Kandie in her scout uniform helping Young Women prepare for Girls Camp

Hi, all. As always, thanks for the notes and the support. We just got home after two days, and also just finished talking with Bill in Tokyo (by Skype). This picture (below) is at the start of the hike high in the beautiful mountains (near the Maki-No-To Observatory) that turned out to be 5 hours long. We wore our scout uniforms, and astonished the Priesthood and Young Women leaders (very satisfying). The young women themselves are not ‘astonishable’ (same as young women everywhere). On the trail we taught the the ‘what to do when lost’ chapter so the young women could earn another bead. We also showed them how to bungee-chord a plastic sheet into a spring-bar tent (of course, because it’s my favorite way to camp). We hiked further with them part of the way, but anticipated that the planned-for 1.5 hours would last longer. We had to be in the next City (Oita) to be at the opening Ribbon-Cutting for our next Outreach Center later that evening (Saturday night). So we retraced our steps and left another Young Women leader at the end of the trail with a car to ferry car-drivers back, and then pick up the exhausted Young Women. Have I said this before? It’s tough work, but someone has to do it. J J J I’m glad it’s us. (By the way, Kandie is in excellent shape. The hiking up and down steep mud-slick slopes was no problem. And the Oita Center is off to a fantastic start!) Love, Keith