Hey guys!

So the typhoon. Man that was some typhoon... Just kidding! The typhoon
actually missed Tottori at the last second and went to Matsue I think.
So we didn't get hit too hard. Just a ton of rain and some wind. The
one we had in Nagoya was a lot worse! We were still able to go housing
during the typhoon. Thanks to my rain gear though, I was able to stay
dry. It rained nonstop for two days and the rivers filled up but no
floods. A lot of people answered the door and let us in just to show
sympathy for us and get us out of the rain, but we couldn't find
anybody with real potential. Just a couple people who said we can come
by again some other time, and if they are home, share a message with
them.  One day Elder Novak walked up to a house and he walks up to the
doorway and the guy freaks out on the other side of the screen. But he
got so scared that he scared the crap out of Elder Novak.

We didn't have that many service opportunities this week so we had a
ton of time to go housing. We were able to pick berries for one member
at his farm. I got sunburned during it so my arms hurt this week haha
we picked berries for about three hours in the hot sun. Then went back
to teach Eikaiwa to the one student who came. I was kind of surprised
because in Shimogamo the advanced class had 10 or so people, and the
beginners class had at least 20. But in Tottori, only one person
showed up! I'm starting to like Tottori now though. It's nice and
quiet and relaxing, but, I prefer the loud, crazy city life!

I got a couple emails from Pace 長老 and he seems to
be doing good. Said it was emotionally and physically lonely being
home and it's weird living the normal life but he likes it.

On Saturday the branch had a BBQ. It's a yearly BBQ where the farmers
in the Branch go out and hunt deer and wild boar, so we ate a ton of
deer and boar. I've met pretty much all the branch now. The branch is
really cool and it's nice to know people better because there aren't
that many people in the branch. At the end of the BBQ, the branch gave
us a box of boar and deer meat to take back. They said it was close to
$300 of meat! So we'll be eating that this week! We tried cooking it
yesterday and the boar was super tough, except for the fatty parts,
and the deer was super soft. The boar tasted better but deer was
easier to eat haha

I gave my talk on Sunday.  I think it worked pretty well. It was a
little short. They wanted 10 minutes and I only spoke for 8... I kind
of just talked about the hardships pioneers had and how faith helped
them overcome it and how we can apply faith into our own lives and
overcome our own trials. I won't have to talk again until maybe
September! We did have to teach the lesson in elders quorum yesterday.
Just two elders talking about MARRIAGE. Haha it was us two and three
other members. Basically all we did was ask them about their own
experiences of marriage.

On Wednesday and Thursday we have to travel down to Okayama which
takes all day! Haha so we spend the night in Okayama on Wednesday,
then on Thursday we have Zone Conference... I was asked to translate
too... Translate for the AP's and President Welch... That's kind of
stressing me out because I know I won't be able to do a very good job
at it, especially English to Japanese.

Anyways, I love you guys tons and miss you all! Mom, you still need to
send me the picture of the bear! Hope you have a good week!

- Elder Durrant

I didnt have a lot of time to take pictures but here is a couple.

Tottori: