Taiji Dolphins on Shingu Trip

We got to see many dolphins being trained. They let us go right up to the pools. You can even get in the pools with them during free play time.

On our recent trip to Wakayama and Shingu we stopped at the controversial and famous Taiji Village, home the "The Cove." It is a beautiful place and we did see a lot of dolphins. I took some video, but did not get many good photos of the live dolphins. These statues were cute though.

One of my favorite spots in Kushimoto.

Shingu Branch Growing Up a Little

Some of the Shingu Branch members on our last visit. The Shingu Branch was moved into the Osaka Sakai Stake this past month. It has been reporting directly to the mission with a missionary elder serving as branch president. Two and a half years ago there were about 4 people attending weekly. The average sacrament meeting attendance is now over 11 people and we have three active Mel. Priesthood holders serving in the leadership of the branch. I was able to ordain one this past visit. We also have increased the number of temple recommend holders.
The Wada family was baptized two years ago. They are now ready to be sealed in the temple. We have seen 4 baptisms in Shingu the past two years (and all are still active) and the reactivation of a few less active members. It has been a wonderful blessing to see this small branch we once considered closing growing and blessing the lives of these members. Thank you to all the wonderful missionaries that served there! You know who you are.

Shingu Branch Conference 2010

Sunday the 21st we held the annual branch conference for the Shingu Branch. This is one of the, if not the smallest, branches in Japan. It is administered over by the mission.We had 12 in attendance but a couple had to leave after sacrament meeting. One couple, the Wada's could not make it this week or we would have had about all active members there.In sacrament meeting, Elder West spoke, who is the branch president, on the importance of temples. President Iwaki, my counselor, spoke about why we have conferences. I spoke about the joy of the gospel and the fruits of living the gospel. Brother Tsuboi gave the Sunday School lesson on the Holy Ghost. After the meetings we had some refreshments prepared by Sister Iwaki.It was a beautiful day so we took the coastal route home and stopped at Kushimoto. Last trip to Shingu, in Kushimoto we met a man by the name of Hotta, who was a fruit vendor. We referred him to the Shingu elders and they have taught him a few lessons and he is reading the Book of Mormon and even came to church once. It is a pretty good distance from Kushimoto to Shingu and the elders cannot make it on bike so working with Hotta san is kind of hard. But we were able to stop and say hello to him as we drove through. He gave us some fish cakes and oranges and was very friendly and glad to see us. We also took some pictures at Hashiguiiwa which is right next to his fruit stand.

This is a very pretty part of Japan and the elders loved seeing the countryside and ocean. The scenery was better than the traffic as it took seven hours to get back to Kobe.

Typhoon Slams Mission - A Little Wet, But Safe

Last night about 3am a large scale typhoon made landfall in southern Wakayama near Shingu and Tanabe. The storm affected the whole mission and stretched from the Pacific across the mission to the Sea of Japan. Damage has been reported in most communities throughout the mission (and in many parts of Japan), but all the missionaries are safe. I was traveling with the assistants to do interviews in Tanabe and Shingu that day (in Wakayama). We knew the storm was coming and was scheduled to hit in the middle of the night. It was raining pretty good by the time we arrived in Tanabe. After the interviews there, we drove to Shingu as the rain and winds picked up. I did interviews that night in Shingu and we ate dinner with the elders there. The assistants stayed with the Shingu elders in the apartment and I stayed in a nearby business hotel. Sleep was difficult as the wind and rain beat on the buildings. The power went out at one point and roads were closed. Shingu is only a few miles from Kushimoto which took a direct hit as the storm made landfall. By morning the storm had blown through and the sky was a beautiful blue. Shingu church, however, was flooded and part of the roof of the building was torn off. The missionaries live in the same building but were fine. The carpet and wall in the church will need to be replaced. Back in Kobe the sisters lost some pieces of their balcony and some of the shrubs near the mission office were uprooted. Other than that we can see signs of the storm all around the mission. Since it hit at night however, all the missionaries were warm and safe inside. A benefit of the storm, the drive back to Kobe via the coast of Wakayama was one of the most beautiful trips I have taken. The ocean and sky were crystal clear.Picture of the Tanabe elders and the assistants after interviews.

Shingu elders and assistants in Shingu after we had a meeting together.Photo opportunity on the way home in Kushimoto. We bought some mikans from a vendor near here who said the storm tore the roof off his home which is right across the street from where we took this picture. No sign of the storm when we too this shot though. The Nagoya Mission also took a big hit from the storm and then it moved on towards Tokyo and beyond.

Wakayama Tour with Assistants

This past week President McIntyre drove to Tanabe and Shingu with the assistants to meet and interview the missionaries in the southern part of Wakayama. It was an overnight trip and they visited three areas. After interviews in Wakayama, they drove to Gobo to pick up some things from the old missionary apartment there then continued on to Tanabe. President's Report: In Tanabe - Interviewed Elders Payne and Merrick. Here we all are front of the Tanabe Church.
Above - Elder Payne, President McIntyre, Elders Tupou, Fishler and Merrick.

