The Adventures of Cameron Law

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

January 4, 2015 Letter

1100 hours land of the Eskimos

So you know how the Lord says he prepared those he sends. I just have to give a shout out to the Moses Lake ice skating rink (I heard it closed which breaks my little heart) but working there has given me the edge to be the missionary with the least falls in the area. They call me Whaling Wallace for the advanced arm techniques I use on the especially difficult stretches.

Fun food fact:

Milk. So I think I talked about this a long long time ago but I now am not as confused by the Japanese so I know a little more. The biggest container I have ever seen milk sold in, is one liter cartons. I have never seen it in anything but a carton. Now that carton runs from about ￥120 to I have seen ￥400. The huge variations in price has two big reasons that I can tell. One is where it is from. If it’s from Hokkaido the island to the north it will be expensive. If there is milk from china it will be dirt cheap. The other big difference is fat content. It’s either fat free or whole and fat free is way cheaper. But for some reason fat free and whole milk taste sooo different here. I have a theory, the fat free is actually from goats.. ;-)

Culture point:

In the USA I always kind of felt that by the 2nd everyone stops saying happy New Year. But in Japan (in my experience (I always get worried you guys will take this as doctrine and not the notes of an idiot 20 year old)) people say akemashite omedetogozaimsu. kotoshi mo yoroshukuonagaitashimasu. (Happy new year! I am looking forward to working with you this year as well!) For like a month after New Year’s! You only need to say it once but if you haven’t seen someone since the New Year began and you already knew them and it’s the 7th of January I think you are totally cool to bust it out. (Especially old people think you are super cool)

Spiritual thought:

This week’s thought comes from being around my beloved companion elder Macnab. This guy is full of experiences. It all comes back to the experience and the knowledge that the fruit is sweet. I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I came across this scripture the other day, it’s about a prophet that is talking about why he is making these sacred records "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2nephi25:26) the influence of my companion combined with me finishing my first journal (which was given to me by Sister Heather Calder love her.) kind of made me think of why I am writing. If in the future or today sometime someone needs my help am I prepared with my own experiences and knowledge of how to use it? In 200 years if someone read my journal would they know how to get the remission of sins? My advice is go out and spend way too much money on a journal or buy some app that is way too expensive so you feel bound to write! It has been a blessing to me! :-)

Random Pic:

This is one of my beloved past companions Elder Keshino. He is home now... :-( he went home last transfer but I really like this picture he took on his last day.

Funny story:

We walk a lot... like A LOT! I already bragged to you a bit about how good I am at staying up. Sometimes it’s just me and Macnab Choro, sometimes lots of people, and sometimes we walk with Moffat and Nishiie Choro. But when we are walking around and there are no other people. No cars. It’s dark. I get this really strong temptation to be unprofessional and occasionally I throw a snowball at a sign or something. Wild I know. One thing that is really stupid I do is I throw them really hard straight up. The idea is they will stall for a solid 3 seconds then come down and drill Elder Nishiie in the face. (He says goodnight everyone! I love you Macnab i love you Moffat. I like you Law) but he is normally a foxy little fella and never trusts me, so is always on the lookout and avoids them. One day I made this beauty of a projectile. Just enough snow to be heavy enough to throw but small enough to give it the “bring it to the just two handed grunting compact”. It was round it was hard and it was up in the air a solid thirty feet. In all honesty I didn’t think too much of it because normally I suck. Then I hear this crack. I am thinking that had to hit the ice on the road because of that sounding like ice cracking. Then the yelling begins. I turn around see Nishiie with half formed snowball in his hands big eyes and looking at Moffat who is the one making all the noise. If you have ever seen what a snowball the drills a car window looks like, that bit that sticks in the shape of a little cone. He had that plastered to the front top of his head and he had snowball shrapnel all over his shoulders...

It would have worked a lot better, but he was making way to much noise and I knew that he had plastered himself in the face to try and make my feel bad. He is too honest. ha-ha! But Elder Macnab totally judged me for being a monster for 10 seconds. We are working on apartment relationships.

Love each other for me!

Law Choro

December 28, 2014 Letter

1300 hours; The silence before the storm.

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-2^nd) 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

December 21, 2014 Letter

1100 hours; The frozen North.

I transferred from the city up to the most northern place in the island. It’s called Aomori which means blue forest. There is a lot of snow and the snow is perfect for skiing. (Not that I ever sometimes think about snowboarding.) My companion is a total stud for Arizona. He is a wrestler and can do over 50 pull-ups. He has lats that are ridiculous. He is super genki and loves to say hi to everyone. You will all like him.

Fun food fact:

I am starting to forget what I have told you about... but bear with me if you have heard this because I love it.

