E-mail 12/30/2013

My wonderful family

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I'm so glad we got to Skype! I loved seeing all your lovely happy faces. It was so fun!!!!!! You all seemed so happy and to be having a proper Bellows party. :) LOVED IT! It was so fun. :) This week has been CRAZY! And AWESOME!

Christmas Eve we had lunch with Tota shimai [Sister Tota], the one I sent pictures of. She's this adorable 84 year old, 4 foot tall, hilarious grandma who is just so sweet. While we were eating she said to me something really complicated and then "Sometimes you have no idea what I'm saying don't you." Me: Ah, so desu ne! [Oh, it’s so!] (All the shimai [sisters] knew I had no idea what she was saying to me so they all died trying not to laugh and give me away. But Tota's pretty smart so she'd already figured it out, haha.) From that we went to District Meeting--which was a real spiritual uplift. Favorite thougths: Is dendo [proselyting] fun? You must ask and do all you can and ask. You cannot move mountains by yourself. So when the mountains do move, you KNOW it is the Lord. It was really good. From District Meeting we went caroling with a couple members and the choro tripanionship [companionship with three elders] to some of their LA [less-actives]/investigators. After that we came back to the church for a Christmas Eve dinner with Date shimai [Sister Date] and a bunch of people. It was SO nice. I finally met the Canadian, Nicolas (from Montr[e]al) who does programming in Kamisugi for a Japanese companion [I think she meant “company”]. He's fluent in English, French, and Japanese. Pretty amazing. Date shimai shared the lyrics to a Christmas song as a part of her Christmas thought. I think it's called "Do You Have Room for the Savior."

They journeyed far, a weary pair,

They sought for shelter from the cold night air.

Some place where she could lay her head,

Where she could give her Babe a quiet bed.

Was there no room? No corner there?

In all the town a spot someone could spare?

Was there no soul to come to their aid?

A stable bare was where the family stayed.

Do you have have room for the Savior,

And do you seek Him anew?

Have you place for the one who lived and died for you?

Are you as humble as a shepherd boy,

Or as wise as men of old?

Would you have come that night?

Would you have sought the light?

Do you have room?

A star arose, a wonderous light;

A sign from God this was the Holy NIght.

And yet so few would go to see the Babe

Who came to rescue you and me.

This Child Divine is now a King.

The gift of life to all the world He brings.

And all mankind He saves from doom.

But on that night for Him there was no room.

Wednesday was Christmas!!!!!!! We all woke up and opened our presents, like a good old American Christmas! (Minus the waking up at6:30am. That's not very American.) You might've seen my epic photo of me opening my presents in coat, scarf, and gloves. It was a cold morning. :D It was so fun!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE the presents you sent me--it was a very happy Christmas. :) And I got the cutest package from Jessa! It was stuffed to the brim with all my favorite things--she kind of knows me crazy well ;)--and had adorable labels on all the wrapped presents. So cute! Incredibly thoughtful. Loved it! I'm way excited about my pens, pencils, notebooks, food, and bathrobe. Woohoo! I love office supplies!!!

After opening presents we had time for a little study and then we left for the Charity Concert for the 2011 Tsunami Victims. (We were volunteer ushers.) It was so funny! We were the youngest people there by about 30 years so the entertainment was geared toward that generation--Kabuki and all that. We had fun. And we went and caroled with Date shimai afterward and then had Eikaiwa [English class]. It was a merry and busy Christmas!

After skype Thursday, we went to the Monma house for a delicious curry udon noodle soup. Delicious! Hilarious moment of that day: Orgill shimai [Sister Orgill] and I were street contacting at this stoplight and this young guy asks us who we work for. But Orgill shimai hears "Do you have husbands?" and starts telling him about how we're single. DIED. SO FUNNY! The guy about fell off his bike he was so shocked and he started going the opposite direction than us. Hehehehehe. I also got the cutest Christmas card from the Freemans that day. Loved it!

I think I mentioned that I put Moses 7:18 and My Purpose in the Nihongo [Japanese] order in English to help me remember it better. It's pretty funny. Take a look:

My purpose--My purpose, people to Christ's presence to come (!) invite thing is. This sake to me, Jesus Christ and Christ's Atonement believe faith, repentence, baptism, Holy Ghost's gift recieve thing, end until endure thing, through, they restored was gospel can recieve (!) help's is.

Moses 7:18--Lord that people Zion called. They heart one, thought one, righteous in live from is.

