MAY--PERFECT WEATHER!

  Welcome to Ishinomaki in May!  The weather is gorgeous, or at least gorgeous every other day--you just have to be on the every and not the other day.  We are dreading the heat since 70 degrees here is plenty warm and with the high humidity you sweat like crazy.  But for now we can enjoy the weather (they tell us that rainy season is not far away!)

Thank You Ceremonies

So we went to the last of the thank you ceremonies (we think).  This past week we went to Omotehama, Tobu and Ogatsu (for those of you who are keeping track!).  On Thursday we went to Omotehama about an hour away.  The ceremony was outside of a building where the fishermen's coop have their offices:

The bottom floor of the building was completely wiped out by the tsunami (totally gone) but somehow they are using the second floor as office space!  The Church has the vision that they want to help the fishermen (the main livelihood on the coast cities) to get back to making a living.  So here they were able to donate many things, among them:  storage sheds, a buoy light, trucks, forklifts, rope, air conditioning units, and computers.  It is always amazing to see how much they need these things.  Then it was on to Tobu only 10 minutes away.  These are some of the things donated at Tobu:

It is wakame (remember the seaweed stalk?) equipment.   There were wakame washers, dryers, and presses.  Wakame seems to follow us wherever we go!  Anyway, the interesting story here was that the royalty in Tokyo will only order wakame from Tobu because it is supposedly the best wakame in Japan--who knew?!  The Church also donated three large warehouse buildings to this area and the fishermen were very grateful.  They just recently got their power restored (after a year!) and so they are very anxious to get back to work.  Apparently the wakame equipment is quite expensive and their old equipment was wiped out by the tsunami.

On Friday it was on to Ogatsu.  I was not prepared for this.  Ogatsu is a bay that is triangle in shape.  The base of the triangle would be where the bay begins, next to the ocean.  Then as you go in further the bay goes to almost nothing (the top of the triangle).  I think most of the homes and people were closer to the top point.  Anyway, when the tsunami hit, it began at the widest point but as the bay narrowed, the water force became stronger and higher due to the narrowing on the bay.  When it finally got to the end it was with such power and the water was up to 60 feet high.  EVERYTHING was destroyed  We saw about five building shells that were still standing (the large concrete ones).  The rest was just four-inch footings and foundations of buildings which were gone.  These are some of the only buildings we saw:

PLUS that is not just a blurry picture (above) but it was raining.  A lot.  And since there were no buildings we held the thank you ceremony outside under umbrellas.  The fishermen:

And the Church leaders being thanked:

It just seemed kind of fitting in a place with nothing.  We also heard that Japan has not yet decided what to do with Ogatsu, whether to help them or not because there is nothing to begin with.  But apparently the Church is still keeping an eye on the fishing industry hoping at least that the industry survives.  The lady above in the blue dress was the representative of the fishermen who conducted the ceremony.  This was the side of her car which says it all:

Volunteering

On Saturday we went with some members of the branch to do some service.  We ended up in Omotehama!  And Calvin ended up cutting the rope that the Church had donated to use in harvesting wakame!:

We actually met up with a Young Single Adult group from Tokyo who had come on a bus (around 65 of them).  Other activities included making soup for those in the temporary housing units:

And, of course, the ever-popular:  BINGO!

It was an eventful and fun day--and perfect weather.  I guess I need to add this comment:  Some things are the same no matter where you are.  Just before we left to go home I was thinking, "Now in America, we wouldn't just go home; we would stop for ice cream.  But too bad, we are in Japan."  As we pulled out of the parking lot, Sister Usui, our driver said, "Let's go get some ice cream!"  So we went to the nearest combini (convenience store) right around the corner and treated ourselves to ice cream!  Yum!

Sewing--Once Again!

