Week 62 April 7 - 13, 2014

After our son visiting our camera's must have got tired and I have few photos this week.

Here is Luetta gardening on our patio.

At a ward recycle event in the Kumamoto stake center various items were in the cultural hall that were available for reuse.  I really like this plate with bamboo groves on it, I have found them fascinating here in Japan and I look forward to have this as a memento of our stay in Japan

Saturaday and Sunday were our days here in Japan to listen to the delayed replay of conference to allow for the translation to be completed.

One of my favorite stories is that of President Boyd K. Packer and his youthful "need to know".

"Times of war or uncertainty have a way of sharpening our focus on things that really matter.

World War II was a time of great spiritual turmoil for me. I had left my home in Brigham City, Utah, with only embers of a testimony, and I felt the need for something more. Virtually our whole senior class in a matter of weeks was on its way to the war zone. While stationed on the island of Ie Shima, just north of Okinawa, Japan, I struggled with doubt and uncertainty. I wanted a personal testimony of the gospel. I wanted to know!

During one sleepless night, I left my tent and entered a bunker which had been formed by lining up 50-gallon fuel drums filled with sand and placed one on top of the other to form an enclosure. There was no roof, and so I crawled in, looked up at the star-filled sky, and knelt to pray.

Almost mid-sentence it happened. I could not describe to you what happened if I were determined to do so. It is beyond my power of expression, but it is as clear today as it was that night more than 65 years ago. I knew it to be a very private, very individual manifestation. At last I knew for myself. I knew for a certainty, for it had been given to me. After some time, I crawled from that bunker and walked, or floated, back to my bed. I spent the rest of the night in a feeling of joy and awe.

Far from thinking I was someone special, I thought that if such a thing came to me, that it could come to anyone. I still believe that. In the years that have followed, I have come to understand that such an experience is at once a light to follow and a burden to carry."

It reminded me of certain times in my life when things looked very bleak and I "needed to know" and I received that witness that gave me confidence in Gods reality.  It was interesting that this story happened in what is now part of the Japan Fukuoka Mission.  I pray that each member of my family, in particular, will either remember or did deep and have such an experience, it is a key to happiness.