E-mail, 11/12/13

Hello my wonderful family!

It's been another week of benkyo benkyo benkyo [study study study]! My head hurts! I don't know how I'm going to remember it all.

It was super cool when we went to the Temple last Tuesday; I had brought the family names for us again and as I was handing them to the recorder for the 6 of us I said "These are the names my sisters and I are going to do today" and then in my head I was like *gasp* my sisters! But that's really how I feel about the shimaitachi [sister missionaries] in our district--they are wonderful and they are definitely my sisters. :) Also while we were in the temple that day I realized that I received my endowments when I was only 18. That's so young! That's going to be strange to tell my kids someday. But maybe that'll be normal by then. 

Devotional that night was so wonderful. It was all about being safe on our missions. I learned so much and felt the spirit so strong. The speaker was Elder Zwick of the 70. He is a very powerful speaker. He said he brought personal greetings from President Monson and that President Monson had told him "I love our missionaries. We must keep them safe, both physically and spiritually." Elder Zwick said that our safety lies in the Lord and that we should know that the choice is always ours, but we can trust our leaders and we can trust the Lord. He gave us three ways to be safe; 1) Follow inspired priesthood counsel, 2) Listen to the voice of the Spirit, 3) Obey the commandments. He said obedience brings us peace today and eternal life in the world to come. He also said hat is [that it?] may require a change of heart to steadily follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to be always obediently, but God wants us safe. That's why He sent His Only Begotten Son. 

After Devotional, Ellis Shimai [Sister Ellis] and I were watching Mormon Messages and I watched this one (https://www.lds.org/youth/video/easily-guided?lang=eng) about a horse riding world champion and how when she's looking for horses for her competitions she looks for ones that are easily guided--quick to respond to the directions she gives them. And she related that to what our Heavenly Father wants from us--that we are willing to be quick to do His will. I really liked that!

Wednesday was hard. If I had to rate it, it probably would've been my worst day in the MTC so far. Basically I just felt like everything I tried to do with Nihongo [Japanese] I failed at and being at week 5 and having only 4 weeks left before we go to Nihon [Japan] .... didn't feel so great. I was hosting a Nihongin [Japanese] who couldn't speak English and I didn't know the vocabulary to help her, we (Ellis shimai and I) taught our sensai [teacher] and I was the weak link and fell apart, I got a bloody nose right at the end of a lesson, and we had a sub-sensai [sub-teacher] come in and reprehend us for not speaking 50% Nihongo [Japanese]. So yeah, that day... didn't go so well. I felt pretty down. But the bright side of that day was that I saw Elder Kakishata's younger brother--the one who served with Tyler! We snapped a picture but only on his camera because mine was in our classroom--you'll have to see if he'll email it to you. 

And I found Rosa--I mean Sister Garcia! She's the only Sister in her District, lol. She said it's teaching her lots of patience with the elders. :D We see each other at lunch all the time--it's so fun!

And guess who else I found! Tsukumoto sensai's [Teacher Tsukumoto's] husband! She told us one day in class that he works the tech for devotionals and that we should look for him. She described him and said he looks like a 14-year-old Japanese kid and he's constantly asked where his companion is--and he always points to his white nametag and says "I work here!" Haha. So since she told us we've been stalking the sound booth to try and find him and during service on Sunday I saw him! It's totally true, at first I thought he was one of the Nihongin chorotachi [Japanese elders] but then I saw his white nametag and I went "Tsukumoto kyodai!" ["Brother Tsukumoto!"] Thankfully he spoke Eigo [English] to me. (When I told Tsukumoto sensai that she said we all need to speak Nihongo [Japanese] to him because he needs to practice, haha. He was born in Japan but his family moved to America right after. But he served in Japan so he speaks Japanese. He and Tsukumoto both served in Fukuoka.)

Big news of the week: Sister Ellis and I switched desks with some chorrotachi [elders] in our district. *gasp* Lol. You know you've been at the MTC for over a month when the biggest news you have to share is that you and your doryo [companion?] switched seats with another doryo-gumi [companionship?] in the classroom... The elders wanted to be closer to the AC and we were cold so it was a good switch. But it's really funny because now we have a segregated classroom!

