Whitings in Tokyo, Micronesia/Guam edition

Please enjoy this introductory video about a dear man, his beliefs and his island.

The Asia North Area includes Japan, Korea and Guam/Micronesia which is full of islands you have never heard of--Pohnpei, Yap, Kosrae, and so it was only a matter of time before we got to visit our southern neighbors…and was it ever gorgeous!  The video you have just watched is of Lensper Kalio, the new stake president in Pohnpei, more on him later.

Guam which is the starting point for island hopping, reminded us of Hawaii in so many ways although we were only passing through to a real treasure--the islands of Chuuk (we visited last October).  This is our view from the airplane!  Our meetings were on Weno, but they drew missionaries and members from six nearby islands which looked like THIS!

The view was prettier from above as this is what we saw upon touch down, it truly looked third world.  However, looks can be deceiving and we quickly learned to stop using our eyes to judge.  We discovered much happiness and contentment among the people we visited although their humble circumstances might make one think otherwise.  Everyone waved and had huge smiles.  My Kailua friends might be interested to know we saw a young man wearing a Kailua High Athletics t-shirt walking the dirt paths!  Truly there was maybe only 100 feet of concrete road and nothing as civilized after that.  

Then there were views like this:

 
                                                                      And this!

The church building is the prettiest structure on the island and the members there are so proud of it.  There was a parking lot for the church, but truly, this (below) represents the "parking lot" most used by the members.  Many started out an hour and a half before the conference to get to Weno from other islands in their mode of transportation.  They wore everyday clothes to travel in as it was extremely wet and changed into their Sunday best once they arrived.  Sister Aoyagi, the wife of the first counselor in the Area Presidency gathers white shirts and neckties from the Japanese members in her stake to distribute among the Chuuk members. Every priesthood holder had on a white shirt and tie.

Because it is still a district, Chuuk has no wards but many branches. Some of the branches are small, but one with only 30 members attending has 10 full-time missionaries out serving missions right now.  Any ward other than Utah wards care to match that?!  The missionaries on the other islands come in to Weno on p-day to email their mothers and to shop.  Mostly, there is no or little electricity on those other islands and the water is untreated.  Some even bathe in small streams.

You have to fly into Guam to get to the Micronesian islands.  Sometimes when the weather is bad the airplanes abort their landings and end up flying by to return another day.  The return flight to Guam from Chuuk leaves at 2:30 a.m.  If the plane is able to land, a cheer goes up from those waiting at the airport knowing they won't have to wait for the next one days later.    

Usually when people check in at an airport they wonder from which of the numberless gates they will board.  In the islands of Micronesia, there is never any reason to wonder, see below.

Below is the landing strip for Chuuk.  Short and not so sweet.  When we flew from Pohnpei to Chuuk on our way back to Guam and then to Tokyo, it was windy and once the plane landed, the pilot needed to "right" the plane before applying the brakes.  We were glad for seat belts and we sent a shout out to my brother-in-law,  Jeff Davis who is an airplane brake engineer.  There wasn't much landing strip left once we finally stopped. 

Our second trip was to Saipan which is north of Guam and part of the Micronesia/Guam mission, but is in reality one of the Northern Mariana Islands.  To get there, we had to fly over Tinian island and I snapped a photo of a landing strip.  The Enola Gay took off from this landing strip on its mission to Hiroshima during the second world war.  I have known for some time the part Japan played in WWII, but had no idea that we would visit islands where there is so much WWII history.  

Our stop, Saipan.  There were many Japanese troops stationed here but we discovered their families were here as well.  After our mission tour, we stopped for a brief visit to these beautiful places only to discover the tragic history.  We saw Marpi Point, or Suicide Cliff.  Below is a link to a history channel video which will explain it.  The beautiful scenery belies the grief experienced here.  The reason I could not embed this video is it kept appearing at the top of the page with the President Kalio video. It is still a compelling video, please watch.  Please be warned, some of it might be disturbing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDUy0uzmaU4

And finally, our last stop just this past month was to Pohnpei.  I was struck by the beauty, of course, but the people are even more beautiful.  They are so thoughtful and so dear, it is a blessing to be with them.  A stake was created, the first in Micronesia, last March.  The people were so warm and loving.  They performed and sang and were so grateful.  Below is my husband and Elder Nash, assigned to create the new stake, wearing their salad, apparently.  It gives a whole new meaning to hakulei.  

As you saw in the first video, this is what it looks like in Pohnpei.