Saturday night the Relief Society sisters met at the Church to sew curtain room dividers for those in the temporary housing units.  It is a project that the stake asked us to do.  Sewing seems to follow me around I must admit.  For those of you who don't know, I worked in a drapery workroom and have done a ton of sewing in my lifetime.  So far we have done three drapery-curtain projects at Church and also a bunch of other things I have been working on since the sisters want some projects to work on.  Here we are at the Church:

Things happen for a reason story:  About two years ago I made a bunch of small make-up type bags with zippers for pretty much everyone I knew.  I put little toiletries in them and other things and gave them away as Christmas gifts.  Calvin happened to bring his to Japan so I decided to make one up using his as a pattern.  I was thinking they would make good presents for the people in the temporary housing units.  Plus our Church has three large boxes of fabric that are perfect for this project.   Plus a ton of zippers!  WELL, this week our mission president's wife just HAPPENED to email me and ask if I would HAPPEN to have a use for some toiletry items she had saved from hotels when they traveled!  It was a humbling experience to know that these were just what I needed to fill my bags.  When we went to pick them up at the mission home this week there were three LARGE bags of combs, washcloths, toothbrushes, razors, etc.!  Who would have guessed that two years ago I was being prepared for this mission!

Wakame Again!

The wakame season is about over or so we are told.  But yesterday some of the young single adults were asked to help with the wakame so they did and they brought some back and gave it to us.  Here is Calvin with the perks of the day:  wakame and a new hat from the fishing coop!

And me at home washing the extremely slimey wakame.  I have been looking up recipes for wakame salad on the internet!

And Finally  . . .

For those of you who complain that there are never any pictures of me on the blog:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Just thought I would wish all of you women a Happy Mother's Day.  Whether you have children or not, I am sure you are an example to someone who appreciates you.  My own daughters (and daughter-in-law) are all wonderful mothers.  And Happy Mother's Day to my own mother.  I love you all.  Here in Japan they advertise Mother's Day in the stores (trying to get you to buy flowers, candy etc) but they do not really celebrate it.  There was no mention of Mother's Day in Church today.  I hadn't really thought about it before, but all the missionaries call home on Mother's Day but it is pretty much the same as any other day here.  Kind of sad in a country that honors their ancestors and elders so much.

Conference

Friday we had what I guess you would call a multi-zone conference.  It wasn't the whole mission but most of the mission.  Elder Yamashita of the Seventy (Church authority) came and spent the whole day (from 10:00-4:00) teaching us how to better missionaries.  Can I just say, he gave the whole thing in English and has only spent 8 months in Utah and his English was remarkable!  Anyway, one of the main themes of the conference was "open your mouth"--meaning you need to open your mouth if anyone is going to know why we are here.  True to the theme and being in Japan, Sister Yamashita taught us how to make origami mouths that open and close!:

It was pretty funny when she taught us how to do it because it is a rather involved origami project and some of those young elders were definitely "origami challenged."  Yes, they can speak Japanese but they can't make an origami mouth!

After the conference a few of us couple missionaries went out to eat at a great restaurant.  It was a buffet (more like the Hotel Utah/Joseph Smith Bldg. version rather than the Chuck-a-Rama version of the word "buffet").  Anyway, we ate SO much and I can't even begin to tell you what we ate.  They even had onsen eggs (remember the soft-boiled eggs?) and sushi.  Plus a soft ice cream dispenser which the Japanese think you have died and gone to heaven when there is one of those!  Here we are at the restaurant:

Before I leave this part of the blog may I just say that one thing I wasn't expecting in Japan was to be in so much contact with General Authorities of the Church.  We were with Elder Yamashita at some of the thank you ceremonies so he knows us and then there was this conference.  Then there is Elder Nishihara who is an area Seventy who has also been to the thank you ceremonies, plus we saw him on Friday at the conference, PLUS he showed up to our branch today!  And he spoke and stayed afterwards to our meal and since it was the men's turn to host the meal, at the end they announced, "all of the brothers, help clean up" AND there was Elder Nishihara wiping down tables!  And of course, we had Elder Oaks and Elder Hallstrom a couple of months ago.  Plus we are in contact with Elder Halvorson, director of Humanitarian Services in this area quite often.  I am so impressed that the Church takes care of its members wherever you are.

Museum in Oku Matsushima

We took a little drive to Oku Matsushima where we will be teaching English in a community center next week.  I am a little apprehensive since we are told we have around 10 students to start with but they think the class will grow.  It is a "family English class" meaning there are children and their parents.  The children are around 10 years old.  So we have NO idea what they know as far as English goes.  Anyway, we visited a museum next to the community center.  It was about the Jomon people who lived many years ago.  It was pretty interesting but we didn't have much in the way of English translation so it left quite a bit to our imagination.

