Time flies - Letter to Dad - 1 December, 2014

Hey Dad,

Wow, time flies on a mission. I can hardly believe that today is December. In fact, I totally didn't really register that until I typed it. haha I am glad to hear that you are doing well, and that you got to work from home this week! Also, thank you so much for sending all of those pictures!! <3 :) They were perfect. Also tell mom that I am super grateful for the videos that she took. :) Oh, and tell Ben that I am glad the Thanksgiving was Happy (the video of him with Google translate translates literally to thanksgiving (the noun) was happy. haha).

Oh! Also, I know that you mentioned working out in your email. Is there anyway that I could get PDF's of the P90X 3 workouts? They are short enough that I could do them. I love the Ab Ripper X that I came with, but want something more to get in better shape. haha That would be super good. :) And good luck with your endeavors as well with working out! I will be cheering for you here in Japan! :)

You know, you said in your email that this is youre only line of communication with me, and it really is true, so I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for all of those nights going to random places to get food so that we could share some time eating and talking in the car. Thanks for being there for me when I needed you, and for being the perfect example of a Father. You never raise your voice and you are always so gentle. You truly are an example of Christ.

So, do you know what I think is crazy? How you can progress in something without even realizing that you are progressing. :) haha That is how it happened with me and Japanese. I am still learning, and have SOO far to go, but I know that as I continue to trust in the Lord I will be able to continue to grow. I look back on where I was when I came here to Japan three months ago, and I didn't understand anything that people were saying. I can now understand quite a bit, although there are still so many things that I have to learn. One of the coolest, hardest parts of Japanese is the writing. They use a lot of kanji, which makes it super hard to read anything, but also really cool when you learn some. I knew a bit from Japanese in High School, but I am learning more (not too much. Lots of missionaries take it to an extreme, and focus all of their time on that. Speaking is the most important, not writing, so that is really where the focus should be). It is cool when you read in the Book of Mormon and you see a word you have never read before, but the kanji says 聖見者. The first one means holy/saint, the second one is the kanji for seeing, and the third one marks that it is a person. So while the word seikensha (the pronunciation for it) meant absolutely nothing to me, I knew that it was talking about a seer. That aspect of the language is so cool. How was it learning German? Was it hard? Oh, also, Norton san, my investigator, would like to email you in German. Is that okay? I will send you an introduction email from him. He is doing it with Sam in Portugeuse as well. He is so cool.

Dad, I hope you know that I love you. I look up to you so much. Is there any advice that you can give me as I start to train this new companion with Elder Squire, and as I continue that training on my own? Thanks for always helping me out and sending me advice. I absolutely love it.

Thanks for everything!! I love you so much, and I miss you a lot. <3 Love ya!

Love, Elder Livingston
リビングストン長老


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