OK, I'm going to start out with a couple of good names of local beauty shops. You have a lot of reading ahead, and in case you decide not to read it all, at least you have the reward of these fun names: Hair Make Air, and Hair Saloon Long. (Notice that's saloon, not salon!)
Apology: This blog is way too long. Short blogs with lots of photos get read. Long blogs get skipped. Suggestion: Read day one, then come back later for day 2 and day 3. And by the time you finish, you will know how tired we get by the end.
Several of you have requested more info on what we do here in Japan on our mission. I thought a good place to start would be to explain Transfer Week.
In the mission, you don’t live from day to day, week to
week, or month to month. You live and
mark time from transfer to transfer. When you ask a missionary how long he has
been on his mission, he tells you how many transfers he has been through.
So much has to happen at transfer time, and
it has to be orchestrated. While there
is much we do that is not related to transfer week, I think one could say that
in the mission, you have transfer week, then you spend two weeks doing the
necessary work to recover from transfers, then you spend the next three weeks
preparing for the next transfer. Every
six weeks is transfers.
Transfers are when missionaries (elders) who have been here
for two years (or a year and a half, for sisters) finish their mission and go
home. And new missionaries fly in from
the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah and begin their two years.
Transfer week is an interesting, exhilarating,
inspiring, fast paced, and exhausting multi-faceted production. And one of the sweet things is to have the
entire office staff, along with President and Sister Baird, just sit together
in the big office room and talk about all the cool things that happened, after
it is all over. We are all usually tired, and it’s just satisfying to sit and review and bask
in the feelings and the joy of it all. Each time we do that, we marvel at the
little things that made it so special, and are always struck with the
conviction that many of the things that happened, couldn’t have happened without
Heavenly Father’s hand in it. It is
humbling to realize the power behind this work.
Day 1:
On Monday morning here, it is still Sunday in Utah. We are gearing up for transfers to
begin. Missionaries throughout the
mission know it is transfer week, and they know they need to stay in their
apartment until they receive a phone call from one of the two AP’s (Assistants
to the President). AP’s start about 8:00
and call every missionary companionship to tell them if and/or where they will
be moving for the next six weeks, and if they were chosen to train one of the
new incoming missionaries. It’s really fun and exciting to listen to the AP’s
tell each missionary about his new assignment.
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| Sometimes the family comes to pick up their missionary. |
Departing Missionaries: At 12:30, all the missionaries who are ending
their missions and returning home arrive at the mission home. They shipped their luggage by train a few
days earlier and it is waiting for them at the airport. They have a meeting
with President and Sister Baird, get some great advice for their future lives,
and meet with Elder Barney to turn in any unused funds from their mission,
making sure they have enough for food on the way home. By the time all of this is done, Sister Baird
has a great dinner ready for them. It is
entertaining to watch the food disappear.
Did they really eat THAT much?
But it’s gone! They love Sister
Baird’s cooking, they aren’t nervous any more, and they really go down on whatever
she serves. I have to admit, her
brownies are fabulous. Then they all go
out for a final evening of missionary work, getting back in time to be in bed
by 10:30. The middle floor of the
mission home has about 7 bedrooms with two beds in each. That usually handles all the
missionaries.
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| Sometimes just two missionaries go home. |
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| Sometimes there's a whole bunch finishing up. |
Day 2:
Tuesday: They are up by 6 a.m. sharp Tuesday morning
for a quick continental breakfast. President and Sister Baird drive them to the
airport and wave goodbye to the non-Japanese missionaries until they are out of
sight. Then President and Sister Baird drive the Japanese missionaries to the
Nagoya Eki and say goodbye to them. Most
of them can get home via train, but a few of them do fly. The Bairds get back to the mission home by at
least 10,
and have a brief respite.
At noon on Tuesday,
all the missionaries who are transferring to another location must be at the
Nagoya Eki, or train station. There is a
huge golden clock there, and that is where they meet, tell their old companions
goodbye and head off with a new companion to their new area. If they are trainers, they come to the
mission office. In most cases in the
mission, the rule is that you should never be without a companion. This process at the central train station
works well for all of them.
