Well, it's been another week at
the MTC. I've been here for 6 weeks and am starting to feel the anxiety
of going to Japan! It is coming up so soon!
The beautiful Sakura outside.
This morning
we (Me, Sister Lowe and Sister Healey and Sister Fullmer) decided to go to
the temple first thing instead of our regular time. We were able to go
and do initiatories, and afterwards, we had breakfast at the temple. It
was the best thing ever! That's the first hot breakfast I've had since
the day that I left! I had bacon, eggs and biscuits and gravy. Yumm! We
were all in heaven and are pretty sure that our bodies needed the real
meat we were able to receive so bounteously. Haha.
Let's
see, Sunday was the last with this group of Nihonjin and it was really
pretty sad. We took lots of pictures and they sang a really cool song in
Japanese. I'm not sure what it was, but it was beautiful. Japanese
really is a beautiful language, and especially when sung. All hymns we
sing in class and in Sacrament Meeting are sung in Japanese. It is
really a special thing.
Yesterday, Wednesday,
was the last day with the Nihonjin, and they left this morning and it
was sad. We may never see them again, but we grew really close to them. I
can't wait to be surrounded by Nihonjin in the field. I always feel so
happy around them.
All of our lessons are
going well and everything. We were able to do Skype TRC for the first
time this week. (TRC: Teaching Resource Center). Basically we got to
skype a lady in Japan and talk to her and giver her a short lesson and
it was great. I was able to say way more than I thought I could. Usually
my sentence structure is probably off, but I know that I'm just trying
to do my best and the spirit always helps to guide the listener to
understand what message we are trying to convey. We talked about Faith
in Christ and how it can always help you. We also gave a lesson to our
"investigator" about Faith in Christ and we used the analogy of the seed
in Alma 32 and it was really cool and exciting.
Yesterday,
we were able to Host for the first time since we have been here and
that was a blast! I was able to help two sisters. One going to
Washington State and the other going to New York speaking Haitian
Creole! Wow! I honestly felt soo happy to help them and try to make them
as comfortable as possible. They both had really heavy luggage though
:) It was quite interesting seeing missionaries come in instead of just
remembering the time when someone helped me come into the MTC. It was a
cool experience. I hope I set a good tone for them and made them excited
to start on their journey here.
So, Nihongo has a
lot of weird words like Fuenki (atmosphere), wagamama (selfish)
subarashii (awesome), tanki (good weather--kinda) and the like, and it
actually is really fun. I'm getting a lot better at reading Hirigana,
Katakana is still hard for me, but I'm learning more and more every day.
I'm able to read the Book of Mormon fairly alrighish. Oh "ish" is poi
in Nihongo so if you want to say, for example, "childish" you would say
kodomopoi. It is interesting as well.
We have
had a lot of talks and devotionals and discussions this week about what
kind of missionaries we are, and it has motivated me to be better than I
have been thus far. I am trying my best, but my best could be better. I
just want to do all that I can so that when I get to Japan, I'm ready
for those who are waiting to be invited to Christ and to hear the
message of hope that we have.
So, when I get
to Japan, I'll get an iPad. I'm not sure how that all works, but all the
Japanese missions are going to eventually have iPads. I hope it is a
good resource and not a distraction.
Here is
the story on why I need deodorant. Crandall Shimai and Yoshimura Shimai were reading the white
handbook together and somehow they were talking about deodorant, and
Yoshimura didn't know what deodorant was. So, basically Japanese people
don't wear deodorant. I think it has something to do with their diet and
the way their bodies work because none of them have stank or anything,
so I'm assuming they just don't have smelley sweat. However, being the American that I am, I do have stinky sweat, so
sending me a plethora of deodorant would be nice.
My bag is good. I am
a little worried about it getting wet still, but I honestly don't think
I can do anything about that. I feel like I'm going to get to Japan and
realize what I really need and what not, so for not I'm not going to
worry about it.
We are going to get to Japan
at the end of the Sakura season (cherry blossom). And so there might not
be very many, but to our delight there are a few cherry blossom trees
here at the MTC. Every time I see them, I think about the tree we have
in our backyard and how beautiful I always thought it was in the spring
when it would bloom. I miss our little house sometimes! But the weather
has been beautiful this week and it was a really nice change. We have
been able to study a little bit outside and that was really nice because
we are getting really tired of being cooped up all day inside our
little classroom.
I pray for you all every
day. I hope you are all doing well. I'm sorry I don't have anything more
to tell you. Honestly, the days are all mushed and I can't ever really
remember what happened in the last week. But, I love you all and hope
you are all happy.
Ai Shite Imasu!
Raines Shimai
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