken pox. Ha! But I`m so glad he finally made it to Japan. Him and Elder Burns are doing great! Oh and I also saw Elder Richardson too! I tooketh pictures.

Well I`m running out of email time so quick overview of rest of the week. We met with Okamoto and he seems to be progressing pretty well. This last Saturday we had two lessons set at the same time so a member and I taught Okamoto. We talked about the role of Jesus Christ and Commandments and Okamaoto seemed to understand Christ`s purpose pretty well. I`m so happy that he`s progressing! He`s even reading and praying! but unfortunately I don`t know if he`s ready for baptism though...the zone leaders are still pushing for the 24th but I don`t think he`s spiritually ready for it. I don`t wanna force him to get baptized too early so I`m not too sure what to do...but we`re going to try and meet with him as much as we can for the next week though. Wish him luck! But I have faith that he can progress and prepare for the baptism.

Unfortunately we may have to drop Kawai san because he`s not keeping his commitments. He`s so busy that he doesn`t have time to read/pray or come to church. Its really sad because he`s interested but not willing to sacrifice 5 min to read. But its okay because he`ll be prepared when the next missionaries contact him when he has time. Next is Ishikawa. He`s a stud! We watched Testaments with the ward and him and he responded positively. We talked more about faith and he loved it! We`ll see how it goes!

Well I gotta go, I don`t have much time left! I hope everything is going supergood! Tell everyone I love them! Except Rupert. I`ll always hate him. Hopefully Dad rolls over him when he`s sleeping.

Love you guys!

Elder Saito

10/10/10

Herro Famiry!

I is happy to hear from you guys! Sounds like my pictures finally sent through that email though. I swear this computer I`m using is from the 1800`s. I can`t trust it with anything really. The guy I`m standing next to is Okamoto.

So things are good in Provo huh? Ryan`s finally turning in his papers? About time! Oh and tell them I was able to say hi to Emma over the phone. She accidentally called us because she thought we were the AP`s haha. Yeah but anyways I think I`ve lost a little weight here too. In the MTC we had food shoved in our mouths every fourish hours but in the field, our schedule is different. We dendo pretty hard and our area is pretty big too so its hard to find time to go back to our apartment and eat. We don`t really want to waste money eating out so dinner is usually a small meal that we eat at like 9:30. But hey, I still feel fine and genki. Plus I`m not here to impress anyone with muscles anyways. I want to buy a protein shake here just to maintain but it costs just about my right leg for a little bit of powder...sooo i`ll be ghetto and just eat eggs and milk all the time.

So this week was pretty long and tuff when it came to finding new investigators. Mainly because we didn`t have that much time to do finding because of General Conference and stuff. The first part of the week was definitely the hardest. We decided to go down near Osaka, the city, to do some city and mall dendo. The city we went to was called Shinosaka. Its actually a pretty big city with people running around all the time. It kinda reminds me of New York but smaller. Anyways, city people are cold as ice. Just about 80% of the people there were dressed in business attire. Black suits, suitcases and cellphones. Many of them are just running back and forth from their work and had literally no time at all just to stop and talk. Most of the people wouldn`t even acknowledge us when we said hello. Seeing people like this just reminds me of Elder Uchtdorf`s Saturday session talk. I KNOW WHAT YOU`RE THINKING! "Rex actually listened to Conference and now he`s gonna make a reference to it?!" I know right? Amazing. Maybe all of Japan will sink into the ocean now. Anyways yeah, Elder Uchtdorf`s talk about how just slowing down and going back to the basics in hard times can be the solution to most problems really hit me. Its so simple! Yet its so hard for people to abide by. I`ve caught myself during this week trying to use complicated contacting methods and stuff when we couldn`t find that many investigators. And for lo and behold, it didn`t work. Next week we`re gonna take things easy and go back to the basics for dendo.

Well, more news of the week. We were able to get another baptismal date with this guy named Kawai. He`s an owner of a dog grooming store named Shampoo Plus. Very sincere guy who works every day to support his family of four. He really likes how our church is family based and understands that his example is going to affect how his children will be raised. His date for baptism is set for the 30th of October but I actually think that it may take longer. He`s always so busy that its hard for him to read the BOM and praying to know is so foreign to him. But he seems to be progressing well.

What`s really bad is that we can`t get a hold of the boxer,Tomonaga! We haven`t seen or heard from him this past week. Hopefully he`s not dead!

