Did I mention that I love missionary work???

Hey Cuties!

 

We don't even have time to read mail this week!  We have been trying to get to computers that work all day... Whew! Things are going great though, and they are looking up. We had a few miracles this week, including an investigator coming to Church who we haven't been able to contact for a long time!! I love missionary work, my companion, our investigators, President and Sister Zinke, Japan, our whole mission, my bike, teaching and proclaiming the gospel, the Book of Mormon...I love my Savior, and did I mention that I love missionary work?? I can't believe the time is winding down. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

 

Note: I'm supposed to be checking my flight itinerary with you, but I keep forgetting!! Next week?

 

No pics today, sketchy internet cafe, and I don't want my SD card to get erased!

 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! the work we are involved in is true! Funny moment of the day--on the way to our first email spot, I was singing some Nashville Tribute and came around a corner and this man was so close to me and i was singing practically in his face! He just started laughing because it was so funny, so i did, too!  Life is good here in Japan!

 

I LOVE YOU!

 

Sister Anderson

333

PS  I'll bet you never thought you would get a letter this short from me! haha!

Note from the folks: Since Sister Jen did not have time to send any pics this week, we thought you would enjoy some of her at the Provo MTC where she started her mission 

nearly eighteen months ago! 

She will be returning home from Japan 

Wednesday, June 5th!

She will be speaking in Sacrament meeting on June 30th at 9 am.  

The ward building address is 14400 South Redwood Road, Bluffdale.

Over the hill and still going up!

...you are walking, and then... you see this guy above the drink machine

and everything gets easier...hahahaha!

Dear Family,


Thanks for all the updates!  How I love to hear about all the families and the 
goings-on. The performances, high school dances and parties (Mook is 16!!!),
track meets, triathlons, half marathons, gymnastics, theater group, the 
marriage retreat at Aspen Grove (my old stompin' grounds...and the family's
too!), harvesting and canning, Lolly and Rob's new house in CA, trips, school,
hikes in the beautiful mountains, etc. etc.
I love all the news...its like sitting around around our kitchen table for a 
moment or two, eating together and laughing, sipping apple juice...ahhhhhhh!
I love you so much! I'm so grateful that the Lord sent me to such a wonderful 
family. You are all such examples to me. I am so proud of all the good you are 
doing, and all the faith you have. i want to be like you! 

I've been thinking a lot about goal-setting - even long-term goal setting, 
and it is amazing. "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision 
of what we can accomplish." (PMG) And then... they "transform our hopes 
into action." If we really set a goal with Heavenly 
Father and let that influence our daily lives in bite-sized portions, we begin
living to fulfill the potential He has created us to fulfill. We will become
the tools and servants He needs us to become. Sometimes I turn around
and think, "I definitely would not have had that thought before my
mission," So there is my essay for today! :)

This week has been so incredible. We were asked to speak in Church on 
Sunday, and the Lord just poured down and helped me with what I wanted 
to say.  It was a day especially when I knew I couldn't do it alone, and the 
Spirit came in and picked up the rest. i am so grateful!

The members are on fire with the work. I love this little branch. You would 
not believe how incredible these few saints are in Takamatsu, I love them 
so much. We really are so blessed. The Spirit is pouring out not only upon 
the land of Japan, but it is so evident here in Takamatsu. The Lord is pouring 
out "His Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children
of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught 
among them at the time of his coming."  And we, His servants with His 
badge on, sometimes with wet hair from the rain, a wrinkle or two
from the bikes, but with the song of His redemption in our hearts, are the 
ones who have the privilege to introduce Him to them. I am so blessed. I am
privileged to be here. I just love it. I love it so much. I love missionary work!!!

We are working with a wonderful family that we hope will become investigators
this week. The father was a member and recently passed away. The Lord has 
really put us in situations (the two times we have met) to be able to strengthen 
our relationship with them. Also, after our talks on Sunday, a sweet less-active 
sister who had just been beaming during our talks, ran up with one of the 
wonderful "missionaries" (our members are missionaries), saying her daughter is
not a member and she wants us to put on a mini-concert for her to
hopefully begin taking the lessons! It is amazing, because the Spirit 
just bore witness so powerfully to me that this is a prepared place AS I was 
speaking. The members are prepared to not only see miracles, but facilitate them. 
There is one of the sweet members mothers who comes every week who is not a
member, who is SO SWEET and just loves Church. Her memory isn't super but we 
are going to try to do everything we can for her. "This beginning of miracles
did Jesus in [Takamatsu]." (Luke 2:11, paraphrase)

Oh my dear family, I wish you could meet this place. I wish you could
meet these people. I wish you could feel the love of the Lord for them. I wish 
sometimes we COULD stand on the corner with a trump (like Alma), just so 
everyone would have the chance to know, to feel His love. It is so real, so pure 
for them, for these children of His... so many who do not want to listen, but still He
wants so much to just tell them, to give them the chance to choose.
This is a place prepared for miracles.

