Out & About

It was just this Sunday, January 8, that the Branch President gave us some names to work on.  Apparently, he has quite a list of membership records for people he has not yet met.  Elder Galbraith and I now plan to put on our detective hats and do the best we can do to find if these people are even still here on base and, if so, contact them regarding our Church meetings, which are held off base.  Prior to yesterday's assignment we had a busy week dealing mostly with the missionaries.

On Monday, one set of elders asked us to take them to Costco as it was their day off, P-day (Preparation Day), and they hoped to get some items cheaper there than on the economy.  Needless to say, items were at least 1.5 times the cost of USA's Costco.  They had American items, American products with Japanese labels, and totally Japanese products.  It was very interesting, but not something I will patronize that often since we have access to the Commissary and BX at US prices.  It was quite the experience parking on the top floor of the parking tower.  Think about it:  How do hundreds of shoppers get their full carts back to their cars many floors up from the ground floor?  Well, you "board" the flat-stair escalator which is so highly magnetized that once your cart is on it, you can't even budge it an inch until you're ready to get off!  It was quite a clever procedure, and we got a kick out of it.  Of course, with land being a premium in Japan, parking towers are the only way to go for stores as popular as this!

The elders wanted to capitalize on their having a "free ride" on their P-day, so they suggested we drive to a nearby town in the mountains.  We were glad to get out of a city of nothing but cement and buildings and get into something more scenic.  It was a great outing, and we enjoyed participating

 with the elders on this day off.

Okutama

Elders Christensen & Graham beside a huge 700-year-old tree with three trunks

Old fogies on a foot bridge

Wednesday morning found Sister Arnell and I attending PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) at the base.  They meet weekly for Bible Study and also do various service projects and outings.  I joined the group that will be studying the book of Esther.  For the next 9 weeks, we will watch a one-hour video (presented by a very highly animated female evangelist from the South, who also wrote the workbook we are using), and  then we will have 30 minutes for discussion.  Each of the six groups will take turns at furnishing the breakfast treats.  Although the video presenter was a little too dramatic (kind of a Kathy Lee Gifford on steroids), I did think she had some interesting points to make.  We hope that by our attending this meeting and also volunteering in other activities, like Red Cross, that we will make our LDS presence known here in Fussa (Yokota Air Base) in a positive manner.

That night the Arnells and we assisted the local elders in their weekly evening English class at the Church.  Sister Arnell and I taught the seven Japanese attendees how to cook Rice Krispie Squares and No-bake Chocolate Cookies.  The Japanese thought the chocolate cookies were too sweet, but they really liked the Rice Krispie treats!  It was fun having them follow directions and discuss instructions as we cooked.  Afterwards we played a game akin to Duck Duck Goose, called "Do you love your neighbor?"  It was fun as the participants answered "Yes" or "No, but I love those who wear a tie (or wear glasses)," for example, and then the one in the center scrambled to take a seat as all the people with ties (or glasses) changed seats.  Childlike as it was, it was still good English practice for them and fun for all
as we tried to stay out of the center of the circle.

Spooning out the No-bake Cookies

I got to eat the last one!

After Thursday's Zone meeting, we and the Arnells were able to get all 18 missionaries (16 elders and 2 sisters) onto the base for lunch at Chili's.  It  took about 35 minutes to get each one registered for entry on the base!  It was just great seeing them have such a good time together visiting over AMERICAN food.  Unfortunately, the deep fat fryer was broken, so no french fries were to be had; however, we did see plenty of nachos, hamburgers, ice cream sundaes, etc.  They really had a wonderful time, and so did we watching them all!  Afterwards, a couple of them wanted to go to the BX where they bought Japanese souvenirs to send home.  One elder said it was his best P-day ever!!!

Some of the eighteen missionaries

"Real tacos!  I'm in heaven!"

"And a real brownie sundae, too!"

A super great time was had by all!!!

Friday we and the Arnells drove to the Tokyo temple where we met two other senior missionary couples (the Bridges serve at the temple, and the Johnsens serve as military relations down at Yokosuka).  Our day included touring Tokyo's Imperial Palace grounds and attending our military district's temple night (English session!).  Since the Bridges are called as temple missionaries, they do not have a car and are very proficient at getting around on trains and the subway.  (It doesn't hurt, either, that both 
served their missions in Japan over 40 years ago!!!)  

Note the moat below and the fortress walls above

One of five Keeps (guard houses) along the fortress wall

Another Keep (dismantled in Kyoto and rebuilt here)

Us on the palace bridge

Modern Imperial Palace - 23,000 square feet

View of Tokyo skyline from palace bridge

We had lunch at a nearby soba restaurant recommended by the District President.  The welsh onion &  pork soba and tray of gyozas we all ordered were fantastic!  

Us placing our soba order electronically with Elder Bridge translating

Senior couples enjoying the soba lunch

We then took the subway - having to make one transfer - and got off at the Imperial Palace.  I was initially disappointed since I was remembering the centuries' old Imperial Palace in Kyoto, Japan's former capital until the mid 1800s.  This new palace in Tokyo was built in the1960's as the ancient one was burned during WWII bombings.  Once I got over that disappointment, however, I really enjoyed walking through the beautiful grounds where a once magnificent castle stood.  It was still impressive to view the castle moat, the fortress walls made of huge stones, the various Keeps (guard houses built at each bend of the fortress wall), and the new buildings built on the grounds.  We were all amazed that we could walk right on the grounds in front of the Palace as that is not something that could be done with our White House!

After the tour we walked to the New Sanno Hotel, a US-owned hotel for military people.  It is new and luxurious and right in the middle of Tokyo.  While there, we couldn't make up our minds as to where to go for dinner, so the Bridges invited us back to their small (maybe 700 sq ft) apartment right next to the temple.  Both Sister and Elder Bridge were able to cook up a wonderful impromptu dinner of Japanese sauce-flavored thin pieces of beef and onion served over rice along with the typically Japanese julienne-shredded carrot and cabbage salad.  All the US ladies love this particular sesame salad dressing (which tastes a lot like Beni Hana's dressing), so we were glad to see she had some on hand.  It's jokingly called "Okinawa Crack" as it must be made there and is definitely addictive!  They pulled out some Japanese cookies and US Jello puddings, and all eight of us agreed that the meal and company couldn't have been better!  After dinner we walked 100 feet to the temple and did a session.  It was fun seeing quite a large number of the military branch there.  The drive from the base takes between 1-2 hours each way and over $25 in tolls round trip.  It costs about the same to take the train, so it is actually cheaper when two couples carpool.