At about 1:00,
the trainers arrive here and attend meetings with President Baird where he
instructs them about training new missionaries.
He also does a great job of finding out special things about each of the
incoming missionaries. He takes the time
to individually tell each trainer about this new missionary he or she will be
helping to learn the ropes. He installs a high regard and even a love in these
young men/women for the new person they are about to meet. The new trainers leave around 4 and go to
nearby missionary apartments to spend the night, but it’s not party time. They split up with the other missionaries and
go out and share the Gospel. And right
then, President and Sister Baird, along with the rest of us at the office, get
into cars and head out to the airport.
New Missionaries are trained at the Mission Training
Center for 10 weeks. They make great progress on learning the language and they are taught
how to share the Gospel. They also begin
living by the rules of the mission field, which are quite strict, but they are
wise and for the success and protection of each missionary. Those missionaries coming to Japan get up at
about 2 or 3 a.m. on their appointed day, always a Monday morning, ride on a
bus from Provo to the Salt Lake City airport, and then fly to Detroit, where
they board a plane that comes directly to Nagoya. (Nagoya is Toyota headquarters, so that is
why there are direct fights between here and Detroit.)
They arrive about 4:30, are warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by the mission president and office staff, walk their luggage to the shipping department at the airport where their bags are labeled with the address where each missionary will be serving and sent to that apartment.
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I love watching 13 luggage carts being pushed by
13 nicely dressed, happy elders. Lots of people notice. |
Group pictures are taken.
These missionaries know each other well by now and will always be special to each other.
Then there is the HOIZA shout. (Hope of Israel, Zion's Army--a call to serve and a fun reminder of what they are about.)
They catch a train from the airport to within walking distance of our mission home. On the way, they are challenged to talk with all the people they can in Japanese (their first real experience as missionaries, and for the foreign missionaries, their first real experience to use their newly acquired language skills with a native) and tell them something about the Church or perhaps give them a Book of Mormon. They arrive at the mission home around 7:30 or 8.
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| I love this picture. They are HERE!! |
We show
them where they will be staying, visit with them a little, feed them a
wonderful lasagna dinner that they are usually too tired to each much of, and
have them go to bed. We are usually up
quite a while after that, doing dishes, cleaning up and getting things ready
for morning.
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| This, obviously, is the lasagna, not the waffles. |
Day 3:
Wednesday: The
newbys are up by 7 a.m. the next morning, which is easy for them because their
body time tells them it’s much later.
They write a little note for Sister Baird to put in her scrapbook and
they are given a little advice from her about some things “Japanese” that they
need to be aware of. For instance, if
you don’t regularly air out your futon, it will get mildew on it.
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| Will work for food. |
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| Sister Baird, handing out some little gifts to an elder. |
We feed them a waffle/egg/fruit
breakfast that is out of this world. (Elder Barney is the waffle chef, and he does them to perfection.) Sister Baird makes the best waffles ever, and she has a syrup for the
waffles that is to die for. It
isn’t
maple syrup; it IS the best syrup I’ve ever tasted. Missionaries have a picture taken
individually, and another with President and Sister Baird.
Then the training begins.
I get to talk with them about the mail system, how to write letters to
the president (which they are supposed to do once each week), gather their
passports for copying, and a few other things.
Elder Barney then has his turn, and he talks to them about all things
money-related. There is much to
learn. Sister Baird talks to them, and
her focus is on keeping them healthy.
Next we have what is a highlight for me. Nearly all of the above was
recorded with photos and video, and most of it was recorded without them
noticing. Some interactions on the train
are also captured on their way home. Our
mission recorder then stays up nearly all night and puts together the most
wonderful, inspiring video of them. This is the highlight that we get to view
after breakfast. The office staff is
usually in tears, not to mention the missionaries. I know I was when we watched video of ourselves
arriving in Japan. It was such a surprise and so well done. This DVD will be
sent to the parents of each new missionary the week following arrival. (They sent a copy of ours to EACH of our six
children!) Parents (and grandchildren) love it.
