A trip to the Ocean

We went to the Ocean last p-day! 

It gets dark way quick. The first one was at like 5:00 pm. 

So we cleaned the apartment, etc. Then we some how ended up with an extra hour of time. Olsen Choro looks at me and says "Uh uu Uuh un uu Uuuh" Which in man-language means "What do you want to do?" and I, being the noble person I am, in order to prevent a jungle book vulture scene repeat, I yelled: "I WANNA GO U AH OCEAN!" 

So we went to the ocean. 

I plotted our journey on the map that would take us through busy streets with lots of street lights, and in order to avoid factories, I planned to go though a nice residential area- then right to the ocean. 

So... We started and it looked pretty normal. 

Then out of no where, the huge four-lane streets became empty of cars. Buildings disappeared, and street lights hung, omoniously and alone over our heads; stopping and starting traffic that didn't exist. 

We stopped awkwardly at the light, and waited for it to turn green. A single lost looking little Japanese car drove slowly though. The light waited for what seemed like five minutes and switched. We turned right, which in Japan, is like turning left. 

We turned onto a street, we saw a gray tsunami wall on the horizon, and empty fields full of weeds. I felt a little eerie feeling as I biked down the empty street. Puddles of water settled in the streets off-shooting ours. Then, as I looked carefully at the fields, I made a realization that I should've a long time ago. 

Foundations of houses, broken corners of houses, and twisted metal sticking out of cracked cement, poked out of the weeds. 

These were all that was left of the houses.

The ocean was pretty, and we laughed and had fun (not playing in the water of course), but I felt an awed respect, maybe even a distant tinge of fear as I looked out at the gray waters.

Sorry, funny detail, etc, (I just haven't written a good story in a while!.) 

So yep! This picture is the picture of when we went to the ocean on P-day. It was kinda weird because we biked down empty streets and fields that used to be houses. You could see the foundations of thousands of houses in the fields of weeds. It was a little strange to think about what this place used to be. Four-laned streets with cars, etc. Now puddled roads next to fields of cement and weeds.

We had dinner at Umeharashimai's house with two less active members and the sisters. The two less actives are

friends and they had a cooking contest where we were supposed to be the judges. On regards of who won- we did. We got a lot of food. I love these people. :) 

Fantastic

Konichiwa! 

Alright, this week. 

We had Stake Conference in the Sendai Stake, so we headed to the big city at stayed at the Kamisugi apartment with a bunch of other Chorotachi. 

People live hours away, so not everyone could make it to the Saturday meeting. At one point, one of the councilors had all of the missionaries stand up. Half of the people in the room were missionaries. There's like 80 missionaries in our Stake. Nearly every talk was about using the resource of the missionaries. 

Apparently I was told, and this is just missionary talk so it's hard to tell if it's based on any viable source, but apparently by one of the apostles (probably not one of the currently living) he said that Japan would become one of the most successful missions in the world... So maybe this is just the kick starting of something huge. 

We challenged our English speaking investigator to be baptized but he's concerned with tithing and if he'll get to keep his Catholic insurance. As his conversion deepens, he'll come to realize how small so many trials truly are from an eternal perspective. Not that his trails aren't real, and aren't hard; that'd be emotionless to assume that. They are real, and they are hard. He's going to figure out if the company will let him keep it or not if he converts. He's been praying and he knows how to recognize the answers, I dare say, better than I do. He's been receiving answers to his prayers. 

Fred san on the other hand, has been a little difficult. (He's the guy who had a stroke when he was 25, and can't understand why God would do that to Him, even though he was Catholic and never questioned His existence.)  We work though every thought he has, and we answer it, what I feel to be, clearly. But we just go in a loop. 

Alright. So Fred has a question that I think many people ask. If God loves us, why do bad things happen? Or if God is perfect, then how come He causes us pain? 

Well, the second one is easy. God doesn't cause us pain. If so, He would cease to be God. 

So why do things like strokes, typhoons, and tsunamis happen? 

