Autumn at Prince Arisugawa Park

On a beautiful fall day, it's the perfect time to find a little barbecue truck, buy a little barbecue beef, and walk across the street to the park to eat it.  (You might notice the license plate holder says, "I am delicious"), and Elder Chandler would agree!

Here we are enjoying eating with great view of the fisherman fishing in the pond.

Also, a great view of the many pigeons who are hoping for some food.

And a great view of the kids getting their photo taken by their parents.

Here's a great view of the barbecue.

A little bird decided to come to visit, too.

More great views!

I like this great view!

Here's the park parking lot.

Can you believe how close the birds come up next to us?

Back home we had to get a photo of Elder (Dr.) Hansen's bamboo bike.  Have you ever seen a bike made of bamboo?

Time for dinner, and it's always great to have the missionaries come to with their investigators.  This is Sister Harrison and Sister Ruplinger.
With Thanksgiving over, we hope you are getting into the Christmas spirit.  Here's a great video to get you thinking about Christmas. Just click on the link below:
He is the Gift

Merry Christmas!

Kyoto

Here is Kinkakau-ji (Golden Pavilion Temple) which is one of the buildings in the Rokuon-ji (Deer Garden Temple) in Kyoto, Japan, and which is the main attraction of the temple grounds.  The Golden Pavilion was originally built in 1397 to serve as the retirement villa for the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.  His son converted the building into a Zen temple.  It has burned down several time, most recently by a mentally disturbed monk in the early 1950's.  The present building was built in 1955.  It is so beautiful when the sun is shining on it.  Visitors aren't allowed to enter the building, but we are told that the entire pavilion except the basement floor, is covered with pure gold leaf.  The pavilion houses relics of the Budha which we were able to see through the open windows.  On the roof is a golden fenghuang or "Chinese phoenix.

These girls in their Kimonos looked so beautiful so we took their photo, too.

Here is President and Sister Nakatsuka of the Sapporo mission, and Elder and Sister Aoyagi of the Area Presidency. 

This pond by the temple is called Kyoko-chi (Mirror Pond).

Shown above is Emi Miseda, a secretary in our office who worked so hard to make this seminar a success, with dear Sister Ringwood, our Area President's wife.

Shown here are many of  the mission presidents and their wives.  They serve in different areas in Japan, Korea, and Micronesia.  They are the leaders of the young missionaries that you see on the streets.

Here is Megumi Yamaguchi with Sister Aoyagi.  Megumi is a member of the Young Women General Board.  She interpreted for Sister Aoyagi and others during the seminar.

This tree is 600 years old!!

The autumn leaves are amazing, don't you think?

Unfortunately, you aren't able to see the beautiful Japanese carp which are so extremely expensive in the U.S.

There are always so many workers who keep the grounds immaculate wherever you may go in Japan.

A small shrine at the complex.

This little girl was enjoying pulling the cord to ring the bell at the shrine.  People will ring it and then they pray.

Here is the entrance to the grounds of the Nijo Castle

We saw a group of Japanese girls there in their kimonos and they were kind enough to allow us to take their photos.

The showy grounds and castle were built primarily to impress visitors.  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo of the castle.  You can see it on this site if you would like:
Nijo Castle

The grounds are large and contain several lovely gardens and groves of plum and cherry trees.  It is also a world heritage site.

Welcome to Kiyomjizu-dera, one of the best known sights in Kyoto.  Kiyoi mizu translates to pure water and dera translates to temple (Pure Water Temple).The temple dates back to 798 but the present buildings were constructed in 1633.  The temple takes its name from the waterfall within the complex which runs off the nearby hills.

Walking to the temple and at the shops which line the path to the temple are lots and lots and lots of people!

The main hall of Kiyomizu-dera has a vast veranda which is supported by hundreds of pillars.  It juts out over the hillside and offers an amazing view of the city.  The have an expression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu" which is the Japanese equivalent of the English expression "to take the plunge".  This refers to an Edo period tradition that said if one were to survive jumping from the stage, one's wish would be granted! Apparently, many have jumped and some have survived!

Beneath the main hall if the waterfall where three channels of water drop into the pond.  Visitors line up to drink the water to gain therapeutic properties: health, longevity, and success in studies.  However, you are considered greedy if you drink from all three!

Everywhere we go there are always lots of school groups.  Notice how nicely they are always dressed in their school uniforms. I think that is one of the reasons that the Japanese people are always so polite and orderly because they are always dressed so nicely.

This is a beautiful red pagoda across the way from the main hall.

Here's another view of the stage at Kiyomizu.  Don't jump!

Amazing view of the city, don't you think?

We walked over to the pagoda to get a close-up photo and to take another looking across at the stage.

Which one's would you drink from: health, longevity, or success in school?

Here are more school children.  Our guide told us that they are not just sight-seeing but they are learning the history of their country.

Here's another view of the wooden pillars.

On the right is President Gustafson, our nephew Josh's mission president, president of the Fukuoka mission.  He was speaking in Japanese to the school children.

I'm not really sure what this Buddhist priest was doing; he might have been soliciting funds for the temple.

Back to Osaka and taking our one last view of Osaka-jo Castle before we were ready to pack and get ready to go home to Tokyo.

Also, time to take one last look at the view of the city from our hotel room.

After working hard to clean up, load up, and carry boxes, the microphones, name plates, decorations, etc, etc, Elder Chandler is ready to leave the New Otani hotel and leave to board the Shin-kansen. 

Of course, we had to get one last photo with Elder Aoyagi, Megumi, and Emi.  It was a wonderful seminar and we were taught great inspired messages by the Asia North Area Presidency that especially will be of great benefit to the mission presidents as they teach the wonderful missionaries.
We love you all; take care everyone!

Here is a link which tells of the history of missionary work that I think you might enjoy:
 https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-04-25-special-witness-elder-cook?category=topics/missionary-work&lang=eng

Here is another link which is about missionaries:

      https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-06-19-value-of-a-full-time-mission?category=topics/missionary-work&lang=eng