Merry Kurisumasu!

(Elder Mumford and Elder Goes wishing everyone a Merry Kurisumasu! (That's how you would spell it out in Japanese. The "U's" are written out, but not pronounced.)

Here is Elder Mumford's e-mail dated Dec. 28, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

Well, this is the last week of the transfer, and we had a lot of fun together. Elder Goes thinks that he is transfering somewhere, and that I will stay. Anyways, It has been a great Christmas, and now it will be a great New Year.

This week fits perfectly into Shogatsu - from Monday, December 28 to Sunday January 3 everyone gets off work. We've already started to see it. Which is actually really good for us because there are so many more people outside on the streets, even on the weekdays. Yesterday, we went on exchanges with Fujisawa, so Elder Allen came to HIratsuka and Elder Goes went to Fujisawa with Elder Reynolds. It was actually a really fun day. We met two really cool people playing basketball in the park, one of which is the owner of a accupuncure clinic. In Fujisawa we have basketball night every friday, so they wanted to come. We also talked to a whole lot of people on our bikes, and one of them accepted the Book of Mormon, and was very interested in it. One young man was on his way to a cram school, and had no time, but after listening for a little while, he said 'I've only heard a little bit, but I'm very interested in it. It sounds amazing'...

Right now the people we know are:

1. Manabu - He just got back from Florida, and he speaks really good english. He's 28 and has a lot of free time now, so he's been coming to sports night and other events. He's a really cool guy.

2. Higuchi - Amazing family, has a lot of interest. The husband has a mental sickness, and so it's actually really hard to meet with them again, because they go to the hospital sometimes. But when we do meet next, we are going to explain the Book of Mormon, which we gave them last week.

(A portion of the long roll of paper signed by each and every one of Elder Mumford's cousins, aunt's uncles, and other immediate and extended family, and sent to him for Christmas.)

Also, thank you everyone for the amazing Christmas. I especially enjoyed the really long roll of paper that was signed by everyone in the family. It actually took quite a while to read. I think someone wrote in 'reformed Japanese' which I thought was pretty cool.

Also, one of the cousins wrote a cool looking symbol and asked if I knew what it meant. Unfortuanetely I dont, but maybe you could explain? It looked like an M with two lines through it.

Thanks for the great presents, we had an amazing Christmas. It was especially good because that night we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon with the Higuchi family. So we were able to help someone that Christmas. We still have lots of Christmas candy left and we are doing our best to finish it :)

(Another one of Martin's Christmas Presents- Book of Mormon heros that are designed to look like an avatar from a computer game.)

(Click here to see some of the other designs.)

In Japan Christmas is actually a very small holiday. The stores put up Christmas sales. Its more of a couple holiday, where you buy some things for eachother, and eat Christmas cake and chicken. Always cake and chicken. But New Years completely blows Christmas out of the water. There's a whole lot of traditional foods and events that are had around this time.

- Mochi - sticky goo made of pounded rice.

- Zouni - a kind of vegetable soup, but what is funny is that if you mix it up and say NiruZou instead, it means 'boiled elephant' which everyone here finds very amusing.

- Daifuku/Anman - basically bread or mochi filled with ANKO (bean mush)

Well, I think this week is going to be full of miracles. Everyone is out and about, and at night everyone is home. So we should be able to find someone with interest. Im looking forward to 2010 and the new year. Ill have to come up with some new year's resolutions as well. I hope everyone at home, wherever you may be has a great year. The best of luck to all of you.

Happy 2010!

-Love, Elder Mumford

TOKYOJAPANTO

N~~~~~~~~~~~K

A ~~~~~~~~~~~Y

P~~~~~~~~~~~O

AJOYKOTNAPAJ

Season's Greetings!

KFC for Christmas dinner? Yes, it's a Christmas tradition in Japan!

