Take Me Back to Japan

 Just before Christmas, I went to our local Asian market.  I don't know why we haven't gone before now.  It is only about five minutes from our house.  I wanted to buy Ken some Calpis- a drink he loves from Japan, for Christmas. When I walked in, it took me right back to a Japanese grocery: the narrow, crowded aisles packed with all kinds of foods.  Freezers and fridges- every bit of space packed.  I found the calpis and a couple of other foods that I have missed:

Nato: fermented soy beans.  You put mustard and soy sauce on them and stir.  They have a very slimy texture.  I really grew to like them when we lived there.  I would eat one of these little packs almost every day for lunch.  It is definitely an acquired taste!

Steamed buns filled with a meat mixture.  Every convenience store in Japan has these in a warm glass case near the cash register.  They are delicious.  Ken learned to love them on his first mission.  He and his companion would stop and get them for lunch, especially on the cold days.  I got barbecued chicken ones.  They have several different flavors.

Calpis:  This is a popular drink in Japan.  It is served often at parties, etc.  We bought it often.  Ken really likes it.  I'm not crazy about it.

I have, since Christmas, gone back to this little store and bought steamed buns for our lunch and some Miso paste.  I love Miso soup.  This is a trip down memory lane that took me right back to Japan.

Amane-kun is Baptized

 We were so happy to get this sweet picture from a member of our beloved Tsuruoka, Japan branch informing us that the baby boy that was born while we were there was just baptized.  

Baptisms of children is a common occurrence here, but there it is not.  He is the only child in the branch.  He represents one of only a handful of 2nd generation members in that branch.  I wish we could have been there for this joyous occasion.

Dinner with Luke and Kate

 We served in Japan with Elder Dance.  He was a hard-working missionary.  He was in Tsuruoka with us for six months.  He and his wife, Kate recently moved to St. George.  They invited us for dinner.  We had such a delightful evening with them. The dinner was delicious, and we had fun reminiscing and catching up on their lives.  They are a delightful, well-matched couple.  I'm sure we will be spending more time with them in the future!

Sometimes We Miss Our Mission . . .

 And sometimes we don't!!

Both Ken and I still keep track of our mission city on our weather app.  We recently were reminded how miserable Tsuruoka could be during the winter.  Ken did a lot of snow shoveling for us and neighbors on days like this one.  

One of the problems for those who worked on snow removal is "Where do we put it all?"  Since we had a vacant lot across the street from us, they used it to deposit the snow.  I honestly don't know what they'll do if anyone ever builds on this lot.

They would form a huge mountain of snow, completely filling the lot and piling it high.

Ken would wear knee-high boots, snow pants, and an ear warming head band.  He had to use this big scoop to remove the snow.

Sometimes we miss our mission . . .and sometimes we don't!

* Added note:  Since I prepared this post, this area experienced a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on January 1st and were on tsunami warning. When we heard, we immediately started contacting those we love there.  We are relieved that we have heard back from everyone and no one was hurt in the quake and the tsunami never materialized in that area.  

Dear Friends From Japan Come to Visit

 We have been looking forward to our dear friends from Japan coming to visit for months.  Imi and her daughter, Rizumi have been planning this trip for a very long time.  Imi retired from her job in September and moved up to Hakodate, Japan to live with her mother there.  She and Rizumi have been traveling throughout Japan and Okinawa for several weeks and to America to spend the month of October in Utah.  Imi's other daughter, Remi lives with her family in Utah.  They came here to spend a few days.  We had a wonderful time with them.

We attended the St. George temple open house with them.  They were so interested and loved seeing it.  We went at a good time when few others were there, making it possible to spend much time inside.

Remi and her daughter

They then came to our home for the afternoon and for dinner in the evening. 

Rizumi is an excellent photographer and took a lot of pictures of Walker and Remi's cute daughter.  She's a little doll.

We had such a delightful time visiting.  How we love these dear people.

It is impossible to describe the joy this day brought. We love these people so very much.  Though it had been awhile since we had seen them, and there still is a language barrier, we just picked up where we left off.  There was so much love and joy in the room.  I feel like Imi is my sister and that her family is our family.  May God bless these precious souls!
Until we meet again, dear friends!

