Learning more everyday!

Saturday, May 25, 2013

McKenna's letter home~posted by Britt 

Our investigator is progressing well!  Kubo San plays the part of a"58 year old Japanese male" who wants to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but he is actually a recently returned Japanese missionary who works here at the Missionary Training Center(MTC).  I love working with him!  Lewis Shimai (Sister Lewis) and I taught him a lesson about resurrection the other day. We used my glove and explained that our hand was like our spirit and the glove represented our body and that when our bodies and spirit reunite after we die it's called the resurrection.  We had the surprise of the week when we finished teaching “Kubo San” for the last time.  He is now our teacher!  His real name is Sheehan Kyodai (Brother Sheehan).  I love him! 

Sundays are awesome here!  We have devotional speakers, Relief Society with all of the shimai (sisters) in the MTC, and we get to watch talks given by apostles when they gave previous devotionals at the MTC. It's incredible!

Mom, the mini Preach My Gospel you forced me to take with me has been a lifesaver!  We were given so many books on our arrival that it's nice to have a condensed version.  When we have gym time my Doryo (companion) and I go use the exercise bikes.  They have several TVs down there all playing Mormon Messages, which is fun.  It's the only time I can say I've cried while working out. J  Anyway, I was watching one and guess who popped up!?  Marcus and Kelly!  It was so funny!  I freaked out, showed all my companions, and laughed when the shot of Paul, Panda, and company walking down the church hallway appeared.  The best part was that the video shows pictures of Lake Chelan, so I was able to show Lewis Shimai where I live! 

Mom, could you send me a mini Hymn book in Japanese.  I'm learning the characters and it seems to help me learn them better.  The MTC doesn't sell them and I figured it would be easier to get from you while I'm still in the states.  I am LOVING it here! It's hilarious, exhausting, extremely difficult (Japanese is hard!), but so rewarding!  The days seem really long when you wake up at 6 and go to bed at 10:30 so Lewis Shimai and I are really doing a great job of breaking up the day with a little fun!  Our latest embarrassing moment consisted of me stalking the new Nihonji (Native Japanese Sisters) in the bathroom. I'll explain... Since day one in the MTC we've known that native Japanese speakers come with every transfer of new MTC missionaries to Japan.  They come for two weeks to learn how to share the gospel and then fly out with everyone who is leaving. Well, Lewis Shimai and I were walking back into the classroom and we saw a group of Nihongi Shimai (native Japanese sister missionaries) walking into the bathroom across the hallway.  I did what anyone else in their right mind would do...  I pretended to wash my hands so I could practice my Japanese to sisters who actually know how to speak it!  It's was really funny.  I got “How are you?”, “What is your name?”, and “Which mission are you going to?” out, before I blurted out "I love you (ai shite imas)". J  I don't think I freaked out the poor Japanese Shimai too much :).  She still waves to me in the cafeteria so I think we're on speaking terms... or we would be if I could understand her. J It made me so excited to go to Japan!  I love the people there already! 

You asked what my average day looks like at the MTC so here it goes:  We wake up at 6:00 and get ready for the day.  We're out of our room by 6:45 to eat breakfast in the cafeteria.  It's always packed!  There are so many new missionaries!  This Wednesday was especially bad, with all the new arrivals.  (When you arrive here you get your nametag and a "dork" dot, a little orange dot they stick on your tag that basically says "Help, I'm new!”), after breakfast we have personal study for an hour.  I review the lessons I'm going to teach and try to figure out the simplest way to deliver them so I can say it in Japanese!  I've been studying the Japanese Bible and Book of Mormon too!  Every once and a while I get really adventurous and try to read a verse in my Japanese Bible or Book of Mormon filled with Japanese characters (no letters J), After Personal Study we go to the Classroom for three hours until 11:05.  It's a time packed with grammar, new words, gospel discussions, etc.  Typically it's all in Japanese!  I've gotten really good at piecing things together and using hand signals.  I'm sure it's funny to watch. J Then we have lunch, we go to they gym, shower, and have Preach My Gospel study.  Lewis Shimai and I use this as companion study time.  After that we have “T.A.L.L.”, it stands for Technology Assisted Language Learning.  It's rough!  You listen to native Japanese speakers say words and phrases.  If you thought you understood what you were saying, your hopes are crushed at this point.  The Japanese speak so fast!  Then it's dinner, classroom time for 3 more hours, an hour of language study, half an hour to plan the next day and then you're running home, getting ready for bed and sleeping!  I kind of feel like an old woman eating dinner at 4:00 PM, but besides that our days are great! 

Please give Jenny and Cindy my condolences.  I love Jim!  It's so sad that he is gone now.   

So the pictures I'll attach are probably semi-weird... Lewis Shimai and I have a picture a day goal and there are only so many pictures you can take on the MTC campus.  You quickly run out of new ideas! 

Love you all!  Have a great week!

Hawkins Shimai

Getting ready to ride a bike everyday!

My District attends the Provo temple.

Things are good! :)

Sister Lewis and I on the beautiful grounds of the MTC.

A goal to take a picture a day is getting tricky at the MTC...
I have a suggestion for the suggestion box "Our classroom is too cold, please turn up the heat ! :)

T.A.L.L. (Technology Assisted Language Learning)~
The Japanese speak so fast!