Laffy Taffy Fail..

I hope you all have been having awesome Christmas’s and
happy new years, because mine were pretty great. this past week, was a
special week in that it was the Japanese new year YAAYY!! From last
Wednesday up until Today, we’ve had a member giving us dinner or lunch
every single day. Also, because the new year is the biggest holiday
ever, we haven’t been able to proselyte since thursday. on Thursday,
we read the Book of Mormon all day long! It was super cool, but by the
end, I was a little mentally tired. We also had a member feed us
dinner, and we made some decorations together (I’ll put a picture in
the end). Contrary to what I heard in the past I really think that
there’s no bad food here. The only thing that is kind of sketchy is
this stuff called Nato. We actually learned how to make it from a
member. It’s really easy. All you do is take some soybeans, and boil
them until they’re soft. Then, you lump them on a sheet of hay( the
horse food) for a week or two. At the end of the week or two, you put
them into a bowl with a little soy sauce, and stir them until they
look like they’re covered in mucus, at that point they’re ready to
eat. Then, bring the bowl up to your face, and try to kind of suck it
into your mouth. You should probably use chopsticks, because there are
little mucus strings that stay connected to other beans and kind of
don’t end, and it’s really hard to get out of clothes. good luck. One
tip, is try not to move it around in your mouth at all, because the
texture is way worse than the flavor. If there are any adventurous
souls our there that want to try out this food, please be my guest.
One interesting thing that happened in the recent past, is we tried
to introduce laffy taffy jokes to the english class we teach on
tuesdays. We thought they might understand, but we were so wrong. Most
of the people that come are actually good at English, so we thought
“why not?” as it turns out, American jokes are actually super hard to
understand. like, for example, Where do smart hot dogs end up? On
Honor rolls.
This was hard because we had to explain what an honor roll is.
Everyone here knows what a hot dog is, and eventually they were able
to kind of understand the joke.
They didn’t think that it was very funny.
In terms of missionary work, we have two people that we are able to
meet every saturday, and a whole bunch of other people we meet on and
off. They’re basically all College students, so they’re super hard to
meet. Anyway, one is actually 47 years old, has a family, and believes
wholeheartedly in the bible. His beliefs are actually super similar to
our, for example, he believes that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and
The Holy Ghost are in fact 3 separate beings, and that you can still
receive revelation today, but the only thing that he does not believe
is the book of mormon, and Joseph Smith. He struggles with the Book of
Mormon because of some little things that are worded a little
differently from the bible, and can be read and understood a different
way. We just need to help him get over that problem, and then I feel
like he’ll progress super fast. He is the person that we’re meeting
with that is the closest to receiving the gospel, and being baptized.
Just need to be patient and teach by the spirit, and he’ll make it one
day.
Thank you so much for all that you think about me. I see it in the
letters that I’ve been receiving from you recently, and there’ve been
quite a few. Thank you so much. In case that it is something that you
really want to know, I am getting better at Japanese. It’s gotten to
the point where I can almost comfortably have a short conversation, if
they speak slowly. It’s come through much struggle and prayer, and the
gift of tongues is super real. I’m so grateful for this opportunity,
and I know I’m doing what I need to be doing right now. Thank you all
for everything.