Well, the first week has been tough. I am slowly starting to understand what people are saying, but I still have a long way to go. We go streeting a lot and I get people to stop, introduce myself, and then pass it over to my companion.
This week we have had an Ice Festival in Asahikawa with a lot of ice sculptures. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures because p-day is today, and we are in Sapporo (to go to the Snow Festival). Here in Sapporo I have taken a few pictures of the snow festival. They had a snow ramp for a skiing and snowboarding trick competition. It made me miss snowboarding a ton. I will try to email pictures next week (I don't have my cable with me in Sapporo right now).
Speaking of pictures, I didn't get the attachments you sent me this week. I think it has something to do with myldsmail (which is all we can use - no gmail for me). So, don't worry about sending me attachments.
So, a quick clarification: Asahikawa is about 400,000 people. Small by usual Japanese standards, but the second largest city in Hokkaido. The weather is pretty similar to Utah. Usually the temperature is just below freezing or a little colder. We have about three feet of snow right now, and they don't plow the roads, so only the major roads aren't iced over. Apparently this year has been a pretty mild winter. Usually it is colder and they have more snow.
So right now I really miss American food and cheap food. Nothing is cheap here, and they don't really have sales. And they don't have American food. They have McDonald's (which is actually decent here) and that's about it. But most of the Japanese food is really good. I also miss having ready made meals. The MTC sort of spoils you.
This past week we taught about 8 lessons. We have a few good investigators. And there will be a baptism on Sunday.
I will try to send the letters that I wrote. I don't have them with me in Sapporo, so I'll try to send them once I get back to Asahikawa.
