Week 44 Still here and still serving.

Welcome to week 44.  Hard to believe, at least for us.  

We recognize that often our blog highlights events we participate in and usually lots of pictures of us with food... while there is a lot of that, what we don't usually have pictures of are the other parts of our routine that are more spiritually focused.  We enjoy the time we spend reading the scripture daily. We finished the New Testament and have resumed reading the Book of Mormon (4th time for this mission) and are also concurrently studying the Come Follow Me lessons for the Doctrine and Covenants. We make an effort to incorporate the available Institute Manuals into our study to add the background and context that add so much more to our understanding. And we have recently added a Christlike Attributes Study Plan that our son, Bret put together.  Thanks Bret. 

We spend a lot of time discussing what we should be doing and who we need to reach out to in our service.  There is also regular and daily time for prayer and pondering for guidance and prompting.  Beyond this are the opportunities during the week to share a smile or short conversation with someone we know and often someone we don't know. We look for opportunities to support, encourage, lift, and be a positive example to those around us.  

We often don't know who might be watching, or listening, or how we might have impacted their day.  With our Missionary Badge on whenever we leave our apartment, we are always on display as representatives of His Church and we have a prayer in our hearts that we can be seen as such.  Our health is holding up and we are blessed to be "out there" a good part of every day.  All of these elements of spiritually focused activity are some of the most special parts of our mission experience that rarely get captured in our newsy blog or pictures. 

Our week began with a US holiday (MLK Day), meaning most places we "volunteer" are closed. It frees up our day, but that isn't always what we want. We had a busy previous weekend so we got to catch up and clean up.  January here is quite cold so a nice hot "ramen" sounds good for dinner and we are always looking for an excuse to visit our favorite Ramen place.  

Tuesday, as usual, we headed to the Tokyo Temple for our day of service.  This time we had an extra event afterward, so we made plans to spend Tuesday night at the New Sanno Hotel.  Our Mission Leaders invited all of the Senior Missionaries over for a dinner get-together.  There were 16 of us in total.  Eight of us are Military Relations Missionaries and the rest do Mission Office Support, Property management, and Member Support to a Japanese unit. We are not part of the weekly letter report to the Mission President and such. During a regular week, we don't have much interaction with the other missionaries like us who are here, so it was good for us to get to talk with them and also to get to know our fellow Senior Missionaries a little better.  

Wednesday morning we made our way back to our Camp Zama area.  We have regular support ongoing with the Army Community Service and the Red Cross.  This week, Sister Nelson also offered to help our neighboring MRMs at Atsugi with a service project on the other base at the thrift shop.  Some of our young Sister missionaries also helped. 

Thursday we had some prep-baking to do for a couple of Red Cross events.  One unique event was helping the Red Cross test a dog and owner for suitability as an "animal visitation program" candidate...which means that the dog is well-behaved enough to be around people, including strangers.  The dog in question was a beautiful Husky female named Tipsy. She passed with flying colors.  We make ourselves available for any kind of service!  Later we supported Celebrate Recovery.  

Friday means District Meeting and District Lunch.  Lunch this day was "Sunday Dinner" pot roast and all the fixings. Easier said than done. We did much of the prep work Thursday evening, but the roast part did not cooperate because American "CrockPots" do not work as advertised with Japanese voltage... We had to do some last-minute oven roasting and such...but when it came time to serve, everything was awesome. Sister Nelson has learned to be flexible, adaptive, and creative in all the cooking and baking we do related to our service. (who knew that food and cooking would play such a big part of our daily routine and senior missionaries). 

We tried "Uber Eats" delivery and Indian takeout for our Friday night. (Sister Nelson still does not cook or decide what's for dinner on Friday) So we took a leap into the unknown...it was mostly good...a little naan, butter chicken, and curry-like stuff.  Saturday we declared a P-Day and spent most of the day dejunking and cleaning our apartment. We then took the train Saturday evening in search of a TexMex place that had been here when we lived at Camp Zama before. The place had moved, but we found it!  Mike's TexMex was alive and well and only about three train stops away!  Great food too. 