It’s called Nabe. Nabe is actually just the name of the big pot you cook it in. It’s so basic... a giant pot of boiling water that you put some type of flavor in. It can be anything from Shoyu (soy sauce) to kimuchi (korean spicy pickled cabbage) and everything in between. Then you put meat and cut up vegetables like cabbage, mushrooms, greens, carrots, potatoes, tofu, sometimes noodles, meat... anything! Then when it is done you eat it with a bowl of rice. It’s hot and fast and feeds lots of people and can use all the leftovers in your fridge and its super good. My favorite way is sukiyaki which has a flavor made with tons of dashi (bullion) sugar, and soy sauce. Then you put in meat and hakusai (napa cabbage) and these giant mushrooms, and then you take a bowl and you mix up a raw egg (I remember when I thought that sounded so gross too but just trust me and try it) and you take out the cooked meat and vegetables and you mix it in the egg and you eat it... i am telling you it is sooo good!

Culture point:

So I am in an internet cafe right now (this is the first time I have ever used one in my life) and there is nothing very interesting or different (I think) about it. But next store is an arcade and those are so exciting in Japan. There are normally like 50 little kids running around all over and the machines are super packed and the volume is turned up full blast on all the machines and it is just sooo loud! Japan made Nintendo and so they obviously love games just as much as America. (they don’t like shooting games as much as America I think but they like adventure and "cute" games waaaay more) and you know those little robot arms that you can use to grab a little toy? (We are eternally grateful alien guys) those are way more popular here. But the prizes tend to be waaay better than the ones in America.

Spiritual thought:

It’s Christmas/ :-) everyone check out the "He is the gift video" here is a link! http://www.mormon.org/christmas of all the experiences in the scriptures of people in the scriptures with Christ I find myself most similar to the experience of Enoch... his is more exciting than mine, but I know from my own experience that through Jesus Christ we can receive the forgiveness for our mistakes and the strength to overcome our weakness. I recommend the whole chapter but some key verses are:

4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?

8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.

I know through Jesus Christ’s name we can receive peace.

Funny story:

So we came into town and didn’t know anything about the area at all except for the fact that there was a Christmas party that night at 5:30 and we were in charge of the game. But that the game had already been prepared all we had to do was present it. So we get to the church and find our game. He was in the back room waiting. It was a dark night, so I couldn’t make out more than his general 2 and a half foot stature growing bigger from the bottom to the top.... the name was frosty and he was cold.

A piñata was the Christmas game. (This is what happens when you put a bunch of Americans and Australians in charge of the Christmas party game in a country with no Christmas traditions... they choose Mexican fiesta games. But he was pretty impressive and I was stoked. (If we are all going to be honest everyone loves a piñata no matter the time of year.) So I give him a heft... and I saw a flash back of the Pocahontas of 96...

After 1 broken coat rack, 2 dented ceiling tracts, and a couple chairs stacked up old frosty was dangling a bit to the left but still dangling away in the middle of the stage. We had 3 bats lined up and not a blind fold in site. This was not a game of tricks, this was an exercise of strength... we call up the kids. First is lil Shokun he is like 3, but pretty coordinated, strong. We give him the bat and tell him to whack away about ten times... the poor little guy takes a big back swing lets her go and... thunk... his poor little hands hurt too much after 6 swings to want to continue.. next comes the 4 year olds... the first bat broke around the 2nd graders... frosty started to at least swing from the strikes of the 5th graders... by the time the 7th graders got to him his nose did break to the ground... everyone had stopped clapping around the 8th graders and the cheers went from "candy candy" to "give it to him Johny!" "Pulverize him!" Then came old Aichan (freshmen girl) and she just started wailing on the top of his head over and over and over and bam... his rope snapped and he just sat on the ground slightly bunched up unharmed sneering at us through his broken nose with those little black eyes.. Aichan had destroyed the second bat so it was on to the high school boys with the last bat... I won’t go into too much detail but once he was on the ground like that only his head was a good shot and the students finished it off....

His body was say to strong so I had to break out a knife and just cut him open and throw the candy to all the sweaty blistery handed children. Duct tape and cardboard are the worst idea for piñatas!

Christmas pictures!

Merry Christmas! Love each other for me!

Law Choro

December 15, 2014 Letter

21:00 hours; The last Stand

Winter has brought down the last leaves and has yet to bring forth much snow so I have decided I am going to transfer up to somewhere with more snow. I am going to Aomori! :-) (It is the farthest north on the big island of Honshu that you can go.) My companion will be an Elder Macnab. It will be his first experience as a missionary in Japan. I am excited to work with him.

sannintomadachi
:

so these are what is left of my MTC group after war disease, 19 months, a mission split and the snow of 13.... no one has really changed that much!

This area with a bunch of kids that are way too cute!

