Here is Maryandra with a roll of sushi before it is cut into bite size pieces!  It's nice to know that she likes things rolled in dried seaweed now, like her mom and dad!  It was nice to find out that the reason we'd not gotten any photos from Maryandra last week might have been because of my Hotmail account having issues.  She also wonders if it might be her iPad having problems as well.  She made up for it with a vengeance!  She re-sent a lot of photos to my gmail account!  We can see that dear Sister Smith got her hair cut since being in the MTC, just like Maryandra did, though Maryandra's haircut is not so dramatic! 

 Maryandra likes to takes photos of a lot of fun things!

 All the cat lovers at our house are loving this one! 

 

You know it is still very cold (in fact Maryandra mentioned that February is the coldest month in Japan), by all the bundling up and layering that these sisters have to do!  It must have been Sister Smith's birthday very recently!

 Here are some fun excerpts from Maryandra's e-mail this week:

We shared a message about talents with  Sister A____, and she said that one of my talents was smiling. It makes others happy when I smile, apparently. It made me think "wow! That's something I never even thought of!" And of course, I've been smiling ever since:)

 

Sunday:

Wow! My.Mind.Is.BLOOOOOWN!!!!! Who knew this Sister T_____could be such
an interesting person? I thought she was just another one of those
sweet, elderly relief society sisters, of which she is one as well,
but when all of us sisters went to her house to eat dinner, (a
beautifully decorated meal, I must say, followed by a delicious
dessert of bananas topped with caramel cookies and cream flavored ice
cream! Only in Japan! Love it!) and after sharing a simple message of
how sacrificing yourself for others makes you happier than being
selfish ever would, and sharing personal experiences about it and
stuff, we just started talking. And somehow, the topic changed to
rules of the mission. And this sister started talking about how
loose it was back when she served a mission, and how the elders would
do stupid things and pull the dumbest pranks. For example, they toilet
papered the sisters' bikes. They stole them and hung them on the
clothes line, and took all the air out of the tires. They would also
keep pets, such as birds and once, a horse. (Don't ask me how that was
possible. I don't know either. A HORSE?!?!) Crazy! That makes today
look like everyone is well behaved and no one ever steps out of line.
Yikes!
BUT(and this is my favorite), she also told us that she would get them
back on a regular basis. Once she did so by putting jelly, of all
things, into their suit coat pockets and shoes when they weren't
wearing them, so they would discover them unpleasantly at a later
time. Oooooh, it was a time for laughs! I love this sister! I so
enjoy this ward!!!...