I'm sure the kids all had a great time on trek. :) I know I
did, with Jake though anything we do is flippin' fun. ;) He comes home in just
about as much time as it'll take me to get out to Japan, isn't that nuts!!
You'll have to tell me all about your glorious reunion, and how I wasn't there!
;) I'm not jealous or anything either of your Los Betos... I'm SO TIRED of the
food here. Especially without the temple now... It sucks. But!! The food in
Sapporo and Hakkaido is the best food in Japan EVERYONE tells me, especially
those who served in Japan, and so I'm super stoked for that. I'm SO down for
some real food. Even if it is seafood. ;) Haha! Good thing I'm going to Japan,
right!
The MTC is still going great, and I'm really
enjoying myself. But I'm SO READY to go to Japan. Nine weeks is such a long
time it feels like. Time here is very weird. We feel sometimes like the days
just drag on and on, but then you wake up one morning and it's p-day. The days
feel long but the weeks fly by, its really a strange phenomenon. This last week
has been crazy for Elder Brandolino and I though. We got a bunch of new
Japanese missionaries and 14 of them are in our branch. So we accompanied them
around for awhile on Wednesday night, teaching them some things, making sure
they knew the rules, getting to know them, making them feel loved, that whole
shebang. And Thursday night we accompanied them to the meeting our Branch
Presidency meeting, and taught them more about companionships, how to have a successful one, and things along that train of thought. The knew Kohai as we
call them, are fantastic. They are so excited to be here and seem super ready
to start learning and teaching. :) It's hard to believe that just 7 weeks ago I
was where they were, it's crazy. And it's even more crazy to think that in two
weeks we'll be in Japan. We have a countdown on our chalkboard and the day is
getting closer and closer!! I should be getting my travel plans next week
sometime, which will be super exciting. :) That's always a big deal on campus.
:P For obvious reasons. ;) We've really decided as a district to make these
last two weeks our BEST two weeks in the MTC. We are working hard, staying
focused, and doing what we need to be doing. We really want to go to Japan as
prepared as we possibly can be. One of our new Elder's name is Elder Lutz.
Immediately I think of the Uruk-Hai off of Lord of the Rings whose name is
Lurtz. He's the one that kills Boromir with three arrows, and then Aragorn
kills Lurtz, yeah, him. :P I'm sure Mom knows! ANYWAYS! I asked him if he would
let me call him Elder Lurtz. :P Naturally he said yes and so that's what I call
him now! :) It's great. He also is a huge motorsports guy much like myself! He
has been riding dirt bikes for a long time just like I have, and we have so
much to talk about! He's a pretty sweet guy, I wish I could be with him for
more than two weeks! But, oh well, what do ya do? :) Just about all our knew
Kohai are FRESH out of high school which is super cool. They're some of the
first fresh eighteen year olds to be out here and it's really cool to see them
here at such a young age. I'm young too, but I have a whole year of real world
life experience that they don't! But they have powerful spirits and I know that
they're going to do some great things. :) It'll be an especially different
change from what they're used to, but it'll be great. :) Elder Brandolino and I
have to be especially good examples of what good missionaries are since we're
in the Zone Leader position. I've been enjoying that so much. And I know Elder
Brandolino has been too. We go and make visits to all our districts and check
up on them a couple times a week. Make sure they're doing good and what not,
which is great. We also have to interview the District Leaders in every
district under us and report on concerns or whatever else to Johnson Kaicho.
We're the Branch Presidency's eyes and ears on the ground as Johnson Kaicho
says. All the missionaries look up to us and come to us with questions and
concerns all the time. I'm glad they feel comfortable enough with us to come to
us with those things. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be in
this position to serve. :) I am Zone Leader over five districts, for a total of
about 60-70 missionaries. There are three Japanese branches, so I'm not over
every Japanese missionary. And Whitney is not under my jurisdiction, but that's
ok. I see her ALL the time. It's crazy! She is in the classroom right next to
one of our Senpai districts, so whenever I go visit them I usually see Whitney.
