My Life According to Me -Hiroshima Mission Oct to Dec. 2002

HIROSHIMA JAPAN COUPLE MISSION
Oct. 2002 to April 2004


Oct. to Dec. 2002
In August 2002 after about two weeks I went to the mail and there was a large envelope from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At home with trembling hands we opened the envelope and immediately read the letter from Pres. Hinckley; “You have been called to serve in the Hiroshima Japan Mission”. Our assignment was to be the Mission Office couple. I was overjoyed! Nearly 50 years before while serving in the Japanese Mission I had been assigned to the Hiroshima District for 14 months. It was my favorite area!
Our Mission call indicated we would be in the Senior MTC for 2 ½ months to study the Japanese Language. I remembered some of the language from my first mission so the language training taught Shirley the basics of the language and helped me improve my skills.
We started our language training on Oct. 18. We lived in the Senior MTC in Prove. Our training was at the regular MTC (approximately 1/2 mile each way) and thank goodness we had our car there so we didn’t have to walk back and forth We were the only ones in the Sr. MTC studying Japanese. The language training here was very good compared with the way I learned it. They have so many good teachers, materials and computer labs (designed especially for the Church), and such a systematic way of presenting it all. We attended many wonderful assemblies while we were in the MTC and met several General Authorities.
We had an early Christmas with our family at Marie’s home who was at the time living in Springville. We said our final goodbyes to our family. We especially missed our grandchildren. We left our car for Chris to take home to Cedar on one of his trips down there. Matt and Jen lived in our home in Cedar City until Matt’s Dental school began in Mesa, AZ., then Marie’s family moved in from Springville and Chris started his new job in St. George.
After almost 3 months in the MTC, on Dec. 16, 2002, early in the morning the MTC bus loaded us and our belongings and took us to Salt Lake where we boarded a United airline to Osaka, Japan via San Francisco. At Osaka after clearing customs and just getting started to see about getting tickets on the Shinkansen to Kyoto, up walked Pres. Banks. He had come clear to Osaka to meet us and make sure we made all our connections to Hiroshima. What a special effort that was on his part. By the time we got to Hiroshima we were very well acquainted with him. When we pulled up to the station in Hiroshima we looked out the window and there stood Sis. Banks and two Elders holding a huge sign to welcome us. We really felt special by the time we got to the our apartment where there was a little Christmas Tree all decorated on our table, flowers, the door to our apartment all decorated, and a plate full of delicious goodies to eat. A far cry from the welcoming I got on my first mission. (Senior couples really have it made!)

Since the Senior couple we were replacing had returned home about 3 months before, Pres. Banks had assigned Elder Chris Jones to serve as the Mission Financial Elder until I arrived. Elder Jones was assigned to train me for awhile until I became acquainted with the Mission Financial procedures and became Mission Financial Elder. I had a small office inside the main office equipped with a computer, vault to store the money, etc.

Elder Robertson was assigned to train Shirley to be the Office Secretary. That included taking care of the mail, notifying and keeping track of missionary transfers and their assignments, and generally taking care of all things connected with the office. One of the first things she did was rearrange the office so that each of the office Elders could have their own space. Since it was the Christmas season Sis. Roper spent most of her time forwarding letters and packages to all the missionaries. Things in Japan come to a complete standstill until after New Years.

The Mission Office doesn’t open until 10:00 AM. That gives us time to study our Scriptures and language in the mornings before we have to open the office. Right now there are six Elders that work in the Mission Office. One Elder is training me and one is training Shirley. Two of the Elders are native Japanese Elders who speak very little English; and two Elders are serving as assistants to the President. Pres. Banks said that right now all the missionaries in the Mission (137 or them) seem to be doing very well. We have been impressed with what we have seen. We met some of them at the Provo MTC and they arrived here before we did.

I was slow in learning my job because of my memory problems and it was easier for Elder Jones to do things himself than walk me through everything. I did soon learn the places I needed to go like the bank, post office, and where the ATM machines were located. Everything in Japan is done by cash. Checks and checking accounts are not used because money is transferred by wire all over the islands. The only way we could get our money from home was with a debit card that transferred money right out of our bank acount at home to ATM machines in Hiroshima.

This morning Sis. Banks drove us around the immediate area to show us where all the shopping places are and helped us get a few things we needed. Pres. and Sis. Banks left this afternoon for zone conferences until Saturday. We are really excited about our mission.

