Shonan

(A cool sign, captured by the camera of Elder Mumford)

Each time Elder Mumford sends a batch of photos home, there are MANY, MANY pictures of buildings, or statues, or signs that he found interesting. Sometimes it's a curious example of architecture, or a close- up of a highly detailed hand rail on a stairway. There are usually so many of these types of pictures on his photo card, that there is not room enough to post them all. So here are a few photos from his architecture collection, interspersed within his e-mail from the week, beginning November 23rd, 2009:

(Complex Neon Lighted Sign)

Dear Everyone,

Sorry, this week is going to be more like a bonus because Im emailing on Monday. Anyways, transfers have happened.

1. I am now in SHONAN area, which is actually kind of close to my bean area, yokosuka.

2. My companion is Elder GOES from Brazil/California. He is on his 3rd transfer, just like Elder Remington. Also, Elder DRANEY, my MTC companion is going to be in our district! So this should be fun.

I still miss Kunitachi a lot, and its going to take a few days to adjust to Shonan after spending so much time in my previous area, but Im looking forward to all the things we will do in the days to come.

(Cool sculpture)

Some last updates about Kunitachi before I turned it over to Elder Remington and Elder Kondo;

- Nakamura-san came to stake conference even though he had the flu a few days before and couldnt make it to English Class. He likes church a lot and he took the Book of Mormon this time. He had already read 60 pages of the 'Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith' text, which someone had given him last Sunday. Kind of random. He says he has TONS of questions, but we cant seem to set an appointment with him to answer any of them. I suppose if anyone needs help, he needs your prayers that he will come to understand the importance of meeting the missionaries, instead of studying on his own.

(Detail from the bottom of a Japanese birdhouse.)

OK, so some things about Shonan. I havent met any members yet, or investigators or anyone else so all I have to go off of is what Elder Goes has told me. We have 2 fairly large cities within our area. If you look on the mission map, Shonan is the area with two huge bulb-things with a tiny road that connects them. From the sound of it we never go to the big bulb, and stay exclusively within our little bubble near the ocean. It is kind of exciting because Elder Fukuda, Elder Morris, and Elder Frank have all served in Shonan, and have all had great things to say about it. This is going to be so much fun.

(A 4 story McDonalds)

Elder Goes is originally from Brazil, and spent 10 years in California, so he speaks fluent Portugese, Spanish, and English. We also have a LOT of Pourtugese, Spanish, and English-speaking investigators, which means that I need to figure out how to bear my testimony in more than just 1 of the 3. That should be fun. He worked in In and Out burger for a long time in California :)

(Curious Architecture)

The apartment is HUGE, possibly the biggest I have ever been in in all my mission. However today we need to shop because there is literally no food. (We opened up the fridge and theres about 3 packs of Natto, some Kimuchi, and a half-bottle of mayonase).

This is also the largest area I have ever served in. We have a huge wall-to-wall map of the lower half of the smaller bubble. Essentially to ride our bikes from one end to the other (the long way) would take more than 5 hours.

(Detailed roof of a temple)

Also I hope my bags get here, because I told them to go to 'Shimomia' when really the city is called 'Shinomia' (The Kanji is very different, but over the phone it sounded strikingly similar).

(Interesting Archway)

So, it looks like Ill be spending the Christmas and winter in Shonan this year. Should be lots of fun! From what I hear there are about 50 people in the ward and they are all very nice and like the missionarie. :)

We're going to see if we cant work some miracles here. We already met an interesting man last night who loved history, and loved to talk about Europenan and American history (including religious history). So that was interesting. He actually talked to us (more AT us than to us) at the door for more than 30 minutes. He was a fun little grandpa.

(Creatively covered roadway)

We email every Tuesday, so there should be no problems at all. As Christmas gets closer Im going to email you with the details of the phone call :) Anyways, that's all I know at the moment, so Ill tell you more next week as I figure it out.

(Unusual Building)

I hope everyone is doing well and exceeding all expectations at whatever aspect of life they are currently applying themselves in. (did that sentence make sense?) Im excited to hear about everyone's lives and glad to see pictures. I also sent a package just barely, so within 1-2 weeks you should get a new batch of pictures. Gomen, (sorry) its not quite as many as last time, but it should keep you busy for a little while at least. It also includes my 3-transfer newsletters, so enjoy!

To everyone, I wish good luck! Have Fun!

-Love, Elder Mumford,

JAPAN, TOKYO, SHONAN.

