A Pictorial Day In The Life Of A Japan Missionary!

Here is the e-mail sent by Elder Mumford on March 29, 2010:

Dear Everyone,

This letter might be comparatively short, because we've been having a lot of drama recently. On the way home from a mission-wide conference in Kichijoji, I lost my wallet. Which caused quite a bit of trouble, because it was already very late.

That Sunday, President Albrecht had arranged a huge conference in the evening for everyone, and the speaker was John Bytheway. He's still funny, and sounds the same. He gave us the classic Book of Mormon story of Ammon, and shared some very important insights about missionary work.

Because everyone was all together at once, it was very convenient to simply grab your new companion and head off to your new areas. So I got to meet... Elder KING! Who is actually form the Vancouver East Stake. So this should be pretty fun. I will be staying in Shonan for another transfer.

So on our return trip, I misplaced my wallet. It wasnt crowded, and there was actually only 2 other people on our section of the train we were riding, and both me and Elder King were talking to them the whole time. So it wasn't stolen, but probably just fell out somehow. In any event, everything has been generally sorted out.

This week Ill fix the remaining details, so no worries.

Actually Japan is usually extremely safe, and amazingly a very large percent of lost items, including wallets are eventually restored with all contents still inside. People are generally afraid to pick up other people's things, or afraid to mess with anything that isn't theirs, so thefts are relatively few. For example, outside the police station, it gives crime statistics. In the entire area of Kanagawa-ken, there were 150 reported thefts in one day. (Which probably contains the population of all of washington state and more). Imagine if in all the cities of all of one state combined, there was only that little crime. Japan is probably the safest country on the entire plantet.

OK that's all the time Ive got. Thank you for your patience.

I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Martin D Mumford

-Tokyo Japan

There's No Place Like Shonan!

(Elder Mumford tries on Elder Matias' glasses!)

The Following is from Elder Mumford's e- mail, dated March 22, 2010:

Dear Everyone,

First of all, thank you very much. This week I recieved the Easter Package, and the wonderful picture book, as well as the much coveted easter peeps. (of which we ended up microwaving one after all). Now that the weather is getting better we can find a P-day to use the bubbles that madison send us :)

(What happens when you microwave an "Easter Peep?" Try it and see for yourself. )

Also thank you so much for making all the arrangements for BYU and housing. I dont know what I would do without your help.

That's good to hear Mallory's back with the good ol' harp ensemble. I miss all of our musical events.

(Elder Mumford's sister, Mallory purchased a nice missionary journal to give to her older brother for Christmas. But after she bought it, she realized that the journal was actually designed for "SISTER" missionaries. Not wanting to go through the hassle of returning it to the store, she decided to just go through the journal, and simply cross out the word "SISTER" and write in "Elder" and then send it to him anyway.) (click on image to enlarge.)

Anyways, some cool things that have happened this week:

1. Ishikawa-san, our high-school student accepted to keep the word of wisdom for 1 week, so see if he feels like its the right thing to do. The only thing that he has to give up is tea, since he is too young for anything else, and he doens't like coffee. But he's such a cool guy. He loves to read and to pray, and has a lot of faith.

2. Sato family. A very kind man who came to English Class recently. Last week he showed up suddenly at the church, with his 9-year old daughter. This week he came too, she loved primary, and she actually bought a bible durring the week so that she could bring it to church. The ward is planning a nice family dinner to invite them to. He actually had to leave early because he had work, but he said that he would like to join this church. Sometimes, there are people so prepared that you see miracles like this. An amazing family finds something that will make them truly happy. Im excited to see how it goes!

3. Christian. Very nice name, he is from Peru and has just barely moved to Japan. He doesnt speak any Japanese. He actually saw us before when Elder Matias and I went to play soccer with some people. Then we met him riding his bike on the way home, and we offered to teach him some japanese this week. We met with him, and he is so nice. We also gave him a Spanish book of Mormon and explained what it is, and I got to use the only phrase I know in spanish, 'I know that the book of mormon is true'. :) Elder Matias was able to explain everything else.

(Just Read It!)

As for the future, I have no idea about transfers yet. I hope I can stay here 1 more to see Ishikawa and the Sato Family through everything. But in any case I know that the Lord really is working in the hearts of the people here, and everything will be all right. I've learned a great deal from my experiences in Shonan, and even if I have to leave I feel like it has been a well spent time, and I could play a helping role in the lives of many people.

I've come to realize just how important it is to love the people. It is so extremely important for other people to recognize that you care about them. It really doens't matter in the end how much you know or how skillful you are at somethign, people will really have a lasting respect for you only if they see that you honestly care about them. And if you really show that you care, people will listen and want to help you in turn.