On Christmas eve all the hombu (mission home) missionaries were invited over to Bro. & Sis. Tanaka’s home for dinner and Christmas caroling around their neighborhood. We had an enjoyable time. The caroling was fun and seemed to be well accepted by those non-LDS neighbors.

Christmas was quite uneventful. The Branch had a Christmas party and we began to get acquainted with some of the Ward Members. We brought some candy with us and exchanged them with the Elders. We received some strange Japanese type goodies, tried them and gave the rest to the Elders. They really went down on them.

On Christmas Day we had a zone conference here in the Hiroshima District. We attended most of the conference along with getting today’s Christmas Mail delivered to all the Missionaries that were here. We were introduced and gave a little of our background and family info. There were about 40 Missionaries in attendance. Everyone seemed interested to know that I served as a missionary right here in Hiroshima 48 years ago. After our introduction, all the missionaries came through the line to meet us (much like a wedding reception) and gave us a little gift of some kind. We were really loaded up! Our Mission Pres. and his wife both gave excellent talks on the atonement (Christ’s gift to us). This afternoon we went to see about getting lined up on my medicine and got back in time for the missionary testimony meeting.

Tonight we met with all those who are attending English study class, which I think we will be teaching. English study seems to be a way of proselytizing (as it was when I was here before). We surely hope you had a good Christmas and I’m sure we had one we won’t forget for a long time.

On our first Sunday we attended our Sunday meetings in the chapel here in the mission complex. It is interesting to take the elevator down to the second floor where the chapel is located and we hold our Ward meetings. It is a comparatively large ward, about 77 members. We were interested in the make-up of the members. There were two families whose husbands were American returned missionaries who served in Japan and the mothers were Japanese. Two members (Japanese) were from Brazil; several missionaries serving in the Hiroshima area and the rest were local members. In the High Priest group there were ten present. It is remarkable how the Church has grown since I was here before -barely one Branch with one or two Priesthood members at the most. with the missionaries living there serving as Branch Pres. and taking care of most of the Church services. For Church Shirley and I were asked to introduce ourselves and tell about some of our family Christmas traditions. We did it in English and had Elder Robertson translate for us.

On the day after Christmas (which was Christmas at home) was P-day for our missionaries so everyone was anxious to get on the phone and talk to their families. Pres. Bank made a rule that a limit for a call home was 30 minutes.

I find that my language skills are really lacking. I can carry on a simple conversation but I had trouble understanding the talks and lessons that were given in Church today. Everyone tells me that will gradually improve as I go along. (I hope they are right.) Shirley is doing well with the language she learned at the MTC. Getting used to the way the Japanese speak the language is different, but as we get used to the way they speak it, I’m sure it will become easier.

After Christmas we took our little Christmas Tree out and got our apartment straightnend around. Our apartment was very small -one room and a bath. We had a double bed, small table, refrigerator, gas stove, washer and dryer, and a microwave. The bathroom which was no bigger than a closet, consisted of a shower, toilet and shelves. The apartment had heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. It was located on the same floor as the Mission Office, which made it very convenient for us.

Our preparation day was scheduled for each Saturday. On one of our first P-dats we got on a street car on the other side of the Hiroshima Station and went into town to look around. The shopping areas of Hiroshima are huge and we strolled around from street to street and shop to shop being careful not to get lost. The Hiroshima Station is a large complex full of underground shops and to get on the other side of the station we walked under the station.

On the second Sunday we were there, we went out to Takasu to attend Church. One exciting thing was that we contacted Sis. Tawara by phone and she agreed to meet us there at the Church. She is no longer active in the Church and so we visited for a few minutes and she returned home so we could attend the meetings. I learned from her that Sis. Naito and her husband (who eventually joined the Church) had moved to Tokyo to be nearer her family. They are active and later I called her on the phone and had a good visit with her. It was fun to visit Takasu and we learned we could ride the densha directly from the Hiroshima station. During our Mission, Pres. And Sis. Banks drove us out there when there was a District conference and we also watched General Conf. broadcasts in that building.

The Church demolished the old home where I lived, purchased some land behind the lot and constructed a beautiful two story Church Building. There is a nice chapel upstairs and District offices on the first floor. I have many fond memories of that area.
I had forgotten how cold it was during the winter in Hiroshima.