Dear World

Dear World,

Ramen is an amazing gift from the Lord.

Also... I can make an instant soup out of anything.

I'll teach you right now.

How to make instant(ish) amazing Japanese soup:

1. Prepare to have your minds blown

2. Chop up onions, potatoes, and carrots into thin slices.

3. Boil some water, and drop them in.

4. If you feel like it you could probably add a clove of garlic.

5. You boil those for a while.

6. Pour in some soy sauce.

7. Yep... just pour some soy sauce into the water.... Until it tastes

good. You put a lot, but not too much... (Angry internet guy 7: this

is the worst recipe ever!)

8. I put some basil in, and some garlic salt, and some seven spice,

and some pepper.

9. Then you pour the packages of Udon in. If you don't have udon, you

can put it soba... if you lack that, you can use spaghetti noodles. If

you don't have that. Instant ramen might have to do.

10. Cook it until the noodles are soft.

11. Eat.

The day I figured out that you could just pour soy sauce into

Everything, was an amazing day for me. I'm not sure if Japanese soy

sauce is different, but I'm pretty sure it's the same. In fact the same

company makes it.

Anyways. This week was great!

Okuda Choro had his birthday yesterday, so Ryutaro as well as the

Kimura Couple, gave us cheesecakes. Okuda Choro said after "What's

with the cheese cakes? They're good, but they're not my favorite or

anything."

:) They're my favorite.

So. We taught Nagoya-san on Thursday. I set up everything perfect, and

invited her after some solid testimony to be baptized. She paused for

half a second and then shook her head. Gah.... The Kimura Couple goes

home in May, and she doesn't think that she can do it without them.

But she said she will get baptized, just not yet. She's going to move

to Tokyo in a year, right next to the Kimura's. So I fear she may wait

until then. (My English is going out) She said that she'd write me a

letter when she gets baptized. I still felt oddly a little hurt

inside when she said no. I suppose that's a good thing. It maybe

because my will, in some small sense, is unifying with the Lord.

She knows the doctrine and believes it, she's just afraid to take the

next step. How alike we all are. Wanting to grow but just letting fear

stunt us. President Harold B. Lee said that the most important

commandment for us to keep is the one that we are struggling with right

now. I suppose that's pretty obvious, but I like the way he put it.

I've been digging though the New Testament lately. I finished Jesus

the Christ, and am now working though the shinyakuseisho

chronologically. Excellent. I love the insights that I'm receiving.

We got to teach Yuko-San a lesson the other day. She's Sugiyama-san friend.

Okuda-Choro and I had an intense split that day. We were a little

lost, but my sense of direction told me I needed to go a particular

way... And then... The road ended and there was a rice field. Great.

So... we picked up our bikes and walked through it. We didn't walk over

the crop, but on the side. Rice fields are muddy.

We made it across then we were on a rode that lead right to our

apartment. We start to ride, (It's pitch-black at night) and we hear

someone yelling

"HEEELOO!" We stop. "HEy! YuhOO! GOOd Evening!"

It was Sugiyama-san. Just standing in the middle of the road at night.

She's always so excited when she sees us. (She's our investigator)

And for being in a city of over 100,000 people, she sees us quite a

bit. She told us that it was probably because of God that she keeps

running into us. She's so funny. She's not a traditional Japanese

woman. She's loud, and expressive, and is always laughing.

Kinda random.

We were teaching another lesson to our new investigator, I believe her

name is Nakisawa-san, (Not a common name). She's the mother of an LA

in our branch. Who her daughter brought to church randomly last week.

She's almost ninety or somewhere near there. She has no teeth, and

can't really walk at all, but tries her best anyway.

Her daughter didn't want to go to church so she didn't have a ride. So

she called up the Elder's quorum president herself, and told him to

come and get her.

She's been Buddhist her whole life, and has been prepared by the Lord

to receive the message long before. Last week we taught her how to

pray, and she loves it. She said she'd always believed in thanking God

for things, instead of just asking for things. She says she'd just

pour out her thoughts to God every day but now is so excited that she

has an actual way to pray to God, though the name of Christ.

The lesson we taught this week was perfect. We taught the whole plan

of salvation, and Kimura-Shimai tied in the Gospel perfectly. It was

too perfect. The PMG says to never hesitate to invite someone to be

baptized, but from what I've seen here, missionaries as well as

members are often scared to do it. So... I did.

"After you learn more about the Church, and better understand this

message, will you be baptized?" But in Japanese and more fancy.

Kimura-Shimai looked like she was going to pass out, and Moffat Choro

broke out into a smile.

Nakisawa-San smiled, and said she wasn't sure of what everything was,

but she wanted to keep learning. So, not a hard no, but not a yes. I

think she'll definitely get baptized. She just needs some time.

I love her. She's praying every

night. Her, Murokoshi-San, Yuko-San, and Sugiyama-San.

So Takeya-San was interesting. We're reading a chapter from Genesis

with him every Sunday, because he wants to learn everything.

We had a discussion about the creation, and how the number 7 is

significant, and other such things, and he told us, (and I agree) that

science and religion should be studied in unison. He knows so much

about our church and he's progressed so much that for a moment I was

convinced that he was a member. Then as we finished the lesson, and

got up to leave, I heard him whisper quietly in Japanese "Raisu wa,

watashino dasukina hebi" Which translates "Next week, my favorite

(little) snake." "The snake I love"

I burst out laughing as I realized what he was talking about. I'd

totally forgotten he was Takeya-san. The guy who worshiped Satan

before, and hated God.

He's gotten to the point that he likes God now, but we still have yet

to help him get his thoughts straight about Satan. Mada mada.

Japanese is coming. I've finally learned passives, and in Japaense

they carry so much more power, because you can put intransitive verbs

into a passive form and it makes it mean that someone is affecting you

with their intransitive action.

Example. (I'll do it in English)

Not passive: Jacob came over to Jane's Apartment.

Passive: Jane was came-d (comed?)over to by Jacob at her Apartment.

Of course in English it makes no sense because we can't conjugate the

intransitive verb came into a passive. But you CAN IN JAPANESE! It

blows my mind. But what hurts worse is the fact that some transitive

verbs in English are intransitive in Japanese, and the other way

around, so I'm never quite sure what to conjugate. It makes every

sentence a puzzle.

Tabun Nihongo de, anatagata ga moto yoku rikai dekimasu.

Probably Japanese in, You more well understand be able to (polite ending).

I love you all, Submit your questions, and I will give answers!

Elder Wheelwright