...the influence for good

Hi all. Thanks for all the prayers, news, and support. We drove across town to the other church building in Kumamoto for a special meeting to help train new YSA leaders, yesterday (Sunday), and found the parking lot too full. So we drove a street or two beyond and found a pay-for-parking slot. On the way back to our church we walked by an ancient Japanese church with two out front who try to fight off evil (below). Their intention is to be an influence for good, and is a goal our two churches share. Kandie paused a moment outside before we went back to our dating seminar in Fukuoka, week before last. Beautiful forests. So I pushed for a YSA camping trip yesterday. Love, Keith

Right arm, no, your right arm...

We get exercise in various ways....this week’s Hokey Pokey at the children’s English class was delightful, as always. Some of the mothers are wearing protective masks as a sign they have a cold. This is popular in Japan. Interestingly enough, Kandie has tried wearing a mask a time or two when she had a cold. Love, Keith

Easter party

Why an Easter party now? Because the weather is nicer, today is a national holiday AND no one here really knows when Easter is anyway.
Here are some pictures of Keith’s piñata in action, among other Easter Party games:

Hi and Thanks from Japan

Hi, all. Thanks again for all the prayers and support. Kandie always gets a rapt audience when showing pictures of our family and home. This was a couple of days ago in our apartment with sisters we love, including one investigator. The calendar that Ashlee made for us has been wonderful ten times over. Love, Keith

Look who is enjoying the cherry trees!

We went hiking today on Mt Kin Boh. It is cherry blossom time so the hike was particularly beautiful. We can see this mountain from our balcony. There was such a haze today that we could not see our balcony from the mountain. We will try again when it is clearer. It was my favorite kind of hike--you drive to within a few feet of the top and then walk up the stairs and paved path to the summit. Since this is Japan, there was a temple, several shrines and three big TV towers at the top. You can see the TV towers from our place. And lots of trees--kind-of like hiking to the top of Moscow Mountain and finding that all you could see was trees. They did have some cleared areas so that you could see the ocean and Nagasaki to the west and Kumamoto city and Mt Aso to the east. Very beautiful. Come visit and we will gladly take you hiking:)
Love, Mom

Illiteracy.....

Here is a note that Keith sent to his cousin, Cathy Van Skyhawk

As part of our proselyting mission Kandie and I were assigned to open one of the first two Young Single Adult (YSA) Outreach Centers in Japan, and now we are Sr. Couple 'Zone Leaders' over nine. These are like the Institute Centers associated with American Universities, and were described in last month's Liahona (in Japanese). We open and man ours six days a week, and have grown to well over a hundred participating YSA.

The first picture below is from our recent Valentines activity. Here Valentine's Day is for the girls to do something for the boys. Then on March 14th, (White Day), the boys are to return the favor. Our boys have been planning something for weeks. The girls' half, Valentine's Day, was well attended and enjoyed by all.

You might notice everyone sitting on the floor with chairs carefully stacked along the walls. However, we do set up a few and put our bags and books on them. In Japan what are chairs for, anyway? The next pictures below are of Kandie in a local bookstore purchasing instructions on how to sew matching skirts for our coming all-Kyushu 'Jitterbug Dance'.

Along with sewing activities, we now practice dancing each week, which pleases the sisters and traumatizes the brothers.

Kandie and I are steadily progressing a little beyond total illiteracy. We study language together, and then leave our apartment for the day's next surprise and adventure. J

Love, Keith and Kandie Prisbrey (living by the ancient Kumamoto Castle, Japan)

Notice the total lack of any English on these books. We found two with good directions (eg. lots of clear pictures) and have loaned them out to those wanting to sew skirts for the conference.

starting sewing

After a lengthy search, we bought a sewing machine. We looked at Japanese machines (some top names here), but were continually encouraged to buy a Singer. So there it is--a basic Singer, made in Taiwan, on sale for half price and the few basic stitches that it does, it does beautifully.

