Elder Callahan in Japan

Hello everyone.

It`s been a pretty interesting week. We left on Monday at 3:30 in the morning, and spent the next 17 hours flying. We stopped in Detroit, which was fun because that:s where we spent our ten hour layover when we went to Europe. So I got to see the rainbow tunnel again. Anyway, we got into Japan at about 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday, Japan time. This was about an hour before we were supposed to arrive, so after struggling our way through customs, we walked out of the gate expecting the mission president welcome...and no one was there.

Luckily, we were all so tired that it didn't even phase us, and we just sat down and waited. After about 15 minutes the APs and office staff showed up and we did the normal thing. Apparently that's the first time anyone has gotten in early before. So I guess we're special or something like that. We spent the night at the mission home (the location of the absolute softest beds in the Milky Way Galaxy) and the next morning we did our orientation meeting. In the afternoon, we got to meet our trainers.

My trainer's name is Elder Schmeil (pronounced like smile but if you couldn't speak English). He's Brazilian, but his English is flawless, so we communicate fine. He's pretty much the nicest person I've every met, to the point of frustration. When we were traveling to our area he carried all my bags and wouldn't let me touch them the whole way there. He's way funny too.

We're in Okazaki right now, which is a city east of Nagoya. It's definitely city, but not huge city like New York. There's also some nice countryside area that we visit every once in a while and that we pass through when taking the train to the other smaller towns in our area. I also hear there's a beach here but I haven't been to it yet.

So we got to Okazaki in the afternoon on Wednesday, we planned, went out to eat, and then left to teach Eikaiwa, the English class program the Church here does. That went well except I was so tired I don't really remember anything. Friday we picked up an old bike a missionary had left at the church when he went home for me to use until I got my bike, and then made the hour or so ride out to that countryside area I mentioned before.

That was an experience, let me tell you. And I don't think I would call it a good one either. Okazaki has a lot of hills. And when your bike can neither shift gears nor brake, it becomes a little difficult to get up and down those hills safely. Luckily I didn't die, but there were some close calls.

We have 20 investigators right now, 7 of whom are progressing. Because Elder Schmeil is Brazilian, we have a lot of Portuguese/Spanish speaking investigators. In fact, it took me two full days here before I finally taught a lesson in Japanese. We probably taught six lessons before that. So that "Best Two Years" moment that people talk about, the "This isn't the language I learned in the MTC" moment? Mine was real. I may just come back fluent in Portuguese instead of Japanese. My job during those lessons is to just stand there, smile, and nod. It's fun though.

One of our investigators is Fernando. He was very very interested, had all the lessons, kept all his commitments, but his wife was very scared of the church. All religion in general, actually. She didn't mind him taking the lessons, but because he worked every day except Sunday she wanted to spend time with him on Sunday, and wouldn't spend that time at Church. So he couldn't get baptized, even though he wanted to. But we found out yesterday that his wife has moved back to Brazil, and he:s going to join her after six months. So now he can come to church and be baptized.

Another one of our investigators, Fukui, is interesting. Elder Schmeil has only been here for about 4 months, so while his Japanese is pretty impressive (especially for how long he's been here) there are still a lot of holes. Fukui is a seventeen year old high school student who speaks really really fast and with really really complicated Japanese. So neither I nor Elder Schmeil can understand anything he's saying.

However, by some miracle, he's progressing and is still interested. When we taught him on Friday, it started raining, and as soon as we said Amen to our lesson there was a huge lighting bolt and the power went out in the church. Fukui didn't want to ride home in the rain, so we hung out in the church for like half an hour playing the piano and getting to know him as best we could. It was really fun actually.

We also have an investigator named Shakespeare (well, he calls himself Shakespeare after Shakespeare in Love) who I actually haven't taught yet but I met at church. He's had all the lessons and has a testimony and comes to church all the time but he hasn't wanted to be baptized yet, and no one's really sure why.

We also have two investigators, Tatiana and Marcos, who are way way interested and already seem like members (apparently when Elder Schmeil and his old companion first met them, Tatiana said "all these religions talk about God but their hearts are far from him.") but Marcos has Lukemia and since he just got done with Chemo, he can't leave his house because his immune system is so weak and can't come to church. So unless we get special permission, he can't be baptized for another 6 months which is way sad because they're so receptive and willing to learn about the gospel.

Last night we and the sisters went to visit a less active family, the Ashikawas, who live half an hour away by train. They're a crazy Brazilian family who love the missionaries. The mom is a long time member and the dad is a non member. She was actually really really strong in the church but some things about Japanese culture had been rubbing her the wrong way for a long time and she felt like the Japanese members look down on the Brazilian members, and so she eventually went inactive, which is sad because she actually has a really strong testimony. She gives us referrals all the time and loves to help us whenever she can. It's really kind of a strange situation.

Anyway, we went to her house to help make a cake for Tatiana and Marcos, because it's Tatiana's birthday today. One of the sisters kept the kids busy (those kids are absolutely insane. My ears were ringing when I left that tiny apartment. They were climbing all over us and everything else they could see. I can't even explain how crazy it was) while we helped with the cake. We ended up accidentally doing all of her dishes and cleaning her kitchen for her, which she really appreciated. We also brought her a bunch of letters from the ward telling her they missed her at church (she's only recently inactive and was slated to give a talk yesterday) so hopefully that helped her.

I'm trying to think of other things that happened this week, because I know there were a lot but I really can't. The trains are fun. They're actually not very crowded, but we're kind in a less populated area. Also sometimes instead of crosswalks they have tunnels that go under the roads, and in the middle of the stairs down into the tunnels there are bike ramps, but they're really steep, and when I was using that run down bike I would go down on ramp and then up the other one and I almost died every time.

The hills here are pretty rough to bike. Apparently this is one of the worst places in the mission for hills. The food is also pretty good. It actually took me three days to actually eat real japanese food. Before that I had Mexican, Chinese, and Thai. One thing about Japan that I've noticed: people aren't happy. The only people I ever see smile are Church members and kids. The adults don't smile. It's depressing. That's why we're here though.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Maybe I'll have more exciting stories next week.

Take care.

Elder Callahan