I have been very busy since coming to the Mission Home to serve as the Financial Secretary for the Mission. It has been great fun learning about the financial operations of this mission and mission's in general, but I have been so busy learning and doing that I have very little time to visit picturesque sights and publish a blog. So, this will summarize this time.
Week 41 November 11 - 17, 2013
The most interesting thing this week was moving to Fukuoka. Fukuoka is a much larger city than Kumamoto. Also in Kumamoto we lived is the outskirts of the greater Kumamoto City, but in Fukuoka we are very near the central area called Tenjin.
Here is a landmark, multicolored sculpture of a dove, that marks the turn down the road to the mission home and temple.
Fukuoka is Japan's 6th largest city (about 1,400,000), having passed the population of Kyoto in 2007. Kumamoto has a population of about 730,000.
An event was the recarpeting of the Mission Home. The mission home is directly under and part of the temple. Here is the carpeting removed from the mission home. The mission home is directly on the other side of this pile. The parking structure where this was taken is also under the temple.
One of our English class students we very excited that Paul McCartney was going to have a concert in Fukuoka at the Fukuoka Dome. We happened to see the McCartney truck pass by with music blaring.
We had the opportunity to be trained by the Beus couple that was leaving for several days. One our last meals together was at a restaurant where there was a charcoal stove right in our table and we cooked dour own meat and ate it with noodles and other items.
You had to scoop our your fish selection,
Just kidding, but we have sure have become accustomed to eating an unusual assortment of foods that we would have had a hard time with in the U.S.A.
Here are photos taken from various locations around our new apartment.
A playground up the road to our apartment building:
A small parking lot across the road up to our apartment.
A look down the relatively steep road up to our apartment building.
My wife, of course, was very excited by the flower's growing on our balcony, thanks to the previous couple.
Week 42, November 18 - 24, 2013
Our bicycles finally arrived from Kumamoto, here is the bicycle parking just outside the Mission Office and in fact just outside the window into my office.
We have a nice setup in our apartment with a desk for both me and my wife. We worked hard to arrange it to meet our tastes, which is different for everyone.
With our bikes we now got a little more acquainted with our area in Fukuoka. Showing the colors of fall. With it's yellows and...
reds ...
pleasant river views with ducks ...
Luetta loves birds...
and me.
Ending with a bike ride up the steep road to our apartment, by the red car.
Week 43 November 25 - December 1, 2013
This week we went back to Kumamoto for a Monday visit to our doctor for routine check-ups.
Here is a wonderful sunset from our apartment,
and keeping up with the houses being built outside our balcony.
Week 44 December 2 - 8, 2013
Our minds are turning from Thanksgiving holidays in the US to Christmas. Here is our Christmas tree.
The fall colors are developing nicely in Fukuoka.
We drove into central Fukuoka (know as Tenjin) and saw the wonderful lights of Christmas in Japan.
Week 45 December 9-15, 2013
We got in a little biking this week,
And they started taking the scaffolding down from the Temple. It will be so much more pretty for Christmas.
Saturday was an interesting experience with our Mid-day Saturday Japanese class. We went to a local (Fujisaki) firestation that had demonstrations on what various emergencies would be like.
Biking to Fujisaki we passed some major rivers that lead to the bay.
I had to use my ipod touch navigation, but it got us there even with all the Konji signs and maps.
Here is the Firestation,
We used fire extinguishers to know how to put out a small (on screen) fire.
Fire fighting equipment from around the world was exhibited, here is Oakland California.
Here is an ancient style fire engine. (only for very small fires)
We also experienced a magnitude 7 earth quake. It was run by two way horizontal actuators similar the vibration tables I used at the Del Monte Foods Lab. Magnitude 7 feels much stronger than any of the 6.3 or so earthquakes I have felt in California. I hope we never experience it. We experience in a wind tunnel a Category 5 Typhoon, which is an extremely strong wind. They told me to take my missionary tag off so no one would get hurt.
On the way home the sculptures of crabs indicates they must be in the local waters.
Safe driving by blind alleys (roads) was indicated on the bike ride home by these signs on the sidewalks.
Week 46: December 16 - 23, 2013
We went to Kumamoto and had a Christmas Lunch with the missionaries there. We had a traditional Christmas meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Christmas cake. It was yummy and fun.
We attended the Nagamine Ward Christmas party and guess who showed up.
We got to see the progress on the new homes out our balcony,
and the third foundation from the ground.
While there we attend the Beethoven 9th symphony which was wonderful. Our Kumamoto Japanese teacher was in the men's chorus.
Well I am caught up now, if you are not a sleep, congratulations, I love your interest in our fantastic mission.
