The work is sooooooo good!

Dear Family,

AHHH! I love you so much! Are you having a great day? What did you do this morning? Did you have cereal for breakfast? So fun to hear more about Christmas and the celebrations! Happy birthday Spencer Roger and congrats on your ordination today! Congrats to Scott on becoming an Eagle Scout! You both are getting so tall! Sounds like so much fun with Hwasung there and Spen and Rach and the kiddos. I am so happy to hear that you are hobbling around without crutches Nate. You rock Pooks! Give everyone hugs from me. :)

Life is so sweet. There are always unexpected things, but it's just as Heavenly Father wants as long as we are just going on the path. It's so amazing! I love the Gospel. I love teaching it, reading it, I love prayer. I love teaching my investigators. I learn so much when I am teaching! I feel like I am the one being taught so much. I still feel so “osanai”, so young in the Gospel...I know I don't even have a grasp of what we have and yet, I love it so much!! WE HAVE THE GOSPEL OF THE ETERNAL GOD ON THE EARTH. Isn't that amazing? I loved studying about it this morning.

So, transfers come on a Wednesday this week, so I have no idea where we'll be next week! (I'm putting in some o-negai's for staying in Takamatsu...) Izumikawa San is looking great. She is doing so well. She and all of her cute boys came to Church on Sunday!!! Ahhh. Such a great feeling. This Gospel is meant for families. It is amazing to see the Spirit work in someone's lives. This mission has taught me so much that it's not ME, not me changing them—I just get to, as our President says “set the table for the guests”--our investigator, the Holy Ghost, and us. The most important ones at the feast are the Holy Ghost and our investigator!! It has been so neat for me to see the change in Izumikawa San's life. We went to our lesson last week and Dobson Shimai said, “she has such a light! She looks so different!” I am so humbled and amazed that Heavenly Father lets us do this work. It truly won't fail. My missionary friends, you can do it. No matter how skilled or unskilled you feel—it is the Lord's power, and He is all powerful. This will be the most wonderful adventure of your life.

So, we have a transfer next month that is only 4 weeks to accommodate all of the missionaries coming into the field. Our capacity is about 140 right now as a mission (for missionaries), it is projected to eventually be up to 250!!!(President was saying... that means, everyone get ready to train! Ha ha.) Our coming home date will be moved up 3 weeks, which means our new date is June 7. (I will be home for Father's day! Isn't that weird and fun?!) Something else wonderful, Yoshiko San got baptized in Akashi yesterday!! My district leader from the MTC is the missionary there who baptized her. :) Isn't that great! Rekimoto San (who got baptized when we were there) is now blessing and passing the Sacrament, and another investigator is moving towards her baptismal date there. The field is RICH. The work is GOOD. It really is about losing yourself and focusing on Him.

I love you!! Try to find a way to PUT ON THE GOSPEL TODAY! It's the best.
Love,
Sister Anderson

We had a Christmas taikai and sang the 12 days of Christmas .. this is the partridge in a pear tree. ha ha

 Christmas gifts to give away... the best kind!

And they thought everything was smaller here!

Dearest Family in America!

Wow! That's weird. I'm sitting in Japan right now and you are sitting in America, on a Sunday night I've already lived on my hemisphere. Ha ha! How I loved talking with you all on Mother's Day!! What a treat! All my nieces and nephews sound so grown-up. :)
Happy Mother's day to all you moms...thanks for your example to me and to so many others.  I am so grateful that you love being mothers. Thanks again to everyone for all your support and love!


My beautiful Japan...

We have some great miracles to tell you about. This week, I just felt at the beginning of the week that this would be a week of miracles. Last week, before we called, three of our investigators came to Church on Sunday. Three! We were so stoked. I love seeing Heavenly Father's children progressing.

