Monday, October 30, 2017

The Dog Days are Over: Week 50 in Japan


I was taught growing up that we all have talents. I believe my talent is getting transferred into areas where Chinese women get baptized. Takao had a baptism! Her name's Paggy, She was the friend of another member who came here for college. She's probably the most outgoing person I have ever met in my life. Also very blunt and brutally honest like most Chinese people, that's why I love them so much haha. They mean what they say and most the time it's absolutely hilarious. Also she's teaching me Chinese! Whoo!

Yea for Paggy! Such a good time!

I got to translate at Zone Conference again! Always a great service opportunity. It’s gotten easier over time as the language improves but it still just burns my brain out.

My back bike tire finally blew up on me. So that was fun. Conveniently we were a 2 minute walk from Asahi and they replaced it for me super fast.

It rained a lot again. But now it's supposed to be clear or partly cloudy for like the next week so I'm super stoked about that. But it also cooled down the weather and it's absolutely perfect outside now!

Also I just got done eating all you can eat okonomiyaki and monja so you could say I'm a pretty happy man right now. I swear I'm gonna eat Japanese food for the rest of my life this stuff is so freaking good.

Elder Wayas seated next to me. Kid always goes hard.


Happiness

This week was jam packed with some miracles. Our main man Yamaguchi-San came to church and had a blast. When leaving an older member asked if she'll see him again next week and he replied without skipping a beat that he's coming next week. Also reminded Elder Muranaka and I about our next appointment is on Thursday and to not be late. So he's been doing really well haha. It's so awesome seeing other people be happy.

Party on dudes and dudettes!
愛を込めて、
Elder Cuff

Monday, October 23, 2017

Tokyo Drift: Week 49 in Japan

So the rain stopped this morning and it is just a super clear day today, which is really nice. This past week went by really fast and I honestly don't remember a lot, I'm sorry-haha. It was just a lot of knocking on doors and trying to talk to whomever we could.

I got to give a talk at church this week. I was super nervous about it since they asked for it to be about 10-15 minutes. I mean I struggle to create something that long in English but it ended up being all right. Whether they understood it or not I'm not too sure but hey it happened!

Transfers ended up going pretty smooth. We welcomed a new missionary into the apartment and got the apartment all sparkly clean. The washer machines here attach to a faucet and the fitting that connected the hose from the washer to the faucet busted on me. I was trying to get my laundry out and the washer bumped the fitting and water started spraying everywhere, It was really funny, I thought things like that only happened in movies haha. I got the water turned off and ended up fixing it. I felt like Mario.

We met the guy with the super sweet car. Really Genki guy who loves to joke around. When we originally met him in his garage we got talking about his car (91' Honda NSK Widebody, BTW), and street drifting, which he absolutely DOESNT do because it's illegal, but the conversation just kind of slowly transitioned. We ended talking about the purpose of life and where we go after we die. I remembered him really sitting there thinking through a lot of these questions and he had some solid answers. At the end he was like, "I really like this kind of talk. We should do this again." We're stoked. We're meeting every Thur Fri and Sat now.

As usual, just living the dream.

Much love,
Elder Cuff

Things were a bit rambunctious before we took the picture

The sun may not be out, but our guns were...

There wasn't a Golden Ticket...





Monday, October 16, 2017

Wow! This rain is really wet! Week 48 in Japan


Sorry short one today.

We got transfer calls today, Elder Muranaka and I will be staying together for another round of shenanigans and good laughs. Hopefully my Japanese can get better!

The family we've been working with came to church this weekend and we were able to have an amazing lesson with them on faith on Saturday. They answered and asked tons of questions and it was just such a great time connecting with them.

We've been working with the ward a lot and they've honestly been amazing, it seems like this area is about to blow up this next transfer but we'll see what's going on.

Another elder showed me the secret of the hymn book. Coincidence? I think not.


Met a cool guy who was working on his souped up sports car when we met him. Young guy that we talked about the purpose of life with and building our foundation on Christ. Said he absolutely loved the conversation we had and really wants to meet again.



Also it hasn't stopped raining for the past few days and it's scheduled to keep raining all the way through to next week. Being from Vegas this seemed awesome at first but after not seeing sunshine for the past 4 or 5 days I'm really getting tired of it. But the weather has really cooled down so that feels really nice! Also there's still work to be done so a little moisture and a cool breeze isn't much of an excuse. The party still lives on, and let me tell ya, Elder Muranaka knows how to party.

I think its from Dragon Ball Z, but I'm not sure.



Peace, love, and sunshine,

Elder Cuff

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Summer Nights...in October: Week 47 in Japan


I made a necktie. It has dragons on it.



We had a BBQ with a member. Most of our area consists of the small towns in the mountains outside of Tokyo and he lives in Sagamiko up a hill from a lake. There was tons of different food, it was delicious, and I can officially say I've BBQ'd off a lakeside in the mountains of Japan. Needless to say it was an amazing night. Grilled pineapple with cinnamon has my heart.


We got to teach some great lessons this week and just been having a blast with the members. The secret to the work is the members. When the members get involved and invite their friends to stuff, great things happen.

General Conference was amazing. Since my lovely companion is Japanese we watched it in Japanese so I wouldn't say my understanding of everything was great, but it doesn't hurt to review throughout the week. But I did particularly enjoy President Uchtdorf's opening talk on Saturday Morning. It really does help to keep an eternal perspective on life.

Love you guys so much, glad everyone home is safe. One thing I've really come to learn about this past year is the importance of patience and humility. It honestly applies to like.... everything.

Keep on loving, keep on smiling,
Elder Cuff



Sunday, October 1, 2017

Sweatin' With the Oldies: Week 46 in Japan

And it's been another wacky and wild week in Japan. 

We had family home evening with a member of the bishopric. He's got a young family who are an absolute blast. Also he rides a bike everywhere and loves trail running. I've never seen a more amazing set of calves. I hope one day my calves can grow up to be just like his. 

The weather is absolutely incredible right now; I love the change of seasons, especially fall. 

So one thing about the area I'm in, there's an abundance of the elderly. Some aren't the most sane of people so it's provided for some funny and sometimes slightly chaotic experiences. There's a service we do in a neighborhood where there's a lot of elderly called Bike Taxi, where we give free rides to the elderly from the bus stop/market to their apartment. The people who run the service also run a small cafe where some elderly people hang out. One man that is usually there when we go there is usually drunk, despite the fact that it's 11:00 in the morning. Usually he likes to rant to me about American politics (for some reason old people in Japan really pay attention to American politics). On a couple occasions he's ranted about the atomic bomb and how that apparently Japan hasn't forgiven America. Then he usually calls me a devil or an evil spirit because I'm American. Well we had a miracle this week, he wasn't drunk and finally met the sober version of this man. He walked up to me, shook my hand, and then he called me a hard worker and that he's really thankful for the bike service we do! I'm not sure how aware he is of his past behavior but hey, talk about tender mercies people! 

One thing I've come to love about being a missionary is how much I learn on a pretty much daily basis. Sure there have been some pretty big events on my mission that have caused some form of change, but I think my favorite parts are the little things. 

Just those details that make major differences in each day. 

Alma 37:6
"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

Stay Sweet,
Elder Cuff

Hiking Mt. Takao

Zone Conference