Riley-Roo and Kayla Too!

  Riley brought Kayla to Japan to meet us.

 We think they kind of like each other!!

We did all the usual things--100 Yen ($1) Sushi

Abandoned Amusement Park

Odori Park

and Big Buddha.

Konnichiwa!

It was all pretty wonderful!

Before they arrived we had another wonderful event--

A Mission Conference with Elder Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles!

It was a wonderful day and included serving our special guests dinner in our home.

Recently 24 missionaries have returned home.

At present, our mission is quite small in number--only 80 young missionaries.

But, they're all pretty fun and make me smile.

Especially when we celebrate birthdays!

 Yes, Dendo (Missionary Work) Makes Us Happy!

And Riley and Kayla make us happy too!

Due Date and Delivery

Last December we learned that our mission family 

would be growing and after many months of waiting--

it finally happened!  

We added 20 young missionaries and 2 senior couples.  

They are all obedient, impressive servants of the Lord.
We love them already!

Something kind of interesting is that 3 of our Elders 

are now serving in the same mission that they live in!

Something else that is interesting is that 7 of them will be returning home in a month and several more the next transfer.

(The number of missionaries serving in Japan is greatly decreasing.)

Last Wednesday we flew down to Honshu with our 3 incredible Assistants

 (Yes, temporarily 3, as two will be going home soon.)

to meet and welcome our new Elders and Sisters.

We spent the day gathered together and then spent the next two days driving to the areas 

where these missionaries are serving and doing interviews.
(It's a BIG area!)

With this change of boundaries, Russ also acquired 11 new Branches that he will preside over.

We met many wonderful Priesthood leaders and members during our visits.
Sunday evening we returned home--a whirlwind 5 days.

We recently had a special Mission Leaders Council with our dear friends the Yamashitas.
We are a Preach My Gospel Mission! 

We love to eat!

We love to play!

And we couldn't be happier!

 At this time we celebrate two other special occasions--
our 2nd anniversary of serving in Japan and
our 40th wedding anniversary.
We feel very blessed!

Jexes in Japan!

The Jex family came to visit!

Carson had grown a bit in the past 2 years!

It was a perfect time to come.

Everything was green and beautiful.

We enjoyed lots of ice cream--including melon and lavender.

We visited some of our favorite places. . .

. . .and discovered some new ones.

But our favorite is still the Temple!

It was SO much fun, it wore us out!

It was wonderful to be together again and share the amazing food, culture and beauty of Hokkaido.

Golden Week

This week is Golden Week in Japan--actually a 10 day holiday celebration 

where families are out enjoying the beautiful weather and the cherry blossoms.

We took a short break and enjoyed the beauty of the season!

We met some of our missionaries . . .

and other delightful people along the way!

These two are getting married soon.

Our Assistants under a Weeping Cherry Tree

 It was a gold medal day-- A winner!

BRRrrrr!

We are the Frozen Chosen!

My morning walk!

On the left is a wall of dirty, packed snow. It's amazing!! It snows daily. 

Driving is slow!  It took us 8 1/2 hours to get to zone conference.

(In good weather it is a 4 hour trip.)

🎶  "Do you want to build a snowman?"  🎶

 It's a winter wonderland!

A temple snowflake

We have to eat to keep up our strength!!

An ice sculpture from the Sapporo Snow Festival.

(We love the signs --they struggle with the letters "r" and "l".)

Annual Snow Festival - projection on a huge snow sculpture, over 20 feet tall. 

Despite the freezing temperatures,

"there is SUNSHINE in our HEARTS"

We hope that you are all warm and well too!

💕 We Love You!! 💕