Our other 約束しや　Okamato seems like he`s improving. We met with him yesterday with our bishop after watching conference. He told us that he didn`t feel comfortable getting baptized because of all the new commandments he`s learned. It really scared us when he said that but we were able to settle his woes when we explained that commandments are not rules but rather things to protect us. Then, we threw in the analogy of how commandments are like fences to protect us rather than limit us. (General Conference reference!! YEAH!) We then shared 1 Nephi 11:16-17. He then understood the importance of baptism and keeping the commandments and committed to try harder to become prepared. I`m so glad we got some of his doubts out of the way. Like you said, we don`t wanna baptized him if he doesn`t feel ready.

Anyways, life is good on this island. I think I`ll be just fine so no worries about me. Well I gotta go and do some missionary stuff now! Hope everything is going well at home. Mom and Dad, I know you guys are working hard but don`t forget to stay genki too! And you better be using that tredmill everyday Mom! Well tell Rupert that I hope a plane crashes into the house and only lands on him.

OK! Bye!
Love you guys,
Elder Saito

10/4/10

Mom and Dad,

Sounds like things are going good over there in Utah. I hope the family is doing AWEESOOMMMEE!!! This past week has been pretty eventful for me too! Well,we haven't seen general conference yet. I guess we're planning on watching it this upcoming week with all of the stake. I'm pretty excited actually, which is odd because I've never been excited for conference before. That's what happens when you're a missionary I guess. So lately its starting to cool down over here and rain quite a bit. That rain jacket you got me sure has helped through them rainy days. Thanks!

Well, are you ready for the awesome, fantastic, sweet news of the week?! We have a baptism planned for Octover 24th 2010!!! CCCHHHEEEAAA! His name is Okamoto Kazuma. He's this 19 year old guy we found streeting last week by some river near a part in Osaka. He's such a stud! We've already met with him 3 times and he's already come to church once and it hasn't even been a full week yet! In the very first lesson we committed him to read and pray if the Book of Mormon was true and we felt we might as well try to commit to baptism. When I asked him if he would get baptized, there was about a 30 second pause of silence. I thought I was gonna die! Those 30 sec felt like forever! Well after the pause he looked up at us and said that he's gonna try and prepare the best he can. I'm so happy for him! I have faith that he can make it as long as he tries his best reading and praying. The only problem is he works a lot and doesn't really know his schedule for the week very well. but as long as we can contact him I think he'll progress really well.

We actually have two other progressing investigators as well. The only problem is when we committed these two to baptism, they both had their own problems. One of the investigators is this stud named Ishikawa. He's one of the coolest 74 year old man I've ever met. His dad was in a concentration camp during WWII so him and his dad didn't meet till he was 11 years old. He really like the Book of Mormon but is determined to read it all before baptism. The only problem is that he just got out of the hospital two months ago and isn't in the best shape of his life. I mean last year he went to a Janice Kapp Perry concert and left in an ambulance. We're trying to explain to him that you don't have to read the whole thing or even understand it all to get baptized. But he seems to be determined. We're meeting with him again this week so we're gonna try to explain the Gift of the Holy Ghost and the importance of baptism in a bit more detail.

The other investigator is named Tomonaga. He's a 22 year old boxer who's parents died when he was 14. He doesn't have a strong belief in God because he feels that if there were to be one, he would have not let his parents die. BUT he seems to have responded really well to the Plan of Salvation. He wants to believe that he'll se his parents agian after he dies and it really gives him hope. He told us he would get baptized if he didn't have one problem. After his parents died, some members of the Sokagakai church took him in. He doesn't really like the church's teachings but likes the people in it. He told us if he were to get baptized, he'd feel as if he stabbed the people in their back. We told him to read and pray about it so he can figure out what to do. Both of these progressing investigators are really amazing people and I have faith that they can choose what will make them the most happiest.

Well, I need to go now. My P-day is almost over. Things are going well over here so no worries about me! Hope everything is going well over there! Tell Pochi and Monty I love them and throw Rupert down the stairs for me!

