Last Week

Last Sunday, I went to the Hachioji ward.  That's where I spent the longest amount of time as a missionary.  I was there for about 7 months.  I was surprised at how many people remembered me.  It was actually quite flattering.  I was also surprised at how many people's names I had forgotten.  I recognized most of the faces there, but I couldn't recall the names of many of the members.  Anyway, it was lots of fun and extremely nostalgic.  Two different families invited me for dinner after church.  I went with one family and rescheduled with the other.  Then the one family invited me to stay with them, instead of in the hotel, so I've been saving money by staying with them.  They're very nice people. 

On Monday I went to seminary at 6 AM because the guy teaching was one of the young men in the ward that I worked with to help him prepare for his mission.  His name's 光.  He's a really cool kid, and he taught very well, so it was fun to go.  After seminary, two other guys met up with us and we went on a hike up a mountain nearby, one of the many that has a temple on the top of it.  It was a great hike.  It wasn't too hot, because most of the trail was shaded, and it wasn't too long.  The mountain was only about 900m high.   It was lots of fun. 

Tuesday I went to Hibarigaoka, another area I served in, and I went out to eat with the missionaries.  Then I went to go see Takumi, a Japanese foreign exchange student that my family hosted about 20 years ago.  I had gone to see him once or twice when I was a missionary because he lived in that area.  But when I went back to go see him this time his apartment complex had been torn down and replaced by houses.  That seems really backward, but unless the address I had was wrong, that's what happened.  So, I'm assuming he has moved.  I used to have his email address, but I seem to have lost it.

On Wednesday I went to English class with the missionaries.  They teach English as one of their finding methods.  It's actually the most effective method--or at least it was when I was a missionary.  Anyway, I taught one class because one of the missionaries here is Japanese and he doesn't speak much English.  So that was lots of fun.

On Thursday I came back to Hachioji and went to dinner with the other family that had invited me on Sunday--the Kitahara family.  They're very nice people.  They have twin boys that were about 17ish when I was here before.  Now they're both attending BYU-Hawaii, so it was sad that I didn't get to see them, but it was good to see their parents. 

On Friday I went to see the tombs of some of the emperors that are buried nearby.  That was pretty cool.  It's a very pretty place.  I also walked around and saw some of the temples and shrines in the area.  In the evening, I met up with a kid that got baptized when I was here.  He is actually in the Takao ward, which is right next to the Hachioji ward, but since the two wards are so close, we always did stuff with those missionaries, so I was friends with him even though he was their investigator.  We went out to eat and played games at the arcade.  It was kind of fun.  I have to admit it's not very frequent that I play games at the arcade. 

On Saturday I went back to Hibarigaoka and played soccer with the members and missionaries there, then I went to Kichijoji, where the stake center is, and played basketball with the YSAs.  One of the girls pointed out that it's kind of sad that people go so long without marrying.  I mean, I'm almost 27 and I am definitely not the oldest person in the group.  But, pretty much everyone there is quite attractive and they're all nice people too, so it really is a mystery that so many of them are still single.  You'd really think that more of them would get married.  Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing ball with them, aside from the fact that I was exhausted and kind of felt like I was coming down with something.  But it must have been something else, because I felt fine the next morning. 

On Sunday (yesterday) I went to the Hibarigaoka ward.  There weren't as many members there that remembered me, but that was understandable since I was only there for about 3 months.  After church, we had a takoyaki party.  Takoyaki is a batter with octopus (tako) in it, cooked in the shape of a ball.  It's actually pretty good.  And pretty much every Japanese person loves it.  We cooked a whole bunch of it.  We were there for over 4 hours making it.  I had eaten it during my mission, but I had never made any until yesterday, so it was lots of fun making it.  After that, we went over to the Ganaha family and had dinner there.  They made Okinawa soba, which is very good.  It was my first time eating it.