Did'ja know I'm an Ozzie?

At least, my Japanese companion thought I was!

Howzit going, kazoku? What's happening? You all still alive? Good shtufts!

Weekly questions time!

What's my new area like?
Right now it's cold. It's snowed 3 times this year and this last time
it packed up hard. My companion is from Hokkaido, just under Sapporo
and just right of Russia, so close to the coldest bike-using mission
on earth, and even he said that it's been a lot of snow. My entire
body was killing me for the past 3 days 'cuz the most effective
missionary work is shoveling sidewalks and driveways with people, so
we did that for about 12 hours over two days. Ouch. It still hurts,
but it's bearable now.

How was my first P-day here?
It was sweet. You know how I went to the temple last week? I went
again his week 'cuz it's a different zone. It was weird going again so
soon...

Have I thought "It's cool that I can speak with Japanese people now
that I know Japanese!"?
Mmmm nah not really. It's cool and all, but I don't really think about
shtufts like that. It's like, you learn someone's behaviors, or their
likes and dislikes, and you can communicate with them better. Japanese
is just a way to communicate better with them. Actually, today I
talked for about half an hour with a Japanese kid on a train who
didn't speak English at all, but I used only English and occasionally
translated a word or two that I said.

What's my favorite Japanese dessert?
Meh, japan is a bit lacking in the dessert department. Things look way
good, but nothing is very sweet. There is decent ice cream in places,
but not much.

I've been to the temple 3 times in the last two weeks, first because
we had temple p-day the last week of the transfer, yesterday because
this zone does it the first week of the transfer, and today because
the spirit made my companion and I hardcore forget my wallet. It was
intense. I still can't remember, and my companion remembers seeing it
and thinking of grabbing it, but then forgot while looking at it, so
we went again today.

Random Story Time!
So in Kunitachi when I was with Elder Stevens, who had been in this
area two transfers ago, he told me about this ward's crazy English
class coordinator, who basically told missionaries not to mention
church in English class, no prayers, no game at the end, and basically
kicked out all of the younger students. The last part I know nothing
about, other than Elder Otsuka uses a word that's as close as Japanese
gets to the F word when I asked him about it. So anyways, I decided to
fix the English class while I was here.
Tonight was English class and I fixed it! We did announcements, we
invited people to church, we had the children's class play a game with
the adult class, and we got everyone way awesomely involved and
excited!
Our coordinator was like, "Mmm, we shouldn't put kids with adults 'cuz
there's all this culture-y shtufts and shtufts..." And I was like,
"Man, you don' know wha'chu talkin' 'bout!" And we combined it. And it
was awesome. And after the coordinator was all like, "Man, yo'awesome!
So yeah, I make Japanese people talk like black people. Not really,
but you catch my drift.

Loves to you all, and to all a good night!
Younger Elder Brooksby