I opened my presents

Merry Christmas!

weekly mission email

In Tsu with Elder Miole: 

We have a new Service Activity—a dope weaving place! I guess some lady reinvented the loom so that even a child can learn to use it. Right now, this place hires Handicaps and funny old guys to make things like jackets, hats, mufflers, socks, and even wallets. A member, Sister Okubo, referred the place to us. It was way cool! 

 On our way out, we each received a cat coin purse. I Will buy a muffler before the end of this. 

Zone Conference was last Thursday, and it was held at a ward super far away, so we had to stay the night at a checkpoint apartment with the Elders in Yokkaichi. The Ise Elders also joined us, so we had eight elders sleeping squished on the floor with a single mat and blanket each. Great fun! 

On the trains up there in the morning, we all had to fight the Morning Rush crowds with our overnight bags and such. Not so much fun. Funny thing though, on a transfer to a subway line the crowd was so bad that the conductors were sectioning off people and then jamming them into the trains which came every five minutes. Our group just happened to land at the end of a section. We all go in pushing for that extra centimeter of space, but then Ise Elder Mossman was left remaining on the platform. No more room, but his companion was on the train, so something had to happen. He decided to hop aboard. 

Remember, this is a big, Hawaiian football player plus his size-able overnight backpack. I distinctly remember hearing several gasps as peoples' feet left the floor. 

Japan train crowds. Real thing, not as fun as they’re hyped up to be. 

This week we also had a fantastic Halloween Party!  We actually were put in charge of a game and the drinks, so we decided on a toilet paper mummy-wrapping race and a huge cauldron of root beer. People loved it! Except the root beer. Well, it was split: Love-hate thing, kinda like natto. The small four oz bottle I had made 5 gallons, so... 

well, in the end we split the remains between people that wanted it, and gave away approximately 10 liters. I think it was still worth it. 

This lady who we called “Wonder Woman” last transfer (because she didn’t give us her name the first time we knocked on her door) is actually quite the wonder woman. 

Maegawa is just the best. 

She came to church for the first time yesterday. The sisters have been working with her for a couple weeks now, and you can tell that she’s been completely prepared by the Lord. She asked about giving up any specific foods, teas, or anything before the sisters had even taught their third lesson. We got another call from Temple Square asking about her, and they practically squealed when I reported that Maegawa had accepted a BOM, come to church, and set a baptism date for 11/19 (which was set on her first lesson). 

Everything is perfectly fine, and she’s completely on track to receive baptism on that date. She’s been fellowshipped nicely, and is so accepting of everything. She actually came up to me after the Gospel Principles class yesterday and inquired about receiving a personal copy of the Triple I had let her borrow for church. Wow! 

Looking forward to the day we all go up to the baptismal font next month! 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

food blog

First day at church and Elder Miole gets two cans of sardines from members.



We made a chocolate sheet cake to celebrate our safety



Also, meatballs over rice

food blog

Don’t even ask．



What a mess of a curry
 

Hawaiian LocoMoto 

weekly mission email

Lots going on but here are the highlights. 

We bike around the college a lot, and found a couple chill students who are interested in the message and agreed to meet again in the next couple weeks. I love talking to young college kids, they’re so open and funny. 

There was a big hiking event that a member took us to, and we met a guy who ended up talking to us the entire time! What better time to talk about the church than when people are too tired to run away because they’re climbing a mountain? 

Interviews with President Ishii are always a pleasure, and I can see the increased trust he has in me just by how my interview is conducted. The mission is trying to push for Family History Finding, but the problem is that nobody knows how to use Family History for finding ...so we need to come up with some creative ideas. We'll do our best!

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

Food Blog

Crunchy banana bread because we put it in while the oven was preheating, but the crunch actually turned out to be the best part. 

The best bakery in Japan is located right next to our church 

Bottom left: basically Apple Turnovers/cobbler filling 

Top left: berries and cream cheese filling 

Top right: bacon and cheese chunks 

Bottom right: pizza filled cheese bread 

Some lady gave us shark meat, so we fried it up and ate it together with the Brazilian beans and rice that a different lady gave to us. It was a good day. 

weekly email

This week in Tsu>: 

For the first time in my mission we received a call from temple square! A lady requested a BOM in our area! Wait, wait.. it’s the lady we found two weeks ago on an exchange, and followed up in a brief drop-by last week. We always called her Wonder Woman, but I wondered what her actual name was (she wouldn’t tell us); turns out to be Maegawa! 

We had a return appointment that same Wednesday, so we took our best copies of the BOM in each of our bags and brought along the sister missionaries, because we planned on handing off this investigator to them. The door opened and the transaction went smoothly. The sisters were invited inside and we were off on a train to work somewhere else. 