I should have taken more photos, but below is a ward building for the Ayrye members (130 strong) who come regularly and yes, they sit on the concrete floor.  They asked us to take off our shoes before stepping on the church floor.  What you didn't see was there were only three walls.  The auxiliaries break up and meet under easy-corners tents and wherever they can, basically.  Four of the seven church buildings were not as rough as this one, but the members are so grateful to have a place to worship.  This handsome young man is Bishop Malarma's son.  

The oldest church building is 30 some years old and the Mand branch meets there, but is immaculately kept by the branch president who lives next to it.  Below that is a photo of the baptismal font and below that one is the branch president and his son, hard working and devoted members.

These are the dear senior missionaries on Pohnpei who showed us the island.  They love the people and do such wonderful things there.  They teach seminary at the high school during lunch, they help with education at many of the other schools and work wonders.  Elder Chandler describes his wife as a "thoroughbred" who shot right out of the chutes when they landed in Pohnpei and hasn't stopped running.  They represent all of our senior couples in the area who are completely indispensable.  

 It is such a stark contrast from everyday life in Tokyo, the largest city in the world, or Seoul, where we visit occasionally, to the beautiful and humble islands of Micronesia.  We are so lucky to get to see that contrast, one is not better than the other, just different.  The members in every city we go to are the sweetest, dearest people we have met.  

However, the scenery is much more easy on the eye in the South Pacific and the cloud formations are such as we have never seen anywhere else.  Anyone jealous yet?

Mt. Nokogiri, a much needed P-day

Scott and I had a p-day today after a long (and yet not long enough) three weeks in Utah for a wedding (photos later), General Conference, mom's surgery, saying 'good-bye' to four daughters and two grandchildren, sisters, and on and on.  Everyone is there now except us and Joe of course.  So, we spoiled ourselves with a little outing to Mt. Nokogiri in Chiba.  I think you will agree, it was fabulous!  This first picture is of a bas relief of the goddess Kannon, carved into the side of the mountain.  She is 100 ft. tall and completely amazing!

The view over into Tokyo Bay was gorgeous.  It felt good to get out into the countryside.

Mt. Nokogiri consists of a temple, the Kannon rock sculpture, 1500 arhats located along a walking path and a daibutsu, or Giant Buddha (pictures below).  I decided to play a game and find the arhats that best fit our children's personalities.  

Camille is any one of the arhats up against the wall.  The pathway was on the edge of the mountain and she is our skittish one when it comes to heights.  Take your pick, Camille, I just want to know what you are holding.

This is Joe's face, but since the arhat's eyes are closed, you can't see the eye roll that Joe is famous for. 

Below are either the newlyweds, Abby and Casey because they are having so much fun together, or Gracie and Sam, our little grand babies because they make each other laugh. 

Or maybe the headless one is Abby, she almost forgot her wedding dress and the marriage license..and her make up and …on her wedding day.  It could be Camille or Emma front and center with the face palm looking at Abby in frustration over her forgetfulness.

The one below is Kate as she is the most serene of our children, we'll call her Goddess Divine.  She has such patience with her little ones.  Notice how she is standing on a dog dragon (Lucy)?  Ammon, her husband really wants a dog, but Kate says she has her hands full.  Maybe the dog would test her patience.  She takes after her father.

This is Emma when you ask her to do something like wake up.

This totally could be my face when I get stressed out.  See the different eye colors?  Yup.

This looks to me a little like Grandpa Ed.

Here are the other grandmas and grandpa--always patiently waiting for us to come.

Standing is my husband--always moving, always reading, studying.  The sitting arhat right front could be Ammon and Casey, our beloved sons-in-law who study so hard to make careers for their darling families.  Thank you both!

This is a stone Daibutsu completed in 1783.  It stands 102 ft. tall.  And although Kamakura bronze statue is still my favorite, this one was incredible.

These are little Jizo for children who died in infancy.  The story goes that they must stack rocks on a riverbed until they can climb out of Hell.  These little Jizo were for sale at a nearby stand and I am assuming parents place them at the foot of a statue to remind them of lost children.  

There was a huge pile of discarded ones whose little red hats and bibs had worn off.

A silly side note, this was a display at Narita airport of the many flavors of Kit Kats here in Japan.  From left to right, top to bottom, Strawberry Cheesecake in a Mt. Fuji box, green tea, cherry blossom, strawberry, dark chocolate, regular, wasabi (I bought a box and they were delicious), rum raisin, cheesecake and I don't know what flavor.  