Pretty cool right? :)

Friday, we had lu[n]ch at Muto shimai's [Sister Muto’s] house. It was yummy. The desert was some sort of bean thing with chewy white sweet stuff. Dai ski [I like it]. From there we biked up a mountain to one of our investigator's house (she's been ignoring us). We talked to her but she doesn't really want to meet with us anymore. 

That day I read in Enos 1:27 and loved that example of someone who had such a real relationship with Christ that he looked forward to the day that he would see the Savior and be judged of Him with happiness and longing. I loved that.

Advice for Future Missionaries:

·  DO NOT put things off until your mission (memorizing scriptures, the language, etc.); you will not have time.

·  You are in the MTC to learn how to study - not learn a langauge.

·  Be worthy. If you are the MTC will nourish you. If you're not the MTC will be very uncomfortable because we talk about worthiness everyday there. Unsure? Write down every little thing you think you might still need to repent of--make a list, make 2 copies, get an interview and go over it with your Bishop. One of my friends did this and said it was an incredible experience.

·  Any time between your call and your report date is PRECIOUS. There's a lot of focus on the stuff you have to get--don't fall into that. Study like crazy. It will help you so much in the MTC.

If you're learning a language, ask your MTC teachers to teach you to say in your new language:

·  How to pray like a native (people tell me I sound "cute")

·  Testify

·  LDS terms

·  Missionary terms

·  How to street contact

·  How to door approach

·  How to introduce yourself

·  Feelings (so you can tell if people are feeling the Spirit)

·  Name (how to spell it, explain where it comes from)

·  Family (size, brothers/sisters, missions)

·  Why you came on a mission

Maybe that'll help Riley a little bit. :)

There's this little bakery here called Ishiiya that we just love. We go there about every other week. It's so nice to eat bread! Bread is really good--and cheap!--here. Bread and eggs. (I eat those a lot...) It's so fresh and yummy. They even have a glass etching of a famous picture of Christ upstairs. My favorite roll from there has cheese, ham, and a while [white?] potato inside. Yummy!

Saturday was INCREDIBLE. That morning we got up and looked out the window and it was MAJORLY snowing. (I promptly put on tights, leggings, and 3 pairs of socks. Miraculously I still fit into my boots.) We'd planned the night before to go to Miagi-dai (about an hour north of Kamisugi by bus) for the day. The copious snow worried us a little (would we be able to get there? Would we be able to get back?) but we acted in faith and boarded the bus to Miagi-dai. Miracles happened! We found a strong PI [potential investigator] while looking for a bathroom and offering to shovel. We visited 5 members and every single one of them was home and let us talk to them. And when we knocked on our last member's door we hear (in Japanese) "Come in!" So we open the door and the Hiyasakas say "Oh, there you are. Come in! We're having dinner. President Rasmussen is here." So we end up at dinner with them, sitting down next to President and Sister Rasmussen. Their whole extended family is there--all of them having served missions. It was the yummiest dinner and they were all crazy good at Engish and Sister Rasmussen offers a ride home and Rasmussen Kaicho [President Rasmussen] sends us back out (we sang "Silent Night" for the family to say thank you first) and while we're knocking doors before riding home with the Rasmussens, we find a super strong PI family who want to joint with their LDS neighbors. AMAZING DAY.

While biking to church Sunday morning, Orgill shimai [Sister Orgill] biffed it; turned, hit ice, went flying, and landed with the bike on top of her. Ouch! She's okay, just bruised. Her biking confidence is still intact so no worries there. :) The Rasmussens were in our ward and Rasmussen kaicho talked in church. It was really cool to see/hear him speak Japanese--gives me hope that after I learn some I'll still have it in 30-40 years. :) It was way cool. And the entire 3rd hour was focused around the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" which one of the Hiyasaka relations translated into Japanese with his students. Amazing!

Today we had lunch with the Sato family--so fun! I give the spiritual message and Orgill shimai was kind enough to translate my story for me and then I bore my testimony in Japanese. I really felt the Spirit. And the food was way yummy. :)

Our ward has 80-90 active members with a big range of ages, but not a whole lot of active YSAs [young single adults]. Most people know a scattering of English words, and a few served missions in the United States and speak really good English. Our apartment is pretty normal. I drew a floor map and took a picture for you. :) It's starting to get snowy here. Biking in the rain and snow is very slick and scary! We slow down a lot. There's a couple of mountains in our area where members live so there's a few hills for us to bike. ;) I'm starting to understand more of what people are saying, but sometimes there's 5 minutes or more where I understand absolutely nothing. Our ward mission leader is amazing! The District all hopes he'll be a mission president someday. I don't think we have any ward missionaries. Sister Orgill is very funny, and very obedient and has a great voice. She's got a way intense personality, but is very loving to the members. They like her a lot. They think she's hilarious. She plays violin and picked up the ukelele [ukulele] a couple transfers ago.

