Week 35 - Ready or not. Our new MRM Senior Missionaries are here and ready to go go go.

We have nearly reached the end of November.  We can smell the Thanksgiving Turkey starting to cook... All our efforts over the last several weeks to help the Misson Office prepare the way and welcome 2 more MRM missionary couples are almost complete. It has been a long road, and doing many things we didn't know would become our focus, taking up a lot of our time, is now concluding but we are happy we could help. Through it all, we have met and made new friends—missionaries, members, and others, too. 

Monday started out a bit normal, maybe our highlight was an "opportunity" to go to the Army Dentist for "Retirees" (a November Special...) if going to the dentist is "special" hmmmm.  We also did a drive-by of the soon-to-be Melton's Apartment for some last-minute cleaning and tweaking of this and that.  Then we retreated back to our place to prepare for our YSAs and missionaries to have our Monday FHE. They played a mean game of Jenga and ate yummy curry until they all retreated back to their foxholes.

Tuesday was our Temple Day and our Spend the Night at the New Sanno Hotel before the Meltons flew in from Utah. As always, we enjoy being in the Tokyo Temple.  The American and Japanese Temple Workers are always nice and enjoyable to work with. We finished about 4pm and headed up to the Mission Office for some last-minute coordination about the next morning's hand-off timeline. We then headed to our hotel retreat and shopped for a bit at the Japanese souvenir store.  We bought a couple of Yukatas as gifts for some departing Area Office missionaries and now, good friends. We also got a couple of new Yukatas for us 😎.  We ended our day with some BBQ at a new restaurant at the New Sanno.  

Wednesday came and our start was about an hour earlier than we expected as our new MRM missionaries woke up early, raring to go.  We met them at the mission office at about 0800 with the Mission President's wife anxious to help them load up and go.  We all loaded up and got on our way from downtown Tokyo to our Zama part of the vineyard. I drove Melton's mission car because a just-arriving Senior Missionary doesn't like to jump in and drive on the wrong side of the road on day 1.  We got them into their apartment and waited around for a few more workers doing things to bring their apartment up to operating condition. We had to leave at about 4pm so I could go teach my last photography class at NAF Atsugi...one more class to go to in two weeks at Camp Zama.  Sister Nelson was also gathering pies and baking a few for our Thursday trip to Camp Fuji. We were pretty beat when we finally ended our Wednesday.

Thursday we were back at the Melton's apartment trying to get their WiFi working and helping them with this and that. We ventured over to the local grocery store to show them what a Japanese Supermarket looked like.  We also took our new MRM partners with us up to Camp Fuji.  We had arranged to do a special Fellowship Activity we called, "Give Thanks and Pie Alamode" It wasn't a Sunday so the Camp Fuji Chaplain thought we might get a better turnout...and actually we had five young Marines show up looking for pie!  We told them we first wanted to share some thoughts and a video about being thankful and showing gratitude. They enjoyed that and enjoyed the pie and ice cream even more.  We then made the drive home.  We did see some pretty autumn leaves, but Fuji...she was hiding in the clouds.

Friday, we picked up the Melton's and took them to our weekly District Council meeting and lunch. This time lunch featured Chili Dogs with the fixings, apple sauce, and chocolate chip cookies. Our young missionaries are always appreciative. Our district missionaries who do not work with the Camp Zama Branch got wind of our plans to have a Thanksgiving dinner and begged (in a nice way) and pulled hard enough on Sister Nelson's heartstrings so now we have those eight coming to our home on Thanksgiving. We had made arrangements with Branch members to invite our four missionaries.  So our plan for just six people suddenly became fourteen. We shall see how that turns out in our tiny apartment. 