The first person I want to tell you about is Noguchi Asuka San. Probably two or three weeks ago, I started talking to a girl on a bridge (she was the one that said "I'm interested in Christian churches!"). This past week she came to church, and we gave her a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet, and scheduled a meeting for Tuesday. On Tuesday when she came, she apologetically pulled out the Book of Mormon and said she hadn't finished it. I said was that was fine, of course. When my companion asked her where she'd read to, neither of us quite understood what she said, and we would have missed it if a member hadn't stopped and said, 300 pages?? Ha ha. It turns out, she'd read 300 PAGES! She came again to Church this week. She really is incredible. We had a lesson and it was a lot for her to take in (mostly just answering some questions she had). We are actually teaching her today, soon after I write! It was so neat though. At one point, she asked us what it would be like if people chose not to follow Christianity (or something like that?). I just cried as I got to testify of Jesus Christ to this sweet girl who is coming to know Him. He is everything. He is the reason we can go home, the reason we have peace and can overcome. He is "the light and the life of the world." It's so amazing to be a missionary. The Lord is helping us so much. Even today in front of the Hyaku Yen shop, a girl just started talking to me and in the midst of our conversation, we told her why we were in Japan. It's so incredible to wear Jesus Christ's name, where people can see us and ask us about Him  so that we can invite people to come closer to Him. So! Noguchi San is super great. We are also teaching a girl named Sarah that we met, who is a member of a Baptist church. She is so great!! I love these two girls. She is 24 and has wonderful faith in Jesus Christ. We talked a little bit about baptism this week, but our next lesson (tomorrow) will be on the Priesthood and proper authority. Both of them are "ii kanji," like... good feelings?  ha ha, they both are doing so well and we have a great feeling about them. It was so exciting when we were talking about the Plan of Salvation with Sarah. We have a few other investigators we are working with, but these are the ones we were able to meet with this week. I love Japan! Sometimes, I think like Nephi in 2 Nephi 4... and my soul feels all the stress of life. Things can be hard. But I do know that "Nephi's lament" turned around with the words, "I know in whom I have trusted." I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. You are so great fam!

This week, I guess another miracle is... I ate raw squid and raw eel! (This can be a follow up question for Ellie and Hyrum who asked about the food!) I had my first sushi shop experience. It is so fun, there is a conveyer belt and you just grab whichever plate looks appealing and pay at the end... they are about 100 yen a plate. I lived! They are actually not that bad... I also realized I like beans more than I like cake, and that was a weird experience. Ha ha!

I love you sweet fam. It's such a weird place to be in, sometimes I look around and I am surprised at what kind of life I'm living. Every once in a while something will catch me off guard, but I'm amazed at how at home I feel. Thank you for your prayers, they help so much. I know that Heavenly Father answers the prayers of little girls (President Monson's story from conference), and of everyone else. I know He hears us. I know that He is just waiting. This week in one of our lessons, I realized anew that this work is ONLY possible through Jesus Christ. This work HAS to be done with the Spirit. When you step back and look at someone changing their life, in ways we can't understand or comprehend, it is amazing that it happens at all. And yet it is happening everywhere. I know that Heavenly Father knows His children. Oh, the work is so good. I studied patience on Sunday and realized I was a little afraid to pray for patience from the many stories I've heard of seemingly bad experiences that come from asking for a virtue! ha ha. I realized in Church yesterday that Heavenly Father can tutor us with good things. I realized anew my dependence on Him this week. Without the Spirit, we cannot do this work.

Our investigators have some big decisions to make this week. Tomorrow, Sarah will have a big decision to make about baptism. Would you pray for her and for our other investigators? Both of the investigators I've mentioned are making big steps. I'm so excited. I can only imagine what Heavenly Father feels for us, even as we begin to progress. How He loves us!

