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Note: President
Packer talked about the Kobe mark in Zone Conferences in late 1984. (Previous to that
time, there had not been so much emphasis on the actual Kobe city symbol as the mission mark.)
At that series of Zone
conferences, President Packer discussed the Kobe mark and the scripture in Ether as described
below. (It was also at that time that President Packer announced that the mark would be made
into a tie tack or necklace available as a memento for returning
missionaries.)
Source: The Kobe Mark (from Paradigms, newsletter of the
Japan Kobe Mission 83-86) -- Grant Denton ('85-'87, DGrantAmy@aol.com)
and Todd W Furniss (tjfurn@juno.com)
On the side of the mountains overlooking the city of Kobe is the Kobe mark or anchor. At night you can see it outlined in lights, and by day depicted by beautiful green shrubbery. For many years there were two ports in the Kobe area. One was Hyogo port, the other was the port of Kobe. Standing on the mountains above and between the two ports, looking down, the curvature of the shoreline and the ocean between the two ports resembles the joining of two "ogi" or fans, as symbolized in the joining of the two half circles depicted in the Kobe mark. Also, in ancient Japan, Kobe was called and pronounced "Kaube". The early configuration of the katakana character "ka" is the same as the Kobe mark. Ancient Japanese ships that anchored in the harbor at Kobe used an anchor shaped very much like the Kobe mark. This mark or "anchor" has since become a symbol of the city of Kobe.
In Ether 12:4 we read the following:
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."
What could better represent the hope of each Kobe Missionary to become "sure" and "steadfast" to abound in "good works", and to "glorify God" than a replica of the Kobe mark? Its something to represent what one of the greatest groups of young men and women in the world want to become.