We've decided as a district that footnotes [in the scriptures] are hastags [hashtags]: "...and endure to the end, behold they shall have eternal life." #eternal life, #blessings, #righteousness. Haha, when we decided that one of our shimaitachi [sisters] said "I finally understand hastags now!"

In other news, the senior companion switched to Ellis Shimai on Sunday--woot woot! I was teasing her all about how I'm going to run all over the place now and she's going to have to chase me. :) Well, actually I told her I was going to Code 30 all over the place but that means the same thing! (We have codes for everything, it's kind of hilarious. Code Rose is if you smell bad. Code 33 is if you're talking to a chorro [an elder] or a chorro is talking to a Sister. All the numbered codes correspond to the page they're addressed on in the White Handbook [the rulebook for missionaries]; page 30 talks about staying with your companion, page 33 talks about chorro/shimai [elder/sister] interactions. We might read that book a lot or something...)

Smith shimai [Sister Smith] and I go running together. It's way fun! We've decided that if she goes to UVU after our missions and lives in BYU housing then we're going to be workout buddies!

Clark Sensai [Teacher Clark] (one of the other Branch's teachers, she's wonderful! She did our Nihongo [Japanese] orientation the first day--she's so nice and always give Ellis shimai and I hugs since most of all our other leaders are boys and therefore can't hug us. She's so sweet! She always comes and talks to us whenever we run into her. Unfortunately most of the time it's in Japanese so I don't understand everything she says.... but eventually I'll fix that problem!) came over to me yesterday and said she's in the same ward as Zina [one of Katie's freshman roommates]! Apparently they were at a ward activity and got to talking and Clark shimai [Sister Clark] mentioned that she teaches Japanese at the MTC and Zina went--My roommate's learning Japanese there! So Clark shimai brought Zina's personal greetings to me--it was so fun! And I also got a Dear Elder from Zina that afternoon! She's the second of my roommates to write me (but the first was Paige and we'd already had a letter chain going before then, so Zina probably gets the first place prize).

Something our sensai's [teachers] have us do a lot is try to explain complicated subjects in 6 sentences (simple enough to translate ourselves into Nihongo [Japanese]) or less. It's a great exercise! Challenging, but so helpful, because sometimes we tend to over complicate things and it forces us to simplify. It's such a good/needed exercise for me.

Well I love you all! I love getting your emails and hearing about all your adventures! Letters uplift so much! The Christmas blub [blurb] sounds great Dad! I hope your talk goes well! Wish I could be there to hear it! Y'all will have to take pictures of Zach doing rugby and send them to me! I love rugby! Do they broadcast the BYU rugby games? I'm so happy Maria and Tyler are going to Grandmother's for thanksgiving! Candice, I am glad you are not dead yet. And I think you would be a great French teacher! Go for it! I know how much you love French. :) You'd be a fun French teacher. I love hearing about all your YW lessons/activities! I'm glad you're such a good missionary with the sisters. Good for Sister Wood! The weather has been beautiful here this week. Hence the sweet pictures! We love the kohai [?]--they are so fun! I hope basketball season goes well! Have fun in Dubuque Dad! Don't die Tyler! Have you been to any Ruby [rugby] games yet?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Love,

Your Missionary,

Sister Bellows :)

Week 4 Pictures

E-mail, 11/5/2013

Hello my dear family!

It's been another incredible week here at the MTC! I can't believe it's November! Only a month and a handful of days and I'll be in Japan! Can you believe I've been here at the MTC for a month already?

So, super cool story from last P-day; Mom, did you realize the family names you sent me for the temple were the ones Paige and I did the baptisms and confirmations for while we were at BYU on January 29th? And that last Tuesday, the day Sister Ellis, Sister Smith, Sister Stice and I did the initiatories for them was October 29th? That was so cool to link my family together with all my wonderful friends! 

