🎆😄Happy New Years😄🎆

Happy new year! (akemashite omedetougozaimasu!) Its crazy that covid started half a decade ago 🤯 I turn 20 in like a month which is a big thing in Japan! It's like a coming of age thing but if I'm still in yatsushiro it will probably not get celebrated since there aren't very many members here lol. But the members who are here are so awesome! They are so kind to the missionaries, on fast sunday they bring us food and we got enough to not need to buy anything except for eggs today! We were also going to buy mikkans (between oranges and cuties) but they all looked kinda not good so we didn't. Don't worry mom, we have lots of other veggies! I'm a pretty healthy boy except the member we do service for every week gives us like 2 bags of cookies every week...I should just stop eating them. Food trends: Protein milkshakes Omelets with carrot, potato, onion, and peppers Fried rice with the same veggie mix Gyoza (dumpling things) We had dominos pizza once and it maybe the best thing I've eaten on my mission (joke but it was really good) Spicy McChicken :P Updates on the work: We still have nobody we are really teaching in Japanese, all of the people who are progressing people speak english. 3 friends came to church yesterday! We started an english sunday school class yesterday and it was fun! The only people who will come are investigators or newly baptized members... D+C will be fun! We had a really good discussion about the restoration yesterday! Our friend Mai (moved from the Philippines) was asking really good questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, we have a lesson with her tonight and will invite her to be baptized! There were problems with work last week so we didn't get to meet as much as we wanted to but she choose to stay at her job because it is close to the church! (lots of our other people have to bike for 30minutes in the cold to come to church) Her aunt has been an awesome member missionary and has helped answer lots of her questions while showing an amazing Christlike example. Surei san is also so amazing, he is trying to accomplish so much in his life right now and is scared that if he tries to do church stuff too, that he might have to drop something else. We haven't been able to meet for 2 weeks until last night. He asks such good questions and makes connections but he just doesn't really want to believe there is a God. He says sometimes he said he believes but sometimes he can't because he was raised not to. But I believe that he has already received a witness that what we teach is true. We are trying our very best to help him act on it. If anyone has experience sacrificing things for church please share, I’d love to hear your experiences! Last night one of the questions he asked was what would happen to the people who are unable to be married in this life. It was such a good question and I knew it came right from his heart. I first asked him what he thought would happen because the way he posed the question made me feel like he wanted God to be merciful and loving. We answered by talking about faith and trust in God, trust in His plan and mercy. By the end of the lesson he had an answer he was satisfied with. Every time we meet with him we try our best to answer his questions but without action on his part it has been hard to get across, but this time he said he prayed. He didn't pray the way we taught him and it wasn't necessarily to God, but he was pleading for something out there to help him. This time we re-emphasized the power of prayer and were very clear how to do it. I fasted and am praying for him, I'd love it if you do too. New Years! We went to the Fukushima's house again for New years dinner, we had lots of yummy food! There was the soup that had a huge ball of mochi in it, fired had and shrimp, this super yummy saucy chicken, and some sashimi. We also called a yellow dot and asked if we could visit them. It ended up being this nice old couple and they gave us a bunch of super traditional japanese new years food which was actually really good. I loved the like cooked omochi thing. Boss kaicho gave us time that day to go to shrines! We went to this one temple and then were going to hike to another one of the top of a mountain but we ran out of time right before the top and had to hurry down the mountain to go to our dinner appointment. My breaks on my bike are shot so I had to walk it down the steeper parts :( but I wasn't going to risk getting hurt. New break pads are ordered and should be here soon so I can change them! Spiritual thought! Fasting and Fast Offerings! Guess what! As missionaries we still pay fast offerings! It says so in the standards! This past week Boss kaicho gave us an extra hour on Saturday for personal study centered on fasting. I listened to this talk by Elder Eyering and it was so amazing. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to help those who need it! I'm grateful for the wonderful organizations the church has established to care for the sick and afflicted! I'm grateful I can pay my fast offerings! https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/is-not-this-the-fast-that-i-have-chosen?lang=eng I know that as we sacrifice to the Lord and do the things that He has commanded us to that blessings will be poured our greater than we have room to receive. I hope you all had a fantabulous new year! Ganbatte! Elder Rasmussen :) https://photos.app.goo.gl/LKr5qY3i11DHJsTs6