"Friday we were able to meet with President and Sister Tateoka and it was awesome. I love them so much. It was so sad to say goodbye to them. They have done so much not only for us missionaries, but the members and more importantly the people of Sendai. They worked so hard and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve under President Tateoka. I learned so much. I hope to be able to continue to incorporate the things I have learned as I continue to serve. It was so hard for all of us to say goodbye. After the conference we all got in line to give them hugs goodbye and I have never seen so many tears in my life. I kind of felt like a baby but that is how much I love and appreciate all they have done for me. They will always have a special place in my heart! :) "

19 Mar 2011--The "new" "Sendporo" combined mission group photo, after the Church evacuated all Sendai Missionaries to Sapporo. Here's Sapporo Mission President Lee Daniels' 20 Mar 2011 posting on their blog describing the combination events:

"All of the Sendai missionaries arrived safely in Sapporo within approximately 24 hours of hearing the decision of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to relocate the Sendai and Tokyo Missions’ missionaries. It was a major undertaking with miraculous results to gather all of the missionaries in the Sendai area, charter buses, secure train tickets, purchase airline tickets and deliver them safely to Sapporo. Many of them arrived with only the clothes on their backs and their backpacks. Others brought most of their belongings. The last group arrived late on Thursday evening with President and Sister Tateoka and Elder and Sister Choi.

On Friday morning, the missionaries were able to gather together as an entire mission and say goodbye to President and Sister Tateoka. President Tateoka has the priesthood keys for most of the members in Sendai who were most severely impacted by the recent events. Elder Choi informed the missionaries that the priesthood keys for the missionaries have now been transferred to President Daniels and the Sapporo Mission. This will allow President and Sister Tateoka the ability to dedicate their full time attention to the extensive needs of the members. We then had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with the Sendai Missionaries and quickly came to appreciate the strength of their testimonies, their dedication to the gospel and their musical talent. They will be great additions to the work in Sapporo.

On Saturday, we brought in all of the Sapporo Missionaries to Sapporo and had a Mission Conference. It was wonderful to have all of the missionaries together. We discussed the missionary work in Sapporo, introduced the new missionary structure and announced each individual transfer. Planning this transfer was another witness to us that the Lord is in charge of this work and continues to lead and guide our efforts – right down to the individual missionary. The two missions are now completely integrated with a Zone Leader from each mission leading the zones and actually more District Leaders from the Sendai Mission than the Sapporo Mission leading the individual Districts. We are excited to see the surge in the work as we prepare for the temple that has been announced for Sapporo.

We are sensitive to the intense love and feeling the missionaries have for the Sendai Mission, the members and their investigators. We do not intend to replace those feelings, but to build on top of them additional experiences that they will capture from their service in Sapporo. We hope that they will be able to return soon but were instructed to integrate them fully into our mission. Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with all of the people in Japan that have been impacted by all of these disasters."

On 27 April 2011, a Church press release announced that some missionaries would return to safe areas of mission. We learned directly from President Tateoka that the "safe" districts are Aomori (Aomori, Hachinohe, Hirosaki and Odate) and Niigata (Niigata, Sanjo, Nagaoka and Joetsu) and that the transfer of twenty-two missionaries back from Hokkaido after 1.5 months there took place on Monday, 02 May. Missionaries transferring to the Niigata district traveled by plane from Sapporo, and those transferring back to the Aomori district transfered by train (through the Seikan tunnel) to Aomori. Here are pictures that appeared on the Sapporo Mission's blog featuring the Niigata Zone returning missionaries taken at the Sapporo Airport:
First row: Elders Ruefenacht, Juchau, Taniuchi*, Suzuki, Ackerman*, Sakamoto. Top Row: Sisters Yoshida, Beaven, Elders Price, Takei, Guevara, Carthew (*Taniuchi and Ackerman are the Sapporo APs)

At Sapporo Station, the Aomori Zone missionaries returning "home":
Front row: Sisters Furukawa, Onda, Yoshizawa, Asato, Elders Kaneko, Kurita. Back row: Elders Cannon, Taylor, Warren, Suzuki, Tanaka, Shaw
Photos courtesy President Daniels' Sapporo Mission Blog.

All the remaining approximately 50 Sendai Missionaries who temporarily served in the Sapporo Mission for two months returned to the Sendai Mission by Tuesday 24 May 2011, joining the 22 Niigata and Aomori Zone missionaries who had already returned earlier in the month. There was an all-mission conference held in Sendai with Elder Michael T Ringwood, who, effective 01 Aug 2011, will be the new first counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency headquartered in Tokyo. A day of service followed for afflicted areas near Sendai. Afterwards, missionaries transferred to their assigned areas, though we understand certain mission cities such as Iwaki will not yet have missionaries due to continuation of conditions considered as unsafe. I'm sure you can join me in breathing a sigh of relief at this news, as well as smile at the thought of President Tateoka being able to have his missionaries all back "home" for the last full month of his and Sister Tateoka's three-year assignment.