Well, it goes back to mans' agency. God gave us the freedom to choose. (From that pre-mortal gift we the Devil and the third-part, as lightening fall from heaven.)

Because of this gift, bad things can happen to us in three different ways- 

1. We make a bad choice and have to suffer the consequence. (Drinking excessively our whole life and getting liver cancer, or having an awful family life)

2. Other people make a choice that hurts us. (I get punched in the face by my little brother) (I'm not implying anything Jeremy and Brandon! ;) )

3. Something naturally occurs that makes us suffer. (A tsunami or a stroke) 

'So what?! The third one isn't because of agency. It's not fair!' 

Well actually, every disease, sickness, and jishin (earthquake) comes about because of the choice of another person. When Adam chose to partake of the fruit, because of choice, our bodies and the whole world are now in a fallen state. His body could not die. All thorns, weeds, cancer, ka (mosquitoes), typhoons, and runny noses, happened. When you get a runny nose, it's Adam's fault- it's because of his choice that we suffer, right? Nope. It's true that the choice of a single man brought about all evil, but we also made the choice to come down even though we knew that it wasn’t going to be a perfect world. So actually, it's kinda.. no one's fault.... But then how is that fair! 

Alright, I guess I should've explained the justice in the three, but actually just two, bad things that come about from agency. 

1. is totally, undeniably fair. We make a mistake and suffer. (I guess you could deny it, and I could walk you through things such as 'what if ignorance?!' but I don't have the time.)

2. This one is a little bit more tricky, but still very simple. We suffer because of someone else. But in the end, all of those sufferings will be made just. (This is especially hard for George to accept because he doesn't want to believe in an after-life to come to this conclusion. Which, in order for this to make sense, you need the afterlife. Many people who want to logically debate the existence of God get frustrated because in order for many religions philosophies to make sense, you have to have it in an eternal perspective. But we don’t have time for that ether!) After this life (not immediately after) we will all be judged, and every unjust thing will be made just. We will receive bodies that can't be subject to pain, sickness or death anymore. And we will be rewarded as to our good works, and punished as to our evil ones. Now here I could jump into the Atonement and how that makes sense, or we could debate about what is good and evil, but I don't have time 

So that answers the second question. I hope you're still following. 

The first question becomes quite easy as well; He allows bad things to happen because ultimately they will bring about our growth. We could also get into a discussion where we question why God intervenes sometimes and not others, but we don't have time for that. 

ULTIMATLLY! This is actually very easy if you have faith. If you pray about the Book of Mormon and learn though the spirit, which Alma called an experiment (you know, for you scientifically minded people) then you can know of the truth. 

Man. That wasn't only a tangent, it was a cosine as well! 

So we visited a blind and almost deaf 90 year old man named Hirayama san. (I thought about his name... it means flat mountain). 

He's a member that was baptized the year that I was born. He lives by himself in an old wooden shack. 

We knocked on his door, but he didn't hear, so we went in and yelled. "SUMIMASEN! SENKYOSHI!!!!!"  (indirectly translate: Hey! It's the missionaries!) and he slid open one a paper door and got a huge, mostly toothless grin on his face. He welcomed us in with a loud laugh. 

We sat in seza (on our knees) to be respectful even though he couldn't see us. 

He talked to us about how much he loves church every Sunday, and how much he really loves Jesus. He pointed at a picture of the Savior that was crooked in its frame on the wall. 

He told us about how important tithing was. And he said that sense he doesn't make any money, and he still wants to give, he gives people free massages after church. He laughed and told us how happy he was because of the gospel. 

It touched me. A man whose wife died long before, who lives alone in a little wooden building, who can no longer see or hear, was giving all that he had because he loved a man that visited this earth 2000 years before him, who most people in his country know little if anything about! WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD HE DO THAT?! Is he crazy?... 

No.. I don't think so. He does because he knows, and because though he cannot see or hear, he can still feel. And he still feels it deep in his heart. 

Man... I love these people. 

Take care ya'll. 

