45th Week in Japan, 53 Weeks

So due to that funny scheduling last week, its pday agian! Not much has happened these past few days so I will keep it really short!

Shogatsu was a blast! Some members invited us over for dinner and we chowed down on some mochi(super dense, Japanese, smashed into goop rice), some fried chicken and french fries, shrimp, fish, seaweed rolls, sweet potato stuff, and soba! Then we busted out the kanji writing kits and the members wanted to get a picture of us with kanji written on our foreheads. So Elder Israelsen and my kanji is kibo 希望 which means hope and the sisters is 慈愛 jiai which means charity. The next day we cleaned the apartment and had another fun day. So we went and did some shopping and this lady came up and started to talk to us in English which was really a surprise. She had lived in LA for 12 years and learned English. She showed us around and helped us find what we were looking for (she didn`t think that we could speak Japanese, so we let her think that;) It turns out that she really lives in Obihiro so we gave her an Eikaiwa flyer and to talk to the missionaries in Obihiro. On sunday we had a great fast and testimony meeting. The members here are getting a little more happy every week! And Heavenly Father was kind enough to prompt a member that I wanted new pants for dendo. So a member gave us some of her fathers pants and they are sick! Macklemore (sorry if I spelled that wrong) and Ryan Lewis would be so proud of me:) And that brings us back to today. 

These past few days of Personal Study have turned out to be really good. I was reading from all of these different books and magazine but the theme was somehow all the same when I read them. The point of this life is to Come unto Christ in order to learn of the Father. And if this is true, we need to do all that we can to bring more spiritual light into our everyday lives. Not just once a week at church, or just at that special meeting where and apostle comes and speaks, but everyday should be filled with things that bring more light into your life. And the more light that you have, the more you can reflect that light to others who need it.

Ok love you all and have fun with those New Year Resolutions!  

Elder Swenson

That is some good mochi I made myself.

The members wanted to get a picture of us with kanji written on our foreheads. 

So Elder Israelsen and my kanji is kibo 希望 which means hope and 

the sisters is 慈愛 jiai which means charity.