Receive many New Years Blessings

its been a while since i emailed last because my p day changed to thursday. i kind of liked the monday p day schedule but we'll see how thursday goes.
i hope everyone had a good and safe new year. i remember as a teenager going to dances and counting down the seconds until the new year. i thought about waiting up until midnight but i would have had to have done it alone because my companion is korean and they dont do that here. instead they wake up early in the morning and watch the sun rise (its called the welcoming of the sun). the area im in right now is the best place to do it in korea because its the eastern tip and the first to see the sun come up. so we woke up early on new years day and 'welcomed the sun' with the youth in our branch. it was a really cool expirience. koreans look forward to the new year and welcome it with the concept that it will bring blessings to their lives. instead of saying happy new year they say 'receive many new years blessings' to each other. in testimony meeting as well, many members expressed their excitement for the new year by saying that they wonder what kind of blessings heavenly Father will bless their family with this year. i really like the idea of welcoming the new year and seeing it as an opportunity to receive blessings and think positively about the future. it helped me think about my goals for 2010 and ask for Heavenly Fathers help in achieving them. as i reflect on 2009 i can see countless blessings and know that the gospel with bring even more blessings in the year 2010. it is my prayer that as we live the gospel, we'll receive all the blessings Heavenly Father has in store for us.

Elder Wells