I'm so grateful for all the letters and emails and the Skype we got to do this week!

So excited to play those board games when I get back! What kind of puzzles did you get for Christmas? I love your gigantic puppy Lauren! Is he an airbender like Appa or a waterbender? Dad, I'm so excited to read Grandma and Grandpa's history! I want to read the Sandberg interview too! I think the Japanese love to sing but a lot of them also really love American songs. Candice, who did each of the gospels write to? I loved the pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Bellows. :) It was so fun to each about your Christmas! Was Kelsea there during Skype? When did she fly in? Did I miss her?

I love you all SOOOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!! You are amazing!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,

Your missionary,

Bellows shimai :)

P.S. My goals: Write in my journal everyday, Learn 5 vocab every day, finish the Book of Mormon by Mother's day... any other ideas? I want to hear your goals too!

Week 9-ish Pictures

E-mail 12/22/2013

Hello my wonderful family!

I'm still in Japan! Can you believe it? This week has been majorly hilarous. And I'm second guessing all my spelling because the only time I see English is when I write it myself or read the scriptures. Whoops! I suppose it's the only way I'll learn Japanese!

Tuesday was Orgill Shimai's [Sister Orgill’s] 20th birthday! Boy, was it memorable. So after a normal day of dendo [proselyting] we went down to carol at the mall in English as a district and hand out Eikaiwa [English class] flyers and it was great, we all wore Santa Hats and people seemed to like it. So, we'd been there for a while when a blind gentleman comes over to us and yells at us in Japanese and then gets on his phone and starts calling people and walks away. A little confused, we pick a new song and start singing again and about 10 minutes later the police show up and start talking to the chorro [elders]. Not the shimai [sisters], just the chorro. (Our only nihongin [Japanese people] in our district are shimai and they tried talking to the officers but the officers just ignored them and talked to the chorro. Some of our chorro look Japanese and have really good Japanese so they might've thought they were Nihongin.) Long story short, we left the mall. We show up at the church later for DCM and there's a homeless gaigin [foreigner] there alone on the church phone talking to President Rasumussen. Apparently he'd had a really long and interesting talk with the APs. And the District Leader forgot Orgill shimai's birthday. And I got the most incredible package from Jess! It was the nicest, mind-blowing--I can't say enough about it! It was a memorable day, to say the least!

Wednesday we had a lovely mogi [roleplay] lesson with the Takakos family and a really fun activitiy that Nagaoka shimai [Sister Nagaoka] (a kyokaiin [member?]) planned. It waws [was] a dish decorating party and there were lots of members and nonmembers there and we made the cutest things! I'll have to send you a picture. It was really fun and natural dendo.

Thursday was kind of weird. First off, the phone that is our morning alarm got left outside so we all didn't wake up until 7:30 am. Whoops. Then we had a very strange lesson with a ward member... And only 3 people showed up for FHE [family home evening]... and it was rainy... it was just kind of a strange day, haha.

Friday, we had district meeting, had a ginger bread making activity with a ward member and one of our kyudosha [investigators], delivered thank you brownies, had weekly planning, and got really really wet! (It rained all day). District Meeting was all in Japanese. I'd been asked to give the spiritual thought. I wrote it all down beforehand and had Orgill shimai help me so my Japanese sounded REALLY good. Unfortunately then they thought I didn't need translatation during the district meeting. Whoops. Pro-pretender skills right there--so pro I preteneded myself out of a translator! Not my intention. Orgill shimai died laughing when we talked about it afterward. Actually, in that meeting we were told we're going to be taking CPR classes here--and I got really excited... until I realized that we're going to be taking them HERE... in Japanese... That's going to go great...

