November 7, 2015 - At home

I thought I would share a little bit of information about my mission.

According to Mission.net, the Japan Tokyo mission used to be part of the Tokyo North Mission (1976-2006).  Prior to that it was called...
*the Japan Tokyo Mission (probably with different boundaries)  (1974-76)
*the Japan Mission (1968-74)
*the Northern Far East Mission (1955-68)
*the Japanese Mission (1948-55).

And... prior to that, it was closed between 1924 and 1948.  Since 1948 when the mission was reopened, just under half of the mission Presidents have been Japanese or of Japanese extraction.   The rest look like American-type names.

The current mission president is President Nagano, and his wife, Sister Nagano.  The information sheet says that they formerly lived in the US, although they were both born in Japan.  Sister Nagano was born in Fukushima.  You can bet that the disaster in Fukushima in March 2011 brought quite a bit of personal sorrow to them or to their extended family.

I did not know previously, but Tokyo Japan is the largest city in the world by population number in the city proper (over 13 million), but if you are looking for population density, or total area of the city, or population including the outlying metro areas, there are bigger cities elsewhere.  Nevertheless, it would be easy to get lost in Tokyo.

Here are a few pictures of Tokyo from photographyblogger.net:






Other than that, I don't know a whole lot about the mission itself yet. It does include some islands.  I do know that they are 16 hours ahead time-wise, and they drive on the left side of the road.  I took 2 years of Japanese in high school, but I have no doubts, that in spite of my interest in the Japanese people and their culture, once I get there, I will be encountering a lot of things new to me, for starters, the food and the money.  I am supposed to take my 4-generation pedigree chart with me.  Japanese people are big on family and ancestry.  It will make good conversation.

Well, that's it for now.

November 6, 2015 - At home

I got my mission call on Halloween.  It was a Halloween I will never forget.  I had been waiting for my call close to six weeks from when I completed my final interviews.  I thought it had been submitted in September.  I did not find out until after General Conference (first weekend in October) that it was held up for one question.  So, more waiting and checking the mail box.  For Halloween, I wore a panda costume.  It was afternoon, and my dad approached me, saying, "Sometimes Spoooky things happen on Halloween."  He invited me to check the mail box.   I was so overcome with emotion.  Regular Halloween didn't matter to me anymore.   My dad captured the moment on video and it is on my Facebook page, as well as the video when I opened my call.

I have been called to serve in the Japan Tokyo Mission for 18 months.  I am scheduled to report to the MTC in Provo for training, on January 27, 2016.   

In looking over the booklet that I received with my mission call, I am amazed at how much there is to do to get ready.  The booklet says that they don't want my mission email address on social media, so if you want it before I enter the MTC, please email

kirstenparkermission@gmail.com

or drop me a note on Facebook with your email address.  I will also have other information too, such as if you want to donate to my mission fund.  I have to buy a bicycle, helmet, and lock, and an iPad (one designated by the mission since it will have a mission app or software loaded in it).  I also have to have really good quality weather gear to wear.  There are other expenses too not covered in the usual monthly missionary expenses once I am in the field.