Questions Answered

こんにちわ皆さん！(Hello Everyone!) 

What is the exchange rate? : Good Question. Answer: I don:t know. They give me money on a card. I pull it out of the ATM and I use it. In my mind currently every 100 yen is a dollar, because that:s the easiest. If you good, what is the "Japanese yen to American dollar exchange rate", you:ll probably get a better answer. Sorry!

How close is your apartment to the Ocean? Close enough to smell it, but not close enough to see it. Everything smells like fish. (and everything tastes like fish too. I tried some Japanese instant spaghetti yesterday, and guess what it tasted like? ... Corn. nope, fish. (and it had seaweed in it.. yum)) 

Do you have a mayor in Ishinomaki? We probably do, but I haven:t met him, and if I did, I wouldn:t know. If someone even told me, "Hey, that:s the mayor!" I:d probably say ("You can speak, English?") No, if they said it in Japanese I still wouldn:t know, because I don:t know the word for mayor. I:ll look it up. :) 

Do you have a president or and emperor? Alright, so. Um... We have an emperor, I believe. But I think he doesn:t have a ton of political power. More like a figure head. (Like the Queen of England) But I believe we have someone similar to a Prime Minister that does stuff... But. I am seriously cut of from all of my power and knowledge. I can:t google things! I know that their government isn:t actually that different from ours. 

Are there a lot of gadgets in the smaller towns? This is Japan, are you kidding? There:s gadgets everywhere. My bike has more gadgets on it than most iphones have apps. So many lights, bells, reflectors, and (the word that means the mudflaps for bikes). I think probably the most gadget-ist thing is probably the toilets to be honest. It:s amazing. I almost consider America a 3rd World Country right now. They heat up, they play water music, they... do other things. And they use less water!!! Our toilet has a sink on the top of it so while it:s filling up for the next flush you can wash your hands, and it:s got two different types of flush settings and strengths. - Sumimasen, I tried to avoid talking about that for as long as possible. But it:s seriously one of the most impressive things.

What is the coolest gadget you have found? Oh! Sweet. Look above. My toilet. :) I:ll send you a picture next week. So many buttons.

What are the names of the Anime in Ishinomaki? Ah... ue. eerp... I don:t know.... But I can list all of the names of the books in the Book of Mormon, and the Latterday Prophets at the same time. 1 Nephi, Joseph Smith, 2 Nephi, Brigham Young, 3 Nephi, Gordon B. Hinkley, 4 Nephi, Tomas S Monson, Moroni, 

Did most of the children get killed in the Tsunami? That:s an excellent/ kanashii question. No, most are still alive. Though I know that some did die. it affected everyone, but a lot of people were able to get to safety in time. Hanzawasan showed me a picture of his shop after the tsunami... It:s a scary thing.

What do they believe about families? Everyone that we:ve talked to believes that families are important. Everyone here loves their families just like we do in America. We found a new 70 year old fufu (couple) and taught them about families (we:ll actually ohori choro did :) ) and they said they want an Eternal Family and agreed to have us come back. Really, I:ve seen so many close families here, Just like America.

Are you by fishermen? No, I wish we were closer to the ocean. But, We live kinda by a river, and I saw a guy about Dad:s age all geared up with a fly rod. Soooo....

What work do most of the people do that you live around? Most people we:ve met and talked to own tiny shops. They don:t have any crazy huge WalMart stores here that everyone goes to, so little shops thrive. You can find shops for everything. Pots, rice, random t-shirts, but most are like little food stores. 

How big is your apartment? Well. probably about the size of the playroom. Or smaller actually. Hum... I:m not sure. Everything is so compact in Japan, that I think I:ve kinda lost my spacial judgment. Actually it:s probably way smaller than the playroom. A house 1/2 the size of our house here, is HUGE. 

Do you sleep on the floor? Yes we do, and I love it. 

Do you have a bed or a mat? Both. We have mats that are like beds. Their futons. We whip them out every night, and put them away every morning so we can have more room. So not only do we have to make our beds (mats) we have to put them away too. But I love it. I think I:ll buy one when I get back to America. 

What about the other furniture? What about it?.. Their not beds or mats. But everything is way smaller. Well. If you have furniture. Often times we just walk into someone:s house and kneel on the floor around a table with no legs. But every chair I:ve sat in has been a little smaller than America. Not incredibly, but enough that my knees go above the seat of most chairs, but I:ve got pretty long legs. I think it probably looks pretty funny. 

Do you sit on the floor in most people's homes? No, we kneel. You know how Dad starts groaning if he has to wait longer than three minutes on his knees for us to get ready to pray (sorry dad!) we get to do that for 45 minutes. Yoshi. But normally they have some kind of seat, or they let us sit cross legged. 

