Mission Story:
I was compelled to serve a mission after leaving Utah to attend UCLA. I realized more fully all of the blessings of the gospel that I had been given and that so many knew nothing about. I checked out of my program and put my papers in. I had wonderful companions whom I love very much. I remember riding my bicycle one day and thinking, "I am so happy." I also remember how hard President and Sister Teruya worked on our behalf. I remember the next president, President Kwak, getting cancer and going back home to Hawaii. He soon passed away. I realize more fully now what a hard job it is to be a mission president. I am so grateful to these wonderful, consecrated men.
I love remembering Anderson Shimai putting out a fire which had spread from the water heater to the wood frames of the windows in the Morioka church. She picked up the huge rice cooker filled with water and rice and thrust it at the window, breaking several of the glass panes. The fire was quenched. I also remember riding bikes with boxes stacked high in front and back and bags hanging from both handlebars with groceries - I think for the zone taikai coming up. I remember the elders using Mister Donuts "twists" in the rat trap. I remember Tamashiro Shimai learning to ride a bike and gluing a tooth that had fallen out back into her mouth with super glue. I remember sitting on a bench next to a lake with Fukuda Shimai and talking to her. She wanted to get to know me better. I remember doing dendo with our zone leaders and later finding out that one of the zone leaders, Ishibashi Choro, and my companion, Shiki Shimai, were engaged to be married! She was wiping tears from her eyes the whole day but I thought she had allergies or something! They married soon after Shiki Shimai returned home. I remember fasting one day for 24 hours and then going down to the eki in Fukushima to do some street contacting. Up from the station platform walked a beautiful young woman with a radiant countenance. We approached her and asked her if she knew what would happen to her after her life her on earth. She had lost her sister and was very anxious to know our answer. She was a golden investigator and was baptized. She later went on a mission herself and married a returned missionary. She is a faithful member of the church today. She is actually the only person that I taught that I know has remained active in the church.