Marathoners From Japan

 A delegation of winners of the marathon in a town in Japan- Iwigawa, came to St. George to run in the St. George Marathon.  Our friends, the Tophams, hosted the women's winner and her mother in their home.  They asked Ken to come over the first night and translate to help them get settled in their home.  

A picture of the group meeting the mayor.  It was in the St. George news.

Ken was in their home for a couple of hours helping them get settled.  It was fun for him to use his Japanese and to meet these fine people.  I think he was of great service to them.

The marathon was Saturday. Fumie (middle) did well.  She has run many, many marathons. Sunday evening, the Tophams invited us over for dessert and visiting to say goodbye to their honored guests.  

Presentation on Japan

 A friend in our ward asked us do a presentation for their home school co-op.  On Wednesdays a huge group of homeschoolers and parents meet in the U of U center and have different classes in the classrooms there.  The kids can sign up each semester for what classes they want to take.  This class was the World Passport class for 11-17 year olds.   Each week they study a different country.  Our presentation, of course, was on Japan.

We came up with a lesson plan and I made a slideshow presentation on google slides. Ken taught a lot about the history of Japan and the culture.  I continued teaching about the culture and way of life in Japan.  It went really well.  These were good and respectful kids.

At the end we served mugi cha (popular barley drink) and some popular Japanese snacks I ordered on Amazon.  We also bought sushi and brought it for them to try.  We were so surprised how much the kids liked the Japanese food.

It was a lot of work to prepare, but a satisfying experience in the end.  It was fun to think about our wonderful years in Japan.

President's Day Weekend

 We had a nice President's Day Weekend.  On Friday, Ken taught a local homeschool co-op about birds.  He has a nice presentation prepared, as he has been asked before to do this.  He is really good with kids.

Saturday, there was a big soccer tournament in town.  Many, many people from northern Utah came to play.  We went to watch our nephew, Bryan's kids play.  Ken went in the morning to watch Tanner, and we both went later to watch Claire.  It was so fun.

Rick (Ken's brother), Bryan (our nephew), and Ken.  I had a doctor appointment on Monday, but Ken went back to watch them again on Monday.  Claire's team took the championship in their age group.  
On Sunday evening, Ken's brother, Don did a presentation at the temple visitors center on their ancestors, John Nock and Emma Spendlove Hinton.  I peaked in the door and got a picture.

We didn't get there early enough to get seats inside the presentation room.  We were out in the lobby.  I took some pictures before it was even as full as it got.  Another room was full and the lobbies were standing room only.  That place was packed.  Don did a great job.

We hurried home after the presentation to welcome an elder from our mission- Luke Dance and his beautiful wife, Kate.  We enjoyed dinner with them and then had such a nice visit.

At the end of the visit, Elder Dance paid tribute to Ken.  He said that when he was an elder in Tsuruoka, the Elders were being rowdy, and Ken gathered them (there were four) and told them that they were missionaries and should act like it.  He also asked them for their help.  Japan is a male dominated culture and men typically don't help with kitchen or housework. Ken asked the elders to jump up after our Tuesday night FHE meals and start doing the dishes.  Ken had been doing it since we arrived, but he told the elders that the Japanese men needed to see that priesthood holders should help and honor the women.  The elders responded.  They raced to get in the dishpan after each FHE meal.  Soon, even the crustiest of the Japanese men were helping with dishes.  Elder Dance expressed that Ken had changed his life in many ways.  He said he had not been taught to help in the kitchen before, but he still tries to be first to the dishpan.  It was such a sweet, and may I say, deserved tribute to Ken.

Visiting Remi and Walker

 On Saturday morning, Ken and I went up on University of Utah campus to visit Remi and Walker.  Remi was in the branch we served in in Tsuruoka, Japan.  She married an elder that we served with there- Walker Murakami.  They married last February in the temple, just before the pandemic lock down.  They are expecting their first baby in November.  Our grandchildren are getting older, so we don't need our pack and play and our baby swing anymore, so took those to them.  We had such a wonderful visit with these dear people.  We were so impressed with how well Remi is doing at learning English.  We were able to communicate quite well with her.  It was a lovely hour with someone we love a lot.

A Special Gift

 This is Mr. Ogura.  He was one of our English students when we were on our mission in Japan.  We became very good friends with him.  He would take us on outings.  In this picture, he had taken us to show us his garden.  He loved to grow vegetables and fruits.

