Art, Games, and Kimonos

Missionary Life: Besides taking calls from sick or injured missionaries and working with the missionaries in our district, along with daily gospel and language study, our schedule seems to be filled up with a lot of fun activities.

• We visited our friend Shohei Takahashi at his apartment/art studio. He is a member of the Kumamoto Ward, and he is an artist. He lived in Los Angeles for several years, studying art. I love his paintings. He has such a unique and special style! His paintings are in demand, and he often gets requests from the missionaries serving in Japan. He speaks very good English and has helped us with translation in many different settings. He has a heart of GOLD. We love Shohei!

• On Saturday, June 8th, Elder Welker and I traveled to Fukuoka to assist with a Kumamoto Stake Young Men/Young Women activity. The youth from our stake went to Fukuoka for the day. They did temple work in the morning then met in the local stake center for lunch and games. We were in charge of the games and some First Aid training. It was a lot of fun!

• Tuesday night at FHE, we were asked to be in charge of the game--I'm sensing a trend here. We decided to play the candy bar game which is a favorite in our family. It went over pretty well even considering there was a 3 year old playing and nobody dared steal anything from him. He definitely got the biggest haul, but everyone ended up with something.

• Wednesday we had Zone Conference for the Kumamoto and Kagoshima Zones. All the missionaries in those two zones traveled to Kumamoto (some from as far away as the island of Amami Oshima--requiring a 10 hour boat ride to get to the main island of Kyushu) to gather for training and instruction from President and Sister Mack, as well as their Zone leaders and Sister Training leaders. It was a full day filled with the Spirit and lots of positive energy. It is always fun for the missionaries to see their previous companions and friends.

• Friday night there was a "Curry Party" at our church. Brother Furuta is famous for his curry. Japanese curry is basically like a beef stew with a thick brown gravy that has a spicy kick to it. It is served over rice and is super yummy! Also, there was a couple (husband is American, wife is Japanese) who brought some artichoke dip and corn chips. That was like a little taste of home!

• Last night was our first YSA Activity. Our committee decided to do a pot luck dinner and a movie. They showed the movie "Coco", which is called "Remember Me" in Japanese. They did a great job of putting it together and everyone had a good time.

Japanese Culture: When I think of traditional Japanese culture, one of the first things that comes to mind is the kimono. It is a form of traditional dress that dates back over 1000 years. It is no longer worn as everyday clothing, but will still be worn for special occasions. Kimonos are very beautiful with the colorful dress portion and the elaborate obi (the wide sash that is used to tie around the waist to hold the robe portion closed). I had a secret wish to someday get to dress in a kimono. Well....my wish came true thanks to two wonderful ladies in my English class. They hesitantly asked me one day if I would have any interest in being dressed in a kimono. I said YES PLEASE. They wanted to do something for me for my birthday. So sweet!

Chigusa--seen kneeling here--is one of my English students, and she has studied how to put on the kimono. There are three major parts to the kimono--the inner robe, the outer robe, and the obi. And then there are multiple ties used to hold parts in place. It is quite the process! It took about 30 minutes or more to get it on.

This kimono and obi belong to Sister Honda--seen in the upper left of this photo. She received it from her mother when she turned 20. It is beautiful with colorful embroidery and designs. Its quite a heavy fabric due to the layers of silk.

Sister Honda even provided her father's kimono for Elder Welker, and had two additional kimonos for the sister missionaries. Then we all taught our English classes in them. It was a fun and special evening.

This was a long post! If you made it this far, I want to leave you with one thought from our recent zone conference. The most important thing in this life is who we become, and if we trust in the Lord and turn over our will to His, He can turn us into masterpieces. Have a wonderful week!