The devotional that evening was also really cool. The speaker was Carlos Goday of the Quorum of the Seventy from Brazil so he had a really fun accent and was so excited about this gospel. He shared his experience with his conversion and his advice to us to help those we teach become life-long faithful members of the church through a focus on conversion and fellow-shipping. He said the first time he was in a Mormon church was for a youth activity and the game they were playing was "poor poor little kitty cat" (I hope you've heard of this game, it is hilarious) and he said he thought "oh, it's a little weird what they do here in this church" but as he was leaving the Sister Missionaries asked him if he wanted to know more and he said yes because he wanted to know why these people were so happy with nothing. Well, he was baptized and was on fire, but because he didn't have a support group for going to church he stopped coming. But when he finally found a friend when he stopped by the church again a year later, it was then that he was fully converted, and there were amazing blessings because of his conversion. He said he keeps track of his sister missionaries because to them he may be just one of many, but to him they are the only ones, and they are angels to him. Eventually he was able to seal one of his missionaries' son and daughter-in-law together in the temple. He said "It's never one, it's always generations." It was so wonderful. I loved the principles he taught and his enthusiasm for this gospel. It was a wonderful Tuesday.

Guess what cool awesome thing we got to do on Wednesday! We got to host new missionaries for the first time!!!! It was so fun! I loved it! It was so fun to get to do something new and help someone else. All the new sisters I hosted were all so nervous and quiet and scared. Daw. Reminds me of someone else I knew four weeks ago... :) It was so fun to welcome them and try and help their first day start off with enthusiasm and happiness! One was going to Oklahoma, one to Mexico City, one to South Dakota, and another one to Chicago. We got to take them around to get their name-tags, their books, drop off their luggage at their residence halls, and then drop them off at class. It sure was interesting trying to lug all their suitcases around. Since hosting is the only time at the MTC that you're authorized to be away from your companion and we would drop them off at certain entrances of buildings to pick up things and them meet them on the other side, it got pretty interesting when I had 3 huge suitcases and had to try and manhandle them around to the other side of the buildings! I'm sure you can picture how gracefully I managed that. :)

My roommates and I like to use gym time to just run around and play and get out all our pent up energy from sitting around in class all day so actually [we do] workouts when we get back to our residence halls at night (when we have about 45 minutes to get ready for bed). We got this one lunges-happy workout from a Chorro [elder] in our zone that we call the Peta-G (his name). My thighs have never been so sore in my entire life. Haha.

The most amazing thing happened on Friday; we were back at our residence hall getting ready for class after gym when one of the MTC employees came around to do our room inspection. And so as she was checking things off we got talking and she mentioned she served a mission in Iowa. Turns out she just got back 2-ish months ago, met Tyler and my cousins, and loved Grandma and Grandpa! When I said I was a Bellows she said "You look like a Bellows!". It was so neat. She told me a story about how one time on her mission she and her companion were having a difficult time--her companion had just thrown out her back, she was frustrated--and they decided to just stop by Grandma and Grandpa's house because they loved visiting them. She said Grandma was taking a nap and her companion went to lie down, so she was sitting on the couch with her scriptures and Grandpa rolled in, gave her a smile, pulled out his scriptures, and asked, "Where are we reading?" She told him and he opened up to the chapter, shared a few insights, and then just sat quietly next to her, reading. She said it was one of them most spiritual and uplifting moments of her mission. She said his funeral was one of the saddest parts of her mission for her. She had so many good things to say about him and Grandma and it just made me feel: Wherever I go I am constantly blessed because of the goodness and wonderful lives and examples of my grandparents and my family. It was such a special, tender blessing from Heavenly father to be able to meet this sister and hear more about Grandma and Grandpa from her. It made me feel like they really aren't that far away. Her name is Jeanette Tompson. Family, do you have any questions for her or want more info? I possibly might see her again. Or maybe someone could email her and get more stories about Grandma and Grandpa!

