Week 65 - April 29-May 4, 2014

This week the building began on the fifth new home on our taxi cab parking lot.  It is amazing the number of homes built on this small piece of land.

This week we had apartment checks in Beppu and Oita.  As we drove over Aso I realized that the deciduous trees were just starting to show green leaves.

The tsubame (swallows) have returned to Japan for the nesting season.  We watched a pair that were building a nest in the NAFCO parking lot.  This NAFCO had its parking underneath the store.  The picture shows the nest that is under construction as well as one of the adult birds. 

The Beppu Elders had a nice clean apartment, as a result we treated them to lunch at the Stamina which is an all you can eat in an hour yakuniku 焼肉 barbecue.   I enjoyed the squid and vegetables.  You can see a squid cooking in the bottom right hand corner of the grill.

We spent the night at the Toyoka Inn in Oita.  The rooms are small but adequate and I enjoy the included Japanese complementary breakfast served in the morning.

This time they had a different miso soup.  It was full of noodles and vegetables.

Friday we checked the Oita Elders apartment.  It was great!  We took the opportunity to treated them to lunch and guess where they chose to go? 

A all you can eat in an hour and half  Stamina yakuniku 焼肉 barbecue.   I had squid and vegetables twice in two days. 

After lunch Elder Koberstein and I went shopping for boards that could be used as bulletin boards in their apartment.  We had seen Styrofoam looking boards used in the Kumamoto Elders apartment and were determined to get some to use in Oita.  NAFCO was the store but it was a long drive/walk from the apartment.  We had to tie them on top of the car and to our amazement it actually worked.  These boards look like Styrofoam but are used to insulate an do not seem as brittle.

After the work was completed in Oita we decided to drive to the Oita Sekizaki Ocean and Astronomical Observatory Hall.  What a wonderful surprise when we got there to see all the big  Koinobori flying over the parking lot. 

They were the largest Koinobori I have seen up close.  A beautiful sight to see. 

 On the drive back to Kumamoto we enjoyed watching the sun set over the ocean.

Scripture of the Week

Alma 30:44

But Alma said unto him:  Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God?  Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets?  The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, and all that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.