We had another amazing experience one day when we had been out all day, 
and our investigator we had talked to could not meet with us, and couldn't
come to Church. We'd been housing and no one had really wanted to listen.
Then we knocked on a door, and a woman was there who began listening.
Some contacts are just guided. My companion started, and I just began praying
for the Spirit. It started pouring into my heart. It was such a powerful contact,
I don't even remember all of it, but the feelings there were so strong. We testified
of the Book of Mormon and about how she could truly know that God wasn't the 
strict, impersonal God that she seemed to think He was. Things changed, and 
where she hadn't wanted to take it and said she didn't have time to read it, she 
said she would read it, even if it was a little bit at a time each day. That moment
was transcendent. The Spirit definitely worked through us. i felt no fear in 
testifying what I know to be true! She can know of Jesus Christ through that
magnificent book, restored so that we know Heavenly Father's nature and His 
beloved Son, our Savior, our Exemplar, our Best Friend and Redeemer. He is 
the best missionary, and through the Spirit we can teach what He would have 
them know.

I love you fam! Time is short, and it's so fun to see Elder Lythgoe's
name all over the area book - he certainly left his mark here! Sister Zinke 
was saying what a great missionary he is as we drove down here together. :)
Its fun to let everyone know we are related. I hope that I can be a great 
missionary like my cousin here in Takamatsu. :) I love the work and my Savior,
I love you sweet fam, and you are so close to my heart. Thank you for your 
prayers and love! 

I LOVE YOU!
Love,
Sister Anderson

 Everyone takes such good care of us...

 The view from our apartment window.

 Thanks for the "hump day" package...especially the miniature candy bar poster and party stuff!  oh yea...and the "over the hill" items..haha!
Over the hill and still going up!!!

 My doryo with a very original borrowed helmet from the ward. They

are so cute to us, they loaned it to her while our bags were coming, she

is just looking a little bit like she is in the army...

 Thanks for all the letters to celebrate my hump day...or as Dad calls it, 

my "double dedication day!"

Random blue hats we found in our apartment in Akashi...just had to wear them to clean the apartment before we left...and just had to bring them to Takamatsu with us!

Embedded with miracles!

My Sweet, Sweet, Eternal Family--

Wow! Every week there are so many things I want to write you. I think
of witty things to say occassionally during the week, my life embedded
with miracles, the times that are so hard that all I can do is pray,
the funny times where it might be just me, laughing in the kitchen or
by my bike--and I want to just chatter or show you videos but mostly
just to tell you spiritually how great it is. I love you my fam!

So this week, my ma-ma (so-so) witty parable is about cooking. :) This
week my companion had a birthday. I decorated just a little and then for district
meeting I decided to make a cake. We've been working on time, so I was doing
it in different sittings. I made the cake, it was in the fridge. The night before,
I realized the whip cream was bad. The next morning, I realized the cream cheese
was also bad. I then realized I'd put in the powdered sugar too soon for this
other frosting recipe, and there I was in the kitchen looking at it all...
What gets even funnier is then on Sunday I got up early to make treats
for so many people that have helped us this week. They all looked about like this:

the cake had way too much baking soda, the cookies were flatter than pancakes,
ha ha ha ha.

Somehow the cake turned out ma-ma (so so...all right) and everyone ate a piece,
(it ended up with peaches and a jelly like sauce)... though no one had
seconds... ha ha ha.

So anyway! That was how it went. I just want to tell you how great
the work is. I wish I could laugh with you about all of the funny
things that happen in life. The point is, that really it is the Lord
who makes up the difference for our efforts. I love those moments
where you just have to laugh, like the time I was at Angie's in Texas
and made that huge casserole and it fell flat on the ground when I was
supposed to be feeding her beautiful hungry kids. I love moments like
that for how muich they teach me! I am reminded again and again that
it is His hand, His power by which we work. (and no, I don't typically
cook quite that much - you can see why!)