Sunday was a normal Sunday and a bit more relaxing because we did not have to make the trip up to Camp Fuji this week.  We enjoy going, but going every other week is even better. 

Going here and going there!  

                                                                    

Week 43 Back in the Saddle....again

 Hello, family and friends,

After four days in the apartment "resting," Sis Nelson was ready for the new week. I haven't stayed in bed for that long, but amazingly, I got better. It's good because we had a hectic week ahead of us. 

After a short morning volunteer shift at ACS (Army Community Service), we headed over to our chapel in Yamato for a Mochi celebration. The Japanese members of the Yamato ward invited us to come join the fun and learn how mochi is made. They did it the traditional way. They soak the rice overnight, and the next day, the men steam the rice over hot coals in wooden bandboxes. Then, the rice is placed in a hollowed-out stump and pounded with a mallet. That's the part everyone gets to help with. Then, the women put the rice on a cornstarch-covered table and roll it into small balls. Some of the balls have bean paste placed inside, and some are just dipped in soy sauce and rolled in seaweed. Another version was rolling it in soy powder sweetened with sugar. The women were very excited to teach Sis Nelson how to do the rolling. Elder Nelson helped with the pounding. The little children also get to help pound the rice with smaller mallets. It was really a lot of fun and a fun cultural experience. One of the pictures below is of Elder Nelson and Bro Akasaka. He is in the Yamato ward and recognized Elder Nelson the first Sunday we were here. They both served in the Hokkaido mission at the same time. He is such a nice person. He is always making us little gifts. 

That night, a few of the Young Single Adults met us at the community club for some Karaoke. They chose some pretty fun songs, and we all sang along. Elder Nelson looked for some Jimmy Buffet songs, but they didn't have any. The Meltons joined us, showing us all their moves on the dance floor. It was fun for all. 

Temple Tuesday was wonderful, as always. Towards the end of our shift, my assignment was at the recommendation desk. A couple was coming out of the temple, and I thought they looked familiar. Sure enough, it was the Sharps from Abu Dhabi. They were here on a short vacation and happened to be at the Tokyo temple on our day. They are still living over there. Small world. 

On Wednesday, we did office duty at the Red Cross, and it was very quiet, so we did some studying and reading. The afternoon was Occ. Health and ACS volunteering so that filled up the rest of the day. That night, the Melton's had asked if we would take them to a sushi-go-round, so we picked them up and brought them to one of our favorites. We showed them some of our favorites, and they tried some of them. I remember my first experience with sushi and they were much more adventurous than I was. The next thing they want to try is an authentic ramen. There are ramen shops everywhere. 

Thursday dawned bright and early as we helped with the Newcomer's Orientation on Zama starting at 7 a.m. They are generally every other week, but with the holidays, there hadn't been one since early December, so we had a large group of new folks. We helped with the sign-in and answered questions. Elder Nelson did the Red Cross briefing, and then we both helped with the break-out session representing the Red Cross. One of our friends, Rob Zuckerman invited us to join him at a most delicious Chinese restaurant nearby. The fried rice was amazing. We now have a new place to enjoy authentic Chinese food. We also supported the Celebrate Recovery program that night. Bedtime looked good after a full day. 

For Friday, we feed the missionaries at the district council meeting. One of our Elders from the Philippines had his birthday and requested breakfast burritos. Transporting them to the Fujisawa chapel and keeping them warm was challenging, but we managed. We served them with tater-tots that the missionaries were excited about. Sis Melton made a yummy raspberry pretzel jello, and Elder Santillan, whose birthday it was, requested Snicker Doodles instead of cake. That I could do. He said he loved it all. Just bringing a little joy to those hard-working missionaries. 

