This post is for our grandchildren. We haven't yet published a blog entry for you so here it is. Japan is a fascinating place. It's full of new exciting things to see. Let your imaginations run wild as you look at these pictures. Missionaries don't go into the deep, dark woods. They just stand in front of them and have their picture taken.

There are lots of spys around like this bird who is keeping an eye on us. We couldn't tell if he is an official, or just a pickpocket waiting for a good opportunity.

New year's is over so all of the beautiful lanterns are being taken down until next year arrives. This worker didn't want anyone to know that he is taking the lantern, so he covered his face. But it's too late, I got his picture and he'll never get away with it. I bet that he doesn't get farther than the storage shed. By then he'll have cold feet. His shoes were not made for winter weather. It's no wonder that he has a cold and is covering his face. (That's what they do in Japan when they have a cold.)

Who says that kids can't have fun? This elephant will spit you out in an instant, but you can always go back in for another ride, then she'll spit you out again. Do you know how I can tell this is a girl?. She has yellow ears.

The seals like winter in Japan. They sit in the snow with their noses in the air, not moving a muscle. In fact, I bet they're sill sitting there just like they were in this picture. They look out over the ocean and wait for warm weather.

Now it's time for your imagination to run wild. The pirates have taken over this ship. Can you tell what it was carrying before all of the loot was taken away by the pirates? Now all that is left is an empty shell with one pirate left to light the ship with his torch. Put your mouse on this picture and left click to make it bigger. Can you see the mate who is on guard? Maybe next time I can tell you what he has between his teeth. For now, tell him goodnight (Oyasuminasai) and let him put out his torch.

You better save up time for great outings and stories for when we get home. I bet that we can explore some fun places together. We probably better take Grandma with us because she loves you too and she'll bring the cookies and other treats.

Love Gramps

Zenith of Sendai Winter

We're approaching the coldest part of the winter which comes at the end of January and the first two weeks of February. This is not a great picture but it shows ice on the pond and flowers blooming in the foreground. Our night temperature averages about 27 degrees F on the coldest nights. It seems colder because of the humidity, but we're surviving just like the geranium pictured below.

We haven't had much snow. It mostly falls at night and by mid morning the temperature warms enough that it melts so we haven't had many slick roads.

The Japanse go to great lengths to prevent their trees from being broken by the snow. Here is an evergreen with a bamboo pole next to it and lots of ropes to hold up the limbs in case there is a major snow storm.

This morning (January 18, 2009, we stopped at the mission office before church so that we could take the mail to the young missionaries. I couldn't resist checking on our winter geranium and it's still surviving the frost. It was 26 degrees F last night but it's not gone yet.

This picture was taken the day after Christmas and the pansies are doing ok too. The geranium leaves (the blooms are long gone) are a bright red-orange color. I've never seen one like that before, but since the night temperature falls about 1 degree per week, it seems to have hardened and is still alive. When this photo was taken, the lowest temperature had been about 30 degrees.

The missionaries assigned to our ward are having another baptism this weekend. We're trying to assist them as much as we can, but we wish we could do better. We greet the investigators, and feed them when possible, but we can't do a lot of teaching. Even when they can speak some English, they learn much faster and understand better when they hear the gospel in Japanese. We're now teaching two Eikaiwa classes each week with about 7 students in each class. One is in the Kamisugi Ward and the other in the Nagamachi Ward. We continue to get a few new students and they receive a 10 to 15 minute spiritual message after each 45 minute English lesson. Most respond favorably to the spiritual discussions and a few become serious investigators.

We were excited to hear from Evan about the baptism of one of the young men from Nepal that they have befriended. Rajiv was to be baptized on Saturday. He called last week to ask Evan to perform the baptism. Way to go, Evan! Glad you've been able to share the gospel with him and many others. We know how happy Heavenly Father is to see Rajiv enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

I told your mother that we should put our names at the bottom, but she said, "who else could it be?" So we won't put our name at the bottom, but I will tell you that we love you and really apprieciate all that you do for us. We enjoy sharing the gospel with people here and know that the teaching of the Savior have had a great influence on our lives and we see it happening with the people who are listening and studying. It's great to be able to tell them that we know that the teachings of the Savior are true and that if we live worthy we will one day be with Him.

