June 2011 - Half way through our mission

It's hard to believe that we are halfway through with our mission. We arrived at the Mission Training Center in Provo on September 6th. I understand the last half may seem to go by more quickly than the first. There are always adventures to look forward to.

During the month of May and a bit of June we stayed in the apartment with a very nice couple, Alan and Donna Wykle. It was located just outside of Gate #2 of Kadena Air Force Base. We connected up with the manager of the Kadena USO office and offered our services to help in any way that we could. She was excited to have us help with the United Through Reading program which offers deployed servicemen the resources to read a book in front of a camera and then send that recording to their children while they are away.

The rest of the month of June we stayed in a little beach house while the a member, Sister Cherry and her two children went to the states. It was about a half hour drive away from where most of our mission activities occurred but it was quite peaceful. The Pacific Ocean was just a few yards off of the deck of the house.

We were able to spend some time with my cousin's (Janet Holland Hall) daughter, Shalynn Hall, while she visited here to attend a Navy Corpsman Ball with a friend, Casey Mortensen. It was nice to be able to share our island experience with a family member.

We teach the advanced English class (called Eikaiwa) on Thursday evenings. We have enjoyed getting to know many Japanese people during this class time and also have the opportunity to learn more of the Japanese language and customs along the way.