Wheelwright 長老

Ohiyogozaimasu

In Japan, whenever someone gets up to speak in church, they start off by saying "Ohiyogozaimasu!" or "Konichiwa!" and everyone replies respectively.  I'm just a little curious why we don't do something similar.  "Good morning everyone!"
"GOOD MORNING!"
I don't know, in English it just sounds a little hen (weird).
Well I forget what I write to some people or what I've already written last week, or what I've written in my journal, so if I repeat myself, forgive me. :)
Questions!
Do you have any investigators?
Yes, we have four right now, with one very strong potential.
Wakarani- he's a 20 something English teacher who we just invited to be baptized.  I'll tell you how that went in a bit.
Fred- Half-Japanese Half-Filipino.  He was Catholic and never questioned the existence of God until one day he had a stroke, and he lost much of his natural mobility.  He has troubles walking and using his hands now.  He doesn't believe that any God worth believing in would do this to him.
Kitami fufu- a member referral who loves the gaijin.  Their 70 years old but work as hard as ever every day.  They're both retired, but they do volunteer work all day, nearly every day. Whether it be picking up trash from the streets, or just going to talk to people in need of comfort.  They're amazing.
Have you had any luck with member referrals?
Yes and no.  Socially there's one amazing and awful governing rule.  They never want to inconvenience anyone.  If you offer your seat to an old woman on the train who's having troubles standing, she'll firmly tell you to get right back in your seat.  It's a really self-less society.  However, because of this, members often have a hard time pushing things onto their friends, because their afraid to be rude.  But, just like in any country, many members feel the 'dendo fire'  (mission spirit) and know that their joy of the gospel is worth pushing onto others.  So we get a good amount of both.
What about housing?
I'd say that it's far less depressing than in America.  That is, unless they use the keko box.
Keko box: keko is a phrase in Japanese that is usually accompanied with a hand gesture of waving the air in front of user's face (like there is a bad smell) that means "I'm good." or "Ya, I'm not that interested." The keko box is usually the box in which you push for the door bell.
You ring the door-bell (which the Japanese onomatopoeia for this is 'ping-pong') and you get to talk to the box.  And they... often say keko.
But normally they answer the door and you offer to help them, they tell you they're fine, you have a short conversation where we all end up laughing, you bring up the gospel, they tell you their Buddhist and they  listen respectful to your beliefs, then you ask them if they know anyone right now, you give them a card and they bow as they receive it, and you tell them to check out the website or to give the card to someone who wants to learn about Eternal Families, or whatever thought you talked about. But we haven't really done it too much.  We mostly street.
Who are your investigators now?
The before mentioned.
Will you tell us some about your English classes?
Well, we're shifting our focus to getting high school girls to come, because their the most willing,  (we got called ikemen the other day, but that's a story for another time) But now I no longer teach the beginning class.  I teach the advanced class now.  Which is way sad and happy at the same time.  In the advanced class, everyone understands almost everything you say in English, so I don't get to do weird gestures and act out random things anymore.  I'ts just a lot of me saying a word in English and the repeating it.  We have discussions on topics like friendship or life, and play games that involve English.  like 20 questions or other crazy complicated, but are really fun.  My favorite student is this guy named Shige san. He's a pilot who loves flying so much that he can think of nothing else he want to do for the rest of his life.  He needs to learn English so he can be a pilot of an American or Canadian liner. (Flight school in Japan costs a lot)  His hair looks like something from an anime.  Jet black, spike-y, and ... all around impossible to describe. What other things take your time?
We have a bunch of church activities, lessons, member visits, less-active visits (our less active member are quadruple our active.) We street and house only if we can't do any of the others.  What American Candy do you want?
Probably Rece's or however it's spelled.  Skittles also sound amazing. Just classic American candy.  Snickers, Milky-way, Starburst etc.  And ya, I've never seen rootbeer or licorice before. But there's a bunch of things I haven't seen.  I could see them disliking that. :) Ohori choro hates anything sweet for breakfast.  I made rice cinnamon and sugar for breakfast once, and I let him try some.  he made the most hilarious face as he tried it. and then told me "That is not Breakfast." I thought it was hilarious, But largely with my attitude, I just tend to find everything funny.  Especially when people erject us or look scared. :) It makes me laugh .

