I'll Sho you a Gatsu

Shogatsu in Japanese means the first day of the month.　I am pretty sure that Shogatsu is celebrated on New Year`s Eve as well but I was in the apartment and celebrated the coming of the New Year at around 10:20, which included drinking that sparkling cider stuff and breaking glow sticks my Mom sent to me back in the MTC for the Fourth of July I forgot to use.  But, the last few days have been full of holliday cheer since Shogatsu is the Christmas of Japan where everyone comes home to be with their families.  I was told people finally get off work then but it doesn`t really matter to us missionaries much because they were all with their families anyway and some people, well, you guessed it, still worked.

So, while most missionaries have their downtime around Christmas when it is hard to meet with people, we had it this past week.  It is hard in a branch of twenty as well to get member appointments so, we basically have been going around and shoveling people`s snow since no one out on the streets is from Takayama, everyone inside is chilling with their families, and members are busy as well.  So, we just shoveled snow and got to talk to a couple random Grandma`s this past week.

We did have our delayed Christmas Zone Conference on New Year`s Eve so we took the train the day before and stayed the night in the Kanazawa apartment.  It was me and Elder Vaughn, my senior companion and district leader, my two zone leaders, and the assistants to the president in the apartment.  So I was not only the only elder in single digits of transfers, but also the only one that didn`t have authority over me.  But, it was still really fun and I got to hear a lot of stories from the older missionaries.

At the Conference, we were fed, given a Christmas present of a new mission tie and socks, and President Yamashita talked about Backing Up and Resetting for the New Year.  He told us that no matter how dedicated or worthy we are or aren`t, that we can all back up and reevaluate our lives and see what we can do more.  We can always do more.

So here is hoping that all of you out there stay true to your New Year`s Resolutions.  I am now doing five push-ups after every snack I eat because, well, I have gained two kilograms on the mission so far... IN THE SKINNY COUNTRY OF JAPAN!!!  Not good.  So, until the snow melts and we can run outside without slipping and dying, five push-ups after every snack will do.

Thank you so much for all of the mail and e-mails this past holiday season! 

I love you all and may your 2015 New Year be rocking!