A lot like being a mom...

My Dearest Family,


Greetings from your missionary in the land of the rising sun!  

 Just to let you know...I am eating on onigiri right now, right right now, with salmon in it... (rice in seaweed with stuff in it) pretty sure it's raw... 

wahoo!  ha ha!!! 

Oh how I love you so much! I received some pretty sad news today... Asuka is not planning on being baptized right now. I get to call her once and talk, I really hope it goes well. know that this is the Lord's work and that He numbers His sheep. This is an incredible work.


So this weekend we dendo-ed from the apartment a little bit more... my comp was still sick, they think it is vertigo. I think she got a little better. Here she is with her BIKE! ...and look at that smile!  

This work is amazing. I know that it is the Lord's work. Today my comp and I were talking about the preparation the Lord has done for each of us to come to Japan... and that was one of the messages from the AP's this month. As my comp and I were talking, I thought about it more and more. What is the Lord preparing in our lives? What does He know about that He is preparing for you, in your life? It is amazing to me the plan that He has, how He knows things all along. He really is our perfect Father.


(Thanks for your note on work Mom! Loved that. And Dad! It sounds like the campout was so fun... I love the mountains and the peace that is there. I think about Aspen Grove still, living up there in the mountains... so fun to experience that. You are so great Dad! And Hyrum is three! Wow. You and Hyrum are under the same star - and so much alike! I love that! :))


It is funny but... I thought of an example from Harry Potter ...Hermoine Granger. (I know...I wasn't super into Harry Potter! This just fit) In the last book, Dumbledore left her a book that he knew she would read over and over, and she would know that when she needed it. We have access to "books" of all kinds through inspiration. It's just incredible!!!


I had a feeling about a kind of door we needed to knock on, and I want to find it! Maybe sometimes the Lord gives us just enough inspiration to inspire more perspiration, so we can work for others salvation. :) 


I love you so much! The Gospel is true. Being a trainer I think is a lot like what I have heard about being a mom, from what I hear from my sisters (and how I imagine it). There are all these things you vow you will never do, you decide you will be perfect, you know once YOU become the trainer, you'll know what to do and be flying on superman wings of inspiration... but then it happens and you are still just as normal as ever, and making just as many mistakes! The sweet companion you are training is probably going to end up doing the same things you do, even using the Japanese she's heard from watching you... It was so funny to me to feel that comparison, even though I haven't been a mom!  Now that i am a trainer, I feel so much more lenient on my own trainer, and just want to hug her and say thank you! thank you! thank you! It's so funny how much we think we can fix when it's our turn, but how much we all just need the Lord so  much. I love Him with all I am. I know that it is His grace we run on. Even in our darkest times, even in our best times, I know that He never leaves us. How it must grieve Him when we don't trust Him. I think Elder Holland said something like... "how it must wound the loving heart of the Savior when He hears His people do not feel confident in His care." How He loves us! How He is in our living water. I feel the weight of Salvation every once in a while, and probably just learn the same lessons again and again... hopefully sukoshi zutsu kaizen shite imasu! (little by little improving).

I love hearing of your triumphs and what each of you is doing. What a work it is. Thank you for your support. Even if everyone says no, we will proclaim the Gospel. I felt what a joy it was to actually contact when we'd been inside a long time this weekend... we left our apartment, and suddenly I wasn't feeling so apprehensive anymore. I just wanted to share, to have the chance to tell the people we meet of eternal things. We don't understand the culture perfectly. We can't speak the language perfectly. It really is His work. I know missionaries could NOT do this work without Him, no matter where they serve... it is too deep! 


I love the Book of Mormon. I love that great book. I know that through the Book of Mormon we can come to know, personally, Jesus Christ. As we read that book, we know the truthfulness, not only of the Restoration, but of Jesus Christ. It is so sad when people think there is another way. He truly is "the way, the truth, and the light." How I want to become more like Him.


Sorry a little scattered...with love though! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE! You are great!


With love,
Sister Anderson


Elder Holland's talk - Ensign  APR. 1998 “COME UNTO ME”
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1998/04/come-unto-me