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The Home Stretch...

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"O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day" (D&C 4:2) We have tried to live by these words. Now with just two weeks left in the mission, the last two have been two of the busiest. At times we thought we would see things slow down a bit as we finish up, but that has definitely not been the case. As we had a lot of things to do during this time, Yet through all this time, we were using some of the rest of our time deep-cleaning the apartment and mailing packages home. These last two weeks started off with a three day trip to Tokyo for meetings and bonding with other Senior missionaries. We participated in a Senior Missionary Family Home Evening (FHE) with seniors missionaries from both the North and South Tokyo missions, and other from the Area Office. The activity included a pitch in dinner for Mexican food which, because we signed up late, our assignme...
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Kindness All Around Us

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  A simple smile or nod goes a long way as a kind gesture. You can see people everywhere show kindness every day if you look close enough. It could be holding the elevator door or letting someone come into a traffic lane. We have been acutely aware of many kind acts more recently. We planned a trip to Hokaido so we could attend the Sapporo temple and see that area of Japan. The town of Sapporo had a "Western" feel to it. We thought it compared more to our smaller city of Indianapolis in the Midwest. We liked the familiar sense of it.  The temple had beautiful landscaping and the peace inside was a blessing at the right moment. Next to the temple was a building for visitors staying over and a  cafeteria area with vending machines. Some of the people there gave us samples of their food. On a different day, we went to the National Ainu Museum. We were told by our friend that it would be unique to see. It was by a lake within the Upopoy National Ainu Park. The grounds and gar...
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The Lord has called him another way

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"Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called him another way" (Alma 22:4) We have used this verse many times with the missionaries in our mission when they get transferred to other areas. Even our Mission President was using it as well. It encapsulates the life of anyone who seeks to follow the Lord. We just had another transfer in the mission. The next one in September will be our final transfer home. With mixed emotions, we trust that the Lord will guide us through these last few weeks and once we return home. But for now, the last two weeks once again have been filled with both spiritual experiences and interesting events We have been to Camp Fuji twice this period. Both were mainly to meet with our member who is assigned there but unable to travel to the branch. The first visit was on a Wednesday where we administered the sacrament and Sister Melton gave a wonderful talk based on Elder Holland's talk "Fear Not, but Believe Only.", a talk she had just given a f...
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