Dear family & friends,
This week has been the longest week of my life! It has seriously felt like an eternity. But like everyone says, I'm sure the weeks will start flying by. So the first day was rough, especially hugging my mom and dad goodbye. But after that it has seriously been go go go ever since. Getting my nametag was awesome! I feel like a real missionary now. I'd send pics but this computer won't let me attach photos. I will try next week! After registering and doing all that I picked up all the books and then went straight to class. My teacher is from Tokyo and she didn't speak any English to us the first day. We all felt like we were already in Japan or something. It was hard but I slowly began to pick up on what in the world she was talking about. I've heard her speak maybe 10 words in English since we've been here. It definitely helps though to be immersed in the language so quickly.
So my companion is Chapman Shimai and she was born in Russia! She was adopted when she was nine and has lived in provo ever since. Her foster parents have 11 kids of their own and then adopted 13 kids from Russia and Ukraine! Her story is amazing. By the way, she was originally called to L'viv Ukraine also! Same with one other girl in my district. She was bummed with the change because she speaks russian fluently so learning ukrainian wouldve been a lot easier for her then learning japanese. we get along really well and I couldn't have asked for a better companion. we just connected right away.
So we leave our rooms usually by 6:30am and then dont return till 9:30pm. We're in our classroom for like 12 hours every day! It's like our little home. Our backs are always killing us but we manage. So we started teaching our investigator, Narita, the second day!! In Japanese!!! the first lesson was seriously the hardest thing I've ever done. We had no idea what he was saying so we couldn't reply to anything he asked or said. It was basically him saying stuff and us looking in our dictionaries the whole time to figure out what he said. But earlier that day we had learned how to bear a simple testimony so I said mine at the end of the lesson and the Spirit was SO strong. I started to cry and I hope that he felt the spirit too. That was a testimony to me that the Spirit can touch anyone, no matter what language the testimony is said in. So we have a lesson with Narita everyday except sundays and p days. He didn't know what God is or anything like that. So we've taught him a lot about faith and how much God loves him. We've also taught him about repentance, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel. He always keeps the commitments that we challenge him to do each lesson, so that is really nice. He even prayed for us at the end of one of our lessons! he is slowly coming along.
The first few days here were really hard for me. I was super hard on myself and was frustrated with the fact that my Japanese is horrible. It's so frustrating to be in a lesson and then have a question asked that you know how to answer perfectly in English but have no idea how to answer in Japanese. It's slowly getting better though and I just take one day at a time. I've spent a lot of time on my knees lately and I know that the Lord has answered my prayers. Each day I'm able to learn more and more and I'm so grateful for the gift of tongues.
So we do a service project twice a week! At 6:15 am. It kinda stinks cause we have to wake up at like 5:45 but we always feel better after we serve. It's kinda funny cause all the service projects are like janitor jobs. We clean bathrooms, vaccuum, and dust about anything you can imagine. The MTC's janitors are basically the missionaries haha. It's really fun though because we do it as a district and make each other laugh. Did I mention that I love my district? We get along super well and have grown so close in just 8 days. We're constantly making each other smile and laugh- something that you absoluetley need to do when you're stuck in a classroom for like 10 hours a day.
On Sunday we get to walk to the temple and hang out there for like an hour, which is super nice. We took lots of pics but Ill have to send them next week, sorry.
Learning Japanese is honestly the hardest thing I've ever done. But I can already feel the many blessings from being a missionary! I love this gospel with all my heart and can't wait to get to Nihon to share it with the people there. I know this church is true and that it's the only thing that can make you really, truly happy. The spirit at the MTC is so strong and I love it! Love you all and miss you!
Love,
Klein Shimai
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