So, Saturday I feel asleep for the first time during class, haha. Well, not actually class, just study time. Ellis Shimai and I went into a teeny-tiny study room to read the Book of Mormon in Japanese for Nihongo [Japanese] practice and 30 minutes later we both woke up. We were so tired, haha. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. Another cool thing that happened that day: We got to do TRC for the first time and guess who we were teaching: Yuu T. Bate's father, Brother Taguchi! It was so crazy! Small world des ne [isn’t it]? He had lots of tips for us on our Japanese. Whoops. Oh well... :)

Sunday was Fast Sunday! It meant we had a little bit of a different schedule. No breakfast or lunch, obviously, and instead of Relief Society/Elder's Quorum we had a super awesome, 2 hour long mission conference with the MTC Presidency! I especially loved Sister Nally's talk (Mom, is that the one who Brother Kirkman is related to?). She told lots of awesome conversion stories and related how all of us are in the MTC because of our footsteps on the path of discipleship. It was really wonderful. Everything else was normal schedule for the most part; District Sunday School, Temple Walk, Devotional (I loved Brother Kohlert's talk about the 5 questions he wants to ask his recently RM grandson; Did you learn that all the Lord expects of you is that you do the best you can? Will you keep reading the BOM and renew your testimony of it regularly? Have you learned how to make relationships work? Have you learned how to work through your trials? Do you have a deep love for the Savior?), but no choir. Dinner was delicious, as per the usual result of Fast Sunday. We also had a really cool Zone Sister's meeting with President Mack about how we've changed since coming to the MTC. I fasted for the Spirit and help with Nihongo [Japanese]. We actually had a Nihongo day only yesterday... yup it kind of flopped around lunch time. But I had a 10-serve streak in volleyball and a supes awesome spike! And I ran the last 5 minutes of gym on the track and it felt sooooo goood! And we had TRC againon Monday and it went much better even though my language skills are so limited. It was such an uplifting experience. Oh, and I got a letter from Kelsea English this week! So fun! It made my day!

The other day in personal study I had a flash of inspiration that helped me understand the word "glory[”] as it's used in the scriptures: Glory is power that is recieved by righteousness (like purity and virtue). So when we are righteous we recieve power--which is the glory of God.

Can you really believe it's been 4 weeks? I've grown so much since being here--I thought before that I had a desire for missionary work, but since being here that desire's grown a hundred-fold. I am coming so much to love my Savior and to feel of his love and to realize how little I understand how incomprehensible and complete that love is for us. 

Lauren, send me a picture of your wolf flag! Horne sensai [Teacher Horne] served in Nagoya, Tsukumoto served in Fukuoka--and she's having a baby girl in March! No Earthquake training as of yet, Pops. :) We have a particle song to the tune of "[My] Favorite Things" [from The Sound of Music] which goes: [“]Wa is the subject and ni shows direction, no says "it's mine" and it shows some possession, for 2nd subjects we always use ga, these are the particles we hold in awe! O is the object and gets all the action, mada up until, he general direction, de place of action or by the means of, these are the particles we've come to love! To's a full list, ya's not finished, ka is either/or. Kara is from and to is quotation, and for "also" we use mo![”] I met President Hiatt's cousins(?) at Devotional Tuesday! They're a couple going to Louisville Kentucky. Sister Ellis is one of the 4 missionaries in my district not going to Sendai. :( I will miss her when she's in Tokyo! We've had 2 snows so far! Can you send me my pink peacoat? I met someone going to Anaheim California Vietnamese speaking the other day. Hee--something. I told him to say hi to Elder Lindsay for me. For the Christmas letter... I have no idea. If you send me a preview I'll give you some input! We've taught all the discussions in Nihongo [Japanese]. I'm glad Rebecca's kids got my letter! The Provo MTC is great so tell Riley not to worry. So excited for Ashley! Sore throat is better. Glad the campout went well Dad! Good luck with choir Lauren! I wish I could be there to hear you sing! It would be so funny if we were on the same plane Dad! The shimaitachi [sisters] would love to meet you. :) I hope the Hardy's add a lama to their chicken/cow/goat/giraffe menagerie. Don't give up on anyone! Ellis shimai [Sister Ellis] has 4 siblings who aren't members and we talk all the time about having a perfect brightness of hope for all to come unto Christ and partake of his love--2 Nephi 21:20. Don't give up! I hope you survive your papers Candice!

