The Joy of the Journey (Ours in Sendai, Japan)

These machines are everywhere in Sendai. These three machines are just down the street from the Honbu (mission home). The kids (and the elders) frequent these a lot. They are just drink machines, but they have sports drinks, juices, as well as soda pop and hot chocolate. They are kind of expensive, but they are certainly popular!

This bush is in the planter in front of the mission home. It was so pretty the other day with the sun shining on it. It almost looked like it was on fire. Dad ran home to get his camera so we could have a picture of it. We continue to be surprised as fall leaves don't turn all at the same time. It is a gradual process and is still going on in spite of the fact that we woke up to snow on Wednesday morning. The snow was gone mid-morning, but it had covered the cars. Dad had planned to take pictures of it, but it was gone before we could.

The children here walk a long way to school. We were out for a morning walk last week and saw these cute little girls holding hands and walking to school. Their school is about three blocks beyond that tall building you see in the distance. They had already walked several blocks before Dad took this picture.

(I posted the pictures after I wrote the following, but this blog has a mind of it's own. So, even though it is NOT posted as it was written, hope it's okay.)

It seems like a couple of days ago that Dad told me it was my turn to do the blog. I talked him out of that foolishness and let him do it. When he told someone that this was our weekly letter to our family, it made me feel guilty that I make him write all the letters. So, this week you'll get a letter from me and perhaps a few pictures if I find some I want to send.

Have we told you before how much we love being missionaries? Well, we do love it very much. As you men all know from having done it, it is such a blessing and trust to represent our Savior as we go out and share His gospel with His children. We feel it a great privilege. We are also amazed at the love we have developed for His children here in Japan. As we meet people in Eikaiwa, on the street, in stores, etc., we feel a love for them and realize how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.

The Japanese people are very kind. I've said that before but I'd like to share an example that happened to us this week. Dad had been taking his shoes off without untying them (None of you grandchildren have ever done that, have you?) and the other day when he did it, his shoe came loose from the heel. We were at the mall trying to find the shoe repair store (one of our office elders had looked in the phone book and told us there was one there) and were having no luck. So, I walked up to a salesperson in a shoe store, took out Dad's broken shoe and showed it to her. She excused herself for a moment and then came back and led us to the other end of the mall, into a little area behind the grocery store, to a shoe repair place. She then stood there with us while two other people were being helped. She explained to the man what we needed and then left. I was amazed at how kind she was. The man repaired Dad's shoe while we waited and then when I tried to ask how much we owed him, he crossed his hands and shook his head. He charged us NOTHING! How cool is that?!

Yesterday was a busy one. A lady by the name of Miho Suzuki has been coming to our home on Saturday mornings for several months to have me help her with English. (She doesn't like being in large groups so doesn't come to our Eikaiwa classes. She was meeting with Sister Karlinsey, so I just took over when she left.) Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Miho told me her birthday was the 23rd of November. I invited her to come a little later this past Saturday (22nd) and told her we'd have lunch with Dad, too. So, I made her a little pound cake, lemon chicken, and a card. She seemed to really enjoy herself. Dad helped her with her English lesson while I got lunch on the table. Then last night at 5:30 we had the Matsune couple come again. They are the ones whose picture is in our earlier blog. Elder Porter and Elder Edwards came and had dinner with us and then we had a discussion on faith in Jesus Christ. It went quite well. I do hope they felt the spirit. Elder Edwards asked Matsune san to say the closing prayer. He is Buddhist and hadn't really prayed, so they gave him a little pamphlet that shows how to pray. When he finished (he prayed in Japanese, of course) and then left, Elder Edwards said it was the best 1st prayer he had heard on his mission. Matsune san told Heavenly Father that he had learned some new things and needed to study more. All in all, it was a great day.

Today was the Children's Sacrament Meeting program. They had different children come stand in the audience by the primary chorister (who was seated on a bench) and lead the songs. Other primary children took turns playing the songs. I was amazed. Some of really small children were funny to watch. When they were supposed to signal to the children to stand, they'd kind of nod their heads or partly raise their hands. It was so cute. I'm always impressed with how musical the Japanese people are. Most of the choristers in the wards in our stake are young high school students. The choir director is also a high school student.

We love you all and pray for you many times daily. Our poor Japanese prayers on the meal always include "kazoku" (family) in our "thanks" and our "please bless." We KNOW He is mindful of you and is pouring out tender mercies on you. He is also blessing us so very much! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the "Only Way" and will bring us happiness as we live the teachings of the Savior and keep His commandments. We will also be blessed as we find people with whom we can share the gospel. Please try to give referrals to the missionaries. It is, by far, the most effective way of bringing souls unto Christ. Have a great week and know that we love you, are thinking of you and praying for you, but would rather be here than anywhere else right now. It is where the Lord and our Heavenly Father want us to be.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Fall Break Photos II

Here are the rest of the photos. We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house and took a few pictures. I have fond memories of this place. I even had to look off the bridge at the canal where I threw so many rocks as a kid. That was one of my all-time favorite things to do at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Fall Break Photos

Here is the first set of pictures that I'll post from our trip to visit Evan, Stacey and family over Fall Break in mid October. We had a great time! Unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures on our trip down the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in the canoes (or at Evan and Stacey's for that matter). All of these pictures were taken on Sunday after we left church and as we were starting for home. I could only post 5 pictures in this post, so I'll make another post and add a few more. Sorry to be slow posting them. These were taken from my Blackberry, so they're not much, but they're at least a little bit of a memory.

