Preparation Day in Kyoto with the Sakura!

A wonderful spring preparation day in Kyoto with some of the missionaries and sakura in bloom.

The Kiyomizudera Temple was the most crowded but beautiful as always.

The top of the pagoda with some cherry blossoms.
This is the entrance to the temple. Elders Hobson and Burton are standing up by the orange gate.Elder Hobson could not resist the chance to preach to the people.

A shot from the Kiyomizudera looking down on overcast Kyoto.

Sisters Kobayashi, Patrick and Kaneko at Kiyomizudera.
Here we are on one deck of the temple looking back at the other side. Pretty crowded.
We also stopped at the Fushimi Inari Shrine which is famous for all its torii gates. I think there are over 5000 at the shrine. As you see the pictures you will know what I am talking about. Above the Elders wash before entering the shrine, a Shinto custom or ritual.

We met up with some more missionaries at this shrine and took a cool picture in this torii gate tunnel.

Here we are in a smaller tunnel of hundreds of torii gates.A fork in the road. At the shrine they say if you can pick up the rock and it is not heavy your wish will come true. Elder Oshiro thought it was heavy, but Sister McIntyre said it was not very heavy.
I didn't think it was heavy either. Looking forward to our wishes coming true!

Elder Burton talks to a young man at the entrance of the shrine.

We stopped by the Fushimi Momoyama Castle as well. It was a great little castle surrounded by cherry trees in bloom. Here are the missionaries posing at the back side of the castle. If there is wall, Sister McIntyre will climb it. Don't know what I am going to do with her!
Here she is doing her crouching tiger hidden dragon move on the bamboo trees.

Great day in Kyoto, but I think I have seen enough Sakura for a while. Back to work!

Cherry Blossoms in Kobe

Gokoku Shrine a two minute walk from the mission home. On the Sakura Tunnel Street walking to Maya Mountain. 10 minute walk from the mission home.

At Gokoku Jinja

Posing at the shrine.

The Japanese sakura

View of the main gate of the shrine.

Finally feeling like spring here!

Transfer Week!

We welcomed 9 new elders to the Kobe Mission this past week. One is from Australia, one from the Philippines, 2 from the US and 5 from Japan. All attended the MTC in Provo and arrived together. Two of the Japanese elders were in Sister Erika McIntyre' class in the MTC. She is now a teacher for the Japanese missionaries at the MTC.Front row left to right - Sister McIntyre, Elders Toring, Tateishi, McKellar, Tsushima and President McIntyre. Back Row - Elders Matsukura, Nakamura, Cannon, Kuroda and Usui. Welcome dinner with the family.

Above - Departing Group Dinner. We returned 5 five great elders this week as well.

Elders Remund, Capener, Ito, Maeno and Lytle pose with their cards and cake.

Recent Baptisms From the Field

Yabuuchi Shimai in Yamato Koriyama with Elders Kurose and Price. Yanagida Kyodai in Amagasaki with Elders Ritchie and Honda.

Sawai Kyodai in Nabari with Elders Chamochumbi and Imi.

Yoshino Kyodai in Hashimoto with Elders Coburn and Sjavik.

Happy Birthday President!

Sister McIntyre made President a great cake and apple pie for his birthday! The office missionaries also brought treats and everyone enjoyed a small celebration!

Another older and hopefully wiser!

Kobe Mission Area after July 1, 2010

These may be hard to see due to the small size, but we just finished creating the area map of the new mission boundaries after the consolidation of Hiroshima. We are adding the light blue areas (Okayama Stake) on the left and the whole island of Shikoku (the long purple and grey island areas) at the bottom. The geographic size of the mission is doubling. The expanded mission will have 64 church units with approximately 17,500 members and a population of about 30 million people. Each color grouping above represents a stake or member district within the mission.

It will be a much more time consuming job for us to travel the whole mission for interviews and conferences every transfer, but we are excited by the opportunity and look forward to having about 40 more missionaries and meeting many more wonderful members throughout Japan.

Weekend Baptisms in the Fukuchiyama Member District - March 2010

Brother Kishida was baptized in the Toyooka Branch this weekend. Brother Kishida's daughter Keiko Johnson and her family flew in from Utah to be at the baptism and Brother Johnson (son-in-law) perform the baptism. Sister Kishida has been a member for nearly 40 years and was one of the first members in Toyooka. This past year or so Brother Kishida has been studying the gospel diligently and was taught by several missionaries that served in the branch. It was a very special and long awaited baptismal service. The end of last month, Elders Shepley and Everts challenged Brother Kishida, who has had some health concerns, to fast and pray so that he could be baptized on March 20th. He accepted the commitment and we were able to witness a wonderful baptism on that day. Brother Kishida is looking forward to attending the temple and being sealed as a family and doing temple work for his family.I cannot emphasize the importance of the work we do among part-member families. Creating eternal families is central to our purpose as missionaries. We are gathering the blood of Israel. Is there not a better place to look for that blood than in a home where the blood already exists? We have seen an increase in baptisms among spouses, children and parents of members. These are truly answers to the prayers of faithful members. Many have prayed and been faithful for years in hopes of seeing their loved ones come unto Christ. We must be mindful of these people and patiently work with them and their loved ones to help them come unto to Christ.
Toyooka Branch members after the baptism.

The Furutani Family, a wonderful family in Toyooka, will be moving to Yamaguchi Prefecture next week. We are so sad to see them go. Brother Furutani has served in the District Presidency for several years. This weekend we had the chance to say goodbye one more time and get this picture with their family. We love their cute girls who always brighten up the church whenever we visit.Sister Miyagaki was baptized in the Fukuchiyama Branch. She was found and taught by Elders McGuire and Solomon.

Members of Fukuchiyama Branch attending the baptism at the river. Second baptism at this river in the past month!

Fukuchiyama Castle from the car on the drive to the river.

We love the Fukuchiyama District and the wonderful members there!

Spring is Here!

She has either grown horns or is being attacked by that plant on our patio!

Spring is here!

Recent Converts

Sister Takagi was baptized in Hanayashiki Ward by Elders Bennion, Kurose and Neider. Elders Monson and Capener baptized Brother Kawamoto in Hirakata Ward.

Brother Miura was baptized in Yamato Koriyama Ward by Elders Imai and Price.

Brother Takashima was baptized in Nabari Branch by Elders Buerger, Chamochumbi and Imi.

Brother Takinami was baptized in Himeji Ward by Elders Kimura and Andreasen.

Brother Ikeda was baptized in Hanayashiki Ward by Elders Kurose and Bennion.

Recent Pictures From Kobe

Elder Hobson shows his face cookie. It was his birthday this week and we had our little fun in the office. Office staff and Kobe district.Elder Hobson's cookie from Sister McIntyre

We hit Mister Donuts in Abeno after lunch during our interviews. Elder Escalante shows of his strawberry bear donut. President McIntyre loves donuts!

On a recent preparation day we went downtown in Osaka to Umeda with the Pypers and ate crab and shrimp at the New Hankyu Hotel. Great as usual. They also served the famous poisonous Japanese puffer fish which we ate and fortunately survived.

At our recent interviews in Mikunigaoka, former Elder Kunihiro showed up to say hello. He will be off to BYU Hawaii in a few weeks. Now Brother Kunihiro!

Got a shot of mom with the boys the other night. They are both bigger than her now and almost bigger than dad (well Ricky already is). Rick is still trying to decide between BYU Hawaii and Provo.