Scenes from Kunitachi

VIDEO: Click "Play" below to view.

Click on the "Play" arrow to see a Japanese Parking Lot.

Here is Elder Mumford's e-mail from Kunitachi, dated November 18, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

Im sitting in the library on a blissfully rainy winter afternoon. It still reminds me of Washington, except Washington is more of a drizzle. :)

(Elder Mumford and his companion prepare their rain gear for Japan's rainy season.)

Anyways, its great to hear from everyone. We just got the letter with the sidewalk chalk missionaries, and I thought that was very creative! Sounds like a lot of fun! I think if we were to try drawing on the streets of the city here, the police would probably arrest us for disturbing the peace and distracting people from their jobs :) Well have to try it sometime.

(These Elders, serving in Russia, found a creative way to incorporate their artistic talents into missionary work.)

(Note from Missionary Mom: The Mumfords are making another CD-- all hymns this time, using music that was recorded by Martin prior to his mission. But one song was recorded just a couple of months ago, and with Martin in Japan, he could not be included in the recording. So I played and recorded the guitar part for him on that one song. Madison felt this was blasphemy to record HIS guitar part for him. So I had requested permission from Martin to record the guitar part. Here is his response:

That sounds like an incredible CD, cant wait to hear our songs again. Also for the record, I thank Madison for being the guardian of my guitar rights over there. However seeing as I cant really help out with that while in Japan, I sign over those rights to play whatever you please on the guitar in my name (so long as its not cheezy). Thanks though, Madison :)

(The Mumford Family Musicians. This picture was taken just before Martin left for the MTC in August 2008.)

(Click here to listen to a sample of the Mumford's Music.... Also available on i-tunes, LimeWire, AmazonMP3, and lala. Search for The Mumfords)

OK down to some business;

1. Thank you so very much for the Halloween package, and other packages. I am always exceptionally happy to get them :) I will be sending a package tomorrow with a whole bunch of stuff, the 3-transfer newsletters, and pictures. As for Christmas, anything that you sent last time is also acceptable. Music, pictures, ties, socks... things missionaries can use :)

2. Travel plans. Still quite a distance away, but all options sound nice.

(Martin's release date is the same time as a family reunion in Utah. Here are some of the options we are exploring:)

(1) Martin would fly into Salt Lake City, rather than Portland and then drive with family to Utah Reunion- already in progress. Could be good to see everyone again right away.

(2) Martin would fly into Portland, take a taxi home (Family won't be there, we will be in Utah for the reunion.) What a coincidence, on my list of things to do upon returning, one of them is 'sleep for 3 days'. This might be OK, but I wonder if I would want to be alone for my first 3 days back. Im still not sure.

(3) Mom doesn't go to reunion, but stays behind in Portland, to pick up Martin, and keep him stocked in Pizza until everyone else returns from the Utah reunion.) If its not too much of a pain for you to take care of a son that you thought had left the house for good, this might be a good option :)

Ill keep thinking about it, and if I change my mind Ill tell you. Probably number 3, but IM not sure. Im not going to worry too much about it until Christmastime anyways.

OK, Kunitachi:

We have some miracles. We began to teach 3 new people in 3 days. Essentially this is the biggest breakthrough that has happened since I came here. We are very excited about;

1. Oobayashi. very spiritual person, thinks that Joseph Smith is probably right, and that our testimonies are definitely true. He wants to feel the spirit, and now is reading the Book of Mormon, but he sais he doesnt understand any of it.

2. Nakamura. He came to English class after 10 years break. Says he just retired and needs religion now that he has free time. Wants to come to church from now on (forever, every week). Turned down the book of mormon because he wants a triple instead. Unfortunatley, he doesnt see the need to actually meet the missionaries and hear from them. He wants to learn about the church simply by coming to church on sunday and participating. We're working with him to eventually hear the lessons from us. Very nice man.

3. Kiichi. We met him forever ago, and he agreed to take us on a tour of his Temple. So we went this last sunday, and it was HUGE. It was essentially COnference Center size, with a airport-looking international department. He took us around the various floors and showed us all the interesting statues and exxplained some of it.

Afterwarsd, we taught him a short lesson, and he was very interested to read the Book of Mormon. He kept flipping throught it and was really intersted. So we're gooing to try and meet him in 2 daays to discuss a little more. :)

So it has been a crazy week.

Anyways, I think were going to be kicked off the computers soon, so I got to wrap this up.

