Sayonara Sunday

Sunday, May 10th--Today we attended church in the temple annex for the last time.
It's been difficult to attend church here in Tokyo.  The ward members are nice, but we don't have anything in common with them.  Our life paths and views are very different, and interacting with the families in the ward here has been difficult at times for all of us.
We also have a new appreciation for our church building on Baker Street in Laramie.  It's so big and so nice!  Here, the rows in the chapel are too small for our whole family to be able to sit together.  In Laramie, we can always find a bench big enough.  We are really looking forward to sitting together again every Sunday as we worship.

I can't say as that we are going to miss going to church here in Tokyo, but we are going to miss the temple terribly!  Oh, how we have come to love this temple! Having a temple a mere ten minute walk from our home has been one of the best parts about living here.  It has been fun to see the temple every Sunday morning as walk to church.  We have made a game of looking for the gold statue on the top.  Whoever would spot it first was the winner.

It has been interesting to attend temple sessions in a language other than English.  There were English sessions scheduled at certain times, but that wasn't really important to us.  Both Ray and I have liked hearing the sessions in Japanese, and I could get a translator to wear when I wanted/needed it.

Something that will always be one of my most precious memories of our time here is what we have seen the Japanese LDS members do when they leave the Celestial Room.  As someone is at the door getting ready to leave, he/she will turn and face the room and bow low before walking out.  How many temples and shrines have we visited here, and we always see the very same sign of respect and devotion from the Japanese people as they pass what they view to be a holy place.  Even if they aren't going to the shrine but are just passing by, they will stop on the sidewalk and take a few seconds to bow.  Seeing that part of the Japanese culture in a Mormon temple was beautiful to me.  After the first time I noticed it, I decided to try it and see if it felt weird.  I was in the Celestial Room all by myself and so as I approached the door, I turned and bowed.  It added a whole new feeling of devotion to God in my heart as I bowed to the presence of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ that I had felt in that room.  It became something that we did every time we left the Celestial Room.
One morning when we were walking to church, we noticed a man kneeling on the sidewalk in front of the gate to the temple.  Being Sunday, the gate was locked so this man couldn't enter the grounds at all.  He must have felt a need to be close to God, however, because he was on his hands and knees bowing low in prayer.
Because shrines and temples are a part of the culture here, the Japanese treat the LDS temple differently than we do in America.  They treat it a lot like a Buddhist temple or a Shinto shrine. It is treated with a lot of respect and devotion.  It is a tender thing to witness.

Much of the decor inside the temple is very similar to how temples are decorated in America.  The one exception would be in the waiting area just past the front desk.  There are Japanese screens on the walls that are simple yet breathtaking.  One is of a mountain scene and another is of a bird and some flowers.
Raymond and I have tried to attend the temple at least once a week.  Sometimes, we go together and sometimes we just go by ourselves when our schedule allows.
Caitlin and Tayla got temple recommends before we left America with the plan to attend the Tokyo Temple and do baptisms once a week.  The time spent doing this would work towards completing a value project for Young Women's.  Most of the time, they went to the temple together.  Sometimes, they would invite other Young Women from the ward to go with them.  This became something that both girls looked forward to and they came back home more calm and had more patience with their siblings.  Both girls have talked with me about doing baptisms for Japanese people.  They love doing it and serving a people that we have all come to love.

Here's the girls' memories in regards to the temple:

Caitlin: Our weekly trips to the temple were some of the most spiritual experiences of my entire life. I mean, when you go to the temple you're always going to feel the Spirit, but there was a very special one in the Tokyo Temple. In my experiences in temples in the United States, the workers act like their job is to get you in to do the services and then get you out as quickly as possible. In Japan, things were still efficient, but it felt less like a routine and more like worship. The workers' job was to get you your clothing and do their part in the services and let the Spirit do the rest. They were always very excited to see us, and one woman who spoke very good English and often translated for us began calling me the "older beautiful American sister". Occasionally I would end up going by myself, and after changing back into my clothes I would sit there for a little while and just think and pray for a few minutes. The workers seemed to understand that I needed just a little more time near the Lord, and they were always very helpful. The walk home always brought me a feeling of peace as I enjoyed the few stars and the cities lights I could see, and that was not something I felt often at that time in my life. The temple was one of the few things that kept me going.
Tayla: Going to the temple was one of my favorite parts of Japan. Everyone showed so much more respect in the temple than in America. They all bowed when they left the building or walked out of the gates. I liked having everything in Japanese even though I couldn't understand it. It made it so I wasn't focused on the words and instead could focus on the Spirit more. That made the experience even more special. I loved being able to walk there all by myself and do baptisms. The walk there was also beautiful because you could see Tokyo Tower. Even though the gardens were tiny, they were Japanese  style which was really cool to see at the temple and it was really pretty. There was also Japanese kanji on the outside which was cool. Inside, the decor was very simple, yet it was so beautiful because of the simplicity and the Spirit could dwell there. It was a very special experience.

Today, the girls came home from church with these precious "sayonara dolls".  They are kokeshi dolls, but when you undo the ribbon that's tied around them, their kimono will unravel along with a paper scroll.  The Young Women in the ward here all wrote little good-bye notes to both Tayla and Caitlin on the scrolls.  What a wonderful little keepsake!  It hasn't been easy for both of these teen daughters of ours' to leave all of their friends and the wonderful Young Women group in the Spring Creek Ward behind in America and come here for almost 5 months.  But, they made it and Dad and I are proud of them for sticking it out.
We are all so excited to be going back to our ward in Laramie, but oh, how we will miss the Tokyo Temple!  I think it holds a special place in every one of our hearts.