Kunitachi

QUESTION: What ever happened to those Colonel Sanders statues that used to be in all the KFC restaurants 20 years ago? 

ANSWER: They were transported to Japan, where they now valiantly welcome Japanese KFC chicken lovers.

Now here is Elder Mumford's e-mail from 7/26/09:

Dear Everyone,

Well, its been only 4 days since the last email, but a lot has happened.

Ive been getting used to Kunitachi recently, and I got to meet all the ward on Sunday.  They are probably one of the nicest wards I've ever had the privelage of serving in.

Just to update, our investigators here;

1. Ooishi, Reina.  She is amazing.  She started meeting with the missionaries once a week, and yesterday she came to church for the first time.  She works at a hospital from Saturday afternoon until 10:00 am on Sunday morning, but somehow she still managed to come to church at our invitation.  She was super tired, but had a good time.

2. Ko.  I havent met him yet, so I really dont know much about him.  Just that he can be baptized whenever he wants, but just needs to decide.

So, if you could keep these people in your prayers, Im sure it will bless their lives.

My companion, Zenon Stasevskas is from Sao Paulo.  He speaks perfect english as well, so no problems there.  He is extremely hard working, and still has that new-missionary energy boost.  It makes me feel old because I get tired a lot faster, but its good because every day we are working super hard.

As far as news goes, nothing immediately pressing.  Its just been good, long days so far.  The rain FINALLY stopped for good, so now we can actually have summer.  This is good because, as much as I love the rain as a normal person, as a missionary it just messes things up because people are just so much less likely to listen to you when its raining.

VIDEO:

VIDEO: Press 'PLAY" to view.

(A rain soaked Elder Mumford)

We went to the Tachikawa Fireworks Festival.  I'd never heard about it before, but apparently its a pretty big deal around here.  There were several thousands of people in Kimonos out on blankets all around the city waiting to see the fireworks. (I got videos! :)  Its every year on July 25.

(Poster from the Tachikawa fireworks festival.)

Well, that just about sums up our adventures in the last few days. Oh one more fun thing, the missionaries here get to water the plants at the church everyday.  Kind of fun :).

Alright, I hope everyone has fun!

Good luck wherever you are!

-Elder Martin Mumford,

TKOAA.OYJPN

We're Not In Shibuya Any More!

"Hey Elder, I don't think we are in Shibuya any more" (Elder Mumford was transferred  from Shibuya, where there are people EVERYWHERE, to Kunitachi, a quite residential  suburb of Tokyo.

And now, here's Elder Mumford's e-mail dated July 22, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

I'm emailing from KUNITACHI.  Yesterday I moved all the stuff from Shibuya and moved into the apartment here.  Its quite a change.  Mu companion is Elder Staveskas (everyone just says Stavi) From Brazil.

Speaking of Brazil, where and when did Dad serve his mission?  Elder Stavi is curious.

Anyways, Kunitachi is a pleasant little area out in the countryside.  A big change from Shibuya.  All yesterday I kept thinking how quiet and peaceful it was.  Its nearly 70% neighborhood/residential areas, which is really nice.  Tons of houses and apartments, which means that lots of people actually LIVE here instead of just work here.

Shibuya was a little difficult as far as that went, because no one actually lived there, just worked and partied there.  Here its nice.  Its a small area, from one end to the other takes about 1 1/2 hours by bike, but there are still several hundred thousand people living here, so we have our work cut out for us.

Yesterday we knocked on the doors of this creepy little village down by our apartment.  It turned out there was a lot of old angry people that lived there :(  However we did meet someone who sounds like he might want to meet us again.  His name is Banba (way cool name).  He voulenteers in Africa every year, and studies various religions.  Should be fun!

We're kind of sad to split up the Shibuya 4-man dream team, but Im sure everyone who is there now is having fun.  Elder Haight actually went to Kawasaki, the area I was in before Shibuya, so I got to tell him a lot about it before he left.  Kunitachi is actually really close to Kawasaki, its on the same train line.

