"I Haven't Found a Single Thing to Hate"

Dear Family,

Each month we hold an end-of-the-money dinner at our small apartment for the missionaries and their investigators. At October’s dinner there were 12 of us and Pat served chili with corn bread muffins, coleslaw, and something very like pumpkin pie, dishes pretty foreign to the Japanese. Two who attended were the Nepalese couple who are preparing for baptism on November 17, and there were two young women whom we met there for the first time.  It is a great atmosphere for fellowship and we love having them come.

Pat and I teach a weekly English-language Sunday School class, and lately they have tried out combining the class with the Japanese-language Gospel Doctrine class once a month. Last Sunday we taught the class with the help of a translator, the talented Elder Watanabe. It went surprisingly well, though we have to get used to the Japanese approach to such things. Class participation was hard to come by and humor often doesn’t translate well. Maybe it will be a short-lived experiment, but we hope they keep it up with some needed refinements. 

 

I am amazed at how quickly the members and friends here have come to love my dear wife.  It must be they feel of her earnest and sincere love for them and desire to return it.  She came to Japan with fear and trepidation, but has learned to love and respect the people here so much that she almost can’t speak of it without tears coming to her eyes. Truly, in many respects, the Japanese people are easy to love. It reminds us the observation of an American businessman working in Japan just after World War II: “I lost two brothers in Japanese prison camps in the war, and I came prepared to hate these people and everything about them. But I haven’t found a single thing to hate.”[1]  

The truth is, the missionary work progresses very slowly here.  The missionaries are skilled and obedient and they work hard, and Pres. Gustafson struggles to find the combination that will best energize the work, yet we fall somewhat short of setting the world on fire.  The Japanese are good people, atheistically inclined - yes, guarded and shy - for sure, but law-abiding and courteous and considerate almost to a fault. By all accounts they ought to be more receptive.  It’s almost like we are sitting in the middle of dry tinder trying desperately to light a spark.  When it goes, it will surely be a conflagration, but we have trouble getting it going.            

Lest you think our world one of unbridled glamour, let me hasten to identify other duties as assigned: daily counting of the yen to make sure the Petty Cash drawer is intact, drawing on what we may have learned in kindergarten (had we attended kindergarten) to assemble orientation books for newly arriving missionaries, not to mention weekly sweeping out the entryway and driveway and cleaning the toilets in the office. 

We love the work, we love the people, we love the missionaries, we love the culture. We love the Savior and feel privileged to wear his name just over our hearts these 18 months, 1/3 of which has already too quickly slipped away. Please accept much love and friendly greetings over the miles from your faithful far-eastern correspondents, G&G of the Beus persuasion

PS. We were thrilled to hear of Natasha's plans to come for a visit in April. This week we sent of our Christmas packages. We used surface mail and hope they arrive in  time. Last week Dan and Raiden and I went fishing in the sea - caught nothing, but had fun. We miss all of you state-side people mightily, and send our love. We'd love to receive e-mails. We love reading Spencer's letters.  Dad

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[1] Windows for the Crown Prince, by Elizabeth Vining, pg. 148.