Called to Serve

"I hope they call me on a mission..." and the Lord did long before we thought we were ready or were planning! On December 20th 2007, we were interviewed by President Henry B. Eyring and called to serve a mission for three years as Mission President in the Japan Kobe Mission. We have always wanted to serve a mission, but thought we would do so after the kids were all out of high school. Needless to say, the timing of this call was somewhat of a surprise. The meeting with President Eyring changed everything, including our lives. The past several months have been busy as we prepare our personal and professional lives as well as our family for the next three years. We are grateful and humbled by this opportunity to serve and pray the Lord will continue to bless our family as we serve Him and His children in Japan. We hope to keep everyone informed as to how we are doing during our mission. This blog will let us post journal entries and pictures for family and friends. We will be busy but hope we can update everyone once and a while on our preperation day!

Erika (our oldest daughter -see below) thought it would be fun to show what President and Sister McIntyre looked like when they were younger. This is our engagement announcement photo. Thanks Erika for putting this up!

Below is us today as we start our mission. We have been married 22 years and will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in the mission field just before returning home in 2011. We haven't changed a bit! Right?

We report to the MTC on June 21st for the Mission President's Seminar and will fly out to Japan on June 26th. We will officially start the mission in Japan on June 30th, 2008. We are excited and nervous at the same time. But very grateful to be able to serve the Japanese people and work with all the wonderful Elders and Sisters that will be called to Kobe during our term as President.

Here is a picture of our 4 wonderful children. This was taken in the summer of 2006.
From left to right:
Julie (18 in June), Eric or Ricky (16 in July), Erika (21) and James (12)

The boys will accompany us to Kobe.
Julie and Erika will go with us to Kobe in July, but return to BYU in the Fall.

More later....

From the Church News

New mission presidents
February 16, 2008
Seven mission presidents and their wives have been called by the First Presidency to begin their service about July 1. Their mission assignments will be announced later.

William Arthur McIntyre Jr., 44, Tokyo 1st Ward, Tokyo Japan South Stake; counselor in stake presidency; former bishop and counselor, high councilor, stake Young Men president, assistant Scoutmaster and missionary in the Japan Tokyo South Mission. President and general manager, Franklin Covey Japan. Born in Sacramento, Calif., to William Arthur and Lovern Kimball McIntyre. Married Rika Ito, four children. A stake Young Women president, Sister McIntyre is a former counselor in the stake Primary presidency, counselor in ward Relief Society and Young Women presidencies, Cub Scout leader and nursery leader. Born in Fukushima, Japan, to Rikuro and Tomiko Kuroba Ito.