Sister Priddis has a birthday recently and got an Apron and Face Cookie from Sister McIntyre
One of Ricky's friends from Tokyo, Morgan, visit and had his birthday here. He got a cookie too!
We also all went to eat at the burger pit, a great place for Kobe Beef burgers!
We returned 6 great missionaries this transfer. Elders Rahn, Sjavik, McGuire, Pribyl, Hashimoto and Matsuki.
Farewell cake and group picture.
Elder Pribyl got an apron for helping in the office and serving in Kobe.
A Japanese Cat O Lantern
Some of the party attendees
The Sisters with Pippy.
The president's new mission vehicle.
The biggest head of cabbage I have ever seen.
Preparation day in Kyoto with the Pypers.
James and friends attack the food left over from a missionary meal.
Elder Oshiro earned an apron for his service in the office.
The Fab 4 and their aprons from last transfer!
Sister Yamada with her mother who picked her up from Hokkaido.
Elder Manning and Sister Fujiwara with aprons.
Dinner in the mission home!
Returnees - Elders Manning, Reading and Neider and Sisters Fujiwara and Yamada.
New Missionaries! Elders Osaka, Burns, Suzuki, Dantas, Saito, Berhold, Swift, Jindo, Bailey, Randall, Sheehan and Schramm. Sisters Sato and Koide.
A big transfer and a great group!
Sister Inoue and Yamashita help Sister Ise and Sister McIntyre in the kitchen.
The departing group with cake and message cards from Sister McIntyre. Elder Payne, Sister Yamashita, Elder Christie, Sister Inoue and Elder Nicerio.
The departing group on the morning of departure. Sister Yamashita, who is from Tokyo, was met by her parents who drove her back home. Inoue Shimai's mother also came down from Tokyo to pick her up and they returned via bullet train to Tokyo with the Elders Payne and Nicerio who flew out of the airport in Tokyo. Elder Christie stayed on with us until Thursday when he returned to Shikoku via Hiroshima by train and boat.
Elder Christie served in Kobe twice and for almost half of his mission. When we arrived he was working in the office and was a great help to us in getting started in our new calling. He is fully bilingual, half Japanese, half American, and went to school at BYU Hawaii before coming back on his mission here. For the past several months he has been serving as my assistant here in Kobe again. Of course Sister McIntyre thinks he was her assistant and gave him his Assistant to the President's Wife apron.
On our morning run on his last day in Japan, we made it to the park just in time for the sunrise. Elders Matsuoka, Christie and Sister McIntyre show us why this is called the land of the rising sun!
Then they admire the work of the Lord! (sporting their custom made I Love Kobe T-shirts made by Elder Matsuoka's mother)
This was transfer day and Elder Matsuoka transferred after 6 months as the mission commissariat and Elder Christie returned home. It was a beautiful morning and yet a little sad to see these great missionaries move on.
The departing group front row from left to right: Sister Meyers, Elders Obata, Shoaf and Kunihiro. Standing are Elders Tupou, Fukui, Sorenson and Mauai.
Elder Tupou gets his assistant to the president's wife apron for all the help he provided to Sister McIntyre while in Kobe as the President's Assistant.
A few other elders got aprons from Sister McIntyre for helping her in various ways on various projects.
Elder Fukui's mother drove several hours from her home located in the Nagoya mission area to pick up Elder Fukui as he finished his mission. All the rest caught the bullet train out of Kobe.
The morning of their departure we ran up to Maruyama park. While waiting for the elders in front of their apartment, Sister McIntyre displays her talents on the beam. 
Some of the departing group with Sister McIntyre in front of the mission home as we depart for the park.
Several make a run through the obstacle course at the park. It goes up along the hill and back down via the slide on the left.
Sister Meyers and Sister McIntyre prepare breakfast after the morning workout. We first met Sister Meyers in the MTC when we attended the mission president's seminar. She is the first missionary to return home who arrived after we did. We will miss her like one of our own daughters!
The night before their departure we had a big sukiyaki dinner and celebrated Elders Tupou and Sorenson's birthdays.
We took a group picture with the cake and Sister McIntyre also made her famous face cookies for the birthday elders.
They tasted as good as they look!
Blowing out the candles...
We also welcomed six excited new elders this week. Back row Elders Jackson, Escalante, Ellis, Quilter, (front) Coburn and Lee.
Morning run with the some of the new elders and Elders Christie, Matsuoka, Harvard and Tupou who serve in Kobe.
A little morning soccer at the park.
Some of the new elders at Maruyama Park overlooking part of Kobe and the bay.
Welcome dinner with the new group. Yakiniku!
On Friday morning just before we sent off the departing group, we had a phone call from the MTC in Utah telling us that we were getting one more new missionary the next day (Saturday). So we will welcome Elder Richardson this weekend. His visa was delayed and just came through so they are sending him out immediately. Not much of a break at the end of a transfer week, but we are always excited to get more missionaries! More to come...