Christmas in Japan is celebrated very differently than in the U.S. For example, it is traditional to order Kentucky Fried Chicken, weeks in advance and then stand in long lines to pick it up on Christmas day. The Christmas meal of fried chicken is followed by the eating of a Christmas cake- which is a sponge cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Many Japanese people are shocked to learn that Americans don't usually eat KFC and Christmas cake on Christmas day as they do. Next comes the gift exchange with your sweetheart, much like our Valentine's day.

(Traditional Japanese Christmas Cake)

Here is Martin's e-mail dated December 21, 2009

Dear Everyone,

We are here on an icy december morning at 'Let's Fujisawa'. Yesterday, we caroled as a zone, and it actually went really well. We had 3 people handing out flyers and trying to get everyone to sing with us, and several people acutally did!

One couple stopped and sang with us, and then because it was his birthday we all sang happy birthday to him and gave him high-fives. He was way happy (turning 22). Also a few professional singers came to join us randomly, one lady directed us like a music conductor, and another one sang some prretty intense opera version of Silent Night.

Also a very drunk man came running by, shook all of our hands and thanked us profusely for singing. Then 20 minutes later he came back with a massive box of orange juices, and gave it to Elder Huntsman, saying 'I ,.. overdrank... but this... NO Alcohol!' Then staggered off as we thanked him. Fun!

We passed out new flyers with the 'who is Jesus Christ' website in Japanese. (Click here to see the new website) It was a test to see how that goes. There's a lot of technology-related updates to the mission now, the flyers all have 'QR' codes on them that cell-phones can scan and see the website right away.

A QR Code (Quick Response Code) found on Japanese flyers, newspaper adds, etc. This is scanned by the camera on a Japanese cell phone, and it takes your phone directly to a website, where you can find more detailed information about the product or service.

Ok, for some questions...

1. Christmas Phone Call! 10:00 is still just fine here. Elder Goes is planning on having his call at 10:00 on the Church Phone, which is fine because they are separate phones in different places. And both you and his parents are in the same time zone, it works really well.

2. Have you tried putting your camera into a bag of dry rice to absorb the moisture? Ill have to try the rice thing and the camera. Ive never heard of it before, but I dont have much to loose :) ALso I think it may be a few weeks (1-2... 3) before I can make my way to Akihabara (Shibuya) to buy a camera. Its probably the best possible place to buy it, so Ill wait till I can go there. In the meantime Im having Elder Goes take double the pictures so when he sends it home his mom can share it. Ill send the SD card really soon, and you can check it.

3. I did get the Christmas package with the last of the music (Volume 4, right?) It was way good! We're going to enjoy this christmas!

In Japan since we always have to be together within sight/sound 24.7, its kind of hard to suprise your companion with presents. So what we did was we went to a cheap candy store, and took turns standing just outside the store while the other one bought candy. I think its going to be lots of fun to open them up! :)

Alright, we have kind of hit a block with investigarors recently, but if you want to pray for someone, we have many people we are trying to meet, but cant yet:

1. Edgar - his life is really hard right now, busy/other problems at work.

2. Jason - american, had a paycheck taken away mysteriously and is having a really hard time finding a job.

3. Vanessa - former investigator, still has the book of mormon

4. Erick - Really cool parent who makes RC cars for a hobby. Invited us in to see them.

5. Lee - Chinese, he loves the missionaries and has been meeting them for many years for 'English class' with a short message at the end. He needs gospel interest though, right now he doesnt really see how it could apply to his life.

And another fun story, I have become the 'mikan nushi' or the 'Lord of Mikans' because we havent had to buy any this transfer, but we keep getting them. We were late for an apointment and really lost one day, and so we stopped by this shop in the middle of nowhere, to ask an old man for directions. It was an alcohol shop but we needed to get there fast. So after the appointment we came back to thank the old man, and he was so touched that he came out with a six-pack of beer and wanted to give it to us. Unfortunately we had to explain that we couldnt drink, but he really wanted to give it to us. He turned around and gave us a bag of mikans instead :) Which we definitely can eat, so we thanked him a bunch.

