Merry Christmas, Merikurisumasu, Feliz Natal, Maligayang Pasko y Feliz Navidad

We were surprised when we first arrived here how many foreigners with different languages there are here in Japan. They come from Brazil, the Philippines, and parts of Africa. Many of our younger missionaries are Filipino or Brazilian. so, as we have been going through the Christmas Season, it is interesting to see how these diverse cultures view Christmas. Many coming from areas of the world seem to have a good understanding of the Holiday and what it represents. The Japanese, a very non-Christian country, still have an appreciation of the season and recognize it at least as a world-wide holiday, and capture many of the commercial practices of decorations, Santa, and Christmas Trees; though the 25th is still a normal work day for almost all of them. Yet at the same time, we have given out baked breads as gifts to neighboring apartments, and they have all been gracious and understanding of the significance of the holiday to us.

Two Santas Comparing Notes

During this period we served for the last time as temple ordinance workers. We prayed and studied this decision quite a bit. We had some special spiritual experiences while serving there. However, the prompting was that for now, while we are serving our mission, we needed to focus more on the actual purpose of the mission to serve the military members and people at NAF Atsugi. Thus we felt that in order to be more effective in the service to which we were called, we needed to let go of this part of working in the temple. However, we may still be attending the temple just as often as part of our mission focus is to assist other members in attending the temple. We will be starting a temple preparation course in January and there are many in our branch we are trying to get into both the course and the temple.

We had a wonderful exit interview with the temple president who spoke about how miracles such as we have personally witnessed, happen every day there in the Tokyo Temple. He also shared how when he was called to be the temple president, he and his wife were looking into submitting paperwork to serve a mission themselves. This strengthened our decision by expressing that sometimes the Lord may have different plans than the ones we initially plan for.

Temple Ordinance Workers

After our last temple shift, we attended an open house at President and Sister Tueller's apartment with several other senior missionaries. I was asked to give the blessing on the refreshments. Donna presented the second of two signature quilts she made for the them. President Tueller showed us where the first one was hanging, which while we were there Donna sewed on the quilt tag. He also showed us his office where he would be hanging the second quilt.

Also while we were at the Tueller's home we met the Matsumoris, a new couple who just arrived to serve in the area office. Sister Matsumori told Donna that they served as mission leaders years ago over the Kobe Mission. Donna said her sister-in-law served in Kobe before she transferred to Okinawa which then became its own mission. Sister Matsumori then looked at Donna's name tag and exclaimed, Melton Shimai! Fascinating how after all these years they still remembered Janet. Janet was excited when we told her!

The Matsumoris 

(Sister Janet's Old Mission President)

So, that was a lot for just one day in the mission, but there were, as always, a lot of other things these past two weeks. We supported three different projects for our base where we were able to get the younger missionaries involved. One was making rice balls which were then given to a school for under-privileged children. Another was helping clean a local school for underprivileged children. While doing that one, we met a young man who said although he wasn't a member, his wife was, though she was still living in the US. It allowed for a good conversation between the three of us as well as two of our Elders. 

Making Rice Balls for Local Under-privileged Home

Deep Cleaning at Local School

The third project was raking leaves on the base. Again, I was impressed with how the missionaries would interact with other volunteers. Because our weekly district meeting was scheduled for right after the project, I got permission from our chaplain to hold our meeting right at the base chapel. As the next week was Christmas, we expanded the meeting to include lunch, a couple of games, and a white elephant.

Leaf Raking at NAF Atsugi

District Missionaries Singing at NAF Atsugi Chapel

During this period, Sister Tueller organized a 12 Days of Christmas event where every night the missionaries would zoom in at 9:00 pm to listen to a story from one of the senior couples. Our turn was on the 20th and we talked about our Christmas in 1992, where our furnace went out during the night and we found someone who gave up part of his family Christmas to come to our house to fix it. It has always been an inspiration to us of how this young father was a great example of showing charity towards others.

For the Branch's Christmas Sacrament Meeting, we were honored to serve as the narrators of the program which consisted of several musical performances and singing of hymns. The sister who organized it told us afterwards that she had prayed about who to ask, and kept coming back to our names. She then said it was perfect as we both came across with the calm and peaceful presentation they were looking for.

Another special event was with a Young Single Adult who arrived in September. We met her early on and had a couple of meetings with her, but she had not yet made it to church. We arranged to have dinner with har a couple of days after Christmas with the Branch President's wife in attendance. This time we learned that although her parents were members, she had never been baptized. The Branch President's wife offered to pick her up for church the next day and she finally came. We introduced her to the sister missionaries assigned to our branch and hopefully this will be a blessing for her. We had other interactions with other YSAs, including lunch with a sharp young man who is soon moving to Florida with his family.

Lunch with Soon Departing Young Single Adult

On Christmas Eve, we invited one of the sisters in our Branch to attend a Protestant Service and Candle Lighting Ceremony at the Atsugi Chapel. Again it was another special event as we thought about how our mission is to invite others to come unto Christ. We have learned that here in Japan, inviting others to come to Christ does not necessarily mean it will always be in our own LDS congregation, and we have seen how many come unto Christ in other denominations.  

Atsugi Chaplain at Christmas Eve Ceremony

Christmas Eve Lighting Ceremony with Friend at Atsugi Chapel

Christmas Day was a little different if not interesting. In the morning we open a few couple of gifts we had for each other while we waited for an inspector to come by to do the apartment building's quarterly fire alarm inspection. When he was done, Sister Melton gave him one of several banana breads she made to give to others in our apartment building. Once again, like most Japanese, he was very grateful and expressed thanks for thinking of him.

Christmas Morning

That afternoon we met up with the office missionaries, Elder and Sister Halverson, for a Christmas Buffet Dinner at the New Sanno Hotel. Because it is a Navy Hotel, we had to sponsor them in as if they were visiting the base. It was great spending time with and getting to know them better.

Christmas Dinner with the Halversons

Of course, always a highlight was talking to our girls and grandkids on Christmas. Actually, it was the 26th for us, but Christmas for them. We loved hearing the grandkids share their Christmas experiences.

There were as always, many other activities that kept us busy this last period. On base this included supporting: the Red Cross with an ornament making activity, a Red Cross coffee cart for the Security Forces, helping wrap gifts at a fund raising activity at the elementary school, and handing out packages at the Post Office. Off base, we had the four missionaries assigned to our branch over for dinner, waited with the sister missionaries at their apartment while someone came out to do some repair work, attended a Senior Missionary Family Home Evening, and attended Zoom meetings to discuss MRM topics with the Stake Presidency.

Wrapping Gifts at the Elementary School

Christmas Fund Raising Event

As Christmas comes to a close and we get ready to enter the new year, it is obvious to us that the peace we hope for does not mean it will be just relaxing. We have loved the last couple of weeks and have found peace and joy by being busy in serving the Lord and his children. We also recognize the passing of Elder Holland during this time period, grateful for the teachings he gave through the years, and joyful in his reuniting with his eternal companion. We hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and felt the peace that comes from knowing our Savior.

Wishing you peace and joy in the coming New Year!

Elder and Sister Melton