Hello again!

28 September 2016

Hello again.

I wish I had better memory because even writing the tons of stuff I
write in my journal I forget most of it by the time I get here.

First of all I want to talk about our teachers because they are
probably the coolest teachers in the world. The teacher we've had most
and that greeted us on the first day (which we found out was his first
time getting to do and he was CRAZY excited to do), is Strauss-Kyodai.
His dad is from Hawaii and his mom is Japanese. He recently returned
from the Nagoya mission. He is super funny and loves to joke and laugh
and have fun during class. He has an incredibly distinct way of
talking and moving that we love to try and imitate after classes. He
is the teacher that teaches us grammar most because even though he
grew up speaking Japanese, he understands the rules of it very very
well.

Chau-Shimai was the second teacher we've had and we haven't had her
very often since that first week or so. I think she was just filling
in. She is super nice, but also kind of intimidating. She was born and
raised in Japan I believe so her Japanese is perfect but she can't
teach grammar very well because she was born speaking it. She is a
great teacher and I think she has been teaching for quite a while
here. She served her mission in temple square.

Now, we have Waddell-Shimai.... Who was Ohira-San... Who was our
investigator. Yup, we got played. I guess we kind of expected she
wasn't an actual investigator a lot, but it was hard to think that
obviously because that would make it more confusing. Teaching her was
really hard. Not knowing Japanese but having to teach someone in
Japanese was incredibly stressful and difficult. (Which by the way,
Strauss-Kyodai is being our next investigator) She is also Japanese
but was born in Hawaii, but moved to Japan at three years old. Her
Japanese is hard to follow because she doesn't make it easier like
Strauss and Chau. She was a pretty thick accent when she speaks
English. She is also super nice and patient with us though. And she is
a fun teacher to joke around with. She served her mission in Hawaii
and is recently married.

Things are really blurring together here and it's difficult to keep
track of everything. We're getting absolutely SWAMPED by assignments.
Today we're going to have to teach TRC (which I have no idea what that
stands for) but it is supposed to be a 20 minute lesson IN JAPANESE.
... Do they know that we don't speak Japanese? I hope they aren't
expecting something super amazing. Because that's just not going to
happen. We'll do our best though. We have an idea of what we'll be
teaching tonight, just have to try to put it together. We also have to
start teaching Ōta-San tomorrow and we have to prepare a summary of
the plan of salvation lesson in English and Japanese. It's a lot of
stuff, and there is hardly enough time to do it all.

Over all, I don't think I necessarily enjoy the MTC. If we just sat in
a class all day and learned I'd probably love it. But all the teaching
is overwhelming and time consuming. It's difficult to focus on
anything.

So Sunday, I cried a lot.. Our Daisempai are leaving on Tuesday. They
have been the coolest, most fun people to hang out with and fantastic
examples. We are all really going to miss them. We also found out that
the next transfer consists of only 3 Japanese sisters.. It's worth
mentioning that we are losing 23 missionaries. It's crazy. It's going
to feel SO empty in our branch. I hope at least one of the Japanese
sisters is good enough to translate as well because even without that
it's going to be a pretty different experience for them. This also
means at we are only going to be sempai to them and there will be a
whole transfer missing of people pretty much. It's going to feel a lot
different to what we are used to.

Last night at the devotional, the sister who's name I forgot shared
this when talking about Christ, "I used to know about him, but now, I
know him." It was a powerful message about learning to become more
Christlike and I would like to be able to say that like her.

Thanks for the emails throughout the week! I read them all as I get
them so they help a lot! I will talk to you next week!

1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

1 Timothy 4 vegans are evil

Elder Chab

Elder Sadler

Chab and Davis Chōrō

Me looking directly into the sun...