But back to instructions after breakfast: Each of the Assistants to the President talk to the new missionaries about the culture of the mission. This includes what is expected of them as
missionaries and information about cultural differences they need to be aware
of. The Recorder describes his role with
referrals and how to order supplies.
The Commissarian talks about taking care of apartments and bicycle
safety. Then the President ends with a
talk to them, and while neither Lee nor I have been able to be there during
that time because we have other responsibilities, I know he gets them excited
and anxious to be about the work they have come to do.
At 11:00, one missionary at a time comes up two stories to
the top floor of the mission home where he has a brief interview with President
Baird in his office. This is when the
president gives the new missionary information about his new companion/trainer.
Finally, he or she walks out of the president’s office, and meets his first
companion/trainer. This is a part that I
also love. They greet each other with a
big hug. Photos are taken again. It is a happy celebration. I am amazed when I see who President Baird
has chosen as the first companion and trainer for each new missionary. Because I get to read information letters
about each new missionary, I know something about them. I am also getting to know the missionaries
who are here and who will be training these new missionaries. I am astounded by the perfection that is
usually evident in the matchup.
President Baird says it isn’t him who chooses which missionaries go together; it is
the Lord. Often he will have someone
completely different in mind, and he will get an impression that it should be
someone else. He always follows those
impressions.
The missionaries then meet with Elder Barney to get some
money to start out with and some debit cards to use on their mission. He gives them other instructions. Then they have to fill out some forms and
order some things, get their passports back from me, and just relish all being
together in this office talking with each other. The missionaries love
opportunities to get together, to see old companions they have served with, to
pass along news and exciting events.
To be asked to train a new missionary is a huge
responsibility because you will set the tone of that missionary’s mission and
success. Usually, it is the very best
missionaries who are asked to train.
These young men, along with the new missionaries, are full of life and
happiness. They are in white shirts and
ties, looking sharp and clean and handsome.
Most of them are so darn cute, and just get cuter as you get to know them
better. They have chosen to stop their
schooling, stop whatever other plans they may have had, risk giving up
prestigious appointments to the Air Force Academy or several other top schools,
and really put their temporal lives on hold, for two years. They come and live in small
apartments, learn how to get along with people they didn’t choose to live with who
might be very different from them, be in each night by 9 to 9:30, go to bed by
10:30, get up at 6 and exercise, study scriptures for an hour, clean up the
apartment, and spend the day reaching out to people who they don’t know and who
usually don’t want to talk with a stranger who can barely speak their
language. I watch them all standing in
my office, talking and happy and good, and I can hardly keep from crying. It just touches my heart so deeply. At this point they are too young to realize
how deeply this mission will change their lives, make them in to men and women
who are honest, kind, willing to help others, dependable, able to manage money,
work hard, be less selfish and make good decisions. They
don’t realize it, but I do. I know what
it did to my children and I’ve seen it in so many of the young single adults
we worked with for six years. (I can hardly type this now without tears.) I just
want to shout for joy!
Last of all, they go to the church, which is next door to
the mission office and receive more instruction and information from President
and Sister Baird and the Assistants, and they have a testimony meeting. President and Sister Baird get
more personal with them, telling them about their own experiences that led to
their being where they are now, giving them insight into who they are and what
is important to them. They do an excellent job of helping the new missionaries understand the culture of this mission, the standard of excellence that is expected, and they share their testimonies. Finally, President Baird issues a commitment
to each missionary, one by one in front of all the others, to read from the
Book of Mormon each day, no matter what.
And they are sent off, each with his new companion, to have some lunch
and get on the train to their first assigned city.
It’s usually close to 3:00 by then, and we are finished with
the part that has to be done within a timeline.
There is still much to do, but it can be done at a more moderate pace.
Whew! And I have only
described three days. But they are our
most intense.
