Getting Settled In

After a one-night stay at the Mission Home hosted by an awesome President and Sister Albrecht, our "sponsoring couple," the Arnells, picked us up and brought us to Fussa to inhabit their old apartment (now ours) for the next 10 weeks or so.  (They have made other arrangements for their last few weeks here in Japan.)  We believe the measurements are somewhere between 375 to 400 square feet,

so that should give a good idea of our spaciousness. 

It's a lot like living in a trailer as every bit of space is well occupied.  The queen-size bed is four inches short of the wall, so I do have to perform a little acrobatics to get to my side of the bed.

Acrobat-creating bedroom

The kitchen is so small that the pantry is found in the living room, which is just big enough to handle our desk, a love seat, and a recliner. 

Tiny kitchen with "subzero" counter space

                                                       Garbage collection is quite an art!  In fact, one must have a calendar on the fridge in order to know what goes out on what day!

4-month calendared instructions for garbage pick-up of 8 categories

Teeny living room/office

Other half of the living room

The washer/dryer stack unit only runs on cold water.  There is not even a hose for hot!

Wee bathroom & laundry + shower are to the right

The heater/AC wall units are only in the kitchen and living room.  Bedroom, bath, and potty closet are not heated.  I mean, what else do you need, right?!  Hopefully, a few pictures will be worth
much more than my 1,000 words!

Potty/broom closet  (spout on tank spurts water for hand washing)

Our apartment is a 12-plex, and we are the only ones with a car.  We pay $150 a month to rent the car
and the same amount to park it next to the apartment.

We are on the 2nd floor and on a clear day can make out Mt. Fuji
between telephone poles and clothes lines.  Still, it is remarkable!

Mt. Fuji from our window

Due to our arrival coinciding with the Christmas and New Years holiday season, we have not been able to do any real missionary work with the military members as they are either gone or involved with their own activities.  We have, however, been involved with the local missionaries and have already attended two of their district meetings as well as one of their English classes.  We plan to continue those activities as well as hope to get some assignments from the Branch or District President regarding part-member families, less actives, or whatever else they have for us for the remainder of our stay here.  In the meantime the Arnells have really helped us get electronically settled in as well as familiar with riding the trains and driving on the left side to a number of various locations we'll be required to visit under our jurisdiction.  Due to traffic congestion, these cities may be only a few kilometers away, but that translates into a couple hours' drive!  Gridlock is the norm here, but Elder G is doing a great job navigating through it!