Monday, March 28, 2011

Kouchi Branch Conference March 27, 2011

Sunday we attended the Kouchi Branch Conference on Shikoku. Kouchi is a wonderful branch in the Matsuyama Member District.

Here is a picture of the church. It has been remodeled inside (converted into a church) and is very clean and functional. Seating capacity in the chapel is 80 people. We had 57 in attendance branch conference.Kouchi is on the Pacific Coast of Shikoku Island. It takes about 3.5 hours by car to get there by car from Kobe. At one point you drive straight across from the Inland Sea to the Pacific Coast. This takes you across some rugged mountainous country and the expressway literally takes you more through the mountains than over them. There are 22 tunnels on the way and most are several kilometers long. Kouchi is the 4th largest city on Shikoku. It is a castle town and boasts a proud history. This is a view of part of the city from the castle park. After conference on our way home we took a walk through the castle park which is only a few minutes by car from the church.

The cherry blossoms were just barely starting to bloom, but this one tree was already looking like spring had sprung.

Near the entrance to the park below the castle.
Elders Escalante and Tsushima serving in Kouchi. Kouchi Sisters preparing for lunch after conference.
Some of the food. There was a lot more.
The Takemura Family minus Brother Takemura who is in Tokyo. The Takemura's live in Tokyo and Brother Takemura worked with me for many years at Franklin Covey. Sister Takemura is originally from Kouchi and she is in town with the kids visiting her family.
We also met the Yamamoto family. Brother Yamamoto served with me in Tokyo as a young missionary. He now has this wonderful family. Unfortunately he was away in Tokyo on business and not in this picture with us.
It was a wonderful day in Kouchi. After arriving home we enjoyed dinner with James who stayed back in Kobe with the missionaries.

2 comments:

Kay Walther said...

It is so nice to see Kouchi branch on your blog. I was baptized in Kouchi many years ago as a high school student. I used to attend meetings at the 3 story building. I wonder when they moved to the new one story building.

Linda Abel said...

I served in Kouchi in 1993. The church building was a multi-story building. I have he same question as Kay - when did they move to another building?