Get lots of new blessings

Hello everyone, I hope you had a happy new years! In Korea, they say "새복 많이 받으세요!" instead of "happy new years," It means something along the lines of "get lots of new blessings!"

As I mentioned before, we teach seminary to the kids in our ward, a scripture study class that starts at 6 am. So we started off our new year by waking up at 5 am, then heading to the church at 6 am. After about 30 minutes of waiting for the students to come, it dawned on us that it was a holiday and that nobody would be planning to come to seminary on that day. I hope that mistake is not a bad omen for the rest of the year though... One New Year's tradition that is popular in Korea is going to the beach or a mountain and watching the sun rise on New Year's day. As missionaries however, we go to bed promptly at 10:30, so there was no midnight celebration in our house.

Also in Korea, everyone ages on January 1st, so it is not like America where you wait until the actual day of your birth. Also, you are one year's old automatically when you are born here. So while I am not yet 18 1/2 in America, I just turned 20 here, which is definitely exciting.

One new food I ate this week was 추어탕, which is mudfish soup. The best way I can describe the taste is that it tasted like the smell of fallen leaves. It was alright, not my favorite food here though. The great thing about food here though, is that if you aren't particularly fond of a certain food, you can take comfort in the fact that if it doesn't taste good, it will at least be extremely healthy for you.

We still serve at a public welfare center every week, which is really amazing because all of the older people are so nice and thankful, especially the one woman that waves at us through the elevator window until the elevator leaves her floor. This week, my foot somehow got run over by a woman in an electric wheelchair, but it's okay because I think that only missionaries that work the hardest get tire tracks on top of their shoes.

Anyways, I hope 2016 is a great year for all of you! This is the one year that I get to spend entirely in Korea, and I am so grateful for that. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I am sharing is the full gospel of Jesus Christ, restored once again to the Earth, and I came over 5000 miles to let Korea know that. 

"I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me"

-Moroni 8:21