Sundance Ski Day

We had a great day of skiing! It was Jami and Holly's first time, so we took it slow the first run...really slow! 2 hours slow! Sundance is a great place and we had a blast. Lexi snowboards, but decided to try skiing too, since Holly was through after one run and spent the rest of the day people watching on the bench below.

Happy New Years!

Greetings all!
Well, wasn't that just sweet, being able to talk to me on Christmas? I hope
everyone had as much fun as I did, it was a good time for sure.
Well, we are on a day early. Starting NEXT YEAR (aka next week) we will be
emailing on Tuesdays only. We think it's kinda lame that they switched this week
back to Monday, but whatever.
Well, last week not a whole lot happened. You know all about my sickness, and
about my Christmas day... just visiting members, singing Silent Night, and
sharing 2 Nephi 19:6. I got way good at reading it in Japanese and all the
members were impressed with my reading abilities, hahaha!
Well, the only real news to report is from Saturday. On Friday after you
called, we just ended up dendo'ing some and taught quite a few lessons on
peoples doorsteps... it was snowing outside pretty hard. It makes it way hard,
because people don't want to even open their doors more than an inch because of
how cold it is. Well, I have figured out a way good door-approach that allows
me to introduce the restoration and give them a Book of Mormon, so that is
sweet. The first question I ask them is if they have previously ever met
missionaries before... depending on the intonation they use when they answer
that question you can tell whether they will let you teach them a lesson or not.
It's way funny.
Saturday we went to Toyama for DTM... and then hung out with "The Brazilian
King." He is a guy who is Brazilian and Japanese, and he lives in Takabata
which is in our zone. He is a member and LOVES missionaries, he is way stinkin
rich and loves to spoil missionaries. Well, he invited 11 people from the zone
over to his business and served us a FEAST. There was so much brazilian food it
was ridiculous, it was all way good too. Afterwards he gave us all a present,
here is how he introduced them. (In Japanese): "Well, since it is bad to give
you guys cash, I got you all a little present instead." We opened them up to
find Gift-Certificates to Jusco, a huge grocery store chain in Japan. He gave
both Cambridge and I $50.00 each worth of gift certificates, and he gave the
Toyama elders 30.00 each! Lololol! I think it is because previously he has
taken the Toyama elders out to lunch and stuff, but has never been able to do
anything with Takayama since we are so far. He is a way cool guy. His name is
Arisawa... maybe you could look him up online.
Well, that's it for my week. Yesterday we went to church, housed in the snow,
built snowmans, and visited Moriichi shimai, a less active. She was a lot
happier than normal which was way good!
Also... yesterday I had the idea to leave a snowman on the porch of one of our
members/kinda-less-actives house! About an hour ago I got a phonecall from her
telling me how happy it made her and that her grandkids are coming over today
and they will love it! Lolololol!
Snowman dendo away!
LOVE YOU ALL!
KUN
P.S.- Thank you everyone for all the Christmas Cards and love and gifts! I love
you all!

Christmas Day Events

It was a wet and rainy Christmas in Arizona. Baby Nate was the hit of the day, as he's the only person under 5 feet in the crowd. There was more marshmallow caramel chocolate treats to be made and Holly stacks up her gifts.





Grandma and Grandpa Richards' game and prize was a huge hit and had everyone pretty confused for a while. Chris had the same game in Japan with his companion and solved it unaided and quicker than this group of his siblings and cousins in Arizona! Everyone also wrote a poem for Chris. My vote for best poem goes to Cousin Shaun, who wrote it in memory of the tune "Ice Ice Baby" and to the famous video of the dance from 1991, starring Kurt, Shaun, Chris and Jami. Insiders will know all about it. Shaun's poem is posted below.

RaLyn surprised me by turning me into a "real" man with this awesome tool box. Now I guess I need to buy some tools instead of borrowing them from Barry all the time! And of course, what would Christmas be without the Worlds' Biggest Cardinals Fan! Perhaps the funnest event of the entire Christmas was Johnny leading us in Christmas Bells songs. Enjoy the video below of the "Maestro Johnny" in action.

Mission Ice

By Shaun Rice

Dedicated to Cousin Chris in Japan

To the tune of “Ice Ice Baby”, by Vanilla Ice

Ice Ice Baby

Chris is on a mission

Ice Ice Baby

About the Church he’ll get people to listen

Alright, stop, collaborate and mission

Chris is back with a brand new invention

Somethin’ grabs a hold of people tightly

It flows to their soul daily and nightly

Will it ever stop? Yo, it won’t I know

Turn out the lights, and it still glows

To the extreme, he rocks his mission like an iPod

Lights up Japan, when he sings Spirit of God

Ice Ice Baby!

Merry Christmas!

Kanazawa Zone Christmas Party!

Chris in the middle with the blue Japanese Kimono.

Email #1

Well, hello! Where to begin, where to begin....
Well, the last time I emailed was Wednesday. Wednesday night we had a lesson with Yukina and Setsuna that was awesome, we taught them the plan of Salvation and it went really well! I look forward to meeting and teaching them again.
Thursday was just a normal day of dendo, we went and housed a bit, did planning for this next transfer, and then went and dendoed some more. Good stuff.
Friday we went to Toyama in the morning, and did some streeting in Toyama. Cambridge and I weren't feeling too hot, so we went and got lunch while Parks and Koyama went to an appointment. After, we got on a train to Kanazawa and went to our Zone Christmas Party! President, Sister, and Bryce (their son who served in Mexico I think) were there. It was a way good time, we played games, watched a video of pictures from throughout the mission in 2008, and acted out the nativity. I took a video of the nativity, it was pretty awful but was way funny.
Friday night we went back to Toyama to sleep since we couldn't make it all the way to Takayama, and so here is the problem. We were FROZEN all night, we only had one blanket each. Well, in the middle of the night, I was so cold I turned on a heater, got warm, then turned it off and went back to bed. It was 45 degrees INSIDE the apartment. Well, we found out in the morning that a window was half open all night. Elder Cambridge and I got on the train and came back to Takayama half dead. We decided the best thing we could do.... is to dendo, so we dendoed all Saturday haha! Saturday night we both felt pretty bad, but we wanted to finish off a neighborhood so we figured we could do it. At the last house on the street, we met a golden investigator! This lady, Eriko, was awesome! She has two kids, 10 and 8, and she called them in to listen to our message. She lived in Canada for a year so she spoke decent english, but she had us teach in Japanese. She would repeat everything we said to her kids so they understood. We had about a 25 minute lesson in her genkan, (front entrance way) so it was pretty awesome. I asked her if she wanted to come to church, but she said she would have to ask her husband's permission, which is always iffy in Japan. She did tell us, "If my husband says yes, then it is yes to everything you say", which was way cool!
Well, Saturday night when we got home, I started shaking like mad and I couldn't control my body. It was way scary, so I hurried and climbed into bed and was sweating, cold, hot, and shaking like crazy. About an hour later, I woke up Elder Cambridge (Also not feeling good, but feeling better then me) and had him give me a blessing. After that I slept til the morning, but woke up and was still pretty sick. I think it was one of the worse fevers I have had.
Sunday we couldn't go to church because I was way sick. We slept and slept, I felt like crap, and honestly wanted to just die haha! Sunday night when I was brushing my teeth I grabbed a flashlight to look at my throat which was sore as can be, and it was covered in white sores. I also was spitting up a little blood in my spit... haha gross.
Well, Monday rolls around, I still had a hard time sleeping Sunday but I got through it. We went to the doctors Monday morning, they have you do your temperature while you are in the waiting room, and when I had signed in and did my temperature, I handed it back and sat back down. It was celcius... so I typed it into my calculator and found out I was at 101.5... and I felt better then I did the day before haha. So two minutes later, a nurse runs out and is like "takai netsu ga aru node, kite kudasai" - (because you have a high fever, follow me). She took me back to the only room in the clinic and had me lay down and put ice packs behind and on top of my head and covered me in blankets. I forgot my camera so I was kinda bummed. It was pretty entertaining though. The doctor came in and told me I had "White and yellow "festering" sores" on my tonsils and that "we need to kill them", so he prescribed me some antibiotics. Monday all day we just slept, I managed to wake up feeling decent and I made myself some Gyouza which were way tasty!
Last night I had trouble sleeping, I woke up at 3 and I was COVERED head to toe in sweat, like, my futon was almost a pool. Way gross.. so I showered then got on top of my futon and grabbed some other blankets to use the rest of the night. Well, I woke up at 6:30 and those were way wet too, I can't control my body sweat or anything, way gross. I don't know what to do.
That's it for me. Your boy is dieing but is still in high spirits... pray for me so I can be dendoing soon! I am sick of being in the apartments... and I am tired of sleeping hahaha!
LOVE YOU ALL! HAVE A MERI KURISUMASU!
LOVE,
KUN

