Baseball in Japan

June 22, 2013

We are going to a baseball game in Chiba with Vicki and Howard. Brother Hiroaki Mizuno from the PBO office (over travel) arranged it and was able to get tickets for Paul and me to join them. Sisters Yumiko Sase and Naoko Kawahara are joining us too. We met Brother Mizuno on our last trip. He is a huge baseball fan and is very excited to be going to this game. The Chiba Marines is his team. He sent us the train schedule so I hope we don’t get lost. We’re supposed to meet them at 11:30am. We are going to have lunch, go to the beach, and shop before the game. I think the game is at 2:00pm. Vicki said to wear white since it’s a home game and she is bringing us a copy of the cheers. Every time your team is at bat, everyone stands and says these cheers through the whole inning until your team is finished having at bats.

In front of the Chiba Marines baseball sign

Brother Mizuno had printed us off a copy of the cheers. Each ball player has his own cheer and then there are general cheers. It’s amazing how everyone knows the cheers and hand motions. They have drummers that keep the beat and trumpet players. It’s rather tiring to stand each time your team is up. They also jump up and down in some of the cheers. Since we were a last minute add on, our seats weren’t with the rest of the group. That was okay because we didn’t feel the added pressure of having to cheer all the time because we weren’t with our group.

At the 7^th inning stretch the fans release all these huge white balloons. At the bottom of the 6^th inning, people began to blow up these huge white balloons that make kind of a whistling sound when the air is released. At the beginning of the 7^th inning, all the balloons are released in the air. They are not tied so they go every which way when the air is released from the balloon. Then all these little cheerleaders and karate kids came out and the crowd sang a song. At the end of the song, they gathered up the balloons from the field and ran off, then the game resumed.

Mission Office

June 21st - 30
Pictures of their office:

Gerry's Desk

Commissarian's Desk

Assistant's Desk

Recorder's Desk

Supply Room

Paul's Office

Elder's sleeping and studying area

Brother Uemura, who is the Facilities Manager over all the area (Japan, Korea, Micronesia Guam), said that the building was scheduled to be torn down and made into a parking lot for the adjoining church building because there isn’t adequate parking for the members when they come to church. The building is the largest building in the area so all large events and stake conferences are held here. When the small parking lot is full, the members use the pay-to-park parking lot next to the church. It costs $20 to park there for three hours. The members can get reimbursed from the church for their parking, when they come for church on Sundays, but it is a hassle to do so.

Brother Uemura indicated that the building hadn’t been used for 7-8 years so that’s why the approval was given to tear down the building. He said the inside was a mess with garbage and stored materials in it. They had to do a lot of work and had to work quickly to get everything ready for the mission to open July 1, but they made it. We were told that after they received the okay from the Area Presidency to tear down the building, the application was sent to Salt Lake. It moved along in the process but Elder Bednar wouldn’t approve it. No one knew why at the time. But we know now.

Our House

June 14 - 21st
My parents were fortunate to have President and Sister Budge help prep their house before they even arrived in Japan. They purchased bedding, made the bed, stocked the kitchen with dishes, pots and pans and even purchased some groceries.

Below are pictures of their new apartment:

Entry way with shoe cabinet (below) and cabinet (above)

Bedroom

Combination washer/dryer and tub shower combo 

Shower and bathtub 

Kitchen with stove and fish grill underneath the stove

Eating table and microwave/oven combo 

Extra Room

Dresser in Extra Room

Missionary Training Center

I finally received an update from them about their MTC experiences.

"Our orientation went from 8:00am to 4:30pm every day. The first thing that was amazing was the MTC cafeteria. I’ve never seen so many people being fed at one time in a cafeteria and so much variety. You could hear different languages being spoken there and as you walked the sidewalks at the MTC. Everyone is practicing their language and lessons. Also not used to eating three times a day. But it was interesting meeting all the different couples and learning about their families and experiences."

Donna, Gerry's sister had given my parents a big bag of Utah Truffles and they were soon the favorite ones of the group. The first week they were at the MTC they learned how to use Preach my Gospel and how to talk about the gospel. One of their teachers was Brittany Zollinger, which is the youngest daughter of Leslie and Richard Zollinger who live in Livermore but we knew them when they lived in Newark.

People in their District and Brittany Zollinger

The second week was devoted to office training. They learned the IMOS (internet missionary office system) and Gerry learned the secretarial part of the office and Paul learned about the finance stuff. They enjoyed their time at the MTC but it was a whirlwind experience since they had two weeks to absorb all the information before they headed to Japan to begin opening up the mission.

They left a door hanger for their room at the MTC that said "We left for our Mission"