Holiday Pictures and Wrap Up

We had a wonderful few weeks over the holidays filled with family time as well as a lot of mission business.

The Sunday after Christmas we travelled to the Sakai stake center (below) for the baptism of Sister Kohigashi.

Below is Sister Kohigashi with us and Sisters Webb and Inoue.

Between Christmas and New Years we took a day to play in Osaka. This (below) is the Dotonbori area.Rika and Julie are doing their Glico Man impression (He is the big guy on the wall behind them)
Mom loves crab, but Julie was not smiling in this shot? Everyone loved the shabu shabu though. Here is a shot of the kids getting ready for the feast.
Mom and Dad enjoyed the meal too.
We had some fun on the street playing the drums. Ricky was the champ!
Julie found a new boy friend while we were shopping. He was quite buff.
She wanted to take him home, but he wouldn't fit in the car. He didn't talk much either.
On New Year's Day we had a sports day at the Ibaraki stake center in Osaka. Since the 2nd was Zone Conference for many of the missionaries from the outer areas, we had a big group in town for the activity.
It was a fun day for everyone. We had basketball, soccer, volleyball and a mean game of dodge ball. They don't quite look the same without their suits and name tags though.
On the 4th, we attended the baptism of Maria Kawakami in the Hanayashiki Ward. She was taught by many missionaries over several months. In this picture are Elders Reading, West and Ashdown, and Sisters Meyers and Kurashita.

We had Zone conferences on the 2nd and 5th of January. We are now through the holidays and back to normal. Julie returned to BYU in Provo on Sunday. We already miss her.

We are off to a great start in 2009 and look forward to a great year.