Well my sweet Fam, I wish I had 3 hours to plop you in Japan and walk you around, to put you on my bike over the red cobbled streets, to have you nod and say "konichiwa" to the sweet old ladies bicycling and walking by, to stop by Hozawa's shoe stop on the corner of two lights, and say hi to the shopkeeper who must be in her fifties or sixties but dances and feeds the birds as she sells shoes. I wish you could come with me to visit the members, how you would love them and how you would cry over their humility and love. Someday we will be eating Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and talking about these stories that are happening now. (but don't worry! I'm not thinking about it!  ha ha)... but for now these letters will have to do. :) Oh how I love you sweet people. How the Lord loves us. How He loves His children.

Ice cream tag line... and they thought everything was smaller in Japan!  hahahahahah!

This week I got asked if bike helmets are part of our religion. (For how often we wear them... they might as well be ha ha.) I got asked if we were ok doing blood transfusions and the other day I got asked if I was Amish, or if I eat meat. I am livin the dream! wooo!

Things are so great. I can't believe my first twelve weeks are almost over in the field! Transfers are in two weeks, how crazy is that?
      
So... everyone has a dog in Japan, but we aren't allowed to have pets... but I think we finally found one President could approve of! ha ha. 

Another pic of us...how I loved seeing my brother!!!

Who would have thought???

 Eating at the member's homes:

 Treats i made the other day (pie looking with raspberries) - yum!

  This is to show Ryan the green hills! 

 Today is supposed to be a solar eclipse! This is the beginnings. It's pretty cloudy but the pic is still cool. Can you see it? 

 I love you Fam! The work is true.  Thank you for your prayers and faith. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are so great, plus 50 bonus points.

Love,
Sister Anderson in Japan

Miracles happen!

So...many of you know that our son, Nate, is in Asia.

We could almost hear the ecstatic scream half way around the world as he set foot on beloved Japanese soil!

He has been looking forward to returning to his ol' stompin' grounds for over six years! About that long ago, he played drums in a jazz band that performed at Universal Studios Japan. He was living in the boundaries of Jen's mission for a year. She even visited him when he was there! 

This trip, Nate will also visit Korea - the land of his mission.

And yes...the nice people at the airport allowed him to check his garbage can drum set! 

He worked for weeks to build a portable set that he could carry, pull, store extra items in, set up anywhere, and still be within airline luggage checking limits...not to mention one from which  he could make music! We nicknamed him "Maurice" (from Disney's Beauty and the Beast - haha, and only because Nate kept calling himself crazy! What an invention - complete with attached plastic buckets, a cymbal, bass pedal, foot tambourine, etc.!  He sits on a bucket to play the set, which is also stored inside the Rubbermaid garbage can/drum. You can see from the pic that his garbage can set is labeled with his name (right side up to transport, and upside down for when it is a drum). Amazing, right? Nate said he is glad he put padlocks on the lid to keep it shut (and protect the innards) - because people keep trying to put trash in it! :) You can see  more pics of his adventures on Face Book.

On May 9, Nate and his friend Yuri rented a car and took a morning road trip from Osaka to Tokushima. 

...and look who they found there!!!

Nate had contacted Sister Jen's mission president who gave him permission to see her!!! 

His report:

She is doing great and her Japanese speaking skills are fantastic - really doing well speaking this complicated language!  We are so grateful all this worked out, and these two kids of ours got to see each other half-way around the world from their home in Bluffdale!  

Miracles do happen...

On Mother's day (Monday in Japan)

we Skyped (sound only) our sweet missionary and had a glorious conversation - clear as a bell - another miracle!

The conversation included:

Souliers in California

Andersons in Colorado

Andersons in Georgia

Nate in Korea

And her Utah Sibs and Family

From our conversation we learned:

Sister Jen sleeps on a futon and hangs her clothes on a clothesline to dry.  

Her apartment has a washer and a shower.

She studies for about four hours each day.

Her legs are really strong from biking two or more hours every day.

She can not see the ocean from where she lives, but there is a beautiful river nearby.

The rainstorms in Japan can be fierce - the windows of her apartment rattle!

The strangest food she has eaten is octopus.

