The Chronicles of Koiwa

Japan is somewhat famous for their highly sophisticated toilets. Here are some interesting pictures of some of the bathrooms, taken by a fellow Tokyo missionary, Elder Wyman:

This is above the toilet in one of the nicer Tokyo meetinghouses. The buttons say (from left to right) "Stop"; "Rear end"; "softly"; "???"; and "Dry".

Squater style toilet, common in public restrooms, in the park or city.

Which one is the boy's and which one is the girls?

Yup, you can wash your hands immediately after using the bathroom. (Dont worry, the water goes FIRST through the hand wash, and THEN into the bowl :) It's actually quite an efficient use of water!

Now for Elder Mumford's E-mail dated 6-30-10:

Dear Everyone,

This week the rain has been a bit off and on, and the humitidy has been through the roof. Today we had a great P-day. While we were out on the streets the other day, we were looking for an address, and we stumbled across a little park with a lake. Then the lake turned into a river, with really cool looking Japanese-style gardens to either side. So we decided that on P-day we would come back and explore the park. So we woke up bright and early, and booked it over to the river. It turned out that the river was actually really long, and the park extended for quite some time, but we went the entire way by foot and took tons of pictures.

So this was a very fun P-day so far. :)

Also a few things happened durring the week that you should know about;

1. Many of our investigators decided to stop meeting with us. Unfortunate, but they didnt have much more interest, and so we had to say goodbye. Right now we are only really working with 2 people left:

1. Yoshida, who is going to read and pray, and wants to build his faith in Jesus Christ.

2. Shinobu, who is less active, and cuts our hair. We're going to get Elder Merrell's haircut on Friday, so we should talk more then.

And that's it. We could really use your help and your prayers for these people. They are in percarious circumstances, they both want to come closer to Christ but don't really know how to find that answer for themselves. That is both of their challenges, to know for themselves. If you have any advice we could share (especially with Shinobu) about how to know thast this church is true for yourself, I would love to hear it next week. He has read the entire Book of Mormon, and is working on the Bible, but still has not found a difinitive 'answer' that has proved to him that the church is true. We told him that the answer is not going to be found on a single, hidden page in the scriptures somewhere, but the answer will come depending on sincere prayer, study, and the timetable of God. Alright, that is the situation right now.

Thanks for all of your wonderful support on my mission so far. I have loved hearing from all of you. Im sorry I coudn't really give much of a reply, but Im sure that Ill be able to thank each of you personally when I return.

Ok, some interesting stories;

A. We were planning for our week together in the apartment, when suddenly the doorbell rings, and to our great suprise, there is a huge package containing... and Ice Cream Cake! We both opened it up, and it said 'Happy Birthday Elders!'. So Elder Merrell's parents had sent this cake, we were way happy. But we had a bit of a problem, in that our fridge is only so big, and it's already pretty cluttered. So what we ended up having to do was cut the cake into several squares, and individually wrap them in seranwrap, then freeze them. We have been trying to eat as many as we can each day, but it's actually very filling.

(Thank goodness the Merrells sent an ice cream birthday cake! This is what happened the last time the Elders tried baking a birthday cake.)

So we gave another slice to Yoshida, our investigator, and we're going to have to give several more to the Sister Missionaries, because Im not sure we can eat all of it ourselves. Very fun though! And it is so extremely good, after all this time of no sweet it actually overwhelmed me at first. Im not used to that much sugar at once :) Probably some foreshadowing for when I get home

Don't be too discouraged if Im not able to eat super sweet things, or even a lot of anything. I think my ability to eat a lot has gone down a bunch. But no worries, Ill try my best to regain all that :)

(This really was a SAD "Happy Birthday" cake)

B. We were returning home one night, and on the way the last person that we talked to was a nice Japanese man, maybe in his 50's. As the conversation progressed, we were building more and more of our hopes, because the longer he talked, the more he seemed to know about the church. He knew about every book and teaching, and he knew the history of the church in the city where we live, how it used to be a Branch. We were wondering 'who is this guy!? Was he studying a long time ago?' But then he told us that he was a member, and had joined the church 30 years ago. And from that point on it went downhill... He didnt want to ever come back again, but he was so extremely appreciative of us talking to him, but he said that we should probably spend our efforts and time on someone else. It was unfortunate, but he was really set on not coming back to church. He loves the Book of Mormon and everything about us and the church, but just doesnt want to continue I guess.

(Elders with the Higuchi Family)

But the real miracle is that on the way back, walking with him back to our apartment, there was this guy from Nepal who was handing out flyers for his curry restraunt. We were about to pass him, but then this member decided to take one of the flyers. And so we also took one, and started talking to him. It turns out that he has been in Japan for a while, and his name is Mohan. We gave him one of our flyers as well. That was all good and well, but then the NEXT day we saw another miracle.

