Cherry Blossom Time!

Hello, dear family and friends! We're here and I'm not sure I know where to start! Our flight left Los Angeles at about 6:30 p.m. Monday and arrived in Tokyo about 11 p.m. Tuesday. Except in Utah it was about 8 a.m. Tuesday. We're so confused. We were the last ones off the plane, the last ones through immigration and customs, and initially found no one waiting for us. Come to find out, the mission president was there and had been waiting for some time. He began wondering if we'd made our flight, and stepped away to call Church Travel when he and Bruce spotted each other. Because he didn't like to have the office elders drive late at night, he'd come himself.

His name is Takashi Wada, and he's from Sweden  ---- just kidding, of course he's Japanese! He was born in Tokyo, grew up mostly in the States, and was living in Salt Lake City working for the Church in Temporal Affairs when he and his wife were called to this mission assignment. Sister Wada was born and raised in Japan. They have two sons, one is on a mission now in San Jose California, and the other is in high school here in Tokyo, attending an international school. President Wada has quite a background in business and Church service, and he says being a mission president is by far the best thing he's ever done.

They provided us a bed at the mission home, which we thankfully fell into, and then gave us breakfast the next morning -- an American breakfast, although the pancakes were Japanese, still similar to what we're used to. President and Sister Wada were very kind and gracious hosts. The mission home/office is a three story building with the office on the ground floor (the stake center is right next door), so after breakfast we went downstairs, met the office couple (Elder and Sister Powell), and went to work getting oriented.

The Powells took us to a city government building where we had to register our address. Since we spoke no Japanese, Elder Powell and one of the Japanese elders took care of that business while we, with Sister Powell, walked down city streets lined with cherry trees in full bloom -- just beautiful! Sister Powell doesn't speak Japanese, just a few words, but that doesn't stop her from talking to people, playing with the children, etc. We commented on how friendly and outgoing she is, and she says its very different from her personality prior to their missions. So that gave me hope -- I know I need to loosen up!

We don't have the traditional picture in front of the mission home, with the mission president and his wife (don't know why we didn't even think of it), but I think these beautiful cherry blossoms are a wonderful alternative!

Our walk in the streets was followed by more training in the office on the mission website, then lunch at a tempura place -- I had a rice bowl with breaded prawns and veggies, Bruce had squid as well, really yummy! Then we headed to our apartment, with Elder Powell driving (on the wrong side of the road, really unnerving....).

Our car is a brand new Toyota Corolla. Anyone care to guess how long it's been since we had a brand new car? Not since 1984. The drive to Fussa, which is the town where we live, took about an hour and a quarter. It's 20 miles, and they tell us it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on the traffic. The Powells had the apartment ready for us, including bread, eggs, and milk in the refrigerator and flowers and fruit on the table. We are so grateful to them and want to be just like them when we grow up!

The elders and sisters in our district hung this sign on our apartment door -- so sweet!

We felt that our flight schedule was the best possible way to help with the time change adjustment, and we functioned pretty well all day Wednesday. But once the Powells left us in our apartment in Fussa, we were just exhausted. We unpacked and got things organized a bit and snacked on the fresh fruit and some delicious granola Sister Wada had given us. I was very pleased to be able to hook up to the wifi and get the printer on and running.

We have a pretty spacious bedroom and a small living room, kitchen, and dining area which also holds a desk and bookshelf.  We have a toilet room (with a heated seat, nice!), and then there's a sink and shower/bathtub in the laundry with a stacked, apartment-sized washer/dryer. Here's our shower -- the Japanese do not bathe to get clean. They shower to get clean first, then climb into the tub to soak. Maybe a custom I could get used to.....

There's also a wardrobe near the outside door with shelves to hold shoes, and we have a few pair of slippers to wear inside and offer guests. We have a comfortable (American) sofa in the living room, a recliner, and a couple of twin-size air mattresses -- and yes, we can have guests!!

We met two of the four sister missionaries who also live in this building -- they all four share an apartment just like ours. They all sleep in the living room on futons which they fold up during the day, and the bedroom is their study room with desks for each of them. We're very grateful for our queen bed!!

Elder Powell advised us to take it easy for a few days, and yesterday we did. We met the sisters around 11 and gave them a light lunch (we didn't have much, we haven't made it to the commissary yet), and then tried to get some things done on base with the help of a member of our ward -- registering the car and our ID cards, signing up with TriCare (health insurance), etc. We weren't very successful. The building dealing with passes and IDs closed at 3 p.m. (how do you get that job?) and the TriCare office gave us a form to fill out and bring back today. But we did get a bit of a tour of the base and met several ward members at the commissary, BX, post office, etc.

We then met the stake president and his wife for a dinner at the officers' club, which was lovely, and afterward went to his home for a Welfare Training meeting via Skype with bishops and Relief Society presidents throughout the stake. This is one of only two English speaking stakes in Japan, and is is geographically huge -- several hours by car, train, or even plane in any direction. So using technology this way is pretty common (President Madsen has even done temple recommends via Skype). I'm sure it was a helpful, informative meeting, but we had a terrible time staying awake -- the transition to the time change has gone better than I expected, but it is still a transition!

Today Sister Madsen is going to help us follow through on things we couldn't get done yesterday, and then we have a district meeting with the missionaries this afternoon. We plan to bring donuts -- Dunkin Donuts just opened up on base and isn't that the way to a missionary's heart?  Then we'll go back to the base, shop at the commissary, and get ourselves set up here. We haven't driven yet -- today's the day!

We have church meetings as usual this weekend and have been invited to a member's house for Easter dinner. We'll view General Conference sessions at the meetinghouse next weekend, April 11 and 12. Since we're a day later, it wouldn't work to see them live -- Sunday sessions on Monday, etc... I'm glad we'll be able to meet with the ward right away, and I'm assuming we can watch conference on lds.org anytime after its broadcast.

President and Sister Madsen invited us to go with them next Thursday to see Matsumoto Castle, and we're looking forward to that.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_Castle   We'll post pictures!

Here's our mailing address --
Merubeyu #109 (Merveille)
1-19-8 Musashino Dai,
Fussa shi, Tokyo To
197-0013 Japan

And here's our refrigerator:  

I don't know if you can tell that the pictures I have of Mindy and Kendra are pretty outdated, and I don't have one of Scott and Ashley at all. Think you could remedy this situation? Photos 4x6 or 5x7 would be so very much appreciated! You can email them to me and I can print them here. Please??