June in Sendai

The weeks are flying by! It's hard to believe that early summer is here and that we only have a few months left. It's time for another of our busy weeks when transfers occur. This week seasoned missionaries return home and new ones come to take their place. Unfortunately the new ones are never enough. The mission is slowly losing missionaries and by the next transfer President Tateoka may have to close one or more areas. Our mission is having more success right now than we've seen since we've been here. There are currently about 25 investigators with June baptismal dates. We don't put in many pictures of missionaries since you don't know them but I pulled this one out because Elder Gary Stevenson, pictured above with the Tateokas and the office elders, has been announced as our new Area President. He's been to our mission twice so far and this past weekend he came to speak in stake conference. We really enjoy him and so do our missionaries.

Japan is truly beautiful in spring (and every other season) and I've been taking a few pictures of landscaping. Here is a yard with lots of space between plants.

Here is another landscape where they've made every inch count. When we get home we've got to do something in our back yard. It may be corn if economics stay tight. Do you think we could make corn look like this?

I couldn't resist a photo of this small legume tree with beautiful yellow flowers. There are so many different species of flowering plants that we're always seeing a new one.

This close up reveals the characteristics of these beautiful flowers.

This is the Red Cross Hospital about a block up the street from us. Medical procedures are handled very differently in Japan. Doctors have offices in the hospitals and there are almost no private offices or clinics. After you make an appointment at this hospital, you go to the lobby and line up to get a number and put your hospital card through an automated reader. Next you sit in a large lobby in front of the assigned doctor's room until your number pops up on a monitor. Since neither the urologist, his nurses, nor the receptionist speak English, it is a challenge to understand what they are telling me. (That's why I take Brother Hamamoto with me.) As long as they don't put me in the hospital, it's okay. Hospital stays are measured in weeks here rather than in hours like they are in the U.S.

We hope that you are all well and look forward to posts from you in the future. In the meantime, know that the gospel is the most valuable thing in our lives! As we have been assisting the missionaries in teaching discussions in the last couple of days, we've realized even more how blessed we are to have it. Stay close to the Lord and follow the counsel of the Prophet and other leaders. These are times when we can't be too close to the Spirit. We love you and pray for you daily.

By the way, we are pleased to let you know that Don Price is recovering. It is a slow and very painful process, but we are thankful to hear that he's doing better.