Easter Egg Hunt the Mexican Way...

This picture shows how we did Easter—Mexican style—as well as including an Easter Egg Hunt and several Vernon-family reunion style relay races, 3-legged races, and games.
The boys on the left charged each time a mighty swing spilled a few pieces of candy as the giant egg became more and more fractured.
Our mission president sent us the note, below, describing how the Outreach program has attracted the positive attention of Elder Richard G. Scott as well as a group of Mission Presidents. We are delighted, gratified, and also a little scared. (Kandie probably isn’t scared).
In another picture, attached, a can of olives from Costco in Fukuoka was again a success at our busy planning meeting, Wednesday night. Everybody also likes Calpis shown in the foreground. (As you all probably know, when you say that in Nihongo, it sounds like…..). Also, Bill’s former mission president (Komatsu) called today on the phone to see how we were doing, and mentioned that he received a letter from Bill and knows that his new job hunt includes Japan.
Tonight, Kandie and I caused a minor stir when we joined in with the YSA-center dancing. It was fun to seem so apparently casual and faultless while dancing the ballroom steps that everybody had been trying so hard to learn. By contrast another attached picture shows tonight’s much more complicated Japanese-disco-ancient ‘odori’ combination that seemed easy to everyone. Maybe our outward attempts to suppress dancing (mostly my attempts) are happily working in reverse—a Ripley’s believe or not-level wonder, said one of our leaders, as I mentioned before. Love, Dad

All the Outreach couples.

here is the picture of all of the Outreach couples in our mission--four of us are full-time and four are serving as one of their church callings in the stake. The other couple, they are sitting on the couch on the left, are our mission president--Pres Iwaasa and Sister Iwaasa. The full-timers are the three gaijin couples and the Shimadas, (one of the couples standing in back of the couch). Last week Pres Iwaasa opened outreach centers in Okinawa, Nagasaki, and Oita as well as the two original ones (Fukuoka and Kumamoto). Our wonderful, spiritual and humble Kumamoto Outreach couple, who think that all they are doing is what we tell them, but are really the backbone of our center, are the Oyamas standing to the far left of the picture.

The couples' names, starting at the back with the Oyamas and going to the right:Oyama, Prisbrey, Hasagawa,Shimada, Healey, Anderson (at the very far back right), Brother Okada. Then to those on the couch: Iwaasa, Izumi, Sister Okada. 

Picture overload...

Some cherry blossoms in the background (look above the bushes). The bushes here turn fiery red in the spring as the new growth comes out. Really neat to see.
In the background the sign says beware of Rattlesnakes. No one claims to have every seen one.

St. Patricks Day, we even had green rice. The real hit was the fresh spinach bread--a much better tasting bread than zucchini bread by the way--and a brilliant shamrock green!
Playing Badmitton (they are really very good!) The two girls with their backs to the camera are all-Kyushu champions. The one on the right is a member. They are really amazing to watch.
Eikaiwa (English conversation) Class...
At church in Oita. The other Americans are the Holmes family. He is working for the International Center in Oita.
The Bishop in Oita, who used to be Bill's Companion:

And his wife and children.
Cherry Blossoms in the background (the big tree)
Missionaries with Sister Iwaasa, our mission mom. She has just returned from buying us individual lunches--rice, a pickle, some meat sauce on the rice, a small serving of potato salad and a surprising lack of vegetables. Sister Iwaasa and I agreed that maybe next time we would not take the elders' recommendation without checking it out first:)
More Missionaries and investigators and new members. The two tall Americans standing in the middle are our zone leaders, Elder Johnson from Sandy, UT and Elder Monahon from Gilbert, AZ. They really tower over everyone:
, Missionaries again, taken April 22, 2008: We have three new missionaries in our district, so I am not the only one who cannot understand Japanese. Sister Pike, standing next to me, is from Springville, Utah. Her dad is an ancient scriptures professor at BYU.
Missionaries! The same group taken twice so that you can see that both of us are here, not just one in front of the camera and the other one some where else (usually in back of the camera):
A class on marriage and relationships. The young man in the center in the purple hat announced last week that he is engaged and getting married in the temple. He met his fiancee at the first big YSA Outreach opening social. Hooray for Outreach!
Another baptism. Although we did not directly teach her, she is a wonderful, humble person and is in our ward, Nagamine Ward, here in Kumamoto. Sister Miyase and her son are on the right. Miyase Kyodai is one excellent dancer. He is teaching a very complicated modern Japanese dance to the YSA for our upcoming conference.