No better way to celebrate the day of the birth of Christ than to preach His word

hope all goes well in America. 

Uh... So ya. This last week was Christmas in Japan.

Just so you can get an image of Christmas, and what it is, I'll explain some history. 

So Japan was ruled by warlords back in the day one smart guy worked the system and got the emperor on his side, and unified much of Japan. 

(Oh, by the way, the first emperor was the son of God apparently, so the current emperor has the blood of a god in him, which gave him a bunch of power- because no one likes to fight against God) 

So yep, white people and stuff started coming to Japan to trade and stuff, and brought guns and it threatened to destroy their society and culture- so they cut off their boarders for like 200 years. 

So while the rest of the world was progressing through the industrial era, Japan had Samurai sword fights and stuff. So, they were a little behind, but they liked it. So like in the 1870's an American guy shows up on a steam boat and demands that the Japanese trade with them. First of all it freaks all the Japanese out, because they've never seen a seam boat before, calling it the 'ship with black sails'- but the Japanese are suborn and like the way Japan was- (I'd rather hang out with samurai and ninjas too.)

so they naturally rejected them. The American said in effect, 'alright, I'll kill you all'

So he got in his ship, and let loose the cannons on Japan blowing up the port-

So ya, that did two things for Japan, 

1. they started trading with America, and 

2. they realized that unless they modernized they'd get taken over. 

Japanese people don't like getting taken over- 

So they changed their ideals, tried to preserve their culture while growing- 

The United States refused to trade with Japan, they got angry, and yep. 

The attack on pearl Harbor, and then the Atomic Bombs

then the U.S. occupied them, tore down their military, and America became their military. 

And then random aspects of American culture like the commercialized aspect of Christmas (and Halloween etc.) all soaked in but only on the surface level. 

So everyone knows Santa gives gifts to kids and has elfs, 

But no know he lives on the north pole, or let alone anything about Christ. 

So we put on Santa hats and we passed out all of the these little bags with candy canes and chocolate, (the physical food) and put a card about where Christmas really comes from and the Japanese missionaries in our district wrote little notes on another card too, wishing people a merry Christmas and stuff. 

We passed out probably a little over 100. which for this small town is a pretty big deal. 

{We got our pictures taken by some high school girls, so if you're surfing some Japanese girls facebook pages, don't be surprise if you see us.}

Christmas was good. No better way to celebrate the day of the birth of Christ than to preach His word. 

I love the Gospel. 

I love ya'll! 

Elder Wheelwright

Life is pointless without service

Well, I've moved to a new area and all of that stuff. 

I moved from Aomori ken (blue forest prefecture) to Akita ken (Autumn field prefecture) and now I'm in Odate shi. (Large... center/ building?) 

Ya apparently there was a giant castle out here, but it burned down... So now there's nothing. Laugh. 

That's a joke. People told me I was going to the most rural part in our mission, and so I was expecting the worst- but ya, if you compare this place to Morgan... this place is New York City. It's got a mall and street lights and everything. 

I always tell people the town that I'm from doesn't even have a street light (don't tell me they got one) and they just about drop the things they're holding, or they jaw. 

Yep. 

Well, we went to sendai, and I met a bunch of my old companions so that was way good and stuff. During lunch I ran over to a book store and bought some more Japanese books- that's seriously all I do with my extra time, just flip though grammar books and stuff. 

I've some how been able to convince everyone here that I'm 'fluent' in Japanese. (In our district of 6 only my comp and I are gaijin, everyone else is Japanese) 

So, yep. 

I was walking down the road and I said hello to an older woman, which isn't that impressive, then I said 'samui desu ne' 'It's cold, isn't it?' and she almost fell over screaming about how fluent I am. 

I think everyone here that's ever seen a gaijin, has never actually seen one that can speak Japanese... maybe? 

We took the train into a neighboring city to do a kid's English class, and they freaking out at my Japanese. 'perapera ja-nn' 

A member asked Elder Fukuchi if I could speak Japanese at the shokujikai (meal party) after church, and he said 

"hai hai, kare wa oishii" 'Ya, he's delicious' for some reason...? 

I think he meant to say 'umai' instead of 'oishii' the former meaning both 'really good' and 'delicious' and the latter meaning only delicious in the food sense....? It was funny. 

