Erika

This is Erika.  She has been in our ward, but tomorrow morning she will fly out to the MTC in Utah, and then back to Sendai to be a missionary.

Erika welcomed us with open arms when we arrived.  She asked many times if she could help with anything. She offered to translate things for us.  She even offered to help me learn the language.  She made little treats for us to make us feel wecome.

She is already a missionary.  She has been serving as a ward missionary, and she is the best ward missionary I have ever seen.  She shares the Gospel with many friends and makes herself available to go teaching with other missionaries frequently.  She gives her all.

She helps with everything she can, every chance she gets.  So she is often involved with projects and parties and other events that take time and effort to organize.  She plays the piano beautifully.

She is always happy, always kind to everyone, and always dressed modestly and appropriately.

She is humble, but beautiful, sensitive and caring.  She is always thinking of others.  That is why everyone who knows her, loves her.  Tonight there was a surprise party for her.  There were 40 people there, and more came in later.  Someone had made a video with photos of her doing different things in the ward, and people telling her goodbye.  Then they sang a goodbye song to her, and many were crying.  She will be missed in this ward and a godsend to wherever she goes on her mission.

In short, she is amazing.

I have grown to love and admire her, and I know she will be a superb missionary.  And when she gets back, she will be a superb wife and mother.  I even have her husband picked out, but I haven't told her.  I've never had much luck with match-making, so this time I will just wait and see what happens after the next 18 months. It would be fun if I got it right for once, but we will see.


Beauty shop names:  Earth, Hair and Make, Hair Plain, and She Cut.

The People

We have been to church three times now and have attended two English conversation classes. We have been so warmly welcomed, with people going out of their way to meet us, ask us questions, offer to help us. They are kind, thoughtful, welcoming, warm, and lovely. I can’t imagine being treated any better. The Japanese learn English in grade school and junior high, but they learn to read it well, not speak it well. So they are often very happy to speak English with us, so that they can improve their conversation.

But here is a great example of what I mean. This is Sister Kondo. Sister Kondo has been a member of the Church for a long time. She was among the first group of Japanese saints to charter a plane to go to the temple in 1965. They had to save up; the nearest temple at the time was in Hawaii. She was living in Tokyo when Lee was a missionary here 43 years ago.

Sister Kondo is my visiting teacher. She just got the assignment last week and asked me in church when she could come visit with me. We have been so busy in the evenings that I asked if she could come to the office during my lunch hour. Thursday was the best day for her. She showed up carrying a large (at least 14" across) deep (6") wooden bowl filled with food. It was a rice/veggie/ shrimp/tofu/egg dish that was one of the best things I have ever eaten. There were 6 of us in the office including her, and we all loaded our plates, and only went through half of it. She promptly directed the elders to get containers to put the rest of it into for the Mission President and his wife, and the other two elders. I asked her if she would teach me how to make it, and she is going to.

Now let me share more details about Sister Kondo, as if making a meal and bringing it is not enough. You have to climb four flights of stairs to get to our office. Stairs in Japan, at least the ones I've climbed so far, have about a one-inch higher rise than in the US. Stairs are harder to climb. Lee and I stumbled a few times at first before we got used to it. Sister Kondo rode her bike over with the huge bowl of food (about 20 minutes away by bike), climbed four flights of stairs carrying the heavy bowl, and--are you ready--she is 79 years old! She is full of energy. One Monday a month she gets on the shinkansen (Bullet Train) and rides to Tokyo (less than two hours away when on the Bullet Train), and works at the Tokyo Temple on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, then comes home on Saturday. Wow! I want to be like Sister Kondo when I grow up.

I love the Japanese tradition used when you hand something to someone. You hold it with both hands, extend your arms a little, and bow as you offer it. The person receiving bows and receives it with both hands. Really nice! When we were introduced in Sacrament Meeting as the new missionary couple, someone indicated that we should stand. We stood and bowed slightly, and that seemed to cause the whole congregation to bow in their seats in unison. It was cool (but it surprised me)! Kind of like “Alohaaa."

I really hope I can develop some friendships. There are enough Japanese who speak English that I can begin, and hopefully I will learn enough Japanese eventually that I will be able to make more friends. We are going to try a Japanese Only Day in the office once a week to encourage me to get going on my Japanese. I am furiously working on things to say on the telephone so I don’t sound like a total idiot.

Oh, two more fun beauty shops names: Dog Tails and Safety and Convenience June Hair.