Our Food and Entertainment

Occasionally we use chopsticks, but most of the time it is a knife, fork, and spoon. Rather different tidbits on this tray. I prefer my own cooking. To kick back Marsh watches a video that the last couple left of sumo wrestling. I think their loin cloth is gross...as well as their ripples of flubber. Oh, well, this is Japan. "Come what may and love it." (Elder Wirthlin)

About Our Playhouse

Everything about this place is miniature compared to what we're used to, but we are getting a kick out of the accommodations. The first picture below is Marsh standing in our bathroom door way. It is no joke that is the true size.
The one where I'm washing my hands is hilarious too. The Japanese don't waste anything because resources are so limited here. So when you flush the toilet, the clean water that fills the tank runs up above the tank so the person using the toilet can wash their hands without using more water and then the soapy water fills up the tank and is reused later to flush the toilet. Cool desho!
The picture where Marsh is in the ofuro is no joke either. That is the size of our tub!!! It is deep, but you can't stretch your legs out. So if you want to get your shoulders warm...well, it's a joke and makes me laugh.
Our little washing machine is terrific. It doesn't have a the typical American agitator in the center but still gets the clothes so clean. We tried using the dryer, but the vent comes into the house instead of outside so we hang out our clothes on the rod. When it rains the overhang covers them and most of the time they dry out.
We live just five minutes from the mission office which is so handy. We're home for lunch or if we need something we walk over and get it with no trouble. We walk to get our groceries in the evenings after work. We meet people and tell them about the gospel and our purpose for being here. That's our wonderful evening stroll and proselyting.

Our Playhouse

Birthday Dinner at the Ichihashi's

It was the Grandmother's 88th birthday and Michiko invited us to join the celebration in their home. We sat on the floor and used chopsticks and ate all the yummy food Michiko had prepared. The grandma hasn't joined the church but Michiko and Hirohiko raised their daughters in the gospel and they served missions and married in the temple. The oldest daughter has four children and the oldest is three! The beautiful delicate flowers in the picture are real. They were the grandma's gift. This amazing 88 year old woman knelt on her knees and ate with us the entire evening. Marsh and I lasted about fifteen minutes.

Every missionary prays that the people they teach will remain strong and active in the gospel as they serve and build their own family. Well, at least one that I know of has been a Japanese pioneer in the gospel. Michiko Kuno Ichihashi has been faithful these past thirty eight years. Her family was very opposed to her joining the church when she was 21. But she had a

solid testimony of the gospel's truthfulness that has carried her through times of struggle and joy. We love her and are grateful to be back in Nagoya with her where we can build more memories.

She took us to visit the Nagoya Castle.

President and Sister Traveller and their daughter, Chelsea, and the Tottens met us at the airport. The mission home is gorgeous and we stayed there the next four days while the Tottens trained us. Sister Totten did such a detailed job in writing down all the steps for each assignment. It has helped so much to be able to refer to all her instructions.

We loved the people, training, food, (oh, my, we've never seen or eaten so much food in our lives. I think they feed the missionaries well because they don't know what kind of food they'll get after landing in countries around the world.) and especially seeing our chaplain friends again. Joseph Boone is the MTC president and Mark Breinholt is is counselor. They are wonderful leaders.

After eleven days there it was time to head for Japan. In the wee hours of the morning of September 11th we caught a shuttle to Salt Lake where Jana and Pam Eglund and the grandies met us for more hugs and kisses. Oh, how we love our family!

We had our picture by the famous world map that everyone gets pictures by. We had five children come to the Provo MTC and Kris went to the one in Preston, England. We never knew of all the young teachers that bring such a powerful spirit to the district training meetings in Preach My Gospel and the Tuesday night devotionals. The two weeks we were there we had Elder Quetin L. Cook and President Uchtdorf speak. Sister Uchtdorf spoke too and her sparkling personality delighted us. Marsh and I took time to walk through all the halls and look at the missionary pictures from around the world. The one that comez to mind was a baptismal scene with a little space cut through the ice and the investigator, a woman, was in the water helping the hesitating elder in. It must have been freezing!! So many wonderful missionaries all over the world.

Mark, Jana, Daniel, Emma, Matthew, and Elana came in the back door and were able to help us haul our heavy luggage upstairs to our bedroom. The girls noticed the bed needed to be made and boy were they fast in getting it ready for us.

In Jana's program we sang, "I Am a Child of God" and "Called to Serve" in Japanese. Our children and grandchildren amaze us how quickly they've picked up Japanese.

Then Jana and Elana sang a cute song that Jana created from "Sisters" about Elder and Sister Gurr. It was darling!

MTC September 1, 2008

Since the MTC doesn't have a family farewell meeting, Jana called Zina Whetten, my second companion in Japan, and asked if we could have a short family gathering in their home before going to the MTC. Being sweet Zina, she quickly agreed and this was all a surprise to Marsh and me. We thought we were stopping in to say "goodbye" to some of our dearest friends.