An air force base located somewhere in northeast Asia 1633 hours
So the weather has been insane lately but kind of fun; lots of ice, slush, hale, snow, or sunshine and it makes the bikes really fun to come to like a sliding sideways stop. We look like total beasts so no big deal. ;-)
Apartment:
I already told you that we had transfers but we now have Elder Mantz, my companion, who is a total stud. He is so humble, funny, and just chill! He is great with people and is a total skiing beast (like he would make us look silly). He really lightens up everything and works super hard (we wake up half an hour early to get some extra Japanese study in because he wants to help people more). I am having a total blast with him! Elder Iida is Anderson choros new companion from Tokyo and is so funny! He knows no English and is so happy and a good sport about trying to learn it and talk to the members in the base. He makes you feel good about yourself because he is so kind.
Culture Fact:
Snow. I haven't lived in all of Japan but in northern Honshu this is my experience: it snows a lot. More to the west of us it has like 8 feet of snow downtown in the cities. The sidewalks are just these canyons! Here it doesn't snow so much but we always have a good foot on the ground at all times. They deal with it by having hot water running under the big roads in the big towns that melts the snow. I have even seen it where there are holes in the road that pours water 24\7 on the road. But in smaller towns like Misawa they pretty much just leave it to get compacted and grow. One time I saw a road grader clearing off a road on a steep hill but that is it! They have these tiny little cars that work so hard to get through it. It's crazy! They just leave the sidewalks too but businesses clear off their parking lots and sidewalks. Normally at about 8 in the morning you see like 10 people out in each parking lot and they are all shoveling away like little soldiers, skirts high heels, suits and ties everyone in the office works together until the snow is gone! Japanese people are awesome.
Fun Food Fact:
Mazegohan. I have never actually made this but I have eaten it a lot. If I had to put a comparison on it I would say it's like the Japanese version of a casserole maybe? The words themselves mean ``mixed rice`` and that is the only rule. Normally it is kind of a brown dish but sometimes red or purple and it is mainly rice with chopped up vegetables and meat and some type of seasoning (vinegar and soy sauce and something else). People tend to have it when they have a lot of people over or we have a party at the church a bunch of people will bring it. It's way good and normally there is a ton so you can fill up on it! When I learn how to make it I will hook you guys up with the recipe.
Spiritual Thought:
So there is a man, his name is Enos, and I want you guys to read his story. He is found in the Book of Mormon and his whole story is pg 136-138. It's really short and super important. There is a commandment to love everyone. Commandments make us happier so I think we normally want to do them but it doesn't mean that they are easy to do. Especially the love everyone commandment (see Matthew 5: 22). This Enos guy had the same problem of being too weak to keep all the commandments but he overcame it because of two things he did. I just want to share my testimony that God wants us to be happy and He knows we are not perfect. That is why He gave us a way to overcome our imperfection so we can be happier. When we come unto this way we truly receive the strength or other help we need from God.
Funny story: (Oh how I wish I could draw to explain this but I will work hard.)
We are missionaries; our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. Part of our purpose is to try and act like Him so we try and serve at every chance we get. So we were biking home one night and we see this car that wasn't looking to hot like a beached lil dolphin. There was a big hill\cliff with a road going up it and a smaller road that ran parallel to the big road but instead of going up the cliff went down. The little road merged with the big road. Well this tiny lil car was coming down the big hill and tried to do like a Uie onto the little road going down. But there was a ton of snow and the car had misjudged and turned to early and was high centered. Poor lil car. So we kind of look at the car and look down at our bulging biceps and think.. oh ya.. we got this. We go tap on the window and they roll it down and ask if we can help them and what they would like us to do. There are two guys in the car about 25, saggy jeans, spiky hair and hipster glasses, kind of gangly... they matched their tiny car. And they are like "ooh thanks! If you could maybe try and push us out that would be great". So we are like "oh yeah no problem man!" and put our bikes to the side of the road and get all set up. The front end of the car is a good 3 feet lower then the car and it's set up to roll downhill so I am thinking easy as pie this! So we get good footing... 1,2,3.. push! It kind of budges a little, some snow crunches...oh yeah! 1,2,3,.. push! It budges a good six inches! I look over and see we are a three man team now because one of the guys got out and was pushing next to my companion. Ah this is great all of us will work together I thought! 1,2,3, ...
We are missionaries; our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. Part of our purpose is to try and act like Him so we try and serve at every chance we get. So we were biking home one night and we see this car that wasn't looking to hot like a beached lil dolphin. There was a big hill\cliff with a road going up it and a smaller road that ran parallel to the big road but instead of going up the cliff went down. The little road merged with the big road. Well this tiny lil car was coming down the big hill and tried to do like a Uie onto the little road going down. But there was a ton of snow and the car had misjudged and turned to early and was high centered. Poor lil car. So we kind of look at the car and look down at our bulging biceps and think.. oh ya.. we got this. We go tap on the window and they roll it down and ask if we can help them and what they would like us to do. There are two guys in the car about 25, saggy jeans, spiky hair and hipster glasses, kind of gangly... they matched their tiny car. And they are like "ooh thanks! If you could maybe try and push us out that would be great". So we are like "oh yeah no problem man!" and put our bikes to the side of the road and get all set up. The front end of the car is a good 3 feet lower then the car and it's set up to roll downhill so I am thinking easy as pie this! So we get good footing... 1,2,3.. push! It kind of budges a little, some snow crunches...oh yeah! 1,2,3,.. push! It budges a good six inches! I look over and see we are a three man team now because one of the guys got out and was pushing next to my companion. Ah this is great all of us will work together I thought! 1,2,3, ...
Then I saw that bro number two was right beside me getting ready to push.... wait.. that's 4 guys pushing...
wait wait wait!!
But I had already reached 3 and they knew it meant to push... lots of crunching and sliding and then she was loose and off to the races! We were all like pulling on her bumpers but our lil dolphin had turned to free Willey and she was going... two Americans in suits and two punk Japanese guys flailing and crying out getting pulled down a hill by a lil Asian car. It's a good thing the guard rail was there or this would have been a way more exciting story. But it reached the cliff edge and just smashed into the guard rail. I am sorry to inform you that we tucked our name tags in our shirts said sorry bro and high tailed it out of there without getting any pictures. But we saw them drive away too and they were looking kind of high type as well... life is exciting in Japan!
Stay awesome, smile, and love each other for me!
Law Choro
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