One Year Older and Definitely NOT Wiser: Week 63 in Japan

Due to the festivities of me getting older I will be keeping it brief. But my birthday plans go as follows.

1.) Eat ridiculous amounts of yakiniku
2.) Open transfer calls
3.) Ship a katana
4.) Groceries
5.) Get a cool sweater
6.) Eat okonomiyaki with an Eikaiwa student

This week went pretty well. It snowed way hard, apparently it hasn't snowed this hard in like 4 years, so we had a good time helping people out with shoveling snow and breaking up ice. Yamaguchi San's makeshift garage collapsed because of the snow and he's way down about it. So if I stay in Takao this next transfer I'll probably be helping rebuild it. But the snow was tons of fun to play in!

Things have been going well, just been cruising along! I might update everyone on transfer calls later today. If not, I'll tell you next week!

愛しています、
Elder Cuff

Feeling Good: Week 62 in Japan

Tokyo

Fuji from Mt. Takao

Whale, whale, whale I dolphinitely didn't think the week would go by this fast. Oops! Did I do that on porpoise?

Alright so this week had some real fun happenings. The first one is going on splits in Hachioji with our Zone Leaders. It's always a great learning opportunity and the station in Hachioji is just so much fun to do finding at. There are just a lot of groups of friends that go to hang out there and it's always a lot of fun stopping them and getting some type of conversation going. Also having spend the last 7 months or so in quiet mountain areas it was definitely a change of pace. 

The next one was Zone Conference. Our mission has been making a strong emphasis on finding. There was just a lot of good ideas on using a lot of different finding tools and ways to help others. After our Zone Conference I remember I was way pumped and the next day we set some goals to really get some big time finding done. We got out on the streets and... I've never had so much rejection happen in one day. I was confused. Also really frustrated. Sunday rolls around and I was still upset about Saturday's lack of success. We had Stake Conference and that night we had FHE with the YSA's and we brought Yamaguchi San. One of the activities was a discussion, we were given a situation, had some time to discuss with our groups, then everyone went around and shared their thoughts. The situation was, "What if you made some goals, but despite your best efforts you fall short and don't achieve what you planned/wanted to achieve? How do you still stay happy?" It could not have been more direct. The Lord answers prayers. 

Referring back to Zone Conference, It was a lot of good stuff obviously but there was a part where our mission president's wife talked about being able to fulfill our purpose despite circumstance. Our Mission President served in Sapporo, Japan; and our Mission President's wife served in Taiwan. Culturally, they don't make a lot of sense when it comes to missionary work. Especially here in Japan, people tend to be Buddhist, skeptical about religion, and just don't like talking on the streets. Also members have said that especially in the Tokyo area people tend to be very business like and "cold". But I've found throughout my mission that those cultural circumstances are nothing more than excuses. Personally I've found a lot of the opposite to be true. I've found that despite being primarily Buddhist, or skeptical, a lot of people are very open. I've also found that, yes, a majority of people don't really like to talk on the streets, but there are plenty of others that are very friendly, and will take a moment to talk to you, even when they only have a brief moment before going home or to work. No, it is not the "perfect place" for missionary work. But it is a wonderful place with a wonderful people and the work here is awesome.

Sorry to hit everyone with a long email but in closing I just want to say that we can choose to be happy. I've found that the more we turn outward and put our focus on the joy of others, we start to discover real joy, and who we are. I've also found that our attitude makes a very big difference in that aspect. If we do service for others only to find joy for ourselves in doing said service, we're gonna have a really hard time finding it. But if we sincerely turn towards the welfare and happiness of others, there is a much bigger difference in how we serve, how we feel, and who we choose to become. I'm not a very smart guy, or an expert in anything. But I have come to see that there is so much more satisfaction in life when we truly put the happiness of others, ahead of ourselves. 

I'm really happy to be here and hope everyone has a wonderful week!

愛しています、
Elder Cuff

The Legendary Tree Trimmer: Week 61 in Japan

This morning I had the song, Three Little Birds, by Bob Marley, stuck in my head. When we left the apartment there were 3 little birds chilling on the guardrail outside our apartment door! Words cannot describe how excited I was!

All right, so a fun experience from this week:
While planning, we discovered there was a less active family in the mountain town of Fujino who had been making great progress, and loved meeting with the missionaries, and then they suddenly stopped meeting with no explanation. No one has seen them for about 6-7 years. It was a mystery, and I love mysteries! So we took off for the hills!

