5-25-13 Week 2 MTC

So just for the record, I don't even know how to spell any of the Japanese words I know because they're in characters, not roman letters and I'm finishing up learning that alphabet. Anywho, sorry about that tangent. But... this week has been great! I'm sure I'm going to be saying that same thing in basically every letter because this really is the most amazing experience of my life. I have read letters from missionaries so many times, over and over but I never truly understood until now how hard it is to explain exactly what I am experiencing. There is no way to explain! It's crazy!! (in a good way, of course). So Sundays are just about the best things of my life here. There is such a wonderful feeling, church is awesome, and we watched a life changing talk last Sunday night during the movie time called Character of Christ by Elder Bednar and it blew my mind. Incredible. I also feel like I understand a lot more now when people say that at the MTC "the days are long but the weeks go by fast." I can't believe it's already P-day; this week has flown by. I'll be in Japan in no time (which is a slightly terrifying thought. Although a great one). We ended up teaching about 4 more lessons to Shibatason (our progressing investigator) and I learned SO MUCH from each of those lessons. It was incredible to see how he was progressing and how we were progressing as we taught. Amazing.

In answer to your queries: Yes, I have seen plenty of Snowflake-ites. I see Kevin Johnson and Joe Bonham all the time. I think we have the same lunch schedule or something. I also see a bunch of random people I know a lot which is fun. And there are 3 bunk beds in our room, and some people on our floor have 6 to a room but we got lucky and only have 4 shimai. It is lovely. Heaton shimai is awesome, and the other two in our room are Willis and Davidson Shimai, who are going to Fukuoka as well. We have good times. :) Heaton Shimai -- the best companion I could ask for! We get along really well and our personalities gel. We entertain ourselves. Sometimes I feel really bad for Taylor Sensei because he'll say something that just starts us laughing really hard. I might have already told you this, but on the first full day of class he essentially told us to turn to "ichi pagi," (pronounced ee-chee paygee), or page one, and for some reason I just about died laughing because it sounded so funny. Don't worry, I'm getting better. Kind of. But yeah! Our district is awesome -- our only problem is sometimes we get distracted and lose focus by the end of the day because we've spent 10+ hours in the same classroom. We're getting better with that :) So our teachers are Taylor Sensei and Anderson Sensei -- to tell you the truth they have changed my life. I have learned so many incredible things about Japanese and the gospel. I am growing leaps and bounds every day in many ways. Oooh and another fun fact -- we have about a bajillion books to help us learn Japanese - practice books, grammar books, dictionaries, etc. Fun thing is, they're all named after Japanese things. Like one is our Squirtle, one is our Pikachu, one is the ninja, one is a samurai, one is a sumo... The list goes on but I'm sure you get the point :)

Missionaries going to Japan come in to the MTC every 3 weeks. It rotates between the southern and northern missions of Japan. Those that had been here for 6 weeks when we arrived our called our dai senpai, whereas those who'd been here 3 are our senpai. The disenpai are total favorites. They're the best. They are all really nice and so great to us. Our zone leaders are an Australian elder and a Finnish elder and they're hilarious. The Australian, is a tall, happy redhead and a great example. The Finnish elder is a short blond soul -- super intense (he was in the Finnish army for  a few years) and rarely smiles but he's a softie. And we got him to laugh at lunch yesterday so that was exciting.

Gym time is a party. It's great to be able to release all the pent up energy I have from sitting in the classroom all day. The thing we've done the most is combine with another Japanese district and play kickball. It gets pretty crazy (in a good, missionary kind of way, of course) and we have a great time.

I am so sorry I'm not answering everything but my computer is kicking me off. Have an awesome week, thanks for the letters and I love you all!!!! I'll do better with the email next week, I promise. Love you!!!!

Flake Shimai

5-18-13

Konnichiwa!!!

