I can't believe that summer is two thirds over! I know that everyone always talks about how the best time in Japan is the Sakura (cherry blossom) season, and it is absolutely beautiful. But my personal favorite is summer. You will all think me crazy with the heat and humidity in Japan- but I love the mountains in the summer. Japan's mountains have so many deciduous trees that in the spring they aren't as full as the summer---- in the summer there is no standing room. They are all smooshed in there together like the Japanese on the trains at rush hour. All silent. All standing at attention. It is breath-taking.

I hope you are all doing well and you've had a summer full of sitting on the porch, sipping tall glasses of lemonade with your sunglasses on. After the cold, wet rainy/snowy, winter/spring you've had, you all deserve a little sunshine.

Important information, hair salon names: Hunky Dory Hair Room Manish Hair

It's been awhile since I've sent an email over the air waves or fiber optics or whatever they are. I have so many things to tell you about but I don't want this to be a 25 page letter so I'll just share a few.

Our mission is back to normal after sending the 54 Tokyo missionaries that were ours for awhile, back to the Tokyo mission. There were many tears in that departure. We had grown to know and love them.

I know many of you are worried about us all because of the earthquakes, nuclear problems, typhoons, and the beef radiation scare. I want you to know we feel very safe here. We know that the church has a crisis committee that keeps it's eye on what's going on in Japan as well as the rest of the places where missionaries are. If things get bad and it's dangerous for us to be here, we will be gone. Life is really normal here. Earthquakes are pretty common, we had one that woke us up last night and shook things pretty good, but the way Japan is built is amazing.

We've had the opportunity of having family here off and on the last few months and it's been wonderful. Together we've seen amazing places and they've met our incredible missionaries and seen them at work. Lonnie even had the opportunity of riding on the 'Women Only" train and it was an experience to remember. Sorry about that Lonnie. Your guide isn't very good at Japanese, even if that was posted really big in English. I tell you, I miss words I can read because I can't read anything 99% of the time.

Cydne and I had the opportunity to go with our Nagano District to Sendai and be part of the churches 'Helping Hands' project. The town we worked in was Rikuzentakata. 80% of the town was literally swept off the earth. Here is a website you can read more about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikuzentakata,_Iwate

It was a sobering experience to drive in that flattened town and see the piles of what was left. Acres of smashed cars. A levy with a chunk out of it the length of a football field. We were assigned first to what Cydne referred to as 'weeding the forest'. Then we cleared a dirt road. Our final project was to pick through the remains of a leveled house. We sorted glass, pieces of traditional blue roof tiles, inside tiles, wood, and personal belonging into piles--------pieces of peoples lives. We saw purses, children's toys, a smashed ipod, shoes, dishes. But the most unsettling were the photographs that were found. We wondered what had happened to those people. The horror they felt on that day. Everyone at that sight was silent. It might have just been the Japanese way, but I think it was because we felt we were working on sacred ground. I looked at the ocean, it seemed so calm and beautiful. I could only imagine and picture that tsunami pouring upon that village. As I stood on leveled ground, I wondered which route I would have taken to higher ground. I realized that even after that enormous earthquake there were still structures standing. That people had to go through streets to get to the mountains. Too many cars trying to get out. Impossible in 30 minutes. You'd have to ride a bike and even then to get to higher ground, getting through the streets would have been challenging. You would have had to climb through thick trees and up steep slopes. And what if you had children with you? One report in the paper said how bad the coroner had felt when he worked on the bodies of some of the victims. He said that many, in their flight, layered clothing-because it was cold and they wanted to take some of their belongings with them. Some had strapped bags to their bodies and their children's bodies, with items they didn't want to leave behind. It weighed them down, they could not run fast enough----and they were swallowed by the wave. It was a humbling feeling. I'm grateful to know that there is a peaceful, beautiful place on the other side. The comfort of a Heavenly Father and others that are there, that love us. I am grateful that my family is eternal. That I know we help and love each other here----as well as there. I love the comfort the gospel brings.

I wanted to tell you about an 85 year old women that Scott went to do her temple recommend interview with in Suwa. She was so cute (as is everything in Japan). She has two daughters that are both active members. She joined the church five years ago at age 80. They called her to teach primary-she accepted (at age 80!) She's taught over the last few years. When the primary started to memorize the articles of faith she decided she needed to do it with them. She can recite them all perfectly. How many of us can do that? She said that nightly, when she climbs into bed she starts to recite the first one and goes down the list. She said that they put her to sleep every night. What a wonderful thing to be doing just before you drift off. I think my dreams might be better doing that than wondering what I need to do the next day or what I didn't get done that day. She's such an inspiration to me.

Katheryn called me the other day and reported on her week at girls camp as a stake leader. She had the opportunity to go and serve as assistant craft lady. How fun is that? She told me that she had not been particularly excited to go to camp. What??? Can you imagine that???? (sadly I can--once I get there I love it!) She told me that she had emailed Whitney and told her her feelings. She knew Whitney could and would sympathize with her since every time camp was mentioned in their entire teenage life, Whitney sneered. She was totally shocked at Whitney's response. Whitney told her to quit whining, buck up and enjoy it. She said she was amazed that this was coming from the girl who literally tried to do everything in her power to not go to camp----she was actually very successful at 'camp avoidance' and I think maybe only went 2 years. Then Katheryn told me that as she bore her testimony around the ward campfire, she shared how much she admired her sister Whitney. Here she was a stranger in a strange land, speaking a strange language. Approaching people in a culture that it isn't the custom to approach strangers, sharing a message with them. A message that she believes with all her soul. A message that can bring peace, comfort and happiness. A message she hopes they can understand by her spirit, her eyes and her simple Japanese words. It's true everybody. Even as I tell you this, that warmth floods through my entire body. It's true.

Well I will sign off for now and I will try to be better at writing. Our missionaries would be in big trouble if they wrote home like I do.

This is an amazing opportunity. I see it transform lives, literally. It's not easy-----and it's amazing, fulfilling and rewarding. I love these missionaries and members. They do hard things and they are doing them with positive attitudes and unwavering faith. I want to grow up to be just like them.

I love you all.

Sister Baird, Bonnie, mom or grandma

Cultural tip of the week: Calendars here don't have names of months on them, in fact months don't have names. They are month 1, month 2, etc.