Hey mom and dad,

well this week as definitely a better week. We all have trials and when we rely on the lord we will recieve the help we need to continue. We were kind of busy this week with a lot of things. We vistited a lot of less active members. We had some lessons with investigators and we found 2 new investigators too. Of course not everything this week was good but it is getting way better. Little by little I am strating to change and the lord is giving me blessings.

I can see how good my japanese is now and how lazy I have gotten when it comes to study. Becasue I can get around I kind of loose the need to study really hard. I am also at a dificult spot because I have learned all the basic stuff so now I have to move on to the tedious stuff which I like but every moring it seems hard to study. but I feel comfortable with my japanese.

One of our investigators speaks fluent british english. She is way nice and has no religion. She is not against religion but she does like to rely on others. We talked for a long time and she actually realized that whenever she was in hard situation that she didnt go through it alone. She always had help. She thought alot about that. I told her that is a blessing from god and god helps us through many ways. I dont know how interested she is in the gospel but I think she has definitely seen that religion or the principles of religion have been in her life for a long time without realizing it. I hope in the coming weeks we can work with her and help her progress towards baptism.

This week we will not really been in our area to work because we have zone confrence tomorrow and then we will be going to an area in my district for a comp. exchange. The areas in my district are so far apart and so expensive that you can really only afford to go once to an area so we stay a little longer so I can work with both elders.

Life is still amazing I Japan!!! and it always will. No matter what kind of hardships I have I will always be thankfull for them because I have seen how it has changed me for the better. This gospel is great right?!

I love you all and can't wait to see you all

love

elder christian price

Hey mom and dad
A surprise to hear that the tanners are moving. But i guess it’s all good. That place in Colorado seemed way fun. Maybe we can go there some day. The atonement is such a great blessing. I have actually been thinking about that a lot lately. It seems like I don’t use the atonement enough in my life, but then again I feel that I may use it more than I think without realizing it. Or may be receiving the blessings of the atonement without realizing it. I feel like I am working hard in my new area. But I seem to be seeing no results. It is kind of frustrating. I know numbers are not everything but our numbers are really low. We can’t find, it’s hot and we haven’t really met with members. There is only so much I can do and it seems like it isn’t enough. I am still happy and excited to be here in Kouchi working hard and learning a ton but because of this situation I have been thinking about the atonement. It is hard to go to a ward missionary work coordination meeting with no new investigators and nothing really to show for the week. We studied grace when Pres. Mcintyre was here and grace it what you recieve when you have done all you can. It is the percent out of 100 that you couldn’t do. The key is to rely on the lord. That is something thatIi am really starting to learn. It is way hard to rely on something you can’t see or touch but when we can do this we can better be a disciple of Christ.
Because of this I have really had to change. And I mean a lot. Uncle Dave always said `when the going gets tuff the tuff get going. ` Well now it is tuff and I want to be a tuff one so I am going. With all this being said don’t worry about me too much. I am focused on my purpose thanks to your prayers. I thought that my last 2 transfers were going to be easy. Boy was I wrong. I am growing so much from this experience. I am actually happy to have this experience. Because without it I would not be progressing and if you are not progressing you are digressing.
That is just what I have been thinking about lately. But we are still having a great time. Talking to people. We talked to a guy from Australia who is here to work. He was way sweet. He is way busy so he can’t really meet right now but he was way interested in what we had to say. Way cool guy. There was also a festival the other day and that was way fun. Got some cool pictures. Next week there is going to be a crazy big dance festival that lasts like 2 or 3 days. That will be a great time to talk to people and experience some Japanese culture.
Hey dad so i actually just got done retranslating the letter you sent. I will probably send it with a letter that i will be writing. Nobukasu might understand the other one but just to make sure i will send mine too.
And the plugs in japan are similar. If they don’t have the third ground prongs you and use it in japan. But if it has the ground prong you have to buy an adaptor.
Well thank you family for everything. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Japan is amazing and don’t you forget it. It is the best place to work as a servant of the lord. 2 and half months are short but it is going to be the best 2 and half months ever.
Love ya
Elder Christian Price

Hey mom and dad,

That San Diego trip sounded and looked awesome from the pictures. I am so jealous that you got to go spear fishing. You will have to take me when i get back. That looks like a blast.

I will send a letter to the family in japan a.s.a.p. Hopefully it will be sent by the end of the week but at latest next week.

Japan is amazing. It is so hot, I am tired, by head hurts, my mind is going a million miles an hour and I am loving all of it. I am still trying to learn how to street. It gets better every day but it still isn’t where it should be. That is way I like it I guess. I have realized thatIi am a person that does not like to be stagnant. I always like to be moving or doing something. I always want to progress and get better. I try not to settle. Relearning how to street is one of those things that will be hard but will make me stronger and a better missionary. I am really starting to learn the meaning of diligence and hard work. This is my second to last transfer and i can feel myself, the natural man, wanting to go home. Not work too hard, and not be exactly obedient. I never thought i would be this hard. I feel like the end is what gets a lot of missionaries. It is so close to going home. You can almost taste the jet fumes. It is crazy to think about. But i don’t want to be an ordinary missionary. I want to finish out strong to the end. I don’t want to think about the end until it comes. Elder Slater was a great example of this. He was way happy while working and he was way focused. Then when i way him just before his parents came it had finally hit him that he is done. That show i want to be. I want to go all-out and have it hit me when it is over that I am done. It has been a real personal test to keep my self-motivated. I also have a transfer 3 missionary who is trying but i still need to do most of it all. I need to be a good example in all i do, say, etc.
I am loving it here in Japan. It is the best place on earth. The work is starting to move here in Kouchi. Slowly but surely it is moving. I am trying to leave my mark on Kouchi. And not just with the members but with the people to. I have never really had this desire until now. I don’t know if Kouchi will be my last area or not so i am going to do all i can to leave this place better than when i found it.
We were housing the other day and we found this way old guy. I say way old but he was probably around grandpa prices age and he actually reminded me of grandpa price. He wasn’t as big but just the atmosphere/ora he had just made me think of grandpa price. He also loved America and westerns. We are going to visit him this Friday. I pray that it goes extremely well. There is something different about this old guy. Most old people yell at you, say they are old so they can’t understand, or the say they are in a different religion. But this guy listened to us little and said we could come back. I will let you know what happens next week.

