Well, sounds like another fun and exciting weekend at home. This week has been wonderful. Dad’s right when he says it’s kind of like "returning home"... It took me a couple of days to get back into it, but now it’s just normal again, except for my feet... After being in a car for about 8 months, your feet go a little soft... so this week I've been working on building up the calices on my feet, which has been a little painful at times, with the blisters and what not, but still not bad enough to slow us down, and my feet are already better-so no complaints here. However, I think I'm just as stressed out as I've ever been; it is just that this time around, I know how to handle the stress, which makes things a lot better. My comp is a Brazilian by the name of Elder Puga and he's a little bit shorter than me, about 5'9" and a little pudgy. Last night I was in a speed walking mode, because we were a little late, plus I went into panic mode, when I realized that it was already the 15th of March and that I only have 2 and a half months left, and so we were cruising around the city and I felt a little bad afterwards, because Elder Puga was dragging a little bit.. but it’s good. We got a lot done yesterday.
Yesterday was great. It reminded me of Munhava a little bit. We meet in a school, in a room no bigger than mom’s and dad’s room at home, and that is where we hold our meetings. Yesterday we had about 70 people attend, so that was good. We only have 2 hours, Sacrament and Priesthood and Relief Society. Good members though. All very faithful and a good little group.  I got to meet with Pres. Casaco this weekend. He's a really good guy and does very well as Branch President. The first councilor is an RM and is from another city called Nacala about 300 KM away. They wake up at about 3 or 4 am on Sunday morning and catch a bus to Nampula to attend church every other Sunday. Amazing. Great guy and great family. The branch has its problems and what not, but it’s much easier starting a church than it is to try and correct false traditions. So hopefully we'll get it right from the start.
The house is doing well. I went on a small division with Elder Featherstone this week and he's doing very well. He speaks very well for his age and seems to understand well too. He'll be a great help. It is kind of how Dad put it, in that you feel like the old man with all of the wisdom and experience. I know that my time is soon to end, and so I just want to pass along all of the knowledge and experiences that I have had to the district and these young guys, so that they don't make the same mistakes I did. I forgot what it was like to live with kids though. First off, I forgot about how badly they cook... we ate some nasty stuff this week. Featherstone does alright but the other two... I made it my personal goal to teach them how to cook a little bit, for my sake and theirs. There is a little bit of a gap though between us, just between maturity levels and things like that, the mission has an incredible way of aging you, but so far, things are going very well.
Our area is nice. It is large and it has a little bit of everything in it, so good place. We'll be baptizing 4 people on the 28th and all are really good people. I'm excited for that. It ought to be a good baptism.
The house is nice, all set up and new and so it’s nice, air conditioning, etc...
Just to let you know, I did get my camera and that little envelope has arrived, along with a box you guys sent. Funny story on what happened, is that the new guys arrived and so the AP's got my camera, however, luckily at that same time, Pres. Casaco (the BP up here) happened to be down in Maputo, and so they just gave the camera to him and he brought it up to me. Then they also had some supplies to send to me up here, and so with our supplies, they just threw in my box and that envelope that you sent. We'll pick all that up from the airport later today. Well, that’s about it. Things are going well, thanks for the email and what not!

Elder Okazaki