So every morning we have been doing
our normal exercise but then, Elder Macnab and I do the last 5-10 minutes
together and we do this thing where you pick an exercise. For example; low
squats. Then you do as many as you can in 20 seconds, then you break for 10
then as many as you can for 20 seconds then break for 10... You go for 5 to 10
minutes. To put it simply my body has part of it that is dying every day. Today
we are both limping around and walking all funny, because my calves feel like
they have knifes in them. I will have the toned body of a gazelle by the time I
return.
Fun food fact:
So I was served the most amazing
Christmas dinner ever this year. It was at a Japanese home but the hostess made
us lasagna, baked whole chicken (I have never seen that here but it even still
had a neck!) sweet and sour chicken, sushi, cake, many different salads, sweet
potato soup... etc. It was sooooo yummy and I will love her forever for only
that! But one thing was this sea food soup. I had never seen it before. It was a clear
broth with one red piece of meat in it with a tail on the meat. It looked to me
a lot like a shrimp filleted open. I drank the soup and it was sooo yummy and
so I grabbed the little shrimp and threw it all in my mouth at once and was
surprised that it was fish. I love fish. This was especially good. (My guess it
was a pretty high quality buy) and then I bit down and was way surprised to
find a lot of bones. I have grown up eating salmon and other fish and I stopped
spitting out the bones when I was like 16. They don’t bother me if I chew them
carefully. But these bones were very hard and very sharp. I almost died. Ha-ha!
So I looked with panicking eyes to the sister missionary next to me and she
showed me how you pull the bones out of your mouth with your chopsticks and it’s
not rude. (At least I hope it wasn’t rude) but it tasted amazing! My point is
be careful and don’t try to chew that little fish’s bones. It was called a
puffer fish... No, I am just joking!
Culture point:
New Years is this week! This is
the huge family holiday in japan! All the people are moving and getting ready
for it! It consists of cleaning before, big meals together, maybe going to a Shinto
temple... I get the vibe it really depends on your family what you do, but
everyone seems to be with their family. It’s like the only time you see the
country shut down. It shuts down for about three days. (31st-2nd) everyone
greets each other with "this year has been a wonderful one I am looking
forward to working with you next year." (That sounds a lot better and more
natural in Japanese)
Spiritual thought:
I had an experience at church
this week where a lady who has not been baptized, but has been learning about
our church for over a year and coming most weeks, said she felt like she was
unworthy to come to worship with us because she did not have faith. It was very
touching and kind of emotional for me for some reason (like I got a little
fired up out of nowhere) but I was reminded of a scripture in Alma 32 that says
"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect
knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are
not seen, which are true." I felt so clearly that the faith required to
come to church is merely the tiniest hope that there might be a happier future
out there. The tiniest hope that there might really be a God and he might
potentially love me. I really felt the Lord’s love for that lady and I am so
thankful he was willing to share that with me.
Funny story.
So this one goes way back. I was
with elder Ito in Nagamachi and we were visiting this family and because I am
always trying to win the hearts of the people here. (Elder Ito was too much of
a stud so I always had to bust out all the moves) I would always break out my
family picture album to entertain the Mother of the home. (They love to talk
about our families because they know we love to talk about our families and are
so nice) so I was a bit behind of Elder Ito on the coolness level. So I go
straight to my ace in the hole. Page 11. Baby niece section.
So I have tons of pictures of my
nieces in my photo album I show people. Everyone loves babies. When they are insanely
cute babies that are white, it’s even more interesting. But I have a page that
beats all others... it has the picture of Adalee, the day she was born with her
head in someone’s hands and her little eyes closed. Sooo cute.
Then comes my favorite
picture of Mikilah which is when she is in the tub, no teeth, HUGE smile, and
she has a little giraffe book and rubber ducky. It’s darling.
Everyone is cooing and telling
me how cute they are and I take all the credit for their curtness and bask in
the glory. Then all the sudden Elder Ito stops smiling. He gets that look where
the eyebrows come down the nose bunches and the bottom lip comes up and
out. Looks like you just saw a dog licking a sleeping baby’s face. He says
"Nande gorira ga akachan to
ishoni ofuro ni imasu ka?!"
Which translates to:
"Why is there a gorilla in
the bath with the baby?!"
And I was like:
What?!
I had been too distracted for
all these years with the cute smile to notice the gorilla foot in the bottom
left corner. I died. I laughed so hard but explained it wasn’t a gorilla.
Love each other for me!
Law Choro
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