Not much info but extra pictures :)

We got a seriously short email from Elder Mosdell this week.  He received the package we sent and has eaten all of the Hershey's cookies and creme Easter eggs (a whole bag of them) that we included. They had a pancake party at which one of the extension cords they were using to power the griddles shorted out and scorched something that looks like a tarp, and he got a hair cut at some point.  Other than that not much news.  Heck, we cant expect a novel every week can we?

We did get a lot of pictures this week though. 8)

Pancake Breakfast

The results of the power cord shorting out!

According to Elder Mosdell this is an orange.

"Is it good? I can't tell..."
(hair cut by Elder W)

Post Earth Quake Report

Elder Mosdell said "The earthquake was just really shaky and kind of longish.  We were getting ready to stand up and grab a few things and walk out of the building when it stopped.  Nothing bad happened though."  He also said not to worry, the mission home will keep us up to date if something does happen.  Of course we already knew that.

Current top of the things Jeff wishes we would send him are chunky peanut butter, chocolate, and toothpaste (because "the stuff here is kind of weird").  He also misses cheesecake, but I'm not sure how we could send him any of that.

We asked if he knows what they will be doing for the up coming general conference.  He said "I don't really know how General Conference works... but I guess it comes like a week or two late to Japan?  They translate it and go over it before they release it here, so it takes some time.  Weather I'll watch it live in English here or not I'm not sure though."

Some highlights for the past week:

Tuesday - Jeff was told that his Japanese is really improving, Sister Y really liked the cookies that Jeff made for her, and she's decided to stop smoking.

Wednesday - they had "White Day" and the earthquakes (apparently there were some smaller ones too).

Thursday - they were able to meet the new zone which Jeff says was really fun.

Friday - Jeff''s bike got a flat tire and he had to walk one hour back to the apartment.  The tire had three holes in it and Jeff was really glad that it didn't rain that day.  They also went to visit some investigators but no one was home.  Long story short the couple had moved.

The lovely chunk of metal that put 3 holes in Jeff's bike tire

Saturday -  They gave the sister from the baptism story a root beer which she thought tasted very much like a medicine that the Japanese gargle with to avoid getting a sore throat.  It rained a lot, but Jeff got his bike fixed so at least they weren't on foot.


Sunday - They "housed" (I assume that means went door to door) in the rain and amazingly enough they ran into the couple that they had tried to visit on Friday, but found that they had moved.

Earth Quake

Yes, there was another Earth quake in northern Japan, a 6.8, and one off the coast of Chiba, a 6.1. 

No, there are no injuries or damage reported.

No, we haven't heard from Jeff, but I'm sure he is fine.  Somewhat shaken, but fine.

First bike crash

Here are some of the highlights from Jeff's week. Tuesday overlaps from last weeks post.

"Tuesday: We visited Sister Y (the wife of a non-active). We've effectively started considering her as an actual investigator now. We found out it was her birthday on Wednesday.... oh and I wrecked my bike on the way there... I'm fine aside from a greenish bruise I notice on my leg yesterday and my bike is ok other than the mud gaurd on the back broke off later in the week, and the front tire and handlebars weren't lined up right for awhile, but I fixed them. Sadly for the guy that I hit (he darted out into the street and stopped right in front of me) I ended up headbutting him with my helmet. He had a nasty headache, but we both got up on our bikes and left with no problems so.... It's all good. :P Corners are kind of scary in Japan because of the lack of ability to see around them, there are mirrors for cars, but it's hard to see another bike from on a bike in them.


Wednesday: Baked cookies for Sister Y and her family and took them to her for her birthday.

Thursday:  I wend on splits with my District Leader, Elder F. He's a way cool Japanese Elder. When I first got here I was really nervous about him because I thought he didn't understand hardly any English. Boy was I wrong! He's not fluent, but he understands, and it helped my Japanese a lot :D. He taught me another secret to making better ramen, while the noodles are cooking, fry up an onion, some carrot, meat, and/or some sweetcorn. Basicly anything that would go good with it. Once the noodles are done, just throw w/e you fried on top at go at it. :)

Friday: Oh boy, this was a good day :) We left in the morning to go to District Meeting (where splits ended). After District meeting we went to a Korean BBQ place called "Green's K" In Narita area. I've got some photos of that! You go in, order a main dish that's around 8 dollars, then you get to go in and it's a buffet of Japanese food :) I'm not sure how much I ate... but several bowls of curry, some yakisoba, and a few other dishes (I don't remember their names). It was SO good, and I ate so much that I didn't feel like eating anything for the next day. The coolest part was the grittle in the middle of the table. You actually cook everything yourself, so it's done the way you like it :)

Sunday: The aniversery of the Earthquake here... though I didn't hear about that until the end of the day when we were teaching a practice lesson to the S family. It's supposedly comparable to 9/11 in the states. They fed us dinner... and gave us nato (ugh >.<) gross gross gross! (fermented soybeans >.<)

Nothing too new as far as food other than what was outlined above, you could probably get nato at the asian food market ;) Eat it with some rice and maybe some seaweed. I hear it's most "tolerable" on toast. muahahaha have fun :P"

So a week of good news, excitement, bruises and good food (except the nato).