Do you have heat in the apartments? Since we:re so close to the ocean, the temperature has been pretty moderate. Usually it doesn:t matter if I wear a long sleeve or short sleeve, but I think that:s because it:s just the perfect time of the year right now. We do have a gas heater in our house, and we:re probably going to need it. People keep telling me how bitter the winters are here. One sister from Utah (yep, the only sister from Utah) told us that because the walls are so thin (and they really are) that it:s often colder inside than outside during the winter. She said "I just have to wait outside for the little bit til I get up the courage to go in." But they have crazy heater/tables that blow my mind. I haven:t got to use one yet. 

How close are the homes together? Oh.. So close. So so close... I love it. The houses are so close together and the roads are so narrow they have giant convex mirrors at every intersection between the houses. You can:t see around the corners! The roads are super weird sometimes because, again, they like to save space. We have to go in a spiral in order to get to our apartment. There is about a foot (or so) between our apartment building and the one next to us. But a lot of buildings have no gap in-between. 

What is the biggest cultural difference from our family and the families there? Well... Um. Their kids seem to have more school than ours. And the mothers for the most part stay home. There:s quite a few single people. Fathers go to work... It seems kinda like it does here. I think that I:ll be able to tell you better once i:ve seen more. Because from what I:ve seen their pretty much the same. I look for it though. Sorry! :( 

What was your week like? 

It was pretty good. We HAD 3 INVESTAGATORS COME TO CONFERENCE! Man. I:ll tell you about that later. It:s been really good though.

 Did you do any tracting? 

Yep, we do housing. We mostly teach though. We find as we go. When we do house we house the temporary housing. It was a baseball park (the Japanese people love baseball, and I think that they think, that American:s are really into it too. They know more American teams than I do) that was converted into a place where people can live. It:s actually not too bad of a place, but I think they:ve all got to find other homes, etc with in the next two or three years. 

  Your branch is how big? about 35  people. We have two families with children. Two young men. No young women. We have a few 25-35ish guys. But mostly just random people that come by themselves. I love it. We have a would:ve been professional opera singer, but somehow (again, it:s because I don:t understand a lot of Japanese) he gave it up in order to still live the beliefs of the church. You should hear it when he sings the hymns at church. Amazing.

Who is in your branch presidency? 

He:s an excellent man with two younger boys, and a wife who never stops laughing. He has far more gospel knowledge than I, and he teaches the weekly institute class. He:s classy, and he:s a good cook, and he has dendo fire. He:s always helping us, and always smiling.

 Who is your ward mission leader and tell us about him? He:s 28ish and he went to UVU in Utah for school. He:s really classy as well and has long sideburns. He speaks amazing English, and he:s always helping us out and leaving food on our door handle.

  What is a typical Sunday like in your branch? We go to the PEC meeting. Then we have Priesthood where a person teaches and people participate, then we have Sunday school, which occurs in a like manner, and then we have sacrament where we sing hymns and take the sacrament, and people talk. Exactly the same. Just less people. Oh, and in Japanese.

Do you want me to put names in of people or would you rather I didn't?  So, names. Names are probably fine. Like last names. but it:s probably hard to tell. Uh. Ya. It:s probably. 

I sent you four of the same letter with different address' on each.  Will you please take a picture of the one that gets to you first?　Yep.

  Speaking of which how is Hanzawaksan coming along?

Do you have any business cards? Oh do we have business cards. Do we have business cards? 土ウェはヴぇびｓ根ｓｓかｒｄｓ？　ｙｅｓ　ｗｅ　ｄｏ．　ｔｉｐ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｄａｙ：　ｎｅｖｅｒ　ｕｓｅ　ａ　ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒ：ｓ　ｃａｐｓ　ｌｏｃｋ．　

Have you ate any(I can't remember the name of it) I will describe it.  It is breaded pork and is typically served with shredded cabbage.  It is really good and is my favorite Japanese food. I probably have. I:ve eaten a ton of things, and most of them I don:t remember. But Pork is way good here. It just has a bit more fat is all. Breaded pork with black goo? Is that what you:re talking about? We:ve eaten a bunch of that.

How many people come to your ward/branch each Sunday? About 25-30ish. 

Are they strong in the ward? A bunch are crazy strong, a bunch don:t come, and some just slip in and slip out really quick. But as a whole, the ratio of strong to weak, as compared to Utah, is far FAR higher in this branch. We:ve gone on joints with most active members, and a lot love to take us out to dinner or give us bags of food. Everyone loves every one, and they:ve got to cling to one another because this is all they:ve got. We have activities at the church almost every night, and most of the same people come for all. Man... I love these people.