Anyways, there isnt really much time for this email either;  The Kunitachi email place is only 30 minutes as well, but next time Ill write out my email on paper first so I can fit in a good long email when I get here.

The package should be coming soon, I sent it on Tuesday and I took the fastest option they had for packages.  (its by plane, not boat), so you should get it soon, maybe by Saturday.

I still need to send a few more things for everyones birthday that didnt quite make it into the package.  You can look forward to that as well.

Anyways, sorry for the brief email (as always), Ill be sure to have a lot of adventurous stories about Kunitachi next week.  I think we are emailing on Monday next week, so be ready for that.  I know its been rather confusing what with the p-day changing and transfers messing up the regular schedule, but from now on emails will be consistently on monday... unless something else happens.

Hm... right now Im looking out the window and the clouds have thickened into a bit of a storm.  Not good, because we are biking today and I didnt bring any rain gear.  Well, I think were going to get a bit wet then :)

Well, good luck, have fun!

-Love,

Elder Martin Mumford

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This Just In....

On July 20th, Elder Mumford sent this brief e-mail:

Hey, I transfered!

Im going to Kunitachi with Elder Stavi.

I cant email right now, and I dont know when my next email will be.

Just thought I'd give you the heads up!

-Love you,

Elder Mumford.

Welcome Home President and Sister Hill!

(President and Sister Hill just returned from 3 years of service as president of the Japan Tokyo Mission.  They were well loved by all the missionaries, and we honor them for their sacrifice, dedication and leadership.)

Hello, it's Karen here, aka: Missionary Mom.  We happened to be in Utah this past week for a family party, when the Hill's reported their mission in Sacrament Meeting.  We felt fortunate to be able to attend, and hear from this wonderful couple, who Martin respected greatly!  

Also in attendance was Btother and Sister Morris, the parents of Martin's current companion, Elder Elliot Morris.  It was a privlidge to meet them and their wonderful family.

(Bruce Mumford, Karen Mumford, Cathy Morris, Mark Morris)

I also had a chance to visit briefly with Martin's first trainer and companion, Elder Cook, who completed his service in December 2008.  It wasn't hard to spot him... I just looked for the tallest person in the building!

(Elder Benjamin Cook, with Karen Mumford)

I also chatted a bit with Elder Frank, Martin's follow-up trainer and 2nd companion, who completed his service in April 2009.   It was so fun to meet in person, these amazing young men, whom we have come to know so well through Martin's letters, pictures, and video clips.  

(Elder Anthony Frank with Karen Mumford)

Can you believe we also ran into Elder Jacob Meline, from our home ward in Camas, Washington.  Elder Meline also served fathfully in the Japan, Tokyo Mission, completing his service in March, 2009.

(Karen Mumford with Jacob Meline)

Earlier that week, Bruce was able to re-connect with Mike and Debbie Evans.  Mike was one of Bruce's best friends from high shcool, and Mike's wife Debbie, is the sister of his other best friend in high shcool.  Bruce had lost touch with Mike and had not seen him in 25 years.  I recently became aquatinted  with Debbie through the missionary mom's group, since we both have a son currently serving in the Japan, Tokyo Mission, and as we chatted, we soon discovered the connection.  Martin and their son Nathan have yet to meet each other in the mission, but we hope they will have an opportunity to do so soon.  The Evans' also attended the Hill's Sacrament Meeting Report.

(Bruce and Karen Mumford, with Debbie and Mike Evans in Utah)

BEFORE: (Here is Mike and Bruce during one of the last times they would see each other for 25 years.

 Mike is on the far left, and Bruce is on the far right.)

AFTER: (And here is Mike and Bruce now.  Who knew 25 years ago, that they would both end up having a son serve in the Japan, Tokyo mission.)

Happy New P-Day

(While these beautiful girls were busy taking pictures of the Tokyo LDS Temple, Martin was busy taking pictures of the beautiful girls!)

