Our week started off with a "RECON" to the Yokosuka Navy base. We have the responsibility to help transport some new, incoming, MRM missionaries to Yokosuka after they arrive in Japan and a quick overnight in the mission home... So, since we had not been to Yokosuka before, we decided to drive down on Monday so we knew where to go ahead of taking the new missionaries to their apartment. It was a nice drive and we found their place, learned how to get on post with our car, drove on, met the base chaplain, found a fast-food place for lunch, and explored the commissary (very big), and the NEX (Exchange), which was massive. Since we were there, we felt inspired to do a little "retail therapy"! We both found a few things, and I couldn't resist getting a new shirt :) Hawaiian style. We enjoyed our day away from our norm.
So, Tuesday was our Temple Day and it was, as usual, a wonderful experience. We had made plans to stay overnight in Tokyo (at the New Sanno hotel) because Wednesday morning we were meeting up with the arriving new Yokosuka MRM missionaries and helping get them, their little grey missionary car, and their stuff down to Yokosuka to begin their adventure. We had the evening free so we had dinner with our Mission Office support missionaries, Elder and Sister Burnett (from the Portland area). They are often too busy to break away for that, so it was a nice experience for all of us to take a break, get to know each other, and share a meal. We then retreated for the night.
Wednesday morning, bright and early, we checked out and drove (5 minutes) back over to the Mission Office and waited for Elder and Sister Allen to arrive. They had spent the night in the Mission President's home and now it was time for them to be on their way south... Elder and Sister Allen are from Nevada and he is a retired US Marine Colonel...so we mostly speak the same language. Sister Nelson took Sister Allen in our mission car and I took Elder Allen in their mission car and we headed south for the hour-ish long drive to the Yokosuka Naval Base area. (our missionary cars are EXACTLY the same...little grey Toyota -no frills- Corolla.) We took them into their apartment and then took them around the Navy base, first for lunch at Chili's restaurant, then over to meet the base chaplain. We pointed out a few other places for them to check out later, then we dropped them off at their new "home" and drove back to our in Zama (about an hour away). Our mission accomplished,..for the day.
Thursday morning I had to catch an EARLY ride to a Japanese Medical clinic for a follow up appointment. 2 hours there, about 30 minutes worth of appointment and an hour plus to get back to Zama. Sister Nelson used the time for some grocery planning, laundry, and Red Cross coordination. We linked back up just after lunchtime and went shopping for stuff for our Thursday evening engagement with Celebrate Recovery and our Friday morning engagement with our young missionaries at the weekly district council and lunch.
For Friday, Sister Nelson had promised one Elder to try and make Cafe Rio-style sweet pork burritos... and getting ready for that took "research" and some trial cooking by Sister Nelson and her helper (me). We completed all of our preparations early Friday morning. I have to say that she always makes awesome lunches for the missionaries and they love her for it ..and the missionaries not in our district are a little bit jealous... For my part, I was to make the rice and we decided to use, for the second time, an Instant Pot that we have. It a bit of a mysterious machine... anyway, we put too much water in, or cooked it too long, or something...but whatever we (I) did, it turned the rice into an almost like paste mess...but the good-natured and hungry missionaries ate just the same. We did a few more errands on Friday, but we were pretty worn out by evening time... And, that evening, whether on purpose or by accident (no one will ever be sure), I dropped and broke/killed the Instant Pot...no more Instant Pot cooking for us. Domino's delivery took care of dinner.
Saturday morning, we had obligated ourselves to help Charlee at the Camp Zama Red Cross office clean the carpet. This carpet was dirty, stained, gross and had probably NEVER been cleaned. Sister Nelson, being the expert cleaning person that she is, had Charlee got the carpet cleaning machine, and we came with Ammonia and scrub brushes. Sister Nelson and I did the hands and knees floor scrubbing thing for almost three hours...sniffing up that "sweet aroma" of ammonia...but when the three of us were finished, that floor looked 1000 times better...not perfect, but certainly much nicer than it had been for a long long time. And both of us old people were very very tired. Sometimes service can just wear you out.
Now for the amazing highlight of the week, perhaps of our mission. We had been working with the Sister Missionaries to help teach and fellowship a family of four. The Goodson family. Brother Goodson is Hawaiian, Sister Goodson is from American Samoa, and they have two beautiful children. They are both civilian employees here. He works on Camp Zama and she works at the Yokosuka base. Earlier this year, Brother Goodson had a cousin who died in a diving accident in Hawaii. The family went to Hawaii for the funeral. It was a Latter-Day Saint funeral. When they came back to Japan, they became earnestly interested in the notion of an eternal family. They had been touched by what they experienced at the funeral. Consequently, they started taking the lessons from the missionaries and coming to Church. We helped by teaching a special Sunday School class and addressing some of their questions during the course of their studying with the missionaries. One of the things that Senior Missionaries offer that young missionaries cannot is life's experience and a perspective of having lived the Gospel for a long time...and that helped them.
On Sunday it all came together and this beautiful family was baptized. It was a very special and spiritually touching event. Brother Goodson asked me to baptize him and their daughter. Sister Goodson asked a YSA brother in our branch, Brother Schroeder (also from American Samoa) to baptize her and their son. Their sweet ten-year-old daughter wanted me to baptize her. One of the challenges we had was their names...see picture below...quite a mouthful, but very beautiful names. They were all just beaming. Brother Goodson, who by the pictures you can see, is a very big man. He was worried that I wouldn't be able to baptize him by myself ( I was also concerned). So we had two other men help me out...but a small miracle happened. Of the three of us positioned to help this big and heavy man back up out of the water, surprisingly, none of us really made much of an effort. He seemed to just sprang back up and out of the water. Brother Goodson was even surprised. That little tender mercy was very special to him and to the three of us who witnessed it. How or Who lifted him is something special and sacred to him. The branch members came out in force, despite it being long after church meetings were done, and the Goodson family felt the love of the Church members. Sister Nelson shared her testimony that something like this is not something we as Military Relations missionaries ever really expected to experience. We feel blessed beyond measure for being able to be a part of helping this family find and begin their journey on the covenant path.
I haven't been able to find time lately to view your blog (though I LOVE it). Today I was determined and WOW, what a special entry! You are doing the Lord's work gooey rice or pizza! Instant Pot or not.....I love love LOVE that this sweet family is now in the fold. As for island names, the ward I was in before had quite a few islanders. One of them told me "If you just pronounce ALL the vowels, you'll pretty much get the name correct" So that's what I do and more often than not I pronounce it correctly. (Which is a good thing as between church and work I come upon island names quite often!)
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