Sister Julie McIntyre in Fukuoka

Julie is having a great mission in Fukuoka, Japan. She is currently serving in the Fukuoka area. We miss her but are comforted by the fact that she is engaged in the same work we are only in the mission next door. She sent us a few pics I will share here.
Sad because the fridge is bare! Halloween party in Fukuoka.

Preparation day district trip to the zoo.

Here she is with her district and Sister Hobson, the sister of Elder Hobson who went home a few months ago from the Kobe Mission. The Hobson family is now in Japan and visited Kobe today.

The district in Fukuoka.

Looking very cool with her green bike.

We love you Sister McIntyre!

Julie's "Seijinshiki" (Coming of Age) Pictures

"Coming of Age Day" in Japan is in January. This year it falls a few days after Julie enters the MTC. In Japan you become an official adult when you turn 20. In early January, all young adults turning 20 during that year are officially recognized by the government as adults and on the designated day (usually January 15th) they hold coming of age ceremonies at government offices throughout Japan.These are Julie's coming of age photos! She is off to her mission in a few weeks to Fukuoka, Japan. We think she is beautiful! It is customary to take photos in traditional Japanese dress to commemorate the event.

Glad she can enter the mission field as an adult! Even though she will be the youngest sister serving a full time mission in the church.Look out Fukuoka. Here comes Sister McIntyre!

Ibaraki Mission Prep Seminar 2009

This year's mission prep seminar was held on October 31st in Ibaraki. Just before that, we had the chance to watch Julie open her mission call via live Internet. Below is her reaction to seeing that she was called to Fukuoka, Japan.Here are some of the staff and attendees at the seminar. There were about 70 prospective missionaries in attendance. In the morning I led a 1 hour session focusing on Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel, The Attributes of Christ.

Here we introduced our mission theme which is based on the 9 attributes of Christ listed in PMG.

Later we had many of our missionaries join in and actually go out and proselyte with the attendees. Here is good shot of the missionaries.

We had curry for lunch and enjoyed the conference. It was great to see all the potential elders and sisters from Kansai.

Julie is called to Fukuoka Japan Mission - We now have three Sister McIntyre's!

Julie, our second oldest, received her mission call today to serve in the Japan Fukuoka Mission. We are very proud of her and her decision to serve a mission and excited about her call! She reports to the MTC January 12th.From little girl in a kimono to high school cheerleader in Tokyo and now a missionary in Fukuoka! They grow up fast!

With Julie entering the mission field, we will have three Sister McIntyre's serving at the same time. Sister Erika McIntyre in Sapporo, Sister Julie McIntyre in Fukuoka, and mom, Sister Rika McIntyre in Kobe. What a blessing that is for our family.

Julie loves Japan and lived through high school in Tokyo. Fukuoka will be a little more rural than Tokyo! Julie just finished her third semester at BYU and is not yet 21 (the normal minimum age for sister missionaries). However, since we are serving as a family, she is allowed to start her mission at a younger age.

The timing will work out well as Julie will finish her 18 month mission the same time we complete our three years. Erika will be returning in Late January or Early February after 18 months of service.

Short Update August 5, 2009

This past week we attended a wonderful baptism in Senri, Osaka North Stake. Sister Hirai Ayaka was found through street contacting and taught by Sisters Inoue and Kaneko. Her baptism was performed by Elder Sheffield. Elder Burton is also pictured with us.Last Saturday, the Kansai Branch and Kobe Ward held their annual summer festival, Matsuri. Sister McIntyre and I dressed up in our summer Japanese local wear for the occasion.
Julie is back in Utah and attending BYU, but took some time for a trip to Lake Powell with her friends. I did see a video of her up on one ski as well. Julie and Jeff at Rainbow Arch.

Amanda and Julie on the houseboat.

Julie and Jeff getting ready for some water sports.

Summer is at its peak now in the mission. Most days are very humid and hot. It will be this way into September. The end of September, October and November can be great weather wise here in Japan. We just have to watch out for the typhoons that tend to blow through in the fall. Proselyting in heavy typhoon rains is not very fun or dry. The boys start school on August 21st. They have been taking it pretty easy (sleeping in and playing basketball mostly).

Happy Birthday Julie!