Thank you everyone for your love and support. Have a great time!

-Elder Mumford,

TOKYO, JAPAN

Kunitachi Times!

Trainers In Training: (Elder Mumford is standing far left)

The missionary trainers take a quick snapshot, prior to meeting their new "green beans" (new missionaries, fresh from the MTC)

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Here are excerpts from Martin's e-mail dated November 12, 2009:

Dear everyone,

It's a nice cold day in Kunitachi. It finally cooled off (just last week we had some blisteringly hot days) to its rightful temperature. Cold. Or at least that's what I feel, coming from Washington. I love the cold. Ill take the winter anyday over the summer :) Maybe I should have gone to Sapporo :)

Also, we recieved in our Fruit Basket this month, a huge box of 75 swiss miss American Hot Chocolate packets! So we are warming our icy hands each night upon our return. Right after we recieved it I got the package containing all that hot chocolate from home. Never fear, we will find some way to use it all. Im confident in our ability. :) It's always welcome.

(Elder Mumford prepares for the cold, rainy season ahead.)

(And at any moment, Elder Mumford will open the trench coat, revealing a secret stash of Books of Mormon)

Second of all, I knew this day would come, but I didnt think it would come for a while. Its the day when every single person that I ever knew got married. It is strange, but also really fun to see all these invitations and all these people I knew now married. That's going to be a whole different world when I get back. Oh well, it had to happen sometime! Congradulations to everyone that has been married in the intervening time of my departure and return. Sound like a blast.

A Japanese Marriage Procession (See video below)

VIDEO:

Click "PLAY" to view.

Questions:

Do you ever get any treats from the members in Japan?

In answer to your question, yes the members in Japan tend to spoil the missionaries. See the above mentioned fruit basket. Every month the members collect this huge pile of delicious food and put it in a box so big we actually need someone to help us take it home. We are very well stocked on food. In fact we are having to think of clever ways to eat all of it, especially all the fruit (since that expires eventually).

Also, thank you for sending the pictures of events at home. They are a constant joy!!

Tell us about the carved wooden bear that we keep seeing in photos you send home:

Here is the story of Nicholas the bear;

So there was once a missionary named Elder Neilson. Elder Nicholas Neilson. He was very tall. He had this huge, carved-wood bear on his desk. One day on companionship exchanges I asked him about it. He said he had recieved it from someone who had died in a previous ward. I think they were distributing all the man's posessions and the ward members decided to let the missionaries pick something, so he chose this bear.

However Elder Neilson was going back to America in a few weeks, and this bear was exceptionally large, bulky, and heavy, and thus inconvenient. So he gave it to me. And I have transfered with it wherever I went from then on. And in honor of the late Elder Neilson, I named him Nicholas the Bear.

(Nicholas the bear, keeps making an appearance in each batch of photos sent home by Elder Mumford)

But the story gets better: In Kunitachi a member came to our apartment to do a cleaning check. While there he saw Nicholas on my desk and got really exited. He asked, where did you get this bear? Apparently it is an authentic Ainu relic of some sort. (Ainu tribes were the original inhabitants of japan, sort of like Native Americans). So this bear suddenly became a lot more interesting. And now you know... ... ... the rest of the story!

Im probably going to send it home some time BEFORE flying back. It will be far easier to get it out in a package than a suitcase ;) Anywasy thats the story behind Nicholas the Bear.

Ok, investigators...

1. Oobayashi. Still not an investigator we set up a lesson, but he cancelled it last minute :(. We will try again sometime.

2. Recently - Sister Kusakabe. She has been coming to church every week without fail for 7 years, and even has a visiting teaching assignment and a testimony. She has heard all the missionary lessons twice, and been interviewed for baptism twice but every time she says the last question is hard. 'are you willing to make this covenant?' No other concerns that we can see besides that one part. Very wierd.

We dont know why she hasnt been baptized yet, but we're going to try and meet sometime to hear what's going on.

And thats it.

Thank you all for your loving support and prayers. Kunitachi is a smashing area. I would love to stay here for the rest of my mission if possible. I know great things will happen here.

Anyways, good luck, have fun, enjoy life wherever you may be.

-Love,

Elder Mumford,

TOKYO JAPAN.

Dream Team Reunited!

The "Dream Team" is reunited once again, during a recent mission conference.

(Elders Gerber, Morris, Haight, and Mumford.)

