A Sweet Afternoon with More Sakura!

We had a nice afternoon with Sister Hirayama.  We drove her to Sakata to visit her aunt, Sister Konno- also a member of the church- in a nursing home.  She is 85 years old.  Sister Konno was the sweetest lady and was grateful for our visit.  Sister Konno was baptized 39 years ago, one year after Sister Hirayama.  We sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" to her in Japanese.  She sang along as best she could. 

Here she is holding a picture of Jesus that we gave her.

Sister Hirayama has a beautiful voice.  She sang some Japanese folk songs for her aunt.  They were all so "Japanese," based on the pentatonic scale. I loved it!

Her aunt loved the songs and sang along when she could. 

We thought the sakura was through blooming for the year.

But Sister Hirayama knew of a park with a different variety of sakura that was just in full bloom.  She directed us there and we had a delightful walk in the beautiful sakura. 

Thank you, Sister Hirayama.  We would have never found this on our own, and I think I liked this pinker variety even more than the more popular one. 

They Pray and They Go

I recently was re-reading a talk given by President Monson from general conference in April, 2002.  He told the story of the seafaring Tahitian boat captains who may have leaky vessels, stormy weather, no navigational devices, but they pray and they go.  They pray and they go.  The thought of that was most inspiring to me as a missionary.  So often, as we go out to visit someone, we have no idea what we're getting into.  Our car functions well, so we don't have a "leaky vessel," but the weather is often stormy and unpredictable.  We do have a map and "Nancy" our navigational device, but about half the time, I would say, the address is wrong or does not exist.  So we find ourselves knocking on doors and asking for help.  We're finally learning that we may be seeking a certain person, but it MAY be these other people we meet along the way that the Lord has REALLY sent us to.  For instance, last Saturday, we went to find a brother who is on the branch list as a member, but no one knows.  We went to where the map and Nancy took us, but there was no house.  The address simply did not exist.  So we went up to the door of a very large and beautiful home.  A cute little boy and girl answered.  They were thrilled to see gaijins (foreigners) at their door.  They got their mother, who was so nice and kind.  She had never heard of the individual, but she looked up and found that people of that last name lived about a block away.  The little boy was excited to try his "Hello" and "My name is____" out on us.  We thanked them and drove back out and around to where she had indicated we should try.  We were surprised to find she had run down the street to show us the way.  The little boy ran the whole way right by our car to guide us.  We had similar experiences as we knocked on doors throughout the neighborhood.  Most everyone tried to help us.  We did get one very cranky, old lady that told us to get out of there.  We never did find him.  But we realized that cute little family may be why we were sent to that neighborhood.  So we went back and gave them the plate of cookies we had prepared for the man we were seeking.  They were thrilled to get American cookies.  We plan to go back and give them a bigger plate and an eikaiwa (English class) pamphlet to invite them to come and learn English for free. 

When we pray and then go, we can then trust the spirit to take us where we need to be. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
I know this isn't that profound of a story, but it is comforting to me to know that we are on His errand and He will guide and protect us. We have experiences like this over and over again. It reminds me of a favorite scripture:

     “Whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”  Doctrine and Covenants 84:86

In that same talk, President Monson spoke directly to the missionaries.  He quoted a scripture that I think was just for me.  I had never noticed it before, but it sure hit home to this senior missionary.  It is from Doctrine and Covenants, section 100:

“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends …, your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.”

Can you even imagine how comforting that scripture is to us, when our family is so far away- having surgeries, babies, car accidents, etc.  We will continue to pray and go. 

To view other mantras, click here.

Amane is Born!

Our branch president and his wife had their baby just one day before Kristen's and Jared's Samuel was born- on March 30th.  He is adorable.  The custom in Japan is that after a woman has a baby, she goes to her mother's home and stays for one month.  Ayaka's mother lives just a few blocks from us.  We have visited a couple of times, but this last time, we  got some pictures of Amane. 

