Delightful Evening

Our daughter, Kristen served a mission in Fukuoka, Japan about ten years ago. One of her companions from Japan, Sister Yuko Arisawa is here from Japan. She has been visiting her mission president and MTC President here in town and wanted to meet us. We were delighted to have her for dinner and a nice evening on Monday. She brought a book she had made of memories from her mission, including many pictures of Kristen. She loved looking at Kristen's wedding album and our Japan photo album from our trip to Japan at the end of Kristen's mission.

Looking at her memory book:

She wanted a picture taken with Sister Hinton. This was the best we could do! She presented us with this collage she had made of mission memories with Kristen. She also brought us other gifts and whole cloth bag full of gifts for Kristen and her family.

At the end of the evening, we delivered her back to President MacArthur's home. She hugged us and with tears streaming down her face, expressed profound gratitude for our daughter and how she helped her through a very difficult time in her life. She said her gratitude was eternal (she said all of this in Japanese, but Ken, who also served his mission in Japan, translated for me.) She had us all crying on that doorstep. I was impressed that her sole purpose for coming to America was to reconnect with people that she learned to love. Ken asked her if she was going to the Grand Canyon. "No." Zion? "No." Las Vegas? "No." Just General Conference and visiting friends. She has learned and taught me what is really important in this life.

When we reported the evening (which was arranged through Kristen) to Kristen, she felt the prompting that she needed to come and see Sister Arisawa while she is here. So, since then, she has been madly making arrangements for she and her three children to fly here next week and meet up with her in SLC. So, as you can see, Sister Arisawa's visit has blessed and will bless us in many ways!