Japanese Meetings

Last Sunday we attended Oita (O-EE-TAH)ward with our stake president. We both spoke and then enjoyed listening to Pres Tashiro. (That is, Keith listened and I watched.) We've been privileged to accompany Pres Tashiro two times now. Both times we spoke--very short talks--and then sat on the stand as Pres Tashiro spoke. He is a very spiritual and compassionate speaker. Both times, it was not long into his talk that all of the investigators bowed their heads one by one and then reached for their handkerchiefs and began to wipe their eyes. Those who weren't fortunate enough to have handkerchiefs had to use their fingers. Then when I looked at the rest of the congregation, they were wiping their eyes also. I can tell these are great talks and I am sad that I don't understand them. Since Pres Tashiro spoke, at least one of the investigators has been baptized. 

The bishop of Oita ward is a missionary companion of Bill's. Bp Tokumaru wondered if we were related, but we are spelling our name in katakana so that it is pronounced, "Purizubee", whereas Bill spelled it so that it was pronounced Purizuburee, pronouncing the second R. As Dad and Bp Tokumaru were talking, Dad found out that Bp Tokumaru had served in the Tokyo North mission about the same time as Bill. Dad said, "Our son served in that mission about that time." Bp Tokumaru looked at our name tags, looked at me, and, with wonder on his face, said, "Of course! That's Elder Prisbrey's face! I saw that smile every morning!" Hugs and excitement all around! Bp Tokumaru kept saying what we all felt, "God works miracles!"

This Sunday we attended the Yatsushiro (Yawt-sue-she-row) branch again. I just used the same talk from Oita, since the two congregations are several hours apart from each other. I also wore the same suit with the purple blouse and exactly matching purple dangly earrings. I only wear the dangly earrings on Sunday because I feel they are too--something, not appropriate I guess. As we drove into the Yatsushiro branch parking lot, who should pull in after us but one of the Oita families that we met last Sunday! So much for clever planning! 

The family from Oita are American. Br Holmes is a returned missionary from this mission and is one of the supervisors for the JETS (Japan-English teaching) program in Oita Prefecture (state). Sister Holmes' sister is visiting from the Ogden area and they had been touring around so that she could see more of Japan. Br Holmes served in Yatsushiro as a missionary and so they stopped there for church. When he served there about 5 years ago, there were only two members who have since both moved. He was delighted to see now there are several families in attendance.

Now what is neat about Japanese meetings--they start on time regardless of who is there. They do not waste time with waiting for the congregation to get quiet before they say the prayer. In Japan it is more rude to be late than it is to wait for others to stop talking. They also stop on time or even a little bit before. Again, the one saying the prayer just launches right in. It is up to you to be reverent and ready. 

Here is another neat thing. Saturday evening a group of YSA organized an impromptu badminton tournament. It appears that the Japanese are about badminton the same way that Americans are about basketball. Everyone knows something about how to play and most are quite good. They set up the net in the gym and then carefully made boundaries with string all around the court. Then they figured out some elaborate rotation of people and teams, scored it themselves and had a ball. Keith and I sat on the sidelines as cheerleaders. Some of our YSA are really superb players, hitting the birdie from the back of the court and then catching a close one to the net and then racing back to the back again. Just when you think it is impossible for the shuttlecock to get hit, there it is sailing over the net. 

Now here is the neat thing. Everyone cleans up afterward. They  put up chairs, wind up string, wash dishes, put away the sports equipment, grab the vacuum if needed, and just generally leave everything perfectly tidy. Each person handles their own trash (gomi). There are only waste baskets in the bathrooms and in the copy room. Every where else you are expected to pack out whatever you pack in. Very efficient.

Next weekend, when all of you are enjoying conference, we will be having Fast Sunday. (Actually, you will start conference late late at night Saturday for us and finish sometime on early Monday morning). We wait until the following week-end to listen to conference. That way we can spend Saturday and Sunday listening to the sessions at the stake center just like the rest of the world, only one week later. I think, however, that I will get up early Sunday morning, Apr 6, and listen to Saturday morning's session before church. If the new member of the twelve is not announced at that session, it is all right with me if any and all of you send me that information:) Thanks!

Have a good week. 

Love, Kandie/Mom/Grandma etc.

A mini in Japan

At our park, where we try to go walking every day, we took this picture for Donna Marie. The mini had UK (United Kingdom, otherwise known as Great Britain) markings on it. Over here, the mini looks huge--as large as a truck. As you can tell by looking at the truck parked next to it:)

Family History Week-end

Yesterday the Kumamoto ward relief society asked us to talk about our ancestors, relief society, pioneers and anything else up-lifting we wanted to talk about that would fit into 30 minutes total. Since filling 30 minutes with Japanese is still quite a struggle, we handled it this way. Keith prepared a power point presentation with slides from St George and clips from Legacy of wagon trains traveling through desert and sagebrush. He also had a section of his family tree to show his connection to the grandmother he was talking about. I wrote Uncle Jeff and had him send me some of the pictures of the Swiss church and village where Elizabeth Trachsler Boshard lived before she was baptized. I also spoke about Christina Charlotta Pehrson Olson from Sweden. So my power point slide had their names and dates on it. Both of these great grandmothers were widows with children who traveled to America because of the church, so it was fun to talk about their similarities. (This is really baby Japanese still, so it sounds a lot like a 4-year-old's primary talk.) 