There are wonderful people who take good care of the missionaries.

That the Japanese language is hard for her to speak but she is getting better at it!  The   

         nieces and nephews told her that the "Madgab Game" she challenged them to do (see 

         letter on May 1st) is hard to figure out - so they know she is doing amazingly well  

         learning Japanese!

She was on TV the other day answering a question about Japanese food.

She prays a lot!

Sister Jen loves her mission and is so grateful for all the love and support!!!

When we were trying to make the call and were having some difficulty, I emailed the mission president's wife, Sister Zinke. When the call went through to Sister Jen, I let her know that we worked it out. Here is her reply:

Dear Andersons,

I am so glad that you were able to figure it out!  She is such a sweetheart...we love her so much!  We are grateful for her cheerful service!  Hope your day was wonderful.

Love,

Sister Zinke

Livin' the dream!!!

To the Best Family in the World!


Wow! I get to call you this week! Thank you SO MUCH for the sweet letters, prayers, and love. I definitely feel it and your wonderful faith. What amazing people you are! I know that I came to a family of giants. Thank you for your examples and your love. 


Another week livin' the dream!!! It's been a big week. We had a lot of finding time this week. We had special training from our Zone Leaders this week (they are in Tokushima with us), and it was awesome... we hadn't been finding a ton and we went out that day and found 5 potential investigators, getting numbers and all. It really is amazing. So often I remember how little I know, and then I realize again how perfectly the Lord knows everything... and it is a beautiful package. He is so good to us! I can't tell you the power of having a calling like this, I feel it. When I truly realize the calling to represent Jesus Christ in helping others come unto Him through the path He has ordained, that truly is a sacred privilege. 


Fun things from this week: As I was writing on the board what I thought I was describing as Eikaiwa (English conversation), happy for the two or three kanji I knew, one of the new Elders looked up to read the board. He  said, "Welcome to Eikaigo?" ha ha ha. It definitely wasn't the right kanji and I've definitely been writing it FOR WEEKS! I got a good laugh out of that. At least the people who came to class probably recognized we were there to teach them English, and likely not Japanese. ha ha.


The sweet couple that buys us food each week also asked us out for dinner this week. They take such good care of us. The husband finished (I think his degree?) at BYU the last semester I was there! They are SO SWEET! One of the Elders' investigators came and it was so fun. It was a sort of viking (what they call "all you can eat"), in that you could keep ordering these little pizzas. Sister Zinke remarked (when we were at a conference) that usually the viking restaurants are great for the Elders but a little expensive for the sisters ha ha. It's so great though! Anyway, for dessert, I ordered this tiny little... chocolate melting cake - our favorite cruise delectable, Mom, Dad, Nate!!! :) It brought back great memories so I just had to tell you!


Ok, funny story. We had SO MUCH RAIN one of these days. It was my first encounter with that much rain, and it was squeezing out of my little shoes when I stepped. I had my waterproof coat on but no poncho, and the hood of my beautiful coat (thanks brothers!), was on over my large white bicycle helmet. I looked in a shiny surface and just started laughing, because my helmet was so big with the hood over it... I looked like an alien. My skirt was drenched, my tights were dripping, and we pulled up by the Yubinkyoku (post office)... this man walked out and slowed down by me and said almost involuntarily, "Dai jo bu?" which translates to like... "are you ok??" I just had to start laughing. Yeah!!!! The dream!! ha ha.


I ATE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST CREPE THIS WEEK. ha ha. They have these cute little displays and it looked small, so I was like... yeah, that one! I got it and it was like 2 pounds. So funny!


