The "Death" of a Missionary and Harvesting Rice

Dear Family,

Last week we said good-bye to another set of returning missionaries, among them some we have come to know quite well and love a great deal.  Here they refer to the release as the time the missionary dies.  In our district, the missionaries came together in black suits and dresses and black ties and conducted a funeral-like ceremony for a much-loved missionary about to depart.  It seemed a little odd, but they had a lot of fun with it. Thursday evening Pat and I were privileged to officiate at the temple session with the soon-to-be-released missionaries the day before their departure.  Afterward comes a delicious dinner at the mission home followed by a poignant and moving testimony meeting.   Even though we have only known them a short time, it is hard to part with these young men and women but we rejoice with the excitement as they rejoin their families and get on with their lives after a two-year hiatus. They are impressive in their accomplishments and their maturity.

And then there is rice.  Rice is the staple food of the Japanese, eaten with virtually every meal.  Roughly 9 million tons of rice are produced each year in Japan. That’s about 150 lbs. per person.  Foreign grown rice is banned or highly tariffed, so that virtually all their rice is grown by the Japanese on thousands of small farms. The average farm size in Japan is 1.5 acres and rice production is controlled and highly subsidized by the government.  It is the rice harvest season now and very interesting to watch for a couple of old Idaho farm kids like us.  Shortly after we arrived, we saw the planting of the rice in small flooded fields, located everywhere – well actually not here in the central part of the city, but as soon as you get to outskirts.  We have watched with interest as the rice has grown and matured. Last week we witnessed the harvest. Mostly harvesting is done with miniature combines, about the size of a large riding mower. 

They take a swath about 24 in. wide and discharge the rice straw out the rear and the rice kernels drop into burlap bags hanging on the side of the machine. The one we watched was stopped repeatedly en route so the operator could untangle.  Following the combine the farmer comes behind and gathers the straw, often by hand, forms it into bundles and ties it with a piece of rope.

            Meanwhile, back to the missionary work. We are reading the Book of Mormon with a young couple from Nepal who are investigating the church. The Book of Mormon has been translated into 82 languages and portions of it in another 25.  Over 150 million copies have been published, but none as yet in Nepalese. Christina and Karan’s English is rudimentary and their Japanese less so.  Reading the Book of Mormon is hard for them, but they have a copy in English and one in Hindi and we struggle along. It is an interesting challenge and a beautiful experience to read with them and try to help them understand. They are sweet, teachable people .

     Hope all is well with you. We send our love over the miles, sincerely, your faithful far-eastern correspondents - Mom and Dad