When we pulled up to the apartment, there was a kind of older guy out in front of the building washing his car and we asked if he needed any help. He got really excited and asked where we were going. We just explained that we were going to visit someone from our church that we haven't seen in a while. He asked who it was and we told him the name. He let us know that she had moved, but his is where things started to get fun.

Next thing we know, he's telling us his life story about how he rappelled out of helicopters and ate snakes while they were still alive. Also turns out he's a famous tree trimmer, so he reached into his car and pulled out a binder. This binder was  just filled with pictures of him on top of giant trees with a chainsaw, and news articles about him and his tree trimming. 

So, after getting the conversation back on track, he told us that they moved, but he knows where they live. He started giving us directions, but about halfway through he goes, "You o.k. I'm a really nice guy. I'll just take you there. We get in the car and on the 15-minute drive we found out he wasn't lying when he said he knew everyone. Everyone we passed got way excited and started waving to him. Cars would honk when they passed by. He would roll down his window and people at stop lights would get way excited, and come talk with him until the light turned green. It was hilarious. This whole experience is kind of getting long so I'll shorten it up. 

He took us to the family's new house. The parents weren't home, but he set up an appointment, with one of the daughters, for us to drop by. Then, after doing the whole missionary work part for us, he gave us a ride back to the train station and bought us some drinks while we waited for the train. Turns out he had a Book of Mormon and was friends with some of the members who live out there. He talked about how everyone he met from the church was a really good person, and that he wants to strive to be nicer because of people like them. So we set up another appointment and new we're teaching him.

The ward here is amazing and I'm so glad that it was through their example and honestly living the teachings that influenced someone else to try and be better. There's a quote I really enjoy from Gregory A. Schwitzer, "True disciples desire to inspire the hearts of men, not just impress them". The members here are so dedicated to whatever they do, and they do it because they love it. It continues to amaze me. I think it's something that's also inspired me to just try to be better. I've still got a lot of weaknesses, but that's all right. Things have been going really well. I hope everyone has had a great week. 

愛しています、
Elder Cuff

Mochitsuki: It's an annual party where we make logs of mochi, then eat lots of mochi. 

Makes sense if you ask me!

Small World: Week 60 in Japan

All right, time for a bit of catch up.

So New Years was very similar to last year. The main people that we've been teaching have gone out of town and we deep cleaned our apartments. Our main man who's building the sports car brought The Book of Mormon with him on his road trip down to Kobe and he's been reading! As far as missionary work goes things have been going pretty smooth, finding hasn't been bad despite the holidays and we've just been cruising along.

Elder Call is a wonderful missionary and it turns out his parents know my sister Asuka's family. Also there's an older lady (松下姉妹) in our ward who knows Asuka's brother because she was the mission president's wife when he was an AP in the Kobe mission. In fact she gave me Asuka's brother's email yesterday at church. I've noticed that every ward I serve in there is at least one or more connection to the Node family, so that has been a ton of fun meeting these people throughout my mission.

We had a fun moment this past week. Our apartment is literally next door to a Soba shop. (Actually turns out it's one of the best shops in all of Hachioji! Yes!) During the bike taxi service, someone gave the other elders a giant bundle of raw Soba noodles, the only problem is we didn't have any soup. We've made the broth for Soba before, but the Soba at the restaurant next door is so much better. We're pretty good friends with the owner so while coming back to the apartment one night he was out back of the shop getting some stuff. So I asked him how to make the soup. He told us and everything but then he was like, "but it takes a lot of time and is just a pain to make, so just come on by tomorrow night and I'll give you guys some." I asked, "Oh, okay, how much is it?" He simply responded, "don't worry about it." Then he smiled, handed us a couple oranges, scurried back into his shop, and closed the door before we could say anything. The next night he gave us a giant vase of the stuff. It was amazing.

I've always enjoyed the gift of giving. It's just an overall positive action that feels good on both sides, whether you're giving or receiving. There's a thing here in Japan called O-Miyage (お土産) where someone usually gives a gift or some type of food or a letter whenever someone helps you out or invites you over for a meal. It's kind've a way to return the favor. But anyways, it always helps me look back at the doctrine of Christ and how we should always give of ourselves, that we should help someone feel better by simply giving. And the best part is that there are so many ways to give. So I hope we can all take a little bit of time this week and help someone out. Love you all, be safe.

愛しています、
Elder Cuff

Sagamiko Lake during studies

Mission Christmas Conference

Fujino

平成30年: Week 59 in Japan

The boys after some gelato with a member.

あけましておめでとうございます

Hey everyone! I'm alive and happy and having the time of my life. Cheers to the new year!

Her name is Sakura. I fed her pineapple.

Some celebrations in Hino.