Sunday, October 5, 2014

Week 87 - September 29- October 5, 2014

On Wednesday when we went to the International Center they had on display a bunch of green bananas near the table we were working at.  I had to stand by it for a picture even though it is upside down.  Bananas grow facing the sun.  
We are reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese with our teacher the first hour.  We are reading 1 Nephi 1.  It has been interesting to talk to our teacher about this period of time in know history.  Last week he brought a map of the land at about 600 BC that was in a Bible he had to share with us.  He sings in a Christian men's choir and is learning about Christianity.  This map was taken off the Internet and is a possible route that Lehi and his family may have taken when they left Jerusalem.
The second hour at the International Center we are studying kanji.  Above is part of our lesson this past week with my notes. 
We teach two Eikaiwa classes on Wednesday, one at the church and one at the International Center.  The classes are always very busy and it is lots of fun getting to know those who attend.
Thursday was our day to do apartments checks in Beppu.  As we drove through Aso to Beppu we saw that the rice was being harvested.  The white things in the field are bales of rice straw/hay.  It appears that they are covered with a white plastic that is shrink wrapped to fit them.  The bales are very large and I think it must take heavy equipment to move them.
Small fields harvest rice the old fashioned way with lots of hand labor.  I think, they are not big enough for the big equipment to do it for them.  Pictured above is rice being dried on bamboo poles. 

We checked the Beppu Elders apartment and then enjoyed a yakuniku lunch with the Elders for having a very clean apartment for us to check.
Friday morning we went jogging on the coast between Oita and Beppu.  Pictured is a little park by the Lawson we parked at to begin our run.  The coast is a beautiful place to run.
Friday we checked the Beppu Sisters Apartment.  They too had a very clean apartment and chose to eat lunch at yakuniku, notice all the vegetables on the grill.  We felt very bless to have great company for lunch two days in a row.
The drive home was filled with a beautiful sunset as we neared Kumamoto.
Saturday, we attended a second Japanese class at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto.  One of the things our lesson covered was reading a bus schedule in Japan.  Elder Koberstein and I have avoided buses as we worried about our lack of speech and reading.  We have a car and bicycles to get around on and have managed without using buses or trains.  Above is an example of a bus schedule.  The kanji are still daunting but knowing how it reads and where to look for things makes it seem more manageable.  We may try it.
Saturday evening I enjoyed the General Women's conference broadcast from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.  Women 8 years and up from around the world attended in person or by Internet/satellite etc.  We had the broadcast one week late in Japan so that translation into Japanese could take place.  Seven sister listen to the broadcast in English (what a privilege) at the same time it was broadcast to other in Japanese at the Kumamoto Stake Center.  The above picture was taken off line of the conference in Salt Lake City.  If you would like to check it out, here is the web site.    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765660261/Watch-live-September-2014-General-Womens-Meeting.html?pg=all 
 
Scripture of the Week
2 Nephi 4:4
For the Lord God hath said that Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.

1 comment:

Delirious said...

What a nice week you had! You are having too much fun. :)