This last little bit of my mission, I have re-prioritized my goals. My new work, study, and goal focus is going to be mainly on love. Language, Skills, everythign else is going to be secondary for the moment. I think if I put that focus at the top, a lot of thigns will change and become better about me as a person.

(Elder Mumford's big "To Do" list: "Learn Everything!"

(Click on image to enlarge)

Someone once said, 'If you want results that have never been seen, you have to do things that have never been done'. And that is true. You can't chantge yourself by trying the same things over and over. If you want to change what kind of a person you really are, you have to DO different things than you have done before.

That is my new goal. I hope that before I leave I can feel the reassurance that I am doing something right here in Japan, like in scripture Helaman 3:35 'Nevertheless they did ^afast and ^bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their ^chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the ^dpurifying and the ^esanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their ^fyielding their hearts unto God.'

(The first Japan Sunrise of the new year)

So I hope that all of you have a wonderful week, and work hard at all of the different stages of life you find yourselves in. Thank you for your help and prayers for me. Have fun!

Love,

-Elder Martin Mumford

-TOKYO, JAPAN

What's Shakin'?

(Elder Mumford surveys the city of Fujisawa, Japan, after a series of small earthquakes.)

Here is Elder Mumford's E-mail, dated March 15, 2010:

Dear Everyone,

We had a great week. The weather is finally turning warm, much to our relief. It has been a lot colder this winter than last, I think. (Even in Shonan, where it's relatively warmer). Also recently, there's been a lot of little earthquakes (just enough to feel it, but nothing in the apartment shakes or moves). We were teaching a couple in their home when a little one came, and when it was over we just continued the lesson. But no worries, we're all still fine, its not even close to dangerous. It just feels like a massage, especially when you're sleeping on the futons.

(Futon used for sleeping, in the Shonan missionary apartment.)

Thank you so much by the way for the letters/packages and everything. Its also a great comfort to me to know that people out there are praying for me. Sometimes I really feel that support durring the day.

This week, we actually couldnt meet Dr. K. We were riding to his house to meet, when suddenly I got a flat tire. We were extremely close to the apartment so we went back and fixed it really fast, but as we started out again, I got ANOTHER flat tire. So by then we were way to late to do much (it was kind of far away), so we had to scap it and simply work close to the apartment. We'll try to visit him again next Saturday. He said that usually Saturday is ok.

(Elder Mumford is not very excited about having to change TWO flat tires in the same day.)

This week is looking like fun. We are doing a second music night in Yamato this saturday, and so our zone is practicing a lot of hymns. It should be pretty good I think. We're having a great time together, and learning a lot.

Also, Yuji Ishikawa (the high school student we've been meeting with) will meet us again today. He loves the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. He's so cool, and I have no doubt that someday he will get baptized.

Anyways, there's not too many changes right now. Actually, Im not sure if I told you already, but the area right next to ours (Odawara) is recieving missionaries in 2 weeks. It has been without missionaries for 1 year now, and so Im glad that they can have them agian. We usually teach thier English class, so now we won't be doing that anymore.

These are rice vending machines. You can pay for 3, 5, or 10 kilograms of rice and they just pour it out.

Right next to the rice vending machines is this machine that said '10 Kilo, 200Yen'. So we were so excited about finding extrememly cheap rice, that we got a bag, and pushed the button. The machine started rumbling, and we waited... and waited... and waited, but nothing came out. Eventually we took a closer look at the instructions and it turns out the machine will CLEAN your rice for 200 yen, up to 10 KIilos, not actually give you the rice for that price. So we felt a bit silly sitting there patiently waiting for cheap rice to come out. Probably the passers by all thought we were wierd. But then again we are gaijin. :)

(In Japan, there is a vending machine for just about everything. Here is a bread vending machine.)

(Yes, Bread in a can, from a vending machine! Only in Japan!)

So I think we'll have fun for this last bit. I hope that I can stay here with Elder Matias for 1 more. I hope that all of you are working hard and having fun in whatever situation you find yourself in life. I cant wait to see you all once again. Thanks for the support! It really helps me day to day.

Have a good one!

-Elder Mumford

TOKYO, JAPAN

What Could Possibly Be In That Box?

VIDEO:

Click on the "PLAY" arrow to view.

(See Elder Mumford give a tour of his apartment in Shonan, Japan; with the help of his Christmas present.)

The Time Is Far Spent

(Elder Mumford proves that even at age 20, It's still more fun to play with the box, than with the toy in the box.)