I haven't posted in a long time. So here goes. We've been very busy doing the things that office couples and missionaries do. We had a wonderful Christmas, although not like the kind we do at home, but the kind that missionaries do. We participated in the Nagamachi Ward Christmas program and were Mary and Joseph in the nativity. We practiced saying our parts in Japanese, but it didn't sound much like Japanese to me. However, the ward members were kind and complimented us on the progress that we are making with the language. There were about 10 or 12 investigators at our Christmas social so we were busy making them feel welcome. Our Christmas also included fireside programs for investigators at the mission home and more invitations to members homes than we could accept. Don and Carol Skousen made us each a large Christmas stocking filled with all kinds of things that missionaries enjoy. Each gift had a scripture attached and we read it and guessed at the contents before opening it. Our family all sent nice presents that we greatly appreciate. The majority of the Japanese people are not Christian so Christmas is a work day. To honor the Japanese tradition, we worked in the office too. Our mission is going to switch to cell phones at the beginning of the year so we were busy getting them set up to be passed out at zone conferences the first week of January.

New Year's day is the big celebration in Japan and it lasts for several days. We were invited by Shun to come to his home for a traditional New Year's meal. We had a great time! They had two other guests, including an exchange student from Australia that is staying with them, and one of Shun's former students who teaches English. Their daughter and her husband from Aomori were there, too. All spoke English but Shun's wife and son-in-law, so the conversation was comfortable. We ate lots of foods that we didn't recognize and when I found one that I wouldn't have normally eaten, I smothered it with rice or beans and ate it quickly -- like the raw fish. Shun had dried some persimmons and I tried one; it was almost like a fig and quite delicious.


We've just come back from a week of zone conferences where we passed out the new cell phone so here are a few pictures.

An Aomori apple that is big enough for a meal all by itself. The picture shows an apple next to a measuring cup that is at least as large as a U.S. measuring cup.

Because we only had a chance to get out to see things in the early morning just as it was getting light, or after dark, so many of the photos leave something to be desired. Here are some Siberian swans on a lake in front of the chapel in Morioka. We went out about 6 p.m. as zone conference was finishing and snapped this photo as the last light was fading.

One of the hotel rooms had a yukata (a light Japanese bathrobe) that was attractive so we took a picture of it. Nearly every evening of the week we got to the next hotel by about 10 p.m. and had to be on our way to the next zone conference by about 7:45 a.m. the next morning.

This is the harbor in Aomori. They get a lot of snow, but when we were there most of it had melted with the residual only a few inches deep. When we arrived home on Friday night at midnight our apartment had an inside temperature of about 35 degrees. We didn't even go to bed for more than an hour to let the kerosene heater warm thing up a little. Ruth gives me a lot of ribbing about my sleeping attire, but it's cold! I also have 6 layers on the bed counting the top sheet and the electric blanket!

As a closing thought, our Japanese is coming slowly. However, we've found that gaijin missionaries often have a favorite word or saying and we're picking up on them when they are said often enough. Here are a few:

President Evans (the area president from Tokyo) says that's a mondai (problem)

President Tateoka says deshoo and raises the pitch of his voice at the end (do you agree)

Sister Tateoka says muzukashii when she can't understand or doesn't know what to say (difficult)

Elder Porter (our AP from Ogden) is fluent in Japanese but frequently puts in tokidoki (sometimes)

Elder Edwards (our AP from Moses Lake, Washington) is also fluent in Japanese but likes the word daijobu (ok)

Enough! We love you, the gospel is still true. Stay healthy. No more broken bones.

Love Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, or any other names you care to apply

Called to Serve

They sing like Bartholomew's