Here is Elder Mumford's e-mail dated November 7, 2009:

Dear Everyone,

It sounds like everyone had a fun Halloween :) Over here we had a Halloween party with our English class, and the Kunitachi primary all came dressed up in little costumes.

Recently we have been changing our focus. For just about 3 months now we have been focusing on trying to meet the old, dropped investigators again. We have made calls and left messages, fasted and prayed repeatedly through that time to try and meet them, we have some results:

1. Ichikawa family. A really nice couple who likes the missionaries. We are meeting them tomorrow for a lesson! :) The wife has some interest in the gospel, the husband doesnt, but they both listen. They have met several times before, but still have not yet accepted the invitation to either read the Book of Mormon or try praying. We are going to try again.

While this is a very small change, it is the biggest one we have had so far. We hope they will feel the spirit and realize that what we say is not just 'nice' or 'good morals and manners', but actually important.

However our focus is going to change now. We are going to stop spending time calling so many former investigators, especially if they have already been called dozens of times with no response over such a long time. We pray that they will have the courage to contact us when the time is right, but we have to move on.

So now we are even more focused on finding new people. We meet several interesting and fun people each day, such as:

1. An 80-year old mathematician who gives research reports all around the world.

2. An old man who wants us to do his funeral when he dies.

And many more that I forgot already. However, fun people aside, there is really only one person that can make my day, and that is someone who actually wants to meet with us someday. We found one person;

1. Oobayashi-san. He's about 40, and has a family. We met him on the street and he listened to what we said. We shared our testimonies with him. He seemed interested and when we asked him if he wanted to hear more someday, he said YES. This is the first YES I have heard in a long, long, LOOOOOOONG time, and so we were very excited. He said that while we talked, he felt a 'good feeling'. :) He gave us his phone number.

We have called him twice, and will keep calling until we can get ahold of him. He is our ray of hope. I feel like we were supposed to be there at that time.

So miracles are still happening in Kunitachi. Thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts and support. Kunitachi is fully prepped and ready for an investigator. The ward is great, we have all the time in the world to meet, everything is in place for when someone comes with interest.

And when that day comes they very may eventually make it down that road that leads to baptism and becoming closer to God. I hope so. Even if I dont get to see that day while Im here or even while Im a missionary, I feel confident that someday there will be a change here. The Lord would not send missionaries to a place where he didnt have a work prepared for them. There is someone who is just waiting for us, and we have to figure out where he is and what time he's not busy. I know we can do it.

(Elder Mumford is anxious to taste the fruits of his labor.)

I know that this church is true, because I have tried the promise of the Book of Mormon myself, which ANYONE who tries it will also find a similar answer. (Click here to see the promise.)

Alright, on a more practical note...

- Just so you know I may be fixing my bike brakes this transfer. They are getting a little bit metal-on-metal. That should be about 6$ to 50$ depending on the shop (so I have heard), which I have with me in my wallet now in personal. Just so you know what Im spending all this on :)

Requests:

1. Haha, the "stick-on mustaches" would be a great for the next district meeting :)

(Do you think the missionaries in his district would look better with a mustache?)

2. One or two more pictures of the cats. (love the pictures of the family too, keep those coming as well if you like) :)

3. I really cant think of much, but Ill start thinking about it now so the next email I can actually request something. In the meantime just send anything and whatever you like. Ill accpet happily.

4. Im preparing another package, and if possible I will include the 3-transfer newsletter. Wierd, but all 3 are in Kunitachi! Also Its going to be a rather big package, so I'm going to try and buy a standard size box at the post office. Lots of fun things members have given me :) Plus lots of pictures of course.

Thank you everyone, We reallly apprecaiate the fact that so many people around the world (and in temples) are supporting us in prayer.

Thanks! Have fun everyone!

Love,

-Elder Mumford

-Tokyo, JAPAN

Hungry Anyone?

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Check out this Spagetti, parsley, sausage, and chicken sandwich? (These are sold in the "conbini" or convenience stores in Japan) Enjoy your sandwich with some "Beef Kabob" flavored pringles, shown below!

(How about this tasty morsel: Inago (fried grasshopper) on rice and wrapped in toasted seaweed. Mmmmmm.)

Now, here's Martin's email dated October 27, 2009

Dear Everyone,

Its only been a little while since the last email. We took an hour out of P-day on Tuesday, and so now we can do it durring a slow time of the week. I think we will continue doing it this way for now.

