Week 54 How many steps did you get this week? How many is too many?

We had a pretty good mix of good and bad weather. Typical for springtime here, just a little colder than normal. That delayed the blooming timeline for all the cherry blossoms (Sakura) that Japan is famous for. By the end of this week, everything is in full bloom and beautiful. 

Monday we caught a ride with our Red Cross friends up to Camp Fuji to participate in a "open house" for the freshly painted and updated Chapel and USO lounge. It has been locked up and under a remodel/update mode since December. They had a good turnout and we got to see our friend Chaplain Walton and a few others. It was cold that day and even snowed a little bit. We enjoyed a lunch break and then ventured back to our Camp Zama base. It was nice to have a ride; however, we don't like being dependent upon rides as we are now.  Later on Monday evening we had a few of our YSA over for some good old grill cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Elder and Sister Melton joined us later and brought a "Unicorn" card game that we played together.  Long day for us. 

Tuesday was our go-to-the-temple day, but this time we took a bus, then a train, then our feet to get there. We had to leave earlier than we normally would and carrying our Temple Clothes bags and lunch made it a bit more challenging. And it was raining.  It was our first venture riding the bus to the train station.  Not too bad, just had to factor in the time.  Working at the Tokyo Temple is always an uplifting experience and we enjoyed it.  Afterward, we were too hungry for our own good and elected to get some dinner BEFORE traveling home. We did and it was great; however, that put us going home on the train about 5:30pm --along with about a million other people.  It was the most crowded train experience we have had to date.  We caught a picture of a guy pushing his way on the train before ours. When we finally boarded our train, we both were packed in tight.  Sister Nelson said she felt like a "Weeble" with both arms pinned to her side, all she could do is just roll with the crowd... We eventually made it home.  Another long day. 

Wednesday we skipped out on our usual volunteer duties to attend our Zone Conference. We would never want to miss one.  This time, you guessed it, we went by bus and train.  It wasn't too bad of a trip, we just had to leave earlier than we normally would.  We enjoyed a good experience seeing all of the young missionaries in our Zone and being spiritually fed by the APs, STL (Sister Trainer Leaders), Zone Leaders, and our Mission Leaders.  A lot of great messages. Lunch was an interesting Japanese variation on a hoagie sandwich. Elder Nelson took the Zone Picture as usual and once that was accomplished, we packed up and headed to the train station.  When we factor in the extra time to ride and the extra effort to lug our stuff around with us, we are pretty done when our day is over.  DUN spells "done,"  

On Thursday, we got up early so we could get to our 0700 showtime to help set up for the twice monthly newcomers orientation on Camp Zama.  Instead of a 5 minute ride, it is about a 20 minute walk, which is always "more fun" when it rains. We helped set up and helped welcome a relatively small group of new people to Camp Zama.  The people at Army Community Service like us and we enjoy volunteering to help them whenever we can and the newcomers is a regular gig for us now.  Elder Nelson is also the Red Cross briefer for that event.  And, usually, afterward, we both sit at the Red Cross table at an Information Expo set up during the lunch hour.  We did have a special experience of sorts as the Camp Zama chapel started coming to that and setting up a Religious Services table.  They did that this time and the Assistant Zama Chaplain asked us if we wanted to put a Book of Mormon out on his table.  YES YES YES.  We had done so when we supported the NAF Atsugi Chapel folks.  Another "Tender Mercy" and door opened up for us this week.  And, Sister Nelson had a photo op with Milo, as service dog who comes each time with a gentlemen that works at Camp Zama.  Our usual gig with Celebrate Recovery was canceled, so we called it an early day.

Because we had Zone Conference this week, we did not have our usual District Council and Lunch with the young missionaries of our district.  We actually had NOTHNG on our calendar Friday,  So we declared it a "Catch-up Day" and did some deep cleaning in our apartment, did a bunch of laundry and got a ride over to NAF Atsugi with our Red Cross friend Charly.  She wanted "Taco Bell" and that is where Taco Bell is.  We took advantage of having a ride and loaded up at the commissary, made a run through the Exchange store on NAF Atsugi and got a package that came for us at the Atsugi post office.  Being able to do all of that by car was a huge blessing.  Once we got back to our apartment, we decided to try a local restaurant that we had never before tried...and was only about half a block away from our apartment. It is just a little "ma and pa" size place that has a simple menu and only a few tables.  But they served up one of our favorites, "Katsudon."  Yum.

Saturday was a big day,  We planned a while back to take the YSA group from our branch to go see a Japanese baseball game. Elder Nelson got some group tickets and we rounded up enough to go see the game.  We had been to see the Tokyo Giants once before and really enjoyed the experience.  So we met up at the train station and made our way to the Tokyo Dome about an hour's trip away.  The Giants were playng the Hanshin Tigers who are from the Kobe area of Japan (southern Honshu).  A fierce, long standing rivalry made for a good game, but unfortunately our team lost, but only by one run.  We enjoyed the experience of baseball in Japan, including getting a Tokyo Giants jersey and a not so great version of a hotdog... we think our YSA folks enjoyed the game and afterwards we all made our way back to home by train.  We got home about 7pm. and it was the end of a nice, but long day.

