Yes, a little weird to think that I'm finally 21. Today nothing special. Just another P-day.

We'll go out to a field and play some American football so that ought to be fun. B-day's in the 

field are a lot different. It’s really not a special day at all, just another day with more things 

to do. It’s better that way though. You keep focused. This week has been good. A little crazy with 

all of the transfers. Wed. morning we got up at 4:45 so that we could take Elder Peterson to the

bus station at 7am, so that he could grab a bus to take him to Morromeu. We got him the last seat, so it 

was good that we got there a little earlier. The bus station is way out in Dondo which is a good 30-45 min 

drive north. So we put him on a bus and they left around 8am, and we finally got a call at 4:00 from him, 

saying that he had arrived. I was really surprised to get that call at that hour, he was there way early. 

Elder Buckner(DL in Morromeu) was actually in a lesson at that time because he wasn't expecting him until a 

lot later... It was a good thing he got there without any problems, because he just entered his 3rd transfer 

and is still a little green. The next day (Thurs.) I get a call from Elder Buckner at 8 am telling me that 

Elder Smith is on the bus in Morromeu and was heading to Beira and that he would call when he got off the bus 

in Dondo, which should be around 7:00-8:00pm. So we figure it was all good. Well the call doesn't come at 7:00 

or 8:00 and so we're sitting at home, at 10:30 there is still no call, so Elder Fiallo and I go out to Dondo 

that night, to see if the bus has arrived or to see if anyone knew anything. So we finally get out there at 

about 11:45 that night, to find no bus. We talk to some drunken guy at a bar and he says that there hasn’t 

been any busses that have come yet... So we go home and go to bed and the next day we get a call from 

Elder Smith at around 9am saying that he was about 2 hours outside of Dondo... ha. So we finally pick him up 

at 11:00 and it worked out fine. Apparently the bus broke down in the middle of the jungle and he spent the 

night sleeping on the bus in the middle of the jungle. The next day he was able to hitch a ride back to Beira 

with some guy who he vaguely knew. Some Pastor from another town by Morromeu who wants the church to come out 

to this other town. So that worked out well. A little scary for us though... and for him. It’s actually fairly

dangerous, like that is really the middle of the jungle, with lions and snakes and spiders and stuff. 

So good thing that it turned out fine. So that was the exciting transfer story. The rest of the transfers 

went really well. So apparently, next transfers are going to be nuts, as the President might open up Angola 

and Nampula. We'll probably find out at ZLC which will be before Transfer MTG. It ought to be exciting. 

We'll get a new AP and probably 2 new ZL's, so lots of change. It ought to be an exciting transfer MTG.

The Olympics sound absolutely amazing. I'm sad I'm missing them. There's probably plenty going on with 

the Presidential race and the Olympics in full swing too. Sounds like Will is having a good time in

California and Big O had fun in Palmyra, too bad all you guys didn't get to go. I can't believe that Andrew 

is back in school already... ha. It'll be fun though. He's in the upper class now. That works out

nicely. He'll get to switch sides in the gym now at the Pep-assemblies. When he's done with this year, 

I'll be on my way home, or I guess you guys will be on your way out here to get me. Crazy.

Well, hope all is going good for you guys. Have a good week and thanks for the package, the only problem 

with that, is that when you have a package, they often times go into customs and so to get them out of

customs, you have to pay a lot of money. Like 100 bucks, and in the past, the mission used to pay for it, 

but now they're just taking it out of our allotment. That last package I got from the 4th of July, I 

received, but they had to pull it out of customs, which takes like 100 dollars out of my weekly allotment 

which is like 2000 Mtn. I only get 6000Mtn for the month, so ya, really 2 packages per year are more than 

enough. Well, thanks for everything and hope you have a good week!

Elder Okazaki