The Home Stretch...
"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 assignment was to bring three small cans of sliced olives. With everything else we have going on right now, we definitely did not mind having to provide the easiest item on the list.
A fun activity was dividing everyone in eight groups of four missionaries going through the Temple Annex to look for specific paints and coming up with new names for each of them. It was a fun way to get to know each other.
That evening and the next we stayed once again at the New Sanno hotel along with three other MRM couples. It was a great opportunity to bond closer with these fellow servants. The next morning elder Melton played pickleball with seven other senior missionaries. His partner was Elder Jay Rasmussen who serves at Yokota AFB. Jay is quite the pickleball player and gave Elder Melton a lot of pointers. Later that morning was spent shopping in another area of Tokyo which we had not seen before, and bought more items to figure out how to ship home. We had dinner with the other MRMs in our mission and relaxed at the hotel with them. Of course this was a little different from the normal routine, but it was all helpful in setting up for the next day events.
When the conference ended at 5:00 pm, we did not have time to linger, but had to get back to NAF Atsugi to host our weekly YSA FHE at the Atsugi game center playing board games and eating pizza.
But that was a short break until the next day when we traveled to Camp Fuji. Over the next two days we were busy engaged in our assignment of outreach and fellowshipping. The first afternoon we spent our last time with Chaplain Shaffer as he leaves on 9 September for his next assignment to Italy. Our time with him was fellowshipping over a couple of games of Acey-Duecy. We then had dinner at the Camp Fuji Club, before returning to the Chapel to minister the Sacrament and share a lesson with our solo member. Chaplain was gracious enough to leave the chapel open for us with the promise we would lock up after we left. We then spent the night at the Mountain View Inn on Camp Fuji.
The next morning we contacted the Provost Office to meet the person who issues the DBIDS card, the card that non-military members such as our replacements will need to have access. The Japanese civilian was very courteous and helpful as he told and showed us exactly what to do. Because of Chaplain Schaffer's imminent departure, we had to find someone willing to sign as the sponsor. We found the Base's Executive office who happens to commute everyday from Atsugi. He said he would sign off if the base commander was not available when we return. It was amazing how helpful everyone was!
Since we had a little wait between our meetings, we had some time in-between meetings to drive out to the Chureito Pagoda, a well known spot for taking pictures of a Japanese Pagoda with Mount Fuji in the background. One guy offered to take our photo, which was made special when we offered to take his picture and he kindly declined as he said he already had his pictures taken of him and his family.
We returned to our apartment that evening, satisfied that we accomplished a lot of important work at Camp Fuji. The next day and over the next few days, our number one focus in our apartment was doing deep cleaning, sending off a few packages, and making another Baby Quilt.
Apartment Cleaning
Yet there were still other things to do, especially on Sunday. Church was moved to 10:00 to allow everyone to call into a live broadcast meeting, again with Elder Bednar. It was held at a historical building in Yokohama where the church began 125 years ago. It was wonderful to hear him talk about how we are a covenant making people and how we can more fully look at the Book of Mormon as it talks to us in our day.
Yet this was still not all we had on that Sunday. Prior to the special meeting, the branch held a small pitch-in brunch, where Sister Melton brought a homemade strawberry poke cake. Then we were still busy with the Sister Missionaries coming to our apartment for dinner where Sister Melton made chicken pot pie, while Elder Melton made the chocolate chip cookies. We even gave the remaining cookie batter to the sisters.
Going into the second week we were still focused on cleaning the apartment and shipping things home. But there were still some very significant events.
The Kanagawa Prefecture in which we live held the Kanagawa Big Rescue which consists of several booths and demonstrations. As Red Cross volunteers, our role was to pretend we were injured. Sister Melton had a concussion. Elder Melton had internal abdominal bleeding. There was some make-up put on us that others thought looked very realistic, especially Elder Melton's internal injuries. But, one of the biggest highlight of the event was a visit by the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the first female prime minister of Japan!
Supporting the Red Cross
Sister Melton on the Stretcher
On our way back from the even, a young man on a moped shot out in front of the van we were riding in, hitting the van and flying about ten feet. Our driver called the military police and the Zama Police were also on the scene. It took three hours for the Zama police to finish their report and it was interesting to watch the dynamics of the different departments. Fortunately no one was injured but it did impress upon us the need to be constantly vigilant when on the roads in Japan. Because of this incident we were running a little late for a dinner appointment with our Stars and Stripes friend Rob. We were pretty worn out so just had dinner at the Camp Zama Sports Bar. It was good to see Rob one last time before we leave.
An Accident on the Way Home
The next day, Wednesday, we sponsored another FHE for the YSAs. This time we played pickleball at the base, followed by dinner at McDonalds. It was great having the sister missionaries there with their 14 year old friend Mel. It was great to see how Mel enjoyed the time together and how comfortable she seems to be with all of us.
The next day we attended a wedding for Braydon and Sakura, a young couple we have been giving the temple prep course. They were married civil at the church by our branch president who was a little nervous doing his first wedding. It was s small group, but still fun. The MRMs at Yokota, the Rasmussens, were there so we took them to Atsugi beforehand for the Mongolian buffet. It was great to see them before we leave. We found the Singletons were at the chapel when we arrived. We were all waiting for Sakura's parents to arrive. Though they are not members of the church they are supportive of their two children who have been baptized.
The last day of this blog was attending a beautiful testimony meeting with our Spanish and Portuguese friends for the last time. This month we were honored as we were recognized for being of service and helping build testimonies there. We were excited to see that another one of our non-member friends, Isabel made a point of coming to the meeting since it was our last one. She is also Mel's mother, and we hope they will continue to stay in touch with the church. After the meeting there were refreshments where we made brownies with frosting. These were very popular among those who really love chocolate. Towards the end of the event, it was a little emotional as we bade farewell to these friends.
So, what we thought would be a time of winding down towards the end has been everything but. These past two weeks have continued to be challenging, yet wonderful. It feels strange to leave our home of the past 23 months and that we are actually going to the United States. It feels much like how it felt coming to Japan for the first time. Mixed emotions as we prepare to leave, but we look forward to returning home and feel that is now where the Lord wants us to be.
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