Dear Mom,
Hey! I am glad that I got to hear from you. How are you feeling? Dad indicated in his letter that you haven't been feeling the best, and you did send a shorter email than usual so....what's up? ;) haha are you sick and you just won't tell?? ;) haha don't try to sneak it past me mom! I would love to hear all that is going on. How are Britta and Quinci doing? Oh, hey, when does Brandon get home? I know it is super soon, I just don't know the day. :)
Well, you want to know about Kanagawa, huh? So, it is just north of Yokohama, which means I love it!! I don't know why, but Yokohama just feels like home. If we came to Japan someday, that is what I would want to see first. :) I love this city. Fun fact. A place called Minato Mirai (look it up ;D haha) is actually where they film a lot to most of the scenes in movies that are "Tokyo" because it is a lot more open and prettier than Tokyo is. :) haha anyway, it is a lot different from Kichijoji. The biggest difference being....the hills. There is an anatomical difference between missionaries residing inside and outside of Yokohama. It is called, "Yokohama Thunder Thighs." Haha but really, you get a lot tougher legs coming to Yokohama because there are tons of hills. There is quite a bit of industry, but also a lot of housing. Due to the fact that I am still a zone leader (another question down! ;D) we haven't been able to do a whole ton of stuff in our actual area
because we have been super busy going here and there. We have to go the district meeting in Kawasaki, as well, but that was fun. Yep, Kawasaki is a real place, and it is the area with the most people in our mission! (About one and a half million people in their area) I love it here. We have a small house/apartment thing. It is connected to the side of a member's house. They built it so that the missionaries could go and live there. And it is great! :) everything is super narrow though. One of the biggest revelation that I had is that the reason houses are so small in Japan is.....no halls! They basically don't have halls, just doors opening to rooms. It makes it super compact and efficient, but I like halls better. :) haha
As for my companion, his name is Elder Loi-on. Elder Driscoll and I both left, but to different places. Elder Loi-on is from Hawaii, and he is a really bold direct missionary. I love working with him. It is great to be here in the Yokohama North Zone, and I love this mission. One person that we have been working with is a man named N. He is a really nice retired old man so we have met him every single day since I have been in this area. He is so prepared, and loves learning. Please pray for him! :)
Let's see....what else...I am living in an apartment with a Japanese person again! :) It is great. I love using Japanese more. Oh, Jenna asked last week, I think, how much I spoke English versus Japanese, and the answer is if there is a Japanese person in the room I speak 90% Japanese, and if there isn't I speak 90% English....roughly haha :) I need to use it more, but at the same time communicating with English is quicker and more effective if you are both English
Speakers. I am working hard on continuing to expand my language skills. If I stick to the plan I have now I will learn 4,000 more words and 2,000 more characters by the end of my mission. :) Then I could actually read basically anything! There are about 1,800 used characters....or so. So that is the plan! That would help a lot with college and things like that.
Well, I left my keyboard in Kichijoji on accident so my messages may be a little bit shorter than usual today. My letters are coming along well though! It is hard because I can only write on P-day and we have other things we have to do. But I am over halfway done!
I love you, Mom! I hope that things are going well. I miss you and I pray for you. Please let me know if there is anything that I can get for you! Oh, that reminds me, what does everyone want for Christmas?? I have some ideas, but I want to hear what you want. :)
I love you!
Elder Livingston
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