Wonderful simplicity and colorful festivals

Missionary Life: Missionary life is GOOD. One thing that's very different on a mission, at least for us, is the amount of time spent on taking care of 'things'. Our apartment is very small (approx 600 square feet) and super easy to clean, we don't have a yard, our wardrobe is small, cooking is simplified. I like it! Our days are filled with a mix of all good things--studying, planning, teaching, supporting the wards and working with the missionaries in various ways.  However, as you know....one problem with keeping busy is that it makes time go SO fast.

• There is a special energy and spirit of fun with young missionaries. We love being with them so we always say yes whenever they invite us to join them for P-day activities. A couple weeks ago we had a fun P-day with our Kumamoto and Nagamine Elders and Sisters.

• Later we attended a very nice YSA Activity in Fukuoka. They had many young singles from Fukuoka and Kumamoto attending. The Nagashi Somen activity is popular in the summer. 

• We attended a special zone conference this transfer. Elder Choi from the Seventy who is now serving as President of the Asia North Area did a Fukuoka mission tour. He did a zone conference in three different areas of our mission--Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Okinawa. Our zone attended the meeting in Fukuoka on September 12th. One challenge with zone conferences is arranging travel for that many missionaries. We were asked to rent a van and transport our district missionaries to the conference. District road trip! We had a lot of fun, and the conference was AMAZING. Elder Choi and his wife were so down to earth and real. We all learned a lot and came away feeling energized and even more excited about this great work.

• One of our English students, Adashi san, has mentioned that he and his wife rent a garden plot where they grow vegetables. His wife runs a non-profit organization working with mentally disabled young people. These young people get an opportunity to work in this garden a few times a year. We pestered Adashi enough that he finally worked out a day when we could go help in his garden. I don't think he really believed we wanted to work in the garden. Sister Spendlove and I had to really convince him that he wasn't burdening us. We had so much fun, and were able to meet his sweet wife, Yumi, for the first time. They sent us home with lots of okra, eggplant, and basil--YUM! 

• Sometimes we get to help with service projects. The Elders are teaching the gospel to a man named Mark. He is an awesome guy from Australia who lives here in Japan with his Japanese wife and their little daughter. Mark and a business partner are creating a music studio where they can teach guitar lessons. We got to go with the Elders one day to help work on this studio. Afterwards, Mark showed us around his little town, Yamato. They have a festival every year called the Hasaku Festival. It includes a competition where the people create large creatures out of natural materials like pine cones, bamboo, tree bark, and other wild plants that grow in the area. They were pretty amazing.

• One Sunday we had the privilege of having dinner at Bishop Tashiro's home. There were two other families who joined us. They are all amazing, young, talented people who are faithful in the gospel and are strong leaders for Japan. And the kids--SO CUTE!

• Japanese Culture: Thanks to our wonderful Japanese friends, we were introduced to a cultural event here in Kumamoto called the Fujisake Hachimangu Shrine Festival. It is held every September and lasts five days! We witnessed the culmination of the festival on the last day. It consists of a parade of portable shrines, followed by a parade of samurai re-enactors, and then a parade of decorated horses, with each horse chased by a group of many followers. The groups of followers are from town groups, companies, and schools. Each group dresses in a different uniform, and they dance, beat drums, play trumpets, and chant all along the parade that winds though the city. The parade ends at the shrine where each group 'sets their horse free'. The horses were beautiful and SO BIG.

Spiritual thought: I will share one of my favorite scriptures. Mosiah 2:41 "...I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." This scripture tells us so clearly of the happiness and blessings that can be ours when we are obedient. Happiness and blessings in this life and for eternity. Such awesome promises!