New Mission Presidents Arrive!

Here we are in our bibs at a Korean restaurant. We are at a dinner to welcome the new mission presidents and their wives. This year 141 new mission presidents, wives and some children left their homes yesterday to begin a three year term. They serve as mission "parents" to up to about 200 young men and women who are serving as missionaries. In the Asia North Area, we received two new presidents last night. Almost as soon as they were off the plane from the United States, they were whisked off to this dinner. I know that they were tired but it was great to get acquainted with them. These are the Watabes, the executive secretary and his wife, who were our tablemates.

This is the grill in the middle of the table with the various sauces for us to dip our meat in. What kind of meat, you ask? Well, we started with slices of beef TONGUE! I did eat two slices and it was very tender. If I hadn't known what it was, it would have been better. Elder Watabe loved helping me out with the things that I didn't eat. We also had other meats - one was an organ near the stomach or maybe it actually was stomach. I ate the vegetable that they grilled. Also, we had sushi with vinegared rice, smoked salmon, pickled ginger, OCTOPUS slices. I did eat the octopus and it was not bad. We also had a yummy salad, rice and some Korean dishes including the famous "kimchee".

Here is my favorite part of the meal - yummy desserts!

President and Sister Furniss are going to be serving in Daejeon, South Korea. He served in Korea as a young missionary.

And these are the Bairds and their daughters, Kathryn and Whitney. When we were first introduced, they exclaimed that they know Larry and Shirley and love them. I guess he took Larry's position on the scout council. They are going to be in Nagoya, Japan. He served in Japan as a young man. They are delightful people. We will be visiting both of these missions and staying with the Furniss's and the Bairds at some point in our mission.

This is a sad day because the Robertsons will leave for the States. They are the Public Affairs missionaries and have been here 3 years. They live downstairs from us and are wonderful neighbors. But they will be back to train the new couple so we will see them at the end of the summer.

This is for Claudia! Here is your name in Japanese. It is on a building not far from here. I always think of you when we walk past it.

Another fun poster from the fruit stand. How do you like his ears and "hat"?

We also had a meeting with President Stevenson yesterday to see how we are doing. He told Rulon that he has heard a lot of great things about the work he is doing with missionaries who are struggling. He also wants me to start working a couple of days a week in the office. I will be making sure that the stake conference reports that come in from all over the area are distributed and read by the president, his counselors, and some others. We also visited with the head of the Welfare and Humanitarian department to see if there is something I can help with in that area.

President Stevenson just got back from NORTH Korea where he inspected the 100,000 apple trees that the Church has planted for that country. Apparently they don't take aid or help from many organizations but we have developed a relationship with them and they were glad to have these trees planted. He is going to tell us more about it in a Family Home Evening for the senior missionaries.