Blog #71 - a very strange place in time...and very hot too!

We are amazingly 71 weeks in...and have only 7 weeks to go. The young missionaries have a transfer this coming week, so one more change up in our district, then next transfer will be our last.  It's officially HOT season here in Japan.  The heat and the humidity perpetually create conditions for rain, but sometimes it is clear, humid and just plain HOT.  We are managing to trudge through the heat and sometimes we just cave and find a cool spot to hang out.  We still walk a lot, but our exercise efforts have to be early in the morning. Looking at our schedule, we still have a lot going on and a lot of things yet to come, but we also see events being advertised that we will now miss and many of our routine volunteer gigs now have a "last time" marked and coming over the next four or five weeks.  After that, we will transition to cleaning, packing, mailing and such. So, thinking about all of this puts us in a strange place mentally and emotionally; however, we will endure to the very end with a smile and no regrets.  

Sister Nelson is up every morning now at the crack of dawn (5:30ish) and out walking.  Elder Nelson's feet won't let him join her, but she is determined to get in those steps!  Monday Elder Nelson finished up his final photography class.  Three of his students asked if he would come to their work location and give them some hands-on help with the camera they had to use as part of their job - pictures of visitors and training, etc. Sister Nelson had her usual weekly gig at Army Community Service. And as we recall, it was a rainy stormy, but still hot and humid day.

Tuesday we made our weekly trek to the Tokyo Temple. It rained on us a bit, as well as being hot and humid.  The nice things is that once you are on the train, its mostly cooler and it isn't raining inside the train! All bets are off once we left the train station for the final walking part to the Temple. Our Zone missionaries were attending that day, so it was extra special.  We hurried home, meaning we left as soon as we could to catch an earlier train, so we could meet up with our YSA (both of them) for a "yakitori" dinner at a place close to our apartment. The Melton's also joined us. Yakitori is basically variations on chicken grilled on a stick (mini kabob style). A favorite in Japan. 

Wednesday was looking to be a very full day. Elder Nelson had his last Family History class scheduled for the morning; however, his one student was unable to come and scheduled a make up session on Monday of next week.  Sister Nelson helped at the Occupational Health clinic and Elder Nelson went to help a few of his photography students with using their work camera. Once we got their camera settings right, they were very happy with the improvement. Success.  He then reported in for a few hours of helping out at Army Community Service. After some dinner, we had one more event, an on-line lesson helping the young elders teach one of their friends and that ended another hot summer day.

Normally on this Thursday, we would have been helping with the Newcomers orientation; however, we attended another "Change of Command." A member of our branch, and also the 2C in the Stake Presidency, had his change of command of Camp Zama Garrison. They will still remain at Zama in some TBD job while one of their daughters finishes high school. Sister Nelson left the ceremony early to make her way over to the other Camp Zama housing area (SHA) and meet up with the young missionaries and volunteer at the Thrift Shop. Elder Nelson stayed until the ceremony was over and then made his way to the same location. Eventually we all made it to the Thrift store for a couple of hours of service in a very hot and cramped building. We gave the young missionaries enough Yen for a McDonald's lunch and we went to the commissary. We have a big event coming up a week from Saturday and we have been accumulating groceries for it,  Also, we had to get stuff to make our District Lunch on Friday.  The Melton's helped us by taking all the stuff for district lunch over to the church so we wouldn't have to pack it on the train. Another pretty busy and hot day done.

Friday was the big day! Sister Nelson's birthday and Elder Nelson had planned a special weekend; however, special also meant a little busy.  First we bussed and train-ed to our chapel for District Council and Lunch. We were going to have to "eat and run;" however, the young missionaries first had a surprise for Sister Nelson and a rendition of the Happy Birthday song.  We then had to leave the missionaries to eat and cleanup on their own. Sister Nelson made them lasagna! yum. 

To start our birthday get-away, we had to leave early to catch the bus to the train station, with our overnight bags in tow. Elder Nelson got "Romance Car" tickets for our ride into Tokyo. Romance Car is a nicer train, with reserved seats, that only stopped once on the way. Nice and only an extra $6. We had just never tried it before. We made it to the madness of Shinjuku station and opted for a taxi to our hotel (the Tokyo Hilton).  It is a very nice, even "swanky" as Sister Nelson described it. We got an upgrade to a nicer room and ended up on the 35th (of 38) floor. Amazing view!  

But wait! the main event is still to come. We had tickets to go see "DrumTao!" which to almost all of you will be a, SO??? thing.  This group put on a high energy, highly choreographed performance, playing Taiko drums and all the other Japanese instruments. Absolutely incredible. We saw them perform in February and had to see them again. They also tour in the U.S., so maybe we can see them again somewhere. After the show, we made it back to the Hilton and indulged in the dinner buffet at one of their "swanky" restaurants.  Fun day, but we were pretty tired by nightfall.

The object for Saturday (still in Happy Birthday mode) was to find Sister Nelson some Akoya pearls she could take home from Japan. That involved some train riding and walking in the hot weather.  We found one place that had nice pearls, but not the right size (bracelet), so we continued our search. We ended up going back, grabbing our bags from the hotel and then train riding/walking to where the New Sanno Hotel is at.  They have a pearl shop too. And as it turned out, they had very nice pearls and a shop owner who fit it for her while we waited AND they were on sale too.  So while we waited we had a nice American style BBQ dinner.  We were so hot and tired by then that we actually checked to see if the hotel had any rooms available...unfortunately they did not, so we rested a bit and made our way home. That would be another 90 minutes of walk/train/bus.  BUT we did it, and accomplished the finding pearls goal.  The awesome sale at the pearl shop, convinced Elder Nelson, with Sister Nelson strongly encouraging him, to grab a manly pearl bracelet too. 

Sunday was, and needed to be, a day of little walking and some needed rest (in an air-conditioned place), so that is what we did.  We enjoyed a nice church service in our Branch and a missionary coordination meeting.  We even got a ride home!  We almost had to make a trip to Camp Fuji, but that turned out to be unnecessary because the individual who wanted us to come up for a service was delayed.  Anyway, we did enjoy a nice ZOOM session with our fellow MRM Senior Missionary couples across our Stake. We don't see most of them very often in person, but all of them are special to us and we have a special bond that we really enjoy.  Thus ended another week.  

We are blessed to be here in Japan.  We are blessed to enjoy relatively good health. And we are blessed to have the support and prayers of family and friends.  And we are blessed to be able to serve Him and represent Him and His love to those we meet, serve, and associate with every day.

Love

Elder and Sister Nelson