Missionary rhythm and picking blueberries

Missionary Life: OK it's been 5 weeks since my last post. 5 is better than 6 so I'm going with a win! I think Elder Welker and I are getting the routine down of our missionary life. Activities and events are coming around in a cycle and we are getting used to that rhythm. We attend Family Home Evening at the church every Tuesday, teach English at the church every Wednesday, now attend the family history open house every Thursday. Our YSA activities are on every second Saturday. Missionary transfers come around every 6 weeks like clockwork and it is surprising how fast a transfer period goes by.

• One unique thing we did this past month was attend the Fuufu Conference in Fukuoka. Fuufu is the Japanese word for a married couple. We are known as the Welker Fuufu. I love it! About twice a year President and Sister Mack host a Fuufu Conference for all their Senior Missionaries. We meet together at the mission home and have two days of training, food, and fun. It's a great opportunity to get to know the other couples in the mission because we are all very spread out across the mission. This time in the afternoon of the second day, we had the option to go home, or to go as a group to see the Dazaifu. The Dazaifu is a large shrine dedicated to Sugawara Michizane who is known as the god of learning. People often go there to pray for success in exams and academic achievement. About half the couples went and had a great time being tourists. 

Sister Shaw, Sister Cowley, me, Sister Mack, Sister Henson, Sister Matsumoto

This was a funny view I had to capture--Elder Henson (hiding on purpose), Elder Cowley, Elder Welker,
President Mack, Elder Shaw, Elder Matsumoto

• We had the wonderful opportunity of taking one of the newer members of our ward to the temple for the first time. Her name is Sister Fukui and she was baptized almost a year ago. She set a goal for herself to go to the temple and perform ordinances for some of her ancestors. She worked very hard to prepare herself and to find family names to take with her. It was a very sweet experience! Dave was able to be baptized for her male ancestors, and then was able to baptize Sister Fukui for her female ancestors. She cried and said she felt the Spirit even stronger than she did at her own baptism. Our wonderful sister missionaries, Sister Spendlove and Sister Davis, worked with Sister Fukui to encourage her in her goal of attending the temple. They were able to come with us and participate as well.

Sister Davis, Sister Fukui, Sister Spendlove

• One of our cute sister missionaries, Sister Hernandez, had to have surgery! When those appendixes act up, there is nothing you can do but get rid of them! She was so brave because it's not an easy thing to be in a foreign hospital. Her companion, Sister Evangelista (they are both from the Philippines), stayed with her every day and night. Ward members visited them each day and brought treats. Then after she was released, the Relief Society members brought them food for a week. She is in a town not too far from us so we were able to go up for a visit.

• We had an entertaining P-day with the missionaries in our zone. Started off with breakfast at a fun local Hawaiian pancake house (same restaurant chain we went to with the sisters in Oita, Sister Matsubara and Sister Sato, the week before when we did their apartment check--it was THAT good!) Poor Elder Jacobson's food didn't come for a while so he tried to steal Elder Akuta's single pancake. Then we went to the zoo here in Kumamoto.

Our sweet Oita sisters--Sister Sato and Sister Matsubara

Sister Davis and Sister Spendlove living their dream of being flamingos

Some of the BEST missionaries you could ever know--Elder Welker, Elder Akuta, Elder Smith, Elder Hauck,
Elder Jacobson, Sister Spendlove, Sister Davis, Sister Smith, Sister Murphy

Japanese Culture: The Japanese people I have met have been extremely kind. They seem to want to be generous with no thought of return or what is in it for them. They make you feel like your comfort and convenience are a priority. This includes people in the service industry at stores or restaurants drivers on the road, etc., and especially the people we meet through church. Two such people, Sister Honda and Sister Saruwatari, have gone out of their way to minister to the missionaries. They also take time to provide fun and meaningful activities for us. They recently took us on a P-day activity up in the mountains to pick blueberries. First we went to a resort type place where they bought all of us a gorgeous buffet lunch! And then we headed to the blueberry picking farm where we had so much fun. They brought a few friends with them as well. We all came home with full bellies and a load of delicious blueberries!

Sister Saruwatari

Sister Honda

Spiritual Thought: In our district meeting this week, we discussed the importance of finding joy even during difficult periods of our lives. We will all have challenges and trials--that is part of Heavenly Father's plan to shape us and mold us into what He wants us to be. Some trials will be devastating and we will experience sadness and anguish and despair. Heavenly Father has also told us we were created to have JOY in this life. Trials and joy--how can those two things exist at the same time? President Nelson said "...the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." When we focus on Jesus Christ and our Father's plan of happiness we are able to put our trials into perspective in the eternal scheme of things and feel actual joy in knowing God's plan is always for our good. I hope you are all able to feel the joy of the Savior in your lives in spite of those mortal struggles that are difficult to endure. He loves us and has provided relief and salvation for all who trust and obey Him. I love you!