Things are Looking Up!

Dear Everyone (and the cats),

A mission has its ups and downs, and right now it's in the middle of an up!  Last transfer, just about every one of our investigators dropped or moved away, but now, we are finding lots more people who are interested in the church.

1.  Ushiruzako-san, a way genki old fellow who likes C.C. lemon (the popular drink here).  I might have already mentioned about him before, but theres something new;  we visited him on the way home one night, and the first thing he said was, "So, when's church?"  It turns out he would like to come to church this coming Sunday (the 5th) and see what he thinks.  :)

3. Ishitani-san is really cool.  He wanted to have sushi luch with us, and we are teaching ANOTHER lesson today after this email!  We want to get him moving along, because up till now he hasnt had any real goals, but still likes meeting with us.  He showed us his drivers liscence from 2 years ago, and he looks way scary, long hair and angry, but you would never be able to tell now, because he is so happy and bright.  Wierd.

2.  Ippei-san, a High School student we met just outside a conbini.  I tried Melon Pan for the first time, and had a conversation about that at first.  He seemed sort of interested, but just yesterday gave us a call and had a lesson!  Now he wants to learn about Jesus Christ.

And we keep finding more people every so often who might listen, so right now things are going really well.

Also, thanks for the April Fools package!  It was really good, and we immediately shredded the cheese to make breakfast burritos.  Also, I just got that 'looking to the mark' talk you sent, and Im going to read it.  President Hill leaves in 2 transfers (and a half).  I think I'll have 2 more interviews with him before he goes.  Its kind of strange,  because Elder Kowalk will have his final interview with a new mission president.  They already told us who the new mission president was, but I forgot :(

Im sure the other missionary moms already know, though :)

Also, today we went and saw sakura (cherry blossoms) in Okachimachi.  There were people everywhere and it was a beautiful sakura park. (Ueno park)  I took pictures! (HANAMI is a Japanese custom to have a picnic lunch and karaoke under the cherry blossoms at the famous sights.)

We also went to this massive, stretch-into-the-horizon shopping street that just had tons of little shops selling everything, especially fish.  I got some good pictures.  They were selling huge buckets of massive, live crabs.  The owner of the store came over and saw my nametag and said, "Aa, Kirisuto-kyo!" ('Christianity!'), "Kirisuto mo, kani o taberareta" (Christ also ate crab, (please buy some)).  It was way funny.  Instead, we just bought a coconut from him, he punched a hole and we drank coconut juice.  It was way tasty.  I checked around for some sort of Japanes-ey chess or Shogi set, but no such luck.  Ill keep looking.

(Takoyaki)

I ate Takoyaki for the first time today.  It was so tasty!  (Little octopus balls that are fried in batter, with souce and fish flakes, topped with lots and lots of MAYO.  Everyone loves mayo here.

(Japanese Mayonnaise)

Also, In Japan they are doing sort of the same thing they did in america, where they just give money to everyone that lives in the country.  (we wouldnt actually get it for ourselves, but it might save the church a heck of a lot of money, so Im thinking about it)

Also, Dry cleaning is way cheap here.  I just got a suit and pants cleaned for about $6.

Elder Kowalk also brought some cool music with him.  It is called "Dashboard: confessional instrumental" or something like that.  Apparently it's the Vitamin String Quartet, creating a remake of an actual band.  I love it though.  Oh, and thanks for the folk hymns!

Thanks for everything!  Japan is amazing!

Good luck to everybody!

Have a great week, I know I will!

-Elder Martin Mumford,

T o k y o,

JJJ     A     PP      A      N   N

 J      AA    P P    AA     NN N

 J     AAA   PP    AAA    N NN

J     A    A  P     A    A   N   N