I love you all sooooooooooooo much! Thank you so much for all the dear elders and emails!!!!!! They truly uplift me and make my days so wonderful! :) I know God is watching for my family. :)

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Your missionary,

Sister Bellows :)

P.S. Watch this Mormon Message! I loved it so much. Reminded me of Grandma and Grandpa: Enduring Love, http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-010-enduring-love?lang=eng

Week 3 Pictures

Katie with President Daniels, our brother Tyler's first mission president

E-mail, 10/29/2013

Hello family!

I can't believe I've been here at the MTC 3 weeks already! The days are long but the weeks sure are fast! Thank you so much for the packages Mom! I probably don't have to tell you how much I love pens and pencils... but let's just say that was one of the highlights of my week! Another highlight was a package I got from Aunt Rebecca! She sent me my favorite candy and pictures and letters from all her kids! It was sooooo cute!! I had lots of fun writing them back. :) Oh, and I got a letter from Paige (aka Sister Winegar)! She's training two 20-year-old sisters right now so it sounds like she's got her hands full. She says she's learning lots of 'patients'. Teehee, I guess the Southern is getting to her spelling. The weather is starting to get chillier here and we're finally starting to get some good color in the leaves--although I bet NC's [North Carolina's] color is so much better! 

So, last Tuesday's devotional was amazing. The speaker talked about how finding is an act of faith that begins with prayer and opening your mouth. Without the Spirit we cannot find people. He encouraged us to pray for miracles and the spiritual sensitivity to recognize opportunities. He renamed "first contacts" as "first connections." He told us that we should have more than just a "to do" list; that we should have a "to be" list of virtues of Christ. He asked us to teach investigators to pray about the Book of Mormon before reading it. He quoted--Winston Churchill I think--"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" and he said to celebrate our discouraging days as sacrifices from Christ and a part of our Endurance 505 course, and that the sacrament allows us to get back up after we fall.

So, yeah, it was an incredible devotional. The other cool part was that afterwards Brother Stevenson (part of the branch presidency) came to our devotional review (where we talk about the devotional as a district) and we got to know him a little bit better. He's a man of many talents; gardening, hiking, singing, cello, remodeling, chess, etc. Shows me it's never too late to pick up a new hobby.

Wednesday, we worked on memorizing the first vision in Nihongo [Japanese]. It's so hard! I'm so excited you're trying to learn some Nihongo Mom! Since our dai sempai (means "seniors"; what we call the oldest district of Nihon [Japan]-bound missionaries) left on Sunday, they put a lot of MTC text books from the free bin. I picked up a few that I'm sending your way! Hope they help a little bit and aren't too confusing. :) Here's a few words for you that I'm trying to learn:

shiawase = happy

ima = now

tsukau = use

renshiyu = practice

wakaru = to know

tanoshimi = excited

keiji = revelation

And a couple phrases:

watashi wa nihango o wakarimasen = I don't understand Japanese

eigo o hanshita mo ii desu ka? = Can I use English?

In gym, volleyball is the big thing. It's so fun! I'm improving so much. (Haha, I may not be improving that much at Nihongo [Japanese] but I'm sure improving at volleyball!) We had a kohai (means freshmen; what we call the youngest group of Nihon [Japan]-bound missionaries) vs. sempai (means junior; what we call the middle groups of Nihon-bound missionaries) game. Kohai won! The sempai are actually way better at volleyball at [than] us so we just got really lucky I guess, haha. 

Funny moment of the week: Ellis shimai [Sister Ellis, Katie's companion] and I were outside studying when Emily Teamus from my freshman ward [congregation] came over to me and called "Sara?" Haha, she actually thought I was Sara Herald (one of my freshman roommates) at first! It was pretty funny.

There's a tradition here that when missionaries are leaving they pass around a journal called a "bye-bye book" for people to write notes in that they'll read later (kind of like a yearbook but some of them won't read the notes until after their mission). We were signing lots of those since our dai sempai [senior] district left yesterday morning!

