Kawasaki Continues:

Dear Everyone,

I'm enjoying Kawasaki more every week!

(Elder Martin Mumford with Elder Jacob Meline, who is from our home ward in Washington.  They met up with each other at a Mission conference.)

This week I have been studying Japanese REALLY HARD.  I'm just tired of not understanding what people say, or not being able to recognize anything that's written.  I've been plowing through the book of mormon in as much detail as possible.  I'm in 2Nephi (the Isaiah part) which is rediculously frustrating in Japanese.  For example "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury-- thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup trembling wrung out", takes a really long, LONG time to read in Japanese.

I'm reading through without using the furigana (the little Hiragana-helpers written to the side of the Kanji), so I can begin to recognize Kanji.  It actually is really helping so far.  I'm learning a lot!

Japanese is interesting, because the Kanji adds meaning to the words.  For example, 'repent' in English is easy to misunderstand.  Most people have no idea what repentance actually involves.  But in Japanese, 'Kuiaratameru' literally means 'to regret and CHANGE'.

English 'Prophet' has no real meaning to most people, but in Japanese 'Yogensha' means... well here's where Kanji can be a disadvantage as well.  Hearing the word 'Yogensha', people assume it means 'a predicter', a fortune teller.  Every Japanese person I have explained this to so far tells me about Nostrodamus.  However, the 'Yogensha' we use has a few more strokes in the kanji, and means someone who sees ahead and warns.

(These are some of the flyers that the Tokyo missionaries hand out to advertise the free English Class they teach each Thursday.  Eikaiwa (English class) is a free service they provide to the Japanese community , and is also the number one tool for generating investigators.)

To answer some questions:

1. We ordered rolls, muffins, bagels and Martinelli's via TheFlyingPig.com They should be delivered to your apartment Tuesday March 3rd, between 9-12 AM.  Are you going to be home then?   Tuesday should be fine for the flying pig.  We usually leave the apartment at 12:00 so we should definitely be home in the 9:00-12:00 timeframe. Thank you so much! I am shocked!  That's a lot of food for two Elders, but, I'm sure we will somehow manage :)

2. Did you get the "test" letter I sent you?  I opened up the mailbox today, and there were 3 letters inside!  One of them was the test letter, it arrived with no problems!  The other was all the Valentines notes!  Thank you!  I haven't read them yet (we checked the mail right as we left to email), but I will definitely read them all to day.

---Also, I sent a little package yesterday containing the SD Card and poems for everybody.  It usually takes 8-11 days to get there.

3. Are you sure your companion didn't just SAY that i-pods weren't allowed, because he didn't like new "wake-up" music?  You didn't use the "scottish bagpipe" music on him, did you?   That's what I was wondering too.  It wasn't the scottish music.  We woke up to the Tabernacle Choir singing "The Lion King".  I thought that maybe it just irritated him, but then I asked the Zone Leaders and they agreed, iPods arent allowed.  Apparently, they used to be allowed, but then they were having problems with some missionaries playing games on them.  So, rather than spending all his time approving or disapproving individual i-pods for 160 missionaries, President Hill just said no i-pods any more.   I'll send them home with the next package. 

4. When does the New Mission President arrive?  I'm not sure, I think the new Mission President comes after 1 or 2 transfers (6 or 12 more weeks).  When do you get the new Japanese Books of Mormon?  President Hill says the new Book(s) of Mormon(s) are supposed to arrive in march, but he would be shocked if they ever came before June.  Apparently it's a very slow process.  There's no doctrinal differences or anything, it's just supposed to have a nicer looking cover and be a little smaller.

5. We pray for your investigators by name, every day!  Do you have any new investigators that you would like us to add to the list?   We also are working with Izumi-san, who has a baptismal date!  I dont know much about her, but your prayers will be appreciated.

6. What kinds of music would you like me to send you on CD, since the i-pods are no longer allowed?  

For some reason I like instrumental music better than vocal ones.   I really like the quiet reflective songs.  Creative songs are always nice, like all the neat renditions of 'if I could hie to Kolob'.  (not that that song needs creativity). 

My time is up, but thanks everyone, for your support and prayers, all the great things that you do for me!  Im so happy to be here!

-Elder Martin Mumford

From Your Favorite Missionary!

(Martin sent home an assortment of Japanese candy for us to try.  In Japan, KitKat bars come in every flavor imaginable: strawberry, banana, celery,  you name it!  This particular one he sent us is "University Sweet Potato" flavor!   

Madison tried a bite of the small round candy, then got a very strange look on her face. I asked her "what does it taste like?"  She said " like 'hospital'"  

Is anyone up for trying the Crunky bar?  (After the experience with the "hospital" candy, we haven't dared try it yet.) 

(From an e-mail dated 2-19-09)

Dear Family,

Sorry about the email mishap last week, we can probably just expect that something will go wrong each week, and that my email time will be a little less.  For some reason today is one of the exceptions!  Everything worked fine!

There definitely isn't much time in the day.  This is the hardest I have ever worked in my whole life, including previous transfers of the mission.  We work from the moment we wake to the moment we sleep, our study is all about preparing for more work!  And it really is a good feeling to go to bed each night completely drained, knowing you did your best.  