Now, here is Elder Mumford's latest e-mail, dated 3/8/10:

Dear Everyone,

It was another fine week. Unfortunately, I had a lot of frustrations trying to get the email to work again this week, but from now on it should be fine. Ill continue emailing from this new one (all the wierd password issues are solved now). So I have to apologize but this week's email may become a bit brief now that the clock is ticking.

So, Ill share some cool things that happened this week.

1. We had a 'Music Night' at the Fujisawa stake center with all the zone's missionaries singing. But as we practiced right before, there was a problem. One of the sets of missionaries hadn't come yet, and said they would be very, very late. Since one of them was the ONLY Tenor, we had to stall the concert a bit. So we had everyone pick their favorite hyms and sung the first verse of each one. I think we pretty much sang every single hymn. Eventually we just started picking funny ones, like 'The Time is Far Spent', or 'Now the Day is Over' as we waited...

The missionaries arrived late, but it turned out great, we all sang and had a great time. I also brought 3 of the little mustaches you sent me, and took some good 1920's style pictures with Elder Sainsberry, Elder Gerber, and myself.

(How do you think that Elder Gerber and Elder Mumford will look with a mustache? I guess we will find out as soon as the next batch of pictures arrives in the mail.)

2. We met with Yuji san agian. He is the high school student that loves the Book of Mormon and is just plain awesome. He said that he thinks he wants to get baptized when he is older, maybe 18 or 19, but right now he is too young to make that kind of decision. (he's 16). We're meeting with him and having a good time, and he loves to learn about the gospel. Every time he has great questions. We explained that he can get baptized whenever he feels it is right (whenever he has faith and repents), and if his parents give permission. We're hoping to meet his parents soon. (his mom already came to english class once, and she was really nice. So she knows that we're nice people, not scary).

(The Book of Mormon: The Keystone of our religion!)

3. Me and Elder Matias have made a goal to speak a lot more Japnese, and also read and listen to it a lot. However, we think something that would help us a lot would be to have a CD of Japanese talks (general conference or other). Im not sure how, but if you could get ahold of some good Japanese talks, we will incorperate that into our language study, and probably listen to that all the time :) Thank you by the way, for all the great CDs throughout my whole mission. I have so many I've filled the entire case you sent, so I think I will start to give away a few christmas ones, if someone wants them. (since they will be here for next Christmas, but I probably won't) :) I really appreciate all the great things you send. Not many missionaries recieve so much in the mail, and so I always try to share everything (music, food...). Im glad that our family is in a situation where you are capable of sending so much. We're really blessed :) Thanks for everything.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

4. This week we were knocking on doors, and we came to one with no address or number, just 'Dr. K.' written on it. IT turns out he is a psychiatrist, and (like a good psychiatrist) he listened to what we have to say. He had an appointment, so he couldnt talk a lot, but we are meeting him this Saturday to talk more. SO this week, maybe if you pray for 'Dr. K' that he will be prepared to hear the message, he will think about it. Just a cool experience we had.

Also, thanks to Madison for the letters. It makes my day. I might not have time to send them a letter, but the Gilespie family also sent me a Book ('Drawing Upon The POwers of HEaven'), which I dont think I have thanked them for yet. If I dont get around to writing a letter today, I hope that you could thank them personally for that gift, for me. That was really nice of them. Also, ask them if they have any good advice for missionaries that are nearing the end of their mission, since they served in Mexico and probably met a lot.

(Elder and Sister Gillespie, serving as missionaries in Mexico.)

Well, that is about it. Sorry for the short time this week. Ive got to go soon, but I love you all very much. Its good to hear from everyone, especailly all the cool things that are going on at home. I hope everyone has a great week.

Thanks!

Love you,

Elder Martin Mumford

-Tokyo, JAPAN.

Dangerously Cheesy!

E-mail from Elder Mumford, dated March 1, 2010:

OK, sorry about the missed email last week. We couldnt make it to any email place that day, so we just went to the beach and wrote letters. You should be getting it soon.

Also, From now on, missionaries will be using this new email account. So make sure not to send anymore to the old one. They upgraded all missionaries accounts to gmail, so we all have unlimited space. Before it was hard because if you had over 100 emails piled up it started complaining at you. And google is just great.

It appears the Japanese postal worker got a little mixed up in transferring the information from the American customs forms on to the package of cheese we had sent: Instead of writing the name of the sender (The Mumfords) they wrote in the contents of the package (Cheese) So this turned out to be an even "cheesier" package than we had planned as Elder Mumford accepted a package, sent by "CHEESE."

Anyways, there are a few things,

First, thank you very much for the April Fool's package. We got it yesterday :) I loved the 'even cheezier hymns' CD you sent. It was indeed even cheesier than last year :). Also I felt a lot of joy when I opened it up... almond joy. Its been a very, very long time and oh how I missed almond joys. Thank you.