As you can see, Hailey Bartholomew went with us on the trip. As you can probably tell, we took pictures at the Rexburg Temple and at the Sutton Cemetery.

More from Snow Canyon Half Marathon

Here are a few pictures taken from Eric's blackberry. They're not great, but a little something to remember the race by.

Look how warm Ryan was. :)

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

Here are some pictures after the race. Too bad we don't have pictures of our faces during the race - they would tell all. I also added a family pic that we took at Grandma's house.

Missionary Life in Japan

Because our seasons have changed slowly, each tree species changes color at a different time. This week the ginkos are a golden yellow. However, we may see our first frost this week since the forcast is calling for snow on Wednesday.

We haven't shown many missionary pictures on the blog because you don't know them and would quickly tire from seeing endless pictures of missionaries. However, tonight we are going to tell

a few missionary stories and add a few pictures.

During our time of serving in Japan we've seen some outstanding examples of dedication and service from various missionaries. One young missionary's mother has cancer and is fighting for her life. He has remained focused on teaching people about the Savior and has served as an excellent trainer to a new missionary who just arrived. The mission president just made him a zone leader and he is now out working on the problems in the zone.

We have a young energetic missionary who has sinus problems. His medicine failed to arrive and pressure began to build in his ear so he had a local doctor make a hole in the ear drum to relieve the pressure so that he would not lose time as a missionary. His medication came one day later.

We have one junior missionary who was assigned to work with a senior companion who's feelings had been hurt and he almost stopped doing missionary work. The younger elder, instead of letting this problem get him down, worked on his language skills harder. When transfers came, it only took him a short time to get a baptism and he and his junior companion have lots of people who are being taught.

About 2 weeks ago, one of our elders was hit by a car and was taken in an ambulance to the emergency room. When the doctors checked him, they could find nothing wrong but a few bruises. He went back to teaching the gospel and except for a few scrapes his bicycle was ok too. That was not true of his helmet. It was nearly cracked in half, but he was prepared to keep using it if needed. We are getting him a new one.

The conference picture was taken at one of the zone conferences when Elder Evans toured our mission. He made many crucial comments that have helped the mission to move forward. We see more lessons being taught and more people serious about the church than we've seen since we came. It's great to see the enthusiasm among the missionaries.

Here are 3 pictures of our office elders - Narakino, Vaughan, and Porter. The 4th elder, Elder Edwards, just arrived and we don't have his picture yet. Two of the 4 missionaries are converts and the only members of their families who have joined the church.

They don't let that bother them, even though they get less mail than most of the missionaries. They have a young man who is progressing well and should be baptized soon.

Last Friday after transfers were complete, the president called a meeting of the office staff and told us that they wanted us to lead the mission by example - by hard work, by teaching and by having people join the church.

The last two elders are the assistants. Both of them are diligent and follow the counsel of the mission president. They are trying very had to fulfill their responsibilities.

In an earlier posting we told you about the Matsune couple, but have not said anything since. Elder Vaughan and Elder Porter are helping us and progress is being made. We have faith and confidence that this family will make the decision to join the church. They've been unable to have children and are going to Vietnam in two weeks to attempt to complete an adoption.

We want you to know that we are thoroughly enjoying our experiences and are glad to be here. It is a joy to serve our Father in Heaven as we labor to assist the younger missionaries.

We miss all of you, but this is where the Lord wants us right now and it the place we most want to be. It isn't often we can dedicate all of our time to the Lord's service. It is a wonderful feeling. We hope to be able to do more. We love the gospel and know that the only way we can be truly happy is through keeping the commandments and following the prophet. No amount of worldly possessions can bring happiness. Those possessions can be gone in a second. Only things of eternal value will last. Heavenly Father loves you and is watching over you. I know this to be true. Keep smiling and share your testimonies at every opportunity. Be bold, but not overbearing!

Love,

Dad & Mom (Dale & Ruth, Elder & Sister Hansen)

Birthday Pictures

Sorry we are slow in getting some birthday pictures of the twins uploaded. Some of the pictures show them opening some of the gifts you got them.

If I were making Japan

If I were making Japan, what would I change?

Hummm! (that's the answer that you sometimes get when you ask a question that requires thought.

I might make houses with central heat, with insulation, with double paine glass, with enough circuits and electrical outlets that you can run the toaster and microwave at the same time. But, you would not have a kerosene heater with an indoor fuel tank if you did.