My Dignity

Elder Olsen, Matsuyama san, Elder Wheelwright

So Japanese wise, I hope this comparison doesn't offend anyone, but I feel like a handicapped person who's regaining my mental capabilities slowly.  Out of nowhere the branch president jumped when I replied and started talking to him and said in Japanese, "What! You can speak Japanese?! Amazing.  You've gotten good quick." I'm focusing especially hard on the Language, and with Fred san, who loves to have logical debates about God, I've learned to explain every seeming flaw in the doctrine.  I dare say that the doctrine of this gospel is the most solid thing I've come across.  If you find a flaw, you dig into your scriptures and you'll feel like an idiot because what you considered a flaw fit perfectly, and made absolute sense, and wouldn't have worked any other way.  IT BLOWS MY MIND!  I could totally be seminary teacher. But then I'd be confined to Utah..... No offence, Utah.
GAH! Saddest thing,  So Matsuyama san moved.  I'm not sure I can fully convey what this man meant to the missionaries in words.  He's a member who is about 27 who was willing to do anything for the missionaries.  In everything he did, he thought of a way to benefit us.  He was introducing all of his friends to us, and was always giving us food or even furniture, (t-shirts, beannies) he believes the gospel with a stronger conviction than I've ever seen.  I love that man.  It was the first time that I'd actually seen a Nihonjin sob, when he told Umehara shimai that he was leaving.  She clutched his hand with her old strong hands, and pulled just held it and looked down and cried.  Man.  I love him
Anyway, I'll see if I can send you some pictures.  I love you all
Thanks for all of the support.
Wheelwright

Children of God

Sister Homsead with Umehara and Elder Wheelwright

This week has been a growing week.

Like I probably mentioned I got a new companion.  But now I know probably just a bit more about him.  His name is Elder Olsen and he's from Canada! So I make Canadian jokes all the time, but I realized that I don't have too much to go off of besides Canadian Bacon and Hockey. He's a way nice guy that's about 3 months older than me exactly.  He was transferred from Misawa, which has an American military base on it, so he brought us the priceless gift of real peanut butter.  Oh man... I love it.  Japan only has this gross peanut cream that has a jello consistency.  I mean, Japanese food is amazing for the most part, except for their peanut cream.  We're both hard working, but there are some expected challenges, such as neither of us have been missionaries very long.  We're working hard and trying to find some more people to teach now, and I was reading in Alma about the son's of Mosiah that weren't Ammon, and how they had it pretty rough at first too.  'Pretty rough' is defined as being spit upon, beaten, thrown into prison and being starved .  So I suppose it's really not that bad.  But after they get released and heal for just a minute, they get back on their feet and go out there to preach again.  There are many lessons to be learned from this story, but the one I want to focus on is the part where Mormon says (and I may misquote) "the Lord began to give them success"

Here's one of the many rivers in Ishinomaki

The Lord is the giver of all, and I suppose He's the giver of success as well.  All I can do is work my hardest, invite people to come unto Christ and then allow them to chose. That doesn't mean that I can't constantly improve my methods every day, of course not.   That falls under the 'doing my best'category.
So I'm doing my best.  And things are looking up.  A lot of missionary use the excuse that we're in Japan as a reason not to do their very best.  People are Children of God no matter where you are, and they have a natural desire to be close to Him.  We as missionaries just have to help these people recognize that the thing that they are missing in life, the empty hole in their heart that no amount of TV, Video Games, Work, Alcohol, and all other addictions, can fill.
They've just got to see that the Atoning Sacrifice of a person that they've only heard about in a paragraph of a high school history textbook, is going to make every sorrow, every pain, every ounce of guilt and imperfection that prevails  in this world, better.  It's going to make it better.  You've just got to lean yourself off the cliff of life, trusting that the rope you have will hold.  Because it will.  It always will.
Alright, before I start writing sonnets I guess I'll tell you about my week.
We had big enough to be noticed, earthquakes the first three days Olsen Choro has been here.
Hanzawasan (even though he's not my investigator anymore) has accepted to be baptized.  YES!!
We met Onaderasan at ping-pong (and even though he's no longer my investigator) I got to talk to him about how he's doing.  he told us about how he'd read 3rd Nephi 1-11 and then just shut the book, and rubbed his eyes "zenzen wakaranakatta" (I didn't understand any of it) He said he closed his eyes and prayed "tenno-on chichi, please help me understand." Then he said that every single chapter one by one flashed through his mind, and every one made sense.  He said he's scared now because he doesn't want to give up coffee or osake, but I know he knows it's true.
Man. I love them so much.
Elder Wheelwright

