October 31, 2010

Dear Family,

I just want to say thank you for all of your Happy Birthday wishes. It was nice to hear from you. I had an amazing birthday and I have a lot to tell you. First of all I transfered last week. I transfered from Tomakomai to a place called Otaru. So before transfers happened, a couple of the members took me and my companion out to eat for my birthday. It was very fun and I had a great time with them. My birthday was the day right after transfers, so I transfered to Otaru with my new Japanese companion named Elder Kokusho. He was in the same apartment with me when I first got to Japan. We said that someday we would be companions and that was in Obihiro and it happened. This is actually his last transfer and it has been amazing doing missionary work with him. So I had my birthday in Otaru and my companion took me out for ice cream at a place that sells about a foot tall ice cream. It was very good. The next day the ward here had a Halloween party and that was very fun. On Sunday, a man that had done the Lord`s work here in Otaru about 49 years ago, came to visit. He is from Canada and it was neat talking with him. I spoke a little bit in sacrament meeting and he bore his testimony after me. It was amazing to see and hear. That day one of the members heard about my birthday and gave us some doughnuts for my birthday and so we ate those last night. Its been a crazy experience and amazing.I had an incredible birthday and I enjoyed leaving my teens in Japan. So just a little bit about Otaru, it has a ton of slopes and is basically just slopes. It kind of reminds me of San Francisco. I hear there are a lot of cool things here in Otaru. I don`t know what, but I'll see. It`s a very beautiful place. By the way last Tuesday we had a little bit of snow, but other than that it`s just been very cold. I love you all very much.

Love

Elder Daniel Gandy