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Merry Christmas! (Week 15)

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Another great week in Japan! My first Christmas in Japan and it has been great. I will say, it is nothing like America though. In Japan, Christmas is purely commercial. No purpose, no caroling, no Savior. It is a very strange thing (and a sad thing as well) to experience, but it has provided lots of opportunity for Elder Dowdle and I to teach the true meaning of Christmas. One great experience we had was just yesterday on Christmas Day. We went caroling as a ward in the local Eki (train station). Lots of people were stopping to listen to us and even recording us with their phones! It was such a neat experience to be caroling in Japanese and still feel the meaning behind the songs and see all the passer-byes get to experience those songs about the Savior as well. What an amazing opportunity we have (not just missionaries) to share this wonderful message about the Savior.

In this past week, we have been really busy leading up to Christmas. Lots of members were in the Christmas spirit so we got fed a lot. The missionaries even had to split up a couple times so that we could make it to all the meals. We were definitely not complaining though. Several missionaries have been sick this past week though, including me and Elder Dowdle. We were feeling a lot better on Christmas morning and today though. A Christmas miracle! On Christmas Eve last week, we opened all our presents from the ward and from our  families. We got a lot of great stuff and thank you all so much for everything! That absolutely made our day and our week! All the clothes fit perfectly and all the notes and letters were amazing! Our apartment is absolutely loaded now!

On Christmas Eve (Japan time), we got to Skype our families back home for 45 minutes. It was so great to see everyone and I love you all so much! I was sad we didn't have more time to talk but these past few week has flown by and it just gets faster and faster. I am glad to hear everything is going good! It was nice to hear a southern accent for the first time in a while too. Believe it or not, a southern accent isn't very common in Japan lol. It was fun to talk a little bit about the culture in Japan as well. It is very opposite of the US where you can kinda just do whatever you want for your culture. There are lots of do's and don'ts in Japan. If anyone has any questions about the culture just let me know and I will do my best to answer!

Thank you all so much for all the Christmas gifts and letters and all the love! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I love you all so much! Hope everyone has a great week! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

サドラー 長老

Merry Christmas!
A friend we are teaching
Sweet Chopsticks we got for Christmas
Our friend who is preparing for baptism
Fuji Yama (Mount Fuji) from a nearby Apartment Complex in Mutsuai

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