Saturday was the ward Christmas party! It was great! There were a lot of non-members so get did a lot of great dendo. I talked a lot to one of our fantastic Eikaiwa students. She's 14 and REALLY good at English. We played games, had lunch, did handbells (senkyoshi talent), had Santa-san [Santa] arrive and a live Nativity. There were a lot of strong PIs [potential investigators] there. Abe-san [Abe] (from Eikaiwa) was there too. The grandpa Orgill shimai and I sing to all the time. We're like his iPod. He LOVES music. Especially Celtic Women. And so do Orgill shimai and I. So that works out nicely. Afterward, we tried to pursuade him to come to church and he was so tempted but kept on telling us "no." The zone leaders just barely started teaching him. After that we had the Furukawa Christmas Dinner! American and Japanese food cooked by a Nihongin and a whole table full of it--it was amazing! I was overwhelmed with their generosity! And yes, we ate on the floor like proper Nihongin. :) Our fridge is stuffed to overflowing with delicious leftovers. :) And they've invited us back again! (Everyone in our district was there.)

Sunday, Abe-san came to church! Best day ever! He even came with the ward when we all went and caroled at a nursing home after church. (Orgill shimai and I sang a duet there). That was really cool. They had us all take our shoes off in this gigantic geinkan [like an anteroom] (like you would at any other apartment) and gave us all slippers to wear. There was one lady there who was 101 years old! She was so cute!

We have so many fun plans for this Christmas season! I can't wait to Skype you! We're going to have a really fun season. :)

Thank you all so much for the beautiful emails and letters and love and support!

I'm so glad life is doing so well! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Sounds like it's going to be a warm Christmas! So glad the Christmas program and recital went well! Have so much fun! Give the missionaries lots of referrals. ;)

I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love,

Your missionary,

Bellows shimai :)

P.S. My thought:

Recently I've been pondering "why is prayer a commandment?" After that, I read 2 Nephi 4:35. If we want to have a relationship with God we must pray. God wants to help us. But because we have agency, recieving blessings is our choice. When we ask God for blessings it shows our trust in Him and our relationship with Him is strengthened. I am grateful for prayer.

P.P.S. Can you send me important dates for 2014 so I don't forget? Including U.S. holidays because they don't know those here...

P.P.P.S. Japanese fridges all have only one door but open from both sides. It's pretty incredible.

Candice I'm so excited for you! Lauren, I'm very excited about Christmas Earth. I don't think I'm going to recognize my family when we Skype in a few days. ;)

SO GLAD Riley's visa went through!!!!!!!

E-mail 12/15/2013

My wonderful, wonderful family,

Hello from JAPAN!!! I'm really here! It's wonderful! It is cold and there is snow. I'm in Kamisugi--a big city with teeny tiny roads that are terrifying to bike on and with a big ward with dendo [proselyting] fire!

It's amazing here! It's so beautiful and the culture is incredible and the language rapid fire. I understand...... pretty much nothing. But that's okay! I love it. :)

My last couple of days in the MTC [Missionary Training Center] were crazy, rapid fire, busy busy days if you know what I mean. But I accomplished my goal of finishing the Book of Mormon in the MTC! I learned so much. I love Enos and Alma the Younger and the 3 Nephites. I want to have their faith and emulate their discipleship.

Monday December 9th/Tuesday December 10th we traveled to Japan!!!

We got up at 2am December 9th and got to Sendai at 9pm December 10th. What a trip! It was so wonderful to talk to you at the Salt Lake Airport. I got to dendo a little bit with some people I was sitting next to in the LAX [Los Angeles] airport. (I completely knocked out on that flight; sat down and was head in lap asleep the entire time, haha.) From LAX we got on our flight to Tokyo! I napped for about the first 8 hours in and out due to rubulance [turbulence] and a delicous lunch/dinner/we-had-no-idea-what-time-it-was-meal being served. I did a couple tinkerbell crosswords and entirely enjoyed finding "sugarplums" and "gumdrops" thank you very much. Sudoku also keep me entertained. We crossed the international date line. That was pretty cool. Now we know what it's like to lose a day of our lives and travel into the future. And we're going to undo it when we come back. I did have a moment when I woke up and [thought] that we have only 30 minutes left when we really had 4 hours... but ohter than that the flight really wasn't bad at all. I was comfortable. I even put my fuzzy blue slippers on. It was great. :) The crazy part was getting OFF the airplane. Oh boy. No one told us the Tokyo airport is like a small city. But we made it! Everything went just fine, they even gave me these brown slippers to wear through security when they asked me to take off my boots. I felt very important. (And slightly awk[w]ard because my heels were hanging off the back of them but that's beside the point.) But when we finally found our gate, Smith shimai [Sister Smith], Stice shimai and I went to the posh bathroom and Smithers set her wallet down on the sink and turned her back for like 30 seconds... and 10 seconds later we hear her name being paged over the speakers to come pick up her wallet because someone turned it in. So funny! We got on our flight there to Sendai and all basically knocked out and when we landed President and Sister Rasumussen and the Assistants were waiting for us and they drove us over to teh [the] mission home and served us bread and soup and rolls and we all introduced ourselves and then got our rooms, showered, and collapsed.