He Called us at night, and told us that he had read our flyer. He said, maybe we can help each other out, because he had some friends who might be interested in our message, and we could help him by coming to his curry restraunt sometime. :) Well, we do like curry, so maybe we'll go sometime and check up on his friends :)

(Curry- Made by the Elders)

Anyways, Im going to send this letter off, and if there is anything that needs adding, Ill do so.

For now, thank you everyone. I love to hear from you. I love Japan, and I love the experiences Im having here. Ill try to share more and more of them with you each week. I hope that everyone has a good week and has fun! Thanks!

Keep 'em coming! Letters make a missionary's day!

Love,

Elder Martin Mumford

-TOKYO, JAPAN

The Last Transfer!

Excerpts from Elder Mumford's e-mail, dated June 21, 2010:

Dear Everyone,

Happy Fathers Day!

First of all, the transfer information;

1. I will be staying in Koiwa.

2. Elder Williams went to Kisarazu with Elder Bryant.

3. My new companion is Elder Merrell, from California. He also spent a little bit of time at BYU before his mission. He is on his 2nd transfer right now.

So this is it! Just me and Elder Merrell in Koiwa. It should be a great one!

(Mount Fuji on a clear day, as seen from the window of the Shonan, Japan Apartment)

So far so good, the rain hasn't really started yet. Im really suprised, we are supposed to be getting buckets of rain every day, and although it has been cloudy and very humid, nothing's really happened yet. So fortunately, we are still enjoying being out on the streets without getting wet. :)

Elder Merrell is also planning on going into media/games after his mission, so I think that we will get along very well.

Also, some other random news, I now have completed package installment 1 of 2. (It's a smaller one). I will send part 2 in a few weeks, which will contain some more of the heavier items (including Nicholas the bear!). So you can expect a lot of fun things coming your way. In terms of a package coming to Japan, we will always welcome cheese, but in fact at the moment we already have a lot of peanut butter. Thank you though. If I had to think of a request, maybe reese's bits or cups. Elder Merrell is actually allregic to nuts, so anything without nuts should be fine :)

(Nicholas The Bear- an ancient Ainu relic, inherited by Elder Mumford, will soon make his way home to America)

(This bear has made an appearance in every set of pictures that Elder Mumford has sent home. Each time he is sporting a different look. Here, he is shown wearing one of the "stick-on" mustaches that have been so popular with the Japan missionaries.)

Alright, so on to the best part---

Some highlights of the past week;

1. We met with a few people last week, one of which was a little late. So we were just waiting for him at the station, next to the big Sumo statue (where most people meet in Koiwa). As we were waiting, this old, bearded homeless man comes over to us, and asked us for some money. Unfortunately, as missionaries we (1) don't even have much money, and (2) aren't allowed to give money to anyone (It's not even ours). So we had to explain that to him. He saw that we weren't going to give him anything so he was about to leave. Then he reached over, and grabbed my hand and kissed it, which was really wierd, but then he went over to Elder Williams as well, did the same, then dived over and gave him a big wet smacker right on the cheek! Then he laughed and walked away. And while we were just sitting there in shock, our investigator showed up (probably only 2-3 seconds later), and we didnt even have time to laugh about it or figure out what just happened. So that was a rather suprising experience. :)

(This Sumo statue is a popular meeting place in the Koiwa train station. It is common to hear someone say "Just meet me at the Sumo!")

2. We met with Yoshida, our main investigator. We taught him about the plan of salvation, which he thought was nice. And from now on he will try to read and pray to know that it is true. He really does want to know.

VIDEO:

Click "Play" to view Elder Mumford and Elder Williams on a recent Homemade Taco Night.

3. Me and Elder Williams were getting seriously Taco-ed out after a while (w were having them nearly every day), and so we bought tons of vegetables and figured out how to make a really good stir fry to put on rice. So now we have all those ingredients and are doing pretty good. We still have yet to try out the steel-cut oats, but I want to do it soon.

(Jiru Ramen Shop in Tokyo. This is where the locals eat!)

4. Speaking of food, we have the best Ramen in the entire mission in Koiwa (I know everyone says that, but I've tried a LOT of different ramens, and this one is the best one so far!). It's called 'Jiro', and there's a LOT of food that they give you. If we visit Japan agian as a family, that would be a very good place to come.

(Famous garlic, pork ramen dish, served at the Jiru Ramen Shop)

5. This transfer, we are going to stop trying to focus on EVERYONE at once. That just hasn't worked really all that well. We are going to prayerfully select only a few of the top people in the Ward, our Investigators, people that we really can help right now if we focus on them.