Last week, we got a wonderful surprise in the mail.  Well, actually it wasn't a total surprise because about three months ago, I got an email from Mr. Ogura telling me that he had sent us some strawberry preserves that he had made.  This is part of that email:

Thank you so much for your letter and beautiful flower pictures.

Yesterday I sent a strawberry jam bottle for you that I made from harvested them in my farm.

It's sent by ship about one month, I'd like to send by SAL but it's stopped.

 The recipe is simple, Strawberry and 40% caramel sugar (Sanontou of Japan),I poured it into

sterilized bottle. The boiling jam has become cold. It's from a vacuum.

It can store at room temperature. But the lid is opened, it'll kept in a refrigerator.

As he explains in his email, Japan will not allow packages to be sent by air right now because of COVID.  So it took about three months to get here by boat and I had forgotten about it.  

I love that we are still connected with this dear man and that he still thinks about us.  We haven't tried the jam yet, but I'm sure it will be delicious.  Thank you Mr. Ogura!

Satohs Come to Visit

On Sunday, we met the Satohs, Murakamis, and their Japanese friends at the Salt Lake Japanese ward that meets in the historic and beautiful Granite tabernacle.  

At the reception the night before, we had made a connection with some of Remi and Walker's ward members that our grand-nephew, Brigham and his family attend that ward.  We knew him, but he didn't know us.  We actually stayed with his family (his mother, Sonya is our niece, Ken's oldest brother, Jim's daughter) when they lived in Japan many years ago.  He was just six or seven at the time.  He since grew up, went on a mission to  Japan, then married a fellow missionary (though they didn't know each other in the mission, but met after at college. )  It was fun to meet his wife and daughter and connect with them.  They were very bewildered at first as to who we were.  But Ken looks enough like Jim that they sort of figured it out before we explained.  Ken prays for every family member that are on missions every single night, by name and mission, so he feels very close to Brigham as he prayed for him every day for two years. (He prays for every single grand-niece and nephew every day.  I am amazed that he knows all of them and their missions.  He also includes all missionaries from our ward.)

After church, we took Imi and Hiroyuki (the bride's parents) with us to St. George for a few days.  On the way, Imi wanted to stop and see the apartment she lived in near BYU campus.  As a young adult, she came to Provo from Japan to study English for six months.  This is where she lived.

Only about a block away was our first apartment as a married couple.  We frankly couldn't believe it was still there and occupied.  It was very old then.  We were there a few years before Imi came in the 80's.

We also drove around campus and showed them the new MTC.  They were so happy to see all of this.

Monday morning, Ken made breakfast sandwiches for our guests.

I think  I have told this story before, but Sister Kobayashi from Tokyo was called to our Japanese mission while she waited for her visa to come to her assigned mission, St. George, Utah.  She was assigned to serve in Tsuruoka, Japan.  So she was there with all of the people we love for several months until her visa came through and she came to St. George.   Imi was very anxious to go and see her at the St. George temple visitors' center.

After our visit with Sister Kobayashi, we headed to Zion National Park.

After leaving the park, we had dinner at a café in Springdale.  It was delicious.  Hiroyuki particularly loved it.  He told the waitress in amazingly good English that he loved the food, the décor, the music, and that his daughter came here last year(we brought Remi and Walker here when they visited last year)  and she also loved it.  He thanked her for all of it.  Before the waitress came, he told us what he wanted to say to her and asked us to help.  But he needed no help.  I was so touched by his desire to express gratitude in a foreign tongue.  

On our way back to St. George, we drove by Ken's childhood home.  It looks terrible.  It has been in disrepair for years.  But the current owners have gutted it and are fixing it up.  So far, they have significantly changed the roofline.  I think it will be very nice when they get it done.

Tuesday morning, we went to visit Brigham at his winter home in St. George.

It was fun that our tour guides were the Footes.  We have known them for years.  They were in our ward back in the '90s when Ken was bishop.  We recently served in the temple with them.  This was their first day as missionaries at the Brigham Young home and we were their first tour.

We took them to the Red Hill to see the view of St. George from there.

Then we drove through Snow Canyon.

We had packed them a lunch that morning, so took them to catch their 12:15pm shuttle that was to take them back to Salt Lake.  Hiroyuki flew home the next day.  Imi stayed with her Japanese friends for another week before flying home.  

It was such a delight to have our dear friends in our country and in our home after spending so much time in theirs.