Dear Everyone,

Well, not much has really happened since last Thursday :p

As far as postage, I may very well have to take out another 100 today.  Im still putting everything in the box and sorting all the pictures and things, so Ill try to get it sent by this Friday at the latest (sorry, it will probably arrive after masidon's and possibly after mom's birthday.  I might just throw in Mallory's things too and ship it off before the end of July).

Dont worry too much about money, Im still doing great on the mission money alone, haven't really needed to use personal money much.  Dad would be proud how Im managing my finances and such.

Well, things have started to pick up again in missionary work.  We are meeting some cool people, namely...

1. Takamori - he is still stuggling with smoking.  Its the only thing holding him back.

2. Kamada - still trying to find out if its true.

and that's just about it.

Also 1 more, just recently,

3. Mizusawa - interested in learning about other religions, has trouble understanding the Book of Mormon (why Nephi killed Laban... etc).

Not really that much happened so far.  However one fun story,

So apparently every Sunday at Yoyogi park they have this giant 50's dancing competition, with all these greasy guys in jeans and leather coats dancing around.  So funny, I got some pictures.

Well, thats about it.  You're going to enjoy the big load of pictures coming up soon.  Theres quite a lot of videos too.

Hope everyone is doing well, good luck and dont forget to have fun!

-Love,

Elder Mumford

TtoOKkyYOo, JjaAPpaANn

愛してるよ from an e-mail dated July 8, 2009

Dear Everyone,

This has been a notable week for me, namely because I am no longer a teenager, but am now officially an adult!  Yay!

Thank you everyone for that incredible birthday package.  I almost didnt get it, because the post office tried to deliver it TWICE in 3 days when we werent home, but I finally got it last night!

It is so good to hear from everyone, and the american food was so beautiful.  I pulled out the bricks of cheese and everyone in the apartment was in tears.  This is a big deal.  We'll definitely be making that pizza soon.  Also the peanut butter was a super rare treat.  Thank you for the incredible gifts, they made our day (and probably our month too).

So another week goes by and Im a year older.  Im still the same old me.  It was a good week full of experiences though.  Some of the highlights;

(Martin's New Mission President- Steve and LeAnn Albrecht, former associate dean of the Marriott School of Business)

1.  We got to meet President and Sister Albrecht!  They introduced themselves to us and explained some of the new changes.  One is, P-day is now going to be on Monday instead of Thursday (in effect starting next week).  Which means that This next monday Ill be sending the next email, so dont be surprised.

They are extremely nice, very spiritual and have strong plans for the mission.  This is going to be an excellent finishing year of my mission with them.

2.  We met a guy on the street who was going to propose to his girlfriend that day.  Way cool!

3.  We got a Laotian Book Of Mormon, for that one guy we met last week, the secretary to the ambassador of Laos.  Its HUGE, takes up the whole desk, and has a coloring-book-esque picture section.  Very cool.  If we get in contact with him again well have to give it to him.

(The missionaries are able to obtain Books of Mormon, in any of 106  languages.)

Information on Investigators;

- Kamada - interested in the gospel, wants to know more is reading/praying a little to find out.  He'll continue to learn and hopefully get answers to his questions via the spirit, but what he needs is to come to church on Sundays.  His part-time job is right durring church so he can never come.  Perhaps just pray that an opportunity to come might happen soon

- Takamori - He is so nice.  He loves the gospel, tries so hard to do everything.  The hard thing is quitting cigarrettes.  Maybe pray that he might have the strength to quit.  It is so hard for him.

And beyond that there's not really anyone else we're working with too much.

Some funny stories from Shibuya;

1.  There was a man inside this little red wheeled robot capsule thing, that was playing music and rolling around the sidewalks.  Wierd.  I got videos.

2.  Elder Haight and Morris are big on movies, so over this 5 weeks together they have prepared a list of 300 movies that they recommend.  Insane.

Im sure there's more but I seem to have forgotten.  Ill have to write them down when I think of them on my new cool 'hand-tatoo to-do list'.  Its really handy.  Anyways,

Hope everyone is enjoying it up wherever you may be!  Have fun, good luck!

-Thank you!

-Love,

Elder Mumford

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Happy 4th Of July!

