I learned this towards the end of my mission and I figured since it's November with the next holiday to look forward to is Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share this with you:
Think of at least 10 of each of the following things to be grateful for:
I.) Physical Abilities
II.) Material Possessions
III.) Living People
IV.) Deceased People
V.) Things About Nature
VI.) Places On Earth
VII.) Modern Inventions
VIII.) Food Items
IX.) Gospel Principles/Topics
X.) Things About Being A Missionary
Here are mine:
I.) Physical Abilities
1.) Being able to play the Piano at all.
2.) Having been able to play the Trumpet/Baritone, thanks to high school music programs.
3.) Playing/learning the Ocarina. (Yes, I'm a Zelda geek!)
4.) I can read and write, thanks to the education I received.
5.) Having recently done so, the right to vote.
6.) Driving a car.
7.) Not the greatest but having the guts to sing at Karaoke!
8.) Teaching, as long as it's the appropriate environment.
9.) Riding a bicycle.
10.) Not good, but being able to skate.
II.) Material Possessions
1.) Cell phone for communication.
2.) Laptop for communication and other personal usage.
3.) Camera for photography hobby.
4.) The scriptures; every word of it is true!
5.) Journals; record of personal importance, at least since my mission.
6.) Daily planner to write stuff down in.
7.) I'm no fashion expert but I sure do like my Japanese-tailored suit!
8.) iPod for musical entertainment.
9.) My instruments; Piano, Trumpet, Ocarina.
10.) Electronic dictionary for Japanese-English conversion.
III.) Living People
1.) My parents, for raising me right and to the best of their abilities.
2.) My sisters for being a motivation to be a good example.
3.) All my other relatives for various reasons.
4.) The full time missionaries; doing the most important work of the Lord since 1830.
5.) Seminary teachers who taught me gospel principles during school days.
6.) Sunday School teachers for putting up with various age groups to teach the gospel on Sundays.
7.) Priesthood leaders for fulfilling their duties and being an example.
8.) Thomas S. Monson, our current Prophet of the church.
9.) Whether they may have been crappy or not, my school teachers for at least trying to do their job at teaching.
10.) The men and women working in the modern aviation industry.
IV.) Deceased People
1.) Rokuro Tsunakawa, grandfather from my mother's side of the family.
2.) Joseph Smith, for restoring our church.
3.) Sarah Ellen Ashton
4.) Past prophets for their teachings.
5.) Whether I knew them or not, my deceased relatives for leaving us with a legacy.
6.) Aviation pioneers who achieved what was then impossible.
7.) Those who died in war fighting for freedom in the United States.
8.) Members of law enforcement who unfortunately met an end while in the line of duty.
9.) Various historical figures who made an impact for the betterment of mankind.
10.) Other inspirational figures who lived by high morals and standards.
V.) Things About Nature
1.) Snow is awesome; so much better than rain.
2.) Fall leaves, so long as they are not wet!
3.) Japanese Sakura season.
4.) Bamboo; it just looks so cool.
5.) A rising/setting sun.
6.) Wind feels great when it's not too strong!
7.) Beaches are fun to play at for at least couple hours.
8.) Japanese rice fields are just so pretty.
9.) Water; fun to swim in when there's no danger involved.
10.) Fire; fun in a destructive way and fun to have for cooking or campouts as long as safe practice is observed.
VI.) Places On Earth
1.) Washington D.C.
2.) Ashton, Idaho
3.) Tokyo, Japan
4.) Reno, Nevada
5.) Nagoya, Japan (and pretty much the rest of Central Japan)
6.) Ichikai, Japan
7.) Chicago, Illinois
8.) Kyoto, Japan
9.) Seattle, Washington
10.) Los Angeles, California
VII.) Modern Inventions
1.) Anime and Manga concept is just so genius!
2.) Digital Cameras; they make photography so much easier!
3.) Skype; great for video calls.
4.) Power Washers; they make short work of moss, mold and other crap that's hard to get off concrete!
5.) mp3 music players.
6.) Portable DVD players.
7.) Netflix
8.) Facebook for social networking.
9.) Blogger (despite Google owning it) for being able to do this.
10.) Wikipedia; great place to look things up for the most part.
VIII.) Food Items
1.) Gyoza
2.) White Rice
3.) Red Tuna (Maguro)
4.) Udon noodles
5.) Indo-Curry (Butter-Chicken is the best!)
6.) Yaki-Soba noodles
7.) Pizza, when I'm not sick of them!
8.) A good burger sounds great at times.
9.) Whoever invented french fries is a genius!
10.) Tempura shrimp!
IX.) Gospel Principles/Topics
1.) The Atonement.
2.) Eternal Families.
3.) The Temple.
4.) The Priesthood.
5.) Church Hymns.
6.) Having agency.
7.) Guidance of the Holy Ghost.
8.) The principle of repentance.
9.) Missionary work.
10.) Church History.
X.) Things About Being A Missionary (Or having served a mission)
1.) Being able to speak Japanese from it.
2.) The people I met and the relationships cultivated from it.
3.) Better understanding of the gospel.
4.) Better perspective on differing cultures.
5.) The experience to serve even as a member missionary.
6.) The idea of a professional image.
7.) The ability to share the gospel.
8.) The opportunities to be able to assist the full time missionaries (including one from Japan!)
9.) The opportunities to make independent decisions and participate in team efforts.
10.) The many memories worth two years.
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