It's beginning to feel like spring in Sendai. We took this picture today (Mar 10, 2009) overlooking the foothills that surround the south and west side of the city. The trees haven't started to leaf out yet, but the buds are swelling, the grass is starting to green in a few sheltered places, and some of the ferns in the woods are sending out the first fronds.

Many of the plants, like this varigated bush, didn't lose their leaves and now they add their color to the spring landscape. Spring in Sendai seems to be characterized by strong winds (sometimes 30 mph or more), and more freqent rain.









This is also a picture taken today of the first bulbs at the mission home to send up their flowers. This is a fun time of year as the days lengthen and the plants begin to grow. Most of the gardeners have been busy planting and small green vegetables are neatly lined up in rows. Some of them are still covered with fabric to protect them from the mild frosts that linger.

We seem to be getting busier each day. We're starting the circuit of working on missionary apartments. Hopefully we won't find too many like this. We do, however, find lots of small problems like the picture below. I'm learning to take my tools and have found a few good hardware stores where I can get parts to fix them.

The missions in Japan & Korea are going to iMOS, the internet version of mission operating system. This morning we participated in a 2 hour internet meeting held by computer managers in Salt Lake City. Ruth begins converting our mission records immediately and the finances will follow over the next several months. I'm sure that we'll still be working on this conversion when we finish our mission. We are also implementing bar-coded temple recommends in Japan and have just converted from land-line phones to cell phones during the past 2 months.

In addition to all of the office activities, we are trying to be more invloved with members and in teaching the gospel. The Haginaka family, shown here, speak English and we greatly enjoy them and other members of the ward. We are teaching 2 Eikaiwa classes each week and a few of our students are listening to the missionary discussions. One young man has a baptismal date for March 22. He knows the church is true and is struggling to give up his tobacco habit.

We located a Japanese tutor who comes weekly for a 90 minute lesson and our ability to understand and to speak is slowly improving. We look forward to the day when we can truly carry on a real conversation. We now understand what it would be like to be illiterate. Our time here is going by rapidly so we must maximize our efforts. We are enjoying our experiences and it seems that more of our work days are turning into 14 hour efforts to get things done. My health has improved dramatically since we've been here; it's better than it has been for several years. We count our blessing and truly appreciate the opportunity to serve.

We send our love and hope things are going well for all of you.

Love,

Mom & Dad (aka Ruth & Dale)

Snowy, windy February in Sendai

February has been the cold and snowy month in Sendai. It makes us appreciate our winter boots and kerosene heater. This is a photo of the hedge between our apartment building and the mission home and office. We continue to have a few small earthquakes, not enought to do any harm, but enough to rattle the windows.














I've done more snow shoveling than I'd planned, but the exercise is great. February has shown us the windy side of Sendai. We've had quite a few days of winds of about 30 miles per hour. We didn't know that it could blow so hard until just the past 2 or 3 weeks. However, the locals in our English class tell us that spring is coming soon. Some of the bulbs are up about 3 or 4 inches so maybe they're right.

We greatly enjoy working with the young missionaries who live in the honbu for a few transfers. We just get to know them well and then they are transferred or they finish their missions. This is Elder Fukuda, a delightful missionary who speaks enough English that we have a good time together. He translates our documents and makes the phone calls to people who don't speak english. He's our newest assistant to the president.

These are Ruth's Valentine flowers and I wish they had come from me, but they came from a ward member. The chocolates came from a family who came for dinner and a gospel discussion. Both gifts made a great valentine day for Ruth. By the way, in Japan it's the girls who give the valentine gifts.

This is Kaori Kusaka and her daughters who came and had lunch with us. They speak English! We have about a dozen families in the Nagamachi Ward who can speak English and we enjoy to visit with them at church and have them come to our home. After the beginning of the year, we applied for a tutor at the local community center and we've now had two Japanese lessons from a very kind and polite lady who comes to our home for a 90 minute Nihongo lesson each week. It is very helpful to have a tutor and maybe we'll learn to communicate better before our mission is finished. We continue to teach 2 English classes each week and to help the young missionaries with teaching discussions when possible.

