November Arrivals and Departures

Elder Norawong arrived alone this month from the MTC.  He had quite an experience traveling alone from Provo and having to manuver his way through customs, etc. at the huge airport in Tokyo (He is an English speaking Elder from Washington State).  We were proud of him but he was glad to be with fellow missionaries when he arrived in Sendai.

After a morning of training him, he found out he will be serving in Hachinohe.

 (Do you love the new map I had made of our mission?) 

Elder Norawong's new trainer is Elder Kano.

One last picture with the 3 Assistants and us.

 

 

Elder & Sister Tsuchida Finish Their Mission

The Tsuchida couple are amazing.  They have been Mission President & wife in Sapporo, he was the Temple President in Fukuoka Temple and at age 78 (I think) they wanted to serve one more mission and came to Sendai.  They served in Morioka the whole year and made a great difference in the Branch by loving the people and teaching them to love each other.  We took the Tsuchidas to dinner the night before they left.

 

 

Elder and Sister Oyama Arrive in the Mission

The Jahanas went to dinner with us to greet the Oyamas to the mission from Kagawa, Japan.

They stayed the night at the Mission Home with us and I prepared them a real Japanese breakfast the next morning of miso soup, rice, cooked vegetables, scrambled eggs, fruit and juice.  They will be a great addition to the mission and will replace the Tsuchidas in Morioka Branch.

Elder Dowdy and Bigger Go Home

Enjoying the sukiyaki dinner.

 

Gary loves to listen to the chatter of the nervous missionaries the night before they return home.

This Ice Cream & Chocolate cake in a glass dessert was spectacular. 

 I think Elder Dowdy ate two of them.

Elder Bigger

We had lots of experiences with Elder Dowdy and really love him like a son.  His mother died in February which gave us lots of chances to be extra close to him and he was a wonderful Assistant to Pres. Rasmussen and a great, obedient missionary!

Elder Bigger was a leader in the mission, too.  We will miss him.

One last picture with the Assistants.

At the airport.  Goodby Elder Bigger and Elder Dowdy.

Elder and Sister C. Scott Grow Visit the Mission in October

Elder Grow is reponsible for the Auditing Department of the Church and had been in Tokyo with an audit team for several days.  He and his wife came to Sendai Mission to do a Mission tour with us for 3 days before they returned home.  We very much enjoyed having them stay in our home and traveling with them.  We have so much in common and by the end of the Mission Tour, we felt we had made some wonderful new friends.

 

Morioka, Aomori Zones combined for this day of training with Elder and Sister Grow.

Random pictures of missionaries shaking hands with us and the Grows.

The second day we traveled back to Sendai where we had a conference with the Sendai Zone, Koriyama Zone and Niigata Zone.

Elder Fitzpatrick is always happy and Elder Elkins is always happier than he looks here!!

Members of the Sendai Stake Presidency attended the training.

Waiting in line!

At the close of the conference, we had an evaluation of the day and took a picture with the Zone Leaders (Elder Takei & Shin'no) and Elder Dowdy who was the Translator for the conferences.

Monthly Family Home Evening with the Grows

The Grows were the speakers at our monthly FHE. Elder Dowdy did the translating again.

Tuesday Evening Dinner with the Stake Presidency

at our Home With the Grows

Pres & Sis Seza, Pres & Sis Sugawara, Pres & Sis Tanaka and us.

Then the Grows joined us.



Sister Jahana decorated the table for  us.

Introducing Sis. Furukawa who cooked our dinner and Sis Thomas and Jahana who served the dinner. They were all my angels to be able to accomplish this lovely evening.

Pictures of the some of the food served.

Koriyama District Conference in October

 A block up the street from the church is this lovely park.  As we drove by it on our way to the church, it was breath-taking with it's Fall colors.  The reds were deep red and the oranges and yellows were pure and not muted at all.  The pictures don't do it justice.

 These darling little boys were running around ready to fight with their fists.  They are adorable.  Their Grandfather is in the District Presidency.

 After the Sunday morning session of conference, we had lunch with the singles of the District.  As we were eating, Pres. Motsimura came in with his little boy to give us a Halloween bag of candy from him.  They are really good parents who teach this little guy well.

 Everyone brought their own lunch in a bag.

Eikaiwa (English Conversation) Training All Over The Mission

 

Our Area President is a fan of Eikaiwa classes as a gift to our communities all over the mission.  These classes have been taught by every companionship on Wednesday nights since we got here (and before) but the format changed and a new and improved curriculum was rolled out.  Gary asked me to teach every missionary in the mission how to teach Eikaiwa.  It took about a month to get to everyone but we did it. 

 

This picture has nothing to do with teaching missionaries how to teach English Conversation class but it is a typical view from the bottom of the Elder's shoes. 

They walk right out of their shoes, bless their hearts!

Much of the training was done at district meetings or before District Conferences on Saturday.

 

Elder Bigger conducting the District meeting in Aomori.

 

Elder Sanders conducting the Izumi District Meeting.