November in Review

Zone Leader Council in the kitchen with Sis Furukawa.

 

We traveled with Sister Sato, who was recently baptized in the Nagamachi Ward, to visit her Father who lives near Ichinoseki.  She has given him a Book of Mormon and he enjoys reading it.  The Tanaka Couple visit him every week and he loves that but doesn't seem to be moving toward the church. This picture was taken at a little restaurant near his home.

He showed us these famous masks he owns.

 

He was a tatami mat maker before he retired.  He also loves to use a paintbrush to write in this old style.  He made this wall hanging for us.  The frame is made of tatami mat.


CCM At Our House

Elder Nishihara and President Uehara (Niigata District Pres) were insistant that they

do the dishes after lunch. Two wonderful Priesthood holders!!

Lunch consisted of BBQ Chicken sandwiches (No picture),

vegetable salad and potato salad, and pumpkin cake.

I guess I am becoming very Japanesey because they take picture of food

 and I find myself doing that, too.

 

Gary and his Mission Presidency after the CCM Meeting.

 

 

Sunday in Kitakami

A potluck lunch was served after church. 

 

 

This 12 year old boy was dressed in his suit and ready to pass the sacrament.  Very impressive young man.  He will be a great missionary just like Elder Haltli and Yoneda.

Sister Takahashi and 3 of her 5 children.  Her husband is in the District Presidency of Morioka District. She is a very happy person and they have a good family.

Kitakami Branch Picture

Some of the good sisters

 

Visit to the  Museum in

Hanamaki for Miazawa Kenji

We felt like we were back in Tucson when we saw this Wildcat Shop.

 

The enterance to the museum.

 

November means FALL and the colors were beautiful.

FHE to start the Holiday Season

Because we always have so many non-members attend FHE, we talked about the meaning of Christmas and showed them the church video of Joy To The World.

Pres. and Sis. Sugawara have never missed a FHE.  She brings me her Sugawara Jelly (jello) every time she comes.  It is quite famous in the Stake and not many (or any) have the recipe but she gave it to me.  I love this dessert.

The house was decorated for Christmas and all of our Nativities were displayed. 

This sweet non-member gave Gary a corsage that she made for him.

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.