Week 62 A few more days of walking...hopefully

Hello out there. Another pretty typical week here in Japan. We have some regular places we volunteer and sometimes we fill in with other things. That is pretty much how we rolled this week. 

We both enjoy volunteering at ACS ( Army Community Service). This week, Sis Nelson was chatting with one of the employees, Mary, and she told her about her niece who lives in Nairobi, Kenya. Mary helps her financially and says she wishes she could help her more. Her niece is all alone there, a single mother with 2 girls. Sis Nelson mentioned that we had worked in Abu Dhabi with some young people in the Pathway program. Mary said that was precisely what she hoped she could find for her niece. Sis Nelson told her that it was through our church and that we have missionaries there who could contact her and maybe get her some help. At that point, Mary said that she loved that there might be someone in Kenya to help her niece and that she "trusted" us to help.  Elder Nelson then looked up how to contact missionaries with a referral, and within a very few minutes, Sis Nelson was on the phone with a young sister missionary who said she could see the referral and would be happy to find her. They later texted us and said they have an appointment to meet with her. Tokyo to Kenya, the work goes forth. 

We are still traveling on our feet and walking to the bus stop for a ride to the train station and our temple assignment on Tuesday morning. We are getting pretty good at melding the bus schedule with the train schedule for the most effective use of our time. We really have found that walking has been very good for us and we are confident we should continue walking even after the driver's license is procured....this Thursday. The hardest part is walking on the hot, humid days, so we will need to walk early in the morning for sure. 

Sis Nelson helped out the Red Cross and presented a table at a USO event this week. We had hoped to volunteer with the USO when we first got here, but it hasn't worked out with our schedule. It's just nice to associate with so many people who also volunteer. It is an excellent network of people. 

We also volunteered at the Thrift Store this week. Always work to do there with all the donations. Proceeds go to the High School on post. We work with the chaplain's wives who also volunteer there. More awesome people to associate with. 

We toted hot dogs, chips, and Twinkie Cake on the bus/train to the district meeting with the young elders and sisters this week. They are always so appreciative and love the American food. Twinkie cake was a hit, and we went home with NO leftovers. We haven't been able to go for a couple of weeks, so it was fun to be with all of them. 

Saturday dawned early as we volunteered to help with the Tour of Japan bike race. They wanted us to be at the bus for a ride at 6:30 am. We enjoyed "helping" but it wasn't really all that much help. This was an event outside the gate, and plenty of Japanese people were also helping. Mostly, we just put on the yellow t-shirt, set up a few orange cones, and smiled.  It was pretty cool when the riders came through. It was a 112.k relay race. We really only saw the beginning, but we enjoyed being there. 

We later rode with the Meltons to the New Sanno hotel for a night's stay. We introduced them to a popular restaurant called Burger Mania. "Best Burgers in Tokyo". They really are pretty yummy. Have you ever tried a Cherry Burger? We also tried riding the train to see Rainbow Bridge, which goes over Tokyo Bay. We didn't plan on it raining, so it wasn't as wonderful as we had hoped, and we got pretty wet. There was a big fireworks show going on, but there wasn't any place where we could see it clearly. So we trained it back to the New Sanno and had about 15,000 steps on our walking app. 

Sunday was special as we had Stake Conference at the temple annex with Elder Dale  G. Renlund. He and his wife, Ruth,  spoke; their talks were inspiring. They are very good storytellers, and some of the adventures they have been on were fun to hear about. There were lots of folks there to listen to them. We are so grateful that we could be there.  The rest of Sunday was pretty quiet as we traveled back with the Meltons (in their car) to our little apartment and were grateful to ride in a car. 

Speaking of riding in a car, this next Thursday is the day for Elder Nelson to take the practical driving exam. We have been waiting and walking since March 23. He has taken private driving instruction and is studying hard to pass the first time. Many people have taken it multiple times. We hope to be driving our little Toyota by Friday. Prayers and positivity are welcome. 

It's getting late, so we will say sayonara to this week and send our love to all. 

BLOG #61 Another week of "IRO IRO".

We had a very "mixed bag" of activities this week.  In Japanese that would be called "iro iro."  Even the weather mixed it up with nice beautiful clear days, blowy windy days, and stormy rainy all in one week. Fortunately it isn't HOT yet, but it is getting that way.  It is a race to see if we can get one working driver's license before it really does get HOT, or the rainy season starts.  

Monday's highlight was playing pickle ball with our YSA group.  First time for these two old people!  Looks like a fun game if we could just hit the ball twice in a row!  We had a new YSA join us this week from one of the Japanese wards that doesn't have a YSA group going.  We really enjoy anytime we can meet together with any of these wonderful young people.

Tuesday was our Temple Tuesday time again. We have the bus-train-walk to the Temple down to a science now. Serving in the Temple is a wonderful and weekly experience that we really treasure.  We hurried home as fast as the train-walking thing would let us so we could drop in and support a Zama Chapel activity for Single Parents at the Bowling Alley.  Not a great turnout, but it is always good to spend some time with some of our favorite Camp Zama community friends who also came out to support the event.