Our next stop was the Kanagawa driver's license office to help the Meltons submit their Japanese driver's license paperwork. We also had a friend from the Japanese ward come and see if she could plead our case to move our test date from March 26th to an earlier date. But, alas, not so. Still hoping and trying to discover if and how we can change it. Otherwise, these two old folks will be walking until we can get through the licensing process. We have been driving on an International driver's license, but it expires on March 25, and we are no longer legal to drive until we get a Japanese license. So we shall see. We can walk to post where we do a lot of our volunteering. We will need a ride to church and we can take the train to the temple so we will manage. The full-time elders and sisters walk everywhere, we can too!?! 

Saturday seemed like a good day for Pday, so we cleaned up the apartment and headed to Ebina. It is only two train stops away, and there is lots of shopping and an Outback. We finally got another key made for our apartment and walked around the area. We enjoyed a steak dinner at the Outback, and it was pretty much the same menu—including the Bloomin' Onion- but we just had the Bloomin' Petals. 

Sunday, it was our turn to go to Camp Fuji to offer sacrament services to one of our Marines there. This time, we had the Garrison chaplain and one of our young adults from Zama join us. It was nice to have the company, and everyone enjoyed the brownies at the "Linger Longer." I told Oakley (the one marine) he was welcome to take the brownies back and share them with the guys in the barracks. His response."Oh, they aren't getting any of these." I take it he likes brownies. We love going up to Camp Fuji and spending some time with him. He is a great guy. 

We jump into another busy week. We are doing our best to stay focused on the many ways we can serve. We have some new things we are hoping to start, and we love all the people we meet. Each week, the work is so rewarding. Show the badge and serve with a smile, anyone we can.

Elder and Sister Nelson

                                                            

Week 42 - Sniffles and Service

We are at the tail end of another week full of activity, mixed with some "let's rest and get better" time too.  And, I am happy to report that as of today, "we are all better."  Sister Nelson is not very good at willingly staying home to rest, drink plenty of fluids, in order to shake a cold.  She is quick to tell me to do that, but doesn't really want to "take her own medicine."  But she did this time.

Anyway, the week started off well with a good YSA activity in our apartment. We love having the YSA (and sometimes the missionaries) join us for an activity.  They love getting together and we love being with them.  One of our favorite YSA's -- Hosea Schroeder wasn't with us Monday, but we saw him on Wednesday as he had just returned from spending time with his family in American Samoa.  

Tuesday morning we substituted as the seminary teachers at the High School for our branch youth. This was our second time substituting and this time around the youth were much more receptive to us because we were not "strangers" anymore. We introduced Section 1 of the DC and treated them to some Hot Chocolate too. The first thing Sis Nelson taught them was how to make an epic cup of hot chocolate. See picture. 

Tuesday we also made our weekly trek to the Temple and enjoyed not having hardly any traffic to deal with.  Many of the Japanese were still on "holiday" for their New Year's week. We had a packed full session of young missionaries from the Tokyo North Mission this time,  We don't really know any of them, but they radiate the same wonderful spirit as our Tokyo South Mission Elders and Sisters.

Sister Nelson started sniffling a bit later on Wednesday, but we persisted with one more event after our volunteer shifts at the hospital clinic and ACS (Army Community Service) We were invited to join the branch youth to watch the special YM/YW broadcast by Elder Uchtdorf.  For our part, we brought our smiles and the fixings for an Ice Cream Sundae. -- We were going to do banana splits, but the commissary bananas were "just off the boat" and very green... The youth, mostly the YM this time, sat relatively still for the broadcast and enjoyed the ice cream "scout style."   I then had to get Sister Nelson home and give her the bad news that she was not going out on Thursday, Friday, and we would see about Saturday. 

