1800 hours Long City (Nagamachi in English)
The worst thing to have a as a volunteer missionary is a slow week... but this week has been way busy! :-)
Culture point:
So I would like to use this picture of my super cute niece to talk about this point! So Japanese people are very clean and stylish. I feel that there is a more formal level (like us riding around on bikes in ties is not weird at all). And also just clean; like your clothes and cars and shoes are just always clean. For better or worse that's just kind of the culture. So while inside sitting on the floor is much more normal in Japan, sitting on the ground outside is a little more odd. Like of course at a park its normal to sit on the grass, but on a curb is pretty odd. So instead when people want to take a break you keep your heels on the ground and sit your bum on your ankles. That is super hard to understand unless you see the picture. But you sit in this position to rest and most foreigners find it really painful and hard to do. I am pretty much a Japanese so I can do it.. ;-)
Fun food fact:
I have talked about how people peel their grapes before. Another side note on that is that the best, most expensive grapes you can buy (and the ones most common) are grapes that are like a juicing grape in my mind.(I grew up juicing concords). They sometimes have a grapes that I swear are concords but others called a masukato. It basically can be shot into you mouth by squeezing the skin and are very sweet and have seeds. I pretty much ate a ton of them at this farmers house in aizuwakamatsu yesterday.. they were sooo good.
Spiritual thought:
From when I was a pup I always heard that there are three things that will help you solve any problem. At least the foundation are these three: church, scriptures, and prayer. That is pretty much right and so everyone kinda jokes those are the "primary child answers". But I heard from a friend that he likes to think of those fundamentals as being 4. He said that along with those 3 is a fourth way to build a relationship with God that is just as important and I agree with him. Fasting. Fasting is a tool that God gave us so we can focus more on spiritual matters, a way to put more into our prayer than we could otherwise, a way to show we need or want something more. It's a huge blessing! The Savior himself did it before he opened his ministry. I really can testify of the blessings or perspective, peace, and power that comes through our fasting. It is done by saying a prayer and explaining the specific reason why you are fasting and dedicating yourself for that time. You can then fast for as long or as short as is healthy for you and not eat or drink whatever is healthy for you, but normally a fast is 24 hours of not drinking or eating. Then you end with a prayer as well. I really recommend it especially if you have a question or a prayer that you really want to ask. I testify God will answer through our diligence so we can learn and that a way to learn even more is fasting.
Funny story:
So I guess that there is some type of weird culture in the church in Japan that you smash a plate of whip cream in someone's face on their birthday (it's a dark evil tradition that I do not yet understand). But the sisters in our district really wanted to do it to Elder Ito - the most kind man on the planet (our district leader)- and I was not especially for it. But we tricked and lied him to come to an area at the right time that they planned on doing it. Then they wanted us to grab him and hold him but no one wanted to (because it is evil) so it got really awkward and slow and he got really confused and then realized what was happening and then ran away a little bit. Then he felt bad for the sisters that prepared so my companion fake held him as they could smash pies in his face. Pretty much he is an angel and women are evil and heartless is what I learned... we all did laugh though..
Love you!
Love each other for me!
Law Choro
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