Hey mom and dad,

thanks foreverything. the 12 days of christmas is going good. to day was day one and i did not guess the present right. i forgot to record it but i will form here on out so everyone can see when i get back.

i think it would be great to have the whole family come. i think it would be a good experience for everyone. there arent that many red heads in japan so i really want to see what people do when they see two walkind down the street. plus it would just be really fun. the question is how long do you want to stay and what do you want to do?

so i had the opportunity to see the first presidency Christmas in japanese but because we didnt have an investigator to go with we decided to go work and we visited an investigator that we havent met in a while(who is brazilian) and so we watched it with him in portuguese. i kind of got the jist of what was going on but i didnt quite understand everything. after that my comp taught lesson 3 which is about baptism. during this lesson i realized for the first time the gift of tongues or the interpritation of tongues. they only spoke protuguese but i could understand what they where saying. it wasnt like it was all translated in to english for me or i under stood the portuguese is was more like i could feel what was going on through the spirit. ofcourse i could under stand certian words so i could kind of get where it was at. but up until now i have never realized that i was doin this. i did this sometimes
with japanese. i would hear something that i didnt completely understand but i felt like they where sayingthis but because i wasnt sure i didnt say anything. looking back on that i wish i would have
trusted that feeling or shall i say the spirit. i was praying in my heart while watching the christmas fireside for the gift of interpritatoin of tongues but i actually just got more and more tired from trying so hard to understand and follow that talks but when it ended and my comp started to teach i woke up. i was alert and i did my best to follow along. what an amazing experience. i always thought that when you recieved these gifts that you would be fluent in the language or that you could understand everything but that may not always be the case. i understood what i needed to know. i didnt
understand the words they where saying but i felt the meaning of what was being said. i could probably go on and on abou this. this was an amazing experience that i wouldnt trade for the world. i dont know i think my love for my mission might rival that of elder hollands.

other than that this week was anormal week. trying towork hard to see all the success i can wether it be a baptism or seeing someone make little steps to come closer to god. my job is to invite people. thats it. when i do all i can and people use their gift of agency to say no i can feel that i have done all i could to invite people to come unto christ and come closer to god. it is too bad that it took me coming to the country side to realize this but i still ahve almost a year to apply this. this life is all about learning right?

i love you all and thanks for the pictures and packages. i can allready feel the christmas spirit coming form the states.

i love you with all my heart

elder christian price

PS i say some pictures and marshal is wearin some close that look like mine. i had a way cool brown jacket and sea foam green tall tee that said skt jsut like those. i actually used to wear them together all the time. i wonder where he got them?:) (i love you little bro.take good care ofmy stuff while iam gone but becarefull they will attract the ladies:))