Dear Family and Others,
This last week was Thanksgiving and unlike last year I actually celebrated it. We made it onto the American base and ate American food with Americans. I still felt really foreign. I've been separated from everything American for so long that now I don't know where I fit in anymore. It was really good though, I had actual turkey. Believe it or not it is easier to find octopus than turkey here in Japan. It’s probably as hard to find turkey in Japan as it is to find octopus in America. I was really excited for the meal up to the point I saw all the food laid out on the table and realized that I probably could eat very little of it. Took for granted all these years Moms wonderful milk free cooking. Ended up just sticking to the turkey, ham, and some casserole that turned out to be out. So it wasn't too bad. Also got exposed to American culture a little bit before coming back home. All in all it was really good.
We had a really great experience talking to people on the street. Lately our goal has been to get people into the church. There is a huge shopping area right next to the church and so it’s always packed with people. Thus we ask them to take 5-10 min out of their mindless splurging to come see something of much more eternal importance. The day we went around talking to people was the day that the "Little Witnesses" choir was practicing for their concert the next week. It was good. But we had no time for dilly-dally there was work to be done. We went out on the street and stopped a kid who didn't seem to want to talk to us, said he was in a hurry and wouldn't even tell us his name. However he did come to the church to check it out. I don't know if it was my handsome face or what but something softened in his heart and he came to the church. I wish there could be a choir singing in the chapel every time we have someone who comes to the church because nothing invites the spirit better than that choir. It was even better than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but maybe that’s just because that’s all I've listened to for the last year and a half and then some. He had to go shortly after but he obviously left with a delightful, musically oriented image of the church and we got his phone number. Still have no idea what his name is.
Found a great new guy to teach! He came for English class and had interest in Christianity so... we taught him. He may have some problems cause he's a little slower than other folks but he asks questions, he's interested and it is a pleasure teaching him. For some reason he is really easy to teach. It’s a joy. A lot of Japanese people will not ask questions about what you teach and even if you ask them stuff they give a nothing answer. I don't know if they do a lot of discussion type things in Japan because it’s near impossible to achieve that while teaching the lessons here. This phenomenon occurs also when sharing messages to members. When it becomes message time everyone gets deathly silent and won't even look at you. At first I worried about how to overcome that then I just realized that Japan is funny.
Well must be off. Gotta go talk with some of these funny people and get them to see straight about life. And so it goes.
Love you all! Keep the faith and don't be akward!
--Matlock Wyman
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