A Few Hours Visiting In Odate

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 We stopped in Odate for a few hours on Saturday for several reasons.  The Elder's apartment is in bad shape and they are in need of a new apartment that will be closer to the Eki and the new church building.  We picked them up in the morning and they took us to see two apartments they had picked out to choose from.  On our way to see the new apartments, we saw these ladies in costume selling food in front of the combini (convenience store like 7-11 in America) and Gary stopped to see what they were selling.  He can't help but buy something--mostly so the Elders had this fun experience and could learn to "open you mouth and talk to everyone".

Elder Ishida and Merkley (from Mesa!) with Gary picking out the soup they wanted.

Couldn't resist taking a picture with these ladies.  Gary makes a friend out of everyone.
 

Elder Ishida loves trains and could tell you any detail about any train ever created.  He has all the train schedules memorized in the entire mission.  He is very smart and a quiet, wonderful missionary.

Then we stopped to see the location of the new church in Odate.  This large room is on the second floor of an office building.   Some partitions will be installed to make several classrooms and a chapel out of this huge room.  It will be such a nice place to go to church.  Their current church is in pretty rough shape and is very small.  We are thrilled PBO has approved a new building for them.

Elder Ishida and Merkley are excited to move into a new apartment and a new church.
 

Odate is the birthplace of Hachi the dog who was so loyal to his owner.  It is a heartwarming story that is known all over Japan.  A museum is dedicated to Hachi and his breed of dogs.  This statue is outside the museum.

The missionaries and President Domon, Odate Branch President.

Elder Merkley is pretty confident this little puppy will only lick his fingers.

We love Odate.  Outside the museum is this bridge that goes over the roadway to a beautiful city park.
                                      
Notice what a great idea this is and it is something you see all over Japan because everyone rides a bike.  You can walk up the steps while your bike goes on the ramp at the side.  Brilliant!

Two faithful missionaries.  We sure love them.