Culture point:

So I got a letter this last week inviting me to a coming of age party in the town center. When you turn 20 in Japan you are an adult! I might go check it out. But with regards to age something that I have found really hard to understand is a thing called keigo. It’s polite Japanese. First of all I found it hard to understand because it is beautiful and long and just hard. Second is when to use it. As a missionary and volunteer, I should use it all the time really. An employee or anyone serving you will use it too. But for example in normal conversation within missionary groups and two Japanese Missionaries are talking to each other. One might use keigo and the other just speak normal... and the reason is one might just be more casual than the other guy, but I have found a specific pattern of one speaking up to someone because he is a few years older. This especially seems to occur to people that played a lot of sports in high school. I can kind of understand speaking more polite to a teacher or boss, but someone a year older than me is harder to understand. But the more I feel the level of respect for other people I see that is a lot less of speaking down and more of speaking up.. It’s hard to explain... ha-ha

Sorry my time is gone! Love each other for me!

Law Choro

December 4, 2014 Letter

1400 hours; Eight Tree Mountain (when you write the Yagiyama on my letters that is what you are writing ha-ha)

Culture point:

Here are 10 good manners to do when visiting a home in Japan:

1. Ring the Doorbell ONCE

2. Once inside the entryway do not take off your jacket until asked to come in (taking it off is assuming you are going to be brought in)

3. Take off your shoes with your face towards the door

4. Once inside the home first greet the Head of the home

5. Let the Host eat first

6. Say your thank yous to every one before leaving

7. Put the slippers you were given for walking around in the home in a neat position

8. As you put back on your shoes make sure your face is always towards the host

9. Don’t "stomp" your shoes on

10. As you walk away kind of back up the whole time and don’t turn your back to them tell a good 10-20 feet away from the door.

So, Japanese people are the nicest people in the world and no one is going to get mad at you if you don’t do one of these things, but they will be so happy and impressed if you do these things! They normally give you warm tea and a warm rag to wash your face and hands on.

Also Caroling, when you don’t understand that culture at all imagine how terrifying it would be to see a large group of people suddenly appear on your porch and start singing religious songs. Ha-ha. I don't have any experience but I get a chuckle out of just the thought.

Fun food fact:

Sashimi is what you call eating raw fish. If you take that piece of fish and put it on top of a ball or vinegar rice or wrap it in rice and seaweed you get sushi. I actually prefer sashimi because then you can eat more fish. Ha-ha!

So fish is actually pretty expensive so we hardly ever buy it we always just get it from people that love us too much or when we eat out. But cutting up the fish is SO difficult like it’s an art to get all the little bones out. True sashimi or sushi never has bones in it. Only when I make it. Ha-ha! Another interesting thing is that once that fish is dead you have 2 days to eat it raw. (That’s if it has been refrigerated well the whole time. Older than that and its cooked no matter what. I really love fish. :-)

Spiritual thought:

I write this one to anyone who hasn`t had much experience with Jesus Christ or to someone who would like to help someone who doesn`t know but about Christ. When you get someone you really loves the Savior of the world they will get all excited and start throwing around all these words like love, joy, mercy, peace, confidence, comfort. They sound so great but they sound so general at the same time. I have found it really hard sometimes to bridge that gap between the person who has experienced it to the person they are trying to share with. But i just want to add my testimony that the mercy you felt when your parents forgave you when you wrecked the car, or the peace you felt with the 12 month year old sleeping on your shoulder, or the awe you felt looking into the sky on a deep night is the same... God did not start calling to you today. You know the basics of those feelings. I also know that all of those feeling can be enhanced and purified through the savior of the world. I know the reason he asks us to do things is to get to a state where we experience those feelings forever as a family.

Funny story:

So Gas stations in Japan. Half are like Washington and half are like Oregon. So they have both self-serve and serviced. I normally, being a Washingtonion go to the self-serve. But the other day I went to the service one. And you pull up, and they are directing your car... and in English your like (your good your good yeah your good keep coming, yeah ok stop) but in Japanese you normally hear (hai Hai Hai Hai hai) which sound like (hi, hi, hi hi) and I would always think someone was trying to greet me back in the day, but now I am more seasoned. So I pull up and I used to not be super nervous in Oregon, but this is in japan and I don’t know the rules or if there is going to be some new Japanese I don’t know. Elder Inamori is with me but he has never put gas in a car, so he doesn’t know what is right either. They bow super low to me and I bow back. I roll down the window and give them my card. "Mantan regiura desu ka?" I say yes. She walks away to fill up my car, but before she does she lays a little moist towel on my door where the window is rolled down. It’s all folded up pretty. I felt the pressure. I knew I was to do something with that towel. It just has that flavor to it. So I casually glance around pick it up. At this point I think I know what it is because it’s warm. I have had a hundred warm towels just like this given to me over the year and a half when ever I visit restaurants or people houses. So I start wiping my hands with it getting all those little dirties off. Then just as I am three quarters the way up to my face to wipe it off I see the guy in the car next to me wiping off his dash and windshield with the same pink rag. Ha-ha-ha Elder Inamori was laughing pretty hard. I learn new things every day!

Love each other for me!

Cameron Choro