Week 17 and another year older

One of us had a birthday this week... it was touching to see our friends here in Japan wish Sister Nelson a happy birthday.  One evening, we went out to dinner and had a giant bowl of chicken wings (one for each of Sister Nelson's ?? years).  And towards the end of the week, we took the liberty of going into Tokyo and spending the night at the New Sanno Hotel.  There we enjoyed a quiet and elegant Japanese teppanyaki-style dinner.  The next day we went on a brief shopping excursion to the Ginza (a famous shopping district in Tokyo).  Sister Nelson also had a lot of FB well-wishers and we heard from all of our children and some of our grandchildren too. 

Our week began with a Zoom with the Mabb family from "Hot-Zona." We have enjoyed the Zoom technology that lets us spend time with our beloved family while we are so far away.  We got a good update from everyone in Mesa and enjoyed hearing each of our grandchildren give us their update.  

Summer continues here and it's HOT.  Supposedly the "rainy season" is over, but the HOT season is not...I guess we have to get through August too.  Also, we are apparently in Typhoon season now through October.  Earthquake season never ends and we were treated to a small tremor on Thursday... One thing we do enjoy is how green it is here.  Flowers galore and green, green, green. It is quite beautiful (It is more beautiful from the vantage point of some air-conditioned space.  

Transition time is almost over since school will start back up next month.  We met our new Camp Zama Red Cross office leader, but we have one more to welcome into Atsugu this coming week.  Accordingly, we have been doing a little more than usual duty with the Red Cross.  Since the Red Cross touches almost all of the other base activities it is a great "show-the-badge" venue for us.  We met a new member that moved in and an inactive member who had mostly been hiding... Fellowshipping is easy to do and we make a point of not pressuring anyone, we just are happy to meet all who we can.  We know that in Heavenly Father's own time and way, people who might have strayed off of the covenant path will be gently nudged back, answering the prayers of patient loved ones. 

We met a few new missionaries this week after last week's transfers.  We have three new Elders, including a new District Leader and one new Sister missionary.  As always, we love meeting with them on Friday and sharing time and lunch with them.  We even had one birthday Elder this week!  

Probably the highlight this week was our first effort at having a special "sharing activity" with children at one of two orphanages we agreed to try and meet with.  Frankly, getting prepared for this "unknown" experience was stressful.  We had to prepare something interesting, but simple, fun, but flexible...and be able to do it in English and Japanese.  We worked hard and getting ready.  Sister Nelson worked the hardest...and was the most stressed about it.  We enlisted the help of four of our missionaries.  We had two small groups of elementary school-aged children and one hour.  Overall it went very well...not perfect, but well enough to get an invite to come back again.  Some of the children were a bit too shy, some were not very interested, but most had fun and went along with us.  We learned a lot and will be better prepared for the circumstance next time (having now experienced it).  We will do our second orphanage this coming week. We introduced them to Mr. B. More fun to come. He also gave treats at the end of our time with them. Japanese kids love fruit snacks. 

Camp Fuji remains somewhat of a "ghost town" as it waits for another group of US Marines to arrive for training.  We still go each week and remain patiently hopeful for another opportunity to lift, encourage, or enlighten some young marine who is far from home.  Faithful patience and diligence are essential to being a good missionary.  Often, a lot of time and energy goes by, especially by our young missionaries who are out knocking on doors and talking to people on the street, before they get a chance to share their special message.  We certainly understand better, on a personal level, why we pray for the missionaries.