E-mail 11/17/2014

My dear wonderful family,

Hello hello! How are you? Emailing you from 5 degrees Celsius [41 degrees Fahrenheit] in the morning and at night but warmer in the afternoons--Nagamachi. No snow yet but if it gets colder we might!

We saw so many miracles this week!!

Tuesday we had a really good lesson with the less active Abukawa family (the oldest daughter and her mom) which was super cool because before we even started the lesson the daughter asked us what our favorite scriptures are--which is exactly what we were planning to ask them at the start of our lesson. Inspired questions!! 

Wednesday, Brother Sato's mom started taking the missionary lessons with us! We met at the church before Eikaiwa [English class] with her, her son, and Sister Yamagishi and taught her about Jesus Christ, God, Families, and protection that comes from keeping the commandments. The Spirit was really strong and Brother Sato and Sister Yamagishi were so wonderful to teach with. Really amazing. Also, Brother Sato had to leave the room for a few minutes and while he was gone Sato-san told us how she's noticed how the church has made him such a good person and that that is part of the reason why she is so impressed with the church. She also said that everyone at the church is "bright"/"brilliant"/"glowing". So cool! The power of the gospel. 

Thursday we a great District Meeting on love and talking with everyone and then had 2 mogi [roleplay] lessons with members. We asked them if they are reading their scriptures daily and both said no so we committed them to read from their scriptures daily and they said they wanted to and they would.

Friday we went to a free Japanese class at a community center. The coolest thing! It was like a YMCA kind of a feel and I could speak to them in Japanese and understand them AND they were teaching entirely in Japanese but I understood them AND I learned from what they were teaching. So cool!! I could totally see myself attending those classes if I lived/worked in Japan. I would love it!! So fun. We were able to talk to the work[er]s and our classmates about the church and missionaries so pretty cool!

Saturday we had a planning meeting for the dendo [missionary work] fireside, Christmas, and Thanksgiving with our district. We visited a referral but it looks like they moved so we streeted [did street contacting?] on the way back home and talked with some people. Then we had dinner at the Imano family house and did a message on sharing the gospel (we can know how through PMG [Preach My Gospel]). Invited them to invite friends to the Christmas party.

Sunday my companionship got lots of assignments from the Ward in coordination meeting (good! they trust us!) and then Obuchi shimai [Sister Obuchi] (LA [less-active member]) came to sacrament meeting and Brother Sato's sister came to Sacrament Meeting and gospel principles so we sat with her as well and she enjoyed meeting the people there and seemed to enjoy the primary program in sacrament meeting and the lesson on obedience during Sunday School. 

That's our wonderful week! Super busy as always, but always joyful!

Random fact of the week: Sister Carr and I had the same Mission prep teacher, President Jackson. And remember how I made a scripture plaque of Moses 1:39 for him at the end of the year because he always would write it on the board at the start of class? I asked Carr shimai [Sister Carr] if he still wrote that scripture on the board and she said, "No, he uses a plaque." AHH!! Makes me so happy! He uses it!

Candice, sounds like you're getting geared up to take your licensing test. That's cool that you want to learn the cello! And you're getting crafty. Can you forward Jessica's mission emails to me? You always ask how I am; I really love dendo. I really feel so lucky. I'm working so hard and it makes me want to work hard for the rest of my life. The blessings are so worth it. So amazing. Time is so short. I hope you record some of your Lamb of God practices/performances so I can hear it! You sound really busy Mom! Congrats on your Master Gardener graduation! Thank you for calling missionary medical for me! I think the Andersons can be found at andersonsmission.blogspot.com I thought but I'll double check. There is also a "Sendai Mission Moms" facebook page. (I might have already told you about that). Thanks for the ukelele music! That's cool that Grandma Sandberg got to meet the man who produced the Bible videos! I'd love to hear what he has to say about them! So cool! Lauren, you asked my opinion about contacts. I like both! They're both nice. So, either way. :) Glad you've been writing recently. Sounds like middle school is fun! I'm excited for Christmas too! No snow yet. Keeping warm. Hope Stake Conference is good! We have ours this upcoming week! I'm glad Zach wants to go to BYU with me. :) Yeah! Let's all learn Japanese! Congratulations to Ashley and Odessa Rose! 

Well, my dear family I'm so grateful for you. I am so blessed to be yours. Thank you for all your emails and all that you are doing. I am so proud of you. I am so grateful to be serving the Lord. I am just enjoying. I am learning so much about how God loves us. He doesn't look down at us from Heaven and see a huge blue and green planet. He knows each of us individually and personally. He is aware of the happenings in each of our daily lives and cares about us so much that he blesses us daily and is cheering us on to choose the right so He can bless us even more richly. He delights to love and bless his children and to help them prepare to return to live with Him again. 

I love you dearly! I love you soooooo much!! You are so wonderful! Thank you for all that you do!

I love you!!!!!

Love,

Your missionary,

Bellows shimai :)

P.S. Dad, you asked about emergency prep in Sendai; recently leaders gave our ward member a basic list of what a 4 person family should have in their food storage. We also had an activity where they taught members how to prepare emergency meals (the activity included putting them together and cooking and eating them to see how they tasted). I think they also say to have a list of emergency contact information/plans, etc. That's what they've been doing recently here in Sendai Stake.

[We couldn't download the pictures from this week. Sorry!]