(Elder Mumford Says: "Peace Out Everybody!")

Here's Elder Mumford's e-mail dated July 2, 2009

Dear Everyone,

Another crazy week, some highlights;

1. We picked up Elder Imai (he just entered the JMTC), but he got to spend 4 days with us in Shibuya while he was waiting to get in!  It was lots of fun :)

2.  Michael Jackson died?  Thats weird.  We heard about it from some guy on the train, so we didnt believe it at first, but then everyone kept telling us the same.  Wow.

3.  Some advertising person called us.  He said that his company has this stage in the middle of a train station where people preform.  He wants to give us several hours on the stage to do whatever we want!  Way nice! :)

4.  As for visiting NHK Studio Park, its actually not open right now (I think).  They closed it off to people because there is a huge mob protesting outside.  I cant figure out what theyre protesting, but they all look really angry.  We will try to visit it another day, when the angry mob is gone.

(The tallest building in Japan- The Landmark Building.)

Anyways, Shibuya is as amazing as ever.  Im sorry this is going to be a short one, because nothing out of the ordinary happened this week.

But, Im doing well here.  All 4 of us get along really well and are having lots of fun.  Its definitely harder to talk to people here than other places Ive been in though.  Biking is out of the picture, because there are so many people on the streets that your bike doesnt even fit sometimes.  In Yokosuka and Kawasaki, if we stopped 3 people, usually at least one of them would listen to us for a while, but here you get lucky if 1 out of 10 even stops for you, let alone listen.  Every single person is busy.

By far the most common response is 'Im in a hurry', because seriously, everyone is.  Every single person here is rushing to get to work or get somewhere else and they dont have time to talk.  Most people dont even have 1 minute to spare, so recently we've been asking people if they have just 10 seconds to listen.  Most of the time they dont, but sometimes people will listen.  Then we give a REALLY quick 10-second message and hand them a flyer or something, then they look at their watch and say 'Oh, 10 seconds is up, bye'.

Its ultra-fast paced.  Kind of scary and Im still adjusting.  Its so hard just to get people to stop at all, sometimes its frustrating.  We'll keep trying.

(Elder Mumford came across this giant robot spider that gets up and walks around.  However, it was "sleeping" at the time he snapped this picture.)

We also have some of the anti-mormon sentiment from the Americans/Gaijin here.  We get yelled at sometimes, which surprisingly is a first for me.  In all the other areas, people know absolutely 0 about christianity, let alone our church, so there are no angry people telling us to go home.  But here we get it occasionally.  It really makes me appreciate the missionaries in America, Europe, and pretty much the rest of the entire world who already start out with a bad image of us.  At least here you have sort of a clean slate.

(Visiting The Shrine of a Million Dogs)

Well sorry for my rant, it was a little negative, but it feels good to let it out. :)  Thats basically our situation now, finding anyone who will listen.  Well keep on keeping on.

Thanks everyone for the support!  Have a happy 4th of July!

Elder Martin D Mumford

-T-o--k---y----o-----J----a---p--a-n-

"Miss" List And "Wish" List

(Elder Mumford shows off his cool new hair cut. )

Excerpts from Elder Mumford's e-mail, dated June 24, 2009

Dear Everyone,

Im still in Shibuya, the coolest place in the world.  First off, every week that I email I remember something that I should have said, usually right when its too late.  So, here's all the forgotten stuff!

1.  Our apartment building is called Samaria Buraun Hausu.  (yes you spell 'Brown House' as 'Buraun Hausu').

2.  It is RAINING!  We're starting to feel the humidity rolling in like huge crushing waves.  Just a word of advice to mission moms.  avoid sending your missionaries chapstick.  The air is our chapstick here, we literally do not need it, but we all appreciate the thought!  :)

(Another fun "Engrish" sign, captured by the camera of Elder Mumford.)

And thats all!  I forgot the rest, but Ill probably remember it for next time.

