Alright, this week has been a good one! There is just so much learning to do! The Japanese language is just... completely different than English. I guess I can talk more on that subject. Japanese is not Latin based, so       E V E R Y T H I N G is different! The sentence structure, the alphabets (yes, that is plural), how you say things, the content of the sentences (for example, the subject is often implied so it is left out if the people talking know what they are both talking about) etc. There are essentially three alphabets. One of the alphabets is for words and phrases that originate in Japan. I can read and write this now which is pretty cool but it's crazy because there are 48 characters in this alphabet (i think i counted right) but there are also variations of a lot of them that make different sounds so really, there are a lot more! There is another alphabet, Katakana, that is for words that don't originate in Japan (for the most part). I recognize this alphabet but I've been focusing more on vocab mostly and haven't dove into this one completely. And then there are the Kanji... which is more than 2000 symbols which are shared with Chinese. I don't know any of them really but i'll learn those more in the field so that I recognize that i'm going into a noodle shop rather than a laundromat! ha. One thing I am thankful for though is Romaji! This is just a way of spelling out the sounds of the characters in Japanese and writing them in roman letters.

My language is growing and basically, everybody in our district speaks Nihonglish (Nihongo + English). It makes for some funny conversations! I'm able to actually bear testimony that isn't memorized because, well, I know what I want to say and without getting too complicated, I know how to say it! And it's only been two weeks! I can also pray and I know most of the vocab that we use in the first lesson (The Restoration of the Gospel) and also the vocab we use most every day in class. It's crazy to think about the difference from my first day to now! Japanese doesn't sound or look so foreign anymore; i'm becoming more familiar with it every day! It is a lot of work to learn this language and I find myself on my knees telling Ten no Otosama (Heavenly Father) that I know that I can't do this on my own but I am trying the best that I can and if it be his will, to help me basically have a sponge for a mind! A really smart sponge! ha.

Things are going well! Except for the fact that we the people with P-day on thursdays, don't get half of their P-days while in the MTC. Thanksgiving... on a thursday. Christmas... on a thursday. New years... on a dang thursday! We barely have time to email and do our laundry!! I just try to think that we are the best and hardest working missionaries so we get extra blessings from not having as many P-days or something like that!

A short akashi (testimony) that I want to share is the power of testimony and *while singing* Scripture Power! Yesterday, we were surprised with having to teach a 15 minute lesson to a new investigator and we had twenty minutes to prepare for it. We had like no background information AND we had already prepared and taught a lesson earlier in the day to our current investigator! Here at the MTC, these lessons are the biggest source of stress for me because, in short, I don't speak Nihongo very well yet! And if they have questions, how am I supposed to understand AND answer that question?! When we got this news, I was "not happy, Bob; not happy!" The only thing that we knew about him was that he got in an argument with a church member a long time ago and hadn't been to church since. O boy, I was ready to call him to repentance! Helaman 5:12! This is a personal gospel; don't let others ruin it for you! It was going to be great! He WAS going to get over it and go to church and read his scriptures and pray from that day forth because I had a fire going in my chest and I was ready! When we got in there, it came down to the fact that he was embarrassed and wanted to go back to church and believed in God and Jesus Christ and wanted to go back to church but he was embarrassed about what happened. My fire went out pretty quick because of his soft heart. This is where I gained a testimony about testimony. I was able to tell him how important I know that this gospel is for him personally and that he needed to remember that and not let things keep him from allowing himself that happiness.

Whew, and real quick, personal study time is the best time because I get to read the Morumon Sho! I am getting more out of the scriptures than I ever have before and they are great! I'm in Alma 13 right now. I have to tell you, I was laughing out loud a couple chapters before when Amulek and Zeezrom are having a battle of wits and words about the gospel. Light outshines darkness! Amulek is pretty Awesome! And so is Alma! I love people in the scriptures and in this church that speak with boldness and Alma is one of them. What an awesome instrument in the hands of our Heavenly father he was! Anyway, read the scriptures and R E A L L Y read them and not only will you enjoy them but your testimony will grow and you will learn more about yourself!

Love, Brower Choro

Let the good times roll!

AWESOME!

 

The one picture of me was like the best day ever

nihonjin (native japanese missionaries) here with us!

Elder Brower's first week!!!

