Happy Father's Day, Dad!

McKenna's email sent Saturday, June 15th:

Sorry!  I tried to rotate the picture, but I can't figure it out! (Britt)

Dad!  I love you!  Happy early Father's Day! :)  So sad that I can't be a part of our annual Father's day "breakfast in bed" ritual.  I don't know what the girls will do without my incredible ability to burn toast and ruin eggs.  Girls, good luck.  You'll need it.  I'll be there in spirit!

I am so happy!  Lewis Shimai (Sister Lewis) and I are doing great.  So glad we're such good friends.  We bonded over the swagger wagon youtube commerical/video.  That's the first thing I'm going to look up post-mission.  Hilarious. I don't think my rendition for our district (group of 8-12 missionaries) was completely accurate, but everyone got a good laugh. Lewis Shimai and I have a reputation in our district as the companionship that has the most fun :)  But don't worry Mom and Dad, we also work the hardest!  I spend every spare second learning! We eat meals fast and go sit outside and make up the most complicated Japanese sentences we can muster.  I think I'm getting better!  Well, granted I could only get better, since I came in knowing one word.  I'm being positive!  The MTC (Missionary Training Center) is incredible!  I've decided that there is no way you could put thousands of 18, 19, 20 & 21 year olds in charge of anything and expect the church not to collapse (let alone continue forward)  if Heavenly Father didn't play a large part in this work.  It's so neat to be a part of this, especially right now.  Just the logistics of the MTC are crazy!  We had to our devotional for the first time in the BYU basketball arena (the Marriott Center) because we can't fit 1/3 of the MTC population in our original auditorium.  We filled a lot of the Marriott Center.  It's so COOL!  We had a great devotional the other day too.  It was entitled "Expect Miracles".  It was given by Sister Anne Clegg.  She's on the General Relief Society board.  Wow, does that women have presence!  She was wonderful.  She just pointed out all the blessings we have.  How on earth do you learn the three alphabets of Japanese in 9 weeks?  You don't :)  You have help.  It's so true.  I feel like the people around me are angels.  Really though.  I learn so much from the trials people have gone through in their lives.  It's inspirational!

I wish you could see the Main MTC campus~ it is beautiful!  Remember how awed I was at how clean Disneyland is for the amount of people that walk through there?  Well same thing with the MTC, only more so!   There are flowers everywhere!  It's almost not real.  BYU is a beautiful campus, but wow the MTC is something else.  Although, Lewis Shimai and I did have to have a DTR (define the relationship) because there are so many bees here... which isn't a big deal, right?  Right, unless your companion is deathly allergic to bees!  Come on Lewis Shimai.  Ha ha, I love her.  Don't fret, I have now been educated in the ways of using an epi-pen.  Since I shared that story with our district they've nicknamed me Dr. Hawkins.  Has a nice ring to it, right? :)

On our way to the temple the other day we stopped by a car randomly in the parking lot.  It turns out the father and son were from Japan.  We all practiced our Japanese.  So much fun!  I could tell he was slowing it down for me, but I picked things up!  It was so fun!  Love it!  I understood more than I thought I would.  Don't worry I don't have a naive perception of my Japanese.  I love talking to the nihongin (native Japanese)!  They are so kind!  You say anything and they're impressed.  Plus, I don't think they expect a lot out of a blonde.  So I like the surprise factor :)

Japanese is such a pretty language, but you have to be so careful when you speak it!  All the words are SO similar!  And so many words have two polar opposite meanings.  Like segoi... it means awesome, great, cool and also bad or annoying.  Is that confusing?  I think so!  The running joke we have is that everything is implied in your sentences.  You usually leave out a lot of stuff and then it's "implied".  So when our sensi asks me something and I accidentally don't answer perfectly I just tell him it's implied.   At least they give me a sympathy laugh :)  Oh another example:  Kowii is scary and Kawii is cute.  Come on!  We all know I butcher my English words, well it is no different with my Japanese words!  It makes for interesting conversations though.  Plus, I end up smiling all the time so as to "imply" that what I'm attempting to say is kind.  Love it.

Our Japanese is improving.  When you ask a question in Japanese you end it with a "ka".  The first few lessons I would turn to Lewis Shimai and say "oh no I heard a "Ka",  but now we're able to answer almost anything.  We're improving!   

Our RA Rachel's wedding announcement!

Lewis Shimai and I got our first wedding invitation while in the MTC!  An exciting day!  Rachel our RA at BYU is getting married!  It was so thoughtful of her to send a wedding announcement to us.  I forget that real life happens outside of these walls.

I got my first taste of Japan this week!  One of the wives of our branch presidency brought by seaweed for us.  Wow! Interesting!  Mom, be proud.  I ate it all with a smile.  It tasted like I opened my mouth in the ocean and swallowed everything whole.  My first few emails from Japan will be interesting let me tell you!  

Angie, Madison and Shea! Thank you so much for the darling package!  It was so cute and very thoughtful!  It made my week!  I loved it!  A snail mail letter is headed their way!

Yes mom, Natalie Merrill is here!  I saw her and almost tackled her to the ground with a huge hug.  She is loving it here from what I can tell.  Her companion seems really nice too.  She is thriving!  Of course she is incredible so I expected nothing less. 

Random side note....At the MTC we SYL.  We "speak your language"...we speak Japanese alot!  We've had to resort to translating lots into japanese to keep our humor rolling. However, the Japanese don't have "smack talk"  everything is literal.  My new favorite phrase from Lewis Shimai is "sister please"~  shimai kudasi.  Love it.  No one says it with as much feeling as Lewis Shimai does.  Oh, keep in mind that Lewis Shimai is from Detroit. :)

I reached one of my goals!  From day one, I've wanted to share a personal experience with our investigators in Japanese.  Well, I did it!  And it made sense!  It was so neat!  I loved it!  I was finally able to express myself and language didn't get in the way!  I am so grateful!  I never thought it would happen.

Are they studying or lifting weights? :)

McKenna's caption on this picture read:  "Matching your companion...bad idea! Enough said."  I am curious to find out if they really happen to have the same outfit or if it was borrowed from someone for the picture! (Britt)

I am just so happy!  There is so much joy in doing this.  I love it!   There is so much happiness in sharing something you love so much with your brothers and sisters where ever they might be.  There is no way nearly 100,000 missionaries can teach the gospel at 18 and 19 without Divine help.  And I mean a lot of help!  There is a really cool Mormon Message video about fathers and I love it when it pops on at the gym.  See if you can find it mom.  It's way cool.  It's called "I am a father".  It's not really "churchy" either.  "Out of all of His titles and accomplishments He only asks us to call Him Father."

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/topics/marriage-and-family?lang=eng#2013-01-1020-fathers-day

If there is anything out of this experience that I've gained is that God is real.  He knows us by name.  He knows us individually.  And oh how He loves us!  He is not a distant God.  I love the scripture in Acts 17:27  I love you family!  Have a great week!  I love it here!  I am so happy and sharing the gospel has never been so joyous!  Have a great week!

Ai,

Hawkins Shimai