Happy Birthday to Me!!

I once heard an elder from Japan tell me that there are three types of missionaries in Japan. 

1. The Want-A-Be`s  This cateogry includes those missionaries that have always dreamed of going to Japan.  Most of these missionaries either had a relative, usually a father, serve in Japan or they are anime geeks and always wanted to learn Japanese to watch anime without subtitles.  These also include those missionaries who studied Japanese in high school or have, before their call, studied such things as hiragana, katakana, or kanji.  A love for Japanese food may or may not include some missionaries into this group.

2. Blood Related  These missionaries have some Japanese blood running through their veins, whether it be a parent, grandfather, or just an Aunt or Uncle.  Or they even could be full Nihonjin.

3. The Outfielders  These missionaries probably thought they were going Spanish speaking, stateside, or even to Europe and were compleltely blind-sided by their call to Japan.  This doesn`t mean they don`t love Japan, just it wasn`t what they were expecting before their call.  Most of these missionaries get most of their previous knowledge of Japanese culture from when they watched the Karate Kid and The Last Samurai.  The closest thing most of the missionaries that fall into this category probably had before their call concerning Japanese food was either Panda Express or the rice that was found in their mother`s brocolli, cheese, and rice casserole.

Ever since then I have considered myself an outfielder as my closest connection to Japan before the mission was I once swam in the Pacific Ocean on the coast of California and that ocean goes all the way to Japan.  But, ever since the member appointment I had Saturday night I am starting to think there really is no such thing as an outfielder missionary.

So we had a dinner apppointment with an older couple in the ward, and we were chatting as I struggled to pick up every last grain of rice with these two wooden sticks and they asked about my family.  Being the well prepared trainer he is, Elder Siedschlag told me beforehand to bring my photo album of my family.  So, I pulled it out of my handy-dandy shoulder bag and introduced my family.  We got to a picture of all of the kids in the fam-bam wearing our Canadian shirts, and I told them that my Mom was Canadian.  They had actually been to Canada before and had gone to pull out some pictures over there in the land of the Great North.  Now I didn`t think much of it at first when they were showing me the pictures on a plane and everything but then things got interesting.  Those familiar with Albertan geography pay close attention.  The couple showed me pictures of them at Lake Louise and I was like `Jasper, Banff!` pointing at the pictures.  And they were like `Hai, hai`.  And it was pretty cool because I had been there camping before.  And then they pulled up pictures of them at the Cardston temple, and I was like `That`s where my Grandma lives!`  And then things got really weird.  They said they couldn't remember the places name where they went to take pictures by a waterfall and I looked at it and immediately recognized it.  `It`s Waterton!`  And then I dug through my pictures and pulled out a family picture of us at the same waterfall this couple had been to!  It was trippy.  So it was then I realized I actually had a lot more connections to Japan than I thought.  What if I had seen one of my investigators up in Canada one time?!?  So I guess I have connections to places that are hotspots for Asians and Japanese tourists?  Like the strip is full of them and Canada is easy to fly to from Japan.  So when I get back, it won`t be hard to keep speaking Japanese!  So I`ve been starting to re-think this whole `Outfield` label.

Anyways, as the subject line suggests it was my birthday Friday!  And I celebrated it the best way possible by doing missionary work!  But besides that the other three elders I room with surprised me by going to a buffet with tons of Sushi and a grill on the table so that you could cook your own meat!  So that was fun.  And the birthday card from the family was pretty excellent too.  And also, it was a little bit late but my mission president，President Yamashita, and Sister Yamashita called me this morning, and sang to me and wished me a happy birthday.  Now this will be the only time I brag about this but, my mission president happens to be a member of the First Quruom of the Seventy or basically just two steps down the ladder of authority as the prophet.  So, I was wished a Happy Birthday by a Seventy who has spoken in General Conference before.  Talk about a birthday present!  But I still haven`t decided if our mission was so bad that they had to give us a General Authority to keep us in check or if it a reward for being awesome.  But anyways, that will be all you hear on that subject.

This week I was also adventurous and at a Sushi bar we went to I tried raw octupus!  It wasn`t bad but it was just rubbery and it wasn`t favorful.  Maybe I was supposed to Wasabi to add that extra kick.  But other than that I haven`t tried anything I haven`t like so far.  But I can`t remember any of the names of the food so I will probably have to get back to you on that one.  

Hope everyone has a good week and love you！

Elder Hall


The following picture is at Zone Training with President and Sister Yamashita!!

August 6, 2014