Ayaka and Manabu were sealed in the temple in December.

These are just pictures of ipad pictures, but this is them with his mother in front of the Tokyo temple.

As our husbands attend meetings before church, Ayaka and I are often the only ones there.  We "visit" using a tablet program she has that translates.  She often studies scriptures or folds origami.

Shortly before Amane was born, they had us for dinner.

Isn't he cute?  His name is a combination of his parents' names.  The kanji of a name is very important in Japan.  Parents usually have several choices of kanji that will work to make the name they choose.  Amane's name means "hearing heaven."  It means he will always hear the words of heaven and of God.

Amane's birth is a much anticipated and most happy event for this little branch!  Welcome, Amane!!!  Congratulations!

A Sacred Gift

Sacred is the only word I can come up with to describe a special gift I was given. Actually, Ken came up with it.   Each week, Ken and I volunteer at the community center.  We gather in a room and do simple tasks, such as sew little towels for widows in the community, make envelopes for their mass mailings, etc.  It is a delightful group of people. I've been preparing a post about it that I'll post when I get done.   Last week, we went as usual, but I was having a hard day.  I was exhausted.  I had had three nights of little sleep with big, full days in between.  I should have probably stayed home and slept, but I went.  I admit, it's hard to, day after day be in groups of people where you understand very little of what is said.  Before I leave each day, I look myself in the eye in the mirror and say, "You can do this."  As I sat there that morning, I could feel myself starting to cry.  A dear lady across from me, tries really hard to communicate in English, but it takes so much concentration, and we just weren't succeeding.  I could feel the emotion rising, so I thought, "I'd better get out of here before I embarrass myself."  So, I excused myself and went downstairs where I knew there was a little couch.  I went down there and had a good cry and felt right sorry for myself (I'm ashamed to say.)  I was gone quite awhile, but honestly didn't think anyone would even miss me.  Boy, was I wrong.  One of the ladies came to look for me, but I didn't see her.  She didn't say anything, but later, when Ken realized I was gone and went to look for me, she quietly told him where I was.  When I came back, the dear lady across from me had written out a poster with some words in English and Japanese to help me:

We had a special luncheon that day to celebrate the sakura.  I really was fine.  I went home and had a good nap and I was fine.
Then this week, we went back.  I made sure I had had plenty of sleep and I was up for the two hours of Japanese!  I came in with a smile.  The lady (Mrs. Konno) that sat across from me the week before came a little late.  She came in and in her dear, broken English explained she couldn't stay, but that she wanted to give me a gift.  She gave me a bag with cans of beans in it.  I need to explain that she frequents my recipe blog (hungryhintons.blogspot.com) and had seen on there that I posted a recipe for beans and ham and stated that I love them. 

She had obviously put much thought, time, and effort into the gift and the notes that she wrote in English.  How she must have labored over writing those notes in English.  The thought makes me cry.   I wonder if she thought I had been in the bathroom when I was gone all that time the week before?  So that's why she gave me beans?  Anyway, it was so sweet and thoughtful.
But what makes it sacred is that as I hugged her, she started crying.  Tears were dripping from her face.  That's when I knew how very heartfelt and sacred this was.  This is not a member of our church, or even a Christian.  Or is she?  Is a Christian one who professes to follow Christ, or one who lives and loves as He did?  Food for thought. . .  So many of these dear Japanese people are so Christ-like.  She promised she would come next week and we would do something tanoshii (see above.)  She then left.  She had driven, who knows how far,  just to cheer me and give me her gifts and notes. Again, I ask, Who is serving whom? 

A Special Visit with Sister Goto

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.

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.

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. 

We then found a bench and enjoyed our Black Thunder treat while we overlooked the little town.

The sakura are just starting to bud.  Imagine how beautiful this will be when they flower.

Views of the village below.

Now one of the crane mobiles hangs in our apartment and reminds us of a wonderful day.