In America, we know them as SATSUMA Mandarin Oranges. But in Japan, they are called "MIKAN"

Anyways, thanks for all the prayers and support,

I hope everyone has a warm, enjoyable Christmas! Congratulations to all those in the family who are recently married, I wish you the best. Im excited to see everyone this summer!

Have a great week!

-Love

-Elder Mumford,

T oo K yy O jj A pp A nn.

December 14, 2009

Dear Everyone,

Another great week in Shonan. Just so you know, I really dont have that much time here today, we are actually in Shibuya, at the Church PBO Office. So while there are computers here that we can use, there is also a huge mob of missionaries waiting to use them, so Ill keep this rather short.

1. Thank you so much for the Christmas package! I loved the music and all the gifts.

2. Im here with Elder Draney, we are having a Doki Temple Trip today, so all the people I was in the MTC with are going to the temple today after this.

3. Not so good news, My trusty camera finally broke. It lasted a really long time but it had to go someday. I double bagged it, but it got really wet and cold durring a hurricane-esque storm and now it simply died. Ill be sending the SD card home as soon as possible, to see if the pictures are still on it. Im still not sure on what to do about it, if I should buy one here, or if you could use my personal money to buy one in the US. Oh well, in the meantime, Ill just have to send you drawings of what I would normally take pictures of. :)

4. Phone calls at 10:00 on the 25th is still OK. I'll email next week if anything changes. Do you still remember how to make the call from America?

Alright, I dont have a whole lot of time, but just be sure to remind me to tell you the Korean Grandma story next time. It's really funny.

We were able to see a lot of miracles with some new people that we can meet this coming week. If you could continue to pray for;

1. Miyashita-san. We cant get in contact with him. He doesnt have a phone and we dont have his address, so if you could pray that he will have the courage to contact us someday.

2. Tada-san, that she will be able to feel the spirit and have interest. Right now she is interested in the history of the church, but that's about it.

Oh, and me and Elder Goes sent eachother'(s parents a letter. :)

Thank you,

Well, time's up!

Love you, Got to go!! Thanks bye!

-Elder Mumford

TOKYO, JAPAN

The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

(Mount Fuji in all her snowy glory!)

Here is Elder Mumford's Letter dated December 7, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

We're having a great week out here in Shonan. Come to think of it, Im not really even sure why this area is called shonan, there's no city or place around here by that name. But its still lots of fun.

Anyways, as winter approaches, the rain is finally stopping, and I have to bring a jacket in case the weather turns cool. We also both bought cheap 1$ scarfs, but because neither of us knew how to wear them we just put them on and tried to figure it out by trial and error.

VIDEO:

Click on the PLAY arrow to view.

We also had a great mission conference with President Albrecht and Elder Aoyagi of the 70. He gave us a really good talk and a powerful testimony. They talked a lot about working with the members to try and get people's courage up. They discussed how missionaries should be encouraging and not pushy, not constantly demanding members to talk to their friends.

(This is the BIG church where the recent mission conference was held. Yes, it is an LDS church! They don't make them like they used to.)

The hardest part is helping people have the courage to talk to their friends. At times, it almost seems impossible. Some people simply are so terrified and horrified at the idea that they dont want to even tell their closest friends that they are christian, let alone mormon. That fear has been the greatest stumbling block so far. I cant figure out how to help them.

I know that someday that will change, and that widespread fear and hesitation will eventually go away. I want to help NOW but it feels really slow. However, I know that this is the Lord's work and eventually it will change. There is progress, even if it is extremely slow, so that we will one day see the result. I am exited to do it though, because it actually requires us to be creative. The ward has been challenged by the missionaries many many times before in the same way, so now we have to think of something different to figure out what will work.

Anywyas, that's what Ive been thinking and planning about recently. Its much more of a wall than I expected, but if we try our best, be creative, and ask for the Lord to help us, we'll find away over.

