27 November 2011

Letter from Matlock - 11-14-2011


Dear Family,

     I'm not sure how I feel right now. There is a Burger King in this area and they have a special all you can eat whopper burger special going on this week. We went and now I’m not sure how I feel. I'm sure they could never get away with something like this in America. Then again there’s a lot of things that happen in Japan that you couldn't get away with in America.
     My companion got sick this week so we didn't really leave the apartment. He caught a cold and it destroyed him so I got to see lots of the inside of the apartment. Other than that things have been really good. Kichijoji is a really busy area which really just means there’s lots of interesting people. I could never get bored of this area. 
     There’s two sister missionaries here as well. One is fresh from the MTC and is actually from the exact same town as my companion. They went to the same church building but a different ward- a phenomena that doesn't occur back in the east. He also trained his cousin last transfer, his distant cousins live in this ward, two friends from school are also in this mission, his girlfriend worked at the bookstore- there’s no end to this. I was never graced to live in Mormon world so I consequently have to forge my own way here and create brand new acquaintances. 
     You won't believe what happened the other day, except you probably will because it’s not that unbelievable. We started walking towards this guy and he just started flapping his arms at us indicating that he couldn't hear. He initiated the contact mind you. We started doing sign language to him and either he doesn't understand or he’s crazy but he just waved his hand at us indicating that he wanted nothing to do with us. See learning all that sign language did come in handy after all. 
     I don't think I mentioned this before but I found soy ice cream in Japan! It was in a grocery store near the apartment in Adachi. Since coming here I haven't found it but I'll tell you it did taste pretty dang good. Not as good as American soy ice cream but I think it’s the best I'm going to get for a while. 
     Despite not having my ice cream this area is really good. The air is cleaner, the apartment is HUGE, and the eikaiwa is also huge. We split everyone into three classes and there are 10-15 people in each class. I teach advanced which means they are good enough to be able to call me out on things. When it comes down to it I don't know English well enough to really explain it, so I just teach interesting sayings and phrases to distract them from actually having to learn anything. So far so good. 
     Also had a stake conference and I got to see a lot of members from Tokorozawa! I was surprised that I could remember all their names. That was the miracle for the week. 
                      Love you all madly-
                       --Matlock Wyman

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