I might make seasons that change more abruptly. We couldn't see any colored leaves because the temperature went down about one degree per week, and we'd go out hoping to see fall colors and nothing. Then one day there they were, right before our eyes!

I might make people who could say words that I could understand, rather than sounds that don't make sense. But, come to think of it, we'd miss a new exciting culture and wonderful people. This food is an example of boxes of stuff that show up on our porch during the night with no notes or expectations.

I might make streets without power poles in them, and make them wide enough for two cars to pass, rather than make them so narrow that you need to drive carefully to get one car through.

But if they were changed, we'd lose some of the beauty and character of Japan.

After thinking about it, I might put a little patch of bamboo on a corner here and there and leave it just like it is.

We are loving our experiences in Japan and are extremely happy to be here. Every week there are new experiences, new interactions with people, and new challenges. What a blessing it is to be missionaries. This is definitely one of the high points of our lives.

Halloween

I didn't get very many pictures of the kids in their costumes at our little Halloween gathering. That means I'm leaving each family responsible for posting pictures of their own family. Here are the few I have and then some of the Bartholomew Halloween.

This is the pop the balloon game-too bad it was really hard to get the balloons to pop.

It all came down to two sisters-it was a hard fought fight, but Ashley prevailed.

I'm not sure who ended up winning the donut eating out of the big boys-I was too busy taking the pictures. Too bad we didn't get any of the kids eating donuts.

Since Daniel got sick just as the party started, so he didn't get in on any of the action, but luckily he felt better pretty quickly. This is only 2 days after the party.

In case you couldn't tell-this is Eragon (Dragon Rider).

Joey would tell you this is Anakin-not Obi Wan (not sure of the spelling of these characters).

EHS is East High School from the High School Musical movies.

From Sea to shining Sea (West Coast to East Coast)

We have now been to both coasts of Japan. My visiting teaching partner, Nukui Shimai, says that looking out over the Pacific Ocean reminds her of Japan's future and looking at the Sea of Japan reminds her of its past.

We went to the Pacific Ocean with the Tateokas on Thursday of last week. We went to Matsushima Island. It is a group of many islands, most of them quite small. We had hoped to see the fall colors but most of the leaves were still green. We did get a couple of pictures of trees that had changed. In the picture of us with the
Tateokas, we are sitting under an umbrella in a

beautiful garden at a National Historic Site. There are some Buddhist shrines and many statues and tombs throughout the gardens and also an art museum.

The picture of the lady taking a picture of the house and the leaves is very typical. Many people only use their phones to take pictures.

The shrine was very ornate and the workmanship was amazing. We had to take off our shoes inside the shrine, so we took an extra pair of socks to wear because the floors were cold. Our feet still froze and the floors were made of wood. I can't imagine how cold tile floors would have been. These buildings were all built between 1200 and 1600 AD, so they've been around a long time.



When we came out of the gardens, there was a little ice cream shop. It was a very cold day, but
when we saw the flavors they were advertising,
we decided we had to try some. President and Sister Tateoka and I all had edamame ice cream(the green one). It was served in a waffle cone and was really quite delicious. They also had sweet potatoe ice cream, vanilla, and chocolate swirl.





We took a charter boat out into the bay between the islands. We rode out through several of the major islands and saw the nets that the fishermen had put out to catch oysters. It was amazing to see how the sea had carved caverns into the sides of the little islands. Each one was unique. There was one small island that had only one small pine tree on it.
The day was very overcast, so the pictures have a different look. I think they are neat pictures but Dad thinks they're only marginal. You'll have to see the rest of them some time. We can only seem to put 5 on the blog at a time.

The picture looking out through the trees was on a little island that has not been restored. It is in it's very natural condition--dirt paths and not much of a touristy nature. We like it and thought the view from there was pretty.






I'm not the writer in the family, so the descriptions are not what you've been used to, but we hope you'll enjoy seeing a part of what we were able to see. Japan is a very beautiful place.

We saw all of this in just half a day. We hurried home so we could do our shopping before going to a rehearsal for a song we're singing in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Elder Kusaoka is going home on the 14th of this month, so the ward asked us to sing in Church tomorrow. We had practice and then attended our District Meeting with the young elders and sisters.

Today, we had dinner at the home of the Matsunes. They are the couple who had come to our home a couple of months ago. (Their picture is on the blog from an earlier entry.) We had a good meal--ate yellow chrysanthemums, some kind of Thai salad, Malaysian vegetables, miso soup (very traditional Japanese food), rice, meat, noodles, etc. Dessert was a yummie cheesecake. We shared some insights from the Book of Mormon with them and challenged them to read in 3rd Nephi. Our missionary efforts are not what we'd like them to be, but we are trying to improve. We know the Lord sent us here for a reason, so we will try our best to be what He wants us to be. We know He lives and loves us and wants the same joy that we enjoy for all of His children. We are grateful to be able to assist with that.