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Thursday, April 26, 2018

Some reasons I love living on base

Since we have joined the military, we have lived on base.  At Nellis, there were times when I wished we did not live on base just because it was far removed from the bulk of the places I would patronize in Las Vegas.  In Misawa, most families live on base so there is a great community of people all living together doing the same types of things.  I am sure some of this comes from being overseas, of course we would all unite together.  I really enjoy this feeling though.  I like having a community to belong to and contribute to. 

There are always a lot of things to get involved with. We recently had Japan Day on base.  The Misawa International Center came on base to teach us about Japanese culture.  We participated in mini classes about kimono wearing, bonsai, ninja star throwing, clay sculpting, Taiko drums, Japanese calligraphy, meditation, and many more things.  We watched some performances on stage and enjoyed the cultural experience.
Bear and I try on kimonos



Bear tries the Koto

Josh gets a class on Bonsai

Pants and Bub enjoy the making clay plates- Mickey for Pants and Pikachu for Bub


Bub and Bear get into the Taiko drums show
April is the month of the Military Child.  They have designated the dandelion to represent the children because they are hardy, the seeds float on the wind, and they grow wherever they land.  The sentiment is nice, I guess.  I tell my kids that they are my little weeds.  That is what a dandelion is!  All I have every done is picked them out of my lawn and thrown them away.  We think it is funny that the kids are represented by a weed.
The kids get to participate in the Military kid parade.  Purple is the designated color to show support of the kids.  There go my little weeds!!


Sunday, April 1, 2018

While the Girls are away, the others can play

While Bear and I were enjoying our time in Sapporo, Josh, Bub and Pants were enjoying the last bit of winter in Misawa.  There is a snow road that is not plowed all season.  When it is plowed, the people have two days to walk the stretch before cars are allowed to traverse.  The road stretches from Towada to Hakkoda.  They started the walk with an opening ceremony and traditional Japanese stretching.  Then they all walked as a group to the finish, a 5 mile walk.  Josh said that it was mostly uphill and windy, so at times, it was a bit much for Bub and Pants.  He ended up carrying Pants the last two miles while Bub sniffled along beside him.  At the end, they were awarded with hot miso soup and a completion certificate. 

Bub has figured out that it is fun to do bunny ears and does it in most pictures lately

Snowplow 



See the windy road down below



Girls trip to the Sapporo Temple

Josh and I decided awhile ago that we wanted to make a first special temple trip with our kids when they turned 12 to do baptisms for the dead.  We hoped that we would be starting a tradition of temple worship and love for the work.  Bear turned 12 in March and we planned a trip to the Sapporo temple.  This temple will always be special to us because we were able to see the open house when we first arrived in Japan.  In preparation of this trip, Bear and I have been researching our family lines to find people to be baptized.  We found a line, my maternal grandfather's mother's line, that is virtually untouched.  We have found over 300 people that we can do temple work for.  I have been sending some of the work to my mother and brother but saving the baptisms for Bear and me.   
Beginning of our journey in Hachinohe
We took the shinkansen from Hachinohe to Hakodate and the local express train to Sapporo.  This is not the only way to get there and not the most inexpensive, but I let Bear offer her opinions and made the best choice for us in the time frames we had.  We chose to stay at the temple lodging, a building right next to the temple.  It was very inexpensive, only 1,500en per person.  We had a room with five bunk beds and one bathroom.  We were issued a locker, a set of bed sheets, and towels.  Three other ladies were in the room with us and they were very kind.  Bear kept saying, "Japanese people are so kind and Mormon Japanese people are even more kind!"  I just wish I was able to speak better with them.  Sometimes I feel so stymied by the language barrier.


Our room at the temple lodging
The view from our lodging window
In the morning we ate Family Mart food in the cafeteria along with tons of other visitors.  I wondered where they all traveled from and likely, some traveled father than we did because of the Tokyo Temple closure.  We had our baptism appointment at 8:15.  Bear was very nervous, just because of the newness of the experience.  Of course they were so kind to us and helped us through.  The ordinance worker did have trouble with our dutch family names, a very different sound than the Japanese language.  We were able to each baptize and confirm 15 people and Bear said that she wondered if the people would be there in spirit and if they would be so happy to be able to accept the gospel.  There is something so faith building about experiencing the temple for the first time.  I felt that Bear's spirit was increasing my own testimony.  I was being taught by my beautiful child.