Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Syrup

Elder Mumford and Elder Kowalk are coveting the precious maple flavored syrup that was sent to Elder Saunders as a birthday present.

Fortunately, Elder Saunders was willing to share his syrup with the district.  Click "Play" below to see their special Conference/Easter/Birthday breakfast.

VIDEO: Click Play

Now here is Martin's e-mail dated June 4, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

As always, it has been an eventful and crazy week in Kawasaki.  We have had a lot of experiences, from rediculous, to creepy, to amazing, to miraculous.  Ill share a few;

1. Ishitani, Kazu had a lesson this week.  We are still learning about the commandments, and this time we talked about the law of tithing.  We werent planning on it, but he was asking questions about it and we felt it was the right time to explain tithing to him.  One cool thing that helped - He was having a hard time imagining why people would give up their money to a church, and said some of these commandments sound too strict.  We told him it isn't about finding the religion that is the least/most strict, its about what is TRUE and right.  If God commands us to pay 10% we pay 10%.  If he commands us to pay 100% we pay 100%.  Then I shared a story that really helped.  It was one that Mom told us a few times at home, about when you and Dad stopped paying tithing for a little while, and fell into some hard times.  Then when you began again everything eventually turned out ok again.  That helped him understand a little bit about why we do what God wants.  Because we are blessed.

2.  We had another lesson with our favorite grandpa, Urushizako-san.  Once again, Brother Hata helped us out (with translation).  All I can say though, is that the two of them are like those two Muppet grandpas.  All they do is just sit and laugh and tell jokes and stories and laugh some more.  They are both super nice, and Urushizako-san is learning a little bit at a time, so we keep meeting.  Each time it just cracks me up, because theyre just the genkiest old fellers you ever did see.  Reminds me of the muppets every time. 

For example we were talking about commandments and how they are like the laws of the land:  If you dont keep the commandments (laws) you might be arrested.  Then Urushizako went off on a random story about how he was arrested when he was young.  Then it turned into a big old discourse on how nice it was in the detention center thing, 'They give you free food, and a free place to sleep, it really wasnt that bad at all!'  The hard thing is that he doesn't even seem to take a pause for breath, let alone a pause in the conversation.  Its so hard to stop him once he starts a story, and each story goes for 15-20 minutes. :p  Oh well.  He has a good, spiritual time whenever he comes, so at least there's that.  

Good news is, it turns out he has been keeping all of the word of wisdom (including eating meat sparingly and fruits in season) for several decades before we met him!  We read it and he agrees with everything.  Way crazy.

3. We met with some nice SGI people, they took us out to a really nice restraunt.  They want to know our opinions on EVERYTHING, including the big bang, evolution and whether people can change their destiny and stuff.  I have no idea, so I just kept telling them 'I have no idea'.

We did have a really good conversation about religion though.  I think they might want to meet us again sometime too.  Way nice.

4.  Really rare... someone actually gave us a referral off the street. He didnt have much interest so we asked if any of his friends did.  He said, 'Yeah, hold on I know a guy' and immediately pulled out his cell phone and called him up... 'Hey, its me...  I'm with these missionary people, do you want to meet them sometime?'  It was amazing.  Just so you know, in Japan, when you ask someone 'Do you know anyone with interest in any religion?'  99.99% chance they will say 'Um.... um.... no, not really.'  But we got lucky.  Basically, the saying is, 'You must ask 1000 people before it happens'.  Really cool experience.

Also, We went to Asakusa today, looking for Dad's chess set, but it wasnt there either.  That thing is so hard to find!  Not even the antique/souvenier shops (in the souvenier capital of Tokyo) had it.  So I may very well NOT be sending a package quite yet.  Theres a bunch of things I need to send home, so Ill do that within the next 2 weeks.  (Gifts Ive recieved but dont want destroyed by the moving company [curse you SAGAWA!], all the letters Ive gotten out here and want to read when I return...etct...)

Also, through the wonderfully accurate missionary grapevine (My companion was told in his Mission President Interview), I have heard that I will be leaving Kawasaki, and I have not the slightest idea where.  This Saturday (June 6) I will find out where and with who I will be going.  The following Wednesday (possibly Thursday) (10th or 11th)  I will send an email with all the new info.  (so just hang tight until then!)

Elder Kowalk, Elder Saunders, Elder Mumford, and Elder Kendall, touring China Town in Yokahama, Japan. (Click on picture to enlarge)

Aaaah!  Its almost time to go!  Today was extremely crazy, we went to Asakusa and while we were there we got all these phone calls from half the ward and half our investigators about lessons/cancelling/just wanting to say hi/crazy things they wanted us to do/other missionaries...  so now we are hoping no one calls us for this one hour, but we got to go soon to a lesson (which may or may no longer be happening, but we dont have the joint's phone number so we have to go anyways just to meet him and tell him there is no lesson and aaaargh there is a lot of stress right now!)

anyways...

today was busy.

But I wish everyone good luck, have fun and keep on keeping on.  Hope everyone can last another week without hearing my sweet words :)  Enjoy!

-Elder Martin Mumford

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