Melton-Japan-Mission

Temperatures have been high and steady for the past couple of weeks and the humidity is also high. After cookouts and futsol practices outside we have been feeling the heat more lately. We watch the flags posted on base that indicate the severity of the heat. Black is the worst meaning no practice outside. Red is next then orange and yellow. We adapt by taking lots of water breaks during practice. The Japanese are  prepared for the heat. Many use umbrellas here for shade as they walk. We also see some of the hand held fans. Having grown up in humid environments we feel we can tolerate it more than the missionaries from the western parts of the United States. Some missionaries actually like the hotter weather best. They would be from Brazil and the Philippines. Brian's driving test is in about 10 days and Donna's is a week after that. She insisted that we go walk the driving course to get more comfortable with the route. Trying to fit a time in our busy schedule was tricky. It w...

Time has flown by this past two weeks, and we almost lost track of it in preparing this blog entry. The theme for these last two weeks may be how we are all God's children, as we have worked a few projects engaging with many of his children from the organizations we work with to the one-on-one experiences we have with individuals. One of the biggest things we have been supporting with the Atsugi chapel has been their Vacation Bible Study (VBS). We've been participating in the planning and participation of these over the past few weeks, but this last week we started in earnest as each day our group was busy finishing the decorations and gathering food items and materials, and decorating the chapel. This week will be the VOS for the Catholic community on base. The theme, True North, uses the northern tundra as the layout as they focus on following Jesus and the Saints. The event takes place this week and the two of us will be heading up the snack area known as Tundra Treats. One ...

Sometimes the Lord allows us to grow not by success, but by the failures we experience. Even with study and prayer, our hopes may not come to fruition as we had hoped. President Kimball once said something to the effect that if the Lord answered all prayers of the righteous and the wicked never experienced success, the incentive to learn and grow would be lost, everyone would do good. Similar to climbing a mountain, we try to move forward, but then have to adjust, step back, or find another way around an obstacle; all to give us experience. We recently made our first attempt to pass the practical driving exam.  Both of us felt okay about the Japanese driving practical, however the result was that we failed. We had someone translate to ask about what we needed to do better. Out of the nine persons in our group doing the driving test only three passed (it was the third time for one of them). Some of the drivers were sent back to the beginning of the course because of an instant fail ...