August 17, 2014 Letter

1400 Hours - the land of the broken heart.

I am transferring and it kinda hurts the old ticker more then I would have guessed... but I am going back to my beloved Nagamachi so all is well. :-D

This is Atsushi! He was an exchange student back in WA. He just happens to be from my area and the internet has kept us in touch. He is such a good friend and I am so happy we got to meet up. It was TONS of fun!

Fun Food Fact:

Wanka soba! It's like a contest. I have a too bad a case of love for competition and dislike of throwing up too participate but basically it's a how much can you eat contest. It's super fun! You sit and have a little bowl. And then a person (normally very kind looking young lady) drops about one solid bite worth of noodles into your bowl. Then you take your chop sticks and just slurp it down. Then she says something witty like "good job!" or "next! keep it up!" and drops in another. Slowly you eat a whole ton load of soba and that nice looking lil' lady turns into a demon that never gives you a break. haha! Elder iida is kinda legendary at it! He did 185... impressive.

Culture Point:

My Moma wanted to know about weddings. I have never been to one, but from what I hear there is a huge western influence in what a "cool" wedding is. So, about half the weddings are just white dress and tux like we think of them. But the other half are kimonos which is what you think of when you think of samurai dress. I have to say I did not appreciate how beautiful they were until I saw some nice ones on handsome guys and beautiful women. It is just (if not way more) money and time put into making them as big dresses. But I have no idea how they do the ceremony and my companion is worthless in that department. I got all surprised he didn't know and he was like "I have never been married man how am I supposed to know". But I think he is slacking as a Japanese citizen.

Spiritual Thought:

I have learned lately that I think there are more then one kind of service and it all depends and how you are thinking. There are times when you actively push yourself to help others and that I think is when we grow the most. There are times when we are kinda forced into it by someone or circumstance and I think that doesn't effect me the most. And then there are times where we actively choose for so long that a small habit forms that we just do it out of instinct. Like a 40 year old man opening a door before he knows what he is doing, a lady smiling at a baby on accident when it is sad, all those "cute" little things. But I think that is when we find the joy in the service, when we become that person. In Matthew 10:39 is a great scripture that I think partly means that if we can completely pull out of ourselves those selfish desires only then can we truly have all the joy. So then I comes to how does one truly change there desires? and that is where Christ comes in I think. We also start with faith in the little commandments. I want to testify that we can change how we influence the world and how happy we are through Jesus Christ; He is our savior. 
 

Funny story:

We were walking home from a restaurant with a friend and the three of us were just chatting away. I was on the far left away from the road, then Iida choro, then sato kyodai. We are just have a jolly time on a hot day at about 1 in the afternoon. Then I hit a mine. In the states I might have got angry but in Japan it was not only the first dog crap I have ever stepped in but the first I have even seen! So mostly it was surprise and confusion on my face I think. Iida choro totally had seen in coming but was bound in a deep talk about the work of our friend and didn't want to be rude and interrupt. And Sato Kyodai is just talking and asking away and didn't see any of this... and I am just like oh not such a big deal just kinda walked so the one leg drags for a few steps and all will be well. But I don't know if it was the humidity or a sick stray dog or something but it was really gross... and the smell was lingering.. so i had to be rid of this! I find out it's stuck between the heal and the sole of my shoe so I start dragging it on the edge of the curb like any poor soul in my situation would do. This is just all gross. The funny part was elder Iida. He is a laugher, you can get him crying just by dancing silly in the apartment. He is trying to be calm as he watches all this develop and by the time I use the curb he is just dying, but sato kyodai just keeps going. So I start to do like leg shakes to fake get it off and Iida just like ceases up. I love this guy; I feel super funny around him.
Love each other for me!

Law Choro

p.s. its a bit of a spiritual rollercoaster for us all.. testimony and then dog poop.... any improvement points?

August 10, 2014 Letter

0840 hours Miyagi-ken

It was an awesome week! I got peaches from a lady at church that loves me!

Culture point:

So I think that I have told you about matsuri; but its giant festivals. The Japanese culture is full of them and everyone just loves them. Normally they are in the summer and the Big one in Sendai is called Tanabata. and it was this week! For tanabata there are tons of fireworks on Tuesday night then from Wednesday to Friday there is a huge street that has these giant ornaments that hang down and you can walk down the road (its over a mile but I am not sure how long). There are tons of shops all over the sides and food and people (lots of people) and if you are there at night (especially the fire work show, then probably 90 percent of the girls and 30 percent of the boys are dressed up in traditional Japanese clothes. It's way fun! I bought a summer one but didn't get a chance to wear it. Here are some awesome pictures for you:

 

 

Yes Jaimyn, I chose this one just for you!

 

Fun food fact:

I just want to share something with you: if you leave cookies out in Moses Lake WA you get these crunchy stale puck, if you leave cereal out in Moses Lake nothing changes. In Sendai in the summer if you leave out a cookie it gets super soft and gooey and falls apart. If you leave out a bowl of cereal without milk, it will begin to get soggy. And I am not kidding or being dramatic!!! You put a lid on it to keep it crispy!!

Spiritual thought:

I just want to share my testimony that Jesus is the Christ. And the reason I feel that way is that I have studied what he has taught and find that when I apply it I am liberated from the sorrow that comes from my mistakes. Especially when I pray for forgiveness through his name. I can testify from experience that you can receive peace and forgiveness. We can be clean and progress through Christ.

Funny story:

If you want your own funny story eat a peach with the skin on in front of someone Japanese... hahah!

But this weeks funny story comes to us from a place we go to for service. It's a hospital where we talk to the people that are living there and don't get to get out much. There are many elderly people there and I have this one table that I totally love, they are mostly in their 90s. They actually are super interesting to talk to. They were in their 20s during world war II and lost siblings in it and had some really hard trails. But for the most part they just compliment the heck out of you, are super bright and make love jokes. I know they are like this so on a split i had a young American missionary go and sit with them and I just kinda watched from a distance. I was just dying. He was just red as can be the whole time and had this nervous smile and strained laugh the whole time. After he came back with all these new vocabulary words he learned like secret lover,  handsome man, stud ect... you kinda had to be there but it turns out you can get harassed in Japan too.. haha!
 

Love each other for me! 

Law Choro

August 3, 2014 Letter

0849 Hours in the place where you don't need to flip the egg to cook it on the sidewalk; it just steams the top too. :-D (I came up with that myself this morning).

Fun Food Fact:

Something about honey from Japan, New Zealand, Austrailia, or Korea doesn't quite match that of Canada or U.S. honey. It is not quite as sweet but still good.

Culture Point: When you ask someone their name you: ask their name, they tell you, then you ask what kanji are used and they describe them! Then you kinda say "wait this one?" and you draw it on your palm with your index finger, and then you say that's a cool name! And they normally are super cool and it's not a lie. If a Japanese person read this culture point they would laugh so hard but i testify it is true!

Spiritual Thought: Family history! We can help our ancestors! Check out first cor 15:29 and then talk to your mormon friend and they will hook you up with a bunch of free tools to research where your ancestors are from! It's way fun!

Funny Story: We called my beloved Miura Kyodai and started randomly singing happy birthday just to mess with him. The first time he just hung up the phone and when we called back he said he didn't want to embarrass us by telling us that we had called the wrong person. That is how nice Japanese people are- haha- I love this place!

Love each other for me!

Law Choro