Saturday we took a break from all the orienting and helping activities and for our P-Day went to see Kabuki and the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo.  Kabuki is very Japanese and has been part of their culture and history for several hundred years.  We took the train, very crowded, to and from the Ginza area and the location of a theater that has been doing Kabuki for about 140 years.  It is now very modern but the architecture still reflects its long heritage. The program for Saturday was special and focused on introducing foreign guests to Kabuki and also the theater and how things worked and how the plays were presented.  All the actors, whether playing the part of a male, female, or anything, are played by men.  The costumes are quite elaborate and the music is all live and played with traditional Japanese instruments and vocals. It started at 1l00 and went until about 3pm.  This included a 40 min break while everyone ate bento box lunches. We then took the train back home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday we helped the Melton's find Church and get introduced to our Zama Branch members. They got a very warm welcome from all they met.  We were excited too because we had two new YSAs.  One was one of our sailors who returned from an extended deployment on the USS George Washington.  And a newly arrived engineer who works at Camp Zama.  Later, Sister Nelson made Meat Loaf and we had the Melton's over to enjoy it with us.  Our helping ease the Meltons into their soon-to-be busy life serving at NAF Atsugi will probably take a few more weeks, but slowly they will be on their own and we will focus on Camp Zama more and more. 

Service is whatever Service requires and "when you are in the Service of your fellow man, you are only in the Service of your God."  King Benjamin as recorded in the book of Mosiah. 

                                                    AUDIO SAMPLE OF KABUKI MUSIC

Have a great week.  We will be sure to!

Week 34 with more of this and that and some of here and there too.

 Well, here we are and another week has zipped on by.  Our week was filled with an interesting variety of different, unusual, and always fulfilling service opportunities.  Monday was actually Veterans Day.  We used that special day to regroup and recover from our previous weekend with the YSA conference. We started the day with a nice long walk in our "neighborhood."  We saw an abundance of fruit trees with what looked to be unpicked ripe fruit...mostly citrus and about half of which we couldn't name. See the pictures below and let. us know if you happen to know what they are,  

On Tuesday, we went to Tokyo for our service at the Tokyo Temple. As we have said before, it is one of our favorite days of the week.  

Wednesday we spent some time at the new apartment for the new MRM missionaries arriving this coming week.  We brought in a few things we noted were still missing.  We would come back again on Friday and again on Saturday.  Along with what some of the Senior Japanese Missionaries have done to help prepare it, this little furnishing and setting up project has taken up a lot of time and energy.  It falls in the category of helping the Mission Office more than it reflects what our MRM calling and focus usually is.  More on this later... Later on Wednesday, as Red Cross volunteers, we worked in the Camp Zama medical center in the Occupational Health clinic.  We are doing this 2 or 3 times a month.  Then, I taught another photography class.  I have two more to go.  One at Camp Zama and one at NAF Atsugi,  

Thursday was our weekly District Council and lunch.  This is normally on Friday, but this week Friday is "Transfer Day."  We helped 2 Sister Missionaries celebrate their birthday and the whole group enjoyed some delicious Chicken Alfredo that Sister Nelson stirred up.  The District Council meeting that is the day prior to Transfers is always a bit sad as we said goodbye to three who were transferring and one Sister who was heading home.  She shared what she had learned throughout her mission.  Our prayer is that these hardworking and successful missionaries will remain active and remain a worthy and lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ.  Sadly, some kind of lose their way after their missions.  Our final event on Thursday is supporting the Celebrate Recovery group that meets each week at the Camp Zama chapel. 

Friday, having already done District Council, we had an open day (more or less).  We went to the Camp Zama gym and got in a good workout,  Then, we returned to the new MRM apartment for a bit and then we ventured to a nearby Japanese "supermarket."  Neither of us had been inside before and since it will likely be a good place for the incoming MRM missionaries to shop, we thought it best if we knew what kind of store it was.  It sits next to COSTCO and to another store called "Viva Home."  Viva Home is a lot like a Home Depot; however, it is much larger and diverse than an American Home Depot.  So, the supermarket (SANWA) is a very nice store. The produce section was a lot more diverse than anything we have seen in the base commissaries. And given the current exchange rate, much cheaper too.  So we filled a basket with some of our favorite Japanese foods and went home.  Sister Nelson seemed to be fascinated by the variety of fish.  We bought all the ingredients for "Mabo Dofu" for our Friday night dinner.  Yum.  

Saturday we planned an "Island Party" with two of the Mission Office missionaries, Elder and Sister Burnett.  We picked them up at our closest train station after we spent the morning as Red Cross volunteer, supporting a children's picture with Santa activity on Camp Zama.  We enjoyed spending time with the Burnetts.  We took them to lunch on Camp Zama, then we made our way to the new apartment and put the "Island" together and did some more rearranging and cleaning up.  Then they wanted to see the SANWA store we discovered on Friday and then make a trip to COSTCO,  Then we decided to drive them back to their place in Tokyo (near the Temple).  So we added another couple of hours to our day, but they appreciated the ride home in a car instead of on a crowded train.  All in all, a great day for us and for them. 