Important news:  iPods are dame! (not allowed).  I just found out from the Zone leaders that all iPods, video or not, are not allowed.  Apparently this has been the case for a long time, but I never found out about it until now.  It's a shame because I really liked listening to the wake up music to get us out of bed :).  I just put them away until I can figure out what to do.  Do you want me to send them home?

Speaking of unusual Japanese flavors, Martin's English class went bowling. (It was a goodbye party for Elder Cook)  And while there, two girls from the English class bought some juice drinks in "curry flavor", and wasabi flavor.  Apparently, there are some flavors that are even too strange for Japanese folks, as you can see in the picture below.

Ok, questions:

1. We would like to send you some stuff from TheFlyingPig.com  (delivery service from Costco in Japan) but we need to know when you will be home, and which foods from the list you would like to have delivered. We are almost always home from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.   I started to get teary eyed just reading that list of foods...Bagles, muffins, rolls, and martinelli's sounds GREAT!  We don't actually eat cereal much in Kawasaki, so that might be a low priority.  Costco muffins and rolls sound heavenly! 

2. Does your mission have an official theme song? (Like the one in the Kennewick Washington Mission- "tracting through the fields of walla walla onion")   Sadly, no mission song.  There probably is one, but I've never heard it.  I suppose I'll have to make up one!  If only it could be as cheezy as the Kennewick one! (no offense, if any Kennewick missionary moms are reading.)

3. What is your new companion like?  Do you get along OK?  I don't have any way to contact his mother, so you don't have to worry about us swapping baby pictures of you guys.  Elder Fukuda 'Fukes' is the best!  He is extremely funny!  I thought it would be very frustrating speaking in all-japanese, but a lot of times it just comes as a fact: 'well, I dont know what He's saying, but Ill take a stab at it, and if Im wrong I can laugh about it later'.

4. Is there anything that you need or would like that you are not able to obtain there, that we can send you?  The Hot Chocolate was a hit.  Just so you know, Japanese hot chocolate is extremely bland, and even 10 packets of splenda, a candy cane and a chocolate bar could not sweeten it.

5. What does your companion think of the new "wake up" music?   I tried it the first day.  'What the heck is that?' was his weary response.  And then he told me about the iPod rule, I checked with the Zone Leaders, and yes, iPods got to go!  It was a REALLY good idea though!  (Perhaps the next mission president will change the rules. :)

6. Dad was going through a box of his old mission stuff.  (It was so weird to see name tags that said "Elder Mumford" and have them not be yours, and also they were in Portuguese.)  But he found these papers, where he had to write a letter to his mission president every week.  Do you do anything like that where you write a letter to the Mission President?  Also, how often do you have interviews with the Mission President; district leaders, etc.?  Yes, we write weekly letters.  At the end of the mission, the president gives you a binder with all of them!  It will be cool to see how I grew over the months.  Mission President interviews are every 6 weeks.  District meetings are weekly.

7. Do you still have lots of dinner appointments in this new area?  A few, here and there.  Its perfectly normal in other areas to have 1 a week, or 1 every other week.  We generally have 1-2 a week here.  Yokosuka is the exception because it has the military branch, and so the missionaries there get 5-7 a week.  However, someone from my doki (Elder Gordon) is in Yokosuka now!  He came to Japan the same time as me.

Sorry, I've got to get going.  I just got a letter in the mail, so If there's something important in there, I won't be able to answer it until next week's email.

Thanks for all the great support, keep on working hard at normal life :)

Time is going by so fast, I can hardly believe it.  Weeks fly by like days.

Thank you everyone!

Love,

Elder Martin Mumford

Tokyo, JAPAN!

Japan Week 14

Dear Family,

My Japanese is steadily improving.  I think it has a lot to do with having a Japanese companion, and speaking Japanese all the time! :)

It's not nearly as bad as I thought, because instead of having no clue what anyone is saying, I can pick out the words I don't know now.  Sometimes I even pick up the grammars I don't know.  I carry a little notebook always so I can write them down and look up tomorrow in Language Study.

(Martin Discovers tasty TAKO- Japanese for octopus!)

Japanese uses Katakana versions of english words all the time, but it usually ends up making things harder.  It's like those word games where you squish multiple words together and have to sound it out multiple times before you can figure out what the real words are.  For example, try "Aabanesuteeto", which comes from "urban estate".

Another odddity that I see a lot, is hair salons.  It seems the official title of a hair salon is a "hair and make", followed by the name of the salon.  So, walking around, you see "Hair and Make: Ash", "Hair and Make: Get's", "Hair and Make: Really", and my personal favorite, "Hair and Make: Of ".

Thanks for the BYU talk, by the way.  That really was the perfect answer I was looking for at the time. About language AND the gospel, it really helped. (Click here to read this great talk. -Or- Click here to listen to this great talk.)

Also, it is Elder Fukuda's birthday on the 25th of Feb.  He will be turning 20!