We then drove along the southern coast to Shingu. We stopped for a quick photo in Kishimoto to take a picture of the rock formations called Hashiguiiwa. Elders Fishler and Tupou pose for a few shots.

In Shingu the next morning we studied with the missionaries there, Elders Honda and LaRose, then I interviewed them.After missionary interviews, Elder Honda, who is the Branch President of this little branch, had a PPI with me and we discussed the branch and how we can strengthen it. As always, it was a fun trip and we got a lot accomplished.

Jan 09 Wakayama Tour with Assistants

After the holidays and zone conferences, Sister McIntyre and I spent most of our time making the regular transfer interview visits. Our last zone was Wakayama. We travelled to Iwade with the assistants on the 28th and interviewed part of the zone there. After lunch, Sister McIntyre returned to Kobe by train and the assistants, Elders Bohman and Rasmussen, accompanied me by car to the farther locations of the zone. Periodically I like to visit these areas personally rather than have the missionaries come to me. We cannot do this all the time in all areas, but we try to balance our visits. We drove to Gobo from Iwade on Thursday afternoon and I interviewed Elders Harris and Neider there.Here are the elders in front of the Gobo church building. This is actually the back of the building. The church is on the second floor. Gobo is a smaller branch in the Sakai Stake.

Above is Elder Neider and I standing in front of the Gobo apartment. After interviews and an apartment inspection, we drove to Tanabe which is further down the coast of Wakayama. That evening I interviewed elders Christensen and Drake and the assistants helped teach their weekly English class at the church.

The next morning we took a picture in front of the Church. Tanabe has a nice little building chapel. It is also a smaller branch in the Sakai Stake. Thursday morning we had study and morning schedule with the elders and then departed to Shingu.

Here are the assistants and elders Drake and Christensen in front of the Tanabe apartment building. They live on the 7th floor with a great view of the ocean. The drive to Shingu is several hours from Tanabe. There are two routes, the coast or the mountains. We took the coastal route down and returned via the mountains. At one of the rest stops we found a governmental experimental breeding laboratory. They are breeding wild bore with domestic pigs. We took a picture or two and actually saw some inobuta (a cross between a Inoshii/bore and a Buta/pig). This was just something you do not see everyday!

Above is the mom and dad and here are the inobuta children. They do use them for meat. They were very friendly and cute though.

About half way down the coast is the Hashiguiiwa rocks in the ocean. The assistants took advantage of this famous photo spot.

Once in Shingu I had the chance to interview elders Fell and Schmidt and the assistants spent some time with their English class and on splits proselyting. Friday the 30th, in the morning we spent our study time together in the Shingu apartment then started our journey home. The drive back to Kobe can take anywhere from 5-6 hours.

Took a quick picture in front of the Shingu church before leaving.

On the way home on the mountain route, about lunch time we found and stopped at a little restaurant on the side of the road. It specialized in unique "local" cuisine. (picture above) The elders were brave and wanted to try some so we had a quick lunch consisting of wild bore meat (inoshishi donburi) over rice, wild bore meat curry, deer meat fried rice and to top it off some raw deer meat sashimi. A nice family owned and managed the place and we visited with them for a few minutes and were able to leave some information about the church. The food was good!

Sister McIntyre and I also attended the Sakai Stake Conference this month. Elder Stevenson of the seventy presided and Elder Bin Kikuchi, an area seventy, accompanied him. I spoke in the priesthood leadership session Saturday and the main session on Sunday and Sister McIntyre spoke in the Saturday evening session. It was a great conference. We also held a new member meeting with Elder and Sister Stevenson, Elder Kikuchi and President Sugimoto of the Sakai Stake after the meetings on Sunday. We saw several new converts we know that have joined the church since we arrived. It was great to see the work moving forward and the fruits of everyone's efforts. Time is moving so fast. January is gone and February begins. Some areas in the mission are quite cold. Toyooka has lots of snow. Spring will be here soon!

Baptizing in Shingu - Week Ending September 28

Saturday afternoon Sister McIntyre and I travelled to Shingu to interview the Wada's for baptism. We picked up the zone leaders, Elders Shultz and Allen, in Wakayama on our way down. The traffic was good and we arrived in Shingu after a 4.5 hour drive. Elder Shultz, on the far right in the above picture, served as the branch president in Shingu for 7 months. He and Brother Tsuboi (also pictured) were the first to give Sister Wada a copy of the Book of Mormon. Brother and Sister Wada have been studying the gospel with Elders Melluish and Matsuoka (and Elder Maeno before that) the past couple of months and early Sunday morning we were blessed to see them enter the waters of baptism.
We held the baptism in a beautiful quiet spot on a small tributary branch of the famous Kumano River in Shingu. The water was clean and clear and the weather was wonderful. We had a short meeting at the church and then travelled to the baptism site for the baptisms. We returned to the church and closed the meeting. We then had our normal Sunday services.
Elder Melluish leads Sister Wada into the water.
Elder Matsuoka prepares Brother Wada.
The Wada's with Brother Tsuboi and the missionaries.

