It's called "Tsuyu." Rainy Season. And it is that time of year again. It won't rain everyday, but it might, or might not, so have your "kasa" (umbrella) handy. And it continues to be an ongoing season of flowers blooming. We enjoy seeing new ones bloom that we have never seen before. We will miss the beautiful variety of flowers.
Monday was the US "Memorial Day" holiday. Japan has one later in June. So, most of our Camp Zama community people and activities were on a long holiday weekend break, including all of our YSAs. The young missionaries (our Elders from the Philippines) were curious as to what "we" do on Memorial Day. BBQ and visit grave sites of ancestors we said. Well, we couldn't do the later, but with some gentle prodding from MRM friends the Meltons, we opted for a BBQ with the young missionaries at the church meetinghouse in Yamato. Collectively, we pulled together the makings, including charcoal and burgers and fixins' and met up at noon. We had a great time with the missionaries and even a few of our Japanese member friends. Sister Nelson made her famous potato salad. Yum Yum. And Elder Nelson did an impromptu duet with Brother Akasaka...see video. (They both served missions in Hokkaido at the same time, but were never companions.
Tuesday we ventured through the rain to the Temple and enjoyed another great day serving fellow Saints and missionaries. This time of year, Japan gets lots of visitors and so our Temple experience included assisting a number of people visiting Japan and wanting to visit our Tokyo Temple too! Wonderful.
With the "Drivers Exam" date looming, Elder Nelson spent time all week, including Wednesday cramming as it were, for the "Practical Driving Test." Sister Nelson helped make baked goods and food for freezing in preparation for Young Women's "girls camp later this year. She teamed up with one of the members of our branch and met in her home that has a real kitchen! Later, after meeting up for lunch, Elder Nelson worked at Army Community Service and Sister Nelson at the Occupational Health Clinic. Then afterwards, we made a side trip to the commissary for supplies before trekking back home.
Thursday was the day. And for both of us it was busy. Sister Nelson had plenty to do without accompanying Elder Nelson to the Kanagawa Driver License Center, so he went by himself, accompanied by a good Japanese brother from the Yamato ward who could assist with any translation challenges and who also drove. Brother Sakuma has been a great help and is a wonderful example of selfless service. Meanwhile, Sister Nelson delivered baked goods and helped with a Red Cross "Coffee Cart" for one of the Zama organizations and later trekked over (bus, train, foot) to help at the SHA Thrift Shop with a couple of the Sister missionaries. She then trekked home waiting for word from Elder Nelson. Meanwhile, Elder Nelson encountered the usual "extra steps" and bureaucratic red tape, and his 1pm driving test didn't actually take place until about 2:30pm. As we hinted in the title, "almost perfect" was not almost enough to pass the exam, but he didn't get the official word until shortly after 4pm. After some additional preparatory actions to schedule the next test, they headed back to Zama about 4:30ish. Meanwhile, Sister Nelson had been waiting to hear, but Elder Nelson was slow on reporting the bad news...so Sister Nelson got a late start for a quick trek back to the commissary. We both, most Elder Nelson, need to work on communication skills we are learning. All in all it was a busy, but not wonderful day.
Friday we trekked (foot, bus, train, bus, foot) to meet up with our district at the Yamato meetinghouse for District Council and District Lunch -- Sister Nelson managed spaghetti, salad and breadsticks this time and, as usual, the young missionaries devoured it with great joy. We hitched a ride with Elder and Sister Melton afterwards and ventured to NAF Atsugi. They had some meetings to do, and we went to the library. Later, we met up at the Exchange Movie Theater and watched the latest (maybe last?) Mission Impossible movie. We enjoyed it and we especially enjoyed and noted that it was devoid of swearing and unnecessary sexual stuff. Just good old action and Tom Cruise doing a lot of running...
Saturday we had planned an MRM P-day activity for a trip to Enoshima Island which is about an hour train ride south of us...but alas, tis rainy season and it was especially rainy and also windy, we canceled it for the sake of the weather. Instead, we did some neglected and needed house cleaning and laundry. Later in the afternoon, we trekked again (foot, bus, train, bus) back to Yamato for a violin recital / concert by a very talented mother/daughter duo with some impressive music credentials. It was hosted by the Yamato ward and unfortunately not well attended, but the performance was amazing. Sister Nelson got cornered by the Sister Missionaries after it was over to stay and help with a lesson with one of their "friends." So, she did. Elder Nelson trekked home solo and Sister Nelson followed about an hour or so behind. And it was another long day. And we opted for Dominos Pizza delivered.
Sunday we volunteered to teach Primary. We had a class of five boys (age 7-8). We managed, (mostly Sister Nelson) to keep their short attention spans engaged for a lesson about "honesty." We had a couple of stories, a video and a coloring activity! We survived and the group of boys did too. Later, after church, we trekked home and stopped one train station short to go and visit a family that we have been working with since we got to Japan. They host the weekly Celebrate Recovery activity at the Zama Chapel. Good people. They recently welcomed a brand new baby daughter into their home and invited us to come by and visit and see their new baby. Sister Nelson loves babies as you know. So we stopped by and Sister Nelson turned into her Grandma self and snuggled that tiny baby right to sleep. They both thoroughly enjoyed it. We then ventured home, later than usual, but we managed to put together a nice homestyle meatloaf, potatoes, and broccoli dinner. Elder Nelson's favorite. We ended our day by watching "Escape from Germany," a film depicting how the missionaries escaped Germany days before WWII started there with the invasion of Poland. True and amazing story.
We are ready for another week, unfortunately, we still have to walk some more, but we do so in faith that Heavenly Father will continue to bless us and strengthen us to do His will and serve Him while we are serving as missionaries here in Japan.
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