You are the best family in the world. I owe all thatIi have and have done to you. I am who I am today because of you my family. Thank you. I love you all, have fun in the pool. Save some water for me.

Love

Elder Christian Price

Hey mom and dad,

How was the dust storm? A member in my new area told me about it and some other crazy stuff that is going on in America. He is actually from America and got baptized a couple weeks ago. Way cool guy.

My new area is awesome! I am back in the city and i don’t know what to do. I haven’t streeted for so long. I am way rusty. It is a good mix of city and rural. By the station is kind of city like but away from that gets more rural. I am excited to work here. The ward is amazing! My first day made me feel at home. Everyone is so nice. I actually found out the one of the sis. in the ward is the same age as me and has the same birthday. Kind of weird but cool.

It took forever to get to Kouchi. I rode about 6 hours’ worth of trains and buses to get from Nishiwaki to Kouchi. Way too long. I can’t see the ocean from where i am at. If i go east a bit i can probably. I am way excited to be in Kouchi. I think this will be my last area but i have a strange feeling that it’s not. We will wee in 6 weeks. (I will send pictures next week or may be after this email.)

I hope we get drawn for the hunt. I have been a while so it would be nice to get back into the swing of things.

The address is pretty much ok. One of the addresses it says `itami city` they probably understand that but city in Japanese is written as shi but other than that it is ok. The postal code isn’t there but the post office can figure that out. The addresses are ok. No problems. Grandpa P used them and it seemed like he had no problem.

My new comp is from Vegas. He is interesting. He is transfer 3 and just got separated from his trainer. He is a good one. He works decently hard. We are going to have a good transfer.

Life is great! Kouchi is heating up and so am i. I can’t wait to see what next week’s brings. I have had some crazy awesome experience since I have been here. I have entered into a jumping contest, found a cool new investigator, went to the hospital while my comp got surgery, got to wear a funny hat to go into surgery. Just excitement for my first couple of days. Let’s see how it goes from here.

Love ya and thanks for all you have done for me. I will be praying for uncle JD.

With love

Elder Price

PS
pic one is of my new comp elder Maris

pic 2 is of 3 famous samurai form Kouchi prefecture. The most famous is sakamoto ryoma

Hey mom and dad

How are you? It sounds like your week was good. My week was full of craziness. I was on comp exchanges from Monday evening to Friday after noon. It was way fun but tiring. I met the new mission president on Friday. I call him PAPA LEHI. He is such a visionary man his ideas mixed with what we are doing now will really help the mission. The hard part is doing it. But he is awesome and so nice. They got married in the mesa temple! Ya! Sister Zinke is from Arizona way cool. I also talked to the mission president directly about me staying an extra week. It sounded like it was ok. He didn’t know all of the rules about it but sister zinke was there and she was saying that that would be so cool to have your family come and then go visit relatives in Japan. I also told them that if i couldn’t that dad would come and it would be me and him for a week. They said that they really didn’t want to do that so it looks like it should be ok. But who knows. They should call soon.

Well i got a call this morning from my trainer who is now an AP and he told me that i am going to a place called Kouchi for my transfer. I got transferred to Kouchi! It is the biggest area in the mission. It is going to be awesome! I am way excited. But other than meeting my mission president there wasn’t anything else to exciting. My mission pres. is amazing. Way good guy.

Look up Alma 7:24. I have come to love this scripture. If we have the 3 attributes that it says we will always do good works and may I say be happy. This 3 attributes start with our thought. And if we have good thoughts we will definitely do good things but if we have bad thoughts we absolutely can’t do good things. How important is this verse. How important are our thoughts? Good stuff

Well let me answer some of your questions you had.
Card or cash? You can use card in some places. If it is visa you should be ok but most people use cash. So probably the best would be to carry mainly cash and when you can use your card use it. A lot of shop can’t accept card because they are way old. You can probably pull out money at any post office and there are quite a few around where ever you go so getting cash should not be a problem. But ya, my suggestion is have a lot of cash on you but use the card when you can, if you want to use the card a lot.

Marsh and fireworks ya give him a chance. Just tell him to not shoot his eye out, oh wait wrong holiday but still. I think it is A OK. He probably doesn’t really remember doing his own fireworks a lot anyways so why not.

I am so happy that you invited that family over. You are the best!!!!!! Missionary work is as simple as that. Just invite someone over to have fun. Sometimes it is made out to be some hard thing that the only thing i can do is to ask if they will join my church but it starts with being an example and being a friend. That is awesome.!!!!!

Life is just grand here in japan. It is getting hot but hey it is getting hot everywhere. No use complaining.

Thanks for the addresses to uncle kiyoshi and cousin nobukazu. Who should i contact first? Will we meet both? Lastly do you have anymore to their addresses? I can work with what is here but there is
one part that is missing in the address. When you sent letters to me towards the end you write 657-0067 right? That is like the area code. If i don’t have it they can figure it out but if you got it that would
be great.

Mission are awesome! I only have 3 months left so if you could pray that i keep focused and that i work hard every day. i am not saying that i am unfocused or that i don’t work hard but when you are tired it is hard to get the motivation some times. These last 3 months i want to make count.

I love you all and can’t wait to share my experience with you after my mission.

Love
Elder Price