An excited Elder 8)

Better Late Than Never

Transfers happen every six weeks, on the week before transfers all of the missionaries within reasonable distance of Tokyo are able to attend the temple.  This sets their Prep day back one day causing sleepless nights for those at home who are not sure what is going on and so they stay up waiting for an email that will arrive 24 hours later than expected.  Now we know.  Presuming we can count (some times I'm not convinced that I can) we will not have this problem when the next temple trip and transfers alter the schedule.  By my calculations that should be April 15th/16th so I will not be staying up all night on the 15th of April expecting an email and photographs, and you all should not be surprised by the post not showing up until sometime on Tuesday the 17th of April. M'k?

Well, now that we've got that all cleared up, lets get to the good stuff!
Elder Mosdell says that the sweaters were great, but now it's warming up too much to wear them. At least he has them for next winter.  He also said the week was a blur because they were crazy busy. 

Here's a quick summary of the week starting from the 28th of February and moving forward:

Tuesday (28th) - got lost on the way to a home teaching appointment but managed to get there and it went well.  After teaching, the member that they were with took them to a ramen shop "which was AWESOME even though it was boiling lava hot when I tried to eat it.  I need to work on my 'slurping technique' according to Brother F.  (yes, slurping IS the way you eat ramen... I guess it cools it down as you eat it?) Either way it was SUPER good and there was a LOT of it, the bowl was over a foot in diameter!" 

Wednesday (29th) - "Eikaiwa (English class) was unusually small due to the terrible rainstorm we had *ew*."  Apparently they had intended to play shuffle board but because there weren't enough people they'll have to play another time.

  

Thursday (1st) - they had "Minizone!"  (I'm assuming that is some kind of partial zone meeting.  I know, brilliant deduction.  Aren't I clever?) It lasted the first half of the day and was a lot of fun consisting of workshops taught by various people, an interview with President Albrect, and a large cookie from Sister Albrect. "yum" He also received his new tags and his "business cards".

Friday (2nd) - They visited an inactive Spanish speaking family with someone who speaks Spanish. Not much happened there, but then they went to Co Co's Curry for a meal.  Apparently it was "pretty good, but SUPER spicy! :) Yum"

 Saturday (3rd) - they "went to the Inage Chiba church for SMCC (no clue what it stands for really...) It's mostly for the wards and their mission leaders"  They then went to a cooking class but only managed to be there for enough time to get food samples and invite people to Eikaiwa.  And then they met the father of a part member family that they have been talking with.  Apparently the wife "looks alot like my Aunt Jen to me..."

Sunday (4th) - they had dinner with a member family who had waited most of the week to celebrate a grandchild's 6th birthday with the missionaries! They had sushi which apparently "isn't always rolled!  In fact, most often it's not!"  He says he's still getting used to seafood, its good, just different.

  

Monday (5th) - "_______'s birthday! We stopped by and dropped off 10 'Black Thunders' (a cheap treat) and a prayer rock we made for his 10th birthday!"

 
Tuesday (6th) - "Temple was AMAZING!!! Oh my gosh! So pretty!"  They are still working on the spire so Jeff didn't take many pics of the temple, but "I got one of me in front of the sign".  Then they visited the sister who looks like Aunt Jen and "found out it's her birthday tomorrow.  We plan to visit again tomorrow, and possibly bring her and her family a few home baked cookies (thank you mom) if I can get the time to make them"

Well, that was quite the email, and some really great photographs!  I'm amazed that he's been in Japan for five weeks. In some ways it seems so much longer than that and in others it doesn't seem any where near that long. 

P Day Delayed This Week

I've found out that transfers are next week which means that the missionaries near Tokyo have been able to attend the temple this week.  Of course this causes a one day delay in contact from our Elder, but he promised pictures of the Tokyo temple, so hopefully we'll have an updated post for you all by the end of the day tomorrow.