Iroiro (Japanese for this and that)

 Week 10

And we set off like a herd of turtles this week for a little of this and a little of that (iroiro)

First stop is always at Camp Fuji and since it was a holiday weekend, we had no Marines to serve so we gave our cookies to the gate guard and headed into the town of Gotenba for some delicious Katsudon. Sadly we forgot to take pictures but it was very yummy. Katsudon has always been one of my favorite Japanese dishes. We also stayed the night at Camp Fuji in the lodging they have so we could be there to clean the USO lounge on Monday morning.  More on that next week. We gave some cookies to the night clerk at the lodge as well.  Brad took a sunset picture of Mt. Fuji mostly hiding behind the clouds.  Such an amazing sight. 

We are now officially USO volunteers. So far it has been paperwork and waiting to hear from the USO representative who lives near Yokota AFB about an hour away. There will be BBQ here at Camp Zama and also at Camp Fuji soon for the active duty military that we will help with. 

And every Tuesday we serve at the Tokyo Temple. This week it was our zone of elders and sisters who attended.  One of my jobs that day was to stand near the top of the stairs to direct them toward the dressing room so I got to see them all. What a joy to serve in such a special place, especially when the missionaries are there too. 

We volunteered on the Atsugi base this week with the Red Cross. We helped with their Mental Health Fair. It's important to help keep soldiers/sailors and their families aware of the programs available to them while on active duty. Lots of stressors to manage at times. It was great supporting the efforts of the military to address mental health programs. We also volunteered a couple times at the Red Cross office here in Zama. The Red Cross person who is a full-time employee is leaving so they try to have someone in the office every day, if possible. 

We attended the Zama High School end-of-year choir and orchestra concert on Thursday. Many of the youth from our branch participated. It was fun to go back to the auditorium where the concert was held. Kourtney attended high school here 15 years ago and there were several events held there. It has not changed at all. Zama High School is very small. Only 60 graduating seniors this year. We will be attending the graduation this week. 

District Council Meeting with the young elders and sisters was fun this week. We have 7 Elders and 7 sisters. (Yes two of the companionships are a trio). This week we provided good old tacos and all the fixins for them.  They were thrilled. Hispanic food is definitely not something you find here. They loaded up their taco shells and enjoyed the chips and 7-layer dip. I really enjoy associating with the young missionaries. They have so much energy and positivity. They inspire me. 

Saturday was P-day and we spent about half the day doing apartment pickup and laundry. It's a small apartment and things tend to stack up easily. Small space, too much stuph. We also started a new Daruma. (see picture) It is considered a Japanese doll made of paper mache.  It is a symbol of perseverance and goal setting.  When you purchase it, it has two big white eyes. You color in one eye with black when you begin a goal. When your goal is complete, you color in the other eye. This dates back to 5th or 6th century folklore. It is also painted red because in Japan red is believed to ward off evil spirits and poor health. Our daruma will be for our goal to serve our mission faithfully and well until the end. 

And to finish off our week, we ordered pizza delivery for the first time. We ordered from Dominos and it was okay for home delivery. It was a step up from pizza delivery in Abu Dhabi but not quite as nice as the U.S. (Is pizza delivery ever really that good anyway?) Dominos of Japan is trying to do their best. They even had one of the pizzas called "the American". It was just pepperoni and cheese. That sounds American to me. 

We continue to work hard and help out wherever we can. I was thinking this week that if we were at home trying to do all this volunteering, it would be really challenging with a normal schedule. But because that is one of the big reasons we are here, it really is a joy. We are pretty tired at the end of the day but it's a "good tired". Hope you are all doing well. We miss home and events like graduations, piano recitals, and concerts but we are also enjoying our time here serving. I also missed decorating the family graves today. Pretty sure my mother understands.  