Anyways, not too terribly much has happened since Saturday, but we have met some interesting people:

1. We have been running into people from every possible Japan-based religion this week.

a. ??? - (Mahikari), a nice old man who told us a little bit about Mahikari. He didnt have much time, but he said that the religion is coming out with a movie called 'The rebirth of Buddha', and he would mail us a flyer. So, if you get a random Japanese flyer in the mail, that's the story.

b. ??? - (Happy Science) nice man, very strange religion.

c. ??? - (Reiha no hikari) VERY nice guy, we exchanged pamphlets. I think this is where our Kawasaki investigator got his 'Space God' ideas from. He also talked to us about how he didnt really like other japanese religions because they are about money. Many times a popular self-help author will take his book catalogue and form a religion from them.

d. ??? - (SGI) Nice person, no interest whatsoever in our message. For some reason all Japanese-based religions have one core doctrine. 'pray for world peace'. Everyone does it.

So its been a fun experience so far.

Interjection from Missionary Mom:

Up to this point in Martin's mission, I have always included the names of his investigators on the prayer roll at the temple. It will be interesting next time I go to the temple, to write ???, ???, ???, and ??? on the list. (But I guess the Lord knows their name, even if Martin does not.)

Also, Ive recently dug up that 'fourth missionary' talk you sent me a while ago, about attitude, and it has helped me a lot recently. At the moment we still have very little to work with, with no people on the horizon, but Ive realized that I cannot get discouraged. There are so many people in our area, one of them HAS to have a hint of interest. There is someone somewhere in Kunitachi that has interest and is willing to hear a simple message someday. We will do everything we can to find them, teach them, and perhaps sometime in the future baptize them. I know its possible, we are doing our very best, and Im working harder than I have EVER done in my whole mission. I know if we continue we will be able to get an investigator.

This church is true,

Love,

Elder MArtin MUmford

TOKYOJAPAN.

Dekimasu! ('Can do!)

From Elder Mumford's e-mail dated October 23rd:

Dear Everyone!

We can email again in Kunitachi! Woooo! President Albrecht gave us permission to take 1 hour out of P-day and use it towards 1 hour somewhere else durring the week. So I think from now on we will be able to send emails from Kunitachi. However, the day of the week will probably vary every time, so just be warned.

Well, here is all the new information: You probably already got my last letter, but;

1. I am staying in Kunitachi with Elder Remington.　Hardly anyone in our whole zone changed this time.

(One of Martin's tasks as a trainer to a brand new missionary, is to provide the first NATTO experience! Here, Elder Remington prepares the NATTO prior to his first bite.)

We also have some signs of visible success starting to show themselves. We have recently been able to get in contact with a few former investigators. Hopefully they might want to meet with us again. We also have met a few new people that may eventually have interest in the church.

1. Saito-san. A very intimidating American Football player, we met him jogging and he was so friendly. He recently got injured so we want to see if we can visit him or meet him sometime to see how he's doing.

2. ??? - mysterious man who really likes the missionaries, but will never tell us his name. He always talkes to us for quite some time whenever he sees us in Tachikawa.

3. ??? and ??? - mysterious college students who we said 'hello' to and started talking. We went to eat with them at a restraunt and explained about ourselves, our message, how we know its true... they seemed really interested and impressed. They go to Keio and Waseda Universities, which are basically the equivellant of Harvard and Yale for Japan. Very smart people. But maybe they will have intrest and call us sometime. We didnt get their names.

VIDEO: Click PLAY below to view

Why is Elder Mumford eating moldy bread.... and enjoying it?

Ha ha, It's really MELON PAN- (melon flavored bread- a Japanese favorite!) The melon part is green in color- like a honeydew melon.

Also we keep getting a lot of comments from Japanese people on the street that they were surprised when at President Obama's innauguration, he put his hand on the bible. Everyone we meet tells us that America must all be 100% Christians because of this. Very interesting.

Well, some questions...

1. Melissa Meline asked about where that pirate boat park is... It is in Shibuya, right next to Tokyo (the emperial palace) along the ocean front. Its very close to Sukiji (the massive fish market).

2. Apparently some time ago President Albrecht gave a talk at BYU called 'Be all you can be', or something to that effect. Elder Guy was describing it to me and it sounds really good, so Im really interested in reading it if you can get ahold of a copy. (click here to see this talk.)

3. Also I just got the HALLOWEEN PACKAGE! That was so good! I brought the candy corn to English class and gave everyone some. THey dont have candy corn in Japan, but many stores do actually put up the classic haloween decorations. Now that I think about it it really is a kind of a random holiday. Anyways, THANK YOU for that great blessing. Eating peanut butter while looking at pictures from home was a joy beyond measure.

