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

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.