...and then two hours later we got a text, one of those mandatory information texts sent to everyone important when something happens. (I’m District Leader down in this area) The Sisters had made this Wonder Woman a baptismal candidate, with a committed date! Wha? Did we happen to hand-off the next baptism in Tsu? Whoa! Let's go Sisters, miracle workers. 

In other news, Monday night we were down in Matsusaka for a Family Home Evening (FHE) with members. Having an hour or so before it started, and having set a goal for a certain amount of people talked to each day, we wondered around the station in our first actual time working in this part of our area. 

There’s practically nobody around, but Elder Reis stopped a lonesome high schooler caught on his way inside the station. The high schooler actually stopped to listen for a bit, and by then I was back to jump into the conversation; he had his book out for some light reading, but a glance revealed that like all typical high schoolers in Japan the Book wasn’t for amusement but rather for cramming in subject specific information—this one happened to be English. 

And the conversation took off! We set a next appointment where we could help with his English homework, and then get a couple minutes in to talk about God afterwards. It was great! 

Shuuya. The appointment was kinda sketchy because we had no way to contact the guy, but on Sunday night we faithfully went all the way down to that area again to meet him. 

And he showed up! Right on time. It was awesome. We sat down at a local park and had a great time, and we laughed over his insanely difficult English practice essays.  

At the end, we talked about the idea of God and what kind of person Shuuya thought God would be. We encouraged him to think about prayer, and the intimate relationship he can have with our Heavenly Father. It was smooth and didn’t seem to stumble anywhere. 

So we’re blessed down here. We’ll meet again with the people we found last week, and find more people to meet more next week. Japan has a bright future in its youth. 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

Paper houses in a paper town. Right? 

Reis' traditional clothes

food blog

Thanks for all the delicious chocolates! Reis has kindly rated them
according to his favorites. The results are as follows:

1) Toblerone 
2) Oreo Milka chocolate bar 
3) 100 Grand 
4) Hershey's Vanilla Creme cookie bar 
5) Take 5 
6) Twix 
7) Snicker's Hazelnut 

Thanks! It was a fun experience. 

The bakery next to the church is soooo good. 


Emergency Drill Test 


Look at the tie. Love the tie. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Best of wishes and all the love in the world to you!

I didn't get to send a letter, but I've taken the liberty of making a video and taking photographic pictures. 

Hope it makes up for everything. I'm excited to hear about your special day, along with Ben and Grandpa Cardon! Best wishes to them, too. 

food blog

Some kind of Brazilian treat. Pretty good.

It was a fancy hotel food restaurant 

Waffles! We actually have a Maker! sweeeet 

Oh, my companion...

weekly mission email

Down from Tsu in that awkward week between transfers:

We saw miracles!

We found a spot in the area close to the big University that has a ton
of small apartments and such scattered all over the place.
Missionary's dream, right? Basically Disneyland.

We're out knocking doors at night and looking for the prepared, tired
from the stairs but excited to try a building that's bright orange!
What a welcome change in scenery.

And of course the top floor, last door opens up to us and it's a lady
from Okinawa who doesn't mind listening to us about Christ one bit.
But then her kid comes out to talk, and another, and another ...it's a
whole family who's open to us, and they're all super Genki! Haven't
really thought about the idea of God before, but it's not like they're
against the thought or anything. We're excited to follow up with them
and teach the Plan of Salvation this week.

But better yet, on Sunday we had Ward Council Meeting and mention the
family as part of the missionary efforts, and the young women's leader
happens to know them! She's a school teacher for that area and knows
each of the kids, by name. It was awesome. So, instant fellowshipping
plus great insights for us. Loving God's hand in all of this.

And we'll see how it goes! Hoping for the best.

愛しています！

カードん長老より
Elder Cardon

weekly mission email

This week in Tsu: 

I've found that the more I actually understand the scriptures, the more I want to go out and preach the gospel. Isaiah is a powerful teacher, and a great motivator. 

Reis has been eating hotdogs wrong his entire life. Silly Brazilians are making a sausage stew-type thing and then pouring it into the buns. 

"Doesn't it all just fall out the ends when you go to eat it?"

"That is the problem with this." 

We called a guy this week who's been hanging around in the records for 10+ years, and made contact! Turns out he's moved recently to a city called Kihou--right on the very edge of the area below us (Ise). The city is basically a town made up of three streets, and is split in half by a river which also divides the Japan Nagoya mission from the Japan Kobe mission. Takes five hours by train to get there (from the Ise apartment) ...let's go! 

We were in a rush biking around late at night, but starved out of our minds, and so decided to grab and go with Take-Out at Sukiya (a rice bowl restaurant out here). Literally took less than a minute for them to prepare and hand us the food. I don't think I've ever seen even McDonald's have such fast service. 

