Great Weekend

This was a great weekend.  It started with a trip to Yamaguchi to be able to participate in the baptismal service for George Massarolo, an American that has been living in Japan for about 25 years.  He was contacted by the Yamaguchi missionaries about a year ago.  The Elder that had initially contacted him and was involved in the discussions went home about 2 months ago, but we were able to Skype him in for the baptism service.  What was special too was that the Elder was able to bare his testimony via Skype at the service.  George is a great guy and we are glad that we have got to know him and look forward to meeting the rest of his family.

Then, when we got home we had an interesting surprise.  About 3:30, I heard some loud talking over a bullhorn, so I looked outside to see what was going on.  There were about 20 Japanese protestors marching towards the front gate of the Marine Corps Air Station, complete with signs and a banner.  They were chanting, "No USA!  No base! No Okinawa!"  With them, there were about 15 Japanese police officers.  The front gate to the base had been closed.  They stood there chanting for about 15 minutes and then headed down a side street, and the noise stopped. 

We used to see this all the time when we were in Yokosuka ('88-'92) and again in Tokyo where a worked about 2 blocks from the Russia  embassy.  Protests such as this are always scheduled in advance with both the Japanese police and the base.  They are very organized and staffed by professional protestors.  The protests at the bases are either protesting the arrival of ships, which may or may not be carrying nuclear weapons (Yokosuka protests), or just protesting the presence of the American military in Japan, and especially the large military contingency in Okinawa.

The weekend ended with three meetings that we were able to via the internet that were presided over and he received counsel from, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Sister Holland and members of the Asia Area Presidency.

 

It started with a Young Single Adult devotional on Saturday night where all YSA/SA were invited to submit questions for Elder Holland to respond to during the devotional.  Sunday morning we had a multi-stake conference and then Sunday evening a Japan-wide devotional.  It was wonderful to hear the words of an Apostle.  Very inspiring!

All in all, weekends don't get much better than this!