Pictures from Kristi's Visit in May 2009

One of the places we visited with Kristi was the "Site" of Sendai Castle. There are many "sites" of castles in Northern Japan, but not many castles left. This was taken just as we were hiking up a path to the area where the castle was once located.

This is in the same area as the above picture. We are at the bottom entry way to the castle site.

Children in Japan (and everywhere--really) are just beautiful. Kristi took lots of pictures of children. We saw this little girl when we visited one of the small islands at Matsushima.

This home is in our neighborhood. They celebrated "Children's Day" while Kristi was here. The carp hanging on the pole let people know they have boys.

We took this picture at the airport when Kristi first arrived. Matsumune Date was a famous lord in Northern Japan. He is the man who built Sendai Castle and many other things in this area. He had a huge estate at Matsushima.

Speaking of Matsushima, we've posted pictures from here before. There are over a hundred small islands in this bay and it is one of the favorite tourist sites in Japan.

This is on the boat ride out among the islands. We had a beautiful day for our visit. It wasn't too hot or cold. It was fun to treat Kristi to edamame ice cream while we were in Matsushima.

Earlier in the week our friends, Nezele and Susumu Matsune, took us to a craft village near the beautiful Michinoku Park. Dale is making friends with a bear we found there.

We loved having Kristi here to see where we live and what wonderful opportunities we have to share the gospel with people we meet. Last week we had the chance to invite some of our friends and acquaintances to hear the BYU Wind Symphony in downtown Sendai. We were pleased that our tutor and her husband were able to come with us. Also, Ito san (one of our older English students) and his wife came, and then several others from our English classes. The concert was very good. The audience was a little too polite in the first half of the concert, but by the second half and the end, they were clapping and clapping. We were amazed at how many people, after the concert ended, wanted to have their pictures taken with the members of the group. Dale spent quite awhile taking pictures for people. All in all, it was a very good missionary tool.

Time is flying by. We've been in Japan now for over a year. We've grown to love the country, the people and sharing the gospel. We can't teach full lessons by ourselves but we avail ourselves of every opportunity to help with people who speak English or to have our testimonies translated for us. Life is good. We miss all of you but there is truly no other place we would rather be right now. Heavenly Father is mindful of all of us and we feel His tender mercies in our life and know they are in yours also.
Next time, Dad will post, but I don't want you to think I don't have things to share with you. He does all the photography, for which I'm thankful, but I get the benefit too. We love you all and hope you know how much we appreciate your thoughts and prayers.