Kagoshima District Conference

We had a wonderful District Conference this past weekend.  This is like a Stake Conference but since Kagoshima is only a district, hoping to get large enough to be transformed to a stake.  Anyhow, Elder Yamashita, (the larger photo on the left), a member of the 70's came and presided over the conference.  Elder Yamashita is born the same year as I.  I am only 5 months older, yet my head has a lot more gray hairs.  Elder Nagatomo from the Area 70's, (photo on right), also came.  As mentioned in another post, Elder Yamashita announced a new church building with Kagoshima Branch combining with Taniyama Branch.  Sister Lee and I have hard enough time trying to remember names for the Kagoshima Branch.  Now add more names for the people from the Taniyama Branch.  For the conference itself, I participated in 2 choirs.  First I was among the Kagoshima Elders Quorum which sang the song I'll Find You My Friend, composed by Linda Leavitt.  First I never heard the song in the states and then we had to sing it in Japanese.  The song is in 4/4 time but most notes are eighth notes.  It was too fast for me to read the Japanese hiragana, have my brain tell me what the sound is, and utter the sound at the eighth note pace.  I practiced virtually every night for 2 weeks so I could stay synchronized with the notes.  The 2nd song was much easier.  It was the hymn "Love One Another".  That was with all the missionaries in the Kagoshima Branch.  We sang it in English first and then repeated the song in Japanese.  The tempo was much slower so my brain can handle the transition from one sound to the next.