Church in Japan: the church in Japan is amazing! This Sunday was fast Sunday and all of the new missionaries in the ward were asked to share a short self introduction and a testimony. Apparently I said that one of my hobbies was studying, but what is weird is that I know how to say that and i don't remember saying that. Other than that, I pretty much catch about 30% of what is said. We went to primary for 3rd hour to answer the junior primary's questions about missions. So a really sad thing that I learned this week. The only day that Japanese students have for sports teams is Sunday and because of that, most youth in Japan are inactive during their youth. During 2nd hour we went to the youth class. They had one for deacons and one for the older than deacon age. There were only 4 youth and 3 of them left after class for sports.This is the inside this morning before we cleaned. Just imagine made beds and that is what it looks like. So, we bought groceries, mostly just some noodles and flavor/sauce mixes, but, Homem Kyōdai took us to Costco and paid for a whole bunch of food, so we have eggs, meat, muffins, Calbee. That is a Kellogg cereal/granola thing in Japan. And then, on Sunday, the ward members put together a "fruit basket". So much food! Here are our cupboards.
We have so much food! All that we have to buy today is milk for the 6 bags of Calbee. We get about the same as normal missionaries, but a lot of the allowance goes to travel. I have spent so much riding the rails! It is cheap compared to Singapore and Chicago, but I do it so often it adds up. A lot of my travel is reimbursable though because it is for a baptismal interview or zone splits. Battaglia Chōrō is a zone leader, so we go everywhere. This week I was in Atsugi for 2 whole days. We did a lot of kubarikai, which is flyers for Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa, if you use it right, is a really good finding tool here. We teach about 5 regular investigators a week and about 20 short messages on the street, the train, and over the phone. Yamada-San has been busy all week, but he should be free this week. I have met a lot of people. The Relief Society president and her son are really nice. He spends a lot of time with the Senkyōshi. Enomoto Kyōdai is super nice and speaks really good English. Chiba Kyōdai is going to get married in October. I haven't had time to take any pictures with the members, Sunday is one of our busiest days and this Sunday especially. We went to Nanbei (or Domingo) and I passed the sacrament. There are plenty of Portuguese and Spanish speakers here, so I am glad they had the chance to come. Nanbei is twice a month and more people come every time. Battaglia Chōrō is from Lagos in Portugal. I don't need more pajamas yet and I will be looking for a certain Gretta's artwork in the mail from the honbu. Seminary in Japan is same as Texas. Bright and early so that people can get to school. A lot of the members that I have met are accountants and other office working jobs. Shonandai is not close enough to the coast for anyone to be a fisherman.
I had my first Japanese fish today. We went to a conveyor belt sushi place! Yay! (I hope someone recognized the sarcasm in that yay). It was better than American sushi, so I enjoyed it more, but it was still pretty hard. Wasabi helps for those who dislike the taste of fish. I love wasabi.
Some of the dishes looked pretty sketchy, but my trainer and our districts two Nihonjin took pretty good care of me and Farnsworth Chōrō, the other beanchan from America/Peru.
We are going to the temple next week in Tokyo proper and the next week we are going to Enoshima, a really cool looking island on the coast. Today we are going to teach a lesson in the evening so we couldn't travel really. We are going to have a takkyū (ping pong) tournament at the church.
Other than that we aren't doing much. I rode a bike for the first time in a year in Atsugi and that was terrifying. No sidewalks for a bit, lots of hills and big trucks everywhere. I wasn't even on my bike. I was on splits with Dowdle Chōrō and I was on his companions boneshaker of a bike. Here is my bike. I don't know why it has white tires, but it does and it is great. I also haven't ridden it yet. We are a 4 minute walk from the church and a 6 minute walk from the eki.I am running out of stuff to write about. Places I have been this week:
1. Atsugi
2. Shonandai
3. Chigasaki
4. Hon-Atsugi
5. Sagamihara
This week I am going to:
1. Fujisawa
2. Shonandai
Maybe we will meet someone who wants to be taught somewhere new, who knows what the Lord would have us do.
Spiritual thought for the week: so I convinced the Relief Society president to bear her testimony on the Book of Mormon. She was a convert and she said no to baptism 3 times. She said the thing that was holding her back was a disbelief in the Book of Mormon. She said that as soon as she started earnestly reading and taking it into her heart, she was given confirmation that it is a true book.
My desk (which has now been cleared off).
The district had a member sneak over on Sunday under the premise of checking how clean our apartment was. This was Enomoto Kyōdai and probably someone else's handy work. This ward and area is amazing! I feel so welcome and everyone is patient with my Japanese!
Yeah that's about it for the week. I turned 19, I feel the same, thank you all for your emails. I love hearing what you have been up to and I hope that I am giving you the information that you want to hear. If there is something that you want to find out, please just ask.
マーフィー 長老
Shonandai, Fujisawa, Japan
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