Week 4! Happy P-day to me

I cant believe its already my pday again! seriously the statement that at the mtc the days are like weeks and the weeks are like days is truer then true! I cant believe im almost half way done with the MTC! going on week four! We are planning on having a huge party to celebrate our half way done point! seriously it will feel like quite the accomplishment! I am so thankful that i still have another month here because i need it! There is still so much i need to learn! I still feel like a kohai (newbie) but ive moved up into the mtc world am now a dai sempai! Im basically a really big deal. 

Anyways last sunday was the worldwide broadcast that all missionaries got to participate in! I was in the choir! my head was on TV for about .2 seconds. hope no one missed it! hahahah! It was such an amazing experience though! Singing for the apostles was the coolest experience ever! They would randomly turn around throughout the meeting and give us a thumbs up hahah! We all felt so proud! I was so touched by their presence. They walked into the room and brought an amazing spirit that filled the entire marriott center. It was just so apparent that these men are men of God. How neat it was to be so close to men of Christ! It was such a great meeting! I just cannot wait to get to Japan already and share the things that i learned at the meeting and through this whole mtc experience! The gospel is for everyone! What an amazing blessing to have in our lives! 

One of my teachers, Tingey Sensei, encouraged my companion and I to not use our ninja to prepare one of our lessons for this week. Our ninja is a simple version of the PMG in japanese. The most helpful thing you could ever have! So we did our best at making up sentences on our own. Our grammar was terrible and we probably werent making any sense but our lesson came directly from us. We got to share what we wanted and we got to actually look at our investigator in the eyes and testify to her the truthfullness of this gospel. It was by far our best lesson this far! I learned that the gift of tongues is real and that the gift of tongues not only helps me speak in japanese but it allows the spirit to tell my investigator what God wanted her to know. I love my Heavenly Father and how much he looks out for me! I feel his love constantly!

Hope everyone is doing well! miss and think about you all daily! sorry my emails arent too exciting! im hoping they get much better when im actually in Japan!!!!!

Ai shite imasu! 

I love you!

Christensen Shimai

week 3

Konnichiwa Mina San!!!!

I cant believe this will be my third week here at the MTC! time is flying by! it feels like just yesterday i was dropped off at the curb! What another wonderful week this has been! I am the luckiest Shimia ever! Everything is just so good! I dont even know where to begin! Seriously everyday here is just so great! Even the bad ones! Last sunday was awesome! It was sad celebrating father's day without my amazing dad but it was such a sweet day getting to think about how great my dad is while being filled with the spirit! Our meetings talked a lot about celebrating our Heavenly father as well and how much we have to be grateful for! I felt very loved by both of my fathers that day :) Sunday night we watched The Testament in Nehongo! Even though i still didnt understand more then 15% of what was said, the message was the still the same and in my heart i knew that it was true. I know there is a savior and i know he loves us all!!

We now have two investigators that we teach three times a week! Shohei, and Komeda-San! Moss Shimai and I are getting better at not using our notes as much when we teach lessons but it is still sooooooooooo hard! When our lessons go well, we are the happiest two people on the earth! When they don't go as well as we hoped, we both get very discouraged. Its crazy how up and down our days go. I always have a lesson plan written out, and i have all the words in japanese that i need. I stress out too much and think that i need everything right in front of me. But our best lessons have been the ones where the lesson doesnt go according to plan and somehow the words just come! We probably aren't speaking with correct grammar or really even making sense but we open our mouths and we speak! its the neatest thing! Our investigators seem to understand and its the best feeling ever! The gift of tongues is real! i wish that these experiences happened more, but it just makes me that much more grateful when they do!

I am absolutely in love with my district! The Shimai-tachi in our disctrict have become my best friends and family! Obviously no one could ever replace my real family and all my amazing friends but i am so grateful that I have these amazing sisters to share this difficult yet amazing experience with!

