What are you doin' New Year?

 [Title may reference this song.  Hard to tell.]

January 1, 2024

 

新年快乐！Happy New Year Everyone! Yet another year in the bag! Which bag? I don't know. (The Krampus bag, perhaps?)

Does anyone have any cool traditions? In talking to a lot of people here, it seems like Canada celebrates the New Year strictly at the pub. I suppose that would be a good place for the other two common traditions I can think of—watching a flat screen TV late at night and setting fanciful wishes to forget the next morning. Vienna might have my favorite celebration so far with their Philharmonic Concert.

Fun Fact, missionary work takes a little while to kick back into gear after a three day holiday. So, while we were doing stuff this week, it felt a little slow and unproductive. . . here’s a little update on some friends though.

• Rhoda invited our whole district to lunch on Wednesday as well as two of her friends. It was a really powerful discussion and it seemed like everyone went home a little better. Her friends also attended church for the first time this Sunday.

• Our friend John, who we took to the nativity, met with us online this week. We made an attempt to explain the plan of salvation to him in Chinese, and it sure was an attempt! He’s been reading the Book of Mormon a lot which is really cool! He says the stories are really interesting.

   

We met a guy at a train station Saturday night who my companion said could’ve been Joe Rogan. I don’t know about that one, but he seemed like an interesting guy—a traveling comedian who was a huge fan of Larry Bird (noice!) and who had a degree or two in theology. He said he was a little angry at God for some tragic stuff that happened to his family. I couldn’t find a good response or a good moment to respond, but I hope at least talking basketball was somewhat helpful for him.

Interviews with the Mission President were on Thursday. It went well, he had some good pointers for feeling inadequate early in the mission. I’m always surprised at how aware he is about the missionaries and their well-being. I’m really lucky he’s our Mission Leader.

Aight, here’s the idea I’ve had regardless of how much I’ve been mocking resolutions. The Lord made an earth for us that is full of change. Seasons change, leaf-colors change, the position of the sun changes throughout a day and throughout a year, animals change, MOUNTAINS change. If all of these can change, then think of what that means for you and me. We too can change, and Jesus Christ has offered the way for us the quickest, most lasting change. I hope you are as excited as I am for this year, to see how we can become better through the experiences God allows us to have as well as the choices we make.

That’s about all there was from this week. Hope the holidays treated you well! Happy 2024! And Enjoy the Christmastide!!

爱你们！

-熊长老

(I sure was slacking this week with the camera, soory)

 

Boxing Day at the mall.