Yokota Ward Cultural Activity

Saturday evening the ward had a cultural activity where folks were invited to share food, talents, experiences, and displays from other countries and cultures. We brought a young single airman who's been here at Yokota since January but hadn't been to Church. He's an EMT and works irregular hours at the hospital. Everyone was so friendly to him, it was great. He's from St. George, an Eagle scout and would like to be involved in scouting in the ward -- so of course he and Bruce hit it off really well! The food was awesome -- several Asian dishes and lots of American food, a Peruvian pudding that tasted like pie filling only not as firm, an English trifle, lots of cupcakes and other treats.

Displays included mostly things from countries where people had served missions. A world map showed where ward members had served and I was surprised at how many had served missions here in Japan.

The program was the best part. Elder Kerr, from the Big Island of Hawaii, did a Hula dance about his muscles and manly strength! Sister Sorensen played a couple of fiddle tunes -- I knew she played violin, but she had to really stretch her memory to come up with what to play for this program -- challenging because, as she said, she has "mission brain." :-)  A young mom whose husband served in Scotland read a poem with a Scottish brogue (her husband is deployed, so she filled in!). Another young mom played the accordian and talked about her ancestors from Norway. A couple of  Peruvian members did Latin dances -- beautiful costumes and it took us back to South America, I sure didn't expect to see this in Japan! And when they needed some time for costume changes, a boy probably about 11-12 years old shared this joke: Why can't you hear a pteradactyl go to the bathroom? Because the P is silent.

Unfortunately..... I had forgotten my camera! I got some video footage from the sisters, but it's too big a file to include here. So you'll just have to trust me that it was a colorful, lively, very enjoyable evening!