Love,

Elder Saito

9/27/10

Hey Mom and Dad,

Its good to hear from you guys again! I've decided not to send you guys airmail anymore and just stick with emails from now on because the stamp prices are ridiculous here! 120 yen for one! Well anyways everything is going well here. This past week has been pretty fun actually. Asahi bike store finally got my extra large bike in after a weekish so now I can actually get around places much faster. Our area is actually pretty huge, it takes about an hour to get from the top to the bottom with a bike. We still haven`t hit all there areas yet because we tend to stay on the train line that goes straight through the city because that`s where most of the people are during the day.
For dendoing this week, we were able to find about 10 new investigators streeting and housing but only a few the investigators are actually progressing and keeping the commitments. But... its okay because we can find so many more investigators this week! Everyday Elder Hinton and I are finding a bunch of people to talk to. The daily breakdown of the people we talk in a percentage is about: 70% not interested, 15% willing to listen, 5% willing to meet again and about 10% insane. I feel that the 10% of insane people is what spices up my day. Haha I love talking to crazy people! But I love teaching lessons more! New investigators are always great and progressing investigators are even better. Well other than that, every week we have free English classes where a bunch of people come. Teaching them English is so much fun! A lot of them are actually pretty good at English as well. We meet a bunch of potential investigators there too.
Oh snap! I didn`t know Sister Mcyntire and Emiko san (my mother-in-law) knew each other! I seriously can`t believe how small the world is though. Turns out this one couple in my ward is one of my friend`s parents! His name is Koji Takagai and he used to live in Heritage Halls with me. He told me that he used to live in Kobe and told Pres Mcyntire that I was coming to. But who would have known I`d be his parent`s ward missionary in Okamachi! AANNNNDDD one of the sister`s in my area used to be companions with Emma too. I still haven`t seen Emma though, maybe at zone meeting!
Well anyways, I`m lovin the good old dendo! Its so much fun meeting a bunch of new and interesting people. I love teaching people when I get the chance too. Elder Hinton and I are gonna rebuild this area! I`m trying my hardest to be a more effective missionary everyday too! Sank juu berry much for all the advice mom. I`ll try to avoid running over homeless people with my bike from now own. Because you know, I loved doing that all the time. Well I love all of you! Except Rupert. I still hate you. Be safe family, I`ll talk to you next week!

Love ya,
Elder Saito


Note: To those of you who didn't understand the "running over homeless people part"-my mom has a guy in one of her classes that had to come home from his mission because he got seriously injured after hitting a homeless man on his bike and flying out onto the sidewalk.

9/19/10

Hey Dad and Mom,

Things are going really well here! I was moved to Okamachi area in Osaka after the dendobu and I'm living in an apartment with 3 other elders. My companion's name is Elder Hinton. He's actually a really good guy and hard worker from Oregon and we get along well. The place I'm in is a relatively large city and there are a lot of people to talk to here! It's kinda hard because we're the first elders in this area in a while so we techinically have no investigators to really work with...but it's okay because we found 6 new investigators dendoing in the part 3 days! I'm not gonna lie, denoing is sometimes hard. There are some people in Japan who are so cold hearted and hard headed but at the same time there are a bunch of people who are willing to listen. Probably one of the hardest instances was when we were housing and met a really awesome kid who was pretty interesed in our message. We gave him a BOM and committed him to read and pray and he accepted it. When we were walking away from his house his dad came running to us and gave us back the BOM. The dad was really nice though but it was still hard to take back the book. Other than the hard instances I feel like dendoing in this city goes really well. There are a lot of people who will listen to you if you just strike up a natural conversation. I'm starting to feel a lot more confident in my Japanese so I have no problem contacting now.

So anyways, I tried buying a bike last week but turns out they had to special order a bike for me because I was too big for any of them in the store. Hopefully I get that bike by the end of this week. Bike dendo would be a lot more easier because we can cover more space in less time. Walking around the same area all the time sometimes get a bit hard at times...

I gotta go now but I hope everything is going well back at home! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! I'll try to send you a letter by tomorrow but it'll take about a week to get there.

Love you guys! Except Rupert. I hate you,

Elder Saito

NEWS

We just found out through some connections (aka mother-in-law via further connections with mission president's wife) that Rex is in Okamachi. It's some city close to Osaka. COOL!!!

Email

Hey Mom!

The first day in Japan has gone pretty well. Today the weather is a bit cloudy and it actually feels pretty good. Its not as humid here as I thought it would be though. So yesterday all my plane rides were okay. And it turns out I didn't have to pay extra money for taking another carry on for JAL.LUCKY! JAL planes are so amazing though! they look as if they were straight out from a space craft. Anyways we arrived in Osaka around 8ish Tuesday night? President Mcyntire was there to pick us up with a bunch of vans. He's a really cool guy too! But we came to the mission home around 9 or 10ish. I was crazy tired because I'd been up for a while too. But we just ate a small dinner then went to the apartments that are right behind the church and slept. I slept like a baby! I haven't slept that good in a while.

Anyways in the morning we ! went on with personal studies and stuff until breakfast. After a little bit of orientation Pres Mcyntire took us out to a buffet. It was a really good all you can eat place with okura and stuff! It was a lot of fun. After we went for our first dendoing. I'll be honest, it was pretty scary at first. My trainer just let me go throughout the streets and stuff. But I remembered what you said and just smiled and said hello to everyone. I was able to hand out 5 pass along cards and two Book of Mormons. It was actually really really fun and I liked it a lot! Then after dendoing we went by this beautiful little Jin-ja. I wanna buy an omamori sometime! Anyways, now I'm here waiting in the mission home to get my first interview with the President. I'll be here till Thursday then be moved out so I probably won't be able to write anyone for a little bit longer.

