Switch P-Day to Tuesday for Museum hopping

July 23, 2019.  Museum of Archeology down south in Taniyama.

Model of Sakurajima volcano.

Here's looking at you, kid.

I added the above 2 photos at the Museum of Art, not because of the art pieces but the 2 devices, which look like for emergency use, to measure earthquake activity and test radioactivity.

We then went to another museum.  Had to take a selfie with this big boy, huge volcanic boulder.

The above are seeds on steroids.

Sunday Dinner at the Sasaki's

July 21, 2019.  This is fermented plum juice with soda water added (no alcohol).  Delicious.  The Sasaki's live about 30-40 minutes out of town so we picked up 3 Philippinos.  Donnabelle is in the middle next to Mami Sasaki.  Donnabelle is a church member.  She and her Philippino friends are here studying Japanese.

Next photo, the 2 girls on the left are Donnabelle's friends.  In the middle is Yumi Sasaki.  On the right edge of the photo are Brother and Sister Sasaki.  Mami and Yumi are twins.

Here's Sister Lee with the Bro. & Sis. Sasaki.  After dinner, Mami brought out her violin and taught every guest how to play the first seven notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  I excused myself from trying.  Didn't want to look like a fool.  Besides, I sprained my left thumb the night before at Sports night playing volleyball.  Found out later that the violin was quite expensive.  With a weak thumb I might have dropped the violin.

Construction Progress

July 19, 2019.  One day the foundation was put in.  Another day the framing just shot up.  Look at that guy in black shirt and gray pants walking on the base of the roof on top of the second story wall.  Crazy scary.  Japan does construction differently.  The foundation went in differently.  Now the roof went up differently as well.  In America, the trusses come prebuilt.  Here, I noticed they actually built them right on the roof.

July 22, 2019.  This photo was taken at 7 a.m.  Workers haven't shown up for work yet.  Note how they left a bundle of lumber on top of the roof.  That seemed to me kind of dangerous but obviously it never fell off.

Same day but now 4 p.m. in the afternoon.  They added a roof to the first floor over what I think is a double car garage and front room.  A lot of beams got put in place above the main roof over the insulation boards.

A closer look of the second floor roof.  Here the crane is bringing up 6 rolls of roof tar paper.

And the Japanese Driver License process begins

July 18, 2019.  Well, it has been 6 months since we came to Kagoshima.  It is time to get going on getting my Japanese Driver's license before the International Driving Permit expires next January.  So I had get the necessary paper work ready for my application.  One of the requirements is a 3 cm x 2.4 cm photo taken within last 3 months.  So I took this selfie.  Some lady on a YouTube.com video said not to smile (or expose your teeth) for this photo, thus the more serious look from me.  I discovered that I can actually upload the photo to a website and then print the photo at a convenience store like 7 Eleven at 200 yen price for 3 copies.  Sister Lee said she saw some photo paper at our apartment so I printed a copy instead of using 7 Eleven.  Hopefully the home brewed photo will be accepted.

Seniors Home Visit

July 18, 2019.  Today we had our first District council meeting after most recent transfer day.  After our district lunch, Sister Lee and I were invited to come along to a Seniors Home to sing couple songs, one in English and one in Japanese.  The Romanized lyrics for the Japanese song is shown in the photo above.  It was a crash course rehearsal.  Practiced couple times and off we went.  Since the Seniors home was relatively close, we walked.  This activity kind of reminded me when we went to the Nursing home in my home town, Hamilton, MT, and sang Christmas carols.  The meeting was short, only 2 songs, but was wonderful.  Even though Sister Lee and I are in our 60's, we literally are youngsters in the room.  I learned later that one lady, whose mind was very sharp and who was very talkative, is 100 years old.  Despite the lack of practice, I guess we did well enough that they would like us to come back.

Elusive Hamburger Buns found

July 18, 2019. So we have been inviting the young missionaries for lunch over at our place once a transfer (a transfer is 6 weeks) after a District council meeting.  The next one will be July 30 and the main dish will be slopping joes.  Last time we had sloppy joes, Sister Lee baked her own buns because we couldn't find any to buy.  Then we heard that Max-Valu sells hamburger buns so on my morning walk today I swung by (it's open 24 hrs.) and checked it out.  Sure enough, I found them.  Comes in a bag of 4 buns at 128 yen, which is a little over $1.10.  Back home, comparable buns would cost less than $1 for 8 buns.  So these may be the most expensive sloppy joes due to expensive buns and expensive ground beef.

A Crane came by

This is a photo from our balcony.  It's a crane that has a basket at the top.  It's been around couple times now.  Last week and yesterday.  They appear to be making some repairs to the balcony on the 5th floor, one floor above us and to the right.  We were surprised they would actually bring a crane in here, but I guess that way they won't have to bother the tenants by going through their apartment.  Japanese people are so thoughtful.  They are so polite too.  When it appeared the first time last week, Sister Lee and I went out to our balcony to see what's going on and the guy in the basket saw us and said Konichiwa (Good Day) to us.