Have you had Korean barbecue since you have been in Japan? Maybe, I again just wouldn:t have known it. But we have had Tempra, which I think is Japanese barbeque. It:s so amazing. We had a tempra party. 

How much tracting do you do in a day? Mostly, none. When we do find, we do streeting. We do housing about... uh... Probably 2 at max a week.

How much time do you spend street contacting? Oh yes! We do... About... anywhere from an hour to 15 minutes everyday. It:s mostly a back-up plan in case something else doesn:t work out, or we need to fill time.

How many discussions do you give. We visit a ton of people, but not always teach a lesson. A lot of member visits, referral contacting, investigator stop-bys etc. But in a good day we give three, on a bad 0. But usually one or two everyday. (And almost always with a member) Usually 2 a day.

Have you settled into missionary life yet or are you still really homesick? You know... I:m sorry family, but I haven:t really been home sick for anything. Not food or mountains. I love it here. We eat noodles, rice, and fish almost every day. And have cheep rice-crackers. There:s nice people everywhere, and the city is beautiful. After exercising every morning the Ishinomaki song plays as the sun pokes its face over the sea of beautiful shingled roofs, and I just smile and soak it all in. I love it. I miss you all, don:t get me wrong. And I:ve come to really appreciate what my family means while I:ve been away. But, a mission isn:t as bad, at least for me, as a bunch of people make it out to be. Maybe next transfer will be something different, but at least for now, there:s no place I:d rather be.

Have you been to a 100 Yen store? AHH!! We:re going right after this, man, I:m so excited. Ohori Choro warned us in his best English "some time America elders go in and looking and looking and never come out." So yep. Today will be my first time.

Have you seen the erasable pens? Yep. I:ve seen the exact ones dad bought us two or three times, and other kinds once or twice. :) but we mostly have normal pens.

YAY! I did it. Yoshi. 

So this week I:ll keep it short. 

Onaderasan is the most amazing man. He was a self-referral. He just road up and asked us "kohi (coffee) suki desu ka?" (do you like coffee?) and now we;re teaching him the gospel almost every day. He has a ton of questions and is a home teacher in the sense that he teaches children at home. He:s a chemistry teacher. He;s so smart and so giving. He have me a little stuffed mushroom cell-phone thinggy. I love it. He came to both sessions of conference on Sunday. After he said "ahheieh. Confusing" in English to us. He said he loved everything they said about service, but he didn:t like it when they said "shinjinasai!" which is Japanese command form for "Believe!" which is pretty rude in Japanese, unless the person is of a higher social status than you, which the translators for conference obviously know the General Authorities are. But I don:t think it should be too big a deal. He liked it. (2nd week at church!!!) 

Sotaikai...(General Conference) subarashikata desu ne? (it was wonderful, wasn:t it?)

Man i love sotaikai. We got to listen in English in the same room as the rest of everyone. We went into the chapel, and the church sends out dvds to all of the countries a week after conference in all of the different languages. They rigged it so we could listen with headphones. They just have a translator voice over what everyone says. 

In the middle of the second session I turn around and see Matsukawa fufu (the matsukawa couple) sitting in the back of the chapel looking confused and I dare say worried. I was so happy that there where there that I almost started laughing. Sugoi! ((it was) Awesome!) 

They left after once hour and we chased them down. We talked and laughed with them, How cool is that?! 

Hanzawasan is way busy on Sundays, but hopefully things will start slowing down for him so he too can come. This is awesome! 

This week:s been good stuff. 

Spiritual tip for the week "If we ever dislike someone, it isn:t their problem. It;s ours." God commanded us to love all men, and though we should despise sin, we never should despise people. I think dendo maieni (Before my mission) I disliked a lot of people silently in my mind, and justified it because the people we:re rude or prideful. If I:m any sort of normal, I:m probably not the only person to do this exact thing as well. We are commanded to love all men. Even the publicans love those who love them. They salute those who salute them. How can God reward us if we only give back what has been given? When we love those us despitefully use us, who spit on us, or who smite our cheeks, we take the higher plane, and we unite our character with Christ:s. And through this we become joint-hiers with Him. We become one in purpose with God. So let us treasure up the words of eternal life, day by day. Let us engrave the teaches of the scriptures onto the fleshy tablets of our hearts, so that we become them, and later, they will become about us. 

I love you all, keep moving forward in the path to eternal life, and doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. 

- ウイルライトちょうろう

Wheelwright Choro