Love to all

Greetings "Minasan" (everyone) This week was a mix of this and that, volunteering, baking, driving, celebrating, and serving, all with some sunshine and some rain.  In Japan, we think of distance in terms of how long it will take to get somewhere, not how far away (kilometers) it is.  Then we consider whether riding the train or driving is easier (less stressful).  Our courage to drive somewhere improves as we get more comfortable navigating, traffic patterns, and staying on the proper side of the road.  Kim actually did the drive to Tokyo this week when we went to the Temple.  We actually have been to a few places often enough now so we don't really need to rely on Siri (Apple Maps).  

We did quite a bit with the Red Cross this week.  We watched over the office for one afternoon.  I actually gave the Red Cross portion of the Camp Zama Newcomers Briefings and we helped out at the big "Friendship Festival" hosted by Yokota AFB.  It was another "open-post" event that thousands of Japanese attended to get a closer look at Jets, American Food, and more... We helped for a little while before making an afternoon drive to the Tokyo Temple annex building where there is a Distribution Center/Store. Elder Nelson had to pick up a white jacket that we ordered for our Tuesday Temple service day.  

Nearby the Tokyo Temple is the New Sanno Hotel. The New Sanno is a very nice hotel that is owned and operated by the DoD for military guests.  In Korea, there was the Dragon Hill Lodge.  In Hawaii, it is called the Hale Koa Hotel.  We had dinner at the New Sanno a few weeks back, but the stores were closed, so we walked over after picking up my jacket and checked out the Navy Exchange store located in the hotel. We would like to stay the night there sometime, but one has to book a reservation weeks ahead of time. 

Speaking of Temple service. We both have acquired our own clothing to wear...and this past week we were grateful to have comfortable shoes to wear for what otherwise is a long day on your feet. We enjoy our weekly Tuesdays at the Temple and seeing all the missionaries. This coming week our own Zone and District missionaries will be at the Tokyo Temple. 

Sister Nelson did quite a bit of baking this week; however, first, we had to restock the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc at the commissary.  She has mastered the art of baking in a relatively tiny oven with nothing but Japanese buttons and instructions.  We did make a COSTCO run --we got a little lost on the way, but we finally got there... it took a good thirty minutes although it is technically only 5 miles from our apartment...  Anyway, as interesting as COSTCO is, we decided that the Commissary is considerably cheaper (and easier to get to).  We have three choices too!  

Our District Council meeting, (when we meet up with our district missionaries) was a day earlier this week and the time was later, so we didn't bring lunch, but two of our young missionaries had birthdays so we came bearing cupcakes and ice cream.  Gathering with these young missionaries is always uplifting and inspiring for us. It brings us a lot of joy to share something fun with them that they can't do for themselves.  

For our PDAY excursion, we made the train trip into the Tokyo area to see the Meiji Shrine and surrounding grounds.  On the way, Sister Nelson found an old favorite in one of the vending machines... Iced Cocoa...yum.  The Meiji Shrine was built to honor one of the previous emperors and is both historic and beautiful.  We walked the grounds, got some nice pictures (see FB), and then wandered over to the adjacent Harajuku area and found a Mcdonalds.   Sister Nelson had a "Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich." Taste wise...McDonalds is McDonalds; however, we were surprised that it was actually cheaper than the US. 

Sunday was church meetings at Zama Branch and our weekly trip up to Camp Fuji.  We have that drive down to a science now.  It is quite a pretty drive, about an hour long.  The drive back is often an hour and a half back because of traffic.  Still, it is not too bad and the scenery is beautiful. We had no one come to our church service this time. Our marine from last week was doing field training, however, we did meet up with a couple of local USO volunteers.  Did we mention that we are now official USO volunteers too!  It makes for yet another opportunity and way for us to contribute to the community and meet people.  We are also making good progress in our relationship with the Camp Fuji chaplain toward getting better publicity for our weekly Sunday services.  In missionary work, faithful, prayerful patience is a virtue and a necessity. 

