January 23rd

Dear Family,

This last week has been REALLY busy. The senpai left on Sunday and they are now in JAPAN! Two sisters performed a musical number in Sacrament Meeting and I was able to accompany for them. It was "A Believer's Prayer" (the one mom and I sang on my last Sunday at home). I have "I am a Child of God" memorized in Japanese and Sister Foutz and I want to find a cool arrangement and sing it in our Sacrament Meeting before we leave. And we can now... because we have two brand new districts... with missionaries that play the piano!! 

   Companion cut off like 2 feet of hair  without telling me!! she said it was a 

TRIM.

 I saw SOLOMON (i actually see him all the time because our meal times overlap)   

Sunday nights are really awesome. After Devotional we get to watch church films or talks by general authorities. The past couple weeks I've taken advantage of the opportunity to watch films in Japanese. So, so far I've seen the Joseph Smith movie and The Testaments dubbed in Japanese. I can't understand too much because my vocabulary isn't amazing... but it's nice because they are church movies and I do have a decent church vocabulary! It's just cool to be able to hear the language spoken fluently and be able to recognize grammar principles and sentence structure that we've learned. I don't know TONS of Japanese but I really have improved so much over the last several weeks. We did some listening activities in class last night and it was super hard, but our teacher showed us our very first listening activity and I understood all of it... when just a few weeks ago... I couldn't understand more than like 3 words! It is so awesome.... the MTC is the only place in the world that you can learn this much of a new language in just a couple months. I took Spanish for THREE years and I know WAY more Japanese than Spanish.

 

 smallest room ever that sis maloy and i studied in one day

 inside a tiny room... inside a tiny mtc.... we are TRAPPED 

 Last night was TRC. From now on, we don't meet with volunteers in person... we skype members of the church in JAPAN! And we have to talk to them for 40 minutes! We talked with Miura Kyodai last night. He was so nice and had a smile on his face the whole time. I couldn't understand very much of what he said... because it was over skype. and it was in JAPANESE. haha but we were able to get to know him for a little bit and then share an overview of lesson 1- the restoration! I set a goal last Saturday to have Joseph Smith's description of the first vision memorized by this last Sunday night. So.. I was able to share Joseph Smith's exact words last night! Memorized :) So now... I have to choose a new scripture to memorize. I'm thinking Mosiah 4:9 or Amos 3:7. 

 

 

Sister Foutz and me outside the temple

Update on our investigators: Ogura San is SO prepared. He went to church on Sunday! Yesterday in our lesson we asked him about his experience at church and he said he really liked it and enjoyed Sunday School. I asked him what he learned and he said they watched a video about baptism and he felt that it was an important thing. It was a perfect lead into exactly what we wanted to share with him! We wanted to talk about how he can know the truth of the message through the Holy Ghost. I asked him if he wanted to know whether or not this gospel was true. He said something like, "I don't think you would be lying to me and I feel that what you are sharing is good, so I don't really see why I would need to find out if it's true, because I already feel that it is." We talked more about baptism and following Christ's example. We asked if he would want to follow Christ's example (and be baptized) as the Lord answered his prayers and as he came to know that the message was true. Poor guy.... with a legitimate concern... said that he didn't want to follow Christ's example because he didn't want to die on the cross. So after clarifying what it means to follow Jesus and keep the commandments, he said that he wanted to be baptized and he would ask God when he wanted him to be baptized and we will set a date for his baptism next time we meet! 

Toshi San is our other investigator. He is great and we love him!! He is super busy with his job, but he doesn't seem to enjoy it all that much. He is a tough guy and doesn't see why he would need God's help and support because he can do things on his own and he doesn't need to hear about God's plan for us, because he has Toshi's plan! He doesn't like the concept of commandments because he doesn't want to mess up, but after teaching him about Jesus Christ and the atonement and forgiveness, he felt lots better. He isn't super committed to read the scriptures and pray to God and he is unsure about coming to church. We are just having a hard time helping him to feel the Spirit and having spiritual experiences together as we visit. If he could feel the Holy Ghost testify to him of the truthfulness of the doctrine, he will have more of a desire to obey and understand his relationship with Father in Heaven better and understand how this message can bless his life. 

 

Sister Crapo.... last day before she left for JAPAN     

 

 the shimaitachi.... before they left us!!!

On Sunday night we just got in bed when we got a call on the hall phone from the front office!! We jumped out of bed to go pick up the newest sister in our zone! Taufaga Shimai from Fiji! She got to stay in our room and come to class with us for a couple days until all the other new missionaries arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday! Brox Shimai also came early- on Monday evening! So we had lots of adventures... having a couple extra sisters added to our companionship and making sure they were getting around ok. With all the new missionaries, as Sister Training Leaders we have been so busy and had lots of meetings!! But it's been really exciting! We have 9 new sisters in our zone and they are so awesome. We also got to host new missionaries for the first time yesterday! As a host, we meet them on the curb as they are dropped off and take them to get their key and name tag, help them take their bags to their residence, get all their books from the bookstore, and find their classroom! I got to host Taufaga Shimai and then Sister Smoot and Sister Scott.. going to NY and LA. It was so fun and exciting to greet all the new missionaries and remember how exciting it was when I first arrived and remembering how I had so many questions!

Picking up Taufaga Shimai in the middle of the night! 

We were really privileged this week to hear from lots of cool speakers. On Sunday we heard from Sister Wixom (general primary president) in Relief Society. And then Sister Sheri Dew for Sunday evening devotional. And Bishop Causse on Tuesday night! It's amazing how they always seem to share exactly what I need to hear!! I am so happy that I chose to serve a mission. It is not easy, but definitely worth it. I've been sick this past week with a cold and cough and haven't been able to sleep very well... or enough!! And I've also been a little stressed with the busy-ness of my new assignment and the urgency of taking advantage of these last few weeks of study and the real importance of the calling I have as a missionary. I am starting to be less concerned about being able to speak the language and more concerned about just being the best missionary I can be. Being an effective servant and being able to really love and serve those I meet... be able to share my love for the gospel, share a smile, and be able to personalize the message to meet their individual needs. I really want to help others to feel the Spirit and know that they can come to know the truthfulness of Christ's gospel for themselves!! I've learned from teachers and speakers this week that stress and disappointment are good things. It is not so good when stress and disappointment become distress and discouragement. As we are obedient, the Lord will send blessings. As we humble ourselves, the Lord can turn our weaknesses into strengths. I feel inadequate for my calling as a missionary because I am... this is the Lord's work! Without Him, I can't do anything. I am so grateful that we don't have to live this life alone. I know we have a loving Heavenly Father who watches over and blesses us daily... even sometimes blessing us with challenges! Because he loves us, He sent a Savior to atone for us and to overcome sin and death so that we don't have to be alone and we can return to live with God again some day.
I love you all!! Have a happy week!!

  new sisters who arrived early.. sister taufaga and sister brox

stokes choro and i both have mustard yellow sweaters... 

random (but we planned it)