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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