 

The MTC is fabulous. I am having one of the most incredible learning experiences of my life. The days are very long but we have already learned so much! Gah!! So awesome. So... when I flew out of Phoenix Wednesday morning the two people I sat by on the plane were cool. The girl sitting next to me was from Japan so we chatted a bit about how I would be living there for almost a year and a half. She was awesome, but fell asleep pretty fast. However, the guy on the other side of her was really interested in what exactly missionary work was because he had a neighbor who had served a mission and told him a little bit about it. All in all it was quite an enjoyable flight. Diana and Devin picked me up from the airport and we went to Olive Garden for lunch, which was great. I have about a bajillion stories even though I have only been here for 3 days. Geez. That is so crazy to think! Well Wednesday night (aka my FIRST night in the MTC) my roomies and I accidently locked ourselves out of our room... we were in our pajamas, and our keys, mtc cards and nametags were inside. So we had to do the walk of shame to the front desk and tell them that us newbies had locked ourselves out. That was an adventure, alright. But hey -- huzzah for learning experiences! Now I never leave without my key :)

 

District/Class/Sensei/Nihongo

Alright. It's official. Nihongo (Japanese) is  the greatest language -- it's beautiful!! I love learning it. Oh I forgot to say the most terrifying/exciting thing about Wednesday. When I got to the MTC I was given my nametag and key, we dropped off my suitcases in my room and I ran straight to class. The teacher only spoke in Japanese. No "hey just so you guys know I won't be speaking any English" -- nope none of that. Pure Nihongo from the moment I stepped into the room as a fresh new missionary. Scary, but AWESOME. As soon as I realized that I thought to myself, "Well, I hope Taylor Sensei is great with charades, otherwise this is not going to work so well for me." Surprisingly it works wonders to be spoken to in Japanese. I already know some stuff. Like I can now pray in Japanese, so that's exciting. I have a long way to go from there but I love looking back on the few days I have been in here and realizing all of the things I can already do. OH I forgot -- District. Right. Our district is made up of 6 elders and 6 sisters. They are all awesome. My companion, Heaton Shimai is the greatest. She's from Provo and we have some mutual friends so that's cool. We are pretty similar and are learning alot from each other. It's great. Our district is awesome, and Taylor Sensei is a great teacher. Luckily for Heaton Shimai and me, he's also very patient. Which is great. We've been challenged right from the start to SYL (Speak Your Language) as much as you possibly can. Even if it is just minor. It is so fun. Basically even if I get discouraged sometimes with how much more Japanese I want to know, I have to remember I just began learning. Things will turn out okay.

 

Shibatasan

We taught our first lesson (ALL IN NIHONGO. Every word. Cool, right?!?) yesterday to our investigator, Shibatasan. That was terrifying. To tell you the truth, we both kind of had a mental block about it. As in I just copied some Japanese phrases from one of our Japanese books and spouted them and kinda panicked when he spoke back to me and I had no clue what he said. However, with context clues, vocab I had retained, and the help of the Lord we were able to make it through! Heaton Shimai and I will be teaching him again this afternoon in  a few hours and I cannot wait. We were able to learn from our mistakes of yesterday and continue on with some better preparation and stronger faith that things will work out. This gospel is amazing! I am loving the opportunity  I have to share how much I have felt Heavenly Father's love  in my life. I LOVE Japanese, just in case you didn't already pick up on that. :)

 

Question time

Mom, could you do me a huge favor and see what's up with my Shade package? I would love to have those clothes that I ordered a few weeks ago... that never came. I think there may have been a mix up in the mail because they were sent to my old apartment. Sorry bout that. And another favor -- could you please get onto my old laptop and send me (via dearelder probably) some of my filled out mission outlines from my mission prep class? That would be quite helpful.

 

PDAY

Pday is awesome. We got to go to the temple this morning and it was great. I'm running out of time but I want you to know that I love you all, the church is true, and Japanese is awesome. The MTC is the greatest. People are great.

Have an awesome week; I love you!!

 

Flake Shimai

 

 

PS Fun fact of the day -- Brady Shimai is in my Zone. We're next door neighbors so we get to see each other a lot and it is fantastic. That's all for real this time -- love you k bye!!!