0114 Hours- The frozen beaches of Northern Nippon
Culture Point:
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| Us at the Kado |
Shinto
Temples. So one regret I have about prepping for a mission is not
researching at all Buddhism and Shintoism. I know Shintoism is pure
Japanese and not brought in from foreigners like the others. The
thing is I cant learn about the religions here from companions
because no one young really knows anymore then I do. The Shinto temples called gingas are pretty common and a lot of
people (no matter if you are Christian, Buddhist, Shinto, atheist...) go to
them on New Years Day! It's way fun because you do all these fun
activities!
First we go up to the big temple itself, throw some
money in this big box, take the giant rope and swing it around to ring
the bells and then you bow twice, clap twice and then bow and say a
little prayer in your head of whatever you want! It's kind of fun. It
doesn't feel as sacred as when you see Muslims or Christians pray. There are older folks who take it more seriously and perhaps it is
sacred to them. But at the same time there are lots of families
with kids coming to do it in all there snow gear and the parents teach
the young kids and they kind of mess us and everyone smiles and its
just feels like more a fun tradition. The older folks that take it
more seriously don't glare at the people taking it really lightly
with the kids, they just smile too.
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| I had the best luck |
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| My fortune |
Then we went and bought our
fortune for the year. It gives your general luck level this year then
some specific things that will happen. I got the cream of the crop
luck and I am really excited because it said I will find a girlfriend
this year! this should be exciting.... haha! Then you take your fortune
paper and tie it in a knot on these strings (look kind of like clothes
lines but obviously more cool) and then it will come true! You can
buy these charms and things to give luck and you buy these pieces of
wood that you write your hope or goal for the year on and hang it up
too!
There are all sorts of funny ones like get lots of money or marry
"so and so" and then some more cute ones like have a good birth when
the baby comes and stuff like that. I bought one but haven't written
anything on it yet! Then there was also this littler shrine with mochi
(its like a cake made out of just smashed up rice) and an orange on top
of it that you said a little prayer at to get good health for the year. It was really fun and neat to go! Lots of families come (New Years is spent with all your family like Christmas is for us but maybe even
more so) and so its way fun to see! The buildings are just amazing
to look at and all the hard work and care that goes into maintaining
the grounds around them. They truly have honor in what they do. It was a great
experience!
Fun Food Fact:
So
there are some New Years classic foods but when I got it explained to me
as I was eating it I really didn't understand many of the words... so
some things I remember were:
- Salmon eggs. Eat with a scoop of
rice underneath and they are actually great! I didn't like them that
much before my mission but now I totally love them.
- Crab pinchers (obviously
delicious) but interesting enough that is the first time I have seen
crab in all the expensive fishes and other sea food. No one really
liked it as much as me and you don't use butter.
- This yellow stuff with balls about the size of a walnut. It was my
least favorite thing to eat.. turns out the balls were acorns and the
yellow stuff I still have now idea. But once I found out they were
acorns it made it a little better.
- Sushi that was raw fish but had no rice, it was just wrapped in a ton is some underwater plant. It was great!
Sister torikoshi said that there was meaning to all the parts but
that it was too complicated and she didn't even know them all so I
didn't worry about it!
Spiritual Thought:
So
my thoughts have been all about what I want to do with myself and how I
should go there of late. From everything to Japanese, to serving
others, to my profession someday and getting physically stronger.
I could talk about that but what I want to share is the power of
scripture. It is holy writing given by a loving Heavenly Father through
holy men to guide his children. There is so much power that not only can
give us specific direction, but can also put us in the correct
perspective to see how we can become what we want to be and what we
really want to be is. Then as we read and study what is there,
there is lasting power that keeps us on what we want to become and
gives us strength to overcome our weaknesses and things we do that we
want to stop. I testify that they are from God and they can do anything
from give us faith (Romans 10:17 So then a faith cometh by b hearing, and hearing by the word of God.) to tell us what to do (2 Nephi 32:3 aAngels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, bfeast upon the cwords of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will dtell you all things what ye should do.).
Funny Story:
So
this week we had a dinner appointment on base like normal (they
normally feed us 3-5 times a week!!) so we are a little late and we are
running up to the gate of the parking lot where the ride will be
waiting. We are trying hard not to fall on all the ice and snow so
we kinda slow down and start looking around and we see some cars
idling, some buried in snow and off, one car with its flashers on with
all these construction signs and big cones and snow just smashed underneath it kinda tipped sideways (poor guy must have slid on the ice)
and so we do like a window check in all the idling cars and then all
the snowed in cars... where is he?! Then we take a little better
look at the conesmasher car... it was our ride! Oh man.. so we like
cheerfully wave and get in and our ride is like looking at his phone
and he seems kinda quitter then usual and so obviously we know he knows
he destroyed all the road equipment and he is mad and all. But then
he just starts her up and starts driving away... kkkkkkrkrrkkrrrkkk
this like horrible scraping sounds is following us... what is he doing? We go through security and start off to his house..
kkkakakakakkkrr.. then he says something like "man I must have built up
a good bit of ice on the back mud flaps and with the extra weight it just
is dragging back there..." he had no idea... haha! so we get into this
little giggle fit as we do paper rock scissors (way more popular and
cool in Japan) to decide who will tell him. We lost probably half of it
on the way, random cones and signs in the middle of the road, but there
were still these three giant cones that were stuck when we got to his
house. We had a good laugh!
Love each other for me!
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