Japan is so beautiful – any time of the year – but especially in the Spring. Our first year here, we went to ‘destinations’ to view the Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), but this year we have discovered they are all around us. There are a variety of kinds of Sakura, so it extends for a few weeks. This year we had a lot of rain and wind, which ended the season a little earlier than normal. One morning while walking, the wind was blowing all the blossoms off, and it looked like it was snowing large flakes. With Sakura season over, it became Fuchsia season. There are all colors of fuchsia lining the streets and the cemetery we walk in weekly. The beauty is exquisite! Along with the beauty comes weeds. They love anything green, so they allow the weeds to grow four feet tall. It’s difficult to stop Laurie from pulling weeds, but she is slowly letting nature take its course.

We thought once we got the hang of things in the mission that our lives would slow down – just a bit. There doesn’t seem to be any truth to that theory. We continue to live the ‘six-week cycle’ of Mission Leaders, but we did get a little interruption at the end of March. Our daughter, Adrian, and her family came for a visit. They are the first of our children to come, and we were excited to see them, especially Rockwell, who was born right after we left. It was both enjoyable and a little bit stressful, and we had to keep reminding ourselves that we are still parents, and that takes precedence over Mission Leader. We decided the best thing to do was to just involve them in every aspect of the mission as much as possible. The day after they arrived, we took them with us to Kichijoji for interviews. They explored the city during morning interviews, brought us lunch, and then took naps while we finished interviews in the afternoon. We ended the day with Laurie’s favorite place for tempura. They were able to meet our new missionaries, say goodbye to our departing missionaries, and even went to the airport with us to pick up a new couple, the Dawsons (who took the place of the Allens). They came with no expectations, which made them fairly easy to please. We spent as much time with them as we could, and when we were busy with obligations, they went to Disneyland and other places they wanted to visit. We have taken so many groups to the airport, but dropping off family was the most difficult group to drop off. Our hearts were a bit heavy for a few days, but then it was back to the everyday life of a mission.

They were here on Adrian’s birthday, so we decided to go to Enoshima Island, which is located in the bottom area of our mission. It was a beautiful day, and our only mistake was not realizing that most of the island is stairs. That doesn’t work well with a toddler and a stroller, and after Kris and Steve carried Rocky up so many flights of stairs, we discovered there was an escalator you could pay to take. Kris gladly paid!

We ended the day eating at Kuaaina Burger, one of our favorite places to eat in Hawaii. Adrian shares a birthday with her older brother Matt (exactly two years apart). When they were young, they could always pick what they wanted to eat for their birthday (we had to do two days of birthday meals with them), and Matt always chose Japanese curry. Adrian hates Japanese curry. For the first time in 34 years, they got to celebrate their birthday on different days, because Japan is a day ahead, and Adrian chose hamburgers.

The week after Adrian’s family left, we started two weeks of Zone Conferences in Yokohama. (I have written about that even in the earlier post). Due to some other demands, we stayed in Yokohama for a couple of nights each week. Previously, we had been able to see small areas in Yokohama, but after each Zone Conference, Steve would interview missionaries for about 3.5 hours. This left a lot of time for Laurie to walk around and explore- one of her favorite things to do.

There was an exhibit going on at the Red Brick Warehouse by the company Kagome. They make delicious juices and jellies from fruits and vegetables. Because Laurie has a green thumb, she was excited to come upon this exhibit. This is one tomato plant that has been trellised. One plant must produce hundreds of cherry tomatoes. Laurie cannot wait to return home and try this.

There are just too many beautiful pictures to share. There were several beautiful gardens, one by the Yokohama Stadium, and others all along the waterfront. They take such busy areas, teaming with life, noise, and traffic, and stick a beautiful garden in the middle of it, and the minute you walk into it, you feel a sense of peace and relaxation.

Our hotel was located right behind the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel goes around very slowly and is only used to take pictures from a higher elevation. You can walk the waterways for miles and listen to the horns/whistles of the cruise ships departing.

There was a Marine Museum up the street with this beautiful ship sitting out front. It seems in that area of Yokohama, the buildings, stores, train stations, and restaurants are all connected with walkways and tunnels. At night, when we needed dinner and it was raining hard, we could leave our hotel, walk for ten minutes, and never get wet.

The week after we finished Zone Conference, we had our Mission Leader Seminar. This is the Interim Seminar, which is always held in Tokyo. Last year, all of our meetings were held at the hotel Conference Center, so we had to pack up and stay at a hotel ten minutes from our apartment. We were so grateful they chose to have all the meetings in the Annex (the building where our office is located), which is a four-minute walk from our house. It is always so wonderful to join with these great mission leaders and be instructed by our Area Presidency. We always come away feeling so grateful to be involved in the great work of gathering Israel and feel inspired to go out and be better leaders. Thursday morning, we caught a bus to Yokohama, where our meetings were held in the same building where our six Zone Conferences had been held the previous two weeks. We learned more about the church in Japan. We had lunch on the go and visited the famous Senso-ji Shrine in Asakusa, and then that evening we enjoyed a dinner cruise on Tokyo Bay. Friday morning, Elder Bednar and Elder Palmer joined us by Zoom. Elder Bednar allowed us to ask questions the entire time, and we never ran out of them. Time flew by, and we couldn’t take notes fast enough. We were even more impressed when we gathered on Saturday morning and learned that Elder Esplin had received a text from Elder Bednar, who had continued thinking about one of the questions and wanted to share another thought that had come to his mind. They truly are men called of God to lead us in these last days. In their busy lives, they always seem to have enough time to minister to small groups and even the one.

We continue to be blessed with amazing missionaries! We always feel so blessed when each group arrives. It is difficult to learn Japanese, but they jump right in, ready to share the gospel through the language of love. We set a goal for one hundred convert baptisms this year. That hasn’t been done in the Tokyo South Mission for some time. All of our alarms are set for 8:55 a.m., and we all stop and pray together for faith to see these miracles through. We have 30 baptisms and feel like we are going to obtain our goal. The first six months after we arrived, we had only 29 baptisms, so we are feeling encouraged. We would appreciate your prayers on behalf of our missionaries and mission.