Week 98

Hello family,

Have I not said anything about my area/zone? I've been here for like a month. Shoot. It's the same zone as I was in last transfer. It's called the Morioka zone. It used to be one of the biggest but this transfer became the smallest. We only have like 20 people in it and three zones. But we've also been getting some of the highest numbers in the mission which is pretty cool. I like to think it's mostly because I'm one of the zone leaders. :) Akita is pretty good. The members are very supportive of the missionaries and it's a pretty big branch. Last week we had 51 people at sacrament meeting.

A week or two ago we got a baptismal date with a dude named Toma. I don't remember if he made it into an email. It got dropped pretty fast. He hadn't been keeping commitments quite like we wanted him to, but we felt like we could go for a baptismal date anyway. It was kind of a sink or swim thing I guess. We had tried other ways to get him to read and pray, but we thought that he might have a bit more motivation to do it if he had a baptismal date goal to work towards. He had clearly thought about it a lot but ultimately decided that he wasn't quite ready. He thought that he'd have to reject lots of Asian culture. And he would have to a little bit.

We are meeting with a dude named Yuki. He's super smart and seems to enjoy meeting with us and talking about stuff like prophets and the plan of salvation. :) Those are the two things we talked about last week. He's one of my favorite people. He has been to church three times and reads the things that we ask him to. We're supposed to meet him tomorrow too.

I've seen a few different people changing to winter tires in the last week or so. I'm a little bit worried about that. I've made it this far without buying snow boots and I'm not planning on buying any for just a few weeks either. I'll probably survive.

I forgot to say that I did a fitness test for myself this morning. I only did one thing and it was 60 seconds of push-ups. I got 47.5. I rounded it up to 48 though since I had to start my timer and then go. It probably cost me at least 3/4 of a push-up. Probably. :) I also weigh 167 right now. I was about 162 for a little while but then I had three companions in a row that all eat a lot. Elder Warner, Elder Bunderson, and Elder Richardson. It wasn't good for my slim figure. I've been dropping a little bit though lately with Elders Dickerson and Davis. They don't eat a whole lot. Maybe by the time I go home I'll be 150 again. Or maybe 135 like my drivers license thinks I am. :) Speaking of which I think that thing expires the April after I get back.

I love you all the most,
BeN