This week has been interesting, and extremely short.  There is literally no time.  We wake up, immediately study, immediately work, immediately eat, immediately go to bed.  There is quite honestly 0 minutes in a week for 'free time', which makes sense though, because we gave away ALL of our time to be here.  Still, it makes me appreciate college where no matter what, I had an hour or so of free time each day, and if nessecary I could wake up earlier or stay up later to complete work.

Here you have the boundaries of time.  6:30 to 10:30 is your absolute limit, and the time between must be spent on specific activities.  Now I don't want to be trunky here, I still have a nice, full year ahead of me to look forward to.  This time is the most fun I've had in my life (seriously).  It is an amazing experience, so with that said here is some things I miss about home;

Miss list:

1. Cheap food.  Everything, EVERYTHING here, no matter how small is always at least 100yen (1 dollar).  A pack of gum, a single pretzel, a 100ml water bottle, a single mini-fun size candy bar.  EVERYTHING is rediculously expensive.  I cant wait to get back and buy a jar of peanut butter for less than 35$.

2. Big food.  The tiny portions, coupled with the elevated prices start to get a little bit old after a while.

(One order of octopus sushi with a raw egg on top. No wonder Elder Mumford had to cut another notch on the inner part of his belt.) (Click on image to enlarge)

3. People who actually say 'Hi' back if you greet them on the street.  Quite literally no one will greet you, even if you greet them.  It is sometimes considered rude to greet someone that you dont know as well.

4.  Not having to separate trash.  At a Japanese McDonalds, you must take off the lid and straw of your drink and throw it in a seperate can, then dump the ice out in a separate can, then separate the plastics from the papers within your meal wrappers, and put all of those in separate cans.   :(

Anyways, just some things that I miss.  Now here are some things I am going to miss when I return.

Wish List:

1. Clean.  Japan is spotless.  The food is clean, the floors are constantly being swept and mopped all day long.  The streets are completely litter-free.  There is a huge emphasis on cleanliness.

2.  Public Transportation.  Not exactly cheap, but extremely convenient.

3.  People are about as tall as me.  I will feel very small when I come home.

Im sure I can think of more in both catagories.

Anyways, as far as packages, Im still in the process of sending it (sorry!)  This Fathers day one is going to be a little late.  I found a nice glass chess set, as well as a nice glass shogi (japanese chess) set, but they are all kind of cheapie still.  None of that cool, jade and ruby style carved ancient looking set.  Just a normal, uninteresting glass suqare.

Ill be sending home a really huge SD card, and Ill be sure to take lots of pictures of everyone in the apartment, and the apartment itself before I send it off.

VIDEO: Panoramic view of Tokyo Bay (and Elder Kendall)

VIDEO: Click "play" to view.

As far as birthday items, any variety of food is good.  Of course, ties are welcome as well (Im a missionary :).  Perhaps a couple more pairs of those good socks.  Every missionary reaches this dillemma at his first in-Japan birthday.  Pretty much, its going to have to be all missionary stuff, because we cant use normal stuff.

Ill tell you what though, good ideas are (mission-related -- clothes 'n' stuff), and lost of pictures from home, perhaps some good food/candy (snickers :), That book of Japanese idioms that I had before.

Sorry, not much specific, but holidays, events and birthdays sort of whoosh by as a missionary without us noticing.

Anyways, thanks everyone for the love and supoprt and the prayers and the reading of the blog (so craftily constructed by mom).  I hope the best for all of you!  Good luck, have fun!

-Elder Martin D Mumford

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HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

In honor of Father's Day, I thought it would be fun to show some pictures of Elder Martin Mumford's Father, Bruce,  who served a mission to Curitiba, Brazil almost 30 years ago.  (Click on any image to enlarge)

Portuguese, is the official language spoken in Brazil.

When I first saw this picture, I thought it was a joke, but then I found out that this really was Bruce's official missionary bike, that he rode EVERYWHERE in Brazil; and mostly on dirt roads like this one.

And this was the official mode of transportation for the people in the larger Brazilian cities.

'Waiting for the plane that will take him home.

These were the baptism clothes that they wore back then.  Fortunately, the styles have since changed.

