It's almost my birthday, where is the mail????

dear family, 
 
no, i havent gotten the packages... but i figure that they are stockpiling them 
at the honbu and will bring them to interviews tomorrow rather than forward 
them. that is what i am banking on so yep. if they do not come i think i might 
be very depressed for teh first time in my mission... i have been checking the 
mail ever 10 minutes for the last week and have had to say that absolutely no 
one loves me anymore i have had NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO letters! Not even from brittan 
or natalee! gah! oh wait...i got one from beaufort shimai and smith choro. smith 
choro got hit by a car two weeks after he finally made it to japan...he would. 
haha. 
 
ok but nothing from outside japan. what gives??? AM I NOT CUTE!?!?! 
 
ok ok enough complaining. I have been singing the christmas cookie song from 
veggietales all day hoping it would bring mail. 
 
`oh postman! I cant wait for you to come, i just cant wait for you to come! you 
have a letter. a lovely letter...just for me for when you come, only for me for 
when you come! Because its p-day!` 
 
it goes on like that with the landlord coming to the door as well as the 
Jehovahs witnesses and finally the sokogakkai peoples... all of whom i try to 
pass chirashi to... 
 
yeah....... well it is raining today and there is nothing much for me to do but 
sit by the mailbox and pray for letters ok!?! 
 
moving on... interviews are tomorrow. which means we have to make our interview 
goals! every interview we come up with a random word and we try to get president 
hill to say it in our interview. whoever gets him to say their word wins. Last 
interview the word was `frisky` hee hee 
 
so not much has gone on this week. i got laryngitis again and so i couldnt do 
much...just kinda following my comp around for moral support. Ito kyoudai was 
making fun of me and telling me that the still small voice is only for the Holy 
Ghost and i needed a bigger voice. He said he would pray for me with faith =P 
 
We were supposed to have a barbecue at the miyazakis on sunday for my 
birthday...well...really it wasnt FOR my birthday, it was for our brazilian 
investigators with whom we cannot communicate haha...but it was on my birthday 
therefore it was FOR my birthday. says me. 
 
unfortunately the elders didnt call early enough and so now we are having it 
next week. So i have to think of something else to do for my birthday...hehe 
 
but i am excited! yay brazilian barbecue! Powell shimai says Leme kyoudai is WAY 
good at barbecueing. yum! I am a kuishinbo. which means glutton...but its a cute 
word. 
 
In other news, we went to Osada shimais on monday and helped her pick weeds. She 
said her mother in law was very impressed because normally all she sees of 
missionaries is them coming over and eating food or teaching a lesson. So to see 
us helping with the yard work was very impressive. After that she took us to see 
an old burial ground near her house. its 1500 years old. 
 
Basically its just a couple of big hills...at first they reminded me of that 
hill that Hiro transported himself to in Heroes... hehe Then they reminded me of 
where Luca Blight took his last stand against Riou in suikoden 2. Yeah...i still 
live in a fantasy world... 
 
last week we visited a less active sister in the ward, Ramos shimai. She is from 
Peru. She really likes cooking and she is going to teach us how to make 
tortillas! wheeee! she says peruvian tortillas are different from mexican 
tortillas and now i am thinking brazilian tortillas might be different too and 
maybe i can convince miyazaki shimai that she wants to teach me how to make 
those too. haha. 
 
speaking of making things, sister powell is going to teach me to make yogurt 
today! 
 
A word on Sister Powell, as i havent said much about her yet. Shes a farm girl 
from rexburg idaho. Her grandpa has a farm and she milks cows and gathers eggs 
and plants stuff and all that fun stuff! I am going to visit her someday heehee. 
 
Anyhow, she and i have pretty much the same sense of humor but i am much louder 
than her. usually the apartment is me talk talk talking and then she talks 
occasionally. 
 
Her older sister is married and she has told me all about her neice who is 3. 
The kid is a genius. When told not to hit her sister and asked `what would jesus 
do?` she replied `well, how many sisters did Jesus have?` 
 
A lot of the talk in the apartment is `powell shimais neice says the darndest 
things` 
 
Of course, all the talk about little kids has kinda turned us into little kids 
too... this morning when my alarm went off i rolled over to see that the clock 
said 6:30 and shouted `oh man!` to which powell shimai sleepily replied `swiper 
no swiping!` 
 
its a dora the explorer thing and you wouldnt understand! *hides* 
 
that pretty much all the fun and excitement. Except that Leiataua choro taught 
us a hula at eikaiwa last night. that was pretty funny. He used to teach at the 
PCC... 
 
And now i have `pearly shells` stuck in my head... 
 
Ok well, i have to write guilt letters to people today and time is pretty much 
up... thanks for the birthday messages. Aubrey...you have a 4-pack. i never want 
to hear that again. I have a dendo baby*...i dont wanna talk about it ok?!?! 
 
Love you all! have fun! Conference is coming up! are you excited!!! 
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 
 
Love, 
Sister halliday 

*a dendo baby is a pudgy little belly...