All right, now for the questions;

1. Are you still the district leader in your new zone? Its usually for 1 transfer only. I actually stopped being district leader last transfer already. It changes usually every transfer.

The missionaries get to know each other at a district meeting, with an activity on the white board.

2. Would you like us to send you any Christmas decorations? Christmas decorations are always welcome! We actually already have a few nativity sets, however. Also I dont know how possible this is, but do you remember that really good cinnamon milk mix stuff that we had in previous winters? A small bag of that would be amazing. (By the way we still have lots of hot chocolate left, so we're still alright on that front). Also I seem to have misplaced my egg nogg recipie. If you could email it back to me at some point, we'll enjoy some good homemade egg nog this winter.

3. What would you and your companion like for Christmas? Hm... Im trying to think of things that are fun and still missionary-appropriate...

1. Once agian, another calendar. That was a really cool gift last year.

2. Teeth whitening strips. (I should probalby start doing that again). Im doing just fine on everything else medical related.

3. A new Journal. Im actually very close to finishing my one I have now. If it's ok Ill probably send it home for Christmas present, or if you want I can wait till Mother's day.

4. Candy! We love candy. It helps so that I dont have to keep cutting holes in my belt. Like I said, I think we should have gotten the 'reverse-thanksgiving waisband' instead :)

4. The best thing - pictures!

5. There were 2 number 4's. Gomen. (sorry)

6. Completely random, but I just remembered. Elder Goes recommends 2 resuraounts in California as the 'best stuff ever'. These are (1) In and Out burger, and (2) Rubios.

7. Elder Goes says he doesnt really know as far as gifts. However I doubt that he would turn down candy of any sort. :)

And a partrige in a pear tree, if it's OK.

5. How is your Japanese coming. Are you able to understand almost everything now? Japanese is better, always better. Never perfect. I can understand a lot of what people say on the street and in lessons, but the real test is always sacrament meeting. When I first arrived, I could understand about 1% of sacrament meeting. Now I can get about 35%. Ususally missionaries get up to nearly 50% by the end of their mission. However there are always certain speakers (particularly old women who speak really fast and super 'dripping with thick politeness') who I get absolutely 0% of their talk. So I've still got a long way to go.

But in general, with the exception of old people, I can understand maybe 75% of what people say to us on the street. Im learning lots of new words and phrases and grammar just by talking to people on the street.

Also Elder Goes had bike issues this week. We were riding out at the beginnign of the day, and all the sudden he says 'Elder Mumford, my tire is shaking!', and it turns out he had a flat. Well, we couldnt help that, and the town we were going to was REALLY far away, so we took it back to the city, bought a tube, and went back to the apartment real quick. Problem - as we took off the back tire to replace the tube, a lot of stuff started falling out of the middle section. Things that looked like they shouldnt fall out. Very broken things. They were followed by about 18 small ball bearings which immediately siezed the opportunity to scatter in every direction. It was a little problematic, because I being the wonderful bike expert that I am, didnt actually know that those things were in there in the first place. Thus I wasnt sure how to go about putting them back...

The bike shop said they couldnt fix it, and it would take (once again) 3-7 weeks for them to order new parts. So back we went, hoping for the same result as last time.

So we tinkered with it for a while, trying to line up all the little steel balls in a circle inside the tire, but no luck, they just fell out again. Also I got very greasy (see pictures later). We eventually concluded that we couldnt fix it (seing as the main inner chamber thing was actually broken in half), and gave up.

Its OK though, we eventually remembered that one of our investigators, Edgar, has a bike that a missionary gave him a while back, and doesnt really use it. So we are now borrowing that one until we can get the whole situation resolved. Phew.

We actually have a lesson with Edgar tonight. I will be trying to speak spanish a little bit. That's going to be really interesting.

Anyways, that's just some of the things going on around Shonan recently. Its going to be another fun week! Thanks everyone for the support and prayers.