Sao Paulo Brazil Temple-1981

Tracting the Tracks.

"Go ye into all the world and preach my gospel unto every creature"

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Another Fantastic Week In Shibuya!

Elder Mumford enjoys drinking coconut milk, straight from a coconut that he bought from a street vendor in Okachimachi- (Tokyo's largest permanent open air street market.)

Here is Martin's e-mail dated June 18th, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

It is another fantastic week in SHIBUYA.

(by the way, speaking of packages...  I will try and ship off mine soon.  It has a bunch of cool (but irrelevant) things I have gotten from Investigators.  (A cool fan, an ancient abaccus, a wierd hand-drum thingie), plus the letters you all have sent while Ive been in Japan).

Ok, so Shibuya.  It's the most incredible place I've ever been in.  First of all there are a lot of different challenges and benefits for serving here.  Elder Haight and Gerber are working with the Gaijin ward, which means that they get American Food for us all.

We're looking for a better email place, but there doesnt seem to be anything that is (1) clean, no bad posters, you can see your companion and (2) cheap to email at, except the one we have.  So forgive me if these are a little shorter than normal.  I'll try to consider the best stories to tell before I write the email, and if anything else cool happens, I'll just send a supplement letter.

VIDEO: Click the "PLAY" arrow to view.

So here is our schedule of some interesting events that happen each week:

1. Monday- Service: we make Onigiri (sushi) for homeless people, at the Catholic Church in Roppongi. (Apparently, we havent missed a Monday in 20 years, so it's pretty permanent)

2. Tuesday -Teach JKaiwa (Japanese Class)

3. Wednesday- Teach Eikaiwa, (English Class)

So those are certainly some blessings.  Lots of fun, interesting, productive activites.  Another amazing thing is that there are people EVERYWHERE!  From the second you step out of the apartment there are people to talk to, so that is never an issue.

The tough thing, is that everyone is in a hurry.  A rediculous percentage of the people we stop are in a hurry, or busy.  It's kind of sad.  Especially in the heavy city areas, people are almost 100% unable to talk to you.  We still try when we pass through those areas, but it's extremely difficult.

(Martin and his companion made coconut rice pudding, then served it in the coconut shell!)

We also meet a lot of crazy people.  I dont know if more people here are crazy than other places, but it seems they certainly show up a lot more frequently.  The other day we met Captain Mickey, a 'retired captain' of the navy, who was on his bike dragging some garbage around the city. He came up to us and asked if we were the missionaries, and of course we wanted to talk.  But after a while he started rambling off about the most random things in broken english/japanese... haircuts, california, strange movies, the war... and it became clear he wasn't altogether there.  So we eventually had to leave.  Then he gestured to the garbage on his bike and talked about raising his 'kids'.  We hoped that his kids werent in those bags (yikes).  But the entire time there was this crazy electric Polka band playing in the park next to us.  These kind of experiences are becoming sort of normal. 

There's always incredible things going on.  There was a Bangladesh festival the other day, right next to the Calpis Headquarters (that famous Japanese drink).  Very interesting,  we met some strange people there too.  :)

 

(Missionary Zone Conference)

Also, the one thing you dont realize is just how little time you have in a 4-man apartment.  You get home and within 10 minutes it is 10:30 somehow and time to go to bed.  Likewise the morning time sort of evaporates.  I have absolutely no time, it seems.

It's rainy season.  Two days ago we had the most violent rain storm I have ever been in in my life.  We had raingear, but we both were completely 100% soaked through.  The roads were rivers, and water was blasting in fountains UP out of the drains.  Then the next day it was beautiful and there was not a drop on the ground.  The rivers didn't even go up at all.  Japan has the #1 drainage system, I think.  I'm sure us two missionaries looked really cool just wading through the streets, not even trying to avoid it because we were already so wet.

(Pictures with the zone)

Anyways, it's been a good week, the next one should be even better!

Good luck everyone, have fun, and work hard... if you feel like it!

Love,

Elder Martin Mumford,

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