Anyways, life is great here in Iwamizawa! It has rained on and off for the past few days, but it doesn't affect our missionary work too much because we mostly just house. Iwamizawa has about the same population as Spanish Fork, but is a lot more spread out. Plus there are a few nearby towns (Bibai and Misawa) that are also part of our area. My companion has never been to the faraway places, so we may try getting out there before it snows and becomes impossible to get there on bike.
My companion (Elder Thurber) and I get along really well. It is fun to talk about the MTC and BYU and all of the missionaries that we both know (we were in the MTC together for 5 weeks). He is a good missionary, and I feel that he is a better teacher than me. Since he knows the area well and I don't, he has sort of assumed the role of senior for the time being. But we are very united and work together well. Since neither of us has stellar Japanese, we are struggling and growing together.
Iwamizawa is a small branch of about 25 active members, but it used to be quite a bit bigger. In fact, there used to be 4 elders and 2 sisters in this area, but now it is just 2 elders. In the past 10 years or so, everything seems to have declined: members, activity, and baptisms. There hasn't been a baptism in Iwamizawa for over 3 years now, but we are pretty sure that we can see a baptism or two this transfer (and three if we are really blessed). There are a few good investigators here, so we have a pretty good base to work from.
Even though the branch is small, the members are all way good. The missionary fruit basket each week is way good! It is probably the best in the mission. Every week we get eggs, milk, bread, fruit, more fruit, vegetables, and more (lots of good stuff), all from a few members of the branch! They really love the missionaries, and I am pretty sure that this will be one of my favorite areas of my mission. So Mom, I am eating my fruits and veggies.
I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and was easily able to fill up over 10 minutes. Speaking in Japanese makes my talks go a lot longer. But even though I have no problem filling up 10 minutes with a talk, I still don't think that my talks are any better than before my mission. Maybe they are, I can't tell.