 Here is a link to find out the weirdest Kit Kat flavors in Japan:

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/03/18/japans-strangest-kit-kat-flavors/

I personally have seen pumpkin and corn and I have heard there is soon to be a Kit Kat museum completed in Tokyo, although I cannot verify it.

Lastly, I loved spending time with family.  I got to go to The General Women's meeting with my mother, my mother-in-law, one of my sisters and two of my daughters.  Beauties, all.  These (and Emma and Abby and our son-in-laws and all family) are why the three weeks weren't long enough.

Kimono Week and a few of the people I love here.

So, I have been lucky enough to wear a kimono three times since Christmas.  Our dear friend, Shiroko Aoyagi has dressed me (and others) in her beautiful kimonos and treated us to Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), koto playing, tea ceremony and Kabuki.  She just loves sharing her culture and making sure we are as UNcomfortable as we can be.  As she cinches us up in those gorgeous things, she scolds (in her best English--which is darling), "No bress, no bress!"  After you see the photos, you may think she said what I thought she said as we all seemed to lose our curves, but the truth of the matter is that after watching Kabuki for four straight hours and finally being released from the obi allowing us to breathe, she really meant, "no breath!" Here is our wonderful Shiroko!  The smile never leaves her face and it is a special pleasure for her to make us her life sized Barbies.  The beauty in pink is Rosalie Ringwood, my wonderful neighbor.  

Shiroko not only planned a day of culture at her home, but she fed us as well.  There was so much food and so little stomach room or lung room, but we did our best to enjoy it.  She first brought out the lacquer ware lunch plates with so many delicious treats, then came the tempura.  She told us there is a saying in Japan--One never starts cooking tempura until they see the whites of their guests eyes.  

She obliged three of her friends to come and help with the fun/torture by teaching us to play the koto, a Japanese stringed instrument.  One of the dear souls was Kinoshita san whom I remember when I was a missionary here.  The other two ladies either showed us the tea ceremony (we drank seaweed tea, I wouldn't recommend it) or helped us learn ikebana.  Carey Aalders was gorgeous in pink and played beautifully! The dear sister who taught us could not have been more than 80 pounds and wears kimonos ALL THE TIME!  She says she cannot find clothes small enough for her and is too old to wear what might fit her as well as middle school girls.

Below are the four of us near the tea ceremony tools.  We could only sezu (sit like we are) for the length of time it took to grab a photo.  The beautiful woman in navy is Carol Chandler, an indispensable soul in the office, my husband's administrative assistant.  The Aoyagis have a traditional Japanese home, mostly with tatami (rice) mats on the floor and shoji doors.

Lastly, we learned Japanese flower arranging.

This is Emi (below), Elder Aoyagi's administrative assistant and about the dearest person there is. We love her.  Her English is perfect and she plays the piano and makes everyone happy with her smile.

We loved spending the day with the Aoyagis.  A week later, Shiroko had planned to take Rosalie and I to Kabuki (traditional Japanese theater) and insisted we wear kimonos again. This time we rode the trains in them and there were plenty of smiles.  It felt like they were really thrilled to see two Americans in traditional Japanese wear and we heard more than once, "O niai desu ne!"  Meaning--it really suits you.

The theater is in Ginza and was a remarkable building.  This is what it looks like from the outside, and...

this is the stage.  Wow! This was painted silk and there was not one, but four scenes.

We were not allowed to take photos during the play, so I added the bottom two from Bing images.

I can't begin to describe how beautiful it was, elaborate scenes, one with snow falling.  All men actors, and has its origins in the 1600s.  It was funny, it was action packed.  This is the only photo we took during intermission.

Our footwear for the day, painfully too small, but oh so pretty. We were expected to turn our toes in the whole time.

To end this entry, a not-so-Japanesey wedding.  This dear girl is another admin assistant in the office, Yayoi (Tonami) Iwanami.  She was married last week in the Tokyo Temple.  We loved going to her reception.  Yayoi is a treasured friend and we were so happy she married such a dear man.  Every bit of their reception spoke of their unselfishness and sense of fun.  Something we have never seen--Masaki, the groom, fed his bride the cake from a spoon.  Then two spoons were presented to the guests for Yayoi to feed her groom.  Guess which one we all chose!  

And just so you know, here is a traditional wedding kimono…

Indy and Emma, below and Julie and Phil Welch below below, four more of our beloved friends. 

So, we were foreigners dressed in traditional Japanese clothes and the Japanese were in traditional western wedding attire.  It was a fun and busy week.