We are anxious to get back into our building (the Nagamachi Ward). We have been driving to Kamisugi twice each week--once to Eikaiwa (English class) and once for church. We only have two more Sundays and then our building will be finished and we can move back in. We are counting the days. We'll have to take a picture (when they take down the protective screen they've had up) of our pretty remodeled building and post it next time.

We love and appreciate all of you. For those of you who don't know, Lori and Michael have moved back to Idaho. They are just a few minutes from Nate, Leslie, and their girls and fairly close to Ann and Glen. We are excited for all of them, and for us when we get home.

Please post and share your news with all of us. It really is a nice way to tell us all.

Snow in Sendai

Yesterday was our first real blizzard since we've been here. The snow went sideways in the wind and we received about 5 inches. This morning we woke to clear skys, but a liberal dusting of snow. Here are a few pictures










Our parking lot was icy as was everything else around.

The water tanks above us on the hill were highlighted in the bright morning sun.

This is what the roads looked like after the snow plow had cleared the way. It wasn't like that yesterday afternoon when we went down the hill to Kamisugi to teach our English class. Cars were slipping in all directions as they tried coming up the hills.

There are traditions for snow just like other activities. Before going in at night, they lift the windshield wipers into the air. This keeps them from being stuck to the window and allows them to clean the windows without the wipers being in the way.

Homes in our neighborhood took on a clean neat appearance as this dusting of snow highlighted them.

I've talked about this before, but never cease to be amazed. This street marker identifies several blocks in the neighborhood. They don't use street names when writing addresses. Instead, it is like cutting a flat cake and naming and numbering each piece as you go. The largest piece has a name, the next smaller ones have names, then several blocks have a number and finally your house has a number. We're slowly getting used to the system and are beginning to be able to find the location of a house.

There is flowering beauty even after a snow storm. The cyclamen plants are surviving the winter weather and are still producing flowers. When the snow is gone, they'll bounce back up and look beautiful, if past history repeats itself.

Even the geranium that we've watched all winter is still hanging on, though losing a little ground with each cold spell or snow storm. We're watching it to see if it produces new leaves when the weather begins to warm. We're at the cold point of our winter and the average daily temperatures now begin to climb.

We've had another busy, but productive week. Elder Gary Stevenson came to visit our mission and meet the missionaries. On Wednesday evening when he arrived, he interviewed all of the elders that work in the office, then we were priviledged to enjoy dinner as Tateokas hosted him and Sis. Stevenson. Elder Stevenson was a mission president in Nagoya a few years ago and is well acquainted with Japan. He gave some outstanding messages on Thursday and Friday as he met with the missionaries. We ended up with many pages of notes as we met with him on Thursday.

One of the young men that we met as Shun's home on New Years Day, came to a ward activity on Saturday evening where the the missionaries were able to teach him a discussion and then he came to church today. We met a family last evening who both speak English. She's a member but he isn't. He teaches and does research at Tohoku University, the largest university in this part of Japan. His research is on fluid mechanics and I doubt that I'd understand much of what he's doing if we got into a serious discussion. He was very friendly and easy to talk with so hopefully he will let us join the young missionaries to teach him the gospel.

We were delighted that Emma was baptized on Saturday and congratulate her. We wish her well as she gets the cast off her arm in the next few weeks.

Dad thinks I need to put my two cents in. We start transfer week "again" tomorrow. Those 6 weeks go by like lightening. It will be a busy week as we have eight missionaries going home and 5 coming in. There will be lots of changes and some of them will be in the office. We dread that as we've loved serving with these fine elders. They are a joy to work with and are so diligent--yet full of fun. This will be our 7th transfer since coming to Japan. Time really flies when you are having fun. We definitely love being missionaries. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread!

The gospel is wonderful (subarashii) and Iesu Kirisuto is our Savior and Elder Brother.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, etc., etc.

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