April Wrap Up - Various Pictures from April 2011

Inori Tada with us in Kobe during General Conference. She is a college student and like one of our own daughters. She is from Toyooka.
Sunday Session General conference pot luck at the church and mission home.
More pot luck.
The Ebisu family at general conference in Kobe. The whole family was baptized the next week in Sumoto, Awaji Island.
The Gokokuji Temple next to the Mission Home with Sakura in full bloom.
Elder Moffatt with a birthday face cookie.
Kyoto - crouching tiger or sleeping dragon? Or maybe just a crazy mission president!
Byodoin Temple in Kyoto, Joyo area during Sakura.
River near Byodoin TempleThe Byodoin Temple is the image on the Japanese 10 yen coin.
President's transfer board April 2011 transfers. A lot of missionaries. 21 new missionaries arrived.
2 Assistants and 2 Travelling Assistants/Trainers this transfer, including Elder Guy from Tokyo. Sister McIntyre made them Fantastic 4 aprons.
This is what it looks like when you have 21 missionaries over for dinner.
With Elder Starks in Kyoto at the Hachimangu Shrine
Some of the Kobe Elders enjoying a trip to a Kyoto flea market on preparation day.
Found a great deal on used kimono!

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!

More Cherry Blossoms and Fukuchiyama Interviews - April 2009

Just across and down the street a couple minute walk from the mission home is the Gokokuji Temple. Lots of Sakura in bloom so we walked down at lunch time one day this week and enjoyed the beautiful blossoms.

This week we travelled to Fukuchiyama to interview the missionaries and to hold my monthly meeting with the District President. We noticed the sakura blooming at the Fukuchiyama Castle so we stopped and got a quick picture. This is a great little castle in the center of town set on a big hill. Not too sure of the history on this one, but it was certainly lived in hundreds of years by a Daimyo and Samurai who ruled the area.

Here is a picture of the zone. Elders Nicerio, Ritchie, Cutler, Sheffield, Badger, Bohman, Ito and Oshiro. Elder Fukui, who works in the office right now had a birthday this week and it seems that everyone made him a cake!

Himeji Castle Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) 2009

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and fortunate for us the Kobe Mission area has some of the best and most famous viewing spots in Japan. One great place is Himeji Castle. On preparation day we visited Himeji and met up with several missionaries. Some were viewing and others planned to do some sports activities at the castle park.

This is the inner most mote around the castle with cherry blossoms.

Elders Steele and Wintz.

Sisters Glenn, McIntyre and Yamashita with the bamboo. Not sure what they are doing?

Another castle shot. People love to picnic under the trees this time of year and there are lots of people around to talk to!

Here is a group of missionaries. Yamashita, Glenn, Sorensen, Throop, Mizuguchi, Wintz, Steele, Remund, Varjao, Rasmussen, Merrick and Payne.

This is a shot from the front of the castle. It is about 400 years old and one of the largest still existing in Japan. The grounds are very spacious and you can see the castle from miles away as it stands high in the center of the valley.

Outside the walls, vendors are selling traditional Japanese festival food. That what I call it anyway.

Candied fruit.

Tako Yaki - Octopus dumpling balls

Sweet bean cakes.

Okonomiyaki - Pancake style cabbage and meat cakes.

And of course your basic squid on a stick.

Another pancake type roll on a stick. Shrimp in the middle.