I love you! The work is going forward. Kana Chan's baptism is
scheduled for this week. Yes!!!!!! She highlighted her favorite parts in the
scriptures and one chapter was almost all highlighted. I feel so
grateful to be a missionary. There are so many people with problems,
and we have the answers. They are so simple! I used to feel stressed
about not knowing everything. I know so much how much I don't know! I
am just so grateful for the power of God in this great work. We really
do have a loving Heavenly Father who is always so there to help minister to
me in a way that will help me grow. Sometimes it is a reprimand,
sometimes it is just that feeling of love, always that feeling of
love. I love my Savior so much. I want so much to minister like He does. I
know that He lives. I know the power of the Atonement is real, even as
we may remember things we have done, His promise is forgiveness and
peace. His promise is that He will remember them no more. How much I
love my Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you sweet Fam. Thank you for your prayers and dedication. 
A cool story:
We set a goal to give out a Book of Mormon as a
companionship, and when we went out in the evening (that day), we
stopped a lady who said we had said Hi to her before, and she thought
we had made a mistake and was super surprised! The Spirit was there
and we got to testify of the Restoration, and when I turned around my
comp was ready holding that Book of Mormon. We passed it to her and
she accepted it.

We are growing line upon line! My comp got in a bike accident this
week (so did my last companion - what is up with this?), but she is ok.
Things have been really crazy but good. There are times when the peace 
is so thick that it just fills up the reservoir inside.

I know that this is the work of God, of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is
such a privilege to invite others to Him! I love this work. I love
this work! I am amazed, since I started writing a miracle every day how
my capacity to notice them has increased. Every day we have miracles. 
There is never a day that is not chock-full of blessings
from Heavenly Father! He is just waiting for us to look and see.
It is so amazing that He blesses us so much. I really notice His love
when I notice our miracles. This is His work!!

I love you Fam. Onward and upward in the work of the Lord. The work is
full of miracles in the Land of Japan, and we have a mission goal for
every area to see a baptism in the next two transfers. I really,
really, know we can, and will as we excercise our faith.

THIS IS THE WORK OF OUR SAVIOR. What a privilege to be involved in it!

I love you Fam. Never be afraid to reach out and tell those you love
of the truth of the Gospel--this is their Salvation and what a
privilege we have to help. In the scriptures the laborer's reward is
always... joy! Doesn't He bless us too much?

I LOVE YOU! Thanks for being mine eternally, for all of the sweet
letters and packages family and friends! I love you!

Love,
Sister A

My sweet comp's sweet mom made these crochet slippers for us!  Love them!!!

Eating with a member and her friend...great times!

It's all in a day's work...investigators, sun screen, monopoly, Chinese cooking, lovin' the work, etc etc.

 Hey Fam! 
I love you! 
Welcome to your weekly Akashi report...
Here is my missionary pic on the ward board.

Time is flying here! This week has been super good, and crazy. Our
investigators are in and out of the picture, progressing and not, and
progressing! ha ha. They are so great. We are teaching an 11
year old named Kana Chan, who loves fun lessons. We've gotten really
creative. This week (or last?) I made a walk through plan of salvation
and we played Monopoly in Gense. (the world). 

She loved it!
We have another investigator who is Chinese, she called us today and told us to come over and she would teach us how to make Gyoza! 

I'll soon be a pro!
We play basketball for outreach every... 1,2,3 Saturday night. It's great. Mostly I just scream, but hopefully it's a little quieter in Japan...
you should see our 11 year old investigator imitate my hops. It's
really fun though! (half court of course). Tuesday here is Eikaiwa (English class). The Zone Leaders are in our area again. (maybe it is always that 
way? shiranai!) Sunday an investigator came to Church with her sister 
(who is a member), that we haven't seen since I came. It was so great to
teach her! The mission focus right now is really testifying from the
heart, which I really love... that's all I can really do in Japanese. :)
We are focusing on feelings! (ha ha "feelings!" you'd love this
training plan Jana!) The ward is super. I love them already. There is
a pretty good group that joined last year who are really strong. One
of our investigators said this week that she will come to Church
whether she gets baptized or not, for the rest that it is for her. 
(We will keep trying to help her!) I love this work. Sometimes it seems 
like we are just worrying about our investigators a lot, but I know that 
the Lord knows them. He helps us teach to our investigators needs. 
Tomorrow we have a Shimai Taikai... a Sisters Conference! (I come on a mission and I don't even have to miss Women's Conference.) 
It will be really fun. The only thing is that we got called and asked  
to recite an ansho (memorized thing)... and it is D&C 4! In Japanese...
and English. Ha ha! I just laughed. I'm about half way through. I 
know the Lord can help me memorize!
The members are really on board with missionary work. We
had an outreach barbeque this week. I'm still trying to figure out how
much of my and my American game side to incorporate over here... haha!
Tis the EFY counselor and Aspen Grove counselor coming out in me! I had
them write questions to ask each other, ha ha. It was interesting and 
didn't work as well as I had hoped. :)


