New home. New friends.

Just walked in the door of our home for the next 17 months. Number one order of business: remove shoes and put on slippers, the Japanese way of things. Oh, and unpack.

But before I talk about that, I just have to talk about the Elders we are working with.

One of our Sunday meetings is a district meeting with the missionaries. Here the four elders who work in the mission office are teaching three members of the church from Japan how to be missionaries. All three are planning to serve missions, so the elders are giving them a jump on the instruction they will get in the MTC. Lee and I also got to practice, which is really good because we hope to teach some people while we are here. This photo gives you a little view of the office where we work.

"Choro" is the word for Elder.

This is Kishi Choro. He is native Japanese and I think he is probably considered a knockout in Japan. Surprise: he comes from a family with nine children. I didn't think there were families that big in Japan. His father is a farmer. He is a great missionary, as are all of the Elders we work with.

On the left here is Hollister Choro. He is from Colorado Springs, Colorado. His stake president is a friend of ours. He left the Air Force Academy to come on a mission, and he plans to return and become an AirForce Special Forces Officer. He is really sharp, another amazing missionary.

Elder Jessop (right) is from Fielding, Utah, a tiny town next to where my mom was born. He is such a great Elder, always thinking of other people and finding ways to help. He is a superb translator and has taken upon himself to help me learn Japanese better. He is fabulous.

Elder Rust is the fourth of these great Elders we get to work with daily. (Not fourth in order of greatness!) He is from Indiana. He is wise, calm, dedicated, dependable, and just plain good.

Can you see that I love these great young men? And I've only known them for two weeks. This is so fun.