Sister Kobayashi- a Tender Mercy for Us

We were called to serve in the Sendai, Japan mission and served the entire 18 months in a little branch in Tsuruoka, Japan.  We grew to love the people there.  Communication with people there since coming home has been difficult.  I do communicate regularly with a few people that can speak and write English, but with the language barrier and the private Japanese culture, it is difficult to get information.  So much like Paul in the New Testament, we long for news of those we served.

Heavenly Father provided that for us.  Here's the story:

Sister Kobayashi is from the Tokyo South area.  She received her call to serve in St. George, Utah.  But her visa was slow in coming, so she was assigned to serve in what is now the Tokyo North mission.  The mission president sent her to a tiny town on the Sea of Japan- our beloved Tsuruoka!  She served there several months until her visa came.  She is now in St. George.  We had her and her cute companion to dinner. It was such a joy to show her pictures and have her update us.  We were saddened to learn that some of our Tsuruoka people are not coming to church, but she had happy news too.  We feel so grateful to get this update and meet these wonderful sisters.

When she tasted my creamy Jell-O salad she exclaimed, "I've had this before!"  When I left Tsuruoka, I left Jell-O and pudding mix with Imi along with the recipe so she could make this Jell-O.  You can't get Jell-O or pudding mix in Japan. Family members had brought or sent pudding and Jell-O to us and we didn't use it all before we left.  So I left all that was left with Imi- the one who cooks every week for FHE.   She is still making it because she made it for a FHE and served it to Sister Kobayashi.