Wednesday was crazy! Training, getting our trainers, traveling to Kamisugi, and our apartment, and starting real dendo!

Our apartment has 4 rooms and a bathroom. It's decent sized. We have these hilarious tiny bunk beds all in this one room pushed together and the mattresses are futons. They're great. My head hits the pillow and I'm OUT every time. :) I also got the packages Friday I think... They are wonderful!!!! I love them!! No, I haven't opened them aside from stealing the oatmeal and toothpaste out. I eat it (The oatmeal, not the toothpaste) every day for breakfast and love it! (Except for the one time I put salt on instead of sugar because I couldn't read the package label. That was gross. No, I didn't eat anything after the first bite.) I also got the most lovely heartfelt letter from Brother Peter Lindsay about some of his mission memories and en[c]ouragement. I completely identified 100% with everything.

Each week we have a group of ward members to visit and this week we have a lot of the Grandmothery type. They are so sweet and funny and give us so much strange food to eat (it's rude not to eat all the food they give you so we eat it all even if it's not attractive to the American taste buds).

Kamisugi is beautiful! Our area is a big city--it even has some American stores. It is the "fattest" area for missionaries (aside from teh [the] hombu [mission home] area) because it's a big city with lots of members who LOVE to feed us. It is also the area that was hardest hit by the 2011 tsunami--but you can't even tell. There's no sign of it. (Orgill shimai [Sister Orgill] said "That's Japan for you.") Also, a lot of people are hanti (means opposite, but is used for people who are against religion) in Japan because one time a cult attacked Japan and killed a lot of people and from that everyone here thoguth [thought] that all religion was like that and so religion has an extremely negative view to most Japanese. It makes it difficult at times to find people, especially for sisters; since we mostly only teach women, if they have family that's hanti they usually end up not being able to met with us because they're not the dominate force in their lives. The people are lonely because there're just so busy and don't have time to spend with their families. We have FHE and Eikaiwa (English conversation class) during the week. Lots of people come to Eikaiwa. It's so fun! The people are so wonde[r]ful and kind... and really love to feed you. I'm eating a lot.

Orgill shimai [presumably Katie’s companion—she doesn’t actually say!] is on her 4th transfer. Her Japanese is REALLY good. She's from California. She's stoked because she said she prayed really hard for a companion that was good at singing. I guess she thinks I qualify...

Okay, so, hilarious story. Saturday we took the LONGEST bike ride up the LONGEST hill (part of it was stairs with bike ramps) (and it started snowing like crazy) to visit the Seiza family... but they weren't there. So we went next door (about) to visit Furuuchi shimai [Sister Furuuchi] (grandma with a HUGE house). FUNNIEST. VISIT. EVER. First of all, she said her son was coming to town so she only had 30 minutes to meet with us. So she sat us down at the kitchen table and we tried singing Christmas Carols with her... we couldn't. We died. She loves to sing. Like an opera singer... getting exorcized. And she knows it. And loves it. So we chat for 40-ish minutes and then she goes into the kitchen to make a vinegar plum fermented tea for us... still singing. And then we drink the prune juice (I actually liked it. But I thought Orgill shimai was going to vomit. It's better than mugicha [a caffeine-free, roasted-grain-based tea made from barley that's popular in Japan].) and ask her if we can do any service for her. And she says yes (awesome! Most Nihongin [Japanese people] never let you help) and she gives me the vacuum head and gives Orgill shimai the vacuum base and we walk around her 3 story house vacuuming with her making sure we don't miss any spots. 3 person vacuum job. Aced it! Love it. She's so cute and funny.

We got back from that and did some more dendo and by then we're just soaked through and shivvering, but we still have about 3 more hours before going back. So we knock an apartment of a ward member to drop something off and he was just so nice. (He's in his 20's and here teaching English for a year before going back to the states.) We couldn't go in since he was a kyodai [brother—missionary rules say they would need another woman with them to go inside], but he was so kind and offered to make us hot chocolate and have us come back in 30 minutes for it. Then he asked if he could pray for us and then he said the kindest, most genuine prayer and prayed for our success both so that we could teach adn so that we wouldn't freeze. It was the kind of prayer that warms you down right down to your toes even though you're soaking through with freezing rain and snow and makes everything better. Kindness does that. And although, I hadn't been feeling discouraged, I felt so ready and so enthused afterwards and we were able to have success.

