A New Year Begins - January 2009

This a picture of Sister Yamada who was taught and baptized by Elders Badger and Stufflebeam in the Kita Rokko ward in the Kobe Stake. We travelled to the ward on Monday, January 12th, which is a Japanese holiday, and enjoyed making mochi with the members and then attended the baptismal service. These two elders knew each other before their missions and were actually very good if not best friends. I am not sure if they ever thought they would be companions, but what a special experience it was for them to teach and baptize this sister together. They will have a great story to tell to the ward back home. There is much more to this story, but I will just say it is really one of the great little miracles we see everyday in the mission. Above, the assistants, Elders Bohman and Rasmussen doing one of those acts of service for the president. Washing the president's van is something the missionaries never complain about doing, even when it is pretty cold out!
The first of the month, right after zone conferences, we had the chance to travel to Tokyo for two days to attend several of Ricky's basketball games.

Here he is with us at St. Mary's Int'l School in Tokyo after a game. Ricky attended this school for 2 years when he was in grade school. He never converted to Catholicism though!We tried to get a shot of Mt. Fuji from the car. Here you can see the volcano cone peaking through the clouds on the left side. The summit of Mt. Fuji is nearly 14,000 feet. It is the highest point in Japan.