And we did get to see Elder Eyring hold up Dad's oil vial. I actually hadnt got your letter at that point, so when he held it up I was thinking... wait a minute... is that the same one? No! It cant be!, so I wasnt actually sure. Dad must have been pretty enthused.

(Elder Eyring holds up his oil vial that was made by Martin's Father. Click here to see a close up view of the oil vial.)

Anyways, thank you everyone for your great support and continual prayers. We we enjoying our time in Kunitachi. I hope the best for each one of you, whether at school or work or home or somewhere else.

We'll try to email this next week as well!

-Love,

Elder Martin Mumford.

P.S. Every English class thinks its funny that our cat's name is 'tuna'.

The Typhoon That Wasn't

(Elder Mumford was fully prepared for Typhoon Melor, but by the time it reached Tokyo, it had blown itself out.)

From Elder Mumford's letter dated October 13, 2009

Dear Everyone,

There was a Typhoon on Friday. (Or at least there was supposed to be one.) We got a call on Thursday night saying it would be the worst typhoon in 20 years, so we should take a cleaning day that day, instead of Saturday. But before morning study had finished, the rain had completely stopped, and there was no wind. Apparently the wind had been SO strong that it simply blew all the rain clouds away, leaving us in a perfectly normal, blazing hot summer day with not a cloud on the horizon. A little bit disappointing from what we were expecting.

I have some information!

I will be STAYING IN KUNITACHI , with Elder Remington! Which will be rather cool, because I'll be here during his birthday on October 29th.

(Elder Mumford and Elder Remington)

We had General Conference in the Kichijoji stake center. General Conferences are essentially like a missionary superbowl. Everyone is excited to hear it. Especially with the announcement of the Sapporo Japan Temple.

I think the trend or overall theme that seemed to come out of it was "The Spirit" and also "Families." It's kind of sad we have to wait so long before we read the talks. It's really helped me appreciate what resources we have as normal people. You can just get on the internet and essentially listen to or read every General Conference talk ever, in just about any language. Every other CES fireside or a general address is available whenever you feel like it. I really miss just how easy it was to get ahold of information.

Anyways, I found Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon to be especially powerful. (As he always tends to be in his talks.) I'm excited to read that one again, but I'm sure it would lack the effect of actually hearing it.

Well, It's been quite a hectic week, getting ready for the transfer,and with General Conference, but it's been fun. Unfortunately, that means I'll not be e-mailing the next 6 weeks as well. (We still cannot find an e-mail place!) But letters are alright, I guess. (Just a little slower.)

(Ripening rice fields in Japan.

The fields are flooded and by the end of the summer they dry out and the plants mature and are soon ready to harvest.)

Our days are still generally the same: Wake up. look, find, search, try to talk to everyone, go to bed, with no visible results at the moment. It is said that some missionaries see great harvests and some plant the seeds. Right now we are desperately trying to plant seeds, however tiny, and hope that someday they will be ready. We are definitely having a lot more fun finding.

(As the grains ripen and the plants dry out, the tops do start to turn a white color.)

-For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul. (D&C 4:4)

This is by far the most difficult time of my mission. It is also the time I have learned the most. We will keep on trying.

Also Elder Remington told me about this amazing Japanese drink called "Ramune." I had no idea it existed. It's sort of a drink/game because it is sealed with a little glass marble, and you have to catch the marble in this little hole in order to drink it. It is both delicious and fun!

(Ramune Soda. Sealed with a glass marble.)

Another fun story: We have recently been knocking doors in a place that has come to be known as "the scary danchi" or "scary apartment complex." We were making out way along the rows and columns of apartments , when we heard this loud, frightening organ music blasting out. The closer we got, the louder it got. Finally we arrived at the door, and it was my turn, so I knocked. The music abruptly stopped, and we heard someone come to the door. He opened it, and in slow deliberate english, he said:

"I'm... listening... to... music. DO NOT DISTURB ME."

In an attempt to salvage the situation, I asked what kind of music he was listening to, and he said,

"Johann Sebastian Bach."

Then slowly shut the door, and the music started again. Very interesting.

(This is one scary danchi!)

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well in school, at home, and whatever else you may be up to these days.

Love,

Elder Martin D Mumford

東京 日本

(Tokyo, Japan)