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From Returned Missionaries
Dwayne N. Andersen-Excerpts from Autobiography
Tokyo Temple President
Part 33
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT DURING TOKYO TEMPLE
I was privileged to have the opportunity of conducting temple tours for a number of general authorities. They came at various times during our stay there. It was a choice experience to be in their presence, to spend a short time visiting and touring the temple. The ones who came were: Elder L. Tom Perry; Elder David B. Haight, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Brother Russell Nelson, who was not a general authority at the time, but was later made a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. One day Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi, Asia Area Authority, called to ask Peggy to prepare a meal for Elder Gordon B. Hinckley and his wife. Elder Kikuchi had the responsibility to host Elder Hinckley while he was in Japan. Of course we were excited to accept the request. We were not quite prepared for what we saw when Elder Hinckley arrived. I had never seen Elder Hinckley so depressed. He had just finished touring some of the Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain with one of the BYU musical groups. He just could not get over the looks on the faces of the people there and the atmosphere he felt in these communist-dominated countries. As we were eating, Elder Kikuchi suggested that we share with Elder Hinckley and his wife the miraculous experience we had with Trudy and Dr. Russell Nelson, just before we left for Japan. We finished telling them of Trudy’s story about the same time as we finished our meal. While we were relating the story, tears came to both of their eyes. The countenance on Elder Hinckley’s face changed back to his usual enthusiastic expression. He stood up and said: “Elder Kikuchi, I am ready to go to work now!”
When the temple was closed we went with some of the temple workers and temple missionaries on a clam hunt. The tide was out while we sloshed around in the mud, looking for clams. When we stopped, we had collected about a third of an average-sized bucket. (There were other people looking for clams, also, as it was on a Saturday.) I washed the clams off and put them into a bucket of fresh water, hoping that we would be able to cook them on Monday.
On Sunday morning they were not looking good—in fact we thought they were all dead. I reported my observation of the clams at Sunday services to a Japanese member. He had a good laugh and said: “All you need to do is to put some salt in the water.” When I came home from church, I put some salt in the water; and on Monday morning, the clams had opened and were moving about with their tentacles sticking up. We eventually had a number of meals of clam chowder. It was quite a treat.
Peggy’s brother, Edward Huish, with his wife, Margaret, and their daughter, Kim, visited us while we were at the Tokyo Temple. They came at our two-week cleaning period. I arranged with the recorder and engineer to fill the baptismal font so that Kim could perform some baptisms for the dead. She was thrilled to do so in the Tokyo Temple. We had a very good Japanese friend, named Kamijo, who had baptized Valerie when she turned eight years old in our former mission. This wonderful friend took a few days off his work and acted as our tour guide and chauffeur. He took us and our guests to a number of beautiful and scenic places. We ended up at a house he owned in the mountains, where we stayed for one night. It was completely Japanese style, so it made for a most enjoyable stay. A few years after we had returned, Brother Kamijo came to the United States and visited us in Provo, and also visited Edward’s family in Arizona.
Valerie was unable to come to the dedication of the temple. Fortunately, a few months before we were to leave Japan, Valerie’s husband, Richard Heaton, was sent to Japan by the Missionary Training Center to visit some of the Japanese missions. He was an administrator at the MTC; and one of his assignments was to supervise the teaching of languages of Asia at the MTC. We made arrangements to have Valerie accompany him on this trip. It was necessary for her to bring five-week old Brenda with them. We had a few days in Tokyo that Valerie and Richard could stay with us, while he operated out of Tokyo. Later, we both had to go to a conference in Fukuoka, so it made a nice trip for all of us. This made it possible for our children to have visited Tokyo, except for Trudy. (We later made it possible for Rick and Trudy to visit Hawaii instead.)
As President of the Tokyo Temple, I was given a new four-door sedan for temple and personal use. Having this sturdy and well-kept car made it possible for us to transport temple missionaries and visitors around as needed. It also gave us opportunities to visit Japanese and military families. When the temple was closed, we could visit historic and scenic places. This experience of working with the wonderful Japanese saints and saints from other parts of Asia, as they worshiped in the House of the Lord, was a spiritually enlarging part of our lives! Our 28- month assignment as the first Tokyo Temple president was one of the highlights of our lives.