Dear Family,
How goes it? I'm in Japan. I arrived in my "bean" area: Shimonoseki, last Thursday. My trainer lived in Southern California and moved to Southern Oregon in middle school. His name is Elder McClure (Makura) and he also went to BYU for a year before coming out. He has been out here for about a year and a half, and it was a big surprise for him to turn trainer again.
So it's been fun jumping in. Shimonoseki is a very special place. We have lessons basically every night, which is way awesome for Japan. My first Sunday here, two men were baptized. It's pretty crazy! We have a very special situation here. A man named Nakamura Kyodai (Brother Nakamura) here was baptized just a couple months ago. He has taken a special interest in helping the homeless around the city. He is building a place called Samaria Home, and he invites homeless men to come and stay until they get on their feet and find a job. That's where we have been getting most of our referrals.
It's sooo awesome seeing the repentance process truly in action. The men who were just baptized were both members of Yakuza way back in the day. The kind of thing where you bring in the mission president for the baptismal interview. But knowing they have been through a lot makes the flipside here that much better!
Well, I haven't been able to get a bike here yet, so I have been riding a mamachari bike around. It's a 3-gear bike that is pretty much straight from the 80's. Hills are doing a lot to build my character!
Saturday, we rode a ton. If you pull up a map of the Shimonoseki area, we started in the middle of the peninsula in Shin-Shimonoseki, went pretty straight east to Chofu and went all the way around the peninsula with a strong ocean wind to the city west of Shin-Shimonoseki to Yasuoka. Pretty much a full afternoon.
We are doing fine here. Lots of lessons, tons of food from the members (big branch of almost 50!), no central heating, and nato that looks and tastes like boogers, and a sweet 11th story view of Shin-Shimonoseki with the Shinkansen bulleting by. I am very lucky and ready to go to work.
Always, Elder Hogge
083-257-1074
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