Elder Blake Ovard: HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY!

What a week it`s been!! As always, we had our ups and downs, but I do feel that the ups of the week definitely out weighed the downs :). And I had an awesome b-day too! Thanks for all the wishes. It was pretty much a party all week beginning last p-day in Niigata. We gathered with quite a few missionaries from the zone and played basketball. Before we went to the gym, however, they tried to get myself and Elder Shaw to sit down. His b-day was on the 17th. I knew exactly what was coming and not too long later I had a pie put to the face! Haha. It was all over and way up in my nose but did taste quite good :) ha. The sisters made it. Dang sister missionaries. Wednesday evening we had our usual English Class and afterwards to my surprise one of the members brought a cake! We had around 20 students show up that night so it was fun to spend time eating cake with them. Thursday we went to lunch with a less-active member. She took us to a buffet and we ate up! That didn`t stop us from going to another one that evening though ;) ha. I think I gained a few kilos.

I recieved a couple letters this past week that almost brought tears to me eyes. One was from a past companion, Elder Kobayashi, and the other was from my recent-convert in Sapporo, Fukuoka!!!! :) I had been waiting, hoping to hear from both of them and finally did. They are doing great! I couldn`t have been any happier hearing that Fukuoka has continued to stay strong and even finished reading the entire Book of Mormon this past December :) He`s a stud and I`m excited to get in contact with him when I get back in the States.

While on splits this past week Ikeda Choro and I found a really sweet young girl who became an investigator! Her name is Mikuno. She is a really nice girl. Her mom teaches her about God and we were able to have a lesson with her. We made an appointment for a few days later to meet her mom. Turns out that she is actually meeting with the Jehova Witness`s when she has time. That`s not gonna stop us though! Our branch president also met with the JW`s when he was investigating the church. He said the difference between us was the Spirit. We may need to give them a little time but we`ll definitely stop by again! We need to find some investigators real soon as my time is running short!! Yesterday after church we had an awesome activity with the branch. We made a flyer with Elder Saunders and my pictures on it including short messages. We divided up and posted nearly 1000 flyers in nearby houses/apartments. So now people are going to know who we are when we make our way back from here on! Hopefully it will result in some investigators:)

It has been quite nice weather this past week and a lot of the snow has melted. I hear we`re in for more this week though! Thanks for everything!! Love you all! Take Care.

Elder Ovard