Elder Cook regains his thumb skills as the worlds fastest text messager, by practicing on the new mission cell phone. Elder Mumford looks on in awe!
Dear Family,
Thanks for the letters and the support!
First off, sorry for the confusion yesterday. Our normal email place was actually closed for some reason, but today theyre open. Also, Im going to try mailing a little letter today on some really funny stationary I found at the 100 yen store.
Time actually goes MUCH quicker here in Japan, and I cant believe it has already been another week! Once again, I apologize for any errors (I cant seem to find some punctuation marks on these keyboards, so youll have to add the apostraphies and such).
This has been a great week in Yokosuka! The USS George Washington (a VERY large aircraft carrier) just pulled in on Friday in the base, so Yokosuka is flooded with Americans right now.
Also, were meeting with Yamaguchi-san, and he decided on Sunday that he wants to be baptized. Unfortunately, he is attending J-tai (A Japanese Military School) and is only actually alowed to leave the campus on weekends, so setting a specific day is kind of tricky.
Also, we had mission conference this week! I got to see all my old friends from the MTC, and saw Elder Meline there! I think hes almost done with his mission. So, we had a nice long meeting about the Book of Mormon, and recieved flu shots (yay). And after the conference, President Hill revealed that the mission will now be using cell-phones! This makes it much easier on District Leaders like Elder Cook, and actually will save the mission money (missionary to missionary calls are free). It was kind of funny because of Elder Cook being the worlds fastest texter.
The language is still tough, but Im starting to understand a little bit. It should be much easier to study once I find a good electronic dictionary, so I can look up Kanji and things. Its really hard to find a good one thats a reasonable price.
Also they have a program here called "Mogi" where you make appointments with members or less-active members to practice your japanese by teaching a lesson. That alone has been really helpful for me to practice asking questions/understanding answers and such.
And to answer some of your questions:
1 Do you want me to send you new music that is exclusively from the approved list? Ill continue listining to my music. I didnt realize that most of it was OK, because I was checking albums and not authors. Thanks for the update! Ill be just fine then, until we do a switch.
2 Is yours one of those missionary appartments that has cupboards full of little Christmas trees or would you like me to send you one? Our apartment doesnt have any little christmas trees, but I think well be fine as far as decorations. Our mailbox is actually kinda small, and doesnt have a lock, so I dont know how packages work. Thanks, though.
3 Were you able to get a power converter for your American appliances, razor, camera, etc.? The power here is actually the same. For some reason I thought I needed a converter, but everything works just fine!
4 Did you get the letter I sent you with the Japanese address label. Satomi looked up your address, and said she thinks there is a dentist office in your building, based on the advertising. Yup, I got the letter! And yes, we live on the 4th floor, and there is a dentist office on the first. The receptionist always waves at us when we go out or in of the apartment!
5 Is there an American family who is having you over for Thanksgiving dinner? Yes, yesterday we went to a pot-luck style thanksgiving with the Martinezs. They had turkey and everything, because it was on the base.
I know that this is where I need to be right now, and so far everything is going great! The members are wonderful and the people we meet are extremely polite. I keep looking outside and realizing that Im in Japan! Ill try to send the pictures home too, maybe this or next week.
Thanks everyone! Good luck!
-Elder Martin Mumford
-Tokyo, JAPAN
Ive got a bunch of pictures, some of which of me eating natto for the first time.
If you can find it in the US, you should try natto. (ナット) or (なっと）。
(Fermented soy beans)
It usually comes in a little white foam box, and you mix a little packet of soy/mustard in there. Very gooey. (You dont have to finish the whole thing). I had a pretty strange expression while chewing on it though.
Anyways, love you!
-Elder Mumford
I'm in Japan!
Sorry for any spelling and/or punctuation errors, the keyboards here are a little wierd.
I'm serving in the Yokosuka area (pronounced: yo-KO-ska) and Elder Cook is my companion! Yokosuka is a small peninsula by Tokyo bay. It has an American Naval Base (close to our apartment), and an English Military branch as well as the Japanese branch here.
What this means is that Yokosuka stocks up on American food! There's even a Taco Bell down the street. Also we get fed pretty frequently by the American members. (For example, last night we had dinner with the Amensecs. Brother Amensec is a professional chef on one of the ships!).
