Week 38

Greetings,

The main thing to happen this week was definitely the arrival of facebook to our mission. We are very excited but have no idea what we're doing or how we should be doing it. So it will be a good learning experience to figure out how to reach people through Facebook. But as far as I can tell I'm allowed to be friends with whoever wants to be friends with me, so I will welcome all new friend requests. I think my name on Facebook is just "Ben Mitchell". :)

The other thing to happen recently is district P-day which took up all of my email time today. We went bowling and then walked through the American stores that they have on the military base. I happened to do very well at bowling and scored a monstrous 120 points. The nicknames on the Elder board are courtesy of the blonde one, Elder Fowler. He's a pretty funny guy...

Hope you all have a great week,
Elder Mitchell

Week 37

Hello World,

Not a whole lot to say this week other than the fact that I'm still alive and mostly healthly. Also this transfer is going by really fast. I'm four weeks in and still feel like I just got here.

Other than that there's the fact that I was able to ride the bullet train this week. It didn't disappoint and delivered speeds comparable to those that I reached on the track in high school. Or even to the ones that I reached in the baby truck when I was late to early morning seminary. :) While I was transferring here, the bus ride from Morioka to Hachinohe was a little over two hours. On the bullet train the same trip was only 27 minutes. That was pretty cool.

There is also some uncertainty about what next transfer will bring. 17 new Elders are coming in and so I'll almost definitely receive a new companion and possibly another new area. Crazy stuff.

No pictures this week.  Sorry.

Have a great week,
Elder Mitchell

Pictures from the latest zone conference (acquired from the mission Facebook page)

Week 36

Brothers and Sisters,

This week went really fast. I feel like it was just yesterday that I waited 2 1/2 hours for an argument that cost me $10 and a bad haircut. But it was actually last Tuesday. It's crazy how that happens.

Since my last email we had a zone conference during which we learned that Facebook would be coming to our mission. It was funny to hear it from our mission president, because he seemed to have no idea that our mission was even being considered as a Facebook mission until he got a letter from church headquarters somewhere. It probably won't change my day-to-day life very soon, but it will be interesting to see how all of that plays out.

I also learned that for a mission conference we'll be having next week I'm supposed to say a prayer (fortunately they asked me this time. Usually I just show up and see my name on the program) and I get to ride there on a bullet train. So I will be arriving in style. :) I'm really excited because I haven't been on a bullet train yet, and it should be a pretty cool experience.

We also had an old investigator of this area call us and say that he wanted to talk. It was funny because my companion is the one who talked with him on the phone, but he thought that the guy sounded like a lady, so we both went to the church expecting to meet an old lady. When we got there, we were both quite surprised to find that it was actually an old man.

Our referral from the branch president's wife is progressing, but she's worried that she won't be ready by the date that we helped her set. So we might have to push her baptism back a couple weeks. She seems to be pretty golden though. She asks good questions and really wants to understand everything that we tell her.

That's all for today.  Sorry I don't have any new pictures this week.

Have a great week,
Elder Mitchell

Week 35

Greetings,

I am writing to you from the inside of a rather questionable-looking haircut shop about three minutes from our apartment. We are currently next in line, but all four seats are currently occupied by old women. Hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer...

Something interesting that happened this week was on our way back from a dinner appointment we saw a car on it's side. It looked like there were three cars involved and I'm not sure exactly what happened (it was a really low traffic evening on dry roads with a speed limit of probably about 30 mph), but the individuals involved seemed to be doing fine. It was recent enough though that the cops from around the corner hadn't showed up yet.

I'm converted to the idea of getting a motorcycle when I get back.

I was also complimented for being muscular this week by a 15 year old Japanese high school boy.

And finally, this Sunday my companion and I had the opportunity to teach a referral from our branch President's wife. This was the first time that I was able to meet her because last week she wasn't able to make it to the church. But the reason I bring it up is because we extended a baptismal invitation and she accepted it! We're really excited to continue meeting with her and seeing her progress in the gospel.

Have a great week,
Elder Mitchell

Two pictures:
One before I wrote this email
And one after :)
Still patiently waiting in the haircut shop...