At our apartment check, the Senior Couple told us to take out all of the grass we had growing in our small garden outside (because we have a mini house for an apartment). I guess that's the reason behind the sneaky small bugs we had weezling into the apartment, and trains of ants on the countertops! 

We had transfer announcements Friday night, and I got my text pretty much on time, but Elder Reis' never came. We're just gonna assume that he's staying by default. 

I dunno why, but we keep running into guys from India who happen to be Christian and are looking for a church with English translation services. Well, you found one! 

It was an interesting week. 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon





The food is a Brazilian treat called Brigadeiro, made up of Condensed Milk and cocoa powder and butter. He's using butter as anyone would use spray to keep food from sticking and is attempting to make little chocolate balls to put into the mini tin cups. But, it failed. Miserably. 

Look like donuts, but actually, it's a local treat made up of a honey dough and red bean paste filling. Almost like a custard donut, but really small. Only 60€ 

food blog

Delicious mazesoba with huge karaage pieces

Just some teriyaki chicken 

Who puts curry over steak? And cabbage as s salad? 

Traditional treat: red-bean paste coating rice balls. It was ..interesting, but wouldn't recommend to a friend. 

weekly email

This week in Tsu we were hardly even in Tsu.

Lots of exchanges. ZOne Leader and District exchanges, interviews,
plus a night helping out the Eikaiwa in the other area. Elder Reis
didn't come back until Friday morning, and we left for the first one
on Monday night.

But we learned a lot! It was great. Elder Reis has been struggling
with his confidence in talking to strangers on the street, and working
with a Zone Leader helped him to realize how he can show his happiness
and use his personality to talk naturally to people.
Also, we are trying to reach out to younger people, specifically
Japanese high school students, but the problem everybody always
encounters is that between school, clubs, and cram school no high
school student ever has any time to meet! But, working to solve this
we've seen some success in inviting them to short church tours with a
promise of helping their English homework afterwards. I just wish that
our branch had a baptismal font. All the more reason to try our
hardest to qualify for our own building!

So during my interviews I mentioned to President that I've been
concerned about an unexpected rash that has recently developed on my
neck. He suggested that I call the Mission Doctor that night and have
it examined.
On the way down to Ise I made the call, and sent in photos, and then
waited as the Doc diagnosed the issue. Halfway through Eikaiwa the Doc
calls back (and of course I have to take the call, I'm dying to know.
Plus, it's the doctor!).

I'm diseased.

Aaaand we'll leave it there. Thanks for tuning in!

愛しています！

カードん長老より
Elder Cardon

Tink

weekly mission email

From down in Tsu: 

This week has got to be one of the best I've had in my Mission. 

So the Zone Leaders came up with a bunch of goals that change out every week in order for us to focus on the different parts of being a spiritual missionary. This week happened to be 'Boldness.' 

We made rough goals to talk to more people on the street, and set out that very night (Monday) to accomplish them. Just biking around working on our approaches, but by the end of the night we had found a pretty promising young college Japanese guy who showed interest in both a Gospel message and TOEIC English. Got a Set Next Event (SNE) and a phone number from him. The whole thing went so smoothly that I was second-guessing myself and scared that any of that was real. 

The next night we went out again, but it started raining. Nobody is really outside getting caught in the rain, so we tweaked the goal towards housing. Knocking on apartment doors, top floor we found two Philippinos who are in their 20s, came to Japan for work. We kinda wormed our way inside their apartment and ended up teaching them the whole Restoration lesson. Promised to come back with Tagalog BOMs on Thurs because they don't really understand any English. 

And so we had follow-up appointments with each of them on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. 

It also helps that we have a companionship goal to teach in unity, which equals 50/50 teaching time. It's hard to sit back and have Elder Reis lead discussions at times because he is so straightforward and blunt about everything, but everything was saved in the end and all the lessons turned out really spiritual. Some of the best lessons I've had since the MTC, actually. 

It all boils down to Sunday, where we had our second SNE within the week for each of them. The Phillipinos promised to come to church, and we would teach the Japanese guy later that night. 

Well, at all these lessons we worked towards teaching in the light of baptism, being straight with our purpose and promising blessings for an act of faith. Again, alongside the members we had incredibly powerful lessons, and particularly the Phillipino man felt impressed that he needed to follow this. It was such a testimony builder to see this in hindsight and the miracles God provided for us. 

They haven't committed to a date yet, but I feel that each of them have great potential. 

This whole week was like the Lord had held up on the blessings of the entire transfer and suddenly decided to shower our heads with them. Many miracles besides this story, and we can see leaps of progress in the Tsu situation as it continues in its quest towards becoming a ward. So glad to be a part of all this, I'm loving the work down here. 

Thanks for reading. 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon