Japan Special Convention 2013: Day 4-6: Convention

Each morning, a chartered bus picked us up at 7:30. We all had a bus assignment and a bus captain. After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the Yokohama Arena. We were dropped off on one side and had to walk up a flight of stairs, round a corner, then back down a flight of stairs to the front entrance. Each morning there was a line of brothers the whole way saying 'good morning', 'welcome', 'thank you for coming'. It was quite overwhelming. The view of the front entrance walkway and the lobby was a delight to see. Many colorful kimonos and Korean sisters in their native dress, friends taking pictures - it was very hard to even enter the building as everyone was so anxious to meet and greet you.

Each day we met new friends. Young ones would come up to us with gifts along with older ones. We ended up with a garbage bag full at the end of 3 days: Chopsticks, fans, candy, crackers, origami, handkerchiefs, pretty paper and cards. The friends were so loving and excited. We have never felt this much enthusiasm in one place at one time.

We listened to translation on a radio. Having already been to the convention really helped as we knew what was going on and recognized all the demonstrations. We had the privilege of having brother Herd of the governing body as guest speaker. When talks are translated, one sentence is said at a time, and then translated. This, obviously, makes for less time available to the brother. So what was unique about brother Herd's talks were that they were direct and to the point. We loved it!