Here I am with the Sister Missionaries in our district, sewing Book of Mormon covers for their new baptisms. Apparently the blue dye on the Japanese Books of Mormon and Triples comes off on your hands, so everyone has cloth covers for their scriptures. I even made a set for mine, even though they are leather and impervious to almost everything.

Notice the sunlight streaming through our front windows? Just another reason why being in Kumamoto is a good idea in the winter:)

The Sister Missionaries, starting at the left, and Sister Motegi, Sister Bunya and Sister Endo. They are great!

Love, Kandie

Keith and Kandie's Liahona article

For those of you who do not get the Japanese language pages in your Liahona:), scroll down to the bottom of this page and see who was featured. We are pretty pleased. The other couple with us are Brother and Sister Oyama, our local counterparts. They're actually the ones that do the talking. I smile a lot and Keith has learned to tease.

The whole article was about outreach centers and took about 6 pages. At that time, our mission was the only one with outreach centers. Now several other missions in Japan have them. The centers are several years old in Europe.

In the year that we have been here, we have seen increases in temple marriages as well as people wanting to be married, mission calls, reactivations, young people who have remained active and a good stream of Young Single Adult baptisms who stay active. Retention is up. Fellowship is up.

We rejoice every day that we get to serve the Lord here in this beautiful part of His vineyard.

Love, Kandie and Keith

P is for Pizza

Hi, all. Can you imagine this activity and the accompanying songs in our English class? This class is for mothers and their young children. Kandie and the rest of our group have quite a following. Love, Keith

Ancestry

Hi, Mom. (And hi, everyone else—I decided to copy this to you). I hope this email finds you well. I sure love and appreciate you.

This genealogy connection below came from Ancestry.com and could be on Kandie’s line. This is not to ask you for help or give you an ‘assignment’. It is just interesting. I will check on it later when I have time.

About us—we are pushing hard and enjoying it. I was telling some of our older English class members about you (Mom) last night. I told them that I remembered some of the things you taught us as children, and told them what it was you taught us. Then I gave them part of the missionary discussions. They had me switch to Japanese and they were enthralled. This group happen to be people older than me, and have answered ‘no’ in the past when the young missionaries asked if they wanted to hear about the gospel. So, I didn’t ask. Instead I just taught them the gospel. I’m tremendously grateful to you that I was taught the gospel while growing up.

We had another baptism last Saturday, and will have another temple marriage this Saturday. We didn’t do all the teaching or back-ground arranging, but did some, and so feel extra joy and satisfaction for both both. To help a new YSA member, I am getting up at 5:30 each morning for the past two weeks and meeting with him in our apartment. He is trying to get into BYU-Hawaii, and must pass a rigorous English entrance examination. The test is this weekend.

You may remember that my DNA results came back. And with that information I have discovered about 300 new extended cousins that have genealogy pedigrees on Ancestry.com (where cousin Scott Woodward works). These cousins are maternal, so they are also your cousins (Mom).

You also may remember that DNA from Dad indicates some Japanese ancestry, and I use this fact with great glee. We happened to be talking with an investigator (our age) in the grocery store, yesterday, and exchanging information about ancestry. I took great delight in telling not only about the English village of ‘Prisbrey’, but also about Japan. She understands a little about DNA, and laughed with me when I said that I think I’m also from Sapporo (Japan). Love, Keith

Happy New Year, From Japan!!

Hi, all. As always thanks for all the help and support. We spent New Year’s Day with members and investigators Japanese style. We visited, played games, and took turns making a special O-Mochi using the ancient method of pounding a special South East Asian kind of partially-cooked, sticky rice, then forming the resulting paste into cakes using rice flour and/or soy-bean flour, and optionally including sweetened bean filling. The stone bowl weighed a ton. Delicious. Another tradition is to visit the local shrine. A bell is sounded with 108 gongs to conquer 108 sins listed in Buddhist writings.
Love, Keith (Dad, and Grandpa)