But, we did get this picture because I have a nephew who LOVES antler sheds and fishing.  Yes, Doug, this picture is for you.  I expect you to make a fish hook out of antlers and catch a fish by the time we get back:

Apparently these people made fishhooks out of antlers and did really well with them!  Who would have thought?!  Actually, we really do take things for granted.  These people made clothes out of tree bark and made clay pots of course.  Use what you have!

More Outrageous Prices

I guess I can never get over the price of some items in Japan.  Or maybe I just don't understand the logic of them.  Anyway, I wanted to make chicken salad sandwiches for the meal after Church and I really wanted some celery.  I had been warned that it was going to be expensive and they only sold it by the RIB.  I didn't even remember seeing celery at the store but this is what we bought:

Yes, it was only one rib, although a pretty good-sized one.  I was kind of disappointed because it tasted a little bitter to me (maybe that is why the Japanese don't really eat celery much!) and the cost?:  $2.50.

And I had to have Calvin take a picture of the cantaloupe and honeydew at the store.  I remember coming to Japan 20 years ago and seeing cantaloupe for $40 (not a misprint).  I don't think times have changed that much:

The containers of cantaloupe have two SMALL pieces in them.  They sell for about $3.50.  The honeydew are about $4.50.  I have never seen such small pieces.  And wouldn't you know it?!  Today after Church, a member rushed up to our car as we were leaving and handed us half of a good-sized honeydew melon!

Changes in Leadership

Today in Church they changed some of our branch women's leadership.  Since we only have around 30 people who come each week, the Relief Socity presidency, Young Women's presidency, and Primary presidency were released and basically everyone just switches!  Actually it wasn't quite that drastic because we no longer have any Young Women but it was pretty interesting.  The new Relief Society president has been in the branch for over 35 years.  I asked her how many times she had been Relief Society president.  She said at least 4-5 times!  And yet, she was still nervous about being called again!  Or maybe that is why she is nervous  . . .

Elder Kim, Part 2

If you read last week's blog you may remember Elder Kim who happened on an elderly woman who said she had met with the missionaries 34 years ago.  TWO DAYS after I posted the blog I received an e-mail from Stephen Howells that said, "I read your blog and I am the Elder Howells that you talked about in your blog!"  He remembered the lady without me even telling him her name:  Ishihara san.

Last week, I said you might not know who you are influencing.  Well, I found that out pretty fast.  Todd Oogard who is the webmaster for the Sendai Alumni site, unbeknownst to me, reads my blog faithfully.  When he read about Elder Kim, he e-mailed Stephen Howells and alerted him about what I had said about Elder Kim.

That has brought about several e-mails back and forth and some trips down memory lane for many of us.  Brother Howells sent an old photo of several of the branch members and there are still several active members in that photo.  We took the photo to Church and everyone enjoyed them.  In fact, I think they were humbled to know that the previous missionaries still thought about them and cared about them.

And I guess I'll finish with this one last message for Stephen Howells:  ISHIHARA SAN CAME TO CHURCH TODAY!

MORE RANDOM WRITINGS

This week hasn't had any BIG events (but the next couple of weeks have more excitement in store!) so I thought I would write a few random things that I have been thinking about talking about but didn't know how to incorporate into the blog. 

Golden Week and Boys Day

This past week was called "Golden Week."  I am not sure of all the details but last weekend was a three day holiday weekend (Monday was a holiday commemorating past emporor Showa).  Then Thursday was Constitution Day, Friday was Greenery Day (dedicated to environment and nature) and Saturday was Boys Day.  So basically it is a big holiday week (actually 10 days) where many businesses and schools close.  It was kind of sad because everyone was so excited about it and then it RAINED like crazy most of the actual holidays.  We had three straight days of pouring rain and then yesterday and today we had partly cloudy skies and then a LOT of rain in the afternoon and evening.  However, the malls and stores are packed with people and everyone was excited to rest and relax a bit.  Here are some of our Boys Day pictures (they fly carp kites in honor of the boys).



Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

(Remember Peter, Paul and Mary?)  Anyway, last week I wrote about Sakura--the cherry blossoms.  Then it rained and rained and rained.  Sad day for the sakura;  they are all on the ground:





Relief Society Hymn

In Relief Society today we sang a hymn I have NEVER sung before.  This is not a complaint, just a cultural observation, I guess.  This hymn is in the Japanese hymnbook.  The title is written at the top of the page in Japanese and then beneath it is the English translation: 

                                           "Oh, I Had Such a Pretty Dream, Mama"


Convenience Stores

I have been tempted to write about the plethora of convenience stores in Japan (7-11, Lawson, Sun R Us, Family Mart).  Here they are called "combini" (if you say it out loud it sounds like "convenience" without the s sound) and there are TONS of them everywhere.  And there are always quite a few cars and people at these convenience stores.  I never knew what the draw was to these stores (just like out 7-11's at home) but today I think I figured it out.

We were talking in Relief Society and in the lesson it talked about how in Brigham Young's day the sisters were counseled to "reform their eating and housekeeping patterns."  Suddenly the ladies in Relief Society began talking about the "combinis" and laughing.  Apparently the combinis are like our fast food places!  People go to them for a quick bite to eat (bentos--meals with rice and meat) or a quick breakfast. They have fruit, pastries, drinks, hot dogs, and other easy-to-eat food.  On the other hand, except for 2 McDonalds in Ishinomaki, there are NO fast food places.


Member-Leadership Support

When we were called to this mission we were called as "member-leadership support" missionaries.  I always thought that meant that we were to support the members and leadership of the Church in our area.  But then one night last week it hit me.  We were trying to be a support to the members and leadership in our branch BUT the members and leadership in turn were supporting us!  We have been inundated with food, invitations to restaurants, people finding and taking us to service projects, people taking us to less active members' homes, the branch president inviting us to eat in his home, being invited to leadership meetings, making sure we are invited and know about every activity, and just being friendly and kind to us.  I realized that in order for the Church to grow and progress that member-leadership support had to go both ways. 


Sewing--It Follows Me Around!

From the first week we were here, the sisters have begged me to come up with some sewing/craft projects that we can do.  Then a few weeks ago the branch president asked the Relief Society to hem some drapes in the front of the chapel that were about four inches too long.  Thanks to a member's Bernina sewing machine, that was done in record time (it helped that I worked at a drapery workroom!).  Then today the branch president asked if we could make a small curtain for a storage room.  So we did it again--made a curtain in record time for that small window.  THEN in two weeks we have a project that the stake sent to us:  make divider-type curtains as a service project for the temporary housing units.  The sisters are so excited that I sew!  They keep saying, we will iron, cut, and mark where to sew, you just do the sewing!

A couple of weeks ago we met one of the men in charge of welfare services here in Japan.  He asked if there was anything he could help us with (he shouldn't have asked!).  Anyway, I said I had been trying to think of things the sisters in our branch could do as sewing projects and wondered if we could crochet around fleece blankets and give them to the temporary housing units as a service.  The ladies here are so wanting to learn a skill and help others.  They could also use some cheering up and things to take their minds off of all the hardships around here.  Anyway, after Elder Halvorson heard what I had to say he said, no problem, just submit the plan to him and he would make sure we were funded!  So I have been trying to sew a few things to show the sisters in two weeks as ideas of what we can do (we also have 3 large boxes of fabric at the Church!). Here are a few of the things I have done:

It's going to take a little work to get the granny squares into a small afghan and I have a few more ideas on the back burner but I have discovered that you use whatever you have EVER done in
your life when you are on a mission!   I am convinced that nothing is a coincidence.  Things are planned ahead even when we are not planning.


Our Investigator Introduces us to Yogurt!

We have been teaching a really great man for the past several weeks.  He is very interested in joining the Church and is just an all-around great person.  This past week he surprised us by giving us and the other member that usually joins us for the lessons with two kinds of yogurt for each of us:  a drinkable yogurt and a semi sweet yogurt.  Both of those things are sold in a store where he works.  THEY ARE INCREDIBLE AND DELICIOUS!  The drinkable is lightly sweetened and so good.  The semi sweet yogurt has a taste but I can't really tell what it is but is the closest thing to Greek yogurt I have found in Japan.  I think he has made a believer out of me!