Email #2

Yoyo!
Yeah, I got the package, way good. I sent home a little envelope with an SD card in it, I don't think it will make it before Christmas but you should get it sometime. As for the box I sent home, be looking for that soon! Hope it makes it before Christmas.
Sounds like the temple lights were fun, I definitely missed that this year! Its all good though, way sad that Japan has barely any Christmas lights haha! As for the temperature, yeah it is frigid haha. Our apartment only has a lousy stove that heats one room too, so not much has changed in that aspect. Kerosene smells way bad too, and its way dangerous, so I don't like it much. I am trying to stay warm.
I am gonna send 3 pictures, one of our Zone Nativity, one of my white spots in my throat, and one of an x-ray that I had a dentist take.
For some reason, the tooth that is 2nd from the back (middle in the xray) has been hurting on-and-off, and is way sensitive to cold. It is on the top of the tooth that it hurts, towards the front. However, the dentist was convinced that I have a cavity in the very back tooth, and that my 2nd tooth shouldn't be hurting. I am wondering if the black spot on top of the tooth is a filling that could have come loose and is causing me pain. That is Elder Cambridge's diagnosis. Can you have a dentist in America check the picture out and see what they say? The pain has been around for about 4 weeks, but it will come for one day, its bad enough to make me not sleep for a bit, then it will go away for 4-5 days. Way weird.
I love you!
KUN

Candy Time!

The annual Heninger candy making extravaganza was held yesterday. For some reason (baby Nate) we had more people here than prior years. I wonder why? (baby Nate). I suppose it was all due to the wonderful host, me (NOT, it was baby Nate). It was even a huge surprise to have Uncle Carl join us. Grandpappy to "baby Nate", of course. Wow, it was an amazing day and now I'm sick of chocolate. The day also had a sad ending, not because baby Nate went home, but because BYU lost their football game!

Japanese Nativity

This is the cutest kokeshi nativity set.

It's hand painted, made of wood. We love ours!
It was a Merry Christmas surprise for RaLyn!
To get one, just click this link: Kokeshi Designs

Greetings from Takayama!

Email #1

Well folks, looks like Elder H is gonna be in Takayama for another transfer... which will make it about 6 months total in the tall mountain! It's way rare for a person to stay in his/her bean area for 4 transfers, but Me, Parks choro, as well as Aland shimai will be sticking in this zone for another transfer! That's way cool!
Well, this week was nuts. It's been like, 9 days since I have emailed! Here is the news!
First: I have a confession. I was debating on buying some slippers. At the same time, I had just made tacos, but didn't have any salsa. I started feeling my presents from Santa until I found salsa, then I opened it, took out one pack, and then sealed it again. Well, the awful confession is... I also felt some booties. So, I opened them and have been using them because my feet have been solid ice blocks lately! I hope Santa san forgives me!
Second: I sent home a Christmas package 2 days ago. It has presents for all of our Arizona family, and I sent one up to G&G Heninger as well as the Protheros. I also got one off to Carter, Chandler, and Ryan. The presents are kinda way small and cheesy, so my apologies on that. I haven't had any time to shop or do anything, so I had to get it all in a matter of about an hour. I also wanted to write individual letters to everyone, but that didn't really happen either. I managed to get the ones to my friends and out-of-state people written on a train, but as for a family, I send everyone my love and hope that you understand that dendo is my number 1 priority right now! I love everyone though!
Third: I still haven't gotten an SD card from you guys, so I am still using the one I have. It is almost full, and has some way good photos and videos on it! Give me an update on that! :)
Fourth: Phone calls. Do you know how to call Japan? We have a sheet that tells you how to call Japan, but we left it in the apartment. I talked to Cambridge, and I am going to be taking Friday morning, which will mean it will be CHRISTMAS DAY at 4:00pm for you guys. (That translates to my Friday at 8:00am, during study time). When you dial Japan, I am pretty sure you drop the first 0 though and dial something else, so look it up online right now and tell me if you can figure it out! I will now type up a separate email about my week, so that you can see this and be checking on that stuff! I love you all! We get to talk in about 9 days! Sweet! :D
Love,
KUN

