Week 22

Hello, My name is Elder Keith and I am serving in an area called Tama, in Japan. 

Japan, the land where very few things change over time.  It is not uncommon for me to see grown men playing pokemon on their nintendo ds's while we ride on trains.  if there's not vending machines every 50ft then you have left japan.  it takes a while for you to get used to the "irashaimase!!!" that almost gets yelled at you every time you enter a store.  There are fads here but the fads are the same  as they were 20 years ago.  pokemon, hellokitty, anything old that came from japan is still popular.  no joke.  as a result of that, contrary to what many of you were probably hoping, the odds are that i am not going to grow up while i am here.  sorry to dash your hopes.  and in this society it is still perfectly acceptable, even normal to see 19-20 year old girls dress up like princess (and some go all out) and go about their day.  My companion (who goes home on monday) and i get a chuckle every time we see one. 

so last week i got to go and hear elder holland speak to all us missionaries.  i also got to shake his hand!!!!  it was so cool.  You can definitely feel the testimony that he radiates.  the second cool thing was that i got to spend a day with a japanese missionary.  what an experience.  and the final event that happened was that, today, i got to go to the tokyo temple.  It was magnificent.  And unfortunately my time for the week is up.  love you all.  take care.

気をつけてね。愛しています。しつもんがあれば、どうぞうたずねて下さい。

私は神様の宣教師です。　がんばって下さい。

キース長老

Elder Keith