Ups and Downs

We have been here for four months now.  It seems like we have been here forever but at the same time it seems like the days go by faster than I want them to.  Calvin and I were talking about our experiences here and the ups and downs we have had. 

As for Calvin, he said he felt his hardest times were when we were first here.  After one day in Japan, we were dropped off at this apartment with two keys:  one to the car and one to the apartment.  That evening we met with the branch president and hardly could understand him.  Then on Sunday (four days later) we met in a branch presidency meeting and Calvin didn't understand a word of what was being said (of course neither did I).  It was reality slapping us in the face.  But Calvin said his most unexpected blessing has been the love and support of the members.  They always look after us and support us.  We have become life-long friends.  The worst thing that we have both encountered is the affect the earthquake and tsunami has had on the people.  We cannot imagine the horrors they saw and felt.  They all lost loved ones.  It is a greater tragedy than I could have ever thought of.  Everyone has been affected to such a huge degree it is unexplainable.

For me, I have had the hardest time feeling comfortable with the language.  I have spent many hours in tears trying to figure out how to become more fluent in the language.  I felt like I was a failure.  Then today (it was fast Sunday so I went fasting) when we were at Church I decided I would do a test to see how much I really understood.  To my surprise, I did understand a fair amount of what was being said.  In addition, I was talking to some ladies and one of the ladies who speaks some English was translating for me, and another sister interrupted and said, "you don't need to interpret, she understands."  She was right I did understand.  It was such an eye-opener for me.  For the past month or so it has been the joke that Calvin can SPEAK Japanese but I can UNDERSTAND better than he can.  I still struggle speaking but I have realized that I do understand and I am trying a new plan to get my vocabulary better!

One of the best things that has happened on our mission is that I have had time to actually study the gospel and read the Book of Mormon, Church magazines, and other scriptures.  I have loved going to institute (scripture study) and studying for the classes in advance.  I feel so much more grounded in what I should do in my life.


Elder Kim's Story

I almost forgot one more thing:   Elder Kim's story.  Elder Kim is a new elder in our district.  He told us this story at district meeting.  He and his companion were handing out English class flyers at the entrance to a mall.  An older lady (in her 80's and seeming pretty old) came up to them.  At first Elder Kim kind of rolled his eyes and thought nothing would come of talking to her.  Then she began to tell him her story (Elder Kim is from California but his Japanese is incredible!).  Thirty-four years ago she lived in Ishinomaki (where we live) and she was taking the missionary discussions from the elders.  Their names were Elder Howard and Elder Woodward.  She took the lessons for four months and then decided not to join.  She moved to Sendai and had been looking for those elders for 34 years!  She had had a change of heart and wanted to hear more.  Elder Kim explained that he and his companion had the same message and would be glad to talk to her.  She was very excited and set up an appointment to hear them!!

The younger elders cannot go on the internet except to email home so I volunteered to try to find out about the two elders this lady was talking about.  When we got home, I found a site for the Sendai Mission Alumni.  It was so easy to find those two elders!  One was actually Elder Howells and sure enough he was companion with Elder Woodward and they were in Ishinomaki together.  I called Elder Kim to tell him the news and he was elated!

We never know how something we do will affect the lives of others even years from now.





WHAT DO THESE PICTURES HAVE IN COMMON?

Test your knowledge to see if you can figure out what these pictures are and why they are all lumped together!:

After the earthquake and tsunami a year ago, many members of the Church donated literally millions of dollars to the Humanitarian Fund of the Church and asked that the money go specifically to Japan and its relief effort.

The top pictures are some of the things donated by the Church using the money that was given by the members:  2 forklifts:  boxes with plexiglass that are used by fishermen who hold on to the box and put them into the water and look through the glass to look for fish or abalone before they hook or spear them; oars;  tubs;  spears to spear the fish; fish finder;  2 hoists to help bring in the fish from the boats; three trucks; and the building behind the ribbon cutting.