Sunday we had a regular sabbath day, enjoying the Primary Program and otherwise,  mostly a day of rest.  We got to help the Sister missionaries teach the first "New Member" lesson to the recently baptized Goodson family.  That was a special and spiritual event for us and them.  Thus ended our strange but fulfilling week.

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Not so typical week

 Hello from beautiful Japan. We are enjoying some wonderfully cooler temperatures here. I like to call it sweater weather. I love my sweaters so I'm happy when I can wear them. 

As I indicated in the title of this blog, we had an interesting week doing things we don't typically do. 

Monday was probably our P-day (preparation day) because none of the rest of the days were. We spent a little time doing "iro iro", (doing this and that) to get us ready for the rest of the week. Our Tuesday temple experience was wonderful with the young elders and sisters. They are all so happy to be able to come every 6 weeks. It is a true blessing for them and us.  

Wednesday dawned early as the mission office needed us to be at the new apartment for the incoming senior couple to take deliveries and installation of the a/c. After about an hour we were joined by 3 other Japanese couples in the very small apartment to help with the process. The moving company delivered all the furniture from another apartment, and that all had to be set up, and then there were about 4 large Amazon JP deliveries of items that had "some assembly required." I steered clear of that one and put away the kitchen stuff, hung curtains, and broke down boxes. The sweet Japanese sisters kept asking me where I thought we should put things and then just put them where they thought best. It was nice of them to try to make me feel like I was helping. The apartment is about 90% ready to go. A kitchen island will be delivered to OUR apartment this week, and we will transport it there and then put it together with our one screwdriver and hammer. It was a full day already and then Brad needed to teach a photography class on Atsugi. After that, we drove home as two very tired missionaries. 

Thursday was a little Red Cross volunteering at Zama, and then there was another photography class for Brad to teach. I attended this time and enjoyed seeing him share his love of photography with others. The mission president has asked all the missionaries to share their talents as a way of helping people get to know who we are. Hence the photography class. 

Friday found us packing our bags to chaperone and attend a 3-day Asia Area Young Single Adults conference in the Tokyo area. There were about 90 single adults who came. It began at the temple for any of them who wanted to do a session or baptisms. After that, we caught the train and a short? walk to a fancy hotel and a VERY fancy 7-course dinner and speakers. I haven't seen that much silverware for a while. It was very nice. 

After dinner, we were supposed to get on another train and go to the hotel they had reserved for us. We chose to take a taxi with another senior couple and ended up at the wrong hotel. (Bear family curse for those of you who know what that is) After that, we walked to the correct hotel, where we were ready for bed. Brad tried on the pajamas they lay out for you.  We are NOT small Japanese people. I didn't even try them on. 

The next morning, we were shown a Japanese breakfast consisting of rice, fish, veggies, and other things I could not tell you what they were. They also served some eggs and funny little sausages, which we opted for with fruit. After which, we all jumped on 2 large buses bound for Hakone. A beautiful area out in the country with a hot spring and museum. The ride was supposed to take 2 hours but ended up being 3 1/2 hours, so we were short on time at the open-air museum. Those who didn't go to the hot spring went to a craft house for various traditional crafts. Mine was glass bead blowing, and Brad took an etching class. 

And now, because we are with young adults, let's add another bus ride to the Hakone Ropeway to see a very smelly (sulfur) volcano. Then, we headed back down the mountain to Odawara Castle near the ocean. We RON (remained overnight, army lingo) there. The young folks headed to various activities like Karoki, castle viewing, and the beach. We had dinner and went to bed. 

The next morning, we boarded the buses again for a 2-hour ride back to Tokyo. There, we had a sacrament meeting,  testimony meeting, and lunch. The whole group sat together and talked for quite some time before they all had to leave to go back home to Korea, Okinawa, and various parts of Japan. It was a very busy, uplifting, and rewarding time for all. We were so impressed by these hard-working young adults who are strong in the gospel and want to stay on the covenant path. They loved being all together as most of them live quite far away from each other. 

We really do love serving here in Japan. There are so many opportunities to serve others and strengthen our own testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel. Thanks you for your love and support.