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