Countryside

So, it turns out that there are places in Sagamihara where you see farmland and no apartment buildings.  It really does feel like countryside there.  ^^

Elder Quentin L. Cook came to Tokyo, and last Saturday they set up a combined mission conference for the Tokyo and Tokyo South missions. There were about four hundred missionaries there.  o.0  I don't think I've ever seen so many missionaries in one place since the MTC.  It was a great conference.

This morning we worked with a volunteer group that helps keep the city clean.  The other missionaries trimmed hedges by a main road while Elder Watanabe and I swept sidewalks.  We were using these really old-style brooms that I'm pretty sure were made of bamboo.  They looked more like Quidditch broomsticks than something you'd sweep with.  :P

モルモン書

The other week, while teaching a lesson, I had a thought.  We tell people it's really important that they receive a witness from God that the Book of Mormon is true (see Moroni 10:3-5).  The Book of Mormon has answers to a lot of pretty serious questions, like where we were before we were born, where we go after we die, what kind of relationship we have with God, and so forth.  And these answers are really good news.  If the Book of Mormon really is true, that's good news!  (And it means we have some homework, too.)  That's a big reason why we tell people to find out for themselves if the Book of Mormon is true.  It makes life so much better.

Sagamihara

I've been transferred to Sagamihara.  It has more of a city feel to it than Tama does (aside from the fact that both cities have plenty of ten-story apartment buildings).  I finally had to get a bike, since things are quite a bit more spread out than they were in Tama.  The elders' apartment is about a thirty-minute walk from the church.  (It was just around the corner in Tama.)  So, I got a little six-speed folding bike.  It's just fast enough for what I need, less expensive than a mountain bike, and it should be easier to transfer with.

I'm now living in the same apartment with two native Japanese elders. That's rare.  Right now there are about twenty-five missionary apartments in the mission with elders living in them, and only thirteen native Japanese elders.  The Japanese elder who's not my companion has been in the field for about six weeks, and he's training a brand-new missionary from Utah.

And I've got a ton more to write about, but I'm out of time.  XP

Golden Week

I'm getting transferred again!  My new companion is going to be Elder Watanabe.  I've worked with him before and he's pretty awesome.

Right around now there are a bunch of holidays right next to each other, making it what they call "Golden Week".  They've got a festival set up around Tama Center Station with lots and lots of people and lots and lots of food stands.

We had a bit of an earthquake last night.  We all sort of woke up and everything was shaking.  o.0  Nothing fell over as far as we could tell.  Apparently that happens all the time here.