Thursday was by far the best day I've had here so far! For Nehongo class, Tingey Sensei took us to a different classroom and we were taught by another Sensei. He talked to us about the Plan of Salvation. Looking back now, he really didnt teach much. But boy did i learn a lot! He had us really think about the message of the plan of happiness and how it applies to our life. That room was filled to the very ceiling with the greatest most overwhelming feelings of love that i have ever experienced. Me being me.. cried like a baby for the duration of the class! In that hour, I felt so very loved by my Heavenly Father. he wanted me to know that he loves me and cares about me and has a purpose for me in this life. He told me through the strongest feelings I have ever felt. Our Sensei asked us to roleplay as if he were the investigator. He looked at me and asked if the Savior was standing next to me what would i say to him? All i could do was whisper, that the Savior is standing next to him as well. The Savior is always by our side bearing us up! I feel his loving arms around me often! I am so very grateful to know who i am, my purpose in life, that i am not here by accident, and that there is a loving Heavenly father who loves all of his children. I also learned that knowing your purpose as a missionary is the key to having success. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Chirst! In the language of the spirit! nehongo is secondary to the spirit and i forget that a lot. I allow myself to get so caught up in the language that it takes over every thought i have. But when I rmember my purpose and when i remember others and not my self, the Lord helps me, and guides me, and helps my understanding of this crazy confusing but beautiful language!

Today we are doing our first TRC which is where we teach an actual investigator! I am soooooooooo insanely nervous! We've been teaching our teachers who are so nice and there's not as much pressure. Today i am feeling very overwhelmed and nervous! I just dont know what to expect! But i have faith that we will do our best and God will deliever the rest! Luckily we're about to go to the temple which i know will help calm my nerves!

Well I love you all so much and pray for everyone daily! Thank you all for the love, support, prayers, and letters!!! I have been blessed with the greatest people in my life! thank you! Iesu Kirisuto ga sukuinishi da to shitte imasu. Iesu Kirisuto ga mina san o ai suru. Kyokai wa Shinjitsu desu! Ai shitte masu!!!! I I LOVE YOU!!!!

Christensen Shimai <3

Haley's second email

i dont even know where to begin! this was literally the longest week of my life! so much has happened since i last wrote an email but at the same time nothing really happens in my mtc life because we do the same thing every day. wake up wayyyyyy to early, eat, study the scriptures, eat, study japanese, eat, study some more, sleep. hahah! but its great! actually weve done a lot more then just that! we went to the temple! so great!!! and soooooooooooooo great to surprisingly see kathryn and brooke!!! made my life! hahah! My companion and i have taught 4 lessons now in japanese! its crazy thinking about it! our investigator Tominaga-San was so cute! he just smiled at us while we totally screwed up everything we said. he had to hold back some laughs because we usually sound like idiots. japanese is soooo hard! but i love it more than anything! when something finally makes sense it feels like im on top of the world! Sundays are my favorite days here at the MTC! we have amazing relief society lessons, devotionals, sacrament meetings, and the spirit is just so strong on sundays! its the one day we dont have to stress about the language! we do however have to write a small talk every sunday in japanese in case we get called on to give a talk in sacrament meeting! so freaking scary!

sorry my emails are like all over the place! im typing like a mad man trying to get everything in and i honestly cant remember anything we do here there is just too much!

in my last email i said i was so happy and loving every second here... my how things change fast.. teaching in japanese is easily the hardesr thing ive ever done! to have the words you want to say but not being able to say them is torture. trying to understand someone who only speaks kto you in japanese is impossible. i had a few break downs this week. nothing about the is easy. but personal scripture study time is what gets me through each and every day! i reaad amazing scriptures that bring such comfort to me. i have learned to trust in God in everything single thing that i do. in the bible (exodus) Moses is complaing how he cant speak, and God asks him, who gave you your mouth? obviously God. The lord says i will give you all that you need if you obey me. I have learned that i need to put all of my trust in God. I need to do my best and realize that i cant do everything. God wants to help and i need to trust that he will. D&C 50 is also another great chpater that i love with all my heart after haing a hard time. The Lord says ye are little children and cannot bare all things now. The Lord will help you in all the you do! Obey the commandments and put all your trust in him! i love this gospel and i love this church! i love being a missionary and i love how hard it is! i am grateful for the strength that it gives me! i love you all and miss everybody! thank you for your love, prayers, and support! wish i could write more! sorry this email was probably the worst, craziest email ever..

oh and i got a mysterious package from an unknown someone... whoever it was thanks for the carmel apple! :)

i seem to get packages on the very days that are the hardest for me here! such sweet tender mercies! i guess i shouldnt complain about the bad days so much.. they bring treats! keep the hard times coming :)

Haley's first email

Konichiwa!!!!!

