Good Morning from the Land of the Rising Sun!

We hope you are all well and that life is good. It finally feels a little 'Fallish' here. Temperatures are cooler and the leaves are starting to change. I LOVE fall! The only problem with Fall is, Fall brings Winter. It's not that I don't love, no, like winter, it's that we drive often, and some of our areas are like Utah in the winter. I'll just lay down on the back seat with my seat belt on, tricky but possible, cover my eyes and sing my Roger Hoffman Hymns.

We have a lot going on at our house even with us not there. Katheryn is engaged to Micah Wiederhold, the date is December 16 in the Salt Lake Temple. We love you Micah and we love your family! Hooray! Katheryn is marrying her best friend.

Whitney has a mission call to the Japan, Kobe Mission. We are so excited she will be in the mission right next door to us. Not that we'd see her anymore than if she was in the Florida, Tallahassee Mission, it's just nice to know there's a family member on the same continent speaking the same language, well, the same language as some of us speak. She will go into the MTC on January 26. So things are buzzin' at the Baird's!

I'll give you a few updates from Nagoya. First, hair places! Sorry, humor me. Hair make Air, Hair make Stork (can't quite figure this one out!), and Last Hope Hair. I'm sure this will not be the last of the hair salon names, we travel a lot!

We had the opportunity to go to Fukuroi, about one hour away for Scott to interview a man for baptism. About three years ago this man had gone through a bad divorce. He said he was walking by the church and wondered if what was inside would make his life more meaningful. He had the missionaries teach him the lessons but he could not quit smoking. So he stopped going to church. The missionaries that are there now, found him again. He said his family was anti and it was impossible for him. The missionaries were out contacting on the street and ran into him again. They made an appointment just to have lunch. In their conversation they asked him how he felt about the Gospel he told them he knew it was true. Later that week they played ping pong together (a favorite sport here, we have ping pong tables in the churches because it's a great way to bring people there.). They gave him a Book of Mormon (with Sam and Stephanie's testimony and picture in it! Thank you Baird Family!) and he began reading again. He called them and told them he was ready to be baptized. He has stopped smoking and feels that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has already made his life more meaningful. Scott has done a lot of baptismal interviews and he said he's never seen anyone more dedicated and ready.

We have a sweet sister that was just baptized in our Meito ward. She worked with Sister Hisada, a member here in Meito. I thought you'd like to read her introduction in the Relief Society newsletter:

"I feel very happy that you talk to me with a smiling face when I go to church. Thank you very much!! Sister Kiyoko Hisaka is my co-worker. While I work with her, I always think that she is very nice. I first came to church with Brother and Sister Hisaka, and then, I got baptized on the 15th of August. I am very thankful to all the missionaries and all of you. All though my life started with a crying face, I would like to finish my life with a smiling face, so I think I should believe in God and do my best from now on. Thank you very much for your support." Sister Teruko Iwashita

It has been amazing to see this sweet woman literally change before our eyes. At first she seemed shy and a bit withdrawn, now she seems confident and happy. What an important example Sister Hisaka has been to her. It's changed her life.

Well I'll leave you all with my Cultural Tip of the week: Buying meat in Japan. Wow. They love fat in it. Probably about 35-50% fat and I'm not exaggerating! The steaks are marbled with so much fat I honestly don't know how they get the cow to do that! They think you are crazy if you want meat without much fat. Now remember these people, the vast majority, are thin! It just doesn't make sense to me: rice, noodles, tempura, breads and fat! I wish I had their genes (their other 'jeans' wouldn't fit!--I can see my children rolling their eyes at that pun!). It might be the size of their servings. I sent my girls angle food cake pans from here, they look like children's size play pans. It would probably take three pans to fit one angel food cake box mix. I made a cake last night because we had members over, they thought the bundt cake was huge! They couldn't get over it. Funny!

We love you all and love to hear from you.

Jamata ne!

Sister Baird, Bonnie or mom

Comments (0)

Powered By Blogger