At the moment, we have;

a. Yoshida (our investigator)

b. Sekino (another investigator)

c. Shinobu (a less active who has been considering coming back, but still doesnt know if it is true)

There are others, but that is our primary concern right now. Im sure that they would benefit from your prayers.

(Activity at the Shonan Ward Campout)

I just wanted to leave you with a quick thought. Got will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able. Our choices are always in our power. He will never allow us to be forced to chose wrong, nor will he force us to make the right choice, but He will always ensure that we are capable of making a choice. One thing that we have been speaking about recently is how God is our heavenly father. He really is in every way. Like a father, he doesnt want his kids to hang around the house and just live purely off of his guidance and help for their entire lives, he desires their independance. We are still weak, unsure, like children, but he is preparing us to become independant, to be able more and more to survive on our own. As we get stronger, we understand more about how to recognize the spirit. We have a long way to go, but we all decide to progress or degress baced on our choices. It's a very simple plan that he has for us, but a powerful one, because our eventual goal is to become like Him. And what an incredible goal that is!

When you think about life with that goal in mind, it becomes very clear what is important and what is not important.

(Scenery from the Shonan Ward Campout)

One quote (I forgot who said this), is 'When you put the Lord first, all other things will fall into place, or drop out of our lives.'

When we truly dedicate ourselves to what is best for us (the plan that he gave us), I think our priorities will become less grey. It is difficult to keep an eternal perspective, but if we do we can make the right decisions, for the right reasons! Anyways, just a thought for today.

I love you all, I will see you soon. good luck and have fun,

Elder Martin D Mumford,

TOKYO, JAPAN.

Expect the Unexpected!

For some reason, this video really made me laugh!

What do you think?

VIDEO:

Click on the "PLAY" arrow to view.

And now for Elder Mumford's e-mail, dated June 14th, 2010:

Dear Everyone,

Some new news,

We have officially entered the perpetual rainstorm that is June-July. Im really glad though, because up till now we have had perfect weather every single day this transfer, and the rain is only just now starting to come down. However, Koiwa is such an awewsome area that even in the hardest rain durring the most deserted time of day we can still meet lots of cool people out on the street who are willing to listen to us. I don't really understand it, because there is just such a huge noticable difference between everywhere I've been before, and Koiwa, in that everyone we talk to will listen to us and try to understand what we are saying. Maybe it's the conditions here, or the area, or the kind of people that live around here, maybe it's our attitude (Elder Williams is the man, he has the best attitude of anyone I've ever met so far on my mission). Maybe it's just our outrageously good looks, or skillfull intelligent Japanese, or maybe our exceptionally great humility (we're probably the most humble companionship in the mission, if I do say so myself).

(Elder Mumford and Elder Williams- Dashingly Handsome!)

Or maybe the Lord just sees fit to show us miracles every day, because in the grand scheme of his great plan (of which we are only a tiny little piece), the timing is just right, in this place, that we should see them.

But whatever the reason, we are working hard and we are happy here in Koiwa. I really hope that I get to stay here, it's been an awesome experience. I think the coolest thing that could possibly happen is if me and Elder Williams get to stay here in Koiwa, but I dont know yet what's going to happen. Whatever does happen, we'll both do great wherever we end up, Im sure.

It sounds like you've been having some cool miracles at home recently as well. I really think that God is willing to give you opportunities to help others, only to the extent that you want to have them, and when you take that step, the chance to follow through and help someone will be given.

Recently we have had some nice things happen;

We have 4 investigators right now, and 1 Less active we're focusing on;

1. Yoshida - met on the street, taught him about the restoration, and he had interest but didnt want to give us any contact info. He showed up to English Class on Wednesday, and signed up for a 30 minute introductory lesson. After the lesson he said he had interest in religions and would like to hear about the restoration, which we are going ot teach him today. We thought that that would be that, and that the next time we would see him would be today, but on Sunday, he just showed up to church, all by himself without us even inviting him, and he stayed for all 3 hours. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and were able to explain just a little bit about it. So today should be really interesting.

(Elder Mumford and the Sumo Wrestler. They meet him at a restaurant, so he can eat, while they teach him.)

2. Higuchi - a genki nice grandpa who has been coming to English class for a long time, but recenetly he would like to hear more about the Purpose of Life, so we are meeting him on Weednesday to discuss more about the plan of Slavation. He is very nice, and has read a little of the book of mormon before.

3. Sekino - The miracle man from a few weeks ago, who just invited us to come to his house and teach a lesson. He cant meet until the 21st of June, so we just dropped off a lesson pamphlet in the mean time. But when that day comes he should ha ve lots of questions.

(Elder WIlliams with the Sumo.)