So, I've been thinking about and wondering what traits I'm going to pick up from my companions. Haha, that's going to be funny when I get home!

This past Sunday's devotional was also amazing. Brother Roger Collins came to speak to us (apparently he used to be a branch president in the MTC [Missionary Training Center] and he's a NY Times best-selling author. I've never heard of him. What has he written?) And he told amazing stories about conversion. He was so happy and excited about the gospel--I love it! He said that God will answer our prayers and so to seek all that we need from him and plead with him and then he promised that God would give us what we need. He said when he was growing up and he started learning about the church he went to his mom to tell her he was going to be baptized and received some strong opposition. And he didn't want to hurt her feelings and as he was thinking about it, that night he read 3 Nephi 13:33 and found his answer and was baptized.

Oh, and before the devotional the prelude solo was "The Painter's Hand"--have you heard it before? I would love to get the music for it!

Choir is always one of the highlights in my week because of the director's clear understanding and way of explaining doctrine. He was talking to us about the pre-earth life (about how Heavenly Father and Heavenly [Mother] raised us--they had all eternity to raise their billions of kids--and that's why they know each of us by name) and our life after death (Mormon missionaries never give up! They're even knocking doors in the next realm!) and it was just so amazing that I leaned over to Sister Ellis and said "See, this is why we come to choir; I'm even getting excited to die!" Since death is the #2 thing people fear the most (public speaking being #1, but I've never had a problem with that) I feel like that's a good thing. Haha, Candice there's a lot of material for your quote journal here at the MTC. Yesterday morning during district devotional, Sister Ellis was reading a scripture and said "'And I Nephi said unto my father'--why don't I have this underlined?!" Hahaha. We're pretty awesome. Oh, and people are always calling Ellis and I "Bellis" and "Ellows"--we're just meant to be companions. And we even have a secret companion high-five that baffles people. :D Plus she loves Harry Potter and Avatar and Once Upon a Time and Percy Jackson so she's got a lot of sterling qualities. :D

So a couple people have asked to know a little more about my zone/district. Our branch (which is also our zone) had 5 districts (until Monday when 1 American and 1 Nihongin [they have the Nihongin [Japanese] come to this MTC now so those of us learning Nihongo can get a little experience talking to them] district left). They all have around 12-14 people in them and they're pretty even elders/sisters-wise. We've got a good mix of ages too. There's also at least 1 other Japanese branch here that we know of, but there could be more. Our branch presidency has 3 counselors because apparently their branch was HUGE over the summer.

Dad, I've been thinking about the Shepherding topic. I'll have to snail-mail you my thoughts on it. A lot of it has to do with music--like "The King of Love my Shepherd is" and the other shepherd song our family loves to sing. I'll try and send that to you this week.

Thanks to everyone for the emails and letters and packages!! It makes my day to read and open them all. So, Zach, Math Olympains and Rugby Club? Should be fun! Candice, your news is so exciting! I'm so happy for you. :) About Paula, don't worry, but don't give up either. The Lord knows his children and how to help them and if you pray to be able to follow the Spirit you'll be guided in what to do. 

As far as Christmas letter goes... I'll be in Japan by then! And I'll have a nametag in Katakana! So... that could be fun to write about... Don't quote me though, I'll have to think about it and get back to you in a couple days with a snail-mail or something, haha. :D 

I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and love. I feel so grateful to be here at the MTC. Kamisama ni chikazuku youni tasuke tai desu. I want to help people come close to God. I love this work! I grow in my testimony every day. God loves and knows his children! God bless you in all that you are doing!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Your Missionary,

Sister Bellows :)

E-mail, 10/22/2013

Hello My Wonderful Family!!!

