May and a YSA Conference

Dear Family (and everyone else), We are enjoying a beautiful May. The cherry blossoms were certainly beautiful and a welcome promise for spring, but you should see the flowers now! The hedges around the chapel are fuchsias. You know, that fussy little plant you buy at Mothers' Day and then nurse it along until it dies? Here in Kumamoto, whole hedges of fuchsias are in bloom now. They have to be pruned to keep them in check, they are such vigorous and healthy growers. Fuchsias aren't the only beautiful flowering hedges that we have here. Along the roadways there is another type of flowering hedge with bigger flowers. All of these bushes so far are deep pink or red or white; although we do have a yellow rose bush growing by the side of the church. 

Last month was very busy. Since our outreach couples' conference we are required to keep a more accurate count of the outreach center attendance, so last month saw us finding out all of the names and counting them each day. For you record keepers, that sounds a little lame. How could we not have kept accurate records before? I have been collecting kanji names from everyone by ward so at least we had some head start on April's required record keeping. We had just been counting how any were there each evening (including all of the missionaries as well),but this month we were given a much more complicated report. We were told not to count the missionaries, but to give the total number of YSA (defined as 18-40, yes forty, things are different here) who attended the center at least once during the month. Hence the accurate roll taking each day. Much to our surprise, our previous months' attendance of 5-40 per night (counting missionaries--sometimes 14 of us) translated into 76 different YSA for the month. Yep, seventy-six different young people between the ages of 18-40. That is not counting the 4 or 5 17-year-olds that are taking discussions and kind of hang around afterward or the 8 to 10 over-40 singles who come most evenings also. They fit right in and are a welcome addition. Now I know and can recognize nearly all of the 76. I can't reproduce their name in my mind immediately, but hopefully that will come. I can't really talk to anyone yet, so I just pray that when I shake their hand and say, "Kon ban wa" (good evening), they can feel that their Heavenly  Father loves them and is glad they are there. Everyone does seem to light up when I shake their hand.

Tomorrow is the start of the big YSA/SA all Kyushu conference. We are headed to a resort area just two hours drive from here called Amukusa. The resort (Japanese style--so I'm not quite sure what to expect) is in the mountains but with a view of the sea and the sea is a short ride away. We are spending Tuesday afternoon at the beach, Monday afternoon is supposed to rain so we are doing indoor sports. Tuesday evening is the big dance party. We really weren't sure how the dance party bit would work out, but our group have been practicing every evening and are getting pretty good. They wanted us to teach them, but we declined. They are doing just fine by themselves. They have the two-step down and some swing steps and several very Japanese dances that are so complicated we just watch. We will try to get you a video of the dancing. 

Our part in the conference is to present some information about dating and why they should date. Also why they should be brave enough to ask each other to dance. In fact, we are to take about 30 minutes having them practice how to ask. I have a one paragraph testimony to memorize for my part of the presentation, about how God loves each of us and has many wonderful blessings promised to us. The testimony is also on a powerpoint slide so that as I mangle the pronunciation, they will still be able to read what I think I am saying.

The sun has arrived here in Kumamoto. We finally turned on the air conditioner in our front room. It just barely keeps ahead of the heat, but it does remove a lot of moisture from the air. We do not have an air conditioner in our bedroom yet, but the bedroom is on the east side of the apartment. So far it has cooled off every evening. We plan to buy an air conditioner after Amukusa.  I personally am combating the heat by drinking lots of liquid and wearing a hat and sunglasses (special permission from the mission president in order to wear sunglasses). Dad is drinking extra liquid also, but since he does not like water, he has upped his intake of cocoa. He is very delighted that some of the vending machines sell "Ice Cocoa". I buy a sports drink and he buys ice cocoa! to combat the sugar, I water down my sports drink, but I don't think that will work for ice cocoa.

Happy coming Mothers' Day next Sunday for all of you mothers. It is Mothers' day here also. We love all of you and pray for you.

Love, Kandie/Mom/grandma or whatever else you want to call me