Week 24 in Japan: Toon Squad

Whale, whale, whale. Spring is here and it is beautiful. To start out, as missionaries in Japan we have to follow certain dress standards, which means we cant wear short sleeve shirts until May 1st. Well, today is the glorious day that my forearms are allowed to see sunlight.   

So this week was super eventful. The maiden voyage of our tour took place; the Wyld Stallions are about to go platinum. We performed at the old folks home and they absolutely loved it. Literally had a crowd of old Japanese people shaking their fists and yelling "Encore" at us.  It was just overall a lot of fun. After the crowd died out, we sat down with the people who work at the place and they just asked a bunch of questions about what we do as missionaries. On that same day we went out to kubari and a random guy ran over to us, gave us same coca colas, said thanks, then took off. Real good day.   

Post concert pic with the owners.

While out and about on Saturday, we were walking past some basketball courts where some kids were kids were hanging out. Since we didn’t want to disturb their peace, we decided to challenge them to a game of basketball. I don't think they were aware of the fact that the rim was short cause apparently dunking a basketball automatically makes you a pro out here. They were pretty excited about it and wanted to take pictures with us after the game. But after having a good time on the court, we invited them out to a bunch of events and they were super down to come. They all played handball so we asked them to come to our sports night and teach everyone how to play. Hopefully we'll see them again. Good group of kids.

The Toon Squad!

Transfers calls happened. I'll be staying in Fujisawa, but Elder Poff is getting transferred to Kawasaki. My new companion is a really tall guy named Elder Harrison. All I know is he's from Texas and proud of it. We'll be having a lot of fun this next transfer.   

Elder Poff's last DCS Meeting

Last thing, we had Stake Conference this past weekend for the Fujisawa stake. Elder Choi of the Seventy and his wife came this past week to speak to us. Elder Choi is honestly one of the funniest church leaders I have ever met, but his wife, Sister Choi, had an incredible talk.  She mainly talked about her marriage with Elder Choi and the challenges she's had to overcome with him. In the beginning, she was just kind of burning him about a bunch of stuff, but then it really turned around. She talked about how it is her privilege to have him as a husband because he is willing to change. When they were first married, he would come home from work, and watch TV while she worked in the kitchen. He rarely helped with cleaning, was kind of mean to her sometimes, and just fit the definition of this stereotypical husband from movies. But over time, he humbled himself, and he changed. He helps her with tasks at home, he even cleans her shoes, he makes dinner every once in a while, and tells her "I love you honey” every single day. I mainly want to liken this to each of us individually, although it is important in a marriage setting. I want to focus on how important it is for us to change. Every day, little by little. I think we can all agree that none of us are perfect, but that's the best part. That means there's something new we can discover about ourselves everyday. We can always improve, and do a little better than the day before. Whether it's our words, or our actions, or even our thoughts. Personally, I believe that everyday requires a little change.   

Thanks for all the support everyone!   

Live the dream or dream of living, 

カフ長老

Week 23 in Japan: Wyld Stallions!

This week we had interviews and Zone Conference, which took a pretty decent chunk out of the time we usually use to go around finding people. *Sad Face*. But nonetheless we found some cool dudes while we were at it. The reason I bring that up is it's usually during his finding time that all the fun stories happen, but this week was just another regular productive week.   

One thing our mission president asked us to do between all the other stuff we do as missionaries, is to provide 1 hour of community service a week. So we got hooked up at this small old people activities center. Last time we were there we brought a ukulele and played a few songs for them. The lady who runs the place was there and loved it so now we're hooked up to have a small concert with them. I told you Mom, after high school I was gonna leave the nest and become a rock star. We changed our names to Bill and Ted and named the band Wyld Stallions.  Tour starts this Friday. Our manager's name is Rufus. Sorry if I’m home late, I'll probably be busy signing autographs. Stay excellent.   

Also while out and about on the streets of Fujisawa, we stopped this guy who ended up being a real estate salesman. He was brand new to his job, and he had a quota to show 10 people a high-rise apartment and try and sell it. We let him know that we were poor and weren't able to buy an apartment since we also weren't even legal adults in Japan yet  (20 Years Old). He said it's cool; he just needs some help to hit his quota. Next thing we know we're in this super fancy model Japanese apartment having a regular conversation with this guy. Like he didn’t even try to sell it to us. We were just chillin. Now we're hooked up to teach him English and give him a church tour. He might even bring his girlfriend.   

Last thing I wanna talk about is an opportunity I had to go on splits this past week. I went with a missionary named Elder Riggs, who has become a very good friend of mine. We were on splits in this college town and it was just an absolute blast. That night I really had the most fun I've ever had as a missionary while out finding people. I’ll be honest there are some days where I don't wanna go out and try and talk with every person in sight, or sit in a meeting, or go play some groovy tunes at an old folks home. But the importance of attitude continues to build on me. Everyday can be a good day if you want it to be. You just have to want it.   

Party On, 

Elder Cuff