Week 5

As I've mentioned before, these weeks are just flying by and I can't distinguish one day from the next! It's a good think that I wear a watch that tells me what day it is because I can never remember! things are still going great and my time here at the MTC is diminishing and before I know it, I'll be in Nihon!

First off, What is this winter?! I'm pretty excited about it not being super cold because I don't like being cold but... I remember trick-or-treating in the snow and here it is, December 18th, and there is no snow on the ground! Crazyness! It makes me miss my car more knowing that I could have driven it this late into the year but... that's ok, I get to preach the gospel instead! :)

This week, our Senpai left and yesterday, our new Kohai came in and all of them are going to Fukuoka as well! I'm sad to see our Senpai go because we all became really good friends but I know that they are being great missionaries, even as I write this email!

One really funny thing from this week are the crazy things that happen in our room at night. Me and my companion are pretty normal sleepers and don't do anything exciting while we sleep but our roomates are a different story! On multiple occasions, Thomas Choro talks in his sleep but last night, he blessed us with a wonderful song in the middle of the night while he was sleeping! And our other roommate, Hope Choro, likes to give motivational speeches on occasion but last night, he got up and folded all of his sheets in the dark and when he woke up this morning, everything was off of his bed and folded beside one blanket. It really adds some entertainment to our day!

This work is great: it is really hard but the rewards are immense and I'm definitely blessed!

The church put out a really awesome video recently and if you haven't seen it, watch it NOW! He is the Gift. Just remember that as you celebrate Christmas this year.

Love you all! Thank you for the prayers! merry Christmas!

Brower Choro

V8 juice for our Moms!

Is this our snow for December?

District 

christmas lights

This MTC experience is definitely something amazing. They take care of the missionaries so well! We have awesome devotionals, awesome teachers, awesome food; life is good! However, the MTC has it's challenges. The food is real good so... me being the hungry Howie that I am... I eat a lot and thus have gained 7 pounds since I've been here. This is the first time in my life where I think I've actually gained weight! It's all good though because I'll get to walk and bike it off in Japan! January 12th is coming fast and I'm trying my best to prepare for that. This language is hard but I love it. Some things don't make sense and the language is so indirect! Everything is about being polite and indirect so truly, it is learning a completely new language with next-to-no similarities to English. Our teachers are amazing and have helped so much already and it's going to be a sad day when we leave because we have established true friendships with them.

On another note, we like to have fun in the MTC. Of course we are focused missionaries but to break the monotony of continuous study, we do some fun things. We play a game called "what are the odds" where you place a bet such as "what are the odds that you wear two ties all day tomorrow" to which they would respond "1 in 10" or for really crazy dares "1 in 25." On the count of three, you both say a number between 1 and 10 and if the numbers add up to 10, the person who placed the bet has to do the thing but if you both say the same number, the person who was challenged has to do the dare. I have yet to lose but there have been some good bets placed!

Another thing we do is sing in the shower. Normally we sing church hymns and the like but on occasion, the most popular songs that get sung by the congregation in the showers is "Crocodile Rock" and "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Africa" by Toto. Nothing is better than being in your room and hearing a group of missionaries try to sing the high part to these songs. I personally like to sing the songs from "A Goofy Movie" but... not too many people can join in because they are deprived human beings who haven't seen it before. Lame!

Our senpai (the missionaries who leave to Japan before us and have been here for 9 weeks) leave on Monday and we will become senpai (upper class) to some new kohai (lower class). It's amazing how fast time flies. It feels like we just met but that we've been friends forever and now they are leaving! I've made some amazing friends here and I feel like the veil is thin at times and we are able to remember the people that we meet from the pre-mortal life because we already know each other so well and we probably hung out before coming to Earth!

Anyway, life is good! Pray always! Read the Scriptures (Alma 30-35=fantastic)! Remember I love you all and thank you for your support!

The picture that I'm in with the other Elder, that is Hope Choro; he is in my room and is pretty awesome. We are both going to Fukuoka so we'll get to be pretty good friends over the next few years. In our district, it is only us three (me, Ngatai, and Hope) that are going to Fukuoka; everyone else is going to Kobe. However, in the other district, all of their Chorotachi are going to Fukuoka.  

Hello Everyone!

Week three was like a freight train, it was non-stop at full speed ahead! Sorry for the stupid analogy but that is the best way that I can think to describe it. The Nihongo is coming along... little by little... but it is hard. This experience alone would be one of the hardest things that I will ever accomplish but adding a language on top of everything else and it is BY FAR the hardest thing I've ever done. That being the case, I know that every day I am learning something new and that in time, Nihongo will come! There is just so much to learn! Not only about the language but about myself and about this gospel and about teaching skills and about lessons and... the list goes on and on. 

Thanksgiving was good, it didn't really feel like thanksgiving but over the past little while, it seems like we have had a ton of awesome devotionals because we have one every Sunday and Tuesday. We also had one on Thanksgiving! These devotionals are really awesome and it's nice to focus on something else for a little while and forget, if only for an hour or so, that I have to learn a language!

Yesterday we had a cool experience as a district; we got to host the new missionaries that were coming in! Because they don't have missionaries come in on the week of a holiday, this week we had so many missionaries come in; over 550 new missionaries! It was crazy and I got to be the host for 5 new missionaries. It feels like that was forever ago! I did my best to be a good host and it was a really fun experience being the one to take a son away from his parents for two years... in the best way possible. X)

Love you all and thank you for the support! 

Dang! Too late for yams and marshmellows!!

My whole district.

Brower Chōrō