31 December 2007

12/31/07

Dear Family,

Well, that’s another week. Pretty crazy. Time flies, but not. It’s weird. I can’t believe last week was Christmas. So much has happened since then. Yet, the weeks seem to fly. I guess the term “days are long, weeks are short” really applies. We are nearing the half way point of my first transfer in Japan. It has snowed a little bit here, but nothing really sticks. But still, IT’S THAT COLD! *shiver* The snow here is different from Utah. It’s soooo increadibly windy, and the humidity makes sure the cold goes straight to the bone. It’s wonderful. It does a lot to strengthen character and all that stuff.

Let’s see, well . . . everything is going. I learned that when the Japanese honk, it means “thank you for letting me pass.” It’s amazing how much respect there is around here. The customer truly is always right. A lot of the time, the store owners will literally stand in the entry to their store and welcome you and bow.

The food has been great. We eat lots of curry and my loving companion said he’s going to make some Thai curry someday. Thanks for introducing all that food to me Dad! I think I inherited your taste buds for it. We eat basically all vegetables when we cook. Make a noodle dish or just boil the veggies and dip them in ponzu sauce. My companion was a vegetarian for a couple years before the mission (he isn’t now) so he likes using tons of veggies which I don’t mind. We usually have lettuce, onions, a couple kinds of tasty mushrooms, and tofu with everything. The tofu isn’t all that bad, it just tastes like whatever you put it in. The texture is very much like jello, but I’m good with it.

The work is moving along. We don’t do too much finding because we teach many lessons. We have two awesome progressing investigators -- Sakimura and Kobayashi. Sakimura is a 22 year old guy who is pretty much awesome. He works a ton, and falls asleep a lot. Ha ha. He’s heard all the lessons, but he’s still working on getting baptized. He doesn’t live with his parents, but they don’t want him to get baptized, and he respects their decision. Since he is an only child, if he converts, their family line of Buddhism dies. It’s tough. Almost all Japanese say they’re Buddhists by tradition. It’s tough. But Sakimura really is awesome.

Kobayashi used to be homeless until Nakamura Kyodai (Brother Nakamura) took him in. Kobayashi is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and he is an amazing cook. He’s heard all of the lessons, and he is very spiritually sensitive, but he just doesn’t think he has the faith to let go of Buddhism. Even though he studies the scriptures harder than me and my companion combined!!!

Well, that’s just an update on things here. Hope y’all are puttin’ your shoulder to the wheel.

Love, Elder Hogge

P.S. Shogatsu (New Year) here is ridiculous! Everyone goes to the little Shinto AND Buddhist shrines and claps twice and calls that good for their worship all year. It’s funny how they are all festive a week late! They picked the wrong holiday to connect with their spirituality. Meh. They’ll figure it out.