Michael's Good Experience: Transfer 16... 最後...

Dear Family,

Well hello everyone. Is it weird that 5 Sundays from now I'll be standing up in the North Tapps Ward giving my homecoming talk? It sure is for me. I just had to plan out my last 5 pdays. Then every day is pday. Mom sent me my travel plans today... I have a full day on Friday. There is just so much returning home stuff now it’s crazy! It never felt like I'd make it here. I feel like I've literally spent no time here in Japan and now I'm already getting ready to peace out and head home. Crazy Stuff. I'm still having a good time though, lots of lessons, lots of dendo, and lots of cool experiences.

Random funny story, so Sister Brady (the one who broke her elbow) headed home after our Mission Leadership Council Meeting with President Warnick, so her companion Sister Bybee doesn't have a companion. Generally she is just going with the Sisters in the nearby areas but she ran into a real difficult situation when all the sisters in the mission basically had lessons at the same time, so guess who became her companion! Elder Dunn and I did! Now I can say that I've been companions with a Sister. lol

A huge miracle happened this week though, the sisters had a baptism and I was able to have my recent convert (Kato Kyoudai) come up and go to it with us. He's been a member for a couple months now and he's still going strong, and it was great to see the ways that the gospel has helped him out, he really has changed so much and I love him so much more every time i see him. He even brought me some more pottery! So I'll have a lot of random pottery when i get home...

Also another huge miracle was that the 5 missionaries in Kamiooka had 8 people total in church this last Sunday! We had 2, the Kamiooka sister had 3 and the other elders had 3. It was awesome! You could tell the ward was surprised and couldn’t figure out what to do with themselves. It was an awesome way to send Elder Hilton out as he leaves this Thursday and it was just cool to watch from our perspective as well.

As far as our investigators go we still have contact with just about everyone but July is just a busy busy time it seems. We have had at least 3 investigators tell us that they want to meet and want to continue learning but they can’t meet until august. Some of them have tests, some of them have to learn English for work, and others are just crammed with school and work. So we haven’t really been able to meet them too much, however one investigator that we found 2 weeks ago (Sato san) has been doing really well. We met him 4 times between Wednesday and Sunday. He really loves being around us and is slowly accepting and applying the gospel in his life. He's a little weird but he's fun. Keeps our life interesting. This last week we had a lesson in the park in the blazing sun and heat. So partway through the lesson he told us that since we are squinting so bad we should wear his hat and sunglasses. So we taught a lesson in a fedora and a pair of enormous sunglasses which gave him a good laugh and also helped us become better friends. During that lesson we invited him to be baptized on July 30th but he was saying how it might be a little fast and he wants a few days to think about it, so you'll find out next week what’s going to happen there! I think he will get baptized on that day.

Also we had transfer calls on Saturday and I’ll be finishing up here in Kamiooka with Elder Dunn as my companion. Woo! Finishing as a Zone Leader will be way intense! However, as busy as I am, it sounds like everyone had a great time up camping and really got to relax. I was reading my email about the trip from mom yesterday and Sato kept commenting on the pictures that everyone is sleeping! its true, Everyone got to take a lot of nice naps! I'm bummed that I don’t get to go up there and go camping but I'm excited for next year! Way to go mom on the .44 magnum! さすが！ Strangely enough I gave a fly fishing analogy at Mission Leadership Council this past Thursday probably as dad was fishing! That Brown looks delicious! Too bad about the shoes though! Also, that picture of grandma was great, she looks so comfy! I miss the hammock so i might just have to abscond with that when i visit grandma sometime....

Well I hope that everyone has a great day today and a great week! I'll probably be going to a place called Kamakura next week so if you want any souvenirs that would be the time for me to buy them, that and the Narita airport. So let me know!! I love all of you and I know that the lord is watching over us and protecting us and guiding us always!

Elder Gailey

Making Watermelon Helmets!