Email #2

Isogashikatta yo! (Very busy!)
Wow! What a busy week! I didn't think I was going to make it.
So Tuesday, we went to Kanazawa for interviews. We travel through Toyama to get to Kanazawa, so we told Parks and Koyama choro what train to meet us on, so that we could ride together. Our first train left at 7:30, and we got to the church at about 12:00. Crazy huh? :) Interviews went way good, President is the man. He is a way busy guy, so I kept it brief and just let him know how grateful I am for him, I really do love him. He told me to get some snow boots and settle in, so that was kinda nice knowing that I wasn't going to have to pack and stuff. Tuesday night we got to see the Christmas concert, Cambridge did a way good job! It was way cool, sadly my camera was in my backpack on the other side of the room, and I couldn't get to it. Kanazawa had the biggest turn out out of any of the concerts Cambridge said, which is nuts because it is the furthest away! :) Tuesday night, Elder Hardman and I went back to Toyama with Parks/Koyama and spent the night there.
Wednesday morning we walked to the eki (train station) and headed up to Takayama. Elder Hardman is insane. He dendo's like a machine, literally, a robot! He talks to EVERYONE and shows no fear! He is pretty much perapera (fluent), which makes it a lot better for him. We taught 4 lessons on the way back to Takayama, outside the eki and on the train we taught a 1 hour lesson to a guy! Way cool. When we got back to the apartment, he made some phone calls and scheduled some appointments. Because he was in Takayama for 7.5 months, he knows everyone! After that we went and visited Michibata shimai. That was way cool, she was his baptism so they have a special relationship. After that we went and dendo'ed, then went and visited a million people. That night, we were able to go back to Michibata's apartment. Sakashita (michibata's daughter) was there, along with her two grandchildren. I have been wanting to teach Sakashita forever, but have never got a hold of her. Well, Hardman asked permission if we could teach the two children about the gospel, and Sakashita said that would be way cool. She is a way cool lady, but is working 24/7. She was committed to baptism a long time ago, years and years ago, but couldn't follow through. But, she has a good impression of the missionaries, and she loves the gospel and has seen the change it made in her mom's life. So, we should be baptizing her two daughters (Yukina, 12 and Setsuna, 10) this next transfer! :) Please pray! :)
Thursday we dendo'ed like mad. Literally, this whole week I didn't get a lunch or a dinner break, we dendo'ed from 10:30 am until 9:00 at night, planned until 10:00 at night, then I went to bed immediately and was up at 6:30 the next day. Hardman may be able to do it, but it almost killed me. Thursday we just dendo'ed all day.
Friday, same thing. We had a good meeting with Yamashita san and he took us out for Sushi afterward. I ate some pretty good sushi, it was the real stuff and I liked it a lot! I feel myself becoming Japanese. :) Friday night we taught Yukina and Setsuna! It was way awesome, we taught them Lesson 1 and kept it pretty simple but it was way cool! We are going back to teach them Lesson 2 tonight! I'm way nervous but way excited.
Saturday, we went out to lunch with our buddy Ikeda, who is an eikaiwa (English class) student. He doesn't have crazy interest in the gospel but is a way nice guy. We ate some good ramen. Then, we had the Christmas party, from about 3:00 until 9:00 that night. (Including setting up and stuff) It was way fun, there were probably about 40 people there, probably about 15 non-members. Way good! :) We also handed out 5 morumon sho (Book of Mormon) in about 1.5 hours that morning... haha!
Sunday we went to church, and Sakashita and Yamamoto san came! These are my first investigators to ever come to church, way awesome! It was really good, Hardman gave a talk and it was really good. Then, we took a train to Nagoya, switched, and Cambridge and I returned home.
Well, that's about it. We ended up finding about 17 potential investigators, but in the process I almost died. I learned what it is like to completely forget yourself while you dendo... but Hardman does it to a point where it is unhealthy because he won't take a break, eat, or drink!
Well, the dendo is awesome, life is good, spirits are high. I look forward to resting today, haha! I love you all!
Love,
KUN

Barbarita Court Gingerbread House Activity

The annual Barbarita Court gingerbread (graham cracker) house activity was held this week. Fun was had by all. The event seems to get bigger and better every year! Thanks to everyone who participated.

