We visited a dear sister last week. We went to her home about a half-hour away a couple of weeks ago to take her a bag of goodies. She was touched by that and actually came to church the next Sunday. She told Elder Hinton that if we could come all the way out to see her, she could come to church. We set an appointment with her and went last week for a longer visit. She welcomed us into her home. She showed us several beautiful paintings she has done. She is amazingly good! I was fascinated with several mobiles of origami cranes she had hanging around the room. She immediately took one down and gave it to me. It now hangs in our apartment. She served us hot chocolate and we visited about her art and our families. She had origami paper set out and taught us how to fold a crane. I was touched by her thoughtfulness- knowing I couldn't "visit" much, but providing something for us to do with our hands. After the visit, she gave us a bagful of handmade tissue covers and other beautiful items. Protesting does no good. She then took several pictures of us. It was a delightful visit.
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| Crane mobiles hang in her home. She cares for her aged mother-in-law. She teaches her every day how to fold cranes. She can't remember from time to time, so she patiently reteaches her each time. |
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| Unfortunately there is glare, but these are some of the paintings she's done. The one on the left is her mother-in-law. She won an award in an art show for it. If Ken understood her right it was "The People's Choice" award. |
After our visit, we went to a local 7-11 to go to the bathroom. In the MTC we heard about a delicious Japanese treat called Black Thunder. There are cookies and ice cream bars of that name. They are the favorite of the missionaries that serve in Japan. We finally found them in that 7-11, so we bought two. We then headed to a local park that overlooks that village. There were several older men playing what they called Super Golf. It looked kind of like croquet. We watched them for awhile.
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| We then found a bench and enjoyed our Black Thunder treat while we overlooked the little town. |
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| The sakura are just starting to bud. Imagine how beautiful this will be when they flower. |
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| Views of the village below. |
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| Now one of the crane mobiles hangs in our apartment and reminds us of a wonderful day. |
3 comments:
What a sweet, dear lady! How kind she is to care for her mother-in-law. You two are so goodat re-activation! You ARE making a wonderful difference. Your ice cream treat looks delicious!
I love reading about all your visits and seeing the pictures. I've learned so much about Japan already. I love the paper cranes and how sweet of her to show you how to fold them. The gift of time truly is the best gift.
It seems to me that one of the "take homes" you will have from this mission is that a good life is a series of daily little commonplace occurences that each teach profound lessons of patience, goodness and love. You are having those in abundance.
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