So! The work!!! That training the zone leaders did for us was awesome. It is amazing! We have about 5 investigators, and the progress is here and there. We started meeting with a woman from the Phillipines this week and have a lesson with her again tonight. I think it will be a big week for getting their expectations for us, so we can help them come to receive the sweet rest of the Gospel. On Saturday, it was crazy; it felt like the Lord was just leading us from person to person with a few people in between. One girl I met on the bridge, when we handed her our chirashi, said: "I'm really interested in Christian churches!!" (that is not a common response). We had two or three more people who wanted to know more. It really was amazing, and such a testament to me of the sacredness of our calling. We ARE here to find, teach, and baptize. It is such a privilege. I love Jesus Christ. I've been thinking a lot about my working relationship with Him this week, and had some incredible personal realizations about the Atonement, grace, and agency. When we use our agency to choose Him, and through His name ask for help from Heavenly Father, I think that power comes in and supports that agency, those good choices, to help us truly to have even more freedom with our agency. The power of choice matters so much, and when we are bound to Him through covenants, what safety and blessings we have through His grace in helping us. The more people I meet, the more amazed I am at the Atonement. Just the sheer number, the individual love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for every individual is astounding. I know that that power is real!


The work is great. Time flies. I feel your prayers! Our prayer is for our investigators to progress and for us to find and teach those waiting for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a privilege. This life is sweet. I love Jesus Christ!


Love always through email, and NEXT WEEK THROUGH THE PHONE!!!!
Sister Anderson

One of our new friends, Asuka San, with the biggest crepe in the world. ha ha. I look crazy in this pic but I didn't have another one!

This building was puckering at me!

Maybe I just have a keen eye for pictures of elderly people, but this suteki [fancy/stylish] grandma picture was advertising for some cream or something at Lawson's. Yeah!

I found these funny guys by this warehouse.  So funny! Singing. We crept up and snatched a picture. PS...They are not alive. :)

The one with a couple and a guy is the Matsumura family. They treat the missionaries to FHE, we switch off and usually take an investigator... they are SO GREAT! I love them! 

My inspirational kit kat. Look at that guy run to the finish line!!!

 

I'm probably speaking Japanese...madgab anyone?

To the Best Family in the World, no matter which side of the continent!

How I love you. I just love you. I love you so so much. This has been a really big week...I really feel the privilege of being a missionary. This is such a sacred time, and I feel so grateful that the Lord trusts me to come to talk to His children about Him. It is hard when they don't listen a lot, and I've had some soul-searching times as well, the result being an even greater commitment to His work. I love Jesus Christ. I love Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness. I love being a missionary!!! This is hand's down the hardest thing I've ever done in my life; I thought I knew how to do this disciple thing before I left. I thought I knew how to love, I thought I knew I was committed, I thought I knew how to be unselfish, I thought I knew the value of work... but I didn't! I only tasted those things! ha ha. What did I do with my time before I came on a mission? :)

Do you remember when I got my call, and I was like... "JAPAN!?!??! And not thinking before I spoke, I said, "I'm probably speaking Japanese?" hahaha! I was so surprised I couldn't even wrap my life around it. But! I have had so many tiny realizations this whole journey that I don't want to be anywhere else (even Arkansas, the place I thought I was going for some reason... ha ha). I am talking an extreme (but probably not unnormal ha ha) amount about myself, sorry! It has been a big week of realizations for me, and I just want to be in Japan more than ever. I want to do hard things. I want to do anything to find those of God's children who are prepared to hear the plan. Hard things are worth it.

Last night we taught a girl from Mongolia who speaks English and no Japanese. She was wandering around the park and is a medical student. I just love testifying to people of their divine identity, and suddenly the Plan of Salvation started popping out of my lips. I happened (or not just happened...the Lord is so aware of His children and blessing them!) to have an English "Plan of Salvation" pamphlet with me. Can you believe it??? I have been studying the plan a little bit this week, and even that tiny bit of studying has just flooded my capacity of understanding. Heavenly Father loves us so much! I am amazed at the depth and the simple principles of the Plan. I love this Gospel. I love you. I love that Heavenly Father would provide us a way to come to this earth in families and be together forever.  

