Week 49 - January 5-11, 2014

On Wednesday after our lunch walk around the Fukuoka Botanical Garden which is on the hill by the mission home.  

It was a beautiful walk filled with hills, stairs and beautiful views.

People who have homes near the garden are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful place on a hill.  This is one of the streets our path lead us to look down.  It seemed very steep to drive but the picture does not make it look as steep.

We found trees inside the garden in blossom even in the cold of winter.

Japan is amazing.  So many flowers blooming year around.  

A closer look at the blossoms of this Camelia bush.

This is the entrance to the gardens.  A ticket gives one entrance to the zoo and the gardens.  

Looking toward the temple from the top of the hill near the garden entrance.  You can see the angel Moroni on the Fukuoka temple.

What a beautiful sight as we near the temple.  We have been blessed to work here.

We are back at the temple and honbu.  What a pleasant walk on a beautiful path/road in front/up the hill from the temple in Fukuoka.

We have been in Japan almost one year.  It is time to think about getting our Japanese drivers licence.  This week we started the process with the new AP.  We were able to get a certificate of residence and then have our United States Driver's licence translated.  In our call packet it stated to make sure that your drivers licence did not expire while you were in Japan.  We renewed ours in January.  In Japan it is required that you have driven in the country you are from for three months in order to get a licence here.  We had only had our licences for one month before coming to Japan.  We had been obedient and also obtained a five year driving record so were able to have our licence translated after a trip to the apartment to get our driving record.  When we returned to honbu Elder Koberstein had received and e-mail which stated that people from Canada and other countries had an agreement with Japan and could get a drivers licence without tests.  The AP was rejoicing because he was from Canada and though he had been able to get his licence translated he was a few days short of three months and was not able to take the test.  He was not prepared with a driving record as we were.  We look forward to taking the drivers test next weekend in Kumamoto. 

Saturday was filled with two Japanese classes and things you normally do on preparation day like laundry etc.  This is a picture of our bikes that we rode to the 10-12 noon Japanese class.  My bike is white and Elder Koberstein's is blue.  It is about a five mile ride on a very cool day in January.  We enjoyed the opportunity to talk to native Japanese speakers.  

After the class Elder Koberstein wanted to check out a bike store in the area.  We are looking for a new bike computer.  The big sports store we found did not have a computer with GPS maps on it.  They only had those that record your heart health.  We like to be able to find where we are going and know how far we have gone.  The shopping center is over by the whale and Ferris wheel.  We are on top of a bridge.

  It was after lunch and there was a McDonald.  We enjoyed a fish burger.  The third time we have visited McDonald's in Japan.  The whole meal was very much like in the USA.

We then chose to ride the Ferris wheel.  It was a wonderful ride in enclosed carts with heated seats that felt very good on a cool day.  The Ferris wheel is never stopped.  It moves very slow and you get on and off while it is moving.  

Here are views from the ride. 

This is the shopping mall from the air.

The ride was way to short, though it went very slow.  We hardly had time to warm up form the cool winter day. 

The bike ride back to the apartment bought us to the plaza with the Fukuoka tower in the back ground.  The Fukuoka tower is the tallest building in Fukuoka and has a restaurant on the top so we have been told.

We passed the International School and the Fukuoka City museum on the way home.

Our evening class is above the Bus terminal.  The picture was taken when we biked pass it in the early afternoon.

Scripture of the week:

John 14:28

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.  If ye love me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.