Another week has gone by and I'm still in Japan! I feel pretty old and wise when I see the new beans here, I'm all they way in my Fourth transfer. Of course I have passed my 'age of accountability' (Transfer 2), and am no longer a bean myself. The dying missionaries must feel a whole lot older and wiser than all of us :)
First of all, some things have changed with our investigators. Izumi-san, the 30-ish woman who has been listening to us decided to stop, and no longer wants to come to church or be baptized, because she feels it would be betraying her mother who is Buddhist. Very sad, but until she changes her mind we cannot teach. Simply keep her in your prayers, that she might consider it agian. Tamaki-san (the 60-is man) is moving soon, but keep him in your thoughts as well. The person we are most exited about right now is Ishitani-san. He is 23, and has lots of interest. We have taught two lessons so far, and we have another one right after this email! We are going to ask him to be baptized!
If you could keep these 5 people (Ishitani-san, Tamaki-san, Fujii-san, Izumi-san, Shinemon-kun) in your prayers, that they might be able to recieve the gospel, I think it would help :)
And on to the other stuff:
The one Japanese Joke I know is about Mitsuya Cider, a popular drink in Japan. It goes:
'What do you get when you mix a carrot, a daikon (a giant raddish thing), and lettuce?' 'Mitsuya Cider!'
But of course that makes absolutely no sense in English. Mitsuya Cider sounds a lot like 'Mitsu Yasai Da' (three vegetables) in Japanese. All the old folks get a kick out of it. Young people really arent phased at all by it. :)
We also discovered that there was a Krispy Kreme Donuts in our area! It was very Natsukashii (nonstalgic). They give you a free donut for standing in line, just like in America. Kawasaki eki (train station) also has a bunch of american stores, like Coldstone and Baskin Robins (here they call Baskin Robins '31', like the number 31).
Kawasaki is a really dense city. We basically spent an entire day in the city itself just meeting people on the street, and we didnt even see a fraction of it. We are really close to Shibuya, only 15 minute train ride away, so there are always people everywhere. I've actually met quite a few Americans, LOTS of people from India and the Philipenes. There are also quite a lot of French-speaking people from Africa, (Mali). Last week I met someone from Bangladesh. I have no idea where Bangladesh is.
It's actually kind of scary talking to people in English. I keep translating everything directly from what I normally say in Japanese, the literal meanings, and it sounds so wierd. "Hi", means... is it ok? We came here just barely, and... and... we are church voulenteers called missionaries... from here on, where are you going?" And if it was possible to spell things wrong while I was speaking, I would do that too. Living here really meshes whith your spelilng.
Also, the BYU Wind Symphony is coming to Japan, Yokohama this year. Im not sure whether we can go, if it falls on a P-day or something, but that would be amazing!
And... I sent another package today! It contains the ipods and ipod player (that thing was always so bulky in my suitcase anyways), SD card loaded with more pictures :), a letter from the week I missed, and the 3-transfer newsletter, along with some other surprises. Have fun!
Also, regarding not sending packages by 'slow-boat': I've never heard of it before. I've always sent things (including packages) from the regular Post Office. Slow Boat sounds like some sort of shady man in a trenchcoat by the docks that takes your mail and throws them into some cargo crate along with many other questionables, where they pass through 12 different countries in which the workers simply open up the packages and take what they like before gluing them back together and shipping it again. Yeah, I think I'll take the post office. :)
Sakura (cherry blossom) season is starting this week, and will last for the next 2 or 3 weeks only. Ill be sure to take lots of pictures!
And also (also is my favorite word), say hi to the cats for me.
Thank you everyone for the support you give me. I much appreciate it all. Good luck to you in school, at work, at home, and wherever else you might be.
Love,
Elder Mumford
To
Kyo,
Ja
Pa
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Elder Mumford is studying the Book of Mormon in Japanese, (reading and highlighting is done vertically)
I am so impressed with Martin, he is such a good letter writer--so thorough. He has such a good sense of humor about his experiences too.
ReplyDeleteMartin may be a good letter writer, but he has a terrific "Missionary Mom!"
ReplyDeleteYour struggles with Japanese after studying in high school,then at BYU, then in the MTC have surprised me. I thought you were super human. But I guess that language is really hard like they say. But here you are now five months in Japan and you are having trouble speaking English.
ReplyDelete