Super Sweat!: Week 88 in Japan

It’s really hot outside. My goodness. Also who invented humidity, that stuff is rough.

Anywho. 

The Chicago man himself, Elder Reid!

I’m training again! His name is Elder Reid, he’s from Chicago so we’ve mainly talked about food. Why? Because Chicago food just makes sense. But he’s an incredible missionary. No fear, the man will raise his voice and wave down people on the streets all day. It’s awesome! These past few days have been amazing, I don’t have to go to a bunch of meetings anymore so we get to spend a lot more time outside talking to people and it feels GREAT. I am sweating a lot more than before though, so that’s been a minor adjustment.

We’ve talked to so many amazing people this week, also received some advice from an old guy and how to stop your knees and hips from hurting, so when I get to that point, I’ll definitely try things out. But it’s been a lot of fun. Before Elder Schow left we met with our buddies Ryuya and Shun. We’re going to be meeting with them later this week and introduce Elder Reid. 

Post lunch with Ryuya.

Post dinner with Shun.

We got a crock pot this week. We had a crock pot dinner on Sunday. It was great. 

Yellow watermelon. Tasted and felt the same as regular watermelon. Who knew?

Among the people we met this week was a Nepalese pop star. His dad is opening an Indo curry shop right next to where we live. While walking with Bishnu he brought us into their half built shop and introduced us to the family. I’ve found on my Mission that a lot of Indian and Nepalese people don’t really check out the church, but they make some awesome friends and are some of the friendliest people I’ve met. But seriously, this guy Bishnu is the real deal. Look him up on YouTube. The name is Bishnu Kandel. He’s got a heart of gold. 

Faith, Hope, and Love. Was a really good reminder that day on the train.

They talked a lot about pioneers at church this week. I honestly believe God has lead me down a lot of the right paths and helped my to pioneer my own paths in life. I’m grateful for the wonderful things I’ve been able to enjoy in life and the even more wonderful people I’ve been able to meet. I like to think of The Gospel as a compass. Although I might be taking a few different paths and every once in a while I might have to hedge out my own, it keeps me in the right direction. God loves us. He hears our prayers. What an awesome thing! Had a really good week this week, and I plan on having another good one next week. I hope you all feel the same!

愛しています、
Elder Cuff

My mask kept falling off. It was stressful (haha).

Kouta at Fiesta

Fiesta!

Weekly email: Week 87 in Japan

For starters we get transfer emails today. Due to Elder Schow finishing his mission I will most definitely be getting a new companion. In fact I get to train again! I get to train someone in the area I was trained in, so that’s gonna be sweet. This transfer about 30 or so missionaries are finishing their missions and there’s not a lot of people coming to replace them so it will be interesting to see what happens with transfers. A lot of areas are going to be getting downsized. A lot of the missionaries going home this transfer have become good friends of mine, so it’s a weird mixture of sad and exciting. Sad to see them go, exciting to see what comes next. 

I’ve got double good news. The previous guys I taught in Kamiooka with Elder Smith and Elder Salamanopoulos, Kouta and Chien, both got baptized! I got to see Kouta this week (more on that later) and he’s so happy! They’re both such awesome guys and it made the steep hills in Kamiooka worth it haha. I’d love to come back when the temple re-opens and hopefully go with both of them. 

Chein's baptism

Kouta's baptism

We had a big ward barbecue today in the mountains. It was fun. The food was delicious. I smell like camp fire. Also I ate way too much but that’s okay, the members kept forcing it on us cause they made a lot. Then they gave us a large bag full of leftovers. 

We had a Mission wide Fiesta! Kouta showed up and was soooo happy. The dude could not stop smiling and it made my entire week. The fiesta was in Fujisawa so I got to see a ton of Fujisawa members which is always a blast. Then me and some of the Fujisawa missionaries had to go get a prop last second for one of the events and I got to bike through some of my old area! It was that same feeling of when you first walk into Disneyland. Also got to visit some old investigators on the way there and reconnect. Then I got the good news that the main guy I was working with when I was there, Kenya, suddenly found the missionaries again last week. While walking home from college he saw the missionaries who are there and stopped them. I was so stoked hearing about it. Sadly he couldn’t make it out to the Fiesta but it was a lot of fun. It was a mixing pot of Spanish and Japanese so my head hurt by the end of the night, but it was so indescribably fun. 

American Party!

AnywayI played in a play about the day of the dead as a dead guy named Salo. I played with a soccer ball in front of a lot of people. I’ll send pictures of me in costume. But I got to see a lot of old friends and party with them. Even people from Kofu came out! Then I got to eat lots of coconut tres leches. It was a wonderful night to say the least. 

Elder Schow is finishing his mission so we have a lot of meal appointments. One of them was with an awesome Eikaiwa student named Manabu. He loves the monkees and The Beach Boys, and surfs. He did a study abroad in California and is one of the coolest guys I’ve met out here. He had us over for a classic American summer type dinner. He’s such a down to earth guy and it was a lot of fun to hang out with him for a bit. 