I am so impressed with how much of the Lord's work this is. This is His 
work. Sometimes our investigators face obstacles that seem 
insurmountable for them, but then I am looking at the situation 
with only my eyes.
His eyes are on them. He knows every heartache, heartbeat. I know that
He moves mountains when we have faith. I know that He will help our
investigators in His timetable to come to Him.


"For behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth..." 


I received the package Mom! Thanks so much! I bought a few summer
shirts and... inherited some ha ha. They have these fancy arm covers
here and wear visors and hand covers on their bikes to keep away from the sun. And UV umbrellas. haha.

I came to a land where they are worried about the sun and they like fair skin! Yes! 
I wear sun screen but still have a bit of a watch line on my wrist... ha ha. I think I'm going to try the sun arms today! 


The family reunion looks like so much fun! Thanks for the pics. It is almost July - can you believe it？It is so fun to get to plan and live to try to help others receive the Gospel. I'm a missionary! It's so crazy to me. Today our
Chinese friends were asking me why I chose Japan to come to. It's
funny to say... I didn't! I know that there is someone who has SUCH a
bigger picture, for me and for every one of those people we talk to. I am so grateful I was chosen to come here!


Thanks so much for your support! Your letters really uplifted me
today. 


My doryo (companion) and I play gestures a lot and I resort to sound effects even more in a foreign language. I hope that is not a problem when I get home. :)  We are working hard and loving it!

I LOVE YOU!


Your Dot...Sister Anderson

 recipe added by Mom Angelle

Gyoza - Japanese style dumplins

Gyoza is originally a Chinese dish, which has become very popular across Japan. This recipe shows how to make the gyoza dough and the gyoza filling. The time consuming and difficult part of making of the dough can be skipped by buying premade dough pieces, which are available at some Japanese and Chinese grocery stores.

Ingredients:

(for 30 Gyoza)

Dough:

170 mL water

200 g strong flour

Filling:

200 g ground pork

Cabbage

Nira*: can be substituted by leek or green onion 

Leek or Green onion

Garlic

Ginger

Sake*

Soya sauce, salt, and pepper

Sesame oil

Dipping Sauce:

Soya sauce

Vinegar

* This ingredient may not be available in Western supermarkets, but you should be able to find it in Japanese grocery stores that exist in most large European and American cities.

Preparation:

Dough:

Mix the water and the flour to a dough that should not be sticky but as soft as an ear lobe.

Put a wet towel over the dough, and let it stand for several minutes.

Separate the dough in 30 pieces, and form each of them to very thin discs with a diameter of about 10 cm. The middle of each disc should be a little bit thicker than the edge.

Filling:

Cut some green, outer cabbage leaves, some green onion (or leek), nira, ginger, and garlic in very small pieces. The amount of these ingredients should equal the amount of meat. Do it as you like.

Put some salt on the cabbage, and let it stand for five minutes. Then press the water out of the cabbage pieces.

Mix the cabbage, green onion (or leek), nira, ginger, garlic, and the ground pork all together, and add some salt, pepper, soya sauce, sake, and sesame oil. Mix it all very well.

Making and frying the Gyoza:

Put some of the filling onto a piece of dough. Remember that the filling should suffice for 30 gyoza pieces.

Moisten the edge of the dough with water. Moisten only a semicircle, not all the way around.

Close the gyoza. While closing it, fold the edge about 6 times as shown on the image.

Put the gyoza on the table as shown in the image.

Fry the Gyoza in a little bit of hot oil until the bottom is brownish, then add water so that the gyoza are in the water with about half of their hight.

Keep the high heat and wait until all the water has vaporized. Then remove the gyoza from the heat.

Dipping sauce: Mix the same amounts of soya sauce and vinegar together.

Serving and eating:

Eat gyoza pieces after dipping them in the dipping sauce.

General information:

In China dumplins are usually eaten either steamed, fried or in a soup. Japanese gyoza, however, are usually fried. There are many kinds of fillings used, e.g. with different seafood instead of the meat, other vegetable, etc.

Ruel and Jan Clark Family Reunion Pics

  

                                                                    Jana turned 40!