Day 9: Sunday - Shimogamo ward, Kinkaku-ji and dinner with the Mizoguchi family

This morning we woke up and dressed early to get out the door for 10 am church in the Shimogamo ward. Sarah was thrilled to be reunited with many friends she had made while serving in this area last year. The ward members were impressed by how well her Japanese had improved from the time they last saw her.  Sarah was excited to find out that the two members who were baptized last year were still active in the ward. Unfortunately, we missed meeting them today but we were introduced to many other ward members and even received an invitation to a member's home for dinner tonight! It was fun to attend a Japanese ward and hear ward members bearing their testimonies in Japanese. The Spirit was so strong and was a powerful witness to the words spoken from each member's heart.

After church we walked around the corner to the Shimogamo Shrine. Sarah used to walk or ride her bike through the grounds on her way to church during the week.

 

There were two weddings here this afternoon - Bruce caught
a photo of one of the couples posing for their photographer!

This is the pathway that leads to the shrine through the woods next to the river,
it was so peaceful and beautiful here.

We walked over to the Kamo River which is the main river that divides the city.  Sarah rode her bike up and down this river frequently, it was a good way for her and her companion to stop and talk to people about the church.

From the Kamo River we took a bus across town to Kinkaku-ji - The Golden Temple. Here we joined many large groups of tourists as we made our way around the temple grounds.  We had to push our way to the front at times just to grab a family photo - even then some of the tourists would try to push us out of the way as they were trying to take their own photos! Kinkaku-ji was the retirement villa of a shogun who donated his home to become a Zen temple after his death in 1408. There is only one building left now of the once large estate.

Each floor is built in a different style - the first floor is built in the Shinden style which has natural wood pillars and white plaster walls- similar to other temples we have seen.  The second floor is a Bukke style which was used for samarai residences.  It is covered in gold leaf on the outside. The third floor is done in a Chinese Zen style and is painted in gold leaf on the outside and inside.  The building is topped with a bronze phoenix. Gold was used on the temple in order to purify any negative thoughts towards death.  The use of gold on the outside reflects the gold used on the inside - this temple combines many symbolic features of nature, death and religion.

We squeed in one good photo before we got moved out of the way - lol

So we moved to another side of the lake and grabbed a few pictures here!

I love this picture :)

and this one too!

A quick stop at Sarah's apartment where she lived while serving in Kyoto - the elders live here now as sister missionaries have been moved from this area.

Stopping for warm mochi on our way to dinner!  Oishii - so delicious - and yes, it is super cold today. It felt good to have a few warm bites of food.

Here we are at Kura sushi - one of Sarah's favorite sushi restaurants.  Behind us is a conveyor belt carrying all kinds of delicious 100 yen sushi - and each plate has two pieces - so that comes out to about 50 cents a piece - We are in sushi heaven!  The upper conveyor belt is for the special orders - the sushi comes to you on the express line and stops at your "window".  It was like the shinkansen of sushi!  We ate until we couldn't eat anymore and the grand total came to a mere $30!

  

Unfortunately we forgot to take any photos at the Mizoguchi home! We caught a bus back over to the east side of town and then we took a 20 min walk up the mountainside as there was no local bus that headed north up the mountain. Thank goodness there were streetlights so we weren't walking in complete darkness.  We met the elders biking up the mountain on their way to dinner with us, and we all walked together the last few minutes since the road was too steep at that point to ride their bikes. Mizoguchi shimai had been cooking all afternoon! She had made us tempura, yakisoba, curry, korokke (sweet potato covered in bread crumbs and deep fried- fabulous), fried chicken, salad and rice!  It was like Thanksgiving all over again.  We sat at the English table with the elders and Sarah sat at the Japanese table with the Mizoguchis and the one Japanese elder! After dinner Mizoguchi shimai was kind enough to drive us down the mountain to our bus stop to head home - it took 2 trips to get us all down but we were very grateful.