Going through photo albums and talking family history with Manabu.

American Dinner with Manabu

By some of his old surfboards.

I know I spend a lot of time writing out a lot about things during the week and all the places I get to run around to, but they mean a lot to me. Ward sent me an email at one point that had a quote I really like. “The spirit of adventure is a great companion to the adventures of the Spirit.”

In all my travels as a missionary, I get to share. I get to share love, positivity, and a little bit of hope. As we read in The Book of Mormon, Alma and the sons of Mosiah spent a lot of time going around to “far off lands”. I’ve seen in doing so that you get to learn how to love a little more. You get to appreciate the simple things more and grow in gratitude. It’s hard to express a lot of the love and excitement I’ve felt this past week while connecting, eating, and meeting with people. In doing so, I have come to really think that one of the greatest gifts that God has given us, is each other. And as we serve, love, uplift, and inspire one another, that understanding becomes more and more clear. 

愛を込めて、

Elder Cuff

Happy Independence Day: Week 86 in Japan

This week for Independence Day we had a big American culture festival with games, food and a short skit on America gaining independence. It was a good time, met some cool people. My man, Li from the 2nd ward, is prepping a business presentation on bringing Chinese herbal medicine to the United States. It was fun. 

We just got done climbing Mt. Ooyama! We were above the clouds. Also I sweat a ton. 

We had dinner with the Hashimoto family and he made some delicious pizzas. Brother Hashimoto lived in Idaho for a bit and just has a very American personality, it’s really funny. He explained to us a bunch of Japanese insults and had us teach him ways we would say the same things in English. He loved it. 

Hashimoto Family

We also had interviews with President Warnick! He’s the man, it’s always good talking with him. 

Also we had a sweet MLC. We talked a lot about happiness. There was a way it was described that I really like. It’s like a butterfly, if you keep chasing after it, it will continuously evade you, but if you occupy yourself with other things, and wait patiently, it will come to you. It’s like if we keep thinking about it, it doesn’t really come. Happiness is essentially the byproduct of living a good productive life, not necessarily the goal. There’s another section of scripture that was shared to us in Matthew 14:13-21. Jesus just heard that John The Baptist has died and as the scriptures say, “he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart”. I think like a lot of us after hearing some harsh news, we’d like some time alone. But the multitude followed. But instead of saying, “Sorry, not today guys.” He had compassion on them, he healed them, and he fed them. In order to recover from a hard blow, I think that in turning outward and finding something to do that benefits others, and turning our focus to someone besides ourselves, we can find a lot of good out of life. 

愛しています、

Elder Cuff

Sorry, I’ll send pictures next week. Party foul on my part. 

Que pasa? Week 85 in Japan

Hello. This is Elder Cuff. 

So here’s the happenings of the week. 

• We met with a man named Reuben. He is from Peru. I’m really wondering if I was sent to the right Mission, because I am consistently having to teach someone from Peru in every area I go to. Reuben is fluent in Japanese though, so that makes things easier. But he’s awesome. Has had a rough life. Wants to regain his faith from when he was young. He’s in his 40’s or so. He’s not a member, but he remembers the missionaries back when they taught his family in Peru way back in the day. Like even their names. So he really likes us. 
• Our homie that works for Heineken came to Curry Home Evening and had a blast. He’s a really fun dude. We’re going to be meeting this week so we’re pretty excited. 
• There’s a family that moved into the ward a few months ago that doesn’t speak Japanese so we’ve been translating for them at church every week. This week in testimony meeting there was about 5 min. left in the meeting and there were 4 people who were waiting to talk. The only thing is instead of bearing a shorter testimony than they originally planned, they all just said their testimony as fast as they could. I got lightheaded. 
• Ate dinner with the Honda family. It was glorious. It was like when I was first here. 
• Also ate dinner with Lt. Shimamura. ‘Twas a mighty good time. 

Other than that the week has been pretty solid. I was able to get back in contact with a couple of old buddies from previous areas and started working with them again so that’s been great. We’re gonna make plans to hang out with Eldon since he lives in Tokyo now and he said that Machida is close to him. Also Yamaguchi (guy who’s garage collapsed and then suddenly went off the radar) is back! He just suddenly responded to me after like 6+ months and just said, “sorry. I was taking a nap.” Hahaha but we’ve been talking back and forth. We might have some fun plans going on in the future. 

Other than that it’s just been a splendid week. We’re gonna get some yakiniku today so we’re pretty excited about that. Then next Monday we’re taking a small trip and climbing Mt. Ooyama. Elder Schow only has 3 P-days left so he wants to party. Love you all, have an awesome week!

愛しています、

Elder Cuff

Curry Home Evening

We celebrated Elder Schow's birthday with really yummy Yakiniku. Don't worry, there was more food!

Japan solving back problems, one park bench at a time.