This week we had a Sports Taikai where I played sports again... I'm so sore ha ha! It was really fun and two of our investigators were there. We started teaching a new investigator this week, she is 18 and follows us pretty closely. We taught her about faith and asked her to pray and... it was like 20 minutes before she did. She was nervous and sweating - I wasn't sure if she was going to make it but she did! So good...
We had dinner with a less-active woman this week and her girls are so cute. The Zone leaders here in Tokushima helped us some this week with a little training. The work is good, and hard, but the BEST. This really is the best work. I feel it so deep in my bones.
  
I am excited for Nate's big adventures - wow...just wow! So he is coming to Japan and then heading for Korea. Awesome.  A month in Asia and getting to see his friends - especially those in Korea from his mission.  And I can't believe its been so long since he worked at universal Studios Japan. He will love being in his old stompin' grounds and meeting up with everyone. I can just picture him playing his garbage cans on the streets with his drum sticks just flying! haha...Lucky guy!


From the pictures I've received, I am having to look twice - all of the kids look so big and grown-up.  Keep those pictures coming or I won't recognize my nieces and nephews when I get home! And graduation! Tell everyone congrats from me!!! [Bran, Chelsea B, Ben's Chelsea, Cammy, Dora, Vilate, Mary Ann Stewart (Anderson),Melissa A, Jake Garner]. How proud our corner of the neighborhood must have been this week. :) 

Funny thing from the weekly announcement to the missionaries from the President (true story): "Now we are not going to name any names, but we wanted to remind everyone that for the sacred ordiance of baptism, you must first fill the font. Water is needed." haha!

I love you! The work is true. I promise that the Lord is intent on making each of us a masterpiece, and is not content with us just sliding by in regard to discipleship. He is so amazing, and will help us as we turn to Him. How I love my Eternal King! Sometimes I get so overflowing that poetry just runs out of me. (gospel poetry, don't worry!) This is the best work in the world. I don't want to be anywhere else. I want to be here, in Tokushima, where the Lord wants me. I want to give anything He wants me to give. This week at Church a paper was passed out in mostly Kanji, and I was actually picking up a little bit! I am amazed. I know that it is Him helping me, and that prayers are answered. I switched up my Japanese study a little bit and it is helping SO much more! I love that the Lord has equipped us so well on our mortal journey!

Lastly, if there is anyone who is reading this who does not feel loved by Heavenly Father on high: You are loved. He loves you completely and perfectly, and is proud of every small, noble sacrifice you make.Thank you for making those sacrifices! He knows those and numbers them. You are more accompanied that you can ever realize. We are spiritual beings having a mortal exerience. He is so good! He is so good. I love Heavenly Father. I know that the way to return to Him is simple but incredibly remarkable, and that the gate is open to all. As we serve, it is amazing what happens. I love you sweet fam, and I love the God who has given us all breath. How amazing He is!

The work is true, so true. "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

With love, love, love,
Sister Anderson 


PS  And! I thought of a game that the nieces and nephews can play like madgab. So, katakana words are usually English (this is probably for the older ones who want to play) I'll occasionally send pictures and all you do is look at a katakana chart on english, and try to figure out the word like you do when you play madgab... it's japanese and I can be close to you! ha ha.

Here are this week's! (the longer one is bonus! it's harder!)Here is a game for the kids - and anyone else!  

Yes we can!!!

To My Wonderful Fam!!

Thank you for your sweet letters! I love you all soooooo much!!!

"Time flies on wings of lightening, we cannot call it back..." At times like this, sometimes I remember this line (I think President Monson quoted this poem?). It is certainly true in the mission field! I can't believe I'm on a mission. Some nights I sleep with my name tag on. I really love this work. It is like a taste of how Heavenly Father feels, and He helps us unceasingly. This is the work and Church of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. We can emblazen this on our hearts and it will change us forever.