Elder Matias also says thank you for the food, we are eating the delicous cheese :) HIs mom also wanted me to tell you some things,

namely, that she is extremely grateful for the CDs, and also your friendship. She says that she can tell that you must have wonderful children, because you are such a wonderful mom. She wants really badly to meet you face-to-face someday, it is her dream. So maybe someday we can all go down to Brazil and visit Elder Stavi's family and Elder Matias' family. :)

Elder Matias' mother in Brazil, has cancer. She has to go through the painful treatments without the support of her two sons, who are both serving missions in Japan. We sent Elder Matias some music CDs, and then sent the same music CDs to His mother in Brazil, so she can listen to the music while she is recovering, and can take comfort in the fact that her son will be listening to the same music too, in Japan.

Also, that's amazing to hear that Madison's friend is going to receive baptism! I hope that she can have a wonderful time as a member of this church, and that she will experience the great blessings that come from having faith, repenting, making the baptismal promise, and the constant help of the Spirit. I hope she never gives up, and continues on this path that will bring incredible happiness and peace. As it says in the Book of Mormon, these words "teach all men that they should do good" (2N 33:10). There is no greater way to find our purpose in life, and I'm very happy for her. Have fun!

Also, that sounds way nice with the "Facebook Dendo". Hm... actually now that I think about it that sounds like a Japanese MIssioanry word, "dendo". We always attatch that to the end of something, like 'Train Dendo' is doing missionary work on the train, by talking to the people there, and 'High School Dendo' is talking to high school students (who all love english, but cannot speak it). Also 'Natto Dendo' is where you sit in a crowded place and eat Natto, and eventually all the passers by will gather around and mutter to themselves, natto... natto... why is that Gaijin eating Natto? Is that really Natto? No, that's impossible for Americans... etc. Its way fun and we can talk to a few people that way :)

(Check out the big pink phone that is in the church foyer in Fujisawa! They just don't make them like that anymore; even in Japan.)

Anyways, The Fujisawa Church is kind of a email center in our zone, becasuse it has a geneology center. Right now theres some more missioanries waiting, so Im going to wrap this up quick.

Just in case you were wondering, there was a Tsunami here on Sunday. We are all fine, and as far as I know all the other missionaries are fine in this mission. We simply stayed far away from the coast. It was a relatively small tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile, so by the time it reached Kanagawa coast in Japan, it was only 7.2 meters tall. So it didnt really do much, just swished some things around on the beach, but no damage to anything. So we're fine. Dont worry about it :)

OK, got to wrap up. Thanks for the love, the prayers, and the letters. Thank you Madison also for writing me all those letters. I apologize for not ever writing any back, but Ill try really hard. :) Im learning some cool Origami so maybe Ill send you some of that.

THANKS EVERYONE! Have a great week!

-Love,

Elder Martin D Mumford

(the D stands for 'Dashing')

-Tokyo, JAPAN.

I'll Just Write A Letter!

'No e-mail again this week, but we did receive the following letter and pictures from Elder Mumford, in the mail:

(Elder Matias, the Fujisawa Elders, and Elder Mumford meet together for p-day.)

Dear Everyone,

First of all, I have to apologize for the lack of e-mail last week. After we got kicked out of the e-mail place last week, we went to a few different areas looking for somewhere else to e-mail. We found one, but it only had 2 computers, so two of us 4 missionaries needed to sit out this week. I highly doubt there will be any time this week either, because we are going to the Tokyo Temple, and then out to eat Brazilian food with Elder Goes and his companion; so I am writing a letter instead.

Second of all. I need to thank you for the wonderful letters and packages. Especially thank you to Madison for those nice letters. It's always good to hear from you.

All that aside, this has been a really great 2 weeks. We've seen some amazing things. Recently our focus has been on the Book Of Mormon. (in lessons, and on the street) And it's really shocking! In the past 5 days, we've given 5 copies of the Book of Mormon to people!

One person we met as were were knocking on people's doors: He came back home from work RIGHT as we got to his door, so we introduced ourselves. I felt like I needed to tell him about my home-stay 3 years ago, in Hamamatsu, and that really surprised him, because that's the exact city where he grew up! He later accepted a Book of Mormon.

(The workbook the missionaries use as a guide when teaching Eikaiwa (English Class)

Also, whenever someone is not home, we usually post an English Class flyer just in case they have interest in that. Well, this last Sunday, one lady showed up to church with one of the flyers in her hand. We told her about English Class, then explained that right now is Church. English class is on Thursday, but if she wanted, she could see church as well.