On Sunday we had an offer for a ride to Church!  Getting to church without a ride is now a bit of a journey...bus, train, and walk or taxi.  And about an hour.  We made it to church, enjoyed a good Fast & Testimony meeting and Sunday School.  And we even got a ride home!  Since we were not worn out yet and the weather turned out to be decent, we took a nice long walk back over to Camp Zama to see the Sakura which had finally blossomed,  We probably walked and walked a bit further than we should have, but we got some nice pictures. (over 14,000 steps) Alas, somewhere in all the walking and photo taking Elder Nelson's glasses vanished.  He has not found them yet, even after retracing his steps this Monday morning,  He has a spare pair, so no real worries.  

We continue to serve, walking a bit more than we are used to, but managing so far. We are grateful for our health and strength that enables us to continue our missionary service here.  Thank you for all the prayers on our behalf.  

Week 53 We are the Wagoneers

 Hello friends and family,

We are definitely embarking on a new chapter in our mission experience. We completed our first year, and now we have begun the last 6 months with the "opportunity" to walk and ride buses and trains just like the young elders and sisters.   We are waiting for the Japanese driver's license division to allow us to take the final step of the driving portion of the test. (see Tuesday)

Monday ended up being the last day we could drive our car because our international license expired. We did some volunteering in the morning and joined the young elders and sisters at a nearby park for games and Oreos. We have a new district with new elders and sisters, so it was fun to get to know them a little better. Afterwards, we drove home and prepared tacos for our YSA. Only two YSA's this time. We enjoy sharing time with them and giving them a place to "land" for a while away from their busy lives. 

On Tuesday, we were driven by a Japanese brother from the Yamato ward to the Driver's License Division. He offered to take us and be our interpreter. We were very grateful that he helped us, as there were many things we needed to know that were all explained in Japanese. We were asked to be there at 1:00 p.m., but the test wasn't until 2:30 p.m. There was a lot of waiting to take a 10-question T/F test that took about 5 minutes. Then, there was more waiting for the results. We both passed and were given a QR code to scan, which allowed us to find out when we could take the driving part of the test. Well, the earliest date is May 29th, so we plan our days around how long it will take to walk/bus/or train somewhere. We are trying to stay upbeat about it. What else can we do?

We arrived home around 6 pm, and there was baking to do for the ACS meeting the following day. We managed to bake a generous amount of cookies and banana bread for all those attending the meeting. Nothing left usually means they liked them. More volunteering that afternoon, and we managed about 9000 steps that day.

And then there was Thursday. We were able to have a Zoom meeting with the Singletons, our replacement couple, who are scheduled to arrive in September. They had some questions for us, and we loved getting to know them a little. They will be such a great couple here. We then walked to post to help with the Red Cross table at the PX and then to the commissary for groceries, pulling our wagon. Afterward, we walked the groceries home and prepared some food for the Celebrate Recovery class.  We then walked back on post for the class and home again. That day ended up being over 11,000 steps. 

On Friday, we took the train to our District Council meeting, and I got to wear my rain boots for the first time. And yes, it was raining. We took sandwich fixins and had a fun lunch with all of them. Many of them had not had access to American foods, so they enjoyed the Wonder Bread and Lays chips and Vlasic pickles. Simple pleasures. Sister Melton brought them some yummy desserts. We had a great meeting with all of them. 

After our meeting, we headed to downtown Tokyo for a one-night stay at the Hilton DoubleTree. We had one free night from our Hilton membership that was set to expire on April 1st, so we didn't want it to go unused. It was nice to see a different part of Tokyo, and we found a delicious restaurant with Hiroshima Okonomiyaki. (see pictures) We had a similar one 15 years ago when we visited Hiroshima. This one was just as delicious, and it was fun to find a place that served them. Japan has a wide variety of foods, and we had not been able to find okonomiyaki. Fun find for us. 

Saturday, we traveled back home on the train in cold, wet rain. We were very happy to return to our apartment and dry off a bit. We still had to go back out to the commissary for some things, and we walked to post with our wagon. Fortunately, while we were in the commissary, the rain stopped, and we were able to walk back without the groceries getting soaked. 

Sunday, we were very blessed to get a ride to church by one of the members. We co-taught a Resiliency class with Elder Melton and also got a ride home with one of our YSA's. A day of rest from walking. A little more baking for our trip to Camp Fuji today. More on that next week. 

So we are now the "old people with a wagon" whenever we go on post. Maybe we could call ourselves the Wagoneers? Anyway, this is where we are at this stage of our mission. We started the whole driver's license process back in November. Who knew it would take this long? We're doing our best to stay as positive as possible and hope and pray that our feet hold out. 

Love to all, and if you want to pray for our feet, that would be nice. 

Week 52 Lots of baking, and other stuff.

We can't help but count how many days of driving our car we have left...not many, but while we can and this week we could, we made the best of it.  

