Petting the Magical Deer...finally!

Dear Family,

How has everyone been?  By the sound of it, Utah is quite the winter wonderland right now.  I can`t imagine being that cold, with that much ice and snow.  It sure is cold over here but at least it isn't that cold and the roads aren't icy and there isn`t a ounce of snow on the ground.  I don`t think that I could say the same for the Sapporo Mission, though.

Last Preparation Day we, FINALLY, got to go to magical Nara!   We finally got to Nara after about an hour and a half.  The cool thing about it was that everything that we wanted to see was within walking distance of the train station.  It was quite べんり(convenient).   We got to see some really old Shinto and Buddhist temples, pet some magical deer, and fight our way through the crowds and crowds of High School students.  No kidding, though, that the streets were pack full of High School kids from different High Schools on a school field trip.  It was good and I am glad that I got to go.  I will definitely send some pictures in this email.

Petting the magical deer

A little kid running from the deer

A baby deer in an unusual spot

 Shrine

This was Kolton's favorite picture of a little kid in traditional robes

Well, this week has been really tough.  I didn`t want to mention this... but Aunt Pat said that it would be a good thing to tell you about.  So, last week on Monday, I got into a bad bike accident.  Where we live is on the top of a giant hill that we call the Hill of Faith.  We were going to go visit an investigator at his work so we climbed on our bikes and started to head down the hill.  Then, for some whatever reason, I lost control of my bike a bit, my brakes didn`t work quite right, and I flipped over my handlebars.  I, luckily, broke most of my fall with my right hand.  I am really lucky that I didn`t break my hand, though, and after my hand, my head was the next thing to hit the paved road.  I was wearing my helmet and everything so it wasn`t too bad, but I got a nasty cut on my forehead where my helmet wasn`t covering my head.  After that, I tumbled down the hill until I came to a stop.  I got two big cuts on both my knee caps and bruises along all my body.  It took a second for Elder Rasmusen to realize that I wasn`t following behind him and when he came up the hill he saw me lying on the road.  After 15 minutes, I walked back to the apartment, bandaged my self up and wiped the blood off of my hands, feet, and forehead.  I told Elder Rasmusen to tell Sister Zinke what just happened and then I proceeded to rest for the rest of the night.

Needless to say that my body is still aching from the crash but most of the cuts and bruises have gone away.  My right hand hurt for 2 days and I was worried that I had dislocated a bone or broken one, but my hand was really bruised though.  But, I have been working every single day even though it nearly killed me to do so for several days.

Last week, we had 3 lessons with M. Shimai (the one with the small baby).  We have been trying to teach her everything so that she can be baptized whenever she can.  She really wants to be baptized but she hasn`t talked with her husband about it; she hasn`t even told her husband that she is meeting with us.  We really hope that everything turns out alright, but I am not worried.

Last Friday, we had to go to Nara again for a Zone Training Meeting.  We had to wake up especially early so that Elder Rasmusen could make it to a District Leader Meeting before the actually Zone Training Meeting took place.  We went through the meeting and it was okay and after we decided to proselyte for an hour as an entire zone in Nara.  We exited out the church and each companionship went their seperate ways.  Elder Rasmusen and I ended up herding 10 High School Girls to the church, for a church tour, that stopped and talked with us.  I know for a fact that they weren`t really interested in the church but more in that they thought that I was good looking (the benefits of knowing a language even though those talking don`t know that you know the language).  We ended up handing them off to another companionship because we had to be back early so we could have a lesson with M. Shimai.  Friday was certainly one busy day though.

Well, it was great to hear about what is happening in Utah.  I hope that everything goes smooth with Vic and Madisen helping Vic`s sister this week for her wedding.  Mom and Dad, I hope that work is going okay.  Speaking of which, about the lady that walked into your work Mom, I have seen a stereotype like that in Japan like noneother.  Except for 20 and younger kids, it seems is that everyone in Japan thinks that all that Americans do is carry around guns and shoot people whenever they feel like it.  I have heard them make up excuses and statistics like 何回も(more times than I can count, Nankaimo) about America being the murder capital in the world.  All I can do is shake my head and say, `No, I am an American, I know what America is like, people just don`t wave guns around and have nothing better to do than to shoot people.`  I have to be honest though I have, on occassion, wanted to say, "Yeah, America is soooo dangerous.  I can`t show it right now but I have this HUGE scar on my back when I got into a firefight in Downtown New York.  It was crazy." and just completely freak them out.  Probably shouldn`t though....

Also, Elizabeth, I hope that everything is going okay.  I read about your eye exam.  Don`t worry, glasses aren`t bad at all.  First, I wanted to scream Hallaluah when I first put on my glasses and, when I realized that I could see, I wanted to sing `It`s a whole new world.....`.  Glasses are great, I never knew how much they could help until I had a pair of my own.  Second, Glasses are really cool.  I get compliments about how my glasses make me look like Clark Kent (Superman) all the time and that they really like them on me.  If I get compliments like that if I am a normal looking guy then I can only imagine the compliments you will get because you are an extremely cute girl.

I hope you have fun at your work Christmas party Madisen.  Maybe you`ll be able to see the lost 117 pages of the Book of Lehi this time around when Dr. Dork shows you all of his books.

 I love you all.  Talk with you again.

Love,

Elder Klein