I’ve been really bad posting the recent emails from Todd. A lot of the ones he has sent have had personal family stuff in them so I didn’t post them. Here is his most recent letter sent 10-26-09

How are we all doing?! Happy birthday to Cambree coming up here soon. I hope she misses me and talks alot about me on Halloween. I remember looking at the Blog last year and saw how cool Jeffrey looked in his cowboy attire and then upon further searching, I found that he had a 5 o’clock shadow on. I knew at that moment, that he was bound to be the coolest kid ever.

My nihongo is coming along well. I get frustrated sometimes because of the inability to speak. But then I just need to remember that I have only been in Japan for less than 5months. Take a breath and then catch words and try to memorize them.  Language is hard. But it’s also a whole lot of fun when I am able to knock something off and understand and speak back. I have been teaching mogi lessons and am almost done with my passoff list. One more lesson then I will have completed my program. I feel confident enough to stop someone and have a good conversation about life and the gospel if there is interest.

We still have no investigators. Which is a bummer, E. Lamb is frustrated that we haven’t taught any lessons since our 1st week together. It bums me out sure, but the fact that we are doing our best is good enough for me right now. I’m in Japan trying to talk to people. That’s what my job description is. The rest is all a bonus. So I’m ok with the lack of progress on other peoples behalf right now.
We do some housing contacting but so far we haven’t had anything pay off. We did have a few people come to Eikaiwa which was alot of fun. Eikaiwa here in Senzokuike is a blast. I really enjoy it.

My english speaking and writing skills are failing. It’s funny, It’s a good thing. I enjoy it that it’s losing skill. That means that my nihongo is gaining skill level…hopefully!

This past week was good. We did some service at a nursing home again, changing sheets. We put on scrubs, hats, and face masks. All just for changing sheets. Pretty legit.

It rained way hard yesterday. We had a hurrican come in. The weather is cold!!!! So cold. Our apt. is cold too. Time to break out the heaters. I am looking forward to the chilly weather though. It’ll be nice.

E. Lamb and I taught seminary last wednesday. It was a good experience. 7 kids came and we spoke about faith in Christ and how faith needs to be exercised, not just a one time development.

This week, we went to Saitama to help out with Japan Boy Scouts. We gave candy out to kids who dressed up and talked about America and England. We played duck duck goose and I almost ripped my pants. It was a lot of fun.

We had dinner with Bro. Clark. He moved into the english ward a few weeks ago. His Japanese is solid! The other elders had a chinese investigator, Lee, come. It was great, we were all able to talk about gospel and life and enjoy a good dinner.

That’s pretty much the news and updates for the week. All good news. Slow moving week, but it’s all good. Another week gone and another week of opportunity ahead.

Thanks for all the love and support. Thanks to you all my family. Keep working hard, progressing well, and improving yourself.
Love,
-Toddly