This week was interesting, getting to know Kawasaki.  I got to meet a fraction of the members durring the week and at church, but there are so many!  Its kind of a culture shock jumping from a branch of 25 people to a ward of over 90.  Its certainly easier to give a self-introduction in front of the branch, than the ward.  

 

This transfer is the hardest I have ever worked so far.  Elder Fukuda is a very hard worker, and each night we basically wobble back to the appartment and collapse with exhaustion.  There is no flat land in Kawasaki.  You are either going up a hill, or down it, and somehow it always works out that there are more ups than downs.

We are currently meeting with Tamaki-san, our new (almost progressing) investigator.  He moved here a year ago, because his daughter got in a car accident and lost a leg.  He is extremely nice, and wants to learn.  He LOVES to pray and wants to pray each time we come, and always is very grateful for us coming.  He speaks very good english, because he lived in America for 10 years.

Also, our newest investigator is Fujii-san.  I dont know much about him, but he is very interested in business, and church, and we taught him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon.

Which brings our investigators up to 2.  If possible, please keep these people in your thoughts when you pray.  I really want to see them accept the gospel.

Thanks for everything!  Sorry about the short letter (again).  I think Ill write a real (paper) letter this transfer, when I know Ill have enough time.  Thanks for all the support everybody!

Good luck!

Love you,

-Elder Martin Mumford

-Tokyo, JAPAN! (I still can't believe it)

Konichiwa Kawasaki!

Dear Family,

I transferred!  I am now in Kawasaki, and my new companion is Elder Fukuda.  (He's Japanese).  He's from Hokkaido, (The red part on the map) and jokes around a lot.  He doesn't speak any English, so I am going to get lots of Japanese practice!

The apartment is great, and so is the ward.  Just looking through the ward book is exiting.  We have almost 90 active members here, and a LOT of the members are returned missionaries with families.   We live right next to an elementary school, so you can always hear the kids playing in the playground. :)  The area used to be a 4-man, but right now its just me and Elder Fukuda.  Since Im the gaijin, I teach Eikaiwa (English class) alone! 

Here's how

transfers work:  You pack 2 bags and call Sagawa (the shipping company).  They take your bags and deliver them to the new area the next day. 

You then disassemble your bike, put it in a bike bag, and carry it on the train to your new area.  The Zone leaders figure out where  everyone needs to go in order to meet everyone else and get where they have to be.

Its a very confusing process, and was really stressful.  Because I bought a military bike, It requires a wrench to take off the back wheel, unlike all Japanese bikes, which just need the little Japanese toolset.  So, we got to the station, and took it all apart, and when we got to the back wheel we realized we didnt have a wrench.  So, I had to lock all the disassembled parts together and run back to the apartment.  Fortunately it turned out all right, and we stuffed it in the back and went on our way, but we were kind of late.

Ill keep my eye out for an Okonomiyaki restraunt out here.  I actually had some at the baptism party, from the Inoue family.  It was homemade, and it tasted exactly the same as the ones we made at home (that is: delicious).

Elder Frank performed the baptism, and the program turned out great, even though it was on short notice.  Yamaguchi-san is 19, so after the baptism, the Single Adults women made sure to congratulate him and let him know  "We're with the single adults program". :)

Good luck in the school play!  Wow, I didnt know that Madison liked theatre so much!  Go Madison!

I got the "wake up" music you sent.  It is PERFECT!  Especially the Scottish bagpipe one is good for waking up.

I cant remember if I have already told you about the 90-year old that took us to Mister Donuts.  If not, tell me so I can explain next week!

Sorry for the pitiful email, but transfer/p-day is always hectic and short.  Ive got to go to Eikaiwa really soon.  Good luck everyone!  Ill be sure to give a huge detailed explainiation of Kawasaki next week!

Love,

-Elder Mumford

-Tokyo, Japan!

Sayonara Yokouska!

Elder Mumford was transferred this week.  

Elder Frank (Below) will remain in Yokosuka for now, then will be returning home in April.

This is a Sayonara Doll.   The Body unrolls into a scroll. (sayonara=goodbye)

Apparently, these are quite popular in Japan. 

When you leave an area, your companion, ward members, and close friends sign the scroll; by the end of the mission, you have a nice little remembrance of all the significant people who had an influence on you.  (Kind of like signing a yearbook, only it's a Kokeshi doll.)

Chris Fry was able to obtain this boy doll for Elder Mumford, and went out of her way to make sure that his first companion signed it, just before he left.

Goodbye Elder Frank.  You were a wonderful companion to Elder Mumford and an excellent follow up trainer.

Goodbye also to the Fry Family, who went above and beyond to help Elder Mumford have a great experience in his first area.  

Click "Play"to see the streets of Yokosuka (and Elder Frank) one last time.

Happy Birthday Yoshiya Tanaka!

Click "Play" to hear the voice of 4 year old Yoshiya Tanaka

Yoshiya Tanaka celebrates his 4th Birthday!

Yoshiya with his younger sister.

Elders Mumford and Frank in the home of the Tanaka Family 

(A family in the Yokosuka Japanese branch.) 

(Click on picture to enlarge image)