Successful Week

Amazingly enough, I have now given four talks in Japanese. I think that I have already mentioned this, but it still deserves saying again. Nozomi Takahashi shimai (that is: Sister Takahashi) has helped me by translating my talks for me. Then I can combine phrases and make new talks. 

Today we went to the Shimizu and Tsuboi wards. Our stake president drove us across town, had us talk at both sacrament meetings, talked himself, arranged for Dad to give his power point presentation about the outreach center between meetings, and also had the relief society presidency feed us after the power point presentation and before the next sacrament meeting. Chocolate pie, rice and some yummy meat and vegetable sauce, tempura fried shrimp and a salad, water to drink. (As you may recall, Kumamoto is very proud of its water.) And it looked beautiful and was served on pretty dishes. I don't know if they bring the plates from home or if each relief society has a supply hidden away somewhere. 

My talk (and the other three) went like this: I am thankful to be here today in this ward. I am thankful for the YSA and for the outreach center. We are thankful for the privilege and responsibility of being with the outreach center. We are from America, Utah and Idaho. We have 5 children and 10 grandchildren. 4 daughters and 1 son. Our son served his mission in Japan, Tokyo north. Our daughters also served missions. I served my first mission in England and Wales. Elder Prisbrey served his first mission in all of Japan. Now for my testimony. The gospel is true. The prophet represents God on this earth. (New line-Thomas Monson is a prophet today.) Jesus Christ is our savior. The book of Mormon teaches us about the savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, I testify. Amen.

I had a line that explained that we lived in Idaho for 31 years and just moved to Salt Lake this summer, but it was quite complicated and not very easy to say. I also had a line about where my daughters served their missions, but it also was complicated. Hopefully I will be able to say those lines correctly soon.

Dad's talk was quite a bit longer and more complicated. He wrote it in kanji and other kana. Part of it was a quote from Preach my Gospel--very complex Japanese. We sounded pretty clunky at the first sacrament meeting, we thought. Pres Tasahiro asked Dad to speak longer and when Dad said that his Japanese was too poor to speak much longer, Pre Tasahiro said that we should not worry, but just let the Holy Ghost guide us and let the audience hear what the Spirit wanted them to hear. Dad relaxed and spoke quite well. I felt better also. Except that my mind went blank at the beginning and I had to keep turning around and asking for help. I made some comment in english about how my mind had just blown away, with appropriate hand gestures; everyone laughed and since the rest of the talk was written down, it went quite well.

Taikai (zone conference) was really excellent. One of the treats for zone conference was meeting one of the assistants, Elder Kado. He is from Niigata, Japan and a close friend of Lionel and Etsuko Hauritz, our friends from Australia and Keith's missionary companion in Hokkaido. Etsuko, would you kindly, for us, tell Elder Kado's mother that he is an excellent assistant, very humble, kind and also powerful. He talked to us in Japanese and excellent English. He is very tall. His companion assistant is from America and is probably a foot shorter. Elder Kado is also very handsome. His family can be very proud of him. 

Here are some accomplishments from this week:

1. My mugi-cha tea finally tastes good. The sister missionaries once again came to the rescue and showed me how to make it. (a LOT more water, I mean PINTS & PINTS more)

2. We successfully put money into our Japanese bank account.

3. We mailed a letter to the mission office. (We had the clerk write the two addresses. That accomplishment I will have to save for another week.)

4. We found rice seasonings at the store. These are like salt that you shake on to the rice and I have not been able to find them here. It is quite a challenge to try to decipher the package labels, which are of course written in kanji. It helps when there are pictures.

5. I can sit on the floor for an hour at a time. The other outreach couple and I play Phase 10 until any young single adults come--about an hour.

6. I can also play volleyball, softball and other indoor games. Sitting on the floor helps with flexibility:)

7. Everyone's English in the stake is definitely improving.

One final note--I sit in on a lot of discussions. Our missionaries are really incredible. People actually walk into the church and ask to be taught! I really do not know what the missionaries are saying so I do a lot of praying and watching. I also have a book of missionary phrases that I search for appropriate testimonies that I can hopefully memorize and give. Often the point passes where that particular phrase would fit, so often I do not say anything for the entire discussion. This could make me feel bad (useless), but I have noticed something. When I concentrate on the words and look attentive (and actually am attentive) and also keep praying for the spirit to touch our hearts or for the investigator to understand a point or to accept a commitment or whatever I think is happening, then the investigator also stays focused and attentive. If I wander away in my mind and think of mundane things, invariably I'll come back to the discussion with the investigator staring at me. In other words, they have wandered away also. So now I try really hard to stay focused and to add my part, even though it isn't vocal.

Keith is trying to  make connections with the universities here so that we can talk to their students and invite them to the Outreach Center. Since the center is totally dependent on someone coming (several someones) so that they can enjoy doing things with each other, more young singles would be better. We found a member who is a professor of English at one of the universities. He is very friendly and even got his master's degree from Bristol, England (My mission). However, he doesn't know the science faculty. But, by a series of amazing chances, we seem to have a lead into the science part of the university. We will see how it pans out. (One missionary sister had to spend the morning with us, bucause her two companions needed to take a driver's lesson in order to renew their drivers' licenses. While waiting with us, Sister Utagawa searched the university website for the name of a professor who teaches about outer-space. That evening Br Maesawa found Dad roaming the halls during English conversation classes and said, "You are needed here." and put Dad into a class. There are three classes. An adult rushed into the building and into Dad's class. While talking to him, Dad found out that he knows the space professor and would be glad to introduce us. Now we'll see what happens.)

Hope all of you have had a good Sunday (or will have--I forget I am 15-16 hours ahead of you). We love you all. If you know of someone who wants to read these letters, pleas e let me know so that I can add their e-mail address to my list.

Dad, how is Aunt Donna doing?

Love, Kandie/Mom/Grandma