This was luetta's and mine was more like a stir fry. It was very good and the atomosphere was eclectic.
Tuesday was the 2 zone conference. It was fun and we learned a lot about missionary work. The main emphasis was the value of very short contact lessons of 5 minutes or less and a return appointment. Staying under 5 minutes is no problem for us with little or no Japanese.
The finale to conference was skits put on by each zone, Kumamoto and Kagoshima. Kagashima was about star wars aka dendo (missionary work) wars. It high lighted some of the common problems in sharing the gospel with others. Our skit was about a day in the life of a missionary from wake up till lights out. Our part was about using the garmin to get around Kumamoto. My funny line came when we were misdirected by the Garmin to go down a very narrow residential street and all four of our cars collission avoidance signals go off. An Elder off stage said in computer like style migi mae desu, hidari mae desu, migi ushiro desu, and hidari ushiro desu (which means right front, left front, right back, and left back), to which I yelled the Garmin lied to us again.
We spent a lot of time transporting elders on Monday before the conference and after the conference to the local bus stop. We also had one set of elders that needed to go to the big train station in downtown Kumamoto. Since we had this one last run all the way downtown we took a quick trip to Mt. Kinbo on the other side of town. It is very beautiful wooded mountain that we see from our balcony, when the clarity is good. Here are few pictures.
First showing the nearby hills.
Now a view of the typical japanese gate, this one leads to the hike up to the final top, about 2200' high.
Here is a sign map of the area, in Japanese of course.
And a forest covered narrow road as the day comes to an end.
Mom's balcony garden is becoming quite prolific with blossoms and even tiny cucumbers and watermelons showing.
Peanuts:
Wednesday night is always capped off by teaching English class. We have a real fun class with the intermediate/advanced class. We combine with the beginner class at 8:00 p.m. for a game related to learning English. This time we divided into teams and created as many words as we could out of a set of letters. It was a little unfair as one side was mostly from the Intermediate/advanced class and they whooped the beginners.
Thursday was apartment inspection at Nagasake (Elders and Sisters) and Isahaya (Elders).
Here are pictures on the way through one of the many tunnels in this very mountainous area.
The sisters and elders in Nagasaki area both got celestial rating. We bought ice cream for the sisters as they had an appointment right away. We took the elders out to eat at an Indian Curry place (this is very popular in Japan). This one used bread rather than rice as the starch. It tasted wonderful, but I should skip many meals before eating it.
We had a very light dinner, bought at a convience mart and ate it by the water front.
Friday we inspect Isahaya, which also got a celestial rating and another, very japanese, lunch. We drove home going south instead of north around Mt. Unzen a volcano that is still active. We stoped briefly at the Mt Unzen Hot springs and got these shots at this Yellowstone like, sufurous smelling spot.
On these inspections we enjoy the Ferry ride across Shimabara Bay, no small bay that takes 30 minutes to cross.
Saturday was English class and more shopping for apartment needs. Sunday is always a great day refreshing our spiritual energy and this day there were many investigators in attendance. After church the Nagamine Ward Mission Leader invited to his home for a wonderful Japanese dinner alsong with a spiritual thought and testimony of the truth of Christ's Gospel. A wonderful cap to a wonderful week.
I love that gate! So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI bet you are really enjoying the food. Joseph has finally discovered a taste for sushi. That makes me happy because I've been the only family member who like it up until now. :)