The Barbarita Court "Mom's Club", including: left to right, Vickie, Tracy, Claire, Mary, RaLyn, Joni and Janine.

Jedidiah, Mia & Holly. Lexi, McKenzie, Kell, Holly & Austin.


Liz & Eli


Sean & Lexi. Mia & Holly.
Barbie, Mia & Eli.

Happy Birthday Holly!

Today is Holly Jolly's 13th birthday.
Happy Birthday to you!
We love our Holly!

The Frigid Tall Mountain

In memory of Chris, Brandon used his Photoshop skills to add him to the family Christmas photo! Feels just like he's here with us! We love our missionary! Below is his weekly letter.

Burrrrrrr! It's cold up here! :)
Well, greetings to all. This week was killer, I haven't slept at all because I have been too busy dendo'ing like a machine. Today, I shall sleep all day. I apologize for any errors in this email or anything that doesn't make sense, I am still way out of it haha!
So, starting with last Monday. Since we knew we were going to be out of town all week, we dendo'ed even though it was P-day. Needless to say, we got shut down by everyone pretty hard. It was kinda a bummer, but was funny at the same time. It was okay! :)
Tuesday Cambridge had a rehearsal then a concert in Gifu-shi that night, so we headed down to the honbu in the morning. At about 11, everyone left for Gifu, and Hardman and I stayed in Meito-ku (the honbu's location) and dendo'ed all around Meito. It was awesome! Hardman is the man, I think I told you a little about him last time. I learned a lot from him, so it was way fun. We ran while we dendo'ed the whole day, so needless to say, I was pooped by the end of the day. Tuesday night we slept in the honbu in the Elder's apartment.
Wednesday we woke up, and by 6:30 we were in the car with President, Sister Traveller, and the 2 AP's (Hardman and Andreas) on our way to Kanazawa for Zone Taikai. Sister Traveller is the best, she is way cool. We listened to Rascal Flatts on the way, hahahaha! We also got to stop by the ocean on the way, so that was pretty cool! I saw the sea of Japan and some surfers, sweet. Zone taikai was flippin' amazing, the spirit was way strong and I learned a lot. It definitely gave me a push and reassurance as I keep trying to be a better missionary daily. A couple things we learned at taikai (not Gospel related)
1) Each companionship in the mission is going to be given a cellphone that will stay in each area. We should be getting them before Christmas.
2) Starting in 2009, Preparation Day will be on Tuesdays not Mondays, so be ready for the emails to be delayed! :P
3) Next week is transfers (the 18th), which means that P-Day is on the Wednesday, the 17th. Be looking for emails from me at the normal time, but on the Tuesday night (your time) instead of Sunday!
4) I got a sheet about Christmas phone calls, supposedly I email you with my phone number and the time you should call, and then you guys call us. It can go either way, but I think that would be easiest that way you can just get a phone card and stuff. I will be emailing you about that probably a few days before Christmas, because I don't know whether I will transfer or not. Phone calls are supposed to be 40 minutes, but Cambridge said most elders take 1-2 hours. (2 hours is kinda the max) Let's plan on 1 hour.
5) Interviews are tomorrow, so hopefully it will give me an idea of if I am staying or going! Right now I am down with either one, I would want to stay because of all my friends here and the sweet apartment, but I really liked dendo'ing in the city and getting out of the frigid cold!
Okay, now we are to Thursday, our only day to dendo in Takayama this week. It went well, we visited a lot of people and had good conversations. Nothing big happened though.
Friday we caught a bus down to Nagoya, and since we had a few hours, we went and walked around Nagoya for a bit. It was way sweet! I love the city, so many people and it was way cool. I took a lot of pictures from this 41 story building, so I'll send those home when I receive a replacement memory card. Friday night I dendo'ed with Hardman again, we worked like machines but got shut down all night. Then, we played Badminton at the church for an activity and it was a way fun time!
Saturday we woke up, chilled around the honbu, and then we got driven to a place in the city to dendo while the honbu-staff enjoyed their preparation day. (Theirs is on Sat) We just talked to people on the busy streets and stuff as they waited to cross lights, it was pretty sweet. Saturday night I dendo'ed with Elders Bennett and Sakuma, both are way cool guys. We had a good night and laughed the whole time we dendo'ed, some guy stormed out of his apartment after yelling through his doorbell-speaker (we call them Kekko-boxes) that we were "stupid". then when he saw that there were 3 of us he stormed back inside his apartment. Way funny.Thanks for the upcoming book and SD card.... good stuff! Also, money isn't really a problem, we just don't spend a lot of time in the apartment cooking because we would rather be out dendo'ing! I am staying healthy, I have actually gained about 3 kilo's since coming out, maybe you can see that in some of the pictures lol! Also... I told mom that the dog whistle was a serious suggestion, but I forgot to tell her a story! While dendo'ing in the city on Saturday, a dog tried jumped out of it's doghouse out of no-where and tried to bite my leg! It missed, and it's snout just hit me in the calf. I screamed and ran away, then walked around out of it's leash range and still knocked on the door. Scared the living snot out of me though, it was way funny!
Sunday we got up at 5:00am and took a train back to Takayama. The train I wanted to take actually stopped running in November, so we had to wait an extra hour to catch another one. We got back at 9:50, rode to church asap and got there at 10 when Sunday school started. It was way funny, we were so out of it, and on top of it all it was fast Sunday so we were not only dead tired from 5 hours of sleep but also riding the trains and not eating for over 24 hours. Pretty funny though, the members got a good laugh at how dead we were! We got home, I made the most killer meatballs in the world (SUGOKU OISHII!) and then we took an hour nap, then visited members and less actives the rest of the day.
Well, that's my week! I am dead tired because all the performances meant I didn't get to bed until about midnight for 3 days this week, and we still have to rise at 6:30 or earlier no matter what time we get to bed! Shinitai da yo! :P
LOVE YOU,
L-DA HENINGAA

