Birthdays in Kobe End of March 2011

Elder Crapo, recently transferred from Tokyo, was in Kobe for training on his birthday and was treated to a face cookie from Sister McIntyre.Elder Maeda visited Kobe on his birthday to celebrate it with President McIntyre whose birthday was the same day.President got a face cookie too!The missionaries in the Kobe District decorated the office and had a small party for President McIntyre and Elder Maeda. Sister Julie McIntyre serving in Okinawa sent dad a cool T-shirt. The missionaries got president a pair of cool basketball shoes signed by each missionary in the district. President tried them on and wore them during preparation day in the office. Before the party, everyone had lunch together at the Burger Pit where they enjoyed delicious Kobe beef hamburgers and fries. It was a great preparation day in Kobe.

No More McDonalds for President - Just for Fun!

Unless they get rid of that clown, President said he will never eat at McDonalds again! And for a good reason. Sister McIntyre looks a little too happy with that guy! Needless to say the missionaries love this shot. Thanks Sister Kina for sending it to us. This was taken earlier this year.

Kobe Flower and Bird Park

The boys are back in school so for preparation day we took a few hours and went to a great bird and flower park on Port Island in Kobe. The flowers were beautiful, but we enjoyed taking pictures of all the exotic birds. We start a busy transfer week tomorrow so this was a nice way to relax. Enjoy the pictures!

Now that is a Lily pad. These were really cool. If the weight is evenly distributed, they can support up to 100 kilos. We decided not to try though.

This one kept poking me in the side.

Ever wonder how ducks can walk on water? It is easy when you step on the fish.

The ducks were a little annoying. They followed us around and pulled on our pant legs until we would feed them.

Rika made a lot of friends.

This was her favorite duck.

There were many more kinds of birds and gorgeous tropical flowers hanging from the ceilings. We were surprised it was so nice and that there was such a wide variety of birds. I did not post any pictures, but they had an owl collection that was quite impressive. Owls from all over the world, 30 or 40 different kinds. Enough about the birds. Back to the missionaries!

President's Birthday

It was president's birthday this month and Sister McIntyre made him a special cookie! He got many notes and cards and some other unique and memorable little gifts from the missionaries. We may share more on that in the next entry! We have some pretty creative missionaries... Not the best shot, but March was a busy month and I think I was little tired here. James made a great chocolate cake and tried to spell something out with peanut M&M's. It was delicious. The office staff (I should say Elder Fukui) made a strawberry whip cream cake (my favorite) and made a very creative poster (using the creative art talent of Elder Andrews) based on the circle of life (Lion King). Everyone in the mission home and office was represented and transformed into an animal character from the movie.

It was a busy day as we attended four baptisms that day starting in Amagasaki at 10 am. We arrive back home at around 9:30 pm after the last baptism in Sekime, Osaka.

Ashley Reese was baptized in Amagasaki ward. She is pictured with her family and Elders Christie and Shoaf who taught her. We will try and post more of our missionary and convert pictures from this month in the next post.

Sister Shimokawa and Brother Sugino were baptized in Sekime. They are planning to marry soon and she introduced him to the missionaries after she was found and started the lessons. They were taught by many missionaries over several months. Most have returned home. Elders Beecher and Stennett taught them this past few months and baptized them. They both shed tears as they shared their testimonies. It was a powerful and Spirit filled meeting. A few days before the baptism, she was thinking about changing her mind because she was nervous and a little scared by the commitment. As they knelt in prayer with the missionaries and the bishop (who attended the lesson!) to ask if they should go through with the baptism, she had a undeniable confirmation from the Spirit that she should be baptized. He also (Sugino) said he felt like his chest was on fire and he had never felt anything like it before. We have seen many great conversions in the mission so far this year and hope to see many more! All I can say is that people can and do change. And true conversion takes place through the power of the Spirit. It is real and there are people out there prepared to receive, and searching for, the truth and happiness the gospel of Jesus Christ provides. We know they are the elect because they hear the voice of the Lord and harden not their hearts. (D&C 29:7) And we have been called to gather the elect!

Sister Yamashita had a birthday this month as well. We thought her cookie and red cheeks were a good likeness.

Sister Erika McIntyre in Sapporo continues to have a great mission experience. Here she is above knocking on doors with her companion. She was made a new trainer this past transfer.

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!