I'm alive! and... absolutely loving the MTC!!!!!!!!! days here are sooooooo insanly long and of course the time i get on the computer is going wayyyyy to fast! i will try to write as fast as possible!

so day 1. hahaha! the drop off at the curb was a little too fast but that was expected! my host just took me off so fast that i reallly didnt have time to register what was going on. anyways im so happy to be here! my companion is Moss Shimai. she is from utah and she is so sweet! i really like her! we have four other roommates who are in our district and i really love them all! they are all just having a great time like me! i dropped of my bags and was immediately sent to my first japanese class... holy crap. that was quite the shock let me tell you. Sensai Gregory is my teacher and he doesnt speak to us in english.. ever.. i thought he would crack or at least end in englilsh or something so we could understand him but no.. just japanese. I just laughed the whole time! i cant wait for that to be me! i learned how to introduce myself and thats about it! then we had lots of great workshops! there are 900 missionaries that came in the same day as me! the most ever! there are so many people here! its crazy!!! that night we actually had bug group dicussions with three different "investigators". in english :) two of them were very nice and interested about the gospel. the other was the complete opposite.. hahaha! Her name was Lawanna. she is a big black chick from the south and was easily the most intimidating person i have ever met! she fought back to everything any missionary said and laughed in our faces the whole time. the discussion was going absolutely terrible. her last question she turned to me. i almost threw up! she asked me if jesus christ was standing next to us right now what would be the one thing that i would tell her. i told her (voice and hands shaking hahahah) that she is a a daughter of god and that she is loved by the savior and they he knows how she is, and that he wants her to know who he is. She looked at me, said thank you and sat down. I didnt know if what i had just said was good or bad. But the guy leading the meeting thanked me for ending with the spirit and on a much better note! he even talked about my answer again in a later discussion! i was on top of the world! total confidence booster! hahahahah!

day 2 we had more amazing workshops! the spirit is so strong every time we meet! being in a room full of eager missionaries all with the same purpose of inviting people to come unto Christ is beyond words! i never really want to leave the MTC! we had a 4 hour japanese class where we learned how to pray and share a simple testimony! in japanese! im actually talking in japanese! its hard and i still have to pray with my eyes open as i look at my notes but it sounds so cool! we were told that we were going to be giving our first discussion in japanese the very next day... commence freak out mode once again.. so my companion and i tried so hard to use the 10 pounds of japanese dictionaries that they gave us to come up with a lesson. by the end of the day i was still not confident.

day 3 my companion and i tried to squeeze in practicing for our lesson at any second we got. Going into the discussion i was so nervous. We met with Tominaga-San and tried our best to give our lesson with the very little japanese that we know. he of course is fluent and whenever he asked us questions we just staired at him. and whenever we tried to speak to him he just staired right back at us. we obviously were'nt making any sense but we tried! afterwards we realized that it went so poorly because all day we were worrying about the language rather then the spirit. it seems like a no brainer but japanese just took over and we really couldnt think of anything else. luckily we are teaching him again today and i know we will focus on having the spirit with us and we will do much better.

i dont know what else to say! so much goes on here but i just dont have enough time! the food sucks. i wish i could sleep longer. i am always the last one out of bed.. shocker.. but the spirit is strong here and i am having the time of my life! i wouldnt trade this experience for anything! i took a few pictures but i dont have time to upload them :/ next week i will have a better email i promise! anyways i love you guys and miss everybody like crazy! thank you for all the prayers! love you! <3

Christensen Shimai