Elder and Sister Struempler: Made It to Japan!

We're finally in Japan and are getting settled in. Welcome to life in Japan and life as a missionary with all of its complications.

We arrived at Narita safe and sound on Tuesday afternoon and after they processed us through immigration and gave us our geigin cards (foreign registration) we were on our way to Fukuoka. We got their about 8 PM and were met by President and Sister Egan, who took us to the mission home, which is located right under the Fukuoka Temple. We actually spent the night in the General Authority room that was literally, right under the Celestial Room.

President and Sister Egan, as you can imagine, were super nice. They fed us some sandwiches and put us to bed after about 23 hours of traveling. The travel was not as bad as I had feared. The extra leg room in Comfort Plus was worth the upgrade. There were about 30 missionaries on the plane, and by the time we got to Narita, they had taught two introductory lessons, placed two BofMs and gave out 2 contact cards with their mission home information. Most were headed to the Tokyo Mission (former Tokyo North) and the rest to the Sapporo Mission.

We were up bright and early the next morning where Sister Egan fed us breakfast and then we got into training for about 2 hours. At this point, I really think we were in the "information overload" mode, so I tried to take good notes. We'll see how that works out.

I thought we were going to spend a couple of days at the Mission Home to adjust, but after lunch we were on the road to Iwakuni. We actually rode with President and Sister Egan, while the missionaries followed in our car. It gave us another 4 hours to pick President Egan's brain. Again, not sure how effective that was.

When we arrive at our house (called the Liahona House) the 6 missionaries serving in our district were waiting out front with a big welcoming sign. One problem, no one had a key to our house. After a few phone calls, someone showed up on a bike with the key (Bro. Bridges). We got a tour of the house, the missionaries lugged our 200+ pounds of luggage up stairs and everyone was on their way. We started unpacking and then Sister Carter arrived and gave us a real orientation of the house, showing us how everything worked, sort of. We are still in the phase where we push buttons until something happens that we want to happen. Sister Carter did a great job labeling most of the appliances with English.

Thursday morning we walked over to the convie (7-11) and I got a onigiri (rice ball wrapped in seaweed with sour plum in the center) for breakfast. We then headed to the base.

Badge and pass office told us we needed to go to the PMO (Provost Marshal Office) on base to get a 30 day pass, otherwise we have to sign our car in every time we go on base. Not too big a hassle, just adds another 10 minutes to any trip. Went to the PMO and the supervisor said I couldn't get a 30 day pass unless we had a command sponsor, so off we went to the Chaplain's Office. Met a super-nice LTJG, Methodist minister who couldn't do anything for us, but is setting up an appointment to meet with the head chaplain on Monday. He seemed really excited that we were here and willing to do volunteer work for the next 18 months because of all the new people arriving. We'll see how thing go on Monday.

After that, it was off to the commissary and then $300+ later off to the MX (Marine Exchange) for additional things we needed for the house. We next went to get Internet/Wi-Fi setup for the house. That will take about 2 weeks (soon turned into 4 weeks), so until then we will use hotspots on base and at church.

Friday, we were met by the Elders and headed to Iwakuni City Hall, where after 2 hours of paperwork, a lot of Japanese back and forth with the Elders, and a lot of tooth sucking, we finally got properly registered as geigins. As a reward we fed the Elders lunch, so after lunch it was back to the Commissary to replenish supplies and another trip to the MX to get a few more things for the house.

As I indicated, today is P Day (Preparation Day), we doing wash and then a bit later we will be going back to the Commissary and the BX for a few more things we need for the house.

Tomorrow will be our first day at church and a chance to meet everyone. One of the members is having all of the missionaries over to their house on base, Sunday afternoon for a "Thanksgiving Dinner". We are included. Should be fun.

I think after this weekend and Monday we will have a little better idea what we will be doing here. Until then we just try and smile at everyone, on and off base and continue shopping at the Commissary and the BX. Still trying to figure out the area, but that will come with time and a good GPS.

We do know that come the middle of October, we have 9 sets of missionaries, whose apartments we have to inspect. Right now, we're not sure how many actual apartments that will be or where they are. We do know that 4 sisters share one apartment near the Iwakuni Building which is about 3 km from our house. Good way to get to know the area and the missionaries.

We are really excited about being here and are really excited about getting involved in the work, We are trying to do what we need to do to be good missionaries, including studying together everyday, mostly from Preach My Gospel.

Your support and prayers for us are greatly appreciated.