Bellows Shimai here, reporting in on Week 2 of MTC awesomeness. :) The MTC is fantastic! I love it here! And P-days are seriously the best. We get up and ready at 6:30 and then head over to toss in our laundry and then walk over to the gym/devotional building where we print off our emails to read while eating breakfast. From there we go over and get sack lunch (you toss some food in a bag and then you can eat wherever in P-day clothes or pajamas) and go back to the laundromat to switch our clothes. We eat breakfast and read our emails while our laundry finishes and then we take it back and put it away in our residence halls and then do some tidying up there. Then we get dressed in Sunday best and go study for an hour or so and then come to the computer labs for an hour of email before lunch and then a session at the temple around 1:15. After that it's more studying until devotional where church leaders come to speak to us (last week Elder and Sister Oaks came!!!) after which we--as our Zone's bi-weekly service (we have devotional on Tuesday and Sunday nights) clean up the gym and take down all the chairs and bleachers. It's so fun! Although it does feel kind of busy it's a much needed break from all the studying we do all week. :) And I didn't realize until we went to the temple last Tuesday that in the Provo Temple you don't move from room to room--and that they have a ton of ordinance rooms (since they have to accommodate all those people coming all the time!). So that was pretty cool. I love going to lots of different temples. I can't wait to see what the Provo City Center Temple is like.

So this past Sunday was amazing. I was struggling on Saturday because I was having a really hard time learning in class because our district was being so chatty and I was feeling well and truly worn out and frustrated. So that night I prayed that I would learn a lot from our Sunday meetings and that I would feel the Spirit and be inspired and uplifting [uplifted]. And my prayer was fully and completely answered from EVERYTHING that day. But let's start at the beginning. :)

I was filling up my water bottle while Ellis Shimai [Sister Ellis, her companion] was in the bathroom when I looked down the hall and saw this really familiar gentleman talking to some senkyoshi (missionaries). But I couldn't figure out who he was or how I knew him since I couldn't see his name-tag. He looked and sounded familiar for some reason. But I couldn't figure it out and he left and walked down another hallway. But then he came around the other corner and walked over to me, while putting some stuff back in his briefcase. So, like you say to anyone you see here if you're going to Japan, I said "Ohiyo gozimasu". He said "Konnichiwa" and asked me if I was well and I said yes. And we just started making small talk and he asked me where I was going on my mission and I said Sendai and he said, "Oh, Sendai, I was in Sapporro during the 2011 tsunami and earthquake and all the Sendai missionaries got sent up to us." And I kind of gasped and went "Are you President Daniels?" [Tyler's first mission president!] And then we both got really excited and he figured out who each other were and Ellis Shimai snapped a picture of us on his phone and he said "I just saw Tyler and Kelsey over conference" and it was really exciting and awesome. It was so fun and cool and awesome! 

So, continuing on with our day, Ellis Shimai and I met with President Nielsen (one of the 3 counselors in our branch Presidency because they've had so many Japanese missionaries recently because they're upping the size of the missions) who actually served with his wife in Palmyra on their mission. And he told me about how valuable ASL speakers were in his mission and how they were always calling them to come translate for the tours of the sacred grove. He told me that I should keep up with ASL after my mission because it will be a great asset for me. That was pretty awesome! 

After our morning study and interviews, we went over to Music and the Spoken Word and Relief Society in the gym/devotional building (there's probably about 500 people in that meeting). The speaker for Relief Society was Elizabeth Rose from the Relief Society General Board. It was so wonderful. She served in Japan on her mission and told us her experience of climbing Mt. Fugi [Fuji] in a terrible storm while she was serving and how there were lights on the path to beckon her onward and upward. She said some days are dark and others are full of light. But do not be afraid. Press forward with steadfastness, hope, love, feasting on the word of Christ, and enduring to the end and then we shall have eternal life (<--That's been my missionary goal!). She also said that we can only get home to our Father in Heaven through the redeeming sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. And that make me think; Coming on a mission has made that desire to return home SO real to me--both to my Earthly and Heavenly homes. Mom and Dad, if you guys love and miss me SO much, how much more must my Father in Heaven LOVE and MISS me--and I've been away from his home for 19 years! And there's no skype! But there is prayer. And that realization has helped me so much better understand my Father in Heaven and made this 18 month mission seem like such a small moment. And I will work diligently to return with honor to both my homes--Heavenly and Earthly. 