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More Trains and the Temple

 Our Mission Blog #8

We started off this week with a family Zoom. Almost everyone signed in and we played a Japanese guessing game trying to identify pictures we have taken of unusual things we have found here in Japan. Those grandkids are smarter than you think and then we went around and updated everyone on the various family activities amongst our clan. It was fun for the grandpa/ma to be able to see all those grandkids and check out our kids as well. Who knew Bret could grow a mountain man beard?  

Tuesday started early as we needed to take the train to downtown Tokyo to fulfill our temple assignment. We have chosen to serve on Tuesdays because that is the day the young elders and sisters from the mission can come to the temple. We help do the parts of the temple that require English and smile and point the rest of the time. After the temple assignment, it was another train ride back to our apartment. Basically, we are on our feet from 8-5pm because a lot of the time there are no seats on the trains so you have to stand. Our feet were totally done at the end of the day but being in the temple was so amazing. 

That night was also Young Women's activity night so I  helped the Young Women this week as they painted journals. We had almost every girl there as well as the sister missionaries. It was a fun group. 

We also had the privilege this week of attending a prayer breakfast here with many of the chaplains and soldiers here on Camp Zama. It was very reminiscent of our active duty days joining with all of them. The guest speaker was a survivor of the Ft. Hood shootings. His name was John Arroyo and his message was very inspirational. Sorry, we didn't get any pictures but he has written a book called "Attacked at Home! Green Beret's Survival Story of the Fort Hood Shooting" I think it would be an interesting read. 

Later that day we went to get fingerprinted for a background check that we have to do to volunteer at the hospital. Did you know that your fingerprints can wear out? The poor guy trying to get mine was pretty frustrated. He sent in what few he could get and we will see if I pass. Brad's were better than mine but we both have old hands. 

Speaking of old hands, on one of our train rides a sweet older woman gave up her seat for me because she said I was a "church person". ( the badge is a dead give away) I knew she was older than me because my hands didn't have as many wrinkles as hers. Anyway, it was nice of her but that was a first for me on the train. 

On another of our train rides this week we traveled to Yamate, Japan for Zone Conference with the missionaries. Yamate is an area that is part of greater Yokohama City. Yokohama is the port that Heber J Grant came to, with others, and dedicated Japan for missionary work in 1901. The monument is in Japanese and is in front of the Yamate chapel. We had a great day learning with the young elders and sisters and our mission president and his wife. Bento box lunches were a hit. (forgot to take a picture....again) Then back on the train with 3 transfers. Oh...and did I mention all the stairs? Great exercise, right?

We took another train adventure back to the Temple Annex for our Stake Conference on Sat and Sunday. We had the great idea? to spend the night nearby in Roppongi after the adult session on Friday night.  It was fine but Kourtney got a good laugh when she shared with us that Roppongi is known as a clubbing district at night with lots of bars. Who knew? She thought it was hilarious that her missionary parents stayed there. I told her all we did was fall into bed and sleep. We will be more careful where we choose to stay next time. 

Sunday's Stake Conference session was wonderful. We were able to hear from many of the great leaders here in the Tokyo area. Our stake is all English speaking. It is made up of military families and single soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors as well as embassy folks and other professionals. It makes for a great melting pot of people. 

After Stake Conference, we hopped back on yet another train (4 transfers) back home to get what we needed to go to Camp Fuji to offer sacrament meetings to the marines stationed there. The four marines that were there previously have all returned home so in the last couple of weeks we haven't had anyone. The chapel there shares the building with a USO lounge. When we walked in there was a young marine there watching a movie. He said, "hey, you guys are missionaries" (once again the badges). We told him we were and he said his brother was on a mission in Okinawa. We asked him if he was also a member and he reluctantly said that he hadn't been to church since he joined the Marines 5 years ago. We invited him to join us and we had a quick sacrament meeting including a message from Elder Nelson on prayer.  He said he was really happy to have met us and we shared our cookies and brownies with him. He asked if I would take a picture and send it to his mom in California. Of course, I did and she was very happy to hear from us and see her son. It was a tender mercy to this old missionary couple to have him join us as we share our love for others and the gospel. 