Elder Nelson arranged to take a one-on-one driving lesson on Wednesday that first involved about an hour and a half of bus-train-walking...we do that a lot lately. While he went off and did that, Sister Nelson did some baking and worked at the Occupational Health clinic. We linked back up later for Mongolian BBQ night at the Camp Zama Community Center.  The driving lesson was very much worthwhile and Elder Nelson picked up on some key tips including being made aware of some "wired in" driving habits that wouldn't be good to do during the actual exam.  While waiting to be met and picked up by the instructor, Elder Nelson shared his quick snack with a local pigeon! 

Thursday we had our early morning start for Newcomers Orientation. That is a great service opportunity so we don't mind at all.  We also supported the Tokyo South Mission "Emergency Drill" that they do every so often.  That involves making a call on a Japanese payphone, that allows you to get an emergency message from the Mission Office and also leave a message.  That would be critical during an emergency situation after an earthquake, typhoon, or tsunami...and maybe a zombie apocalypse too. We also are supposed to walk to a designated emergency location (and take a picture that proves you know how and where to go). We have done this drill about four times now.  It's easy when you never transfer.  Later we delivered all of the baked goods Sister Nelson made to the RC and attended another awards ceremony for volunteers.  Our Celebrate Recovery activity was canceled so we had an early evening, but Elder Nelson did get to hop on a Zoom lesson with the young Elders and one of their "friends" (investigators).  

Friday we had Zone Conference. We love Zone Conference.  We did the bus-train-walk routine and got to the Zone Conference location in about an hour.  We had extra baggage with us because we planned to go to into Tokyo afterwards to support a special Temple night by our Stake (Stake Conference is next week and we have Elder Rendlund coming!) So, we hustled (train-walk) to Tokyo, checked in at The New Sanno hotel and made our way over to the Temple. We got done late and caught a late night "snack" at the lounge at the hotel. 

We made it to Saturday!  We are declaring this Saturday P-Day, even if it is really lousy, stormy, and rainy. We decided to press on anyway.  We first enjoyed a nice breakfast at the New Sanno. We were able to meet Elder and Sister Melton for breakfast since they too had stayed over that night.  We took our bags over to the Temple Annex and dropped them off, then we braved the weather and headed into the Asakusa area where we had planned a nice cultural excursion.  Little did we know that we had picked the same day as a major Japanese festival taking place right where we were headed. Yikes.  We arrived and were surprised by ALL THE PEOPLE and ALL carrying umbrellas.  Well, must be our lucky day, we still had no clue as to why the crowds.  Soon, as we huddled under one of the Shrine gates to get out of the rain, we found out. Some people we met explained that the Sanja Matsuri (Three Shrine Festival) was in full swing.  Well, since we already there, we settled in to watch  (See Facebook posting and video).  After a long enough dose of "festival" we wandered towards our next destination.  An area called Kappbashi.  It is famous for being the kitchenwares market - all things culinary --including the famous Japanese chef knives.  Elder Nelson had that on his acquisition list.  We also picked a local restaurant and had a very Japanese style lunch.  Then we started our trek home, by way of the Temple annex to get our bags, and made it back finally to our home base, we skipped the last "walk" and took a Taxi...very tired and very wet.  

Sunday we enjoyed church and a branch "linger longer" activity. That was especially nice because there were a few members that came that had not been for a while.  Also, the young missionaries had a few new friends join us as well. We had barely enough food, but everyone got their fill. Also, one of the wonderful members of the Japanese ward we share the meetinghouse with came over to Sister Nelson and said in her best Japanese/English, "Nelson Shimai! My garden flowers...you...home" which translated to Sister Nelson, these flowers are from my garden, please take them home."  The members, especially the Japanese members we meet are alway so kind to us.  And another nice American member family gave us a a ride home!   Later we listened to the weekly "miracle call" that our Mission has each Sunday evening.  Always a good way to end the week.  Next week starts soon and will bring with it more planned and unplanned opportunities to serve here in our part of this special island nation of Japan. 

Love

Elder and Sister Nelson

    

                                                                

                                                                    

Blog #60. "There is beauty all around"

 Week 60: "There is beauty all around"

We have had a beautiful week here in Japan. Everywhere we go, we see flowers blooming. In the fields, in the cracks of the sidewalk, next to the road etc. Some of them are planted, but most are growing wild. I downloaded an app that helps me identify them, satisfying the closet horticulturist in me. Some are ones I've seen before, but most are not. So, we begin the picture section of this blog with flowers. 

We began our week where Sis. Nelson volunteered at ACS (Army Community Service) while Elder Nelson did round two of the Kite Festival. We could not get a picture of the largest kite the day before because the wind wasn't right. Day two was much better, and he posted those last week. 

