Judo Therapy: Week 84 in Japan

Hey.

Here is the happenings of this week.

- Elder Yamashita of the Seventy came and we had a Mission conference. We got to have an MLC with him which was cool. He has a lot of energy. 

Elder Yamashita Conference. Elder Schow and I had to crouch a little bit so we didn't block others in the photo.

- It rained more ☔

- Weather report says it won’t be raining this week. Big win for the A Team. 

- We found some really cool people. One of them works an office position for Heineken. We’re curious as to how he’ll take The Word of Wisdom if he gets to that point.  

- We always knew our bishop did some type of chiropractic/physical therapy type work but we never really knew exactly what it was. Well my companion and I got a free adjustment from him today. Before adjusting my companion Bishop Takeuchi looked at me dead in the eyes and said, “You ever seen WWE?” Then puts Elder Schow into a hurricane twist. It was a sight to see. Then he offered to see if anything was wrong with me. I felt pretty okay but after a professional evaluation it turned out my right leg was slightly longer than my left leg. I got adjusted and I’ll be honest, I feel great. But unlike a chiropractor there’s no popping or anything. He would twist my leg in a funny direction and then massage, stretch, and twist the muscles. Turns out it’s a Japanese form of physical therapy that originated from the Martial Art of Judo. So the literal translation of what he does from Japanese is, “Judo Therapy”. My Bishop went to college, got a degree, and became a Judo Therapist. That’s a guy I can hang with. 

This made me laugh. I'm sorry if you can't read it (and that I'm still a child), but it gives a detailed on different forms and colors of poop. According to the title, poop is the barometer of health. Who knew?

I had a couple bad days this week. The reason I say that is because, in all honesty, they’re rare. I would say that almost everyday is a good day. But I got kind’ve whiny. I was letting circumstance get the best of my attitude. But it caused some reflection. In that reflection, I had a chance to try and direct feelings of gratitude towards those things that were making me unhappy and found out that even things that suck at first have room to be something positive. It was cool to feel that. There’s a poem I remembered reading called “Invictus”. Forgive if I’m wording it wrong but the last few lines say something like, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”. I love that, just like how we have the power to choose which flavor I’ve ice cream we want at Baskin Robbins, God gave us the same power to choose our attitude, and how we react to the things that go on in life. Other than that things have been pretty peachy. Hope everyone has an awesome week! 

Just another great sunset while knocking on doors. I love summer in Japan!

愛しています、

Elder Cuff

This Rain is Really Wet!: Week 83 in Japan

It’s rainy season! Wet shoes and umbrellas are back in style baby! As usual, the fish is delicious and there’s never too much good stuff happening. 

We had splits with the missionaries in Sagamihara. I went with my man Elder Higuchi. He just got to Japan about 2 months ago and it was fun to take an enthusiastic young dude like him and watch him go for it. I was impressed by his love for the people and trying to talk to everyone even though he’s still in the beginning stages of learning Japanese. People like him make me really happy, he doesn’t let circumstance stop him from having a good time!

We met with Brother Hisaka. Last time I was here we were helping his son prep for a mission and now he’s off in Sendai! Their entire family is hilarious and chalk full of energy. He brought us a Costco pizza. It was a lot of fun. 

I’m in a haircut shop writing this right now. I have mixed emotions about the music here, it transitioned from The Beatles to “Low” by Flo Rida.

There’s a ton of old people here. My goodness. 

I got reacquainted with my old Eikaiwa students this week! Its been fun to see a lot of the changes that have been made since I was last here. 

This Sunday we had a big stake conference. I realized that I’ve been in the Machida Stake for every stake conference that’s occurred on my mission. I’ll let you figure out the English on that last sentence. But it was kind of like last Sunday since I got to see all the old members I worked with, but this time for Takao. Sadly it got broadcasted out to Kofu so I didn’t get to see all those members. But, something really cool happened!

