Fred and Paula’s Most Excellent Adventure

Fall is covering the mountains. Temperatures are 50-65 degrees. So beautiful!!  We have received 17 new missionaries. I make "cookies to go" for the new missionaries and their companions.  Some missionaries have to travel up to 5 hours to get to their new locations. It is nice to have cookies for the road. I end up going through a lot of butter and sugar. Thank heavens for Costco! Last cookie is a mix because I ran out of frosting. We opened our last apartment for a little while. There were 13 apartments when we arrived. We now have over 40. We have become very efficient in preparing new apartments.  We are now traveling once a week for apartment inspections. This is particularly fun because we get to see more of Japan and work with these awesome missionaries. Some apartments are older and need repairs. Others need furnishings updated. Fred is using a lot of his repair skills on this mission. Who knew that these things would be needed?  We also teach English Connect to the Ja

Last weekend, we were invited to Nagano to meet with Elder and Sister Wada. Fred was the first missionary to introduce the gospel to Elder Wada 42 years ago. Elder Wada now serves as Area President for the North Asia and a General Authority for the church.  Elder and Sister Gunson, another missionary instrumental in Elder Wada's conversion, also met with us. We went to the area they first met, the old location of the church building, and the new church in Nagano. They even found the apartment that they lived in so long ago. Members are instrumental in helping friends join the gospel of Jesus Christ. We met three couples that were originally in the ward 42 years ago. I was impressed with their faith and dedication to the gospel after all of these years.  One of the sisters came up to me, grabbed my hand and began talking to me in Japanese. I couldn't understand what she was saying but I felt her love.     We had five camera crew filming interviews and a documentary of memories.