How grateful I am for the Instagram and blog posts from so many who were immersed in the amazing MFME Adventure. Except for a very few days, from August 28th to November 12, we have been on the road without a chance to post. So glad to now that that documented with thoughts and links to those who did a splendid job of gathering and posting pictures!
About 48 hours after my return home from Europe, I boarded a plane for St. George (Southern Utah) where Richard was still playing tennis the Senior Games. I missed seeing him win the silver medal for the triple jump but enjoyed seeing old friends and the last couple of tennis matches.
From there, we drove to Las Vegas, the nearest International airport and boarded a plane to Las Angeles and took off for Japan.
We had a stopover in South Korea after our 12 hour flight and then another 2 hours to the Nagoya International Airport.
We were located at a remote resort hotel about an hour and a half from Nagoya. Our speaking assignment there was “interesting” to say the least! With the help of terrific translators, we gave a couple of speeches and had seven very interesting private sessions.
It was a hotel with absolutely NO exercise equipment but Japanese spa and baths that people came from far and wide to visit. The ever entertaining translations from Japanese to English made us giggle at this interesting sign in the elevator.
We worked with amazing translators and had such an excellent experience including dramatic food and lovely new friends!
I love tempura…
And this sushi was delicious, but the raw shrimp with the heads still attached and the little green worms in the little pot, fresh from the ocean were just a little much for me! Very fishy!
There can’t be a more creative culture with food!
The hotel gift shop was packed with fascinating food!
On one free day we were treated to a visit to a nearby Japanese temple complete with zen gardens that captivated us with its peace and tranquility and calmness.
See Richard (Dad) up there?
Then we went from pretty much Heaven to pretty much the opposite in an underground cave which was dug out almost single-handedly by one man!
Our audience members were on a retreat that required a lot of physical energy as well as a lot of introspection. I have to say that it was pretty wild to observe!
For our presentation we had Eli video a short introduction for us in Japanese (he served his mission there for two years and still speaks fluent Japanese). The audience liked it so much that we got a short video on our phone of that enthusiastic group chanting “Eli, Eli, Eli” and sent ti to Eli.
Our private sessions were extremely enlightening!
And this wonderful translator made the private sessions possible!
They provided a beautiful gift of flowers….which I had to leave so this is all I have left of them:
What a wonderful experience to pack into our memories! We love Japan!
The photo below is just for the kids who were with us when we lived in Japan all those summers ago: We had lots of burgers here!
On the way home we stopped for a quick one day, one night visit with the Noah and Kristi family in CA! We crammed in a trip to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset while enjoying fish tacos!
and had a wild adventure in the back of a loaner Sprinter with all the kids dancing to “Shut up and Dance”
Made a quick trip to the park and were amazed to see Mila walking and going down the slide all by herself!
And this darling family even squashed in a quick birthday celebration for Grandfather before we walked out the door! That little Ninja Turtle took us right back to Japan! And that super man is actually a Super Boy! What a family!
How lucky are we????
That afternoon we drove back to LA, caught a plane back to Las Vegas where we had left our car. We arrived just in time to see a Cirque performance we hadn’t seen called Zarkana which was dazzling as usual!
We stopped to see the 2nd half of the U game on the big screen and then headed for home for St. George. Since we were jet lagged anyway, it didn’t really matter that we arrived at 2:30 a.m.
We were so very happy to drive home after church the next day! We even ran into a cool double rainbow on the way! Must be a sign!
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