April 26, 2003

Sat. April 26, 2003
Dear Family and Friends,
I apologize that I was unable to get a connection on the Internet until Thursday. We hope you have all received last weeks letter by now. We have enjoyed hearing from many of you and pray for your good health and safety. Today we got e-mails from Aunt Lori, Aunt Marge and Marlene. It is great to hear from each of you. Sherry we got your package, yesterday. That is a good, inexpensive way to send things, and we appreciate your effort.
This has been one of those weeks. Tuesday we had 10 new missionaries arrive, four Elders from the MTC in Provo, and 5 Elders and one Sis. (Japanese) from the MTC in Tokyo. Sis. Banks has to have beds ready as well as meals prepared. Wednesday they receive orientation training from all of us in the Mission Office and then Wed. night the local missionaries take them out to proselyte for an hour or two.
Thurs. morning they are assigned a companion and the two AP Elders get them on the train headed for their new areas. Also Thur. is transfer day for all the missionaries in the mission who are being transferred. Matt said he tried to call us on Thurs. (here) and couldn’t get a line through to the office. There is a good reason for that. The phone is ringing all day with questions like “My companion wasn’t on the train.” “What time does such and such train leave for --?”; and all kinds of such questions. Mom was a nervous wreck by the time the day was over. I had my problems too. Missionaries would keep calling to say they didn’t have enough money to make the transfer. “What should I do?” I would then have to make arrangements to get money to them.
While that was going on, the missionaries were arriving at the Mission Home preparing to catch the train to Osaka and then the plane home, Friday morning. Pres. Banks has to interview each one of them and then I have to check them out on their finances, see that they have their passport, help them close their bank accounts, etc.
One of the problems was that four out of the five missionaries that were going to the US, were sick. That required Sis. Banks to try and get medicine to them on top of preparing their meals and all that goes with it.
Thurs. night they scheduled a farewell testimony meeting for the returning missionaries in Pres. Bank’s living room. Mom and I are always invited. We got up there at 7:00 PM for the meeting and just about got started when the door bell rang and there were four young girls there that had come to sing a song for one of the Sis. They sang and the door bell rang again and there was two members from one of the areas where one of the Elder’s served, so Pres. Banks invited them in for the meeting. We were just ready to sing the opening hymn when the phone rang and it was the mother and aunt of one of the Elders who had just arrived in Japan to visit and then go home with Elder Stratton, and they didn’t know how to get to the Mission home. So then the Elder and a companion went to the train station to get them. By the time we got started it was after 8:00 PM. Most of those interruptions were a surprise to Pres. and Sis. Banks but they took them in good stride. It turned out to be a good meeting.
Wed. at 8:30 AM, Mom had an appointment at the University Medical Center to have her annual cancer check. We were there on time but it was after 12 PM when we got through. They would send us here and we would wait, and then send us to another area of the hospital, and we would wait. She finally got a good examination with no sign of the cancer. We were pretty well worn-out by the time we got through. Mom thought it was pretty traumatic especially taking off clothes in front different people. But that is the way they do things in Japan!
Yesterday, Mom had an appointment to get her hair cut. We went to a place that Sis. Gohallyer recommended. I think Mom felt like she got a pretty good cut (although it wasn’t as good as Roland William’s). She was glad to get it done because it has been about three months. The rain every day is a little irritating but I keep thinking about the many beautiful flowers that it generates. It sounds like you have been getting some rain at home. That is good news. It is so damp here and fairly warm. Tonight one of the ladies in our English class has invited us to go hear a performance of The Messiah. She is singing in the chorus. It was a combined effort of the Hiroshima choir and orchestra and they gave it their all. It was sung in English and some of the pronouncations where pretty interesting. Japanese have a hard time saying their “v”s, so “forever” comes out, “foreba”.We better close. We hope you are all well.
Love, The Missionaries