This week we turned on a side road and saw a Gaijin (foreigner) going into an apartment complex. We stopped her and started talking. She attends a Baptist church and is from Texas (and is fluent in Japanese). She came to Church this week and we shared the Book of Mormon with her, and she got to watch the Restoration DVD. Sarah really loves Jesus Christ, and it is so fun to get to share the Book of Mormon with people that love Jesus Christ... it fills up my soul talking about Jesus Christ and how the Book of Mormon leads to having Him more in our lives! I so appreciate what Jana wrote me, that covenants bind us to Him.  What a privilege we have, to invite people to make the sacred covenant of baptism. I love this work, and know we could learn forever about the Savior and Heavenly Father, about their work and the principles of the Gospel... and it is wonderful! It fills my soul and feels like being home sometimes when we remember how close they are through the scriptures and prayer.

We had wonderful training from President Zinke this week. I love President and Sister Zinke so much! They are so incredible. It was so fun to have them visit with 6 or so of us in the zone, and to see the APs. A bunch of us took this long car ride to get back to Tokushima, and hearing the tender moments of their mission experiences filled me with appreciation for this work yet again. We learned the importance of taking the necessary time to teach the correct knowledge of God, especially as traditions are so different here in Japan. I love that we have Priesthood men called to preside over our missions! We talked with Yamamoto Miyuki about her knowledge of God and found that the President was totally right. WOW I love the work. So! We are learning more of how to do His work in His way through the Spirit and His servants!

Transfer calls came, but Uyema Shimai and I are staying in Tokushima! (which isn't that uncommon... when you first begin ..). I know we have work here to do and I love it so much. This is a wonderful place.

We went out to an all you can eat buffet with President after interviews, and they have a little grill built into the table every foot or so... You get raw meat and take it over, and grill it right there, flipping it with your chopsticks! It was great for the Elders, but as Sisters I feel like we only have so much room in our stomachs ha ha. However, the sorbet and treats were delicious... I love Japanese treats! I think it is going to shock my system when I come back to America, because things are so much less sweet here. So! Loving Japan...

Our new friend (Sarah) also has a friend she works with who is also a foreigner who... is our ward mission leader! ha ha. It was AWESOME to have him here and helping us. The Lord truly works in His own way and time, to the blessing of His children. I think of that sometimes when I only get the chance to smile at people, and I hope they see the big name on my tag... Jesus Christ. I hope they associate Him with a smiling face, with love and caring about them, with deep commitment and joy, and good works. I hope my actions, my face, my laugh, my words, reflect His--so when they see that face and that tag, they will remember (if they haven't heard of Him before), something that draws them a little closer to listening when they get that opportunity...  :)

I love the temple so much. To my nieces and nephews, I want to challenge you to set your sights on the temple! Keep a picture close and try to remember what Jesus Christ would have you do. He loves you so much. Heavenly Father is your Father in Heaven, and hears your prayers. You can talk to Him every day and ask for blessings. He wants to bless you and loves when you are happy, and knows what will make you happiest. Trust Him! Thank you for your sweet examples, you  are all getting so big. I hear about your lives and school and the things you are doing and I am so proud (the good kind of proud)!!

Ono Shimai came to church again this week, which is a sacrifice because her health isn't super. We bought her candy to help her. I wish I had time to tell you about our visit with her this week. She is so funny! We were trying to tell her that detective movies were scary and she kept saying they are just funny. I learned all sorts of words in Japanese like pickpocket, burglary, prohibited, and other things ha ha. She is such a wonderful lady though, we love her so much.

I love you sweet fam. Through the Savior's grace, we truly can receive happiness and know that our offering is sufficient as we are committed to growing a little each day, giving our heart and devotion to Him. Isn't life amazing?

With Love and Lots of Other Good Feelings :)
Sister Anderson

the bike says it best... (rental bike)

we went out to get udon (soba noodles)...have you ever seen noodles that gigantic?

Missionary apartments are famous for lost and found items. I found this towel in my apartment cleaning today and thought it was so funny.