Last Week of September This-N-That

BAPTISM!!
We had a baptism in the Kamisugi Ward which is near the Mission Home and we were able to attend. Mie Sasaki, who is a 19 year old college student, was baptised. Her Mother came all the way from Aomori (up north) to see what her daughter was getting herself into and loved all the nice people and was impressed with the spirit she felt.

Sister Dotson and Sister Onda taught Mie the gospel so well. The baptismal service could not have been better. Every member of the ward was called by the sister Missionaries and invited to attend. The chapel was totally full-standing room only. There were several investigators there who could observe what happens at a baptism. Refreshments were served afterwards which gave ward members time to talk to Mie and her mother. The Bishop invited Mie, her mom and the missionaries for dinner at his home later that evening. Awesome!!


FAMILY HOME EVENING


The last Monday of each month is a FHE at our home for investigators and less active members. Here is cute little Mie leading the opening song for us--a first for her.

We had about 40 attending this month.


After a short lesson by Bro. Jahana, we played a game of pictionary. Here is Gary taking his turn drawing a picture.

Sis Sugawara (in blue) is Stake President's wife. She is delightful and keep us entertained. I love her. To her left is the Bishop's wife (laughing). The other two ladies are investigators.

Elder Shin'no, Elder Narita, a new member, and Elder Holbrook. As cute as these Elders are, the pictures of those cute grandchildren in the background may top them. The quilt on the wall was made by my daughter, Emily, and holds the names of all of our missionaries as they come into the mission.

For dessert, I made suprise cupcakes and Ice Cream.




GARY'S VISIT TO A RICE FARMER

Gary decided he wanted to learn how rice is grown since it is rice fields that we look at everywhere we go. The Stake President introduced him to this nice farmer who agreed to show Gary all the steps he goes through over the next year ~preparing the ground, planting, growing, and harvesting.

The farmers 93 year old mother lives with them and is delightful. She sits on the floor all day with her legs under the table which is warmed. She is quite a story teller and, in fact, tells stories after school to some of the neighborhood children. Her mind is very sharp and she loves to talk to Gary. They laugh a lot together.

This is the farm house with the family garden in front.

Popcorn and the Typhoon

We received word from the area office that a huge typhoon was coming our way and that it would be a good idea to inform the missionaries all over the mission that they were to stay in their apartments as the weather turned bad in their area. Gary got the bright idea to make caramel corn and deliver it to all the missionaries in the Sendai area since we knew they would be home. We made big bags for 5 different apartments, attached a "love note" to them and set out into the storm to deliver them.

This picture of the typhoon doesn't look like much but ~trust me~it was really raining and windy. We perservered to the first apartment in Tagajo and delivered the popcorn to our two cute sisters there. Next to the Izumi Elders but when we got there, we found that they were stranded in Furukawa for the night where they had been doing splits during the day. No delivery there! We moved on to the Kamisugi Sisters but had a hard time finding their apartment. By now, we had been out in the typhoon for 2 1/2 hours and the streets were flooding and some were even closing because the drainage system couldn't handle all the water. We decided we should just go home~only having delivered one bag of popcorn. CRAZY!!

Birthday and MISC Happenings

These 9 Shimai came to stay at the Honbu for service the next day and helped Gary celebrate my birthday. Gary got these three cakes that we shared.

They helped arrange the flowers on the table. It is obvious they love to get together.

While they ate cake, I opened gifts from them and from my loving husband.
After our service the next day, all the missionaries presented me with this scrapbook they put together. This page included a picture of every missionary in the mission.
This is another cute page in the scrapbook. Other pages had short notes from each missionary and some pictures. It is a keepsake, for sure.
These are some of the notes and pictures cut out or colored by many of my grandchildren for my birthday. Priceless!!!
My sister, Jan sent me this "sisters" plaque.
Included in this picture is a musical Birthday card from the Jahanas, hand crocheted book mark from the Thomas', two pair of Japanese socks from the Shimai, a book of rememberances of the disaster written by children from Gary and the scrapbook opened to a collage page.
Quite often we receive packages in the mail from families or groups around the world who want to do something nice for the people in our area of Japan. This picture came with a box of blankets and little stuffed dolls from a YSA group and a senior missionary couple from the Hungary Budapest Mission. In their letter which was included in the box, they said, "This project has been a most humbling and emotional one, as we know how badly those in Japan need everything in the way of the most basic things. We realize it is a very small contribution. We have included some little dolls that were made by some of our missionaries in Greece. The Greece government would not permit the missionaries to give them out in Greece. I hope they might, along with the blankets, bring some comfort and joy to some of the children in your area of Japan." We are trying to get these blankets to an orphanage in Sendai.

We got another box in the mail last week from a Ward Primary in Spokane Washington. They had made over 100 Tic Tac Toe games made of felt. We will try to get these games to the Primary children in the mission. Aren't people nice in this world?

The APs give the felt games to the Stake Primary President in Sendai and she distributed them to all the ward Primarys in the Stake. These are pictures of one of the Primarys receiving their games. They were thrilled.

MISSION TOUR AND ZONE CONFERENCES WITH ELDER & SISTER AOYAGI

Elder Aoyagi of the 70 and in the Area Presidency speaking to our missionaries.

Sister Aoyagi was a perky, fun lady that everyone loved.

Aomori Zone Sept 2011

Special Musical Number All Creatures of our God and King sung by Sisters Asato & Maki, Elders Everett, Shaw, Mizoguchi and Yuasa.

Morioka Zone Sept 2011

The entire zone sang the special Musical Number I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go. Elders J. Taylor, Ohira, Watanabe, Robbins, Sisters Sumikawa & Sato, Elders Ikeda, Ishida, Tilleman-Dick. Elder Ovard played the piano.

Relief Society sisters cooked dinner for the Sendai Zone.

Sendai Zone Sept 2011

Roll playing "working with the Bishop". This particular picture shows how NOT to do it as you can see Elder Holbrook looking at the ceiling and not paying attention to the Bishop. He was hillarious to watch play this part.

Sister Aoyagi and I roll played meeting someone at their home. First we did it the wrong way and then the right way. The wrong way included kicking off shoes in the gankon a leaving them helter-skelter and sitting down with your coat and backpack on.

The Special Musical Number in Sendai was Lead Kindly Light sung by Sisters Tehei, Kumagai & Onda, and Elders Ellsworth, Ruefenacht and Oikawa.

Niigata Zone Sept 2011

The special musical number was A Child's Prayer sung by Elder K. Taylor, Sisters Yoshida and Yoshizawa, Elders Kendall, Gannon and Price. Elder Kurita lead them and Elder Preston was at the piano.

Elder and Sister Ouyagi made everyone wake up in the middle of the afternoon each day by doing actions to Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel while I sang it. That did the trick!