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.