There was a couple of missionaries who served here just before I got here named Brother Rose and Brother Naganuma. They showed up at church with some friends. One of them being a guy they had a chance to baptize but hasn’t come to church since he’s been baptized, and a guy they were teaching around the same time who’s known missionaries and members for a lot of years, and that I knew when I was first here. Thanks to Brother Rose and Brother Naganuma we’re hoping to start working with both of them. They both said they’ll be at church next week and we’re hooked up on social media so we’re excited. Picture below. 

Mini Machida Reunion

Went to MLC this week. Got to translate again. Sister Warnick went in depth on one of her trainings on the science of the heart and different heart problems in order to make an analogy. Learned a lot of new words that day. Some of the words I don’t even understand the meaning of in English, but that’s alright. 

We had dinner with the Suzuki family! They invited a couple of other families in the ward and it was a lot of fun, sadly I didn’t get a picture. Elder Schow and I made a cheesecake and apparently they liked it. Still don’t know how we pulled that one off. The spiritual message was interesting, I guess some of the changes with Ministering have been hard and kind of different for some members so we spent some time reading scriptures together. Hopefully it helped. 

Other than that it’s just been the usual. The area doesn’t really have anyone solid that we’re working with so it’s been a lot of finding and trying to use our time well. Things are going swell!

愛を込めて、

エルダーカフ

I got a new profile!

Japan continues to amuse me.

The Boys are Back in Town: Week 82 in Japan

This week was chalk full of stuff! 

Here’s a really unorganized list thoughts and stuff that happened! 

Monday we had a big final Zone P-Day for the transfer where we got the news that I was leaving out to Machida and then my bike tire exploded. I was a bit sad to say the least. Tuesday and Wednesday I enjoyed my final moments in Kamiooka and said some goodbyes while trying to figure out transfers in the rest of the Zone. 

Last Zone P-Day

Last Breakfast with Kouta

Thursday I took off to Machida and what a trip it has been. I get here and my companion lets me know that we’re going to a concert in Kichijoji with a recent convert. The singer was this girl named Lexi Walker, I don’t really know who she is but apparently she been doing alright on YouTube and threw a free concert. So after taking a good trip down memory lane through Machida, and seeing their brand new apartment (it’s awesome), me and Elder Schow set up some plans for the area and the Zone, and then we took off for all of this. Get this, I get there and after sitting down, my MTC teacher Brother Strauss comes walking by. So it was exciting yet felt strange talking to him. He’s buffer than the last time I saw him. I must say, I’m impressed. Anyway, we left the concert a bit early to hit our curfew and talked to some awesome people along the way. 

Saturday was really nice, we got to go see my good friend President Savstrom for SPM. I’m so excited to be working with him again. He’s the man. I’ve spent almost 3/4 of my mission in the Machida Stake and it’s been awesome. Sunday I got to see a bunch of members from when I first started my mission and it was so much fun. This whole weekend has just felt really nostalgic. We took a trip to Costco with our good friend Brother Honda today and it was the same thing as when I was a younger missionary, except this time I can actually understand him. Also I’m here in the summer so it’s not as cold which is way nice. 

Last thing, before transferring out of Kamiooka on Thursday morning we met with Kouta for breakfast at his request. We ate and talked a little bit, then we asked about how The Book of Mormon has been. As expected he’s been reading like crazy, marking things up, and loving it. We shared 2 Nephi 31:20 and after reading he looked up and started testifying. He told us about how much his life has changed since he first started meeting, how The Book of Mormon has changed his life, and how he’s so excited to be baptized. It was hard to walk away after meeting. But luckily we’ve got all sorts of social media that we’re connected on. There’s so many cool experiences on a mission. In fact too many to count. This email doesn’t even cover half of them. Everyday is such a blessing and It’s so nice waking up every morning being excited. Excited about what will happen that day, the people I’ll meet, the experiences ahead, and just the fact that I’m a missionary. I love being here, I love Japan, I love serving. That’s where it all is, in serving others. In looking outward and giving of yourself. It fulfills, inspires, unifies, uplifts, and blesses. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

愛を込めて、

Elder Cuff

Milk Was a Bad Choice!: Week 81 in Japan