She joined relief society, and even stayed for Sacrament Meeting. It turns out that her husband passed away 7 years ago, and she was very lonely, and so Eikaiwa might help her to have friends and something to do, but I think church would be even better.

Her name is Suzuki. I hope that she will come again.

(Sample page from the Mormon Eikaiwa lesson book)

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

...Right now the train just got very crowded,so I'll have to write more later.......

.......We just finished the temple session and now we are taking the train to the Brazilian Restaurant! Elder Gerber (who was with me in Shibuya) is coming too.

Presently, we have a lot of people who want to listen to us, so we should be able to help a lot of them this coming week. Many times you feel like you never want to stop being a missionary, and now is one of those times. Of course, we can always be a "missionary," but we only have this one chance to live like this, as full-time missionaries.

(Post it notes on the desk of Elder Matias.)

...Anyways, we are on the train back home now. The Brazilian restaurant was closed :(

But perhaps Elder Matias can leave a Portuguese message for Dad:

"E ai beleza? Como estao indo as coisas por ai? espero apos a minha missao ter a oportunidade de visita-los. bom prazer em falar com voce ate mais. Tchau Tchau!"

Yep, that's Elder matias. 'Hope he didn't say anything bad about me :)

(Elder Matias: Elder Mumford's current companion from Gauruja Brazil)

Thank you for always keeping me in your prayers. There are days when I can really feel that helping me through hard times.

Lastly, I wanted to leave you with a few words:

I know that this church, the Book of Mormon , and all they teach is true. I can say this because there have been many instances in my life when God has answered these questions for me. It's a great thing that we are doing.

Thanks for all your help.

Have a great week, and have fun!

-Elder Martin Mumford

T

O

K JAPAN

Y

O

Back In Shonan!

('Gotta love this Engrish! Only In Japan!)

Elder Mumford's e-mail from 2/16/10:

Dear Everyone,

Ill be staying in Shonan with Elder Matias! Wooo! SO we're gearing up for a second transfer together, and we've set a lot of new goals.

This transfer marks my 6-months left, and his 1 year left mark, which is a really good chace for both of us to reevaluate our missions and figure out how to make them better. It feels really wierd for me, because there aren't that many missionaries left that are older than me.

Its so good to be here for a little longer. I was hoping that I could stay because I really wanted to be here for the people we are working with. So many people are doing so well.

1. Ishikawa-san - He's 16, a high schooll student, but he loves the book of mormon and praying.

2. Manabu-san - He's still doing well, we meet often and learn. He's actually studying really hard for the big english test in March - the TOEIC test.

3. Ricardo - He feels that God wants him to be in Japan. Very interested in religions and asked some great questions.

4. Higuchi couple - They have been very sick recently, so meeting has been hard, but if you could pray for them, they would appreciate it. Its very difficult for them. She often gets depressed.

We had a great Zone conference 2 weeks ago, and it was amazing. They discussed how to give the book of mormon better, and after applying it we were able to gove the book of mormon to so many people that week! It was amazing!

Really sorry about being so short this week, we spent a LOT of time trying to figure out how to connect the internet here. Thus I have to go really soon.

But I thought it would be nice to come up with a list of things I miss about america and things I will miss about japan (for example, I miss carpet pretty bad). Ill put that together so you can enjoy it next week :)

Eventually, President Albrecht is hoping to get each apartment a mini-computer from which we can email every week without any more problems. It's supposed to be up and running in late May :)

Anyways, I have to go...

Thank you so much for everything,

I love you all so much!

Have a fantastic week!

Elder Martin Mumford

Tokyo, JAPAN

Not Much Time

(District Photos)

Once again, we received only a brief e-mail from Elder Mumford:

Feb. 8, 2010:

K, I dont have too much time. Today I wrote a nice huge letter for you, and am sending the SD card, and I also bought a journal today.

Thank you so much! This isnt our normal email place, and i don't want to get kicked out of here either. Last time they said that even though it was only e-mailing our families, we still could not use the computers there, so we'll keep looking.

Im sending the letter and SD card today. Next week is transfer calls, Ill be sure to email or write if anything changes! Love you all so much! Thank you!

-Elder Martin Muford, Tokyo, JAPAN.

Kicked Out Again!

(Elder Mumford saves himself over $100.00 by repairing his bike himself, rather than taking it in to the shop.)

We only received the following email message this week of 2/2/10:

Well, I think we can no longer email here. The people who own the computer place are worried that we will use the computers as part of our missionary work, so I think we are being kicked out. They're checking to see if we can still email, but no guarantees.

I love you,

Elder Mumford