But I still can't read or write. 

Anyways- 

I went to buy some boots, because the snow here is rediculous here. There's so little space, everyone opens up like the sewer drains (kana?) and stuff and dumps the snow in. The snow piles up on the sides of the street too, so even though it melted a bit the other day, it's still about up to my chest. 

But the normal snow is only about up to our knees. So ya. I went to buy some boots, and I tired on their biggest XL size and it's still too small, so I took it up to the guy and the counter and asked him if he had any bigger sizes, and he just started cracking up laughing. 

Yep, so I went with that. My feet hurt, but hey, it was only 2000yen. And with the exchange rate being in favor of the dollar, means it's probably only like 16 bucks. Yay. Cheaper is better. 

We were at McD for lunch, and these five high school guys came in. 

I've gotten sick of teaching old people so I'm going crazy and focusing on young people. (Sure I'll still talk to and teach the older people, but I yuusen the younger over the older. I... put the younger over the older(?). 

So I was debating in my mind whether or not to talk with all of them. 

I felt like I should, and part of me wanted to, but then the other part of me just wanted to enjoy my lunch/ language study time (because we've been so busy), at that moment I felt like I lacked courage, power, the right kind of words- but then I just said a little prayer that though the atonement that I could do it, and bam! No fears, I talked with all of them, it was way cool, I gave them all cards about Christ. 

The atonement works. Ya'll can dendo. (I picked up ya'll from my last, last companion.) 

What else..? 

I've been wearing a santa hat and using it to talk to people about Christmas. It pretty great. 

Ummm... 

I love missionary work. It's actually really fun.  

Japan is cool because: (I'll do one thing a week) 

We've got sented toilet paper. It smells like cupcakes.

We visited this member in the hospital to give him the sacrament yesterday. 

His name is Brother Sasaki, and he's amazing. 

He's 70 or so, and he's been put in the ward where all of the dying people go. 

It looked like he was going to die, but he's made a slow recovery and has to be transferred to a different city to go to a retirement home because the one here is full. 

We came and his eyes welled up with tears. (oh by the way he's fluent in English) 

and he said 'no, man. I told you guys to stop coming. Why did you come?' 

I took his hand and said 'we came because we love you Sasaki Kyodai, and because God loves you.' 

We gave him the sacrament and talked for a bit. He's such a cool guy. He was the former branch president here. 

He said he hates the food there, and he just wishes he could walk to he could take us out to lunch or dinner. He said when he recovers and gets back to Odate he will. 

I told him I'd come back to Japan sometime, and I'd take him to lunch. 

I felt such an immense amount of love for that little man, with a clear mind and a deteriorating body. 

And even in such a dark place where people were screaming, and gurgling their own blood- this man was a light as bright as the sun. He lit up the room. I want to be a man like him... ah amazing.

I took a picture with him. I forgot my adapter so I'll sent it next week. 

We went to help this member at her butchery- we cleaned all of the machines. We were crazy boots, suits, and stuff so we wouldn't get all the chunks of meat and fat all over us... it was sweet. 

Um...  Merry Christmas everyone. 

I love you all! 

Life is pointless without service for other people. 

Elder Wheelwright

TRANSFER

Well, It's a transfer- and just like it's been my whole mission, I can't stay in a place more than 2 or 3 transfers. 

So, I'm going to Odate. And I'm going to be companions with Elder Hill. (Not the one in my apartment right now, the other one). So, it should be cool and stuff. 

I've heard two things about Odate so far 

1. The is a TON of snow. 雪はすごいねって言われている

2. There are only about 7 active members in the branch.

So it should be fun. :) I love Japan. 

Here's something. Sorry, this week is busy. 