Volunteering at ACS is every Monday morning for 4 hours. It consists of sitting at the front desk, greeting folks who come in for information, in/out processing, answering phones, and basically fostering good relations with the community and the folks who work at ACS. It took us quite a while to get our "foot in the door" there, and so it's nice to be helping them now. They also sponsor the Newcomers' Orientation, which we help with every other Thursday. 

On Monday night, our YSA (Young Single Adults) wanted to go bowling, so we made our way over to the Atsugi base and bowled a couple of games. I managed to break 100. First time ever. It was just the two of us and two YSA guys, but we had some bowling alley pizza and tore up the lanes. This Monday is supposed to be pickleball, which neither one of us has played, but we will make an attempt as one of our YSAs wants to teach us. 

I also did a ton of baking that day for the Nurses' Appreciation cart the next day at the clinic. On Tuesday morning, I loaded the wagon in pouring rain and headed to the post. Twenty minutes later, I delivered the goods. I kept them all well-covered in plastic, but the wagon puller got wetter than she intended. Carrying an umbrella and pulling a wagon seems more challenging than I thought. 

After the cookie delivery (and a change of clothes), we headed to the bus stop/train ride to the temple. It was a quiet day at the station, so we could sit most of the way. We are getting used to the route, Sis Nelson can almost do it without Elder Nelson's guidance. (But she still likes him to take charge of that) The Temple grounds are beautiful, and the small waterfall there was pretty as a picture. 

On Wednesday, we participated in the Sagami River Cleanup. We invited the young elders and sisters in our district to join us, and a lot of community folks to assist with the cleanup. The missionaries love being able to find ways to serve. They all came and we found lots of trash to put in our bags. Always remember to use one bag for burnable and one for non-burnable. I'm getting good at knowing the difference. We all gathered and then dispersed to various parts of the river beds, and then came back and gave all our trash to the sanitation workers from the City of Zama. I asked them to give me a big smile next to the garbage truck. Only in Japan do you see garbage trucks painted with cute little characters and flowers. Why not? Late that evening, I got a text from one of the directors at ACS who was in charge of the Military Spouses Appreciation luncheon on Friday, asking me to be one of the speakers. It was supposed to have been the chaplain, but he had to go home on emergency leave because his mother passed away. Kind of short notice, but military spouses can be flexible, so I told her I would. 

On Thursday, we also had our branch missionaries help us volunteer at the thrift shop on base. They were a big help emptying bags of clothing and sorting and hanging things up. Also, straightening shelves and sweeping the floor. The thrift shop sells all donated goods, and the proceeds go to the Zama Middle/High School PTA. I even found some new reading glasses to add to my collection, and Elder Nelson found a kitchen knife to add to his. He keeps our knives nice and sharp. We supported the Celebrate Recovery program that evening and brought some bean and ham soup and biscuits. Yes, that means loading up the wagon again, but we are the "wagon eers" and that's how we roll. 

Friday was the spouse's luncheon day, so we walked to the Community Club around noon. We had already been asked to help with the sign-ins, so Elder Nelson manned the sign-in table, and I passed out bingo cards and helped seat people. Later giving the short talk on being a military spouse and getting involved. Serving others and the community helps a spouse feel like she is a part of the military career that they are both serving. The talk went fine, and I felt like it was well received. Mostly, I was glad when it was over.

Saturday, our branch Relief Society had a picnic social that ended up being inside at the church because it rained. The sisters all brought food to share, and we played games and visited. Always lovely to join together and strengthen one another. 

We also had a fellow MRM couple, Rod and Michelle Allen, who serve in Yokosuka, come visit us. They had finished the day before, taking the written part of the driving exam, and needed help navigating the website to obtain a driving test date. We did our best to guide them through the Japanese website, and they will be taking the test at the end of June. Our date is getting closer...May 29th. Elder Nelson is studying up for it. 

We also went to dinner with the Allens at our only Mexican restaurant, Mikes. We enjoyed our time with them and spent time sharing mutual experiences and antics. We have made so many new friends here and have invited them to please come see us if they are ever in West Jordan. 

And then it was Mother's Day. My sweetheart treated me to a home-cooked breakfast. His oatmeal is amazing. And he wrote me a love letter. He spoils me. My gift is "in the mail" and we will enjoy a new computer when it arrives. I also received some nice gifts,cards, "flowers" and phone calls from my kiddos. We were also invited to dinner at one of the members' homes, the Oshieks. They are a retired couple that will be moving to Vineyard, UT, in December. 

And to top it off, the young elders and sisters from our branch surprised me with a 7pm visit to our apartment with a picture of the district and some cake. They are just the sweetest. We love them so much. The whole day was wonderful and I felt very loved. 

So on to another week. We find that our time is zipping by, but we still have "work enough to do". Thanks to all who love and encourage us. We know you will be blessed for supporting the missionary efforts here in Japan. We do our best to serve with love, even as our Savior would have us do. 

Love to all,

Elder and Sister Nelson