Updates from the Field!

Here are a few pictures about our purpose and the reason we are here! In Himeji (Kobe Stake) Sister Tanizawa was taught and baptized by Elders Aguirre, Rhan and Andreason. Elder Varjao also participated.

Brother Sakuramoto Shogo was baptized in Fushimi, Kyoto Stake. He was taught by there most recently by Elders Taketomi and Slater.

In Ibaraki, Osaka North Stake, Sister Shinoda was taught and baptized by Elders Kanno and Neff. They found her housing!

Look for more of these great pictures soon. The missionaries are opening their mouths and finding the elect. We have many people working towards baptism and scheduled with dates as we approach the end of the year. Everyone is working hard and exercising their faith to allow the Lord to bless them with a WHITE Christmas!

Ibaraki Mission Prep Seminar 2009

This year's mission prep seminar was held on October 31st in Ibaraki. Just before that, we had the chance to watch Julie open her mission call via live Internet. Below is her reaction to seeing that she was called to Fukuoka, Japan.Here are some of the staff and attendees at the seminar. There were about 70 prospective missionaries in attendance. In the morning I led a 1 hour session focusing on Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel, The Attributes of Christ.

Here we introduced our mission theme which is based on the 9 attributes of Christ listed in PMG.

Later we had many of our missionaries join in and actually go out and proselyte with the attendees. Here is good shot of the missionaries.

We had curry for lunch and enjoyed the conference. It was great to see all the potential elders and sisters from Kansai.

Kobe Eikaiwa Halloween Party 2009

Costume contest at the end of the party. Some of the missionaries and YSA.

Four of our wonderful YSA in costume.

The Elders manage the pinata they made especially for the party.

The kids loved taking shots at the bat.

Candy frenzy!

Sister McIntyre poses with Sisters Yamada and Inoue. Below, Sister Inoue also tries on the Korean dress.

A highlight of the night was bobbing for apples. Elder Ito went all the way in for his!

His companion, Elder Christie, was not to be out done!

Lots of snacks and scary punch.

Sister Inoue served up the potion.

Elder and Sister Pyper enjoyed the show!

Little devils.

Little angels!

Pumpkin carving demonstration by Sister McIntyre.

The kids loved it as this is not normally done in Japan. It was the first time to see a real Jack o lantern for most of them.

It was a happy Halloween in Kobe!

Julie is called to Fukuoka Japan Mission - We now have three Sister McIntyre's!

Julie, our second oldest, received her mission call today to serve in the Japan Fukuoka Mission. We are very proud of her and her decision to serve a mission and excited about her call! She reports to the MTC January 12th.From little girl in a kimono to high school cheerleader in Tokyo and now a missionary in Fukuoka! They grow up fast!

With Julie entering the mission field, we will have three Sister McIntyre's serving at the same time. Sister Erika McIntyre in Sapporo, Sister Julie McIntyre in Fukuoka, and mom, Sister Rika McIntyre in Kobe. What a blessing that is for our family.

Julie loves Japan and lived through high school in Tokyo. Fukuoka will be a little more rural than Tokyo! Julie just finished her third semester at BYU and is not yet 21 (the normal minimum age for sister missionaries). However, since we are serving as a family, she is allowed to start her mission at a younger age.

The timing will work out well as Julie will finish her 18 month mission the same time we complete our three years. Erika will be returning in Late January or Early February after 18 months of service.

Osaka North Stake Conference and a Fun Family Day

Last Sunday was stake conference in the Osaka North Stake. We had a wonderful time with President and Sister Kido and his counselor, President and Sister Kuroki. Sister McIntyre and I both spoke in the various session and training meetings. We took this picture at the end of conference on Sunday afternoon after we enjoyed a great meal prepared by the sisters.The boys were out of school for fall break on Monday so we enjoyed a family shopping day in Link Town. On the way home he had some delicious okonomiyaki for dinner. You cook it yourself at the table. Don't know why Ricky is making a mean face? He loved the food!

Link Town is on the outskirts of Osaka near the Kansai Int'l Airport bridge. You can see the big Ferris Wheel and the ANA Hotel in the background.

Serving a mission with teenage boys presents some unique challenges. We weren't sure what to do when they rolled down the windows and started saying hello to people while wearing the ski masks! It is Halloween week so I think they did their trick. We did not give them any treats though. It was a fun day!

President and Sister McArthur Visit Kobe

We had a visit last week from the Japan MTC President, President and Sister McArthur. We enjoyed Brazilian BBQ at Harbor Land and had a great visit with them. They spent one night with us at the mission home and had the chance to visit with many of the Japanese missionaries that went through the JMTC while they have been serving there. President McArthur served a mission in Japan over 40 years ago (he also served as Mission President in Fukuoka a few years back) and spent a lot of time in our current Kobe Mission area. We enjoyed seeing pictures the current mission property with the original buildings. Things have certainly changed in this neighborhood. This time we were able to have James join us for dinner as well.

Earlier in the week, we had the chance to eat sushi with a couple districts during lunch break at interviews. Not bad for 100 yen a plate.

Elder Maeno celebrated a birthday last week and Sister McIntyre could not resist giving him a face cookie while he was in the office for interviews.

Everyone enjoyed the cake too!

Elder Maeno is from Amami Oshima which is small island between Okinawa and Kyushu. To my knowledge, he the first missionary to ever serve from that island.

Zone Leader Council and Interviews Begin! - October 2009

This week we held Zone Leader Council and planned out zone conferences for this transfer. Our focus this transfer is the Spirit. We will focus on and study how to better work through the guidance of the Spirit and recognize promptings from the Spirit. This time ZLC council lunch was Costco Pizza and Root Beer. Not very Japanese, but a lot easier for Rika. The missionaries did not mind! We started missionary interviews with the Kobe Zone. Elders Honda and Monson are new companions this transfer. They happen to share the same birthday and earlier in the year on their birthday, Sister McIntyre gave the birthday twins matching ties. Now they are companions and can where them together. Of course this had no influence on transfers and I did not even remember they shared a birthday until they showed up with matching ties at interviews.

Elder Matsuoka enjoys a few minutes in the president's chair and office as he fixes my computer. I think he looks pretty good and could play that role someday!

Tonight we had a rare chance to visit with some friends from Tokyo. Eric and Lisa Evans took us to dinner in Harbor Land. Eric is currently serving as the Stake President in the Tokyo South Stake, the same stake I served in before we were called here. It was great to see them and visit for a few hours.

Kobe Harbor and Kobe Tower can be seen in the background. We had Brazilian BBQ on the deck and it was very delicious! Good company and good view.