This week we were privileged to go to three "ceremonies" thanking the Church for their donations.  Although the ceremonies are quite unnecessary, it is the Japanese custom to say thank you in this way.  Each ceremony had about 50 people in attendance including the heads of the fishing associations, city diplomats, and the fishermen themselves.  The ceremonies lasted about 30-45 minutes and included thank you talks and plaque presentations to Church authorities.

Basically, I didn't understand much but a few things stood out in my mind:  the man from the fisherman's association that gave an impassioned talk thanking the Church and saying that they were so indebted to the Church for helping them make a living and basically saving their livelihood; a man who came up afterwards and expressed very sincere appreciation to the Church; the fishermen who, after the ceremony, quickly went up to the fishing equipment, happily loaded them into their trucks with smiles on their faces; the man who took time out of his schedule to take us to his salmon hatchery and proudly showed us his thousands of fingerling salmon which he will grow until they are about four pounds and then release them back into the river; and the man who describes his everyday fishing adventure of spearing swordfish when he sees the nostrils come to the water surface around his boat!

One of the highlights was that at one of the ceremonies they wanted to have a toast.  Knowing that we did not drink alcohol, they passed around bottles of orange juice and everyone opened their bottle and made a toast to the occasion!  It was really so thoughtful of them.

The last picture is the lunch one of associations took us to!  It was really an amazing lunch probably featuring some of the fish they had caught.  At home the sashimi (raw fish) is okay but in Japan it is wonderful.  (I know some of you don't believe me!)  But there was also other cooked fish, tempura shrimp, beef, and several other things.  When we first found out there was a luncheon Calvin and I weren't too excited to go because the other Church authorities could not attend the luncheon because they had to get back to Tokyo to catch a plane that afternoon.  Anyway, our Japanese is so bad that it is sometimes very hard to communicate and going to lunch looked to be somewhat awkward.  However, we learned a great lesson.  When we sat down, these men were the same as anyone else.  They talked about their families, where they lived, how they made their living, and how the tsunami had come over the top of the newly rebuilt restaurant.  The amazing thing was that the shoreline was probably 50 feet BELOW us and the tsunami had come over the top of the restaurant!

We are told that there will be three other ceremonies in May closer to the Ishinomaki area.  We now look forward to them.  The Church receives so many of the plaques that the Church leaders asked that we take the plaques and give them to our branch to display in our Church.  We wondered if they would even want them but again we learned a great lesson.  When we took them to Church this morning and told them about the ceremonies and showed them pictures of what had been donated, the members were so excited and proud to be members of the Church.  I take for granted so much.


SAKURA

I have always heard about sakura (cherry blossoms) in Japan (and in Washington DC) but I really didn't know what it was.  In Japan the flowering cherry trees (not fruit bearing) grow wild on the hillsides and are planted in parks and other places.  So for a few days each year, the hills and parks are pink and beautiful.  Sakura this year I guess is unusually late but here are some pictures:

And this one, not sakura, but equally beautiful:

OUR VOTE FOR THE MOST INTERESTING GIFT WE GOT THIS WEEK:

One of the sisters in the branch gave us a dozen (oops, ten eggs in Japan) onsen boiled eggs.  An onsen is a mineral hot springs (like Lava Hot Springs in Idaho).  These eggs were apparently boiled in a mineral springs--they are NOT hard boiled--they are SOFT BOILED!  Luckily we do eat soft boiled eggs (we warmed them up a bit in hot water and put them on toast--they taste just like soft-boiled eggs!).


MYSTERY FRUIT BASKETS

We received two "fruit baskets" this week, both of which were donated anonymously.  One bag of food had veggies and fruits in it.  Another, however, is a total mystery.  There were:  dark chocolate bars (Calvin loves dark chocolate), 10 vitamin balance bars (I really like these and have been sad that I ate the last of the ones I brought), and about 500 tablets of glucosamine chondrointin (which Calvin loves!).  No one would know that we like these things.  Or at least, we don't know of anyone who would know we would like these things!  So strange.


A FEW MORE RANDOM PHOTOS (and then I'll quit!)