Hope everyone enjoys their Tuesday (or wednsday or whatever it is over there). Thanks!

Love,

- Elder Martin Mumford

Greetings From Shonan!

(Elder Mumford finishes another bottle of Natchan- his new favorite Japanese drink.)

Here is his e-mail dated Nov. 30, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

We're sitting here in a computer center in Fujisawa called "Let's Fujisawa". Sounds like fun.

OK, first, some things that have been happening around Shonan;

1. We housed into an extremely nice family who accepted a book of Mormon. The whole time that we were explaining, all the children were running around wanting to see it, and saying 'Oh its so cool, let me see!'

They are extremely busy (single mom, divorced, she works a full time job and studies school and has 2 daughters) , and so cannot meet us, but we are praying that they will contact us sometime when they are ready.

2. Some cool announcements, apparently they are making the mormon.org in Japanese, to be mormon.jp! (Click HERE to view the sample site) There are conversion stories from many of the members in Tokyo, including Brother and Sister Aoki whom me and Elder Remington met in Kunitachi.

3. I got to meet the ward, and they were all so cool! We have also either visited or accidentaly ran into all of our investigators so far, so Im starting to fugure out who everyone is.

4. The large bulk of our investigators speak only Spanish, or only Portuguese. So Im really trying to work on that, seeing as I have never spoken or even really heard it before. Elder Goes is helping me learn a whole bunch of words, and I can at least say, 'I know the Book of Mormon is true.', and thats about it at the moment. I do feel a wee bit useless in Spanish lessons though.

5. Elder Goes is very sarcastic, so Im having to re-learn how to understand it, after all this time. I seriously don't get it half the time.

6. I shipped my bike in place of my suitcase this time, but when it arrived the chain was actually tied in a horriffic knot somehow. So we took it to the bike shop nearby, who said they COULD fix it, but they would have to replace both the gear and the chain, order new ones custom from some other country, charge us nearly 100$ and have us wait for a long time (estimated 1-2 weeks) before they could see if they could get the parts. We left.

Then we went home, I got out the screwdriver, and fixed the chain myself. Never going back there again.

Anyways, here's our investigators that need help

A. Miyashita-san. He is our Japanese Investigator. He also may or may not have a metal sickness. He wants to be baptized, and so the bishop interviewed him, and said he probably doenst have anything, just that he's got a very unique way of speaking and a lot of strange habits. But the problem is that he has been reading and praying but he says he has felt absolutely nothing. When he prays every day he feels not the slightest change. So we are trying to figure that out. He needs to feel the spirit.

B. Sumiya-family. That family we ran into, that has a book of mormon and is interested in strengthening families, but has no time to hear our message. We visited them, and their kids were already asleep, so we couldnt talk, but we gave them a bag of mikans.

C. Edgar. He speaks Spanish, so that's where I start to get limited in what I can do. But he sounds like a really nice guy, with lots of interest.

Alright so that's the gist of Shonan at the moment.

Also, President Albrecht's current music rule is that its OK if the song is;

1. An LDS artist

2. Sabbath Worship appropriate

Which basically all of the hymn versions are. With the exception of perhaps that rock version of 'If you could hie to kolob'. :) So keep them coming. Also we just barely got the Christmas CD, so thank yoU!!! Elder Goes LOVES music, and his favorite hymn is 'Lead Kindly Light', so that really was impressive when we listened to it on that 'angelic voices' CD. Thank you!

Thank you everyone for the loving support. Its good to know that the family and everyone esle is having a good time out there. We're having a great time in Shonan, and we'll see how things go! Ill be sure to take tons of pictures and videos! Also, If you could hook me up with Mallory's new address again, Im going to try and send everyone a mini Christmas package/present thing.

Thanks everyone!

Love,

Elder Mumford,

NIHON,TOKYO,SHONAN.

Tanoshinde,ne!