Week 27 August 6- 12, 2013

This is a close up picture of a rice field.  The plants are good sized but notice water is still being run though the field.  No rice heads yet.  I wonder how long before the field will be drained.  It has been so fun to observe.

The Japanese O-bon holiday started this week.  It is a Buddhist ceremony for welcoming back and appeasing the souls of their ancestors.  There were fireworks that we enjoyed from our eighth flour apartment balcony.   The fireworks were done at the National Defense Base in Kumamoto.

Wednesday was a two zone conference (Kumamoto and Kagoshima).  President and Sister Gustafson came and taught us.  President Gustafson taught us about faith.  He quoted Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore he showed not himself until after their faith."  He also quoted President Harold B. Lee "The trouble with you is you want to see the end at the beginning."  I don't remember who President Lee was talking to.  We were taught that you must learn to walk a few steps in the dark and then you will see the light.  He had us read Exodus 14:15 "And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me?  speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:"  We need to do all we can and step forward.

After zone conference we drove the Oita Elder's back to their apartment and then did their apartment check.  They were in good shape so we had lunch at JoyFull.  We finished very early so decided to go home rather that stay in Oita.  It is a three hour windy road drive from Kumamoto to Oita.  I enjoyed the many flowers.  My favorite ones were the pink flowers pictured above.  This group was a little past prime.

We also saw beautiful yellow flower.  I remember calling them canons in San Diego.  I can find no flower by that name on the Internet.  We had red ones growing between the sidewalk and fence on our lot in San Diego.  The space was about a foot wide and got a lot of afternoon shade.   Here one sees big stands of them along the roadside.  They are probably planted but may be wild.  I do not know.  Can someone help me with a name in Japan or English?

 We stopped by the creek on the way home and I took this picture of Terry in a beautiful setting.

For preparation day we decided to go on a bike ride.  As we biked along I saw these flowers on the road side.  I stopped to take a picture.  When Terry came back, he spotted a butterfly.  It reminds me of the painted lady butterflies we used in the classroom to show the stages of development of a butterfly.  Do you think Japan has Painted Lady butterflies too?