Konnichiwa!!! (I really should figure out how to spell that right in Romaji. My bad)
This week was great. They're all great though, I guess -- missions are just about the greatest. True story. Wow. I know I sound repetitive but I honestly can't even believe all the things I have learned. When I think about the fact that I've only been here for 2 1/2 weeks and that I've only known Heaton Shimai for that long it blows my mind. In a good way, of course :) Tell Sister Caldwell that Carra's doing great, I've run into her a few times. It's crazy how Berlyn is already gone -- I'm here for 7 more weeks, oh yeah! Last Saturday was a crazy day. INSANE. Laundry took forever because there were a bajillion missionaries doing it at the time we were there, then we were at the temple for 4 hours because there were a ton of people there -- basically the fact that we found time to email was a blessing. But don't worry, I learned from that experience and we will be good about more effective time management from here on out!
Branding sounds like a party, as always. It's fun hearing all of the things going on at home. I hope summer is treating you well :)
I feel like I'll be saying this same thing every week for my whole mission, so sorry about the repetition. But Japanese is amazing!! Hard. But I love it. It was most definitely a triumph last Sunday to be able to sing the hymns because we can read Hiragana! Japanese also sounds beautiful. I love it because even though I have SO FAR to go still with learning, I feel like I can understand so much of what my teachers and our investigators say in Japanese. That is most definitely exciting. Taylor Sensei and Anderson Sensei are really the best. We've learned so much from them. I can't even explain it. We finished teaching our first investigator, Shibatasan last week. We taught him 5 times. We are currently teaching Kuaharasan and Watabesan and we've taught each of them once or twice. We're doing TRC for the first time tonight -- scary! But exciting. I guess the biggest complex for me with the language is this -- Japanese is hard but it makes so much more sense than English. Crazy. More exciting news for the week -- I was freezing up for the first few lessons and it was hard for me to teach because I was so focused on the language. But, once I started improving with focusing on what I knew and the love I had for the person we were teaching I was able to say more of what needed to be said. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us so much. He is there to help us in everything we're going through!
Favorite things about the MTC:
1. Our secret computer lab (Heaton Shimai's dad is an administrative director here so he tells us all the great secrets, such as a huge computer lab with comfy chairs that nobody knows about in the basement of one of the buildings. It's the greatest).
2. The devotionals/firesides. They blow my mind every Sunday and Tuesday. The speakers are incredible and it is always exactly what I need to hear. Incredible!
3. Cafeteria creations. The greatest. Such as one time there were fajitas that were pretty decent, but we went over to the wrap bar after getting them to add guacamole and salsa. Or on Wednesdays (ice cream days) you can go get a bowl of hot fudge and a bowl of straberries from the other line = chocolate dipped strawberries. Or like last sunday, we got cookies and cream ice cream and put it in a glass, mixed it with chocolate milk and made the best milkshake I've had for a while. I feel like we are learning some great sneaky tricks. It's the best.
4. There are so many missionaries going to Japan right now. It's insane. In an awesome kind of way. Our dai senpai are leaving this week (the ones 6 weeks ahead of us, the zone leaders and such) which blows my mind.
Anywho, that's about it for now. I'm going to try to send a few pictures so we'll see how that goes. I hope you have an amazing week! I love hearing about how things are going at home. Thanks for everything, I love you all so much!
Love, Flake Shimai
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