The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind for us. Our lives are so busy but yet so full in another way too. We continue to be grateful for the opportunity to serve here. It’s been almost one year and things don’t feel so new anymore. It’s not like we have things down because with 144 missionaries things are constantly changing. We have yet to be bored.

Every six months we have a Mission Leader Seminar. It is usually a couple of weeks after General Conference. This time it was held in Tokyo so we didn’t have to go far to attend. We always learn so much from our Area Presidency and those other leaders serving with us. We also learn things we could be doing better and return back to our mission to make the necessary changes. The last day of the conference was held in the Annex (the building next to the temple which serves as a church, Mission Offices, Visitor Center and gym). After we finished our meetings for the day they had us come down to the gym for a quick lunch and a group picture. The building was full of young adults that day and when we came down the stairs we heard our names called. We were delighted to see most of our Japanese missionaries who had recently returned home. They were there to attend a YSA conference for returned missionaries. We miss them and were so grateful to connect with them once again.

We have so many friends that have visited Japan, especially from Hawaii. Seeing them takes us back to such happy times living in Hawaii. Millerbergs and Dunns are among our dearest friends from Hawaii and we were able to spend an evening and a P-day with them. We rarely have time to sight see but once in a while we can pull it off if the timing is just right.

They were so kind to treat us to a Night Dinner Cruise around Tokyo. The air was crisp and we sat around the table eating our own little pan of sukiyaki as we went around the waterways in the city. There was entertainment with someone playing the Shamisen and a woman singing for us. After traveling for a bit, they anchored not too far from the Rainbow Bridge and we were able to go out onto the roof of the boat and look around. It was absolutely beautiful! The skyscrapers were lit up, as well as the bridge and we could see other boats up and down the waterways. We had so many good laughs together as we rehashed the ‘good old days’.

We drove them out to Yamate, where Heber J. Grant came in 1901 to dedicate Japan for the preaching of the gospel. We walked the beautiful gardens that overlooked the bay where he arrived. We have a chapel there that has a large memorial out front which tells about that event. We decided to walk down to China Town and try to find some dim sum. We ordered way too much food but we ate it all and then walked the streets.

When we first received our mission call, they told us to start recruiting senior missionaries to help us. We reached out to Dale and Julie Maughan and asked if they would be willing to join us. We had the perfect little place for them – Kofu. It is the furthest area out in the mission and close to Mount Fuji. We had never met Dale and Julie but the Spirit nudged us in that direction. Our two daughters, Adrian and Jess, served as Spanish missionaries together in the Texas Houston East Mission. They have been dear friends ever since. We have loved Jess and Maughans have loved our Adrian. Dale served in Japan many years ago. It took forever for them to get their call and we worried someone else might grab them. Finally their call came and it was even to the correct mission. Dale is the Medical Advisor for our mission along with the Sendai Mission. We picked them up at the airport and since they weren’t feeling comfortable about driving yet, Laurie drove them out to Kofu in their little van. Kofu is a beautiful area, surrounded by mountains and the drive was beautiful. Laurie enjoyed the visit with them on the way out and a few quiet hours on the way home.

Yes! We know our selfie skills are lacking.

Right after our Mission Leader Seminar, we welcome our largest group of new missionaries – seventeen. Most of them came from the Phillipines but we had a couple of Sisters from the US and also a Japanese Elder. After Steve had interviewed them all he said “I don’t think there is a challenge in the whole bunch. They are all really strong and committed.” Many of them come from less than ideal circumstances and the Senior Missionaries in our area were so generous to donate so they could all purchase a suit and other necessary items. They usually come from places that we will never comprehend and we love to help them get everything they will need when they arrive.

There must be opposition in all things. We received wonderful missionaries but we also lost wonderful missionaries. We are sad to see any of them go but we felt like we lost just a bit more this time when Elder Hayu Son went home. When we first arrived he was our ‘trainer’. As one of our Assistants to the President (AP) he truly taught us everything from how to drive in Tokyo to how to hold a Zone Conference. He even had a Japanese license and was able to cover for us in getting people to the airport etc. He was our AP for about eight months but we let him go back into the field to work hard for his last transfer. It also helped us cut the ‘apron strings’ for when he would return home to Austrailia. Since Australia is on a similar time zone as Japan, we were able to listen to his homecoming report through Zoom and that was rewarding.

We have about 16 Senior Missionary couples serving in our mission. Nine of those couples are with the Area Office but are just listed under us. We see them in the Annex once in a while or if we attend our home ward. We invited them all over for dinner so we could meet them but some were not able to make it due to other demands. We have four military bases so we have four couples serving there. We only have three couples that help the Japan Tokyo South Mission directly, our office couple, our housing couple, and the Maughans in Kofu. We are excited to have another couple, the Platts, join us next week to help with the YSA ward in Shibuya. That place has been vacant since the beloved Lows left us back in February.

We live the same life transfer after transfer but it never gets old or boring. There is always seems to be a 3:00 a.m. call, a bike accident, companion problems or struggling missionaries that need encouragement. It’s what we are here for.

In May we had three Stake Conferences. The first one, Kanagawa Stake, asked us both to speak at two different meetings. If we could speak in English it wouldn’t be bad. As it is now, we write our talks in English, AI translates them into Japanese and then have a trusted Japanese person read over it and let us know if it really says what we are trying to say. We spoke at the Leadership Training session and again that evening at the Adult Session. It was nice to just sit through the Sunday session. Elder McCune, the presiding authority, asked us to be on a panel for a YSA devotional after the main session and we were able to share encouragement about keeping a strong testimony, dating and marriage.

We had the great privilege of having Elder Dale G. Renlund visit Tokyo this weekend. He spent time with the Tokyo North Mission in the same way that Elder Quentin L. Cook visited our mission. But because he was also doing a Priesthood Leadership Conference and Stake Conference for the Tokyo South Stake, we were invited to participate in those. Laurie was asked to share her testimony. We had a YSA devotional Friday evening, three-hour leadership training on Saturday, and then one session of stake conference on Sunday. It was powerful.

Elder Renlund is a very good storyteller and he uses stories and experiences to illustrate principles. It was masterful and we enjoyed it very much. He spoke about the history behind the hymn “It is Well with My Soul”, the base isolators under the Salt Lake Temple (earthquake proofing it), The Lion King, 3 Nephi 5:13 (“Behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. . .”), how covenants are not additive but synergistic, the asymmetry of men and women with regard to holding the priesthood, and that “it is about people, not about efficiency.” He also made a statement we really liked: “God can make the willing able, but he cannot, or will not, make the able willing.” Overall, it was just a spiritually recharging experience.

This week was not only busy with interviews and Elder Renlund visiting but we received notice that our missionary who returned home a couple months ago because of a bad bike accident had been medically cleared to return to the mission. We also had another missionary who had been struggling with depression and decided to go home and finish his mission as a Service Missionary.

We continue to have miracles in our mission. Every Sunday night for 30 minutes we have a mission wide call where the missionaries share the miracles they have seen that week. It’s always inspiring but I have learned something from these weekly calls. There are some missionaries that see miracles all around them and there are others who never see them. Is it because they don’t see them or that they just aren’t looking? Or is it because if it isn’t some big miracle it is only a coincidence? Maybe God just keeps giving miracles to those who see them and those who won’t recognize them don’t get them anymore? God is so aware of each of us. He places/directs us to the right place at the right time where we may influence for good the lives of others.