Greetings from the new area of Muroran! I got in last Thursday and its been great so far. I am pretty close to the coast (cant see the ocean from the apt unfortunately) and we get a nice strong cold wind blowing most of the time. But it is pretty good! My new Comp Elder Knighton is a cool kid, we get along good and are having a blast! Our first full day, last Friday, we went to visit an 80+ year old investigator to say hello. I used her bathroom before we went, and guess what? I got stuck. The lock wouldnt turn back to open! It was in need of a good dose of WD40. I tried to quietly and forcefully open it to no avail, and ended up being too noisy. So I had to admit I was stuck, and the lady goes and grabs some tools and starts hacking at the door while I am on the other side about ready to break the lock. At one point she yells "Elder Knighton, pray to God for help!" At least she has faith in prayer and God! I finally got the door open, and after some apologies, we high tailed it out of there laughing our ties off!

There is an investigator who should be getting baptized in the next few weeks, we had her last lesson yesterday after church. We reviewed the baptismal interview questions, and she was bearing her testimony about how she knows this church is true. It was very powerful, and we were all shiny eyed as we felt the spirit strong. She is quite an awesome lady.

Before I forget, New Years day was pretty cool. This was back in Moiwa before the transfer. The 4 of us went out for burgers, then over to the zoo which was free for the day. We then went over to the biggest shinto temple shrine in Hokkaido, and the whole town was there. Everyone goes on New Years to pay respect to the ir ancestors and all, there was also a festival we went around and got some food. Good times. Well things are looking good for this transfer. Oh, I am also close to some of the most famous Hot Springs in Hokkaido, so you know I will be heading over there to celebrate soon!

Elder Andrew Kade Jones