Q&A

How do you feel about your sweet Nihongo skills at this point?
The comprehension continues to improve, the speaking continues but at a slower rate. I need to try some new study techniques, I am going to try some new stuff this afternoon after I nap.

Any discussions with Pres. T. this week?
I hung out with him for a little, he is way busy. We have the mission 150 baptism goal, this transfers are a week early so that's a mess, Christmas parties for each zone, etc. etc. He is a way busy man.

Tell us about the AP you dendo with now, if that is happening.
Elder Hardman is the man. He was in Takayama for 5 transfers.... 7.5 months. He is a legend here, the people all love him. He is in Hurley's doki, but he is flippin' perapera because he studies and dendo's like a machine. Way good stuff. I will be dendoing with him this Wednesday to Sunday, here in Takayama.

How have you enjoyed the presents Mom sent and the paper Christmas Tree?
Yeah, good stuff! We still have 2 more days of presents to open, and everything is way good! :)

What blogs do you read besides Carter's?
Just Carters.

Do you ever hear from Elder Hurley?
Yeah, I have talked to him probably 4-5 times. He is doing good!

How are the guys in your MTC group doing?
Everyone is doing good! I haven't heard from Huff for a while, but hopefully he writes back soon.

Do you know the schedule for transfers this month?
Yeah, 18th, which is a Thursday. Tuesday is cleaning day, Wednesday is P-day and transfer phone calls, Thursday we transfer.

Been to the foot bath lately?
Nope, too busy dendo'ing.

Have you started some different dendo techniques because of the snow and cold weather?
Not yet, if I am still hear for another, once the snow comes down hard, we want to try some new stuff.

What food are you craving?
Hahaha, I am doing good. Jerky is probably my favorite thing though.

Did you read about Carter and the Mob boss' girl friend? Funny stuff.
Huh? I heard about girls trying to kiss him, but not that!

Any close call bike accidents to report?
Nope.

How's Park's Choro doing with his Nihonjin companion?
He loves him, they are doing way good! I want a nihonjin lol!

Anything you need us to send?
I'm just great! Thanks for all the love you always send!
LOVE,
KUN

Winter in Arizona...Poolside!

Time for the annual family photo. Our theme this year is "Winter in Arizona".
One of these photos is not like the others! Can you see any behind the scenes "Photoshopping" by Brandon??? :)