On Monday, Sister Nelson found herself working for Army Community Service and then attending a "Turkish Breakfast" event for a Sister in our Branch whose family will depart soon as her husband retires. (We can remember doing that). Meanwhile,  Elder Nelson was teaching a follow-up Family History workshop from a class given previously.  He will do three more classes in April.  In her spare time, Sister Nelson had lots of baked goods requests to shop, prep, and bake for.  Elder Nelson had lots of lots of photo and video editing to do from the previous week's Oliver production.  So, spare moments that were actually spare were indeed very rare this week; however, we also had time to feed a couple of our YSAs a nice dinner.

We made our weekly trip to the Tokyo Temple on Tuesday and had a wonderful time as we always do. It is quite refreshing to spend time serving others in the Temple, seeing the young missionaries, and also some of our fellow Senior Missionary friends. We also saw a very nice red Ferrari getting a ride into Tokyo.  When we got back home Tuesday, the baking and some more photo editing tasks were waiting.  This time, it was mostly about baking for a big Red Cross-sponsored Coffee Cart service for the Japan Engineering District HQ.  

Wednesday morning early we brought our baked goods - Oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, and some green marshmallowy treats made with cornflakes (actually were very tasty and popular). The Red Cross office brought the coffee and another volunteer brought a cute little doggy for petting,  It was a magic combination and the JED people cleaned us out in an hour.  Later, Elder Nelson worked at Army Community Service and Sister Nelson helped at the Zama Occupational Health clinic (both being our normal Wednesday gigs. 

This Thursday was another Camp Zama Newcomers Orientation event (every other week) and that ties us up from 0700 until lunchtime.  It is a great event for "showing the badge" and meeting people.  Afterwards, you guessed it, time to stock up on groceries, bake some more, and edit more pictures. Except today, we also jumped in to help a member of our branch who was flying out on Saturday, to clean his rental home so he could leave on time. This little "service opportunity" was not on our schedule or radar until late Wednesday night.  We made a bunch of calls and texts to line up more help and we committed to helping after our morning-to-noon volunteer commitment.  We helped scrub, sweep, mop, and more until nearly  1630 then we had to get home to get set for our normal "next."  Since we missed our planned baking window, Elder Nelson went solo to Celebrate Recovery and Sister Nelson tied on the apron and baked and baked some more. 

Friday morning we delivered our baked goods to the Zama Aviation unit that was having a special day of training. We provided the goods to go with the coffee provided by the Red Cross.  The unit commander was both touched and impressed with our service efforts on their behalf that he gave us one of their unit "coins."  See photo. After we snuck out of that event we headed into Tokyo to the Temple annex to provide a special delivery of candy to one of our Senior Missionary couples who planned to do something special for all the young missionaries in our entire mission.  While we were in town, so to speak, we stopped at the New Sanno Hotel for lunch and made a reservation for the weekend of our Stake Conference in May,  Friday was not over yet.  We had to hurry back so Sister Nelson could get a scheduled pedicure.  Elder Nelson made a post-office run and then helped our young sister missionaries move an extra Futon (Japanese bed) over to the young elders, who after transfers (today) were now a threesome.  That all made for a lot of extra driving and time...(good thing we have a car).  

On Saturday, our Stake had planned a special event for the not-so-young single adults.  A sister in our branch wanted to go and wanted Sister Nelson to go with her...so they did, and Sister Nelson hopped on the train for the trip.  The event was poorly attended, but all you can do is smile sometimes.  Later, this particular Saturday was supposed to be a special event at Camp Zama.  The annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  It is an open-post event, meaning all the local Japanese that wish to come onto the base with no paperwork and enjoy the day which includes lots of food vendors, live music and of course, the stunning Sakura blossoms...except this year, the Sakura (Cherry blossoms) didn't show up. Colder than normal weather delayed the scheduled blooming to maybe sometime this next week. We both helped at the Red Cross tent which provided snacks and drinks for the local Japanese First Aid station manned by the Zama Fire Department.  It was another long day.  But no baking was required. 

On Sunday we had our regular church services.  Our good Japanese friend from the other (Yamato) ward gave Sister Nelson a very nice Lacquerware box. He enjoys giving gifts and is just a genuine saint all the way around.   It was to be a relatively easy day; however, Sister Nelson discovered that the newly transferred young missionaries (Elders) did not have any place for dinner, and our day suddenly got more interesting.  We ended up making an emergency (ox is in the mire) stop at the commissary for a few things and managed to whip up a dinner for the missionaries at our apartment. This was followed, almost immediately by a monthly Zoom meeting that the Stake has with all of us Military Relations Missionaries.  The difference this time is that Camp Zama Nelson's are now the Senior of the Senior Missionaries, so it was our job to set up the Zoom and Elder Nelson's job to set the agenda and then keep the meeting flowing along with its 60-minute time.  

Sunday ended with two Military Relations Missionaries who were very tired, but in a good way,  Next week promises to be yet another amazing adventure.