One Week in the MTC!

Ohayo Gozaimus!

(It's the morning so you say that instead of Konnichiwa)

It's P-day!!!! Thanks for all the emails! It makes me so happy! I know missionaries always say they love mail but now that I'm a missionary I truly understand. I just want everyone to write me. I don't care who it is! It could be someone's grandma or uncle or cousin or cat....jk. Also, I've been here for one week! Only 8 weeks left! So I'm going to try and answer everyone's questions in this email so I don't have to email you all separately because I don't have that much time. But keep asking questions when you write! It helps me remember what happened and what I should say. See, time is really weird in the MTC. The days are really long but then when you look back you're like "Wait a whole week passed by? When did that happen?!" 

So I'll start off by describing my schedule a little. So I get up and we have gym at 6:40 in the morning so we go work out, then we pick up breakfast at like 7:30 (we usually get the sack breakfast because its outside which means you don't have to be all dressed and ready), then we shower and get ready for class by 8:30. Basically I have like 40 minutes to get ready and I'm slowly getting used to showering super fast and just hurrying to get ready as fast as I can. We have class for about 3 hours but most of the time is spent studying and preparing a message for our investigator. We started teaching on my second full day here (so Friday). It was crazy. We barely knew any Japanese and we're supposed to teach already. But somehow it works out and slowly we are improving. We actually extended the baptismal invitation to our investigator Imura Kyodai (Brother Imura) yesterday and to my utter surprise he said yes. Even though it's just someone pretending to be an investigator everything still works the same way. The Spirit is definitely helping me and my companion because if you could hear us talk in our broken Japanese you would be amazed that anyone would accept our message. But it's not about us! We just work to teach our investigator what he needs and then the Spirit does the rest! Isn't that great? So now we just have to work on teaching him all the things he doesn't know yet, which is a lot ha. So then we have lunch and all the Japanese missionaries in our branch sit together. It's really fun. Then we go back to class for another 3 hours and that's when our teacher Clark Kyodai teaches us. He is the best teacher ever. He makes learning Japanese fun but he still challenges us to look things up on our own and to speak as much Japanese as we can when we talk to him and to each other. He's kind of a dork but everybody loves him. 

So that brings me to my district. So I have ten people, including me, in my district. There's me and Chun Shimai. She's from Camarillo in Ventura County. She's Asian and short. Her mom is Japanese and her dad is Chinese, I think. Her mom spoke Japanese to her when she was younger so she knows a little bit more Japanese than the rest of the class. She helps me so much during our lessons. I feel like I understand really well when people speak Japanese to me, but when I open my mouth to say things they don't come out right. Their word order is different than ours. Anyways, then there are Petersen Shimai, from Logan, and Ketch Shimai, from Washington. They are so nice and kind of quiet at first, but once you get to know them they are really great sisters. All of us have commented on how emotional we are since we've been in the MTC. It's ridiculous. If you commanded me to cry right now I probably could. Darn that Spirit. Ok then there's Ricks Churo, from Salem, and Hall Churo from Las Vegas. Ricks Churo is hilarious. He just talks all the time and I can't believe some of the things that come out of his mouth sometimes. Hall Churo is kind of quiet but he's actually funny too when he slips comments in. Then there's Esplin Churo from St. George, and Korrea Churo from Brazil, although he's also lived in the United States so his English is pretty good. Esplin Churo is pretty quiet but he's super hard working and dedicated. Korrea Churo's our district leader and he's hilarious. He likes to tease everyone, and sometimes he says things that don't quite make sense but that makes it funnier. Last of all, we have Orellano Churo from Chile, and Laumatia Churo from Hawaii, although I think his family lives in Provo now. They were both quiet at first but I can tell they're going to end up being fun. Orellano Churo only speaks a little English so I am always amazed by how much he understands and picks up. Korrea Churo tries to help him since he speaks Portuguese which is kind of similar. When Orellano Churo finally gets something its so great and we all laugh. My district is pretty awesome.

Ok then we have dinner and after that we come back to class and have Personal Study, Companionship Study, and Language Study each for an hour. It's our time to study what we want to and figure out what we're going to teach the next day. I've been working on studying Hiragana because the hymn books and the Book of Mormon are in Hiragana. The BofM has kanji too but they put the Hiragana next to it to make it simpler. Then we go back to our rooms and have a little time to ourselves and then we go to bed. And that's my day. Besides P-days and Sundays. My favorite thing on Sundays is our temple walks. Our entire branch goes up to the temple and takes pictures and we kind of get to be normal 18-22+ yr. olds for a little bit. Just so you know mom I have taken some pictures. And don't worry I know there is a computer lab here where you can send pictures but I have to buy a SD card reader first so I probably won't send pictures until next week.  So for devotional on Tuesday me and Chun Shimai sang in the choir and our speaker was someone from the Seventy so we broke the streak of having an apostle. Figures once I get here that would happen. So I'm pretty used to the routine now and things are starting to seem normal, like I've been doing this forever. I'm learning so much here and there are so many people here who just want to help you and encourage you. It's great. 

Mom thanks for the fortune cookies and nail polish. Although my favorite part was definitely the notes and Dawson's picture he drew. Thanks Dawson! Also, I have the cutest nephews ever! Brian and Devin get married so I can have more nephews and nieces! Just kidding I kind of want to be there so you can't get married yet. 

Ok well I can't think of much more to say. Sorry if I didn't answer your questions. Just ask them again. Also feel free to do Dear Elder too because then I get to read it during the week instead of just on Thursdays.

I love you all! Ai shitemas! (That means I love you.) And no you don't say it the way I know you are all saying it. It's I shtay moss. You say the "i" part so fast is just sounds like shtay. 

Last of all I want you all to know that the Gospel is true! Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer! God loves us all  and knows us individually. He knows our struggles and pains and doubts and he can help you with anything! Families can be together forever because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ! I could probably say all of that in Japanese but it would take me a while to get it out so I'll stick with eigo (English) I'm so thankful for all of you and I love you all!

Sister Malone