Miracles

(Elder Mumford gives "Flat Stanley" a tour of important landmarks in Japan)

And now for Elder Mumford's e-mail dated April 5, 2010:

Dear Everyone,

I hope you have been having a great time. I certainly have been!

So sorry about the crazy mishap last time, I didnt really get to put my heart into a normal email because I was actually trying to cancell the credit cards as fast as possible. But I have some exciting news about that...

So I got everything cancelled, and talked to the police and the train station people, and got it all sorted out. So the process to get new everything has already been started. And then... I get a post card in the mail saying someone had found my wallet! Some really nice person had found it and turned it in. Which by itself was shocking, but apparently its very common in Japan.

This is the safest country on the face of the earth. So now we are going to Tokyo this week for a Zone Conference, at which point Ill be able to simply go and pick up the wallet. It doesnt really do much now, because I already started to get replacements, but at least I can feel safe and sound about it, and I dont have to re-get some items. So no worries. :)

(What Japan missionaries do for fun, in their spare time!)

This week has been really fun, namely because Elder King and I have a lot in common and we have a LOT to talk about. We're both Washingtonians, and we both really like books and games. So it's been really strange at some points because it feels like I'm talking to myself sometimes. We're very similar people. Which means that we have the same strengths but also the exact same weaknesses.

We're both sort of shy people, so there are many times when it's very, very difficult for either of us to muster up the boldness to teach people what they need to know. With Elder Matias it was easy, because he had no fear about anything. So right now that is our challenge. We both have to take on more responsibility than we have had before.

VIDEO:

Elder Matias: Completely uninhibited!

(Click the "PLAY" arrow above to view video)

SO I was thinking about giving everyone a little peek into the daily life of a missionary here in Japan:

Our apartment in Shonan is huge (4 people used to live in it), but that also makes it really hard to clean. It gets dusty very fast. We eat almost exclusively 'rice with something on top' meals. Mainly the kind that are extremely cheap at the big stores... Curry, Chahan (fried rice), and Mabodofu (no idea in english). All rice foods, but quick, easy, and cheap, and delicious. So that's pretty much the staple.

To make a meal, we wash the rice and put it in the Suihanki (rice cooker), usually durring study so that it will be ready by lunchtime. Then we fry up whatever goes on top. We have a huge collection of random spices from some missionary a long time ago, so we've been dumping those in to see what happens, like thyme. No idea how to use that but it smells good :)

(You can see the white japanese style "rice cooker". When closed, it looks much like a CD player.)

But recently Elder King has gotten his easter package, which among other things, contained a kit to make soft tacos. So we have enjoyed a couple meals already with refried beans, cheese, and meat. We also threw some chives we had into the mix. So that was a welcome exception to the daily rice meals.

(Common Japanese dinner item, called "Mabodofu." It looks terrible, but tastes great!)

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

As far as shopping, we usually go for the 'Cheapest is ALWAYS best'. Which I think all missionaries do. Especially here, where the cheapest is in no way dangerous, it just doesnt taste as good. Japan has a few thigns that are much better than the US, such as fruit and milk, however, we but the cheap kind so it ends up being about the same. (Although, last year in Kawasaki, I did decide to buy a giant, 5$ Fuji Apple, to see if it was worth it. It was :) ).

(Grocery shopping in Japan)

But enough about what we do, I have to tell you about our new district.

1. (SHONAN) Elder King and I.

2. (ATSUGI) Elder Gerber, and Elder Barton (?) He's from Hawaii.

3. (ODAWARA) Elder Peterson (from the MTC, he's from Kelso), and Elder Crapo (from Canada - Alberta).

Elder Crapo and Barton are both beans, so this is their second week in Japan. It should be lots of fun!

Its been particularly rainy, but despite of that we were able to meet with some cool people and have some memorable experiences. Ill share some of them.

1. So we decided to visit every single member of the ward as soon as possible. So our first day here, we went and took a picture of the two of us, (with mustaches), printed it out and wrote a little self-introduction on it, then mass copied them to give to all the members. So we've delivered those to nearly everyone. (For some reason all my sentences start with 'so'). So one of these visits, the family came out and their daughter was really excited to see us (she's 8). She said that since we were doing missionary work around the area, that we should check out the house next to them. And also the house next to that. As well as all the houses in the neighborhood. And if we had time everyone in the next neighborhood too. :)

It was pretty good sounding advice, so we did. One of the houses we knocked on, a nice family opened up. They opened the door, and immediately all of the children (7 kids) ran out and were jumping all over the place and wanted to know what was going on. The mom wasn't particularly interested in the message, but felt bad for us in the rain, and decided to give us an umbrella.

It was actually a really nice umbrella. :) So just a funny story of the kindness of a family we met.

(Elder Mumford enjoys "PAN" or bread from Ja-PAN)

2. We also met with the Higuchi family (a couple), and talked a lot more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and baptism. They really are at a critical time in their lives right now. They want to know what is true, and they will be praying and reading to find an answer from God. If you could always keep them in your prayers that they might be able to find an answer to theirs.

Also this Saturday and Sunday we are going to see General Conference! Woooo! It really is liek the missioanry Superbowl. So Ill have to give you all a nice summary of what I learned next week. Oh and I also got the letter from the Young Women in the ward, thank you so much! Ill try and put together a letter for them this week and ship it off by the next.

For now that's about it. Thanks for the wonderful letters and pictures. I love hearing about all your adventures. I appreciate your prayers for me. Hope y'all have a great time. Good luck and have fun!

Love,

Elder Martin D. Mumford

TOOKYO JAPAN