All the Pictures: Week 98 in Japan

1,062,720 minutes... give or take: Week 98 in Japan

In my title I was trying to copy “Seasons of Love” from RENT, but the syllables aren’t really lining up with the song timing... You win some you lose some I guess.

Seasons of Love (In case you didn't know Elder Cuff's reference)

Sorry for the lack of letter last week. I’ll make up for it today.

We have 3 guys named Seiji, Masaya, and Emmanuel that we’ve been teaching who have been absolutely amazing. They’re all on their way to baptism and have become great friends with the members, we’re very excited for what the future holds for them.

We found a guy in our area Book that lives in this section of Machida tucked in the hills where there’s a lot of farms. His name is Yu. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve met in my life, and honestly one of my favorite persons. He’s in his 30s but helps his mother run their bonsai tree farm/business since his father passed away. He’s gone all around the world and visited every continent, except Antarctica, by boat. The man has never ridden a plane. He worked on a circumnavigating ship where he learned English. There’s one thing he told us that I loved. He said boat is much better, because as you stop in different nations, the change in people, skin color, and culture is much more gradual, and you see how much the world actually connects. The man has seen and heard a lot and I honestly want to right a biography about him. But anyways, we decided to help him out on his farm last week since it’s just him and his aging mother. We all ate a delicious super Japanese lunch together and went out to the fields. I’ll tell you what, Japanese soil is a whole lot softer than dirt in Vegas, and a lot more fun to work with. Also smells really good. I’ve also never seen so many types of bugs in such a short amount of time. Luckily Yu knew what all of them were and explained some cool facts about them. Why? Because Yu’s the man, that’s why. So working with him has been awesome, we’re biking out to his farm tomorrow and I am so incredibly excited.

I don’t know if anyone remembers him, but there’s an Eikaiwa student named Lieutenant who feeds the missionaries every once in a while. Including the time from when I was first here I’ve gotten to go 5 times now. But anyways we had dinner with him and it was a rather good time. He’s in his 80’s but still attends Eikaiwa regularly and tries to learn new things. It’s inspiring to be completely honest. I hope that if I ever get that age I just continue to try and develop and
learn.

We had splits in Hachioji and had an awesome little miracle happen. When I was there previously we had found this guy named Wes who’s a professional basketball player. I was with Elder Matsunaga and as we were walking, I was talking about contacting Wes and seeing if we can meet. As I said that I looked up just in time to see him walk around the corner on the other side of the street. I called out to him and he was happy and slightly surprised to see us. My Frogger skills kicked in and we ran across the street to go talk to him. We had a good conversation and I got to see him before taking off. One could say it was coincidence, but after seeing a lot of these “coincidences” in such a short amount of time for the past 2 years, I’ve learned to stop calling them that.

I had my final interview with President Warnick. He’s such an awesome guy and works so hard. I suggested that missionaries should get Segways. He said he’d bring it up with the area seventy but he’s not too sure if it’ll go through haha. But it was a grand time. We reviewed a lot of things from the Mission and things that were learned. Then we talked a bit about the next phases of life. One thing I’ve really come to understand is the timing of my mission call. I know I was called to serve with President Warnick at this time. He and Sister Warnick have been such major influences in my life up to this point.

Since this I my last letter I just want to express that these past 2 years have been so absolutely critical in my life. There’s been a lot of things I’ve had the opportunity to learn over the past little while, but the thing that’s been most important to me is coming to a better knowledge of who Jesus Christ is and the sacrifice He made. And on top of that, I’ve been able to come to a better understanding on how I can be more like Him. I don’t plan on making an exhaustive list on the things I’ve started to right now in this letter, but there is one thing I really want to emphasize. Throughout the entirety of my mission I’ve sought a lot of help on how I can be better. A better missionary, a better person, a better friend, just overall better. And in a lot of that study and asking questions, the thing that I’ve come to understand in that aspect, is the importance of turning outward. In all things. I’m not just talking about looking for opportunities to serve in a literal sense, although important, but rather doing everything for the benefit of helping others. In Gospel studies, turn outward. In college studies, turn outward. In managing finances, turn outward. In exercising, turn outward. In working, turn outward. Taking all aspects of life, to an extent, and putting someone else into consideration. Obviously sometimes there are personal decisions that need to be made at one point. My order at McDonalds may not always be based on the benefit of someone else. But the general idea is doing things for your fellow man, always seeking to uplift, inspire, and encourage them, and fulfilling your role in that to the best of your ability. I love the time I’ve had (and still have) in Japan. I love being able to serve the Japanese people and really come to know them.

I’m excited to see everyone, but Japan will be missed. Thank you for all the continuous love, support, and updates on life for the past couple years. Keep on keepin’ on!

愛を込めて、
Elder Cuff

I’ll send pictures a bit later! Don’t worry!

(The Mom will post said pics when they arrive.)

The Mom is Getting Excited!

I just couldn't help myself!

Pics of airplanes and airports Elder Cuff will pass through this Friday!!

