12/31/12 Akemashite Omedetou Gozimasu (or in other words, Happy New Year!)

Hey! Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

That's what they say on New Year's in Japan which is a ridiculous affair. No one (almost) in all of Japan does anything for about 4 days. On the way to the church was pretty much a wasteland. Yesterday I spent the entire day fasting (until 6) and reading the Book of Mormon. I could only get to page 330, but I tried my best! Today we are eating lunch and dinner with members and trying to find a place that is open to buy stuff.

Also sorry that the email is a day late. This weeks P-day moved to Tuesday. And I have lots of pictures, but today is crazy and I forgot the camera again... :(

It was so great to talk to you on the phone too! I wish I had prepared better, but I was especially grateful to hear how family things and scripture study are going. I'm also glad I could hear Andrew and David's mission advice and hear about Adam's mission preparation.

Christmas Eve we had a really awesome party in the Kotoni church in Sapporo. There were some fun games and great food and we got to watch the Christmas devotional which was incredible. Did you watch it??? Then a group of missionaries did a presentation of the Christmas story from Luke which was great too. We also practiced for caroling which we did that night in Odori park in Sapporo. The second half of which was in the subway where we got in trouble by the guards and had to leave early... But it was still a good experience! While we sang other missionaries contacted those listening and when we got stopped lots of people got mad at the guards because they wanted to keep listening! hahaha Christmas back home sounds like it was wonderful. I miss pizza. It's 20 bucks for a plain medium size here. Glad everyone liked their presents and stuff! Good luck with your new computer haha be careful with it! I can't believe there is a windows 8!

I am probably fine on sweaters since I don:t know where I'd pack them, but I do use them everyday and only have 2...

Christmas day was supposed to be normal dendo, but ended up being lots of service and visiting with members. We sang carols at a day service place in Sapporo and "heart attacked" (Ishiga Choro is really into stuff like that) a few members' houses and then ate dinner in the igloo we made.

Adam's court of honor sounds like it was awesome. I feel really honored that he is saving the pin for me. I'm glad it went smoothly and I bet he looks great in the uniform. I have been getting a few emails from Dan Hansen lately too.

So I feel really bad too because today is another short email day (the other elders have a bunch of stuff they want to do) and I feel like I have way more than usual to talk about. The Japanese elders don't really email much.

I want to tell you more experiences, but they're really scarce as of late. Last Saturday the area put on the Messiah concert that was really good. We got Nakamura shimai, a guy from Eikaiwa, and Haramai shimai's family to come and it was a blast, plus tons of missionaries were there. We have been getting fed by members a ton lately, yes. The Christmas party was on the 22nd and this random guy I housed one day came and brought a friend. That friend sent me a picture of Mt. Fuji in the mail the other day and it was really funny because I didn't suppose that giving someone my meishi (business card) would lead to that. Remind me next week and I'll tell you more about the stuff this week.

I love you all and I'm grateful for this work and the support you give me!!! Stay safe and warm and share the light of the gospel as much as possible!!!

Oh yeah, we got transfer calls early. I:m staying in Eniwa with Ishiga Choro and Brown Choro's companion is becoming Rodenburg Choro who sang with me in the music thing.

Aishitemasu!!!
Hutchinson Choro