The Twilight Zone

And with that, I have been at the MTC for two weeks. However, it legit feels like I have been here for months. I think it's because we do so much every day, it seems almost impossible that I've only been here for two weeks. It's when I look back on all that I've already accomplished that I feel as if I've actually made progress. So, here's a few things you might want to know about this past week.

First, Japanese. It is extremely difficult and I question everyday why I thought I could learn this language. Then I take a deep breath and look at what I've learned already. As of right now, I can pray, teach the first lesson of PMG, and invite someone to be baptized in Japanese. Very simple Japanese, but Japanese none the less. Which should be impossible. I know that it is only by the Lord's help that I am able to come this far. I have a very strong testimony of the "Gift of Tongues" and know that it will continue to help me as I rely on the Lord to learn this language. Speaking Japanese for (at least) six hours of the day also has a way of really ingraining it in your brain. I've already had one dream in (totally incoherent) Japanese, and have forgotten one English word. So..success?

Next, my district. We are doing well as we all progress together in learning the language and the gospel. Porter shimai and I still get along well and are both pushing each other to try our hardest. The elders in our district are doing well, though they still struggle on occasion. We're trying hard to help them out in any way we can. It's interesting being the only sisters in the district, and sometimes in class we start losing our minds, haha. But the elders certainly keep us laughing. Which will be helpful since the rest of the missionaries in our zone will be leaving at 3 AM on Monday and then we will be all alone. They're all heading off to Japan after being here for the full 9 weeks. We're sad to see them go (since they were the only other missionaries in our zone), but we're also excited for them. Once they leave, we'll have two days of definitely being just our district (at meal times, gym time, etc). Then it's a matter of if we get kohai or not. At the moments odds that we get some are slim, which means we'd go for 3 weeks with just our district. Which would be 1) very lonely 2) very awkward, since church would literally just be the 7 of us and our "bishopric" 3) Porter Shimai and I will have no roommates or people in the rooms next to us...

Speaking of rooms, we have the joyful opportunity of moving today. They're renovating the bottom two floors of our building, so we're moving up to the 3rd and 4th. They've been renovating the top floors up until now, so they're just flipping everything. Being on the 4th floor is going to be...rough. And moving is a pain. But I'm excited to see what the new rooms look like. Will send photos next week.

Alright, mom was curious about what made Sunday's different, so here are the days that stray the normal schedule.

Sunday:

No workout in the morning

Study in the morning

Relief Society is right before lunch

We have the temple walk after lunch

Then we have district meeting after that

Then sacrament meeting

Then early dinner, then choir practice

Then the Sunday night devotional, where I generally sing in the choir

Then a movie after the devotional. They have several options and we pick one as a zone to go to. The first week we watched a talk by Elder Bednar. This last Sunday we watched "Meet the Mormons 2". It was great.

Tuesday:

No night classes

Instead, we go to Tuesday Night Devotional and have a devotional review as a district afterwards

Wednesday (P-Day. The Best Day):

We wake up bright and early and go to the temple to do a session. Then we eat breakfast at the temple. It's delicious. Probably because I eat MTC food every other day. After the temple walk, it's kind of up to us what we do. As a companionship we've decided on this schedule:

10:30-11:30: Laundry/Emailing

11:30-12:30: Lunch

12:30-1:30: Whatever else we can only do on P-day

1:30-5:30: Study/Chill/Nap

5:30-6:15: Dinner

6:30-9:00: Class Time

Other than that, the rest of the days are generally the same. I'm almost in the rhythm now, but still quite tired, haha. But I think that's just never going to change and I'll get used to it. Such is life. 

I've been reading the Book of Mormon every day during personal study time (straight through from front to back) and am really enjoying it. The stories in the Book of Mormon are just really amazing even without the spiritual aspects? Then you add in the gospel and...it's a really good book. I really advise you read it ;) Yesterday I read 2 Nephi 6-9 and am getting into the Isaiah chapters, so we'll see how quickly I get through them. But I'm already appreciating it more than I ever have in the past.

I'm looking forward to what I will be able to learn this next week.

Ganbatte kudasai! (Good luck)

--Armour Shimai