Week 59 March 17 - 23, 2014

This week we returned to visiting missionary apartments that are farther away.  We visited Beppu and Oita, it was enjoyable and interesting.
First of all I came across this interesting poem (by Rose Milligan) that talks about what we do in life and choosing the most valuable.  Now I don't have anything against house work and it is very enjoyable and healthy to have a clean environment to work in, and that is what our cleaning inspections try to inspire the missionaries to do, but in the end one must choose priorities in the right order.

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better To paint a picture, or write a letter, Bake a cake, or plant a seed; Ponder the difference between want and need? Dust if you must, but there's not much time, With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb; Music to hear, and books to read; Friends to cherish, and life to lead. Dust if you must, but the world's out there With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair; A flutter of snow, a shower of rain, This day will not come around again. Dust if you must, but bear in mind, Old age will come and it's not kind. And when you go (and go you must) You, yourself, will make more dust.

I love the twist ending, just think someday the dust you are dusting may be me!  I am gaining more intimacy with that idea from year to year.  But, I think me and my wife are trying to look beyond the mundane to the more valuable like being on a mission to serve the people we meet in Japan.  May the Lord help us to be of value, is our prayer.

I was astounded by the discovery of B mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

"The Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2 (BICEP2) experiment at the South Pole found a pattern called primordial B-mode polarization in the light left over from just after the big bang, known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This pattern, basically a curling in the polarization, or orientation, of the light, can be created only by gravitational waves produced by inflation. “It looks like a swirly pattern on the sky,” says Chao-Lin Kuo, a physicist at Stanford University, who designed the BICEP2 detector. “We’ve found the smoking gun evidence for inflation and we’ve also produced the first image of gravitational waves across the sky.”" quoted from Scientific American magazine 

This finding is key evidence for inflation after the creation moment (aka the big bang).  It is also a step closer to the idea of a multiverse, where cosmos are created in great numbers.  The concept of a multiverse allows God to be the one and only God of this cosmos while allowing for others, a very intriguing idea.

We visited Beppu on Thursday and after doing our work we treated the Beppu Elders to lunch, it was very yummy.  Each table had it's own grill and you cooked your meat and put it on rice to eat.

Then on the way to Oita, we stopped by the Beppu Aquarium,  It is near the bridge, shown here, over to monkey mountain that we had visited before and since it was raining an indoor activity was better.  Monkey mountain like so many mountains in Japan is very steep, it would be amazing to walk up them, O wait we have on Mt. Kinpu, and it was steep.

Lots of interesting movies of the aquarium.  Watch this guys eye!

This fish has very unusual fins.

We also watched an outside show of walrus.

Here I am communing with my wiskered animal friend, the star of the outside show.

Our conversation is confidential, but he told me the fish was excellent that they served at the show.

Friday morning we had a traditional Japanese breakfast at the hotel before going to the missionaries appartment for inspection.

On the way home to Kumamoto we passed through Aso and took a photo of the rim of the ancient volcano caldera that this town is in showing lingering snow on them.

Saturday we got to serve in the Fukuoka Temple which was very enjoyable.  All in all a very good week.