Calvin next to a tsunami barricade.  It is huge but I guess it didn't work too well--this is where the tsunami went 50 feet higher!

Calvin next to an island covered with seagulls:

Okay, till next week!

LIFE IS A JOURNEY

Last week our niece Melissa wrote and said she was jealous because "every week is still an adventure for you."  That got me thinking (sometimes a rare occurrance?).  She is right, of course.  We are having an amazing adventure here in Japan.  But lately I find myself thinking of things I want to do when I get back to the States.  I have no real desire to go back right away (15 months would be fine) but I find myself planning on doing things that were probably everyday type things only a few months ago:  like go eat at Joe Banditos, or take the kids to the zoo, or fix up the yard, or read a certain book.  And then I wonder if we don't take life for granted.  Do we enjoy the journey?  I recently urged Bethany to enjoy the divine miracle of pregnancy (something I wish I would have done more).  I then remembered attending the welcome home talk of a recently returned missionary who said when he was at the MTC (mission training center) he disliked the cafeteria food, only to find out later that that would be the best food he would eat for two years!  And what about those years in school, the jobs along the way, raising children, the callings I have had in the Church:  have I treated all of these things as the amazing adventures that they were?  Sometimes yes.  Sometimes no.

Okay, maybe enough thinking and back to remembering what we are doing here!  This, too, has been a week full of adventure.  Some things we probably made into adventures.  Other things were TRULY adventures without any help from our imaginations!

Last week you may remember we went to beautiful Matsushima.  Well, on Monday our entire zone (around 25-30 of us) met at Matsushima to enjoy the day.  Here are some pictures:

Two sister missionaries ringing the gong at a shrine:

Sister Morris and me at the Entsuin gardens (they were great but will be even better when the weather warms up and the gardens bloom:

The elders eating with us at a great restaurant.  I had fried oysters.  Yummy!

On Monday night we went to our branch president's house and had dinner and played games with their family.  Sorry we didn't get pictures but I had to tell you what we ate:  okonomiyaki (not sure of the spelling.  You make kind of a pancake batter and add vegetable like cabbage and onions and then some meat (strips of pork?) and pickled ginger and fry it like a pancake and eat it with a sauce and Kewpie sauce (Japanese mayonnaise).  It is actually really good and the people LOVE it!  And to let you know I took pound cake with whipped cream and strawberries, canned peaches and bananas (because I could not affort just strawberries) for dessert.  And we played this frog game which I will show you later in the blog.  So fun.

On Tuesday we went back to Matsushima just briefly to pick up two elders at the train station who wanted to visit our English class.  On our way there we were a little early so we stopped at a fish market that I had read about.  And lo and behold there was the place that we had been searching for:  the place that serves all you can eat oysters in 45 minutes for 2000 yen (only October - March so we will have to make a trip back next winter!).  This is the sign on the restaurant.  Notice it has the 2000 yen price, the 45 minutes and some pictures of oysters!

When we got back to our apartment with the elders, we ate dinner which was noteworthy because they eat so much!  We had leftover sloppy joes.  I had 18 dinner rolls to put the meat sauce in and I ate one and Calvin probably ate two and the two elders ate about 7 apiece!  AND they put Kewpie mayonnaise on them!  We also had fried potatoes and corn, and leftover shortcake:

And I must tell you they were the life of the party at our English class.  Nothing like a little youth to liven things up!  We had them be the leaders of playdoh pictionary and they were a riot

Wednesday we were able to teach two more missionary discussions.  This is always a highlight of our week.  Both of them are actually responding very positively to the gospel lessons; however, our first concern is for their well-being.  They have been through so much with the tsunami and all.

