March Wrap Up!

March 29th we had the pleasure of attending the baptism of Thompson Kojo right here in Kobe. He was found and taught by our Sr. Missionary couples here in the office, the Wades and Painters. Elders Wade and Painter met him at Costco and after being prompted by the Spirit and crossing paths with him in the store three times, they asked him about the gospel. His lovely wife and little baby attended the baptism. She is now being taught the lessons by the sisters in Japanese. He is a very spiritual man with a strong Christian background. He was moved when he heard that the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored and began studying the Book of Mormon and received a firm testimony of that book and Joseph Smith after attending a fast and testimony meeting. We all hope he will have the chance to baptize his wife in the near future. Ricky went to Tokyo for a few days during spring break and attended youth conference in our old stake, Tokyo South. They had a clean up the beach service project one afternoon. Ricky is near the back on the right, just to the right of the young man standing in the back row. It is probably hard to pick him out!

Here are a few pictures from some of the other baptisms in the mission this month.

In Abeno, Sisters Meyers and Kogawa taught and baptized Sister Abe and her daughter, Nagisa. Elder Latimer and Kanno are also pictured and supported the sisters.Brother Kawasaki of Wakayama was taught by Elders Fishler and Hinton.And Sister Ishikawa was baptized in Okamachi. She was taught by many missionaries over a period of time. Elders West and Ito performed the baptism as she had to sit in a chair due to a bad back. She was taught by Sisters Sadler and Kurashita.Sister Mai Kuwamoto was taught and baptized in Tanabe by Elders Christiansen and Drake. There are more but these are the pictures I have now. The month of March was truly a wonderful month for the mission. Christ is the Reason and Joy is the Reward!

On the 30 and 31st, we held zone conferences and were visited by the Area Medical Advisers and their wives, Elder and Sister Brown and Elder and Sister Mead. Elder Brown is a medical doctor (orthopedic surgeon) and Elder Mead is a counseling psychologist. They taught the missionaries about physical and mental/emotional health during part of the conference. We enjoyed their training and wonderful testimonies.

The cherry blossoms are almost in full bloom and we are moving into our interview mode. April is here!