hello again from the MTC! Miss you and love you....
I've
had another good week! I'm just loving the MTC and all that we are
learning. Christmas was great! It was a long day, but it was such an
amazing experience to celebrate Christmas in an environment of religious
learning and among about 2000 others who desire to serve the Lord and
invite others to come unto Christ.
Foutz Shimai and me being Asian in class
Foutz Shimai and me at the temple on Sunday
cupcakes from Danielle!!!!!!
Our Christmas Eve was spent studying as usual, but
we were also privileged to hear from Elder David Evans and I was able to
sing in the choir! We sang Far, Far Away on Judea's Plain. I think I
have sung that hymn at least a thousand times here at the MTC. After the
devotional, we watched the Nativity and Mr. Krueger's Christmas. I got a
little sad for a bit, thinking of Christmas Eve's at home with the
family... watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas every year! But... it made me
think of you and remember all of our happy traditions and celebrations.
I'm excited to learn some new traditions while I'm on my mission that I
can start with my own family in the future!
Christmas day was full of celebrations and
concerts... we attended a Christmas Celebration, Devotional, Program, and
Concert... so much CHRISTMAS! haha The celebration was a talent show and
there really are such talented missionaries here! It was awesome. We
were visited by Elder BEDNAR! It was so amazing. His talk was in more of
a question and answer format and the meeting was broadcast to all the
other MTCs across the world. So there were thousands of missionaries in
attendance. There were 200 cell phones passed out among the 2000 of us
in Provo and more cell phones passed out at the other MTCs and we were
able to text our questions to his ipad and then he would share the
answers with us. Some of the most important things I learned: Someone
asked, "Why do I feel so inadequate?" His answer was so interesting. We
feel inadequate because we have an idea of what we are called to do. We
are the Lord's servants on the Lord's errand, doing His work in His way.
We are imperfect and we can't do the work without Him. We should feel
inadequate and we are going to feel inadequate, but with the Lord's
help, we can do it! The overall theme of his message was using the
strengthening power of the Savior's atonement to give us comfort and
assurance that we can do the work that we are called to do. He explained
that as we align our will with the Lord's, we act on faith and with
those righteous actions... we have less of a disposition to do evil. We
put off our natural desires and our worldly pursuits. As we continue to
do good... we become cleansed until eventually we are changed. It's like
a jar of black sand... with a hole in the top and bottom just big
enough for one grain to pass through. As we put a grain of white sand in
the top, a grain of black sand comes out the bottom... "though our sins
be as scarlet..." we can become like the jar of white sand... clean and
pure through the atonement of the Lord and Savior. So... after the
meeting.. I was lucky enough to walk out the right door and I got to
meet Elder Bednar and shake his hand. It was too exciting so I can't
remember what he said to me, but it was such a neat experience!! I'm so
happy to be serving a mission. Many programs and celebrations later...
my butt hurt so much from sitting. We got to have an extra hour of
personal time at the end of the day which was nice and much needed after
an exhausting day of doing nothing but sitting! haha But it was great
and I still can't stop singing Christmas songs.
shimaitachi and the MTC Christmas lights
foutz shimai and i breaking the rules
maloy shimai and i on christmas eve with bows from our presents in our hair
Thank you so much for sending me the sweetest
packages and notes for Christmas. My companion watched as I opened the
gifts and she was amazed and excited as I was to see how cheesy and
adorable everything was. Her words were, "Your family is made out of
sugar. They're giving me diabetes." Hahaha thanks for being the SWEETEST
family ever. I love your sappy, cheesy-ness. Y'all are the greatest and I
love you so much. I felt so loved and supported on Christmas. I missed
y'all lots.
christmas jammies (banister shot)
christmas day with maloy shimai
Every Sunday we have to have a talk prepared for
Sacrament meeting... just in case we get called on by the Branch
President to speak. And it has to be in Japanese. It's sort of scary,
but they never call on newbies (kohai). But... as of this Wednesday... I will no longer be a kohai because a new "shipment" of Japanese learning missionaries will be coming in and on Monday
our senpai (upperclassmen) will be leaving for Japan and then I will
become a senpai and probably have to speak in Nihongo at church. Ahhh,
but sort of exciting. Reading the scriptures in Japanese is really
hard. 
do you want to learn japanese?!
I've also already had some opportunities to play the
piano here! Those in my branch who play the piano are leaving for
Japan, so I will probably be playing for church a lot and I'm also
practicing for a musical number with a sister who plays the flute. We
will probably audition this Thursday.
It's really fun to see friends here at the MTC. I've
seen some friends from summer who work here at the MTC or are here as
missionaries and I also got to see Elder Rippstein finally!! We got a
picture with our companions!
Here is a little lesson about Japanese culture: In
Japan they don't say "you're welcome" because it's rude to acknowledge
that you did something good for someone else... it's sort of
egotistical. Instead they say no problem or "nan de mo nai". So for my
parents who have tried to teach me to say "you're welcome" because I
need to be nice... I'm really glad I didn't learn it because it's
actually mean and all along I've been preparing for Japan without even
knowing it :)
maloy shimai and me with wakazono shimai. she is from japan going to hawaii visitor's center
I also wanted to thank ALL of you who wrote me sweet
letters and notes for the missionary book that my sisters made for me. I
teared up as I got on the plane to come to the MTC. I feel so loved by
all of you and so grateful to have such great friends and influences in
my life. Thank you for your love and for all you have taught me.
Ai shite imasu,
Sister Reeves
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