Only through the Atonement can we be brought back to the presence of the Father. Christ layeth down his life for the world because he loveth the world. Come unto Christ and be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God will all your might mind and strength that we may become perfect in Christ and return to the presence of the Father! We've made promises to God that do not change with the ebb and flow of our lives. We truly NEED HIM EVERY HOUR whether they be hours of sun or days of rain. The atonement allows us to change and grow and accomplish things we would never be able to do on our own. 

Remember how I said I think Sister Ellis and I teach really well together? Well, every Sunday a companionship teaches a lesson on that week's theme to their district (kind of like Sunday school just with our district; We don't have traditional block meetings; there are 2-3 hours of study or other activities in-between each.) and Sister Ellis and I taught this past Sunday on Baptism. It was all the Holy Ghost. I felt the Spirit so strongly and LEARNED so much---even though Sister Ellis and I were supposidly [supposedly] supposed to be the ones teaching. Nope! The Spirit was the real teacher there. To sum up, I learned that Baptism is SO important--that is it only throught [through] it we can experience the fullness of God's blessings for us--the Priesthood, the saving ordinances of the temple, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost--it is so NEEDED and AMAZING and IMPORTANT. 

After our lesson Sister Nielsen told us about how we will also be sent to activate less-actives on our missions and while doing that to remember that there are no black sheep; there are only lost sheep. I loved that.

Then we had choir and devotional with Steven B. Allen (managing director of the missionary department) and he talked all about shepherding focusing around the words of the song "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd" that a group of Young Men sang at General Conference (I'm not sure when). He said "there is no child on Earth God does not want to be able to come back home to him." And the favorite part of the song that he talked about to us was the part that says; 

Will you not seek for my lost ones out from my shelter astray? [...]

Yes, blessed master we will! Make us thy true under-shepherds! 

Give us the love that is deep. [...] Out to the desert we'll hasten, 

Bringing them back to the fold.

After devotional there's about 2 hours where we can study or go see one of the Church movies they show. Ellis shimai and I went to see "The Character of Christ" address given by Elder Bednar on Christmas Day in the MTC 2 years ago. It was amazing and so uplifting!

So, yes that Sunday was amazing and gave me such encouragement.

It's funny, at one point while I was taking notes on Sunday, Sister Ellis leaned over to me and said "It's funny how I know when you're going to pull out your notebook and write something down." Lol! And it's only been 12 days?

So, yes, it's wonderful here and I'm learning so much. 

It's funny, sometimes when we have a break in our studying, our district sits down together for "District Bonding" where we all ask one person to tell us stories and all about themselves. It's like kindergarten story time. It's so funny! Last bonding time we told "companion meeting stories." It was so funny.

Oh! And guess who else I saw! Since devotionals are broadcast to the West MTC campus, when we're in choir we sometimes get shown on the screens. So while we were practicing for Sunday's musical number, I apparently was zoomed in on while the camera men were practicing and so when Sister Ellis and I were leaving to get our scriptures before the devotional started, an Elder came up to me and said "I know you, but how? Where are you from?" and he was from NC but from somewhere completely different so we couldn't figure it out. But then he came up to me at lunch the next day and said "I remember now! I'm Elder Huld, I met you in the Raleigh Temple and we figured out we were both going into the MTC in October. Remember? I'm the one going to Tiowana [Tijuana] Mexico!" So that was super cool!

One last thing before I signed [sign] off; President Mack does interviews every week so I got to meet with him today for the first time and he was so kind and wonderful and but the thing he said that really stuck out to me was when he said "You are unusually aware of what's going on around you. That's a gift. Pay attention to it." Interesting. He is such a good mission President.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the emails and dear elders--they truly uplift and help me. We're learning the first vision in Japanese. The Nihongin [Japanese people] we have are sooooo funny! We haven't had any Japanese-only days yet--thank goodness. It would be a very silent day. Did you know there are new words to "As Sisters in Zion"? The food here is great. I know this gospel is true and that God loves his missionaries! I love you all SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Your missionary,

Bellows shimai :)

Week 2 Pictures