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.
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.
When I first read it, I thought it was "dry ice" not "Dry Rice." I hopew what ever it is, does in fact work!
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