Shonan

(A cool sign, captured by the camera of Elder Mumford)

Each time Elder Mumford sends a batch of photos home, there are MANY, MANY pictures of buildings, or statues, or signs that he found interesting. Sometimes it's a curious example of architecture, or a close- up of a highly detailed hand rail on a stairway. There are usually so many of these types of pictures on his photo card, that there is not room enough to post them all. So here are a few photos from his architecture collection, interspersed within his e-mail from the week, beginning November 23rd, 2009:

(Complex Neon Lighted Sign)

Dear Everyone,

Sorry, this week is going to be more like a bonus because Im emailing on Monday. Anyways, transfers have happened.

1. I am now in SHONAN area, which is actually kind of close to my bean area, yokosuka.

2. My companion is Elder GOES from Brazil/California. He is on his 3rd transfer, just like Elder Remington. Also, Elder DRANEY, my MTC companion is going to be in our district! So this should be fun.

I still miss Kunitachi a lot, and its going to take a few days to adjust to Shonan after spending so much time in my previous area, but Im looking forward to all the things we will do in the days to come.

(Cool sculpture)

Some last updates about Kunitachi before I turned it over to Elder Remington and Elder Kondo;

- Nakamura-san came to stake conference even though he had the flu a few days before and couldnt make it to English Class. He likes church a lot and he took the Book of Mormon this time. He had already read 60 pages of the 'Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith' text, which someone had given him last Sunday. Kind of random. He says he has TONS of questions, but we cant seem to set an appointment with him to answer any of them. I suppose if anyone needs help, he needs your prayers that he will come to understand the importance of meeting the missionaries, instead of studying on his own.

(Detail from the bottom of a Japanese birdhouse.)

OK, so some things about Shonan. I havent met any members yet, or investigators or anyone else so all I have to go off of is what Elder Goes has told me. We have 2 fairly large cities within our area. If you look on the mission map, Shonan is the area with two huge bulb-things with a tiny road that connects them. From the sound of it we never go to the big bulb, and stay exclusively within our little bubble near the ocean. It is kind of exciting because Elder Fukuda, Elder Morris, and Elder Frank have all served in Shonan, and have all had great things to say about it. This is going to be so much fun.

(A 4 story McDonalds)

Elder Goes is originally from Brazil, and spent 10 years in California, so he speaks fluent Portugese, Spanish, and English. We also have a LOT of Pourtugese, Spanish, and English-speaking investigators, which means that I need to figure out how to bear my testimony in more than just 1 of the 3. That should be fun. He worked in In and Out burger for a long time in California :)

(Curious Architecture)

The apartment is HUGE, possibly the biggest I have ever been in in all my mission. However today we need to shop because there is literally no food. (We opened up the fridge and theres about 3 packs of Natto, some Kimuchi, and a half-bottle of mayonase).

This is also the largest area I have ever served in. We have a huge wall-to-wall map of the lower half of the smaller bubble. Essentially to ride our bikes from one end to the other (the long way) would take more than 5 hours.

(Detailed roof of a temple)

Also I hope my bags get here, because I told them to go to 'Shimomia' when really the city is called 'Shinomia' (The Kanji is very different, but over the phone it sounded strikingly similar).

(Interesting Archway)

So, it looks like Ill be spending the Christmas and winter in Shonan this year. Should be lots of fun! From what I hear there are about 50 people in the ward and they are all very nice and like the missionarie. :)

We're going to see if we cant work some miracles here. We already met an interesting man last night who loved history, and loved to talk about Europenan and American history (including religious history). So that was interesting. He actually talked to us (more AT us than to us) at the door for more than 30 minutes. He was a fun little grandpa.

(Creatively covered roadway)

We email every Tuesday, so there should be no problems at all. As Christmas gets closer Im going to email you with the details of the phone call :) Anyways, that's all I know at the moment, so Ill tell you more next week as I figure it out.

(Unusual Building)

I hope everyone is doing well and exceeding all expectations at whatever aspect of life they are currently applying themselves in. (did that sentence make sense?) Im excited to hear about everyone's lives and glad to see pictures. I also sent a package just barely, so within 1-2 weeks you should get a new batch of pictures. Gomen, (sorry) its not quite as many as last time, but it should keep you busy for a little while at least. It also includes my 3-transfer newsletters, so enjoy!

To everyone, I wish good luck! Have Fun!

-Love, Elder Mumford,

JAPAN, TOKYO, SHONAN.