"I think transfers are a good opportunity to reflect on how the area and you have changed over the past couple of months. 
I've become a better person because of Hachinohe, but I was also able to see quite a bit of growth since I've come here. 
I don't attribute it to myself or any sort of work ethic, though we are working hard, but rather whenever we find an investigator it seems to come randomly from the grace of God. 
When I started here there was only one investigator, and now we have seven. 
We'd work hard, and people would just show up out of the blue to church, or people asking questions about the bible would appear on the street. 
The whole time I just thought how blessed I am, and how truly this work is in the hands of the Lord. 
If we're not worthy, then we don't qualify for the Spirit, and are like rats in a maze; just wandering around aimlessly for some sort of sign. 
That's one of the deepest lessons that I've learned on my mission- we're useless unless we're moved by the hand of the Lord. "

Love ya'll 

Elder Wheelwright

I Don't Even Remember

I was looking around on Mormon.org, and I searched for my own profile with the intent of rewriting it to sound better, but I realized that my English has digressed so much, that I can barely even understand. 

Mom, you wrote me a letter with you week backwards so I'll try and do the same. 

Today- 

man... do I even remember what happened this week? The first week of my mission seemed so long.... Now it's... wow. 

Anywho. 

We made a deal with some American members from Misawa. We said we'd give them the map with all of the recycle shops in Hachinohe that missionaries had found, if 

1. they'd take us there

2. if we got pizza. 

Actually we're not that mean, they just did both of them because they're nice. 

So... We surfed recycle shops. They're like the DI but with everything. In Japan it's really expensive to throw stuff away, so it's better just to clean off something and sell it to a recycle shop. (they give you like, what, ten yen for something... not really worth it. However it's better than paying the 200 bucks to throw it away) 

So yep. Found some nice 1 dollar ties. 

Sunday- 

Fukagawa-San came to church. WHOO! We were supposed to teach young men's, and since we only have two young men, we decided to do a joint lesson with both of them. 

It was pretty good, but I felt like it was hard to teach Fukagawa-San, so after while Mo-Choro was talking to Yuuki-Kun (one of the young men) I taught Fukagawa-San the first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. 

I told him how all that we're saying rests on wether this little book is true. If this book is true, then God really does exist, Joseph Smith really was His prophet, and this church is the only way to find true and lasting happiness. 

He paused for a while, deep in thought. 

"What do you think about all this?" I asked after a bit of silence. 

"I feel something... difficult to explain... Something deep. Something.... I want to say mysterious, but it just doesn't seem to fit.... How do you describe it?"

I testified that the feeling was the Spirit. He said he'd read it and pray. 

I love teaching the gospel to people who actually want to learn. It boosts your faith. 

I've been pondering a lot about a lot of different gospel principals, and a pattern of seeking and asking, then after words receiving truth- (not always the one I wanted)- has occurred so often that in general, just having faith is a lot easier. 

Truth seeking, and getting revelation is probably the most important quest we have in this life. 

Knowledge, true knowledge (knowledge of truth) is so powerful... SOOOO POWERFUL! Knowledge understood and remembered will change our behavior and even our very desires. 

Yep.

Yep...

Oh I just remembered two things- 

So Japanese people here in Japan when they initially see us, their brain instantly thinks (for some odd reason) that they won't be able to understand anything that we speak- so even if we're spitting out fluent Japanese, they just get confused.

One lady at a restaurant today was trying to hard to speak English to me after I'd spoken to her in Japanese. I looked and her and told her, "Look, I speak Japanese.... Is it okay if we talk in Japanese?" 

But then other times like at a shop today, I started talking with an older woman in the line and she got super surprised and exclaimed "You speak Japanese better than I do!" And started telling all of the people around to listen to me. Laugh...

I don't even remember what happened on Saturday... 

We did our English Class.

I love doing missionary work. 

We were riding our bikes when we heard a man screaming at another one, and I stopped and saw though a fence and past some cars all these people holding this one guy back from getting this other guy. I rolled my bike back a little bit to see what was going on.. .and I saw cameras! It was a movie! Hopefully I'm in the background of it. 

Then a crazy guy came up to us. (Mo- Choro's two fears are crazy people and centipedes. (I just killed one for him, I chopped it into a centi-pieces) ) 

So yep. It was way funny. He was probably drunk and started to try and speak English to me, and gave me a hand massage at one point. He told us to come over to his house some time... I asked him to write down his address for us. He just said, "no no no... nono." It was pretty funny... Ah... I love crazy guys. 

(It's nice because every crazy person in Japan (almost every person in Japan) is very little. It's not even scary. You know they don't have a gun- plus you're like twice their size so... they probably couldn't even push me over.) 