Thanks mom! tell everyone I say hi! and tell Rupert I hope a door falls on him.

Bye,
Elder Saito

Rex and his first companion.

Rex and the mission president/ mission president's wife.

Some Pictures...finally!

Rex leaves for Japan tomorrow!

LINK

Apparently, my camera takes such high-quality videos that no uploader can handle them. Fortunately, youtube was able to upload it but made the quality all crappy and such...along with the fact that it took an hour to upload.

So please, enjoy. I'm sorry that the quality sucks. Youtube says that the quality may improve once they've finished processing it so who knows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCKtuQUm280

9/7/10

Blame my Dad for scanning pictures as a pdf. I can't upload the pictures...so standby...I WILL upload them someday.

Mom and Dad,

Hey how are you guys? The MTC is great. I love it so much here. I love all the people here! Oh and guess what? I leave to Japan on Sept. 13, next Monday! I can't believe how quickly time goes by. It's kinda a bittersweet feeling though. I'm so excited to finally (Rex spelled this: finalle...well, I guess speaking Japanese is what will be important for him for these next 2 years) get out into the field but at the same time I'm gonna miss everyone from the MTC. My friends and I have a fantastic plan when I get back though. They're planning to transfer to BYU and we're gonna try and room together in some dinky house. It's gonna be amazing if it works out! And we have this plan to make a biker gang. we're gonna call it "同性愛" (this means "gay" by the way)! haha and I do know what it means...but we are in Provo! They'll think it just says something awesome in kanji! We're all gonna buy Honda Nighthawks and shadow motorcycles and take a Utah temples tour with them. I'm so excited! I hope it works though!

So next Monday I'll be on a plane straight to Narita, Tokyo! So by next week my address will change. I think Japan is gonna be amazing! I'm probably gonna freak out when I get off the plane and realize what I got myself into though. haha I wonder how it's gonna be over the in Kobe?

How's Rupert? Has the ceiling fan fallen on him yet like I prayed for?

So guess what. I was teaching a lady at the TRC who was from Provo. She was half Okinawan and from Hawaii. I asked her if she knew the Arakaki's and surprise! She did.

Well I need to go now. So I probably won't be able to write back for a while or until I get settled in Japan. I'll try not to die on the plane or anything.


*Rex will be leaving this coming Monday! I will make it my goal to post up pictures before we get a letter from him when he gets to Japan.

Letter!!!

This post is Rex's first, official letter! We received it on August 17, 2010.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for the package and the rain gear! It's good to hear from you guys. So I see you guys enjoyed Las Vegas without me? Well the MTC is awesome. Everyone here is pretty awesome and works real hard. My companion's name is Elder Chappell, he's a really great guy from Idaho and we get along really well. But here it comes Mom, I know you're gonna say "I told you so" but I already know. I entered the MTC super unprepared. Everyone here is already up to date with the latest doctrine terms and know how to write in hiragana at least. I regret not listening to Mom's constant threats on how bad I suck and will suck at Japanese in the MTC. But, I'm slowly catching up by cramming all the vocab into my head. I've even learned how to (kind of) wrtie in hiragana.

The MTC is pretty tough. My first full day I had to teach lesson 1 in the TRC. Surprisingly I did decent but it was still an interesting experience. My district is pretty cool buy I've actually made more friends in other districts. There are a bunch of half Japanese elders and one from Finland that I get along with really well. We all can talk about old Japanese TV shows or movies. For example, yesterday, on the piano, one of the Elders had sheet music to Tottoro and Mononoke. We all were singing to it and it was an awesome time.

I love the teachers here too. All of them have a good sense of humor and teach very well. I've learned a lot from them the past few days. I see Elder Burns almost everyday because he lives in the same dorm area as me. He's a really cool kid. It's a shame we couldn't be in the same district. I took a few pictures with him and my friends in front of the temple but I'm not too sure on how to send them. I'll try and figure out during today's P-day time. The MTC is great buy I can't wait to experience the actual thing in Japan. I feel comfortable speaking with the natives. But I only get that chance when I'm in the TRC or with the half-Japanese. Pretty much everyone in my district is hakujin (white).

Well I need to go and do my laundry. Tell Rupert that I hate him and I hope he gets so fat that he can't move anymore. Once again thanks for the package and everything you have/ will do for me.

Love ya guys,

Rex Saito

beginning cont...

okay here are pictures from today!

well, from here on out, the success of my blog will depend on how frequently Rex actually decides to write us. Hopefully he still remembers my parents address. Actually, I don't think he even has Richard and I's address...shoot. I guess I'll have to write him first.

I've been trying to upload a video but it tried to load for 15 min with no success. Maybe someday it'll work.