This past week we said goodbye to Elder and Sister Painter who have spent the past year and a half serving in Japan as our office couple. The office couple serve as our office secretary and financial secretary. They also can engage in proselyting, help with English classes and in training the missionaries. There is a lot of back office support that goes into running a mission, and they make sure it happens. Here they are with our family (minus Erika) their last night in Japan.
The Painters were wonderful and served so diligently. When we arrived they had already been here for about 6 months. They made sure things kept moving smoothly during that transition and beyond. Ricky said Sister Painter always greeted him with a big hello and smile! She was just so happy all the time. Although the language was a challenge at times, you would have never known. Elder Painter has his own company back in the US and he handled all our mission finances without any trouble. It was truly a blessing to have them serve with us.
With children and many grandchildren left behind at home, it is a great sacrifice for these couples to go to a far off land and serve for all those months. But they would tell you it was well worth it. In their final testimony, they shared their feelings about how they have grown closer through serving together and how they have learned to love Japan and the people here.
Hope you had a great reunion with your family. We love you!
Here are the Pypers with our family. In between serving in Kobe, they also served an office couple mission in Guatemala. So I believe this is their third mission together. I did not ask Sister Pyper her age, but I will tell you Elder Pyper is 78 and seems ready to serve three more missions! These senior missionaries (all of them) are my heroes. What a blessing it is to serve with them and learn from them and their fine examples.
For about three days we had three senior couples in the mission. The Wades, The Pypers and the Painters as seen above. We are now back to two as the Painters finished their service and returned home.
The night before the Painter's departure, we had a dinner with the outgoing and incoming office couples and finished off the evening with testimonies. It was a wonderful experience. If you are able, my advice is to serve a mission. And then, serve another one!
