Dear Dad,

I`m safe and all is well here in Iizuka. I`ve had some interesting experiences that I`d like to tell you about though. Just yesterday I was out house contacting with my companion and we met a man. He opened the door and when he saw us, he started to close the door. We somehow got him to listen to us for a second and then we got to talking. I asked him if he believed in God. He told me no, and said the earthquake is evidence that God doesn`t exist. I explained to him why these things happen, and how we sometimes have hard times in life which make the good times so much sweeter. I told him we can learn from these things and we continued talking. We continued on and taught him the gospel of Jesus Chirst. I was teaching him about baptism and he was listening very intently when man`s wife walked up. So I pretty much had to start over from the earthquake. This time as I re said the things I said and the man was in agreement with me, and the wife began to understand. I told them how I love and respect parents, especially mine because of the hard things they go through for their families. We talked a lot about how God is the same, going through a lot for our benefit. It was an awesome lesson. Their little daughter came out and listened too. Opportunities to teach a whole family at once are very rare, and I was so glad that it went from an almost shut door, to a wonderful lesson. After about 45 minutes of talking, they said we could come back. I`m stoked!

Wow, I didn`t know the earthquake was that massive. At first someone told me it was a 7 and that 1400 people were missing. Then I heard it was an 8.8 which was way bigger than what I had heard earlier! I was way surprised. And now I`m hearing it`s a 9.0 and possibly over 10,000 are dead. That`s way intense. As I told mom, there were 4 missionaries missing for about a day, but they`ve been contacted and are fine. So intense. I can`t believe that I`m 12 feet closer to you as well. That`s a crazy thought on how powerful the earthquake was.

I am very excited to being getting a package from you and I am looking forward to delicious beef jerky and letters from home. Thank you so much for continuing to support me and to love me. I love my whole family and I am very grateful that Matthew and Miles know why I`m here. I`m excited to see you in a year and a half. I love you dad. You are the man.

Love,
Robert

Dear Mom,
I`m safe and fine here in Iizuka. I felt nothing and life is almost still normal. There are a ton of people here who are worried for family in Sendai and I suppose I was pretty worried too. I have 2 friends up in sendai and we got a call a few days ago informing us that 4 missionaries were missing and we were to pray for them. When I thought that it could be a good friend of mine, it definitely made the quake more real to me. Fortunately, we got a call the other day telling us that the missionaries were found and that they were alright. We`ve had to conserve energy here in kyushu though because apparently tokyo was without power (maybe still is) due to the fact that they get most of their power from sendai. It`s pretty scary stuff, but we`re all fine down here. I felt no aftershocks and we are getting regular calls telling us to be safe and prepare for anything if anything like that ever came.

Thank you so much for sending me the patriarchal blessing! I`m so glad that I got to read it again. If it wouldn`t take too much time, would you still shrink and laminate it and send it to me? I`m not sure if I can print it at the place I`m at but I`ll probably take pictures of it on my camera. That would be the best. Thank you so much mom, I really appreciate all that you`ve done for me.

So I have a quick question. You guys are in California and you went out for a girls day, right? Was Uncle Chuck present for the girl`s day? Haha, sorry, that`s how I read it in the email and it made me laugh. I`m glad you told him I would be staying. I`m pretty sure nothing would make me come home from my mission. The Lord has called me here and this is where President Monson said I should be till August 31st, 2012. I`m going to do exactly that! So anywho, how is/was California? Pretty great I`m hoping. Did California see any of the tsunami? How`s the family?

Things are going great with Kaneko and he`ll be getting baptized very shortly. He`s such a stud. He`s doing so well and keeping his commitments. When we taught him the word of wisdom he stopped all habits that aren`t in harmony with the Lord`s teaching. I`m so happy for him. Recently we`ve been making some good progress with Hayashi and her family. If her family got baptized...Iizuka`s primary would go from 0 to 4! I`m hoping she continues being awesome!

Thanks again for all the support. I love you very much Mom. I`ll be a missionary you can be proud of. I`ll keep all the rules. I study hard everyday. I talk to everyone I can. The Lord is blessing this area and me so much because of your prayers. Thank you so much Mom. I love you. Be happy, have faith, know that I`m protected and safe.

Love,
Robert