July 27, 2014 Letter

0846 hours - a place where cold showers never felt so good.

Everyone my brother put in his mission papers!! Woot Woot!

 

Fun Food Fact! 

Umeboshi. I have talked about them before but they are Elder Iidas favorite food. They are the red ball in the middle of the rice bowl. They are actually a plum. But how you make them is: you take the green fresh plum and you take fresh picked and washed shisho leaves and you mix them into a ton of salt. Then you put boards and rocks on the mixture and you let is sit for around 3 days. Then when the taste is right you pull out the leaves and plums and you lay them in the hot sun (you have to remember Japan is sooo humid so its not like they dry to a crisp) for 4ish days. Then you put them in any container or plastic bag or bowl with a lid and you let them sit. Elder Iida tells me he thinks the best ones are 1 year old. The oldest one I have eaten is 4 years old and that is like max life. With age they get more and more sour and they are super sour to start with but I really like them! Sometimes I put them in the freezer for a frozen sour treat. I want to try and make them when I come home!

 

Culture Point:

Hanafuda. It's a tile game! It's a true Japanese game (about half of the really old games played here are actually Chinese but this one is pure in blood). There are no kanji or writing on the tiles, just pictures of different animals and flowers and you are looking for common flowers that give you enough of the same animals or banners to get points. It's actually a gambling game. I am pretty much not a pro but it has a good amount of luck involved in it with a good balance of strategy. I will teach you! 

 

Spiritual Thought:

I went to a baptism of a 75 year old woman by the name of Oyama San yesterday. She shared something so simple but struck me to the bones. She said she was too nice to turn away the sisters that knocked on her door so she listened. They were so nice, but lots of people are so nice so she was just relaxed and didn't think too much for good or bad. But then they started talking about God and the room changed. She said she had never felt anything like it in her 75 years, more than love, more than hope, just a peace, a divine love and correctness. From then she didn't have any questions and didn't have to believe them because God had told her personally. I just want to add my testimony to hers that the Holy Ghost is a real thing and allows us not to have to rely on others to know eternal truth but to know straight from God. It's a huge blessing! 

 

Funny Story:

So I asked Elder Iida if we had a funny story this week and he told me that my veins were the funniest thing this week. He says that because when we went to the old area he worked in on splits he wanted to go to an old friend. We knocked on the door and she opened, said hi, and then introduced me by grabbing my arm above the elbow and pointing at my veins. Then she freaked out and said it was so cool. Because it was her hobby I guess to look at veins.. its super weird. And then he did it a few days later to Sister Ishikawa and she said it was disgusting. So the funny story today is to show you what elder Iida thinks is funny. Mostly it's not funny but his laugh is so funny it will make you laugh!
 

Love each other for me!

Law Choro