Week 10 - April 8-14, 2013

Today is my mother’s birthday.  My mother, grandmother and I all shared the same birthday month.  That always made me feel special as a child.  Mom and I seemed to share the events of Easter on our birthday often as well.  I love this picture of my mother.  This was taken in 1955.  I was six years old which meant I would start school in the fall.  There was no kindergarten when I was five.  Kindergarten in Wyoming started when I was six.  My friend Lynette (who was one year younger) went with me on my first day of school.  I saw her get on the bus and go home.  I was in tears as I thought I had been left at school.  I was quickly reassured that a bus would come for me later when my school day was finished.  The years have changed our physical appearance but the bonds of love have become stronger with time.  I did not realize how blessed I was to have the experience of farm life as a child and often call on what I learned there in what I do today.

When I was about six years old Grandma (Lydia Luetta or Lettie as known in life) Gibbons came to live in my childhood home with Grandpa Gibbons.  Grandpa needed more care than Grandma could give him.  Grandma and I enjoyed this birthday month for many years until she passed away when I was a sophomore in high school.  She bore her testimony to me though her favorite song “I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go”.  She would sing it even when her mind was clouded with Alzheimer’s.  I always knew how she felt about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is her wedding picture.  She was married and then waited two years while grandpa serve a mission for the church.  She worked in her father's store while she waited.

When I married Terry another great lady shared my birthday month and that is Terry’s mother’s. The picture is Juanita and Orin holding Terry.

How could I be so blessed to share a month with all these special ladies and I cannot stop here as blessings keep coming, I now share this month with one of my beautiful granddaughter.  April is a special month for me because of all the memories I have of these special women in my life. 

We did not take many pictures this week.  Terry took this picture from our eight floor balcony as the sun was setting. 

On Friday, April 12 we had a second Eikaiwa meeting with the new coordinator for the Kumamoto Ward.  Sister Suzuki and Sister Kurbayashi stopped by the church on their way home from the sister’s conference in Fukuoka.  They both had suitcases on wheels they were pulling along.  The meeting was a little long so they decided that they needed to get started home before the close of the meeting to be home by nine p.m...  I felt impressed that I should offer them a ride but did not do it.  Elder Morris the zone leader asked Terry and me to give them a ride. 

  

Here General Conference from Salt Lake City, Utah it is translated in the Nihongo (Japanese) language and recorded.  The people listen to conference a week late at a more reasonable time of day.  There was a clothing exchange and free curry meal on Saturday.  The missionaries from Shimizu and Tsuboi came to be part of this even.  They stayed with Elder Morris and Elder Usui.  We felt inspired to invite the Elders and Sister to our apartment for lunch between sessions of conference on Sunday.  Here there is only a one hour break between sessions.  I made sandwiches and soup and then had chips and salsa (Costco special) and brownies.  It was nice to get together as missionaries. 

We are figuring out what a missionary couple in Kumamoto does but sometimes we need a wonderful zone leaders help.  It is such a privilege to work side by side with such dedicated young missionaries.