August 9, 2009 We received Grady's third email from Japan tonight. Wow--we sure love checking the computer on Sunday evenings! Lenzi found it this week and it was a couple of hours earlier than it has been. As usual, he sounds great and we all ended up shedding a few tears as we finished reading his letter. Last week we got Grady's email right before Rudy went over to Davis' to get ready for his 4 AM departure for the river. When he came home this week he told me that it killed him reading Grady's letter right before he left. Lenzi informed me this week that we need to take down the pictures of Grady on the fridge because every time she looks at them, she starts to cry. (I didn't take them down!) I know we're all missing him a lot, but we're all really enjoying hearing from him and we are all so happy because he is so happy. Here's his letter from this week:
Hey family! I liked your emails again this week. I'll answer the questions first. Anybody can email me but I can only email family. The language is coming. I definitely can't understand what people are saying but I am improving. I can only pick out vocab and some phrases in the sentence. It is hard because I actually know alot more than what I hear. The other day a sister that knows English was talking to me in Japanese. She said a sentence and I didn't recognize one word. I had her say it slower and I knew every word and phrase. I really just can't understand because I can't hear the prununciation. It will come if I work hard though. Last sunday was a little rough because of the food. I had lunch and dinner at members' houses. At both places I had soumen. It is cold noodles in this watery sauce. It really isn't too bad but I ate a ton of it at lunch because it was fast sunday. Then I barely made it through the dinner apt. Along with the noodles I had this chicken stuff which wasn't too bad. The meat here is a little rough. They don't cut off the fat so everyone just eats it. I can't cut off the fat because I only have chop sticks. I am kind of stuck. It is allright though. I am actually losing weight. I have probably lost 3 to 5 pounds. I was even below 160 for the first time in a long time. They weigh in kilos here. I only eat breakfast and Lunch. The Lord is really blessing me with strength and health. I don't really get hungry and when I eat I can't eat very much. I like it because it is more time to go dendoing (finding new investigators by walking and talking to everyone.) And I haven't gotten the package yet. Maybe today. I hope it wasn't too much. If it is too much just tell me. I can survive without peanut butter and shaving cream. O and before I forget I need another white temple tie. I think I accidentally donated mine to the Provo temple. O and dad I haven't noticed my legs getting bigger yet. I ride my bike a lot. My favorite place to dendo is called Namba. It is like 20 to 30 minutes away on a bike. It usually takes us like 2to 3 hrs though because we stop people on the way. Riding bikes is way fun. People probably think me and Elder Harris are crazy because we talk to and say hi to everyone. I mean everyone. It is really fun. You can really tell that a simple Konnichiwa brightens peoples' days. The other day I saw something that was pretty inspiring. A lot of the moms here don't have cars so they carry their babies on the bikes. It is really common. I saw this one women with three little babies on her bike. She was really happy but I could tell her life was pretty hard. The other day we were at a buffet and a woman was struggling to get her food. Her hands were deformed and it was very tough for her. I helped her out and left. Once I sat down I had a strong prompting to go back, so I did. She needed help with her drinks so I helped again and took her and her daughters food and drinks to her table for her. Her daughter was about 9 or so. She was really cute. I told her about why I was in Japan and about the free English class I teach. She was very happy and I hope I see her again. I kind of broke down in the restaurant because of how blessed I am and how much I really can help others. I made a goal to follow every prompting but I messed up the other night. We were late getting home because we were teaching this British guy. We started riding home and I saw this young college aged kid. We pretty much only contact the younger generation because they think more openly. I had a prompting to stop and talk to him. It was past curfew, very busy with lots of people around him and Elder Harris was pretty far away so I decided to not stop. It hit me again to turn back after I was pretty far away but I still went on. I felt awful afterward and I was beating myself up the whole way home. I know the Holy Ghost prompts us for good reasons. I really messed up and I hope I don't do that again. Peoples' salvation really does depend on my decisions. This is frightening but I know the Lord provides a way. Time is flying! I can't believe that I have been here for almost a month. Time really is going fast. I really am busy all day and I don't really have anytime to rest. I don't see how someone could waste time because this really is the Lord's time. It sounds like everyone is having a good time. I am kind of sad about the car business but I am sure it is the right decision. Give me some details about the new business thing. I want to know. O and dad they have lots of diesel Land Cruisers here. They are pretty sweet. It is cool that Olivia and Rudy have both had good experiences this summer. Well this email is pretty long. sry. It was good to hear from you guys. I guess until next week. Love you
Elder Harris and Elder Bowman and a couple of monkeys!!
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