The Wada's with President and Sister McIntyreThe beautiful country side near Shingu.

The Shingu branch is the smallest in the mission. We had two non-members at the baptism and they also attended church meetings with us after the baptismal service. We first met the Wada's in August when we took our first trip to Shingu. They have a sweet and pure faith in Christ and will be a great addition to the small group of Saints in Shingu.

This was a special baptism for Elder Melluish as he completes his mission this week and was able to be a part of this baptism his last week in Japan as a missionary. A tender mercy of the Lord. He has shown great faith as a missionary.

We spent most of this week preparing for transfers which are upon us this week. We have 8 returning and 9 new missionaries coming in.

Here are few more pictures from the trip.

Sister McIntyre on the scary bridge at the river. This looks down on the location where we held the baptisms.The Kappa is a mythical Japanese creature that lives in the rivers. It looks like a cross between a turtle and a frog. This was a little statue of a mom Kappa with a baby.

This has nothing to do with the baptism but we found it on the way and Kappa are mentioned a lot in Japanese literature. We just wanted to get a picture of one.

Not a lot of time to write so we will check in again when we can!

Summer Family Mission Tour Tanabe and Shingu

Family at Ogigahama Beach in Tanabe, Wakayama, Japan - August 2008

It is hot and humid here in Japan. It is the middle of summer and Obon time. Oh - bone is how it is pronounced. That is the summer holiday when Japanese traditionally visit the graves of their ancestors. There are various ceremonies and rituals associated with Obon, but for most Japanese today it is simply summer vacation time. Many people go back to their home towns from the city and visit relatives and honor their ancestors by cleaning the grave sites and offering flowers.
As this is the last week we are all together as a family for a while, we decided to take a trip to see the two areas farthest from the mission home, Tanabe and Shingu. They are located in Wakayama prefecture and both are on the coast. Shingu actually borders Mie Prefecture and the Nagoya Mission boundaries. We left Tuesday morning (preparation day for the missionaries) and drove down to Tanabe (about 3 hours by car). We did not schedule to meet the missionaries until 6pm (at the end of their prep. day) so we visited the nearby beach called Ogigahama until late afternoon. We all had a great time. It was a nice beach with white sand, clear warm water, and not too crowded.

All four of our kids in the water! Don't know where Jeff is? Underwater?

President and Sister McIntyre also enjoyed a swim and time with the kids. As we have children with us on the mission we are allowed to participate in normal family activities and are not under all of the same restrictions the missionaries are. "When we are with our kids in a family activity, we can be normal parents." Whatever normal is...

After the beach, we checked into our hotel and went to the church and met the Elders and Brother and Sister Enomoto. Below is picture of our family with Elders Ruesch and Smith currently serving in Tanabe. After meeting with the Elders we ate dinner and visited the beach again where they were having a summer festival (Matsuri) and fireworks show. We took pass along cards and other tracts with us and spent some time "finding" as a family. We talked to several young people and I was able to demonstrate the principle of "talking to everyone" and "opening your mouth."

A view of the village called Minabe from our small (and not so nice) hotel in Tanabe. We had some study time and prayers with the Elders in the morning and then we were off to Shingu. That is another 3 hour drive along the coast the whole way. It was very beautiful country. We stopped a few times for pictures and exploring.

At this stop the boys were excited they found a little squid. They wanted Sister McIntyre to eat it but she was not hungry.

The boys catching sea creatures at Hashigui Iwa. These are beautiful rock formations jutting out of the sea. At low tide you can walk out to them.
Some of the creatures they caught. Hashigui Iwa at low tide. The tide came in on our way home the next day. As in the above picture and below.High Tide coming in.
Also, on the way home all the kids jumped in the water at this pretty little beach between Shingu and Tanabe and James and Erika were stung by jellyfish. Can you see the stings? They decided to catch the small critters and wanted to take them home. They caught two, but we decided that it would not be a good idea to take them home. Erika's knee got stung. They were cute little things, but packed a strong sting.
Above are the Shingu Elders (Elder Melluish and Elder Maeno) with our family in front of the little church.
Here is shot of the whole building. The church is right behind everyone. The missionary apartment is upstairs on the 2nd floor.
While in Shingu, we had a small fireside to which 3 non-members came. There are only 3 active members in the branch so that was an exciting thing for everyone. With our family and the missionaries, we nearly filled the room. The next morning we visited Sister Shimamoto who lost one leg and cannot come to church. The missionaries take her the sacrament each week. We also visited the Iwamoto family, who are less active and invited them back to church. We spent an evening with Brother Tsuboi, the most active member and one of his friends he invited to the fireside, Mrs. Wada. We have heard since she is willing to hear the lessons.
The trip was a lot of fun for our family. The purpose was to visit the missionaries and members in these small areas and learn how we can better grow the church there and support the small groups of members. We felt blessed to meet these faithful few, who despite small numbers, remain faithful and true. We all loved Shingu and Tanabe. Though it may look like we had a lot of fun (which we did), our goal was to bless the lives of the members and we are grateful we were able to accomplish that.

Here are a few more fun pictures!