It is hard to believe that we have now marched into February already. 11 months. Wow. And, we have made ZERO progress on solving our Japan Drivers License issue. So, speaking of counting down, we have about 6 weeks before we park our mission car and put on our best walking shoes. We are still hoping for a miracle of some kind to break through the unreasonable bureaucracy of the Kanagawa Prefectural government folks.
Anyway, we had some really cold weather this week...down into the lower 30s. Fortunately, we have a nice warm apartment and we came prepared with good cold-weather clothes. Supposedly we are in the coldest month now. Come March we warm up, see lots of rain, and toward the end of the month we are blessed with the Cherry Blossoms again...and for the last time. :(
Elder Nelson has been working on a class/presentation on Family History and Genealogy. He presented the class on Monday to a group of women from the Zama community spouses organization. Sister Nelson provided some "Family History" cookies -- her Grandma Hope's Oatmeal Cookies... The class went very well and it was a good opportunity to "show the badge" and showcase Family Search (along with Ancestry.com and a few others). He will do one more class for this group in March. With the success of this class, he set up with the Zama Library to teach it again, this time open to anyone, and will do so in April.
Later on Monday, we also got to help back over at NAF Atsugi with the "Rice Ball ministry," an outreach program providing food to one of the local shelters for women and children. It is always inspiring and touching to see our fellow Christians be truly charitable; so many good people out there trying to do the right thing. The best thing we can do is help them and be good examples. Sadly, it reminds us that the need for charity is also great, and not enough people, time, or resources to meet all the needs. So, we do what we can.
On Tuesday we made our weekly trek (by car) to the Tokyo Temple. It is always an uplifting experience for us. It is inspiring to see the strong faithful Japanese Saints serving in their Temple. It is our privilege to be able to serve alongside them once a week. We also love seeing the missionaries come (some from each of the two Tokyo missions) on alternating Tuesdays. We always enjoy the big city sites and the sunsets on our way home...
Wednesday we ventured to City (Zama) Hall to declare "Zero Income" so our Japanese National Health Insurance premiums stay relatively low this coming year. To round out our midweek, Elder Nelson did some volunteer work at Army Community Service and Sister Nelson drove to Atsugi and retrieved some of our mail. Ramen was on the menu this cold night for our dinner. Yum Yum
Thursday we helped in the morning setting up and signing people in for the Camp Zama "Newcomer's Orientation." We had to leave early this time because we also signed up to help at a Zama City Community service project that the Public Affairs office set up. We met up with about twenty others, a few of whom we knew, and walked to a nearby train station and helped pick up trash around the area. Another opportunity to get the badge out in public and when we do, we always get questions about who we are and what we are doing. Good stuff.
Afterward, we ventured to the commissary and stocked up on a few items for us and to later make something to take to our weekly engagement with Celebrate Recovery. Another example of good people trying to provide a needed "out-reach" program to help others. The least we can do is lend them a hand and even sing "Jesus songs" alongside them during the initial part of the meeting,
Friday we did not do our usual District Lunch because it was "Transfer Day" for the young missionaries. We didn't lose anyone this round and we picked up a new sister that we haven't met yet. When we get a break in our regular, mostly busy, routine, we take time to restock and reset a bit...groceries, vacuum, dejunk, whatever. There is always something to do and if there isn't, we have been known to sneak in an afternoon nap! Friday night we did a Recon by Dinner and went back to Mikes TexMex. We ate and then made a big reservation for Saturday.
A Japanese sister in our Branch in her fifties, who is an absolute sweetheart, but actually not a member, asked us to take her to Mike's. She saw it on our Facebook from before and immediately called us to set up a time...and she was so excited. She called or texted Sister Nelson probably 3 or 4 times during the week and on Saturday to "clarify" or remind us or something, Clearly, she was super excited about it, We invited our MRM partners, the Meltons, and one of our YSAs sisters to join us. And, good TexMex was had by all!
Sunday was a special day at Church. Our young Sister Missionaries had a baptism of a single sister who is living in our branch area. She is not part of anything military and lives in town. She is an expat from Africa trying to work and make enough money to get by and send something home for her family. (This sounds like the story we told when living in Abu Dhabi). Earlier this year, the Elders baptized a brother who is also from Africa and is trying to stay employed in Japan. These expats find us because we are an English-speaking church unit and most of them do not speak Japanese. Anyway, it was a nice baptism.
Sister Nelson made a lasagna dinner for the four young missionaries who serve in our branch, after the baptismal service and we ended up feeding twice, loaves and fishes style, that many for various reasons and for non-missionary people who stayed too long after the baptismal service was over. After all, it is hard to avoid the smell of cooking lasagna wafting through the hallways at the church building. Sister Nelson, being the saint that she is, had made plenty, helped Elder Nelson "adjust" to the new plan B, and we figured out a way to make it all happen on the fly while smiling, When we finally got home, we were pretty much "done."
And thus endeth another week. Tired, blessed, and ready to start again on Monday,
It's hard to believe that it has been 11 months already. Love reading your weekly updates. You do so much good! One of my favorite things to see is the dimples on your smiling faces. Sister Nelson doesn't do things halfway, so it is not surprising that her food preparations could feed twice as many people as planned on.
ReplyDelete