She seems to be really enjoying the MTC and I'm sure the language is coming
very easily to her, we all know how much of a genius she is. I took a couple
pictures with her and I'll send them your way with my card next week. I also
have bumped into Curtis a few times, and he rooms in the building right across
from mine! So I'm going to go make sure I get some pictures with him before he
leaves!! And some with Xavier as well, that's ICHIBAN TAISETSU! Number one
important / most important, getting pictures with those two guys before they
leave....before me...after they got here after me... ;) Haha! We all get a good
laugh about that. I also took pictures with my two Senseitachi, so you can see
who my two newest heroes are. They are the sweetest guys, and both have changed
me forever for the better. Cook Sensei had a birthday this week which we
celebrated last week since he went out of town this week. And Gregory Sensei
has a birthday next week which we celebrated last night because he will be
leaving town. We got them cards, and some MoTab CD's, and lots of food, and
other sweet stuff like that. We waited till they left and set up real fast and
had a surprise party for them. :) We sang Happy Birthday, Nihongo obviously, ;)
And opened presents which was fun. We love them so much. :) And I'm really
wanting to stay in touch with them, and they want to do the same.
Thanks for the Trek pictures and what not, I'm sure
everyone had a great time, and I bet everyone was glad for the shade!! :) I
wish I could've gone again with them, I LOVED trek, and I bet they loved it
again this time too. :) Glad to hear that Mom was fine with the food situation!
Everyone loves the food you prepare, doesn't matter how you do it, it's just
always magical. ;) I talk about your food all the time with the guys here and
how much better it is than the cafeteria food. Forrester even backed me up on
that. ;) So they all want your food now. :) Guess we'll have to have a big
party at our place in a few years. ;) Haha!!
Have I told you guys about TRC? I think I have. On p-day
we go to the biggest building on campus, 18M, and we teach people that
volunteer to come in, entirely in Japanese. So it's like first contacting
people, and then sharing a message with them. It's a TON of fun. Anyways, this
week we had a special TRC planned, via Skype. :D We were able to Skype to
members in Japan and talk with them and teach them instead of American
volunteers!!! :D :D That was incredible. Brandolino and I talked to an elderly
woman named Ikeda San, and she lives in Tokyo. We had a great time talking to
her and we left her with a message about prayer. It was really just the
sweetest experience. I felt so good about it too! Even through Skype I could
feel the Spirit and I was able to understand basically everything she said to
me, and I could find things to say back. It was really SUPER COOL! Makes me all
the more excited to get to Japan and teach my Nihonjin! Japanese people, ;) We
get Japanese missionaries that come here for a week and a half every 3 weeks to
get some training before they go back to teach in Japan. Talking with them is
ALWAYS fun. Plus every time we see them we're like, "Those are
ours!!!" It's great. :) So getting to Skype with Ikeda San was super
special. :) I feel so much love for the people of Japan already, and I pray for
them every night.
About winter gear, I would LOVE to get whatever I could
before I left for Japan... I can't get anything there that will really fit, and
it'd just be easier to have now. I need some thermal stuff, underarmor or
whatever you can find. I don't really know what else I need, but if you can
find anything send it to me in the next week or so. Japan is much better about
mail than Chile, that's the advantage of first world countries, but it'll still
take some time, and I'm going to be getting there right when it starts getting
cold. Plus if I'm not in the city, but I go somewhere else on the island, it'll
be even more important to have that stuff so I don't die when I get there. Be
sure to let me know what kind of winter gear things you might be planning on
getting. :) And I'm not sure when I'll be leaving and when I'll arrive in
Japan. I don't get my travel plans until later this week sometime, so I can't
give you a definite answer as of right now. My address says the 6th of August,
but that's SO subject to change. It likely will be 5th I think. But, who knows.
I don't know if I'd suggest you change your plans to accommodate the 5th if it
really is the 6th, so just stay with what you have until I can tell you for
certain, and hopefully that'll be enough time to change if you really want
to or need to. I'll let you all know as soon as possible! Thanks so much for
everything you guys do for me. :) It means the world to me. Thanks so much for
the blanket by the way, that's very nice to have at night. ;) You sent me
Josh's though, not mine. ;) DEMO! Daishobu desu. :) But, it's fine. I won't be
able to check my email once I send this email till next Saturday, so have Megan
send me a detailed email all about whatever it is she has to say, and have her
write a letter maybe just kind of briefly describing it. I can't wait till next
Saturday! Love you Megan. ;)
That's all I have! Thanks again, I love you all so so very
much. :) I can't wait to tell you all about my adventures!
Kokoro kara, aibukai, aishiteimasu! From the
Heart, Full of Love, I Love you!
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