I really understand very little. But I love it here. The Lord truly is mindful of us and his tender mercies are all around us if we only take the time to notice them!

Way to follow the Spirit Candice. Orgill shimai says missionary work feels all sorts of awkward sometimes but it's only because we're all just little kids at it, learning how to walk, so it will be awkward for a little until it becomes easy and natural (although she says the awkward never goes away I feel otherwise :).) I bet the elders will love their basketball hoops. Way to go on the PSAT Zach! Of course you nailed that International Relations final Candice! Beast! And Lauren, I'm so proud of your scientific mind! I'm so proud of you guys!

We probably will get to skype you on your Christmas! (Our 26th--our 25th is going to be crazy busy with dendo!) So excited!

I love you all!!!! Thank you so much for the beautiful letters and emails and uplift and en[c]ourage me! I'm so happy to be here in Japan!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Your missionary,

Bellows shimai :)

P.S. Did I tell you I met a friend of Tyler's named Elder Nickols at the MTC who said he was in Tyler's ward at Heritage and in his doki at the MTC?

P.P.S. The keyboards are very strange here so please excuse the errors you find. I'm not quite used to it yet. :)

  

P.P.P.P.S. 1 Nephi 17:11 A bellows blows the fire with air. I'm totes [totally] an airbender!

More P.S. Pres. Rasmussen is great! My boots and coat are great. We are in a ward. Snail-mail is really fast in Japan. Once it gets here from the US it only takes a couple days to get it to us.

[She didn't send any pictures this week. Sorry!]

E-mail 12/7/2013

Hey family!

We get a mini p-day [preparation day] today to do laundry and pack and such before we head out. Exciting and crazy to think we'll be leaving in a few short days! Just wanted to let you know I got the boots Tanya sent me and they're awesome! I'm wearing them today as the weather has decided to blizzard again and they're way comfy and warm and they have great treads for keeping on my feet. Dai ski [I love]!

I love you all! I hope I get to call you Monday and that all our flights go well!

Love you!

Love,

Your missionary,

Bellows shimai :)

Week 8 Pictures

E-mail 12/3/2013

Hello my Wonderful Family!

This is it! My last week in the MTC [Missionary Training Center]! Can you believe it? Time has flown by. In 5 days I will be boarding a plane to Japan! I can't wait!

This week was wonderful! Last P-day [preparation day], after I wrote you we had a zone game of Thieves on campus (like capture the flag but with 3 flags, a time limit, and 1 team guards while the other team tries to thieve and you can only chase people within a certain distance of the flag). It was so fun! The weather was beautiful and a lot of people came out to play. The 4 of us were Thieves and our team lost but it was a blast. Devotional was by Elder Teh of the Seventy. He talked about how when the age-change was made he spent lots of time trying to figure out what [why] and he came to his personal conclusion that it was because of the youth of the church. Then the Seventy had a meeting with President [Elder] Holland. He said, "Many of you may be wondering what brought about this age change and may have come to the conclusion that it's because of the youth of the church." (At this point, Elder Teh said he was patting himself on the back.) Then Elder Holland said, "If so, you're wrong." (Elder Teh: "Whoops.") Elder Holland: "The change happened because the Lord is hastening his work in these last days." Chills! Elder Teh then talked about Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah and liken us to them; we probably weren't seeking to destroy the church but maybe we weren't really doing much to build it. Then we had something that shook us and softened our hearts. And then we were no longer content to serve only in our wards and stakes and we recieved desires to serve missions. Favorite quotes: We are training as hard as Olympians to be the very best. We want everyone we come in contact with to be astonished and to feel "surely this is more than just a young man or woman. Surely this is a just disciple of the Lord." We are the weak things of the world that the Lord will make strong.

I love those last two things he said. I know when I get to Japan that there is no way my Japanese is going to be good enough to do this work--I am one of the weak things of the world. But somehow the work will be done. And then will have to know that it's because this is the Lord's work and our message is from God.

Wednesday... We got our travel plans!!!!!!!!!!!! Me? Excited? Really? You think so? 

We're going to Japan!!!!!!!!!!!

