Halloween Party 2019

Oct 26, 2019 - Halloween Party - with lack of meetings due to lots of other stuff going on like zone conference, all the planning were brain childs of the Kagoshima Sisters.  We provided support.  There were 3 games, donut eating contest with donuts hanging from a string, beanbag toss into 1 of 3 baskets, and bounce balls into 3 jack-o-lanterns.  Prices were given out to winners.  People were invited to come dressed in costumes if so desired.  We made the first batch of pancakes until it was time to go pick up couple people who needed rides to the church.  Kagoshima Elders then took over with the cooking chore.

I took the easy route for a costume.  I am already dressed up with white shirt and tie all the time, so I just needed to get a hat.  I scoured amazon japan for something inexpensive.  Most hats went 1000 yen or higher.  I spotted this one on sale for 498 yen, about $4.50.

Sister Lee came up with this idea at the very last minute.  She dressed up as a patient by wearing her pajamas and putting these paper stickers all over body.  This was like the first time Sister Lee ever dressed up in a costume.  Parties is not something she likes to do, so she really stepped up big time.

It's a first for me, pancakes for Halloween Party.  Taniyama Branch was having their Halloween Party exactly same time as ours.  They too was serving Pancakes because they bought pancake mix from the same store that we got ours from.  Sister Lee saw them at the store when she went back to get an extra bag of pancake mix.

This is at the start of donut eating contest.  We went to several stores shopping for the least expensive donuts.  We bought 3 bags, each bag with 8 cake donuts.  After this first contest, there were no takers for further contests.  Probably the Kagoshima Elders will be enjoying donuts for the next few days.

It finally happened

Oct 25, 2019 - I never thought I would see the day, but it finally happened.  Japanese people are very polite and courteous.  However, we met a guy today that failed to exhibit those qualities.  Sister Lee and I were out today checking a bunch of addresses to verify a list of members if they still live there or not.  Many streets in Japan are narrow and most do not have any curb side parking.  So oftentimes we find cars parked on the street with emergency lights blinking and people has learned to live with it.  I complain about it all the time, but bear it and simply either switch if there is another lane to switch to or wait for safe time to go around the parked vehicle.  It is a fact of life to have to use blinking emergency lights when you need to stop briefly.  Today, I was on a busy narrow road that it would make everyone mad if I used the blinking emergency lights.  So I pulled off the road in front of a house, which had an area to park several cars, 2 in front of house and 2 on side of house.  The idea was for Sister Lee to quickly walk about half a block to verify this one address, the whole process usually take 5-10 minutes.  I would remain in the car and move it if necessary and then drive around the city block until Sister Lee is finished.  However, this young man, in late 20's to mid 30's, presumeably the owner, told us that it is private property and that we had to leave immediately.  Certainly he was in his rights to kick us out but I have never met a Japanese who was so rough with his tone of speech and abrupt in his mannerism.  I guess it was bound to happen.

Zone Conference Oct 16, 2019

Oct 16, 2019 - Zone conference for Kagoshima Zone and Kumamoto Zone, held at Kumamoto Stake Center.

We took this picture just right before lunch was served.  The conference was good.  It was a long drive, 2.5 hours each way.  We left at 6:30 a.m. from our apartment to pickup the young missionaries at their apartments.  Since we have done this several times now, I no longer get lost getting to the express way.  So we made good time and got to our destination 9:20 ish.  I then took a nap in the rental van, to try to get as much nap in for the return leg.  Remember, this conference was just one day after our return from Hiroshima.  Pretty taxing on the old bodies but I can feel my body receiving strength from the Lord to do this work.  Then after zone conference, the next 2 days we had apartment checks.  It was busy and busy.  The first day of apartment checks was our Eastern route.  We first go to Nobeoka, which is 3 hrs. away, one way.  So there was a lot of driving this week but I felt I was buoyed up.

Returning to Kagoshima from Hiroshima

Oct 15, 2019 - returning to Kagoshima.  Thought we had better take a photo of Mayumi's mom.  We had forgotten last visit.

Here we are catching up with some missionaries who previously served in Kagoshima.  Hiroshima Zone and Yamaguchi Zone were having their zone conference on the date we were going back to Kagoshima.  Since it was being held at the church building really close to the train station, we decided to stop by and say hello.  The main reason for stopping was to see the person in the next photo.

Here is the story for this photo.  When we first got into Hiroshima, it is our routine to swing by Costco to get some stuff that we have a hard time of getting at regular stores.  Prior to our trip, I had an impression that we might bump into some missionaries or church members.  Lo and behold, while I was pushing the shopping cart at Costco, some ladies stopped me and pointed to my missionary badge.  I introduced myself as Elder Lee in Japanese and then I mentioned Sister Lee by name.  This is about the extent of my communicating by Japanese.  Sister Lee was about 15 feet away looking at some Costco products.  I caught her eye and beckoned her to come over.  She came over and then I let the ladies converse with each other.  Sister Lee then recognized one of the ladies as one of her friends back when they were going to church together over 40 years ago.  Her friend recognized Sister Lee as well.  Then both hugged each other.  What a sight.  Sure wish I had my camera out.  They conversed for a while to catch up a little.  In the conversation, Sister Lee discovered they were at Costco shopping for items to prepare for the luncheon for the Hiroshima zone conference.  Since we forgot to take photos of that short reunion, we decided to stop by at the conference, hoping she would be there helping with that luncheon.  She was and so we were able to take a photo of the two of them.

Visit to Hiroshima

Oct 14, 2019, National Holiday in Japan - Sports Day

On Oct 11, Sister Lee and I took the shinkansen from Kagoshima to Hiroshima to visit Sister Lee's mom and siblings. I really enjoy the shinkansen here.  They are so on time.  This is a good time to visit because during the weekend, nothing is going on other than rebroadcast of general conference with Japanese dubbed in.

This photo is at the top floor of one of the department stores in downtown Hiroshima.  Sister Lee reminisced when she was little, there used be a ferris wheel on the roof top and they would occasionally come and enjoy a ride and ate soft ice cream up there.

I ordered the noodle dish in the middle 1100 yen.  These are photos of the replicas that they have on the display windows at the front of the restaurant.  It is amazing how life like they are.  I enjoyed my meal and realized afterwards that I should have taken a photo.  Since I ate mine, I did the next best thing of photographing the replicas.

Sister Lee ordered the oyster dish, which she enjoyed immensely as well.

Transfer 10/3/2019

Oct 2-3, 2019

Elder Curtis, shown in the middle above finally transferred after being in Taniyama for a very long time.  Since he was transferring to Okinawa, he had to leave a day early to get to Fukuoka to catch a plane.  Elder Curtis is a convert to the church and did an excellent job preparing lessons for us as district leader.

Photo above is a little fuzzy, sorry.  Next to Elder Curtis is Elder Chase. He also went to Okinawa as well to serve out his mission on his final 6 week transfer.

Here we have some members saying farewell to couple missionaries.  Sister Carly Smith, 2nd from left, transferred to Fukuoka and Elder Takaku, youngest of 4 children, returned home to a rural place about 50 km north of Tokyo.  Both served well, Sister Smith as Sister Training Leader and Elder Takaku as Zone Leader.