More Earthquakes and unexpected things

Yes Brandon, I've eaten octopus. Skin, suckers 'n' all. It has the texture of a bouncy ball. 

Alright, this seems like old news, all the earthquakes, tsunamis, and such, but we had another of both! (But we did't have a typhoon. It curved around Ishinomaki.) 

Side note: Every town and every name has some sort of deeper meaning. But since I can't read Kanji, I usually just ask what it means, and so here's the story of how Ishinomaki got it's name... I think... 

"once upon a time. Ishinomaki was a bog. And the first people that came into the bog saw a stone. But it was no normal stone... It was a spiral stone. A spiral stone in a bog. And there you get Ishinomaki. Spiral stone" 

Yep, but back to natural disasters. 

At 2:45ish AM we had another earthquake. But I slept though it (I was exausted), so I asked Willey Choro what it was like and he said this (and I:m paraphrasing) 

"It was big. Man. So first there were two giant booms clear in the distance. Then the ground started moving back and forth, and there was an even louder boom closer. The ground shook for about three minutues. At first I thought it was just a normal earthquake, but I looked over at Ohori choro and he was sitting up straight, and he looked really worried." 

I didn:t wake up until the tsunami alarm went off at about 3ish. 

It's not a blaring, or a screaming, or even a beeping. It's just the voice of a man, not worried, just a calm voice with long pauses between everyword. In every pause you heard his voice echo from every speaker in the entire city. And all I understood was: "Tsunami.... Ishinomaki..." 

I sat up straight and whispered at Ohoro Choro's silhouette. 

"What are they saying?"

Oc "Tsunami." 

me "I got that. What about it?) 

Oc "Stay away from ocean."

Me ".... do we need to leave?"

Oc "...We see." 

Since Japanese doesn:t have a future tense it's kinda difficult to remember. He meant "we will see" 

Turns out we didn:t have to run to the shelter, but they announced that everyone should be fine 15ish minutes later, and to be sure to stay away from the ocean. 

Now that I think back on it, it's really freaky, but whenever something that is potentially life threatening happens, I get really calm and think way clearly. (Except when it comes to mold... That mold...) So I was totally ready to ether run for my life (literally) to the shelter, or just go back to sleep. Thankfully I got to choose the latter. 

So, the six weeks are up and I get a new not wrinkly from water planner! With new planners comes transfers. New places and new companions. Since I am mid training I thought I'd be safe from that great and dreadful call... But as I never am... I was wrong. (korewa hiniku o desta. That was sarcasm) 

We got a call on Wednesday from the President (of the United States) and he told us that Ohori Choro and Willey Choro were staying together, but we were getting one new elder who would be my trainer.

I'll tell you all I know about him: 

His name is Olsen Choro.... And that's it. Well, I know he's been here twice as long as I have. (Which, means he just BARELY finished getting trained. 6 weeks more) And judging from his name, he's not Nihonjin. But man. :) I'm excited. Seriously. We'll have 100 % Gaijin power. And I'll get to practice my Japanese a lot more in real life settings. :) Yosh. 

So yep. We're going to have to divide our investigators which is really probably the saddest part. I know for a fact Olsen Choro and I get to keep our English speaker Sean san, but Hanzawasan and Onadera san... Man... 

Hanzawasan told us (willey Choro and me) that he was our Nihonjin Otousan. (our Japanese Dad). Sad... 

