Our Man in Japan

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are going well here in Japan still. But I`ve already said that before. Things out of the ordinary include cockroaches and bike problems (Well that one`s not so out of the ordinary). Up to this point in my mission I`ve had the pleasure of not dealing with or worrying about cockroaches. Unfortunately on Wednesday night we found 2 nice big cockroaches in our study room. One of them was placed under a cup with a little bit of dish soap (I guess that kills them) the other made a nice run for it through the apartment stopping to hide behind stuff like the shoe rack, as if that would stop us. We pulled all the shoes out and made a nice mess of the entry before forcing it out from behind the shoe rack. Unfortunately it managed to dart into our bedroom. It made it under the bed momentarily before being pulled out by a hanger or cardboard tube. It too met the same dreary fate underneath a cup with a little detergent. We`ll probably go out and buy some cockroach hotels/traps today, they`re only 5 for $1 I think.

The bike issue started Wednesday night when my bike suddenly got a punc while we were riding by a train station. It was raining that day. We ended up walking the 45+ minutes back to the apartment just in time to plan for the next day and get ready for bed. The next morning I quickly patched the tube but the tire (The rubber outer part) had gotten ruined by rubbing up against another part of my bike on the way home. There was another old tire on the balcony that I used instead. It was a little iffy looking but I didn`t want to buy a new tire $25-$45. On Saturday I decided the tire was a little too iffy and that I should get a new one. Unfortunately the bike shops didn`t have a cheap one in stock of the correct size so I figured I`d wait until Monday. Well Sunday morning on the way to church the tube got a punc again. The old tire hadn`t been able to handle another day apparently. This morning I ran to a member`s apartment with another missionary in order to borrow an old missionary`s bike. On Friday the other missionaries in my apartment are going to the Mission Office and will pick up a spare used tire from there hopefully. Until then I should be fine.

I don`t tell you these things because I`m depressed or anything but simply because I can`t think of much else to write you other than we did missionary work last week.The picture is out of one of my two grammar books that I try to study from daily. I pick one grammar out of the book a day, study it in the morning and try to use it throughout the day. Dokoroka is the grammar I`m working on today.

Oh yeah. I didn`t transfer and neither did my companion so we`ll be together until mid-July when he goes home. I imagine I`ll still be in this area until September but I`m not sure.

Well take care and good luck.

Sincerely,

Elder Andrew West.