Japan Week 2

Elder Mumford with his companion, Elder Cook.  Elder Cook is 6"6' and Elder Mumford is 5"5'.  Perhaps the dramatic size difference will attract some attention, leading to potential investigators.

Dear Family,

Thanks for the letters and the support!  

First off, sorry for the confusion yesterday.  Our normal email place was actually closed for some reason, but today theyre open.  Also, Im going to try mailing a little letter today on some really funny stationary I found at the 100 yen store.

Time actually goes MUCH quicker here in Japan, and I cant believe it has already been another week!  Once again, I apologize for any errors (I cant seem to find some punctuation marks on these keyboards, so youll have to add the apostraphies and such).

This has been a great week in Yokosuka!  The USS George Washington (a VERY large aircraft carrier) just pulled in on Friday in the base, so Yokosuka is flooded with Americans right now.

 Also, were meeting with Yamaguchi-san, and he decided on Sunday that he wants to be baptized.  Unfortunately, he is attending J-tai (A Japanese Military School) and is only actually alowed to leave the campus on weekends, so setting a specific day is kind of tricky.

Also, we had mission conference this week!  I got to see all my old friends from the MTC, and saw Elder Meline there!  I think hes almost done with his mission.  So, we had a nice long meeting about the Book of Mormon, and recieved flu shots (yay).  And after the conference, President Hill revealed that the mission will now be using cell-phones!  This makes it much easier on District Leaders like Elder Cook, and actually will save the mission money (missionary to missionary calls are free).  It was kind of funny because of Elder Cook being the worlds fastest texter.

The language is still tough, but Im starting to understand a little bit.  It should be much easier to study once I find a good electronic dictionary, so I can look up Kanji and things.  Its really hard to find a good one thats a reasonable price.

Also they have a program here called "Mogi" where you make appointments with members or less-active members to practice your japanese by teaching a lesson.  That alone has been really helpful for me to practice asking questions/understanding answers and such.

And to answer some of your questions:

1 Do you want me to send you new music that is exclusively from the approved list?  Ill continue listining to my music.  I didnt realize that most of it was OK, because I was checking albums and not authors.  Thanks for the update!  Ill be just fine then, until we do a switch.  

2  Is yours one of those missionary appartments that has cupboards full of little Christmas trees or would you like me to send you one?  Our apartment doesnt have any little christmas trees, but I think well be fine as far as decorations.  Our mailbox is actually kinda small, and doesnt have a lock, so I dont know how packages work. Thanks, though.

3 Were you able to get a power converter for your American appliances, razor, camera, etc.?   The power here is actually the same.  For some reason I thought I needed a converter, but everything works just fine!

4  Did you get the letter I sent you with the Japanese address label.  Satomi looked up your address, and said she thinks there is a dentist office in your building, based on the advertising.  Yup, I got the letter!   And yes, we live on the 4th floor, and there is a dentist office on the first.  The receptionist always waves at us when we go out or in of the apartment!  

5  Is there an American family who is having you over for Thanksgiving dinner?  Yes, yesterday we went to a pot-luck style thanksgiving with the Martinezs.  They had turkey and everything, because it was on the base.

I know that this is where I need to be right now, and so far everything is going great!  The members are wonderful and the people we meet are extremely polite.  I keep looking outside and realizing that Im in Japan!   Ill try to send the pictures home too, maybe this or next week.

Thanks everyone!  Good luck!

-Elder Martin Mumford

-Tokyo, JAPAN

P.S.

Ive got a bunch of pictures, some of which of me eating natto for the first time.

If you can find it in the US, you should try natto. (ナット)　or (なっと）。

(Fermented soy beans)

It usually comes in a little white foam box, and you mix a little packet of soy/mustard in there.  Very gooey.  (You dont have to finish the whole thing).  I had a pretty strange expression while chewing on it though.

Anyways, love you!

-Elder Mumford