Followup on construction on lot of demolished building

July 17, 2019.  Awhile back, I posted some photos of the demolition of a house across the street from our apartment.  They have been on it for several weeks now.  At first, I thought they were just going to make it into a Paid Parking lot because they didn't dig very deep.  Then after laying down rebars and pouring cement, I saw they had rebars sticking out vertically.  Next came foundation walls as you can see in the above photo.  I think in USA, the foundation walls would have came first.  Today when I walked past, I saw a truck hauling in lumber.  It looks like walls will be going up soon.  Wonder how many floors this building will be.

Kagoshima Branch / Taniyama Branch Temple Trip

July 15, 2019. We were supposed to get on the bus at 4:45 a.m. to go to Fukuoka Temple.  The bus was late, slightly over an hour.  Here's a selfie of us finally on the bus on our way.  Bus ride itself was an adventure.  Because of being late, the 2 scheduled stops at rest area were limited to 5 minutes.  There is no way you can take care of business in 5 minutes when you have a line of people from our bus, along all the other Japanese travelers taking advantage of a National Holiday (Marine Day).  This bus doesn't have a bathroom in the back of the bus like tour buses in America.

Look at this photo of the aisle on the bus.  There are actually seats attached to the right hand side benches that can fold down.  So you can have 5 people sitting on each row.

Group pictures of temple attendees as we get ready to go home

On the return leg, I decided to take photos of the country side.  On most trips I have been the driver so have not had the chance to really look at the scenery.  As you can see, with all the rain we get, the country side is quite green with very thick forests.

The Kyushu Express Way is basically a highway built way up high on the hills.  It has a lot of tunnels, some very long, like over 6 km.  Sitting up so high and I being the driver, has been able to see what's below.  This time riding the bus and sitting high on the bus, we were able to see over the road railings.  This next photo shows a view looking down into a gulch.

July 14, 2019 Church cancelled

What!!  We woke up to sounds of heavy rain.  Then we get warnings on our cell phone about potential mud slides.  Next we get announcement from the District President that church is cancelled.  Back in Virginia, we had church cancelled due to snow and ice.  I think this is the first time as result of potential mud slides and flooding.

Sports Night

July 13, 2019.  We are here to support the young missionaries so I came out of retirement to play basketball with these young people at 1/4 - 1/3 of my age.  First we played 2 games of Knockout.  Showed I still got the shooting touch.  Took 2nd in first game and then won the 2nd game.  However, old age (and extra weight) has affected my vertical leap.  Think I can only get off the floor about 6 inches now.  Oh well, we had fun.  And look, I am among the taller guys now.  It's like playing in SF Chinatown.

Transfer Day July 10-11, 2019

Transfer week -

Gone home: Elder Walters in yellow jacket to America; Sis. Hippolite, holding the V sign, to New Zealand, and Elder Howell, buying bus tickets to Fukuoka Mission Office, to America.  The other 2, Elder Helm in white shirt w/o suit jacket and Elder Jacobson, next to Helm transferred to other places.

Sis. Spilling, from Tasmania, Australia, next to Sis. Lee, transferred to same zone as Elder Helm.

P-Day - Let's Do Museums

P-Day July 8, 2019.  Decided to go visit museums today.  First one we drove to the Museum of Science.  It opens at 10 a.m. and turns out they have science lab demonstration at 10:30 a.m.  Well, we almost missed it.  Since it was our first time, we used the GPS unit in the car and followed the directions.  It led us to the Western side of the block where the museum is located.  The parking lot was on the Eastern side of the block.  On Google map, there are a road that cuts through the block so I thought I could use it to quickly get a parking spot.  Nope, the road was blocked off.  I had back out and drive around the block.  We rushed in and got into the lab show in the nick of time.  Actually we didn't have to rush, we were the only 2 people that showed up for the lab demonstrations.  It was good.  We got to witness a controlled explosion.

Remember in my previous posts, some photos showed a little pouch around my waist.  Quick remedy - stand in front of this curved mirror.  Look how skinny I am.

This station records one's voice and use the voice to play musical notes.  I think the program should be enhanced to record one's voice and be able to synthesize an entire song at quality that would classify that person as a professional singer.

You didn't know Sister Lee and I are part of the NASA program.  Here's proof.  

This next photo is a challenge to drop a ball from a height that would bounce from each green column to the next through rings and eventually into the net at the far right edge of the display window.  The apparatus is at the left edge.  Balls roll down the platform and get guided back to an elevator that brings the balls up and then released onto a platform.  There are 2 buttons near the bottom of the red half circle.  One buttons control the height of the platform that contains the ball.  Once the platform has a ball, the elevator stops automatically.  Once you think the ball is at the right height, you then press the other button to release the ball.  The ball drops and bounces off the top of the tallest green column.  If drop is within the correct range of height, the ball bounces up and through the first ring, hopefully bounces on top of the 2nd green column through the next ring to bounce on the last green column, though right most ring and into the net. It took me 3 times to get into the net.

After the museum of science, we went to 2 other museums, Museum of Meiji Restoration and Museum of Literature and Kid version of Museum of Literature.  The kid version dealt with Alice in Wonderland.  We didn't know if there are any parking available right next to the museum so we decided to walk.  The walk itself had some sights along the way, a fountain and a statue of Saigo Takamori.

