On the first weekend in September, we enjoyed a delightful visit from the Iraki family. Yuko, the mother was a mission companion to our daughter Kristen some 15 years ago when they both served in the Fukuoka, Japan mission.
In 2011, Yuko came to America and visited us there. I did a
blog post about it. That prompted Kristen (who lives in Wisconsin) to fly to Utah and see Yuko and meet up with her in Salt Lake City.
I posted about that too.
Yuko thought a lot of Kristen and expressed profound gratitude for her and how she helped her through a very tough time on her mission.
She has since married (in the temple,) has a baby, and is expecting another in November. They live near Tokyo- a six to seven hour drive from here. We've been in contact on facebook ever since her 2011 visit. She messaged me and said they would like to come to visit us.
We met them at our church on Saturday and visited for a little while. It was wonderful to see her again and meet her fine husband and son. They are a beautiful family.
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| Their little boy was afraid of us at first, but by the end, he warmed up to us. |
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| Ken brought his computer and showed them the latest pictures of Kristen and her family |
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| We then headed out to our world-famous jelly fish aquarium |
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| And then to a local pagoda and shrine |
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| We then took them to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Yuko's husband was so cute with his little boy. It was a joy to see them as such a happy family. We both literally cried tears of joy. |
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| They are used to being in a big Tokyo ward where there are many babies. It was thrilling for the branch members to have a little one come. |
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| I really should have taken the picture BEFORE we ate- it looked a lot prettier then. But after our three-hour church, we came to our apartment and fed them before sending them on their long drive home |
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| Loading in the car |
It was a wonderful and bonding visit. We are so grateful they would come all this way! Until we meet again!
4 comments:
What a nice visit. I'm going visiting teaching this morning and the message is on parent's sacred duty and I loved reading about this sweet family in Japan. What a tribute to Kristen and to you that they wanted to drive all that way to see you. I don't blame them ;)
That is so sweet that they came to see you and you could see the fruits of Kristen's labors! They are a cute family and I am sure they loved spending time with you and Ken!
that is a wonderful tribute to Kristen for that sweet family to come all of that way to visit you. I bet Kristen is eager to hear all of the details! Lieflong bonds really are formed in the mission field, aren't they?
So fun to see pictures of the visit. They really DO look happy. It is so wonderful to see that.
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