Wednesday and Thursday we able to get out and do some pretty good walking.  Especially on Thursday we walked about 2-3 miles in the morning and then in the afternoon we decided to do some visiting and ended up walking a couple of miles more!  But that was nothing compared to what was coming up the next two days:

On Friday a sister in our branch invited us to do some volunteer service that she had signed up for.  We went to Minami san Riku where the devastation is just as bad or worse than we have seen.  It is about an hour north of us.  We didn't get any pictures of the actual service projects because they asked us not to take photos but we do have some photos of the area.  The project for the Friday was helping to harvest wakame!  You may remember that wakame is the seaweed and stem and leaves.  There were bins and bins of wakame that had been gathered from the sea and we cut off the wakame from the stem with a knife.  The knife was actually not a knife like you are thinking.  It has a handle about the size of a butter knife handle and then it is like a two pronged fork that makes kind of like a Y with the prongs.  Between the prongs is the knife blade.  This is a picture of Calvin with some wakame stems in our apartment.  This would be kind of like what the wakame would be like after we got finished with it:

The part that we cut off (the good part) is kind of like a ruffle of different sizes:  some had small ruffles, others had rather large intense ruffles!  The stems and leaves we put into bins that they called "trash" although they probably use them too.  It was pretty slippery, intense work and back breaking since we just sat on some benches and leaned over with about 40 other volunteers doing the same thing.  There were tons of bins though.  So sorry we couldn't take pictures!

That project lasted around 3 hours and then we put together cardboard boxes in the afternoon until it was time to go home.

On Friday we returned, excited to do more wakame, only to find that they had given that project to another group and we were going to do something else.  That something else was going to a large field (several acres) that was downstream from a hospital that was totally destroyed in the tsunami.  We were given shovels and picks (literally) and buckets and about 80 of us got in a line and shoveled the dirt.  Apparently they were thinking they were going to plant something in the field and wanted to get any larger things--rocks, debris from the tsunami, hospital things, etc. out before a tractor tackled the field.  We dug for about 3 hours, not finding much except large rocks, a few tiles off of roofs, some very large metal nails, and some miscellaneous pieces of junk.  I found a film cartridge and a cigarette lighter.  They wanted us to watch even for jewelry or money or medical ID since the hospital was nearby.  The dirt where we dug was only 2-4 inches deep before you hit bedrock bottom.  Whenever we uncovered anything larger than our fists we put them in the buckets and some people came around and put them into larger piles according to what they were. Needless to say we are pretty sore today.  My legs have not known that kind of exercise for a long time!

The sister that went with us talked about it in Relief Society today.  She said she was so impressed by the others.  Some of the people were at least 70 years old that were doing the volunteer work.  She said as she looked at them she realized what a sacrifice it was for them and then she was humbled to continue working even though the work was hard.  We only worked for about 3 hours but most of the others continued into the afternoon.  We had told the people the day before that we could only work in the morning.  It was kind of bitter sweet.  We were glad to quit but we felt bad leaving everyone else to do the work.

Some pictures of the area:

This is the volunteer center.  Notice the 1000's of origami cranes that have been sent here.  One thousand cranes in Japan is a symbol of good luck and well wishing.

This is a wall hanging made to look like a map of Japan with well wishes on the hearts.  The large red heart is the Tohoku area where we live that was hit so hard by the tsunami.

Here we are with Sister Usui in our volunteer vests:

Building (at least 2 stories high) with a car on top thanks to the tsunami:

The hospital that was devastated.  That thing on the left side of the picture on top of the entrance is actually a boat!  And the amazing thing is that it is on the BACKSIDE of the building of the way the tsunami hit.  So I guess that means that it landed there when the tide went out.  The hospital is at least four stories high and at least three of the stories were hit directly by the tsunami.

On Friday night we had some friends from the branch over for spaghetti dinner.  They loved American spaghetti.  Japanese spaghetti is pretty much a little sauce mixed with some noodles and served not so hot--often room temperature.  The one lady in the blue (Takie) was kind of nervous when we invited her over #1 to eat at our apartment and #2 to eat spaghetti. She is the one that takes us out to eat at the expensive places so she kept saying, "I can take us all out."   She ended up pleasantly surprised on both counts.  We have been told several times lately that our apartment is really pretty nice and she loved the spaghetti!  The one girl (Brittney) is from Utah and was SO excited to eat something American!

Afterwards we played this frog game (in the center of the table).  There are these little wooden frogs which are round with two ears sticking out (!) and the wooden launchers that you launch the frogs into the box in the middle with round holes.  The first one with all their frogs in tWehe holes is the winner. 

Well--our life's journey for the week.  We hope you love and appreciate your journey as well.