We loaded up on Cold Medicine (see picture) and made a new plan for our District Lunch for the missionaries on Friday.  We adjusted from "Breakfast Burritos" to PBJs.  I could handle doing PBJs by myself...less moving parts and little to get wrong.  Thursday came and went with Sis Nelson on the couch with a bad cold and Friday I went off to District Council by myself, but prepped to serve up PBJs.  Our young, wonderful missionaries loved the Peanut Butter sandwiches and chips and some cookies and pie (provided by Elder and Sister Melton).  While the missionaries were enjoying the "sammiches" I shared a story with them about what happens when you get peanut butter stuck on the roof of your mouth! (A Boy Scout Camp classic tale, which none had ever heard nor will they ever forget. (smile)

I stopped at NAF Atsugi for mail and some PX resupply before returning to our apartment. I got back home and found Sister Nelson bravely trying to rest and recover.  I even brought her a resupply of tissues. hehe

Saturday, since we had been cooped up a bit, we sneaked out and went to the post-movie theater and saw Moana 2.  We sat off by ourselves to not draw any attention to the minor sniffling,  We laid low the rest of the day and Sister Nelson elected to stay home on Sunday too.  She would give it one more day and then it would be OVER,   

Sunday, I went to Church and Sister Nelson stayed on the couch.  It's Monday and we are free and clear from cold symptoms and ready to launch and we have a busy week ahead. 

 

Week 41 Happy New Year from Japan

Happy New Year, aka Shogatsu, here in Japan. They take the New Year holiday seriously here. Decorations, foods, family time, and worship.  For us that meant some down time. I took a few pictures of the New Year’s decorations found on most businesses' doors and entrances. They are made up of bamboo, pine, and sometimes some mochi.

Because we were downtown Tokyo for the weekend, we decided to go see the Tokyo Tower. It is an iconic tower about the size of the Eiffel Tower. It was erected in 1958, and you can ride up to the top to look around Tokyo.  It wasn’t very crowded, so it made it nice getting there and short lines to ride to the top. Of course, Brad got lots of pictures, and even Mt. Fuji was peaking out.

The next day was NY Eve and we had our Zone Conference at the Temple Annex. Lots of good missionary instruction, and we helped prepare the soup for lunch. They also had some fun games for the young missionaries who love to have fun. It was nice to spend some time with them. We had an easy travel back to our apartment because the traffic was light, and we may or may not have been in bed before the New Year. Tired old people.

New Year’s Day in Japan is when the Japanese go to their temple and shrines to welcome the new year. They go there to pray for prosperity, safety, and good health. Many of them also bring their dogs. Dogs are treated very well here. Jackets, strollers, and dog biscuit vending machines are standard. We decided to walk to our neighborhood shrine and take a few pictures, and it was really fun. The weather was very mild, and lots of people were worshipping. I am so happy to be able to see the culture here.  Next week, we will be invited to a mochi-pounding activity. Watch for pictures.

We also did an extra shift at the Tokyo Temple on Saturday. They added an extra shift and were concerned they wouldn’t have enough workers because it was holiday time. So, we tried our best to help with all sessions being in Japanese. They put me in the baptismal for 2 ½ hours. Lots of smiling and doing my best to do what they wanted me to do. I met some families that were visiting Japan, and we could talk in English. We love serving in the temple. We also saw our previous mission president and his wife, Pres and Sis Node.  It was so nice to visit with them. They are Japanese and still live here in the Tokyo area. We hope we can see them in Utah when they come for conference.

Sunday, we were back at Camp Fuji with services for a young marine stationed there. He is such a nice young man and we love sharing time with him. And he also loves the cookies we bring. He takes the extras to share with his buddies in the barracks. He will be here until the end of March.

The new year has Elder and Sister Nelson recommitting to the gym. We have been letting too many excuses and cookies get in the way of working out. We have a nice gym here, and we need to use it. All the cooking and baking has wreaked havoc on our waistlines.

Hope your New Year has some happy plans. We plan on staying busy and appreciate all your love and support. 

Love to all

Elder and Sister Nelson

Daytime view of the City from the top of Tokyo Tower

Zone Conference Group Photo