We originally weren't supposed to get our plans until Friday, so you can imagine our excitement when we come into the cafeteria and see Patterson chorro [Elder Patterson] holding a big stack of them in his hands. We definitely about had a party right there. Or we did. Might bit of excitement in there. Heehee.

We fly from SLC [Salt Lake City] to LA, LA to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Sendai. We have to be at the travel office at 3:30 am. Glup. No sleep! We'll get to Sendai around 8:00 pm Japan time. We have a 2 hour layover in LA so hopefully I'll get to call then! Not a guarantee, but we'll see. I've also been assigned as travel leader--making sure we all stay together and get to Sendai safely. Thankfully our group only has 10 people in it so it looks like things will go pretty smoothly.

We also got to do Skype TRC Wednesday with real Nihongin [Japanese people] in Nihon [Japan] in Nihongo [Japanese]! It was so fun! I was afraid it was going to be really difficult, demo [but] I understood about the same amount I understand normally so it was no bigger deal than it normally is. It was really fun! Definately a highlight of the MTC.

I don't know if y'all heard, but Thursday was Thanksgiving! It was fantastic! Elder Nelson was our morning devotional speaker and he gave us wonderful counsel about how to be good missionaries. After devotional, we all ate a yummy traditional Thanksgiving lunch with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Yum! Then we did a service project--making lentil casserole mixes for Feed the Children. It was so fun! And actually we're in the front page picture of the article Desert News wrote about the service project! I can't access the website here because of the computer filters but I've seen the picture of us all wearing our red hairnets and it's awesome! I'm on the left in my gold sweater. Check it out! :D It was such a cool project--we even had representatives from Church Humanitarian Services come and talk to us about all the service the Church does. It was amazing! I want to go see Welfare Square when I get back. 

After the service project, we took our sack sandwich dinners back to our residence hall and had a feast! It was so funny, we put a blanket on the floor and gathered around the cutest package Stice shimai's [Sister Stice’s] mom send her of salmon and treats and ginger ale and had a proper Thanksgiving feat [feast] of sandwiches and dorritos. We had a grand time--loved it.

Then there was a Thanksgiving Talen[t] show sort-of-a-thing and then we watched Ephraim[’]s Rescue. So good! And the jokes in there--too funny! Ellis shimai and I were dying!

Cool moment from Elder Nelson's devotional: We were singing prelude hymns and we were in the middle of singing "Because I Have Been Given Much" when Elder Nelson walked in. And you know, of course, everyone stood up and we finished the rest of the song standing on our feet. And I was just completely overwhelmed to tears with gratitude for the enormity of the blessings God has given me--filled completely, toe to head with light and happiness that completely bubbled over. It was amazing.

Other cool thing: When we left the movie the Christmas lights on campus were turned on!!!

Friday I got a super cute package of chapstick and candy from Sister Miles! It was so sweet! (haha, punny) Loved it!

That day we also had a really good lesson in Horne-sensai's [Teacher Horne’s] class about setting goals (one of Horne-sensai's talents). We talked about how setting goals is all about taking the hopes and desires God has given us and turning them in to something we can accomplish. 

Saturday was our Sister Training Leader's last day before they got released so they 'tucked us in' to bed as their last act as STLs. It was so funny and cute!

Sunday was Fast Sunday and Mission Conference! Sister Nally talked about Christmas gifts and how this year we have the opportunity to "be as wisemen of old--bearing gifts and traveling from afar" and that we're so lucky [t]o get to have a "missionary Christmas" was [as] we share Jesus' light--a Christmas light (like the one's turned on on campus!)--a Christmas gift.

During our Zone sisters' meeting that day President Mack talked about how it is a positive thing that we recognize our need for divine help; as caregivers we are taught from Heaven things we would not otherwise learn ourselves. 

Then in our pre-departure lesson President Mack said "you should--because of your mission--FOREVER daily have meaningful prayer, read your scriptures, strive to be obedient, serve, and repent so that you can always have the Holy Ghost."

Devotional was about Hastening the Work of Salvation. After we went and watched Elder Bednar's "Becoming a Missionary." He said "Your decision to serve a mission was made in the pre-existence." And, "Become a missionary who is good for the mission." And, "You cannot serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength without being forever changed because of it."