Dad gave his entire presentation in Japanese including the story of the Indian grandmother who knocked on Grandma Sophie Rusch Mathis' door begging for food. I gave (read) the first few sentences and the last few sentences in Japanese and had an interpreter for the rest. I gave her a copy of the talk ahead of time so that she would feel more comfortable in her presentation. The two languages are very hard to translate back and forth. A sentence in Japanese turns into almost a paragraph in English and vice-versa. It's probably the same with other languages, but I only have experience with French and Japanese. It really seems that English and French were just a matter of getting the word order correct, but the basic thought was still the same. Not so in Japanese. The whole sentence has to be rethought and maybe many more sentences added to get across the same or similar meaning.

We were asked to introduce ourselves first. It has taken us some time to understand what this means--introduce ourselves. In America, that means list your accomplishments--job, family, awards etc. Here they want to know what your favorite color is, what your hobbies are, what is your favorite food, where your hometown is--among other things. These questions have thrown us for quite a loop until we figured out what was happening. So this is what I said, "We are from Utah and Idaho. Our favorite food is Japanese food. My hobbies are reading and walking (two acceptable hobbies here) and my husband's hobby is memorizing kanji (this was greeted with a lot of blank stares so I'm pretty sure this one did not translate correctly). We have 5 children and 10 grandchildren. We are very happy to be here in Kumamoto." 

I did not say what our favorite colors are because we are not sure what to say here. Since all colors are great and Dad tends to want to say things like, "We are from the moon. My favorite color is chartreuse..." Our presentation was well received, but anything from us is greeted with such kindness that we really don't know if it was good or not. We always have a grand time.

One of the questions that they asked afterward was this, "How did you get to come to Japan for your mission?" We explained that we had always wanted to come here and had really been planning this for 40 years. But the main thing that happened is that last year in March, the Lord told us, "I want you in Japan in January." We began to make all of the preparations--with a lot undone as Kathy and Donna can testify--but here we are. This fact is still amazing to me. Every time I walk back to the apartment from the church, I think with total amazement, "I'm in Kumamoto and I live on the 8th floor right next to the church and I get to teach the gospel every day. How wonderfully amazing is all of that!?!"

I ordered a Japanese/English dictionary from Amazon.jp.com. In tracking the package I see that it is coming from the Tokyo area to Kumamoto by SHIP! Now, how about that? Of course the last bit has to be by rail or truck, since Kumamoto is an inland plain, but that amounts to a two hour drive only. Most of its way, the book is coming by SHIP.

This whole posting is actually about ancestors. It becomes clearer and clearer to me the more we get to talk about family history, that our ancestors are very close to us and care about us deeply. They really do want us to know about them. They know all about us. I have a feeling that they feel as proud and pleased as any other grandparent when it comes to their own grandchild. So here is a little challenge. Take some time this month to find out a story about a grandparent. Take one to the temple if they haven't already been. Learn a name and a date and a place so that you can start connecting some history together in your mind. Be happy that they are your ancestors. They're happy that you are their children.

Love, Mom, Kandie, Grandma

for pictures, check out our web-site  <prisbreyfamily.blogspot.com> 

Investigators

The attached picture shows two of our investigators (‘our’, meaning that Kandie and I have been teaching them discussions together with the young missionaries). Kandie is talking to one, the man our age. I’m sitting next to and slightly behind the other at the left (back of her head only), and her recently baptized son is looking at me taking the picture. This picture was last night at our ‘movie night’ at the center, and included cooking and serving Curry Rice to the group of over thirty.

Love, Dad

Yellow Haze

We had quite a haze over the city yesterday. I mentioned it in the last posting. I've thought that it was from auto exhaust, but it turns out to be yellow dust from China! That almost makes it standable. Today the haze is gone, due to rain, but all the cars and sidewalks and cement are covered with stripes and drips of yellow dust. What about YOUR haze? Do you get yours from China? How cool is that!

FHE Group Games

We have funny papers, eyebrows and rosy cheeks, on our faces after this FHE game, Monday night. Love, Keith

other Baptism

Here is a picture of the two baptisms this weekend (Saturday and Sunday), of investigators that Kandie and I helped teach.
Not a good picture, it turns out. The wife is not in the picture, but the husband is standing in the center, and will be baptized probably in the next couple of weeks. Love, Keith