Julie's birthday was June 12th at the end of a busy transfer week. We had a chance to have some cake, go out to dinner and go bowling. I am sure she loves this picture! Julie turned 19 and will be going back to BYU for Summer Term this coming week. She will take the boys back with her and they will attend summer camps in Utah. of course Of course Rika and I will remain here on our mission!

Ricky enjoying some cake while Julie opens a present.

June Birthdays in the Office

After a district lunch in the office this week, we had some cake in honor of our three birthdays. Julie, who is still with us for a few more weeks, and Elders Bohman and Rasmussen all have birthdays this month.Sister McIntyre made the traditional look alike face cookie for each of them.The elders got another treat from Sister McIntyre. She made them APW aprons which they are proudly modeling below. APW stands for Assistant to the President's Wife. Not an official mission term, but I think she is jealous because I have three assistants and she has none. Elder Fishler is looking for his apron soon I suppose. Elder Bohman goes home next week and we figure he can use this at school. If nothing else, it will certainly make him popular with the co-eds at BYU.

Making Pottery in Kyoto

President Tamaya of the Kyoto Stake is a well known potter and artisan in Japan. His works are beautiful. He lives in the mountains outside of Kyoto in a wonderful picturesque valley along side a little stream. He built a workshop for his pottery next to his house and Rika and Julie visited him recently and were able to create some art of their own.
Soon there will be fireflies in the hills and Rika looks forward to returning to see them.Julie with President Tamaya in front of his home.

Rika at the wheel.

Julie took some classes in pottery and enjoys creating useful and decorative pottery. They look forward to visiting again sometime. We are grateful to President Tamaya for letting them have some fun at his wonderfiul home and workshop.

May Activity Update

We have recently assigned additional missionaries to the Hirakata area of the Osaka Stake. Hirakata was the old headquarters for the Osaka Mission. The old mission home and offices still stand on the property next to the nice three story church building. The Hirakata district now consists of 4 elders and two sisters who all live right there on the church property.We took a picture of them after interviews on May 15th. The next day there were two convert baptisms in the area, the first in some time. Pictured above - Sister and Pres. McIntyre, Sister Kogawa, Elder Murphy, Sister Yamashita and Elders Bahr, Campbell and Honma.The sisters live in the old Mission Home Residence. They occupy just the first floor and are very happy to be there! The elders all live in the elders quarters in a separate building over the old mission offices.While I was in Tokyo at the Mission President's Seminar, Rika took Julie to Himeji Castle. It is only a little over an hour drive from Kobe. They went on the tour of the inside. Below is a shot of the town out of one of the windows. In other news, for some reason, James wanted to get a buzz cut. We did not argue. Julie and I were happy to help him out.He started a trend as three of his friends came home from school the next day with him and asked us to cut their hair too.
We wanted to leave his half done.
The buzz boys. James is on the far right. To be thirteen again!!
More updates soon!

Julie in Tokyo

Julie appears to be in her element in Shibuya and Harajuku, Tokyo this past week.Crepes in Shibuya. Brings back a lot of memories. Hachiko square in Shibuya with Liz and Becka.

Yes, Julie loves Tokyo. It is just a little different than Provo, Utah!

Julie is in Kobe!

The sakura have all fallen, but the azaleas are almost in full bloom. The mission home and office are surrounded by these pretty flowers. Along with Spring, Julie arrived back in Kobe where she will spend spring term before going back to BYU. We are so happy to see her and have her back with us for a while.

The kids minus Erika doing some posing for the camera.

James is now taller than Julie. That was not the case at Christmastime when she was here last.

Ricky is passing me up a little and James is now taller than mom.

Sunday the 26th we attended the Kansai Branch in Kobe. After church we had a lunch with the Wades, the Kobe sisters and a recent convert and his wife here at the mission home. After lunch we had a great lesson with everyone there. Later in the afternoon we attended a get together for recent Young Single Adult converts in the Kobe Stake. We had five young men (all in their 20's) that have been baptized since the first of the year in attendance. We have been focusing on finding the elect and doing so by focusing our efforts on the younger generation. These young people may serve missions and will marry and establish strong LDS families. The Lord has blessed our efforts and we are seeing the church estblished and future leaders coming unto Christ in the mission.