(quote from Gary's journal)Last night 9 Shimais (sister missionaries) showed up at the house to spend the night so we could get an early (6:20 a.m.) start. We set up five futons to go with the four beds and were all set for them. Pam chose to just give them instant ramens and miso soup for supper rather than fixing spaghetti and lasagna or something like that (good for her!). It is so fun to have the Shimais come. Seven of them are Japanese and the other two are from New Zealand and Tahiti. They all talk a mile a minute and bring such an energy and enthusiasm to any room that they enter. We love them! We had about half our missionaries coming in but they were coming from all over the mission. With that investment of time and money for transportation, we became very concerned when the weather forecast called for 20% chance of rain in the morning and 60% chance in the afternoon. That forecast was on the heels of three or four consecutive days of steady rain. The people at the service project said that if it rained much at all, they would have to cancel our project because it would be too muddy. So I turned to our sweet Shimais last night, explained the situation to them, and ask that they would exercise their faith and prayers so that it wouldn't rain on our project today. Guess what happened. The clouds were dark, the mist was all over the valley where we were, it felt like it might at least drizzle, but nothing. Nary a drop......until tonight when it just poured. Some would call it a coincidence, but I love the faith of these great missionaries, and I am grateful that Heavenly Father would recognize this request to accommodate a wonderful service activity from some of the finest people on earth that I know! A little miracle in Watari.e .
You would think they hadn't seen each other in years. Sister Tauira, Sister Sato and Sister Asato.
Eating a ramen at the dining room table. Sister Tanaka, Sister Furukawa and Sister Tehei.
This group was talking a mile a minute at the kitchen table. Sister Sumikawa, Sister Murase and Sister Maki
Gary and Elder Tanaka getting off the bus and ready for the walk into the strawberry fields.
The location we worked in was a beautiful rural valley surrounded by farm houses and fields of crops--rice, onions, all sorts of vegetables. Just a gorgeous location.
Our fearless Assistants to the President. They do a lot of planning and arranging to make these service projects happen. We surely appreciate their hard work.
Finally arrived at the fields.
Ready to walk into the fields to start working.
The structures that will hold the strawberries. There were dozens of these and each was very long. If you go to this website, it will show you what the finished project will look like. http://www.e-tohoku.jp/vod/itigo_m.asx
Elder Robbins, Elder Lundell and Elder Holbrook
Ready for our instructions for the day from the farmers.
Elder Watanabe and Gary talking to one of the strawberry farmers and his wife. He told how the strawberry fields were wiped out by the tsunami in March. After some attempts to restart their crops in Hokkaido, they determined to try again in Miyagi and move further west away from the ocean where the salt water from the tsunami has spoiled the soil. The farmers have a lot of work to do and were very happy to see the boys in the yellow shirts show up to help. Our missionaries are hard workers and accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.
Elder Aiura rubbing his shoulder is how everyone felt at the end of the day. Today was lots of hard labor and everyone LOVED it.
These next few pictures show the actual work we did to these structures. The purpose was to make the structure strong by securing poles together with pieces of hardware. Today we worked on the ground level. Next week we will do the same thing but further up the stucture so we can stand and not have to kneel on the ground in the mud.
Team work
The missionaries have fun together at lunch time. Elder Narita and Sister Furukawa.
Eating bento lunch on a mud hill. Sister Tauira and Elder Thomas.
Great companions Sister Tanaka and Sister Tauira.
Sitting in a triangle helps an aching back. Sister Asato, Sister Maki and Sister Tehei
Sister Asato and Sister Murase
Elder Ruefenacht, Sister Sumikawa and Elder Juchau during a break.
This little tiny backhoe was so funny, I thought. It looked like a child's toy at a playground-especially with the stickers on it but not so. It has done much of the work preparing the ground for this project.
Another miniature sized piece of equipment.
Maki, Furukawa and Asato Shimai. The girls were in charge of dropping the pieces of hardware by each post in each of the structures so the guys could come along and hammer the pieces in place.