Ummm... We had a ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) I gave a training, because the Zone Leader's onegaied me. (asked me to) Yep. It was good... I guess. 

I talked with people on the trains. (My favorite type of dendo.) 

uhhh.... 

I love studying the gospel. I'm ready for some good old deep gospel questions.

Anywho. 

I love ya'll. You're all awesome!

Elder Wheelwright

Please marry me--- Back in America--- And Trunkyness

So, the title of this letter, sounds pretty sketch, but I'll leave it that way to remind you of a lesson that we already know:

"You can't judge a book by it's cover" nor a person nor an email. 

So on Thursday we went to America. 

A family from Misawa (which has the American Air Force Base in it) invited us to come to an American thanksgiving. 

It was insane.... 

Everyone from the district came with this family and we just ate food and played games with them. It was so weird... 

There was an oven, a trampoline, family pictures on walls, and most importantly, a couch... a sweet glorious couch.

All the American missionaries just sank into it. For some (and me as well) it had been the first time I'd sittin... ? I've sat on a couch in over a year. It was crazy.... 

Mo Choro just sank into the couch and stopped moving. I'm pretty sure he just fell asleep in like a minute. When he woke up to go into the other room he with blood shot eyes asked a simple but profound question: "Why doesn't Japan or Tahiti have couches?"

The answer: I don't know. 

It was so odd eating things you once considered normal, now foreign but strangely familiar at the same time, like something you've done in a dream. 

Rolls and Turkey, etc.... and it caused me to learn something about American culture (which I then decided to teach to my English class, cause I always teach them the good things.) We WASTE FOOD! 

Every missionary ate every last bit of food that was put on their plate. There wasn't the smallest bit. But everyone in the American family, every one, had a little bit of food left over that they threw into the trash. 

I'm  not judging, because I used to do that all the time. It was just interesting for me to realize that I've been in a different world for such a long time.

This week, dendo wise we didn't have a whole lot of time. 

I did a training at district meeting, (I've been assigned to do one at Zone Meeting this week too).

I did it about the "Afterlife". 

Cox Choro fist palmed when he saw me write it on the white board. 

I was told him the truth in a joking manor when I told him I was going to do a training for trunky missionaries. (Him and Tuttle Shimai are going home in like two weeks) 

I talked about how we're all missionaries forever, and used my famous example of rechargable batteries vs normal ones. 

God likes things that are eternal- God doesn't just want missionaries for two years, He wants forever missionaries. 

We planned an talent show/ thanksgiving dinner event. I wrote and directed a 7 minute play about where thanksgiving and the first thanksgiving came from. It was hilarious, but under-appreciated, there was only about twenty people there besides the missionaries ,which is too bad.... We do activities to the members and mingle with our investigators and build friendships, but out of the over 50 active members in the branch, only about five actually showed up. 

I guess they must've been busy or something.

Oh my English, it's getting progressively worse. 

okay, 

So a member onegai-ed us (asked us) to help him propose to this recent convert in the branch.  

It was pretty awesome- He had someone kidnap her and sit her in a wheel chair with a box around it so she could only see in front of her, they attached speakers to it and we did a live music video where we all slowly came in, starting with his friends dressed up as the band members. She was like crying and stuff, and the crowd split and they he walked out with a suit and a one dollar bow-tie, and proposed to her. It's similar in Japan, (like the getting on one knee and stuff) but the way you say it is a little different. 

Instead of 'asking' them to marry you, you say

 "Please marry me!"

Then you wait for their response. 

She was crying and stuff, and she said doushoukana, which literally translated is "I wonder what I should do."  in the least sarcastic way possible. 

He got up off his knee looked the other way, walked around for a bit, then said 

"I'll give it another try." and got on his knees and said again 

"Please marry me" 

She responded the same. 

He said "I'll lose weight"

She asked in a high pitched voice between sobs "Five Kilos?"

After he agreed she replied "Onegaishimasu" Which means lit. (what you have just said) is my "honorific wish". 

 and bam! 

PDA is like culturally not okay, so they didn't kiss or hug or anything, but it was good. 

I love missionary work in Japan. 

I've got to go really soon.....

uh... 

Japan is cool....

I love you!!

Elder Wheelwright