Fred and Paula’s Most Excellent Adventure

Happy News!! We have our visas. We will be going to Japan next week. Maybe there will still be some cherry blossoms? We are busily packing and weighing our luggage. I feel like a pioneer trying to choose what can come and what cannot. We have a lot of last minute tasks that couldn't be done until right before leaving. We have enjoyed our time here in Utah. We are grateful for the time we have been able to spend with our family after 34 years of living away. We have been able to participate in many wonderful events. We have been able to serve in the Church History Library. We have read many journals of the early church. When would I ever have read historical documents for 6+ hours a day? It has given me a better understanding of where we have come from as a church. I see the maturity of the church as God continues to reveal His will. We have been serving in Japan remotely so we are comfortable with the duties of the office. We look forward to getting to know our missionarie

We received the excellent news this week that the travel department has sent in our passports to receive our visa. This is a good sign that things are moving in the right direction. Yay!! We feel our time is short in Salt Lake City. The MTC finally stopped my Japanese lessons after 1 year and 5 months. I am so grateful for the language lessons that I have received. Most of the time I was taking lessons twice a week. I continue to study at least an hour a day. Fred and I try to speak in Japanese on our walks. Shortly after our arrival in Japan, we anticipate young missionaries that have been waiting like us to come to Japan. We will be busy setting up apartments, moving furniture, and running the office while the President will be very busy with these new missionaries. We still have a year left on our mission. Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers coming. We have high hopes that we will make it this time. In the meantime, we continue to count our blessings. We attend the temp

I had a great continuing education medical meeting this week. Once a month, doctors present 2 hours of medical issues that effect our missionaries throughout the world. One of the topics was on "Addiction Medicine". These addictions can include substance abuse, social media, gambling, video gaming, movies, pornography, arguments, high fructose containing food, extreme activities and multi-tasking. Hmmm...I recognize myself in some of these activities. The doctor shared several studies that show a dramatic increase in these addictions since COVID. When a person participates in these activities dopamine is released in our brains helping us to feel better. Some of these are not necessarily bad but can lead to addiction. As stress increases, our dopamine stores are reduced. Our brain starts telling us, "Hey, I'm out of dopamine over here." We begin have a physical desire to return to these dopamine producing activities. Treatment for these addictions d

Is it Winter or Spring? Last week, we had some days up to 60 degrees, and then today is in the 30's. The trees have full buds ready to pop open. Last night the heavy wet snow broke many large branches on the trees. Fred and I went to on a 4 mile walk through the snow. What usually takes 20 minute per mile took 37 minutes per mile. It was tough and now I have a blister on my heel. We enjoyed RootsTech 2022 this year with the theme #ChooseConnection. If you missed it, it is not too late. These classes will be available for the next year. I listened to many classes on Collecting and Writing Stories. My dad is sharing many fun stories from his earlier days. I've started recording them so that I can preserve his life stories. One speaker taught us to do what you enjoy. If you enjoy research, do that. If you like organizing photos, do that. If you like writing stories, do that. If you like indexing, do that. Don't feel like you have to be an expert to participat