Saigo, one of the most influential samurai that led the Meiji Restoration.  He was born in Kagoshima.

This next photo is in an exhibit inside the Museum of Meiji Restoration.  The clothing is so huge.  I wonder how they are actually worn.  They must be folded somehow, otherwise you be tripping on the parts that would be dragging on the ground.

This is a fountain at the Central Park.  This is much smaller than the one of the same name in New York City.  It is only a city block size.

Feed the Missionaries - Japanese Style

July 7, 2019.  In America, we used to pass around the calendar and sign up to have the missionaries over for dinner.  Here in Japan (at least at the Kagoshima Branch), on Fast Sunday (I could be wrong - it could be more Sundays than just Fast Sunday), a table full of groceries is set up for the missionaries to take back to their apartments.

Taniyama Branch Talent Show

July 6, 2019 Talent Show at Taniyama Branch.  Refreshment was served right at the beginning, probably because next day is Fast Sunday.  However, no one did an "Eat & Run".  It was entertaining.  One guy sang a song in English, but I couldn't understand his English.  The only word I could make out was "Rider" or was that "Writer"?

Kagoshima Missionary Efforts 50th Anniversary Reenactment Video

I had to break the video into 4 scenes due to video size restrictions.  Sister Lee and I are at the beginning of scene 2 but we encourage viewers to watch in order to capture the flow of the video.

Here we are.  The first mission president and his wife were Japanese so we got drafted to play the part.  Elder Helm filmed, directed, edited, narrated (the deeper voice) and produced the video.  I thought he did a fine job.  I was hesitant at first to accept the role but he guaranteed we didn't have any speaking parts.  I did have to say something to make it look like I was doing what the narration said.  Anyway, we are honored to represent the real president and his wife and we hope we did them proud.

In the 3rd scene, young Sister Mana Sano represented the first person baptized after the missionary efforts got started in the Kagoshima area.

This last scene shows some memories of the Kagoshima Branch.

The morning after

You may have heard that Kagoshima had some severe rainfall recently.  The city officials actually called for evacuation of the entire city to go to either designated evacuation centers or other safe areas due to potential flooding and mudslides.  It's only July 4th and already there has been over 27 inches of rain in July, extremely more than the average of 12 inches for month of July.  It rained constantly on July 3rd and I woke up this July 4th morning, the rain had stopped so I went for a walk.  I specifically targeted walking to the nearest river, the Kotsuki River, to see how bad it was.  The photo above shows weeds stuck on railings, indicating how high the water got.  It looked like another couple meters, the water would have overflowed into the streets above.  The next photo is under the bridge.  A lot of silt were washed and settled there when the water receded.

When I walked past the above bridge, a flock of pigeons descended on me.  This was about a little after 5 a.m. in the morning and there weren't too many people up and about.  Those pigeons probably thought finally, a human is here with possibly food to share with them.  They soon realize that I had no food with me so they flew off.  From these photos, you can see all the silt that got left behind after the water receded.  I bet it would have been pretty wild to see the torrent of water rushing out to sea, but I am glad I stayed in where it was dry and safe.

Another branch lunch after church

The very next day after the 50th anniversary commemoration, we had a branch luncheon after church services.  Yep, more good food and continual struggle to keep my waistline from expanding.  Sister Lee made sticky rice (in the 2 white rice cookers on the left) which no one, including me, can resist.

50th Anniversary Commemoration of Missionaries coming to Kagoshima

This is a group picture of those attended this 50th year anniversary commemoration of the first missionaries coming to Kagoshima who stuck around at the end to get into the picture.  President Sano, 1st Counselor in the Fukuoka Mission Presidency, kneeling in front, was the one who pushed the timer button on the camera and dashed from the back of the pews to get into the photo.

The above photo was some of the food at the commemoration.  Original plan was to serve peanut butter jelly sandwiches.  What kind of commemoration would that be?  Common sense prevailed resulting in more festive dishes.  Sister Lee made those ham and cheese sandwiches on homemade tomato bread baked with various herbs.

People loved the food and mingling.  Couple of our English class students even came to the commemoration.

Yes, that's me in the photo.  Most of the photos of the commemoration was taken by someone else.  I was busy passing out plates and chopsticks.  OK, I admit I was busy eating too (you can see a bulge in the midsection of mine).

We missionaries were tasked with singing a song while people were eating and chatting.  Here we are getting organized to sing "I am a Child of God" in Japanese.  Good thing Sister Lee is singing next to me to drown out my poor Japanese pronunciations.

Good thing too is people are far from us so they probably wouldn't hear my mistakes.

Oh by the way, I don't have a copy of the video yet but Sister Lee and I made our acting debut by participating in a video, which was shown at this commemoration.  I'll post it if I get a copy.  We reenacted a scene as mission president and wife to open the proselyting effort in Kagoshima.  The original mission president and wife were Japanese so the video producer casted the parts on us because we looked the part.  Believe it or not, it took only 1 take to do our little scene.  Either we are natural at acting or the skies look ominous, ready to pour down on us.