Wow, my first week is D O N E!! And oh boy, what a first week it has been. The second I left the car, it was like I became part of a well oiled machine! They have everything set up so that there is no question of where to go and what you are supposed to do once you walk into the MTC. They have people there guiding you through the initial things that you do and you just... let them take care of you because you have no idea what you are supposed to be doing. One of the first shockers I had was really, truly, I received 15lbs of books the second I walked in the door! Holy cow, that was overwhelming but that wasn't nearly as bad as when I walked into the classroom and not an English word was spoken to me. Luckily, words and phrases were written on the board so when my teacher was trying to talk to me she would point to what she was saying and even with that, I had no idea what she was saying! The complete immersion... i'm still not used to but I have gotten more used to the fact that my teacher(s) won't speak any English to me and that I have to really try to focus to understand them. 

While on the subject, my teacher spoke to us for the first time in English yesterday and it was amazing! It was like I never heard her voice before! It really was a big deal for her to speak English even if it was for just a few sentences. She was telling us a story about her time in the MTC and how she struggled with understanding the nihongo (Japanese).

Now, my wonderful companion:

He is strait from Hamilton New Zealand and is a fantastic Choro (Elder). He is very outgoing and has a lot of friends here at the MTC because he arrived two days before us because he is an "international elder" and became friends with all of the other internationals. Like me, he loves to eat which is great and we have a good time. I have a lot to learn from him! A lot. He has a wonderful testimony and is very spiritually driven and he knows so many scriptures. It is great! "Ngatai choro, what is that one scripture that says that one thing?" And he knows it!! ha. It's great! 

The Shimai and Choro in my zone and district are so great and I couldn't have asked for a better branch. I was worried about them being rather young but their testimonies are so strong and much like my senkyoshi (companion), I have a lot that I can learn from them! I have pictures that I am going to send to you today when I get a chance but... I didn't know I was going to email right now because we just started doing our laundry and we were right next to one of the labs and... I wasn't prepared i'm sorry! But I'll do my best to get some pictures your way!

MTC food *singing angels and trumpets* I think it is pretty great and oh man, it seems like we are eating all the time and you can eat all that you want and there is hardly ever the same thing served so we have options and variety and it is just wonderful! 

My Nihongo is getting better! It's only been a week and I'm about where you would expect me to be with a language after studying it for an entire week with no prior knowledge. I know the hiragana characters (the characters that the japanese use for words that they use in japan), I somewhat understand basic sentence structure and my vocabulary is small but growing. It's interesting because you can't really grow your vocab without growing your grammer and vice versa so everything about the language has to grow at one slow pace! But, it is growing! The language is so cool but everything, everything about it is different from english. The sentence structure is way different, the words are crazy and a mouthful, the particles are hard to understand... just, everything is different!

Our third day, we received out first "investigator." His name is Kojima San (Mr. Kojima) and we had to teach him in japanese on our second day here; talk about overwhelming! Our books and resources are the most wonderful thing right now when you know how to say nothing! It's been a struggle because we have to teach him everyday and basically, we know nothing so it is... a unique experience every time! Sometimes it goes well and he understands our "caveman nihongo" and other times he asks us questions that we have no idea how to answer so the lesson doesn't go so well but it isn't anything that bearing a testimony won't fix! Ha. I know how to pray and testify very simply and as I said, my Nihongo is growing everyday.

Yesterday was the best day because all the new missionaries arrived and it was crazy to see how much we have grown and changed since a week ago. We walked around saying "welcome to the MTC" as if we ran the place to all the new missionaries (because they have an orange dot on their tags). We had some good laughs about it. 

I'm sleeping well, i'm learning well, i'm eating VERY well, and things are wonderful here! I know that since we spend literally all day in the classroom I will learn so much in the 9 weeks that I am here. Week one is down! Only 8 more to go!

As my last note for the week, we check our mailbox twice a day. Use the dear elder website and send me mail! That is the best part of the day when something shows up! IMPORTANT! Send me email addresses in these letters because I have zero time to write and i can type so much faster! But if you send it through dear elder, I will get the letter! You all are amazing and I love you all! If I think of anything when I come back to send some pictures, i'll let you know. 

Love, Brower Choro

First day at the MTC!!!

Fist day at class... Crazy stuff!!!

Now I feel official

#selfie

Me and my doryo (companion)

Upper class

The Branch

doryo

Zone Leader