Heavenly Father knows and loves us all and sometimes he lets us know through other people that He is there. We are grateful for this opportunity to love and serve here in Japan. Love to all. 

Elder and Sister Nelson

Military Relations Missionaries

Tokyo South Mission

Week 7 Rain and Trains

We slowed down a bit this week with a few less activities. That was ok because we had a minute to catch up on a few things. And this next week is going to be a crazy one.  Here is how week 7 turned out. Kim's turn to write the blog. 

As a senior couple on a mission, our primary focus is to serve our branch wherever there is a need. After that, we try and find ways to serve the community here at Camp Zama as well as at Atsugi Naval Air Facility. There are a lot of service organizations and we just do our best to find out which ones need our help. That being said, we generally stay pretty busy. 

This week the Young Women in our branch wanted to have a Cupcake War so I was asked to bake 48 cupcakes and make the icing. After that, I just stayed out of the way. The girls were very creative and had fun with sprinkles. We don't have a lot of girls but they all seem to get along. The Young Women leader is someone that I met about 20 years ago in Boise Idaho when she was a newlywed. She now has 4 children and a busy soldier husband. She got older but I did not. 

Brad was also able to help the Young Men in the branch come up with a calendar of activities. Always a challenge to find something they all like to do. Our branch president asked us to try and stir up some interest in the Young Adults. Almost all of them are in the Navy and have gone out to sea for the next 6 months. We are working with a few of them and teaching them the temple preparation lessons. That has been really enjoyable. 

We had a couple of fun community events we supported as well. May is Mental Health Awareness month and the army community sponsored a Pinwheel Planting in front of the children's library. Children from the community came for fun and games and each got to "plant" a pinwheel. We were manning the Red Cross table helping kiddos make small, personal first aid kits. There were a lot of fun things to help kids enjoy just being kids. 

The other fun thing we joined in on, was an opportunity to meet in the community with some Japanese teens who will be going to the US this summer for an exchange program. Their teacher asked a group of volunteers to come and talk English with them and listen to their English to help them prepare for their summer trip. We interviewed each other and watched as they danced for us and taught us about some fun things there are to do in the area. We also played a silly Japanese game similar to Pin-the-Tail on the donkey but we used parts of the face on a head. You can see Brad's attempt in the picture below. We had a great time mixing with them. Some are very shy and others are bold. They will be going to Smyrna, Tennessee, a sister city of Zama City, Japan. I admire their determination to learn English. I think it would be a hard language to learn. And on a side note, Japanese is hard too. 

On Friday and Saturday, there was a Women's Conference at the Temple Annex in Tokyo. Brad and I jumped on the train and rode 2 hours to the temple and did a session before the conference. Then Brad rode the train back home and I stayed in the Temple Annex in a room with 8 other ladies in bunk beds. The beds were fine but the snoring was not. I enjoyed the conference but was happy to come home to my bed with my hubby. He snores sometimes, but nothing like these women. I wore my snoring device so I know it wasn't me...this time. 

We had a lot of cold rain this week but we did venture out one afternoon to try and find an old favorite restaurant here. It's called CoCo Curry. We enjoyed the warm, delicious curry with our choice of ingredients. Curry has been a favorite of our whole family for a long time. Then a train trip back to Zama as we squished along in our very wet shoes. Whenever you take the train here, there is a lot of walking involved getting to the train and back. 

Serving here in Zama has been amazing. All the people we meet are so kind and we love helping out wherever we can. We have served with the Red Cross, and the base chapels and will start soon with the USO and the hospital. Also will be working in the Tokyo Temple one day a week. We recognize what a blessing it is to have this time in our lives when we can be here. Thanks to all of our friends and family who are supporting us. We love you all.