Transfer Week - March 2009

Our 5 new Elders from left to right - Elders Mizuguchi, Magleby, Sheffield, Childs and Everts. Elder Sheffield tries Japanese Natto (fermented beans) at breakfast. A brave elder in my book! For their first lunch in Japan, they wanted to try sushi. So we took them to the 100 yen sushi shop and they enjoyed it.

Elders Andrews and Everts with us.

Above - Elders Fukui, Mizuguchi, Magleby and Bohman

Above - Elders Rasmussen, Childs, Throop and Sheffield.

A highlight of the orientation was the baptism of Brother Hamaguchi (below), a great young man of 22 who lives next to the mission home. I have never heard such a sincere and powerful testimony shared at a baptism by a new member as Brother Hamaguchi's. His conversion is a powerful story of the Spirit confirming to him the Book of Mormon is the word of God. The promise in Moroni works if people would only sincerely put it to the test.He was taught by Elders Rasmussen and Bohman. Here he is with the new missionaries, the office and Kobe Elders and us. Having a baptism in Kobe one of the nights the new missionaries are here for orientation is a wonderful blessing. It demonstrates to the new missionaries one of the reasons why we are here and gets them excited to get out in the field and find more people like these new converts! Literally a few minutes after we send the new missionaries out with their new companions, the returning missionaries arrive at the mission home and we prepare them to return home. After interviews and some final street contacting in Kobe, they joined us for a nice sukiyaki dinner. After dinner, final testimonies are shared and we drive up the mountain to take some night pictures of Kobe from the mountain top.We are returning 4 fine elders this transfer. Elders Goesch, Anderegg, Hara and Henderson. After breakfast, we take a final group picture and then take them to the bullet train headed for Tokyo. After dropping off the missionaries, we hurried back to prepare for lunch and Zone Leader Council in the afternoon. The weather was nice so we cooked hamburgers on the grill with all 20 or so mission leaders then we met together to plan zone conference and the direction of the mission for the next several weeks.
As transfer week winds down, so does my energy! Sister McIntyre caught me catching up on sleep and Sammy finding a comfortable spot with me on the couch. By Friday evening everything is about done. Too tired to make dinner, we usually try to go out and just relax or have a date night. We still have a busy weekend to look forward to!