Volcano visiting, Mt. Aso

Because of the shelter, picture below, we didn’t worry while looking over the rim of this active volcano near us (‘Naka Dake’ portion of the Mt. Aso collection of volcanoes. Volcanic steam behind Kandie in the picture comes from pooled water on one side of the crater (2nd picture) that leaks into a series of molten lava-filled cavities under the steam. Mounted TV cameras give the best view of these glowing-red-hot cavities. We can also see the steam plumes from our balcony. We went here this week with a group of our newest converts (one baptized last Sunday) and about-to-be-transferred missionaries that we really miss. (We always miss all of them, and the new ones that transferred in are exciting, excited, bayonets fixed-and ready-to-go, and wonderful, as expected). Katsue Saruwatari returned to us with neat movies of you, and great memories and good feelings for you. Thanks for making her visit a wonderful one, and thanks for telling us of the many exciting things happening with all of you. Love, Dad (Keith)

More on Young Women's Camp

Some of you have already seen the pictures and most of this posting. I wanted to add to Keith's comments about camp. He told you what I did, but did not say what he did. He made it a goal to learn everyone's names. We prepared beads for each girl that they had to earn by 1) smiling at us and shaking our hand; 2nd bead) saying something to Keith in English or at least showing that they understood something that he said in English; and 3rd bead) helping me to memorize the YW theme in Japanese. I know the first 2 1/2 lines, and then it really gets into hard to pronounce words. We laughed a lot together as they tried to help me say them correctly. I'm still trying.

While I was preparing the beads, Keith was helping with all of that elaborate cooking. We had a fellow scout leader there--woodbadge trained and everything. He agreed with us that the Young Women camp is really great--maybe even better than scout camp:)


At the moment the church is not sponsoring any scout groups in Japan. Br Su-e came back from his wood badge training almost on top of the letter that canceled scouting in Japan. As you can imagine, Keith is trying to get it up and running again.


Our closing fireside was very impressive. The girls were divided into four groups and were led through several tableaus that re-enacted the war in heaven and then a family working together to get to the Land Bountiful to see the savior, a couple awaiting the birth of their baby (which represented each of them finally coming to earth) and arriving at the site of the campfire where they were all given lighted candles. Satan then went around and tried to blow out their candles, but they all made it safely to Zion (the campfire). The oldest YW were given torches (actual 3-4 ft long burning sticks right out a a tourist movie about Japan) to start the pre-prepared fire.


So there we were--about 40 of us holding lighted candles, with four holding monstrous flaming torches. The fire caught and roared into the air. It was very impressive. As I looked around to see all of those candles, I thought, "Why don't we do this America? Why are we so afraid of fire?" Just about at that point, the paper cup that held my candle (so wax wouldn't drip onto my hand) caught fire. I tried to blow it out, but it just burned hotter so I thought, "I'll just let the cup burn up and then I will still have my candle." Then the hot wax began to drip onto my fingers and I realized why we don't do this in America. Too dry or too klutzy or too ADD or something. Anyway I tossed the cup onto the wet grass and stomped on it. It immediately extinguished and I was left with my burnt out candle--the only one with a dead candle so far as I could see. So don't try this at home--unless you live in a wet forest and have extremely coordinated YW in your stake.


I don't know if I have Sandra Lathen on this e-mail group, but if anyone sees her, would you thank her from us. I remembered what she told us about girls' camp--how she would ask the Lord, if it was okay and would not cause any problems, would He moderate the weather for camp (and moderate the bugs also). I prayed that prayer every day we were there. We learned later that the large cloud cover that made it possible for all of us to be outdoors the entire day was actually pouring rain (cats and dogs, someone said) on Kumamoto and Oita--the two closest cities, one on either side, to the camp site. We had just a little drop now and then, just to remind us that rain was possible. But otherwise we were dry and comfortable and we did not have to cancel any outdoor activity.

Our stake camp leader and a counselor in the Stake YW presidency said that there were two particular things that she felt made this year's camp strong--singing songs with a book prepared ahead of time, and having a specified quiet time for scripture reading every day. So thank you again--all of the camp leaders who have trained us over the years. None of us knew that that training would directly influence a camp in southern Japan, Kumamoto Stake. Once again it is mind-boggling how the Lord prepares us, as reluctant as we are sometimes to accept the preparation.

The church moves forward. I hope all of you are having a great summer.

Love, Kandie/Mom/Grandma

Young Women's Camp in Japanese was fun!

Hi, All. Thanks again for all the prayers and support. Most on the Prisbrey side are pushing to make it to Bear Lake at this time and our hearts are with you. We just returned from our 3-day long Stake Young Women’s camp. We went to support YSA whom we helped recruit and get adult leadership up to strength. Perhaps more correctly, we recruited YSA to be the leaders so we could go. This year for the first time they added reward-beads and necklaces, T-shirts (in orange), extra songs and skits, two evening campfire programs, daily quiet scripture time, evening devotionals tent-by-tent, and a number of other suggestions from Kandie and some of you—and had a blast. Our YSA outdid themselves in reaching out to the Young Women, teaching, leading, and guiding them. The pictures are 1) Kandie and me with our group at our final meeting after loading the cars and cleaning up.
2) What are chairs for? To fold and stack against the wall or as a table for iced tea (wheat-tea), of course. Certainly not for sitting in.
3) Kandie is encouraging two twelve-year olds, and the emerald forest shows up in this picture.
4) our home (tent) away from home— away from home.
5) We used wood-burning fireplaces—this example shows fried pork smoked over cherry-wood chips, two Dutch-oven cheese and chocolate chip cakes, and ever-present rice at the far end of the fireplace.
6) We did it the easy way. We made butter by shaking cream in a bottle until almost everyone was exhausted; then mixed bread dough and wrapped strands around sticks, and then cooked them over wood coals—hot bread and butter. Once again, the chairs in this photo are mostly used for holding bags and things, and not for people. Kandie and I have become quite agile and can join anyone on the floor or ground. Side note: the open-and-in-plain sight for-anyone to-use and-see-urinals are in the distant background. Would it bother you? It didn’t bother us.
Kandie also joined all the young women in the nearby hot-tub each night—a sulfurous hot-springs ‘Onsen’. (We don’t bother with swim suits or clothes, and the men’s section was partitioned off for us.) The correct term from the dictionary is… 慣した -- ‘get used to; become experienced; accustomed’.
The closing testimony meeting is still ringing in our hearts. One young non-member bore her testimony about the wonder of praying to and being heard by a Father in Heaven whose existence she never even suspected, and about how inspiring and encouraging was the Young Women’s theme. Another side note: the young women enjoyed taking turns helping Kandie memorize the Young Women’s Theme in Japanese (and she impressed the leaders when she memorized it from Kanji). Love, Dad (Keith)