Haneda Airport International Terminal

Tokyo Haneda Airport

Elder Cuff and Elder Salamanopoulos board an Airbus 330 with Delta Airlines, seats 33H & 33J

on Friday, October 12th at 3:15 p.m. 

They are in flight for 10 1/2 hours, covering 5,474 miles, and arrive at LAX Tom Brady International Terminal on Friday, October 12th at 9:40 a.m. 

Time travel...

From LAX, they board a much smaller aircraft, an Embraer 175, seats 12C & 12D, and head for home!

They leave Los Angeles at 1:05 p.m. and arrive in Las Vegas, Mccarran International Airport, Terminal 1, D Gates, at 2:27 p.m., 47 minutes prior to their departure from Japan. 😊

Countdown Time!

Dear Parent/s,

Please find attached the final itinerary for your missionary.  They will be bringing home an envelope addressed to you, which will include:

• A letter to you from the Mission President.
• A copy of the letter that was written to your Stake President. 
• The Tuberculosis Test information page.  Please encourage the returning missionary to follow through with getting tested.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Thank you,

Sister Wilson

Japan Tokyo South Mission Office

Just Another Week: Week 96 in Japan

There's these giant bees in Japan that can kill you if they sting you twice. There's a nest right outside our apartment. Keeps our morning runs exciting!

Hey everyone. We had a pretty fun week this week.

- We had another round of Futsal with the Machida 2nd ward. As usual it was tons of fun, the members are some of the funnest people I’ve met. It rained a little bit that morning while we were playing. One of the young men slipped pretty hard and completely broke his ankle. He got a priesthood blessing while we waited for the ambulance and it was awesome to see the comfort come over his face afterwards. The Lord cares for his people.
- That same night we had dinner with one of the families in the ward. They brought their friend with and we got to teach her so that was really cool. She’s come to church for the past couple weeks so it’s cool to be apart of all of this. It’s honestly a huge miracle. We also had a TON of food. The bike ride home was really rough.

Sorry it’s not a lot this week, we’re in a bit of a hurry before we have another appointment. I’ll have a bit more next week!

愛しています、
Elder Cuff

Zone Conference: Week 95 in Japan

Elder Miyagawa has been teaching me Kansai, he got really excited about this whil housing.

We had a stellar week, serving as a three-man companionship with Elder Lindhardt and Elder Miyagawa has been an absolute blast. They’re really fun guys who like to work hard. Finding with these guys have been so much fun!

Had to introduce Elder Miyagawa to the king size at Sukiya!!

So we discovered something on our map. There’s another train station in our area besides Machida. It’s this small, quiet, wonderful place on the exact other side of our area, so of course we biked out to it! We passed out fliers and had a wonderful time. The people there were incredibly nice and it was fun to see somewhere new. 

We had Zone Conference where I gave a training. I was really nervous but I hope it went okay. It was really nice being able to get together with the missionaries in the Zone and President Warnick. The Warnick’s are awesome and have been a super positive influence in my life. So glad I’ve gotten to work with them. 

Zone Conference

We had a lesson with Masaya who’s preparing to be baptized at the end of the month. We pushed by the day a little bit because, although he’s excited, he’s working on overcoming a few things. One of the major things with him has been tobacco. He’s been using it for about 40 years now. This past lesson we had with him was an absolute miracle. He came and told us that he’s cut his tobacco completely in half, but he’s done with it entirely after this. He said he doesn’t know why, but for the past 40 years tobacco has been fine, but since a few weeks back he gets really nauseous whenever he smokes and says that now it just tastes disgusting. So things should be going well from here. Good thing The Holy Ghost helps us out cause it’s made this addiction recovery thing a whole lot easier. I love how much the Gospel changes lives. It’s so nice to be given the opportunity be part of this work and help people change. I love it. 

Have a stellar week. Give someone a hug and tell them something nice!

愛しています、

Elder Cuff

Luau: Week 94 in Japan

It’ll be really quick today with some pictures and a quick run down. 

• One of the Elders in the neighboring area got sick and is going home, Elder Reid got emergency transferred and will be taking his place so I will be in a three man companionship with the other elders in the apartment. Also makes us one of the most international companionship’s. American, Japanese, and Danish forces will now unite to spread this joyous message. Stay tuned. 

• We threw a Luau down in Fujisawa and I got to dance and do the haka again. Me and Elder Chab are the only guys left from Poly Night earlier this year so we got to teach and do a lot of the dancing and singing. Twas a good time. It was crazy going back and being able to see all the Fujisawa members again, they’re awesome and it was nice to have a chance to say goodbye real quick. 

Trust me! It was more organized than it looks!

• Did an awesome activity with the youth where we had them use their cell phones to do some missionary work. It was awesome to see their enthusiasm in using technology to uplift and help others. We then enjoyed a bunch of curry and Soba, joked around a bit (these kids are hilarious) and finished out the night. 

My boy, Elder Ormond, and I.

 

Love You all! Be nice to others. Don’t judge but uplift one another. Seek to be a blessing not a burden. And smile!

愛しています、

Elder Cuff