Okay. Most amazing thing yesterday: We were teaching Mai-san and answering her questions and then asking her questions and then we were reading in Alma 7:9-13 and then verses 14-16. And then we opened our mouths to start talking when she turned to us and asked "When can I get baptized?" WHAT???? We even had a sentence written down and translated into Nihongo [Japanese] "you don't have to say yes to being baptized now" because she's rejected the baptism invitation 3 times before. But I realized that when we share all the blessings we recieve through living the commandments (like baptism) the investigators will ask US when they can start living them.

So, after our lesson we came into the classroom all excited and Villalobos-sensai [Teacher Villalobos] (our Zone resource sensai) was there and got all interested and so we talked to him and he told us how a lot of our district has really struggled with teaching Mai-san and he wanted to know everything about how we plan and teach and what we thought allowed us to be able to get through to Mai-san. It was really interesting to really reflect on what worked for us; connecting with the kyudoshas [investigators?], applying the gospel to their lives, ka do ka [mobilization?] and "want you to" bunpos [questions? challenges?], planning lessons in Eigo [English] first and then translating them and sharing meaningful scriptures and experiences. Our chronological scripture study and card-box study.

Yesterday we also wrote our least weekly letter to Mack kaicho [President Mack]. It was so sad! I so glad I got to have him as my Branch President. 

Mom, your Dear Elder--I don't know if you know but I've always loved to liken that scripture to myself! It was so meaningful. Thank you. It definitely inspired me.

In our TRC lesson we were teaching about revelation through scripture and so we were all sharing our favorite scriptures (Ellis shimai [Sister Ellis], me, and our member we were teaching) and I shared mine (currently Enos 1:3-4) and then Ellis shimai shared hers' (currently Alma 32:41-42) and I had a flash of inspiration; Ellis shimai is always talking about how she's a tree (sun, water, nature--her loves). And in that scripture it talks about what a tree needs; to be nourished, diligence, faith, and patience. And it dawned on me that that's what Ellis shimai--and maybe every--companion needs. And when they have those things they will take root and become a tree springing up unto everlasting life. Love, faith, diligence, patience, long-suffering.

This week has been amazing. I've felt as I've tried to be more obedient I've felt my study be more effective and my rate of learning has increased. It's truly been a blessing. I can't wait to get to Japan and to continue learning and growing and improving there. But I will miss the MTC. I have learned so much here.

I think the number one thing I have learned is to rely on the Lord. He is perfect. He knows everything. He has a plan. He can see how to turn my life into a tapestry--but I'm on the other side of his weaving so I can't see the beauty of the design. I just have to trust him. Like the stone cutter who thought he knew how to make his work a thing of beauty, my knowledge is nothing compared to the Lord's. The Master Architect is the true Stone Cutter and He will shape my life and my efforts into something more amazing than I can ever imagine. I am so grateful for Him and for His marvelous design.

I'm sure you can imagine how excited I am. I am certain my mistakes will be many and my understanding will be small, but I want to be an open-the-mouth missionary. And if God can but carry the message to their hearts it will be enough.

It's snowing today--and actually sticking! You'll have to send me pictures of the Christmas tree! If Lauren continues to grow she will be quite the baller on the basketball team! Where are you having the piano recital? The temple trip sounds like it was a great success! Good on Natalie and Chris! Even if it doesn't snow in North Carolina on Christmas, you will still have a perfect white Christmas in the House of the Lord. :)

I love you! Thank you for all the letters and emails and encouragement! They make me smile and celebrate every time! I'm so glad you all had a happy Thanksgiving! Best of luck with all the rest!

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

Love,

Your missionary,

Sister Bellows :)

P.S. Before we leave on Monday, all of us departing are singing in Sacrament Meeting the EFY Medley but with different lyrics. Here they are!

Sopranos:

We go forth enlisted with Helaman's army

In numbers much greater than ever before

With power and spirit we faithfully witness

The Heavens have spoken and truth is restored.

Altos:

We set forth to serve our Heavenly Father

Who loves us and we love Him

Yes, we love Him

Sopranos and Altos:

We go forth enlisted as daughters of God

Men:

We have been born, as Nephi of old,

To goodly parents who love the Lord.

We have been taught, and we understand,

That we must do as the Lord commands.

We are as the army of Helaman.

We have been taught in our youth.

And we are now the Lord's missionaries

To bring the world His truth.

(Women and Men parts together and then...)

All:*

Heraman no yushi no yoni

Kodomo no toki ka--ra

Oshie u kemi koto ba--no

Betsu ta--eru

Women:

We go forth enlisted...

Men:

A marked generation...

All:

As servants of God.

*Nihongo Army of Helaman

We're excited!!