MTC week #9

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Holy. Cow. The MTC is over. I'm still trying to let that sink in a little bit. :P It's been a CRAZY long almost nine weeks... wow wee... I feel like I just got here a week ago, but then I try to think about before the MTC, and I can't really. :P It's weird. We were joking the other day that we didn't exist before the MTC, because the MTC is all we can remember. ;) It's been a great time. I mean, really. You don't know unless you've been here. :) Sometimes it's rough, but the times when it's glorious, it is GLORIOUS! Monday is going to be a great day, and a sad one as well. It'll be one of the last days I get to be with all my buddies that I've made here for awhile. Luckily we're all headed to Sapporo, so I might be able to be in the same district, or zone, and see them all occasionally. That'd be nice. :) I feel so happy that I chose to come on a mission, I haven't really started the real deal yet, but I've already been blessed so much for the decision I've made. I've learned so much, and I've grown so much, and my testimony has never been so strong before. :) I cannot wait to go share that with the Nihonjin. :)

  This last week has been a little crazy. It's been a ROLLER COASTER for just about everyone. Tons of highs, and tons of lows. We're all just getting super excited and super emotional, it's an exciting time. :) As you know, Brandolino Choro and I were released as Zone Leaders last Sunday, and we thought we were in for a nice relaxing extra duty free week with lots of study. Sounds golden, right? Well we find out that we, and two other companionships in our district, out of the THOUSANDS of missionaries, Brandolino Choro and I got called to be the missionaries for the Wednesday, "How to Begin Teaching" Training Seminar for all of the brand new missionaries that just came in. This seminar is a huge meeting with huge groups of new missionaries, we had about 200 I think in our group, and they kind of get a taste of what teaching really means. It's really cool, we basically go in and start teaching a lesson in front of these missionaries, and then when the moderator feels like we've gotten the investigator to a good point, he stops us and lets the new missionaries take over. It's a pretty cool experience, and it was fun seeing the new missionaries, knowing I was there just nine weeks ago. :) It was rough though because we'd get these investigators to a good place, ready to get all spiritual and what not, and at one point I was like, BAM! Testimony time! And the moderator decides to pause and hand it over to the new missionaries! It's no big deal, just funny is all. :P You get all excited to start getting deep and working, and then you have to step aside. It was really a fun experience, and I'm so happy I was able to do it. But because of that, we were busy all leading up. We had meetings to go to, training and logistics meetings, and we even had to host that Wednesday ALSO! So we were busy busy busy. But it was good. :) Luckily I was feeling a little better by this time. OH! I was SUPER sick Monday and Tuesday. :P I basically slept those two days straight, it was bad. I had high fevers, and my throats been killing me, and it was bad. I'm doing alright now, that much sleep rapidly healed me up, which I'm super grateful for. And I'm sure Heavenly Father was lending me a hand in that regard as well. ;)

  Everyone in our branch is getting sad to see us go. It's always hard to see your Dai Senpai leave I know it was for me, they really become your heros. We've become a lot of Elder's idols, especially since Brandolino Choro and I were their Zone Leaders for three weeks. They always come to us for advice, and for any questions they have. I have been SO blessed to have served in both the District Leader position, and Zone Leader position since being here, it's really made my experience really special. :) I've been told by lots of people that I worked with in those positions from my district and my zone, that they really love me, and loved me being their leader for that time. Makes me happy and more excited to go serve in Japan. :) We had in field orientation ALL DAY yesterday. It's like an 8 hour ordeal where you kind of very briefly go over everything you learned in the MTC, missionary standard wise, and some last minute training on some vital things about being a missionary, such as finding people, planning and goals, working with members, and what not. It was SO LONG! But it was good. :) It was actually quite creative how the seperated everyone up and then had the different areas for us to go to and learn from, it was neat. We were all glad to be done though! 8 hours of sitting isn't so fun! ;)

 It's been crazy in our hall, a ton of us are leaving Monday for Japan, and so luggage is strewn everywhere and it's hectic. We've been having lots of fun though packing and having late night story times, it's been grand. Everyone feels like family at this point. :)

 OH! I got my new name tags on Friday as well!! I emailed a picture of what my name looks like. :) I was SO EXCITED to get my new tags ALL WEEK, and we finally got them. :) I'm wearing them now and it's hilarious because no one can read my name. ;) Buahaha! It looks like ダイアログ。It's flippin' sweet. :) The sounds of the symbols go, from left to right: da, ee, a, ro, gu, individually. Together it's pronounced more like Die-a-roge, without the oo sound at the end. Well, not gone, but just very faint oo sound at the end. Female Japanese they pronounce the oo's at the ends of the words, like desu, they say desoo, whereas males say des. It's interesting. Anyways!! That's mah name for two years. :D I'm PUMPED! I wish I could show you the kanji on my tag, but you'll see the picture. :) Anyways, I'm running out of time and I've gotta go finish packing so I'll close up here. I love you all SO MUCH!! And I can't wait to talk to you in the airport, Kokoro kara ai shite imasu!

                   Love,

                       Dialogue Choro