Odowara Castle and The Beach!!

We do apartment inspections for the missionaries in five of the nine zones in the mission so we are out on the road quite often. Since we were in Yokosuka for two weeks we took advantage of being closer to some areas than usual--such as Odowara which is a two hour drive west from Yokosuka on a road that skirts a bay that feeds into the Sea of Japan.
A wider than normal Japanese road with a train in the background

There were people walking along the beach and quite a few on surfboards or just in the water. I'm sure this is a very busy place when the weather is warmer. It reminded me a lot of the road in Delaware between Cape Henlopen and down to Ocean City, MD.

Christmas Eve in Yokosuka

The weather in Yokosuka is a bit warmer than in Fussa where we live. We took a walk around the base and snapped these pictures. The golf area is the traditional way people in Japan golf. There is one very large "American" golf course in an area called Tama Armed Forces Recreational Area that reminds me a lot of Island Park in Idaho.

Christmas Party at Yokosuka

After the Christmas Party at the Mission Home we drove down to the Yokosuka Navy base to spend two weeks there while the family was visiting in Utah for the holidays. Sister Arnell enjoyed the "real" oven opposed to the combination convection/microwave one from our apartment. Elder Arnell was able to watch a few Holiday football games broadcast on AFN-Armed Forces Network. We attended a cookie exchange Christmas party with the Yokosuka Branch. I wonder if you recognize Santa?

Christmas at the Mission Home

On December 21st we had a mission party at the mission home in Tokyo. There are 81 sets of missionaries assigned to this mission. We had purchased 560 hot dogs and buns, chili, sauerkarut, and chips from the base to serve for lunch. I guess after being in a foreign country after awhile a good old fashioned hot dogs looks mighty good. Each zone put on a little skit (picture on the left) and they had a white elephant gift exchange (picture on the right). Along with the missionaries from Japan and America there are about 8 from Brazil, a few from England and Australia, a Sister from Mongolia and a new Elder from Thailand.

Tokyo Japan Trains and dining

We drove to the mission home in Tokyo and took a train ride down to Ikebukero Train Station which is two train stops from the mission home. It is the second busiest train station in Japan, the busiest being Shinjuku. This was actually our first train ride since arriving in Japan. It wasn't much different than taking the Metro in New York City. We have heard in Shinjuku they have people hired to push people into the train cars to pack more in. They have some train cars that are Female only so you wouldn't have to deal with being crammed up next to some Japanese guy for hours at a time. Japanese people apparently don't have personal space issues that we Americans are used to. They put on head phones and go into their own little world--quite often actually sleeping as they are standing. There are seats along the sides of the train car but after those are full everyone just stands. The picture on the left is of President Albrecht (mission president from Orem, UT--taught Accounting for years at BYU) and Elder Clint Hobbs from Salmon ID and of course Elder Arnell on the right. We went down to that area to have dinner and ended up at a newly opened TGI Friday's. President Albrecht has been in Japan for 18 months and really enjoys a real hamburger and American Food. The Hobbs arrived in October, just a month after we got here.

Christma in Bethlehem (Japan style)

The Yokota Branch and Fussa Ward had a Christmas program called "A Night in Bethlehem". Everyone dressed in period costume. They had one room with different Nativity sets on display and then another room with pictures of Christ's ministry. Everyone gathered in the Cultural Hall/Chaple and sat on the floor to eat a good selection of finger foods. The shepherds showed up telling of the Good News they heard from angels followed by the Nativity story. We all had a great time. Sister Arnell spent most of the evening in the kitchen but that was OK with her.

Driving in Japan

The adventure of driving in Japan isn't as bad as many of our counterparts in Africa or other parts of the world but that doesn't make it less interesting. I took these pictures of Japan's version of traffic cones. It sure beats the orange cones that are prolific on many roads in the US. We live in Fussa, Japan in an apartment about 2km from Yokota Air Force base. We are also working with military members stationed at Zama Army and Atsugi Naval Air Facility which is 40km from Yokota, about 25 miles. It takes at least an hour to drive that distance due to heavy traffic. We also go to Yokosuka Naval Base which is about 70km or 44 miles. We have made that trip in a litte as 1 hr and 45 and a long as 3 hours. Saturday and Sunday after 12:00 is the worst time to be on the roads. Public transportation is very good here but we usually just drive everywhere because if we took the train then we would be on foot when we got to where we were going and that would be difficult. We have been able to navigate fairly well with a big map book (called Super Mapple) a GPS that sometimes we ignore and then end up lost and wish we hadn't ignored it. That would be a great talk in Sacrament Meeting.