Sponsors

Does progress ever just stop you in your tracks?

It seems like just yesterday when we stepped off the Patriot Express and were greeted by a crowd of smiling strangers who had to take us under their wing and help us figure out our new life here in Japan. Now James and I are the experienced ones officially sponsoring and caring for some of these new Samurai warriors. Crazy.

James went through the B-Course in Phoenix with a single guy named Dan Toftness. His first assignment was to Kunsan AB in Korea. But now that his year there is up he's been assigned to our squadron! Squadron leadership usually ask around and have people sponsor their friends, so the new people feel comfortable asking questions, etc. So we volunteered to sponsor Dan.

Since he's a single guy, there wasn't as much for me to do when it came to preparing for Dan's arrival. Usually I would be corresponding with the wife/fiancee/girlfriend and answering all of the questions we ladies have when moving to a new place. But since that wasn't necessary I let James take care of everything until the night before Dan arrived. We went to the commissary and bought a bunch of groceries, etc. so we could stock his hotel room with goodies. That was one of the things that made us feel the most welcome and at-home when we arrived so I wanted to pay it forward. We may have spoiled him a bit, but I know Dan appreciated the thought. =^)

Then James and I joined several other people down at the AMC terminal early Monday morning to welcome him, as well as our first Lieutenant straight out of the B-Course since James and I arrived! Lt. Josh and Kristen Masopust are solid Christians who will be living one street over so I was particularly excited about welcoming them to our North Area family!! We escorted the new guys to their hotel, got them settled in, then took them around shopping for cell phones, cars and houses.

Later that day, James and I took Dan out for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants off base and had fun getting reacquainted. I was especially curious to hear his feelings about moving to northern Japan after the big earthquake and tsunami. He said he wasn't very concerned (his family worried more than he did.) He figured if the military thinks it's safe to have families up here, it wouldn't be a problem. But he'd never experienced an earthquake before so that would take a little getting used to. We had a few good shakers over the next couple of days to welcome him to the area. haha. He's pretty tough though and didn't seem to be too scared. (Or he just wouldn't admit it. ;^)

We've actually had several new people PCS in to our squadron over the last couple weeks so James and I decided to have them over for dinner on Friday night - to get know them better, and introduce them to the neighbors. I went a little over-board and sent out the invite to the entire squadron. It was AWESOME! We had at least 30 people crammed into our little apartment at one point. All eating, drinking and hanging out. I think the new people were a little overwhelmed but excited to have so many people turn out to welcome them in true Samurai fashion.

I love our squadron and enjoy doing anything I can to help our new recruits feel the same. We have such a tight-knit community and these new people are definitely going to be a great addition!