But life, as it always is, is amazing. I love dendo, and I love learning about this gospel. Christ truly lifts up those who turn towards him, and I've felt him lift me up. 

Thank you all for the letters. I love them.

Keep up the good work, and the sharing of the gospel, is not merely a job for people in far away countries. It's a job for us all. 

Help us out, 

Elder Wheelwright

Favorite Scripture Moroni 10:32

Alright! 

Hey Everyone! 

So this week has been pretty awesome. 

First up a clarification about last week. I feel awful. I said the houses are like 1 foot or less away. This is a lie. They are usually about 2 or 3 feet. Sometimes 5 or 6. And if there is a road in between, maybe 20 feet. 

So this week Hanzawasan took us to a ramen restaurant. It was amazing. Japanese Ramen is the best.- and you:ll never guess who walked in. The Mayor. And it was true that I didn:t know him at first, but brother Watanabe (who we were going to joint with after we ate) jumped up, ran over, shook his hand and started bowing. Then Ohori choro said "He is town president" So YA! Whoever asked that question? I have met the mayor. 

Also, a few times ago I talked about Typhoons. Apparently that was just normal rain. Ohori Choro meant `It was like a typhoon`. We had a real typhoon this Wednesday. We weren:t allowed to go outside. So we studied. 

It was crazy! I looked out the window and saw trees flopping back and forth, and power lines spinning like jump-ropes. 

So it turns out that we:re way closer to the Ocean that I thought. It:s like a ten minute bike ride away.

 We did service at a house there. 

Now, when I say service you probably picture picking up garbage, or lifting heavy objects, but for service we painted postcards, (Japanese style) Which is really actually way difficult. You have to hold the very end of the foot-long paint brush. And every line has to be incredibly slow. Five inches per minute. 

From the house you can see the tsunami wall. There:s just some empty fields in between with weeds. Which is incredibly strange. Usually there isn:t any empty spaces in residential areas at all, and if there is then it:s a park, and the Japanese people wouldn:t let weeds grow in it. 

The owner of the house saw me looking and walked over to me with a picture. He said it was a picture of houses, and a high school. I was incredibly confused until I recognized the tsunami wall in the background. The picture is of what used to be in the fields in front of the house. Everything was gone.

We talked to the man, and I shared my favorite scripture to him Moroni 10:32. He got a calm thoughtful look on his face, and then started quoting something. He was quoting the bible. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He have His Only Begotten Son..." I was shocked. How in the world did he know that? He said he heard it once when he was a boy... How in the world would he remember that? He looked about sixty, which meant that he was actually mid 70:s. (We:re teaching a 70 year old man and he:s more spry than dad is!) How could he remember that from when he was a boy? The Spirit will bring all things to your remembrance is what the bible says. I suppose the Spirit would cause him to remember the very Person He:s called to testify about.

Speaking of the spry guy, we taught the Kitami fufu the restoration this week. Everyone is seriously so nice. We came in and she fed us chocolate covered potato chips, cake, cookies, and mugicha (burnt popcorn water. Which i:m really starting to enjoy). He looks fifty but he:s really 70. 

We also found a new investigator. It was pouring so we decided to go tracting. (It:s just the classic thing to do!) We knocked on the door of an old investigator (Ochisan) in the temporary housing and he was home! He invited us into his genkan and we taught him a lesson about the Book of Mormon. Ohori choro was introducing the Book, and flipping through the pictures. He talked about Christ, and about Joseph Smith, and then he just stopped and stared at me and pointed to the next picture. 

Alright, I can do this. "The next picture is about Lehi and his family. The first part of the Book of Mormon is about Lehi. He was a prophet. Which is a person who receives the word of God, and shares it with other people..."  Yosh. I shared my favorite scripture again, and we set up an appointment for this Thursday at 7. Double Yosh.

I love this gospel and I love sharing it with people, 

If you ever have a question, just wright away. (wright away was a triple play on words in case you didn:t catch it) 

Elder Wheelwright

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