They enjoyed the morning run up to Maruyama Park.
And they had fun trying out the obstacle course.
As their welcome dinner, we had our family and Kobe District Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. For some of the Japanese missionaries, this was the first time to eat turkey (and many other American holiday foods).
Rick made it home from basketball just in time to catch some turkey with all missionaries.
We had both dining rooms full with about 30 people. The Kobe missionaries invited some of their investigators to join us as well.
It happened to be Sister Pyper's birthday so we had a great big cake surprise for her!
Sister McIntyre made her a cute face cookie as well.
Sisters Ise and Pyper both worked hard with Sister McIntyre to prepare such a big meal for all these servants of the Lord. And it was delicious!
On orientation day, we took the new missionaries and the office staff to a sushi lunch.
The new missionaries enjoyed it and ate a lot!
It was the first time for a few of them, but everyone found something they liked. Some were pretty brave in my opinion!
This new group is unique in some ways. All the elders come with some Japanese ancestry. Elder Enta is Japanese and from Japan. Elder Price is quarter Japanese as one of his grandmothers is Japanese. The other three elders are half Japanese all having Japanese mothers. It is a great group and we are excited to work with them.
Sister Inoue and Yamashita help Sister Ise and Sister McIntyre in the kitchen.
Elder Christie served in Kobe twice and for almost half of his mission. When we arrived he was working in the office and was a great help to us in getting started in our new calling. He is fully bilingual, half Japanese, half American, and went to school at BYU Hawaii before coming back on his mission here. For the past several months he has been serving as my assistant here in Kobe again. Of course Sister McIntyre thinks he was her assistant and gave him his Assistant to the President's Wife apron.
On our morning run on his last day in Japan, we made it to the park just in time for the sunrise. Elders Matsuoka, Christie and Sister McIntyre show us why this is called the land of the rising sun!
Then they admire the work of the Lord! (sporting their custom made I Love Kobe T-shirts made by Elder Matsuoka's mother)
This was transfer day and Elder Matsuoka transferred after 6 months as the mission commissariat and Elder Christie returned home. It was a beautiful morning and yet a little sad to see these great missionaries move on.
This a shot of the mission home property today take from the same angle a little farther back across the street. You can still see the old wall running along the road. Today the Kobe Stake Center and mission offices also stand on the property.
These were the old letters. Note sure how old they were, but they date back anywhere from 15 to 20 years ago. Erika and Sammy summer of 2008!
Here is the new lettering. A little smaller but shiny gold!
Here is a picture of the current home from about the same spot.
Here is a current shot of the church and mission home further back from the same angle.
The church today from the front driveway of the mission home and our basketball court.
Front of the Kobe church today. The mission offices and missionary apartments are directly behind the church.
Entrance to the Kobe Mission Office behind the Kobe Chapel.
We tried to get a shot of everyone but it was difficult. In front is little Melina, who was baptized with her father, standing between Sisters Keneko and Yamashita who taught Sisters Li and Gogan.
A quick stop at Shakey's Pizza in Kyoto on the day of interviews. Below are some attempts to get a picture of the zone while eating
The sisters sat by us at a separate table.
We thought this would look like a Mormon Family photo. We got at least three generations in there! It was a nice long log. Just long enough for us to all sit on.