4. Taiun - a 20's ish Chinese student who we met on the street. He also came to all 3 hours of church, and also a Family Home Evening at a member's house afterwards. Unfortunately, he doesnt really speak Japanese, or even English, and so we are having a very hard time explainign what it is that we do exactly. He wants to meet, but we can't really effectively explain much, only when we write the Kanji whe will understand it. So we are waiting a little bit more until one of the Chinese members in the ward has a little bit of time to come to a lesson and help us out. Both Taiun and Yoshida want to come to Stake Conferecen next week.

(5) Also, Shinobu, a less active, who was baptized when he was 8, but ever since then never came to church. He doesnt know much about the church, but he recently read the entire book of mormon in 1 week. He also cuts the missionaries hair for free, so he has lots of experience with missionaries. Recently he has nwanted to get an answer or a confirmation about the church really bad, but even reading the book of mormon didnt seem to give him what he was looking for. He is going to try to read the whole bible too, but our concern is that reading the entire bible is nice, but much like reading the entire book of mormon, the answer is not information. The answer is not hidden on page ?? somewhere, and knowing more information won't really help you with Faith. So from now we are trying to help him get an answer by building faith, rather than knowledge.

If you could pray for these 5 people, I think that God will assist them in their persuit of happiness.

(Jo (from Brazil) Elder King, Elder Mumford, and Manabu-san.)

Anyways, thanks for everything that you do for me, thanks for the great letters, and packages, and everything else. This is a great time to be in Japan!

Have a great week!

-Elder Martin Mumford

TOKYO JAPAN.

Miracles

E-mail dated 6/6/10:

Dear Everyone,

First of all, the non-spiritual stuff :)

I put the SD card in an envelope last week... and we never sent it. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we have been blessed with a lot of teaching/finding opportunites, and we have not had a spare moment to hit up the post office. But to day is finally P-day, and I will send it right away.

Ok, now for this week's experiences:

Miracle #1- About a month ago, Elder Williams and his trainer Elder Macdonald met a sumo on the train ride home. It turns out he lives really close to us and to the church, and so they exchanged phone numbers. Then, two weeks ago, we called and were able to set up an appointment to meet him over Udon (thick Japanese noodle soup) to talk about what we do here in Japan. We met him in the restraunt, and asked him a lot about what kind of training it takes to become a Sumo, which there is a lot. (bad english, sorry)

(2 Nephi 4:34)

(click on scripture reference to view)

I thought there might be some sort of diet or special perscribed food, but he just said that they can eat anything at all, as long as they eat a lot of it. (He's a very, very huge guy. He's only 20, and he's dual majoring with economics and sumo wrestling). So then we asked him if there was any mental training involved, and there was, a lot like meditation. And so we connected it to how in life of course we train our bodies, but in a very similar way we are here to train our spirit as well, and the more we work at it the stronger it gets. And God has shown us the way, but like the coach and the sensei give directions on the best way to improve. We may think that we know best, but in reality if we follow exactly what the sensei and coaches say, we will improve more than we could by ourselves.

So that turned out to be a great meeting, and he wants to meet us agian sometime for a legitimate lesson. Of course, we had to take pictures after :)

(More "old Japanese arms")

Miracle #2 - We met a chinese college student on the street on sunday, and then on monday we had an appointment with some members for dinner. Right outside their house, we were 5 minutes early, so we crossed the street to see if we could talk to maybe one more person. And right there we met the same guy again! His name is Taiun, and he just barely came to Japan 2 months ago. He was going home to make dinner for himself, so we invited him to come with us to the dinner with the members which actually turned out great! We happened to have a Chinese book of mormon on us, which we could give to him. So we basically all just explained what the book is about and why it is importnat to us.

And now we are going to meet today too, to talk more about it.

Miracle #3 - MAPLE SYRUP... THANK YOU!!!! that is so precious and valuable. I think with the bottle, and the make-it-yourself bottle we now have enough for the rest of this transfer and the next. Thanks so much.

(Precious "maple" syrup- A real treat in Japan.)

Miracle #4 - On sunday, we met with 3 other chinese college students. (there are actually a LOT of chiense people living in our area), who we were also able to give 3 more book of mormons to. One of them had studied religions of the world pretty thuroughly, and the other two were very interested. So that was a miracle as well.

Miracle #5,6,7,8,9... etc... This week was nothing but miracles, this coming week is also lined up to be amazing. Im sure I forgot most of them, but Ill try to de better at remembering next week. I actually have a little less time now, because we have started getting some peoples emails on the street, and Im using a part of my email time to talk to them and see if we can meet. But I think it will just be a temporary thing. but thank you everyone for the great support, I really can feel the love of everyone praying for me and supporting me half-way across the world.

This is the best time ever,

Thanks, Have Fun!

Elder Martin Mumford,

Tokyo, JAPAN.