Elder Cook is from Orem, and was once in the Book of World Records for being the fastest text messager. This is his last transfer, so after he trains me, he will return home. As you heard, his parents are coming for a week or so, so under President Hill its fine. I hope the next President also allows it.
Im still getting used to the area and meeting the members. Just before I arrived, we had a lot of people simply stop investigating. So right now were doing a LOT of finding.
Theres some different and fun things here, like how Japanese people are very careful about garbage. It must be separated into burnables, non-burnables, recycling... and for some reason, the garbage trucks play music like an Ice cream truck.
The kids here are all funny, but I have no idea what they're saying.
Our apartment is somewhat small, but I hear there are MUCH smaller ones in areas like Shibuya.
The weather is just fine, it has only barely started Fall here. The seasons are shifted a bit. It does get pretty windy though.
The English Military branch is quite big, and they are very nice. The Japanese branch is fairly small, but they are always.
I've not had any bike accidents yet, but someone backed their car into Elder Cook the other day. He was completely fine, but I guess no one ever looks behind them before backing up in Japan.
I can actually understand a bunch of Japanese if they are using simple and polite language. I can't understand a word of informal speech, which is a shame because everyone uses it all the time. Though, in church people are very understanding and will repeat things, or speak simply, or just get Elder Cook to translate. He's pretty much fluent and can talk about or translate anything.
Music: The mission is very specific on what music we can listen to (only certain select albums). This means that all the wonderful music you loaded my ipod up with, I can't listen to. Ill try to mail you the list of OK music soon.
The base is actually a California zip code, even though its in Japan. So, I can send home packagaes for cheap if I accumulate a bunch of stuff here!
Anyways, Im running out of time. We found this little computer place right next to our apartment, where they give old people classes on how to use computers. But, they also let us email in here on Thursdays! However, its an hourly fee, and my hour is about up.
As soon as I get some cool Japanese Stationary, Ill send you a letter!
Good luck to Mallory in College, and Madison in high school!
Thanks!
-Elder Martin Mumford
-JAPAN, TOKYO, YOKOSUKA!
P.S.- Also, if Mallory is already working in the MTC, have her find out what they make the "Chicken Cordon Bleu" out of. Everyone in the MTC thought it was hamsters.
Probably just a myth, but... ???
At the MTC, they refer to BYU as "Babylon", because it is the closest thing to wickedness for several miles. 
Friday (Halloween) was an amazing day. We had a special meeting for all the Japanese Senpai, where we heard some great stories. And not long after that we got our flight plans!
And when I went to sit on my bed, what did I find? With a loud crunch, I discover TONS of Dear Elder letters under the covers. (The district leader has been getting creative with distributing the mail.) I was SHOCKED, and it took me a while just to open them all and read them.
Thank you everyone who contributed! That was a real surprise, and much better than candy!
Specifically, from the letters:
1. To those who asked if they celebrate Halloween in Japan, they do! It's probably a bit different though. In Japan they celebrate most major American holidays, such as Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. I'm not sure why, maybe it's just an excuse for a day off.
2. Also, good luck to everyone in the new ward(s), and especially with all the new callings! It's about time they split that thing, the building was bursting at the seams!
I mailed the letter on Monday that has my flight plan information, so that should be arriving very soon.
As for your question about our district (in the order you mentioned them):
1 - Elder Morgan (UT) [Tokyo]
2 - Elder Lawler (UT) [Sapporo]
3 - Elder Todd (Roosevelt, UT) [Sapporo]
4 - Elder Elder Lemme (Oak Harbor, WA) [Sapporo]
These are all the Elders in the room across from us.
Sapporo is the icy frozen tundra of northernmost Japan. We call them the Frozen Chosen, and they are already getting their eskimo-style coats packed.
And yes, Elder Todd looks a LOT like Obama. We call him Obama-sama (a highly honorific Japanese Title). We're really good friends, and I'm going to try to meet back up with him after the Mission at BYU.
Then the Sisters are:
1. Sister Shipp (UT) [Tokyo]
2. Sister Campos (Las Vegas) [Tokyo]
Also, I might send home my MTC Journal along with the rest of the stuff. It's mostly the same as what I've put in the letters, but there are some good things in there that never made it into an email. This way, I can start from scratch with a new, larger journal starting in Japan!
Anyways, good luck everyone! Make sure to shower Mallory and Madison with the same affection that you've been pouring on me!
Thanks!
-Elder Martin Mumford
-Tokyo, Japan!
