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.
2 comments:
How nice to have flowers in the winter. Speaking of flowers-I haven't killed your plants yet and the plant in your bathroom is flowering nicely. I'll take a picture and send it to you.
It is nice to have flowers in winter. In fact, the other day the mission president's wife took two cylamen plants that were droopy and put them outside. The one in the pot outside was doing well, so she decided she'd quit babying the ones in the house. It's amazing they can keep blooming when it's in the high twenties at night.
It would be fun to see how our plants are doing. I don't even remember which one is in the bathroom.
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