Konichiwa Minasan!!!
Watashi wa honto ne genki desu! Watashi wa Seda Paku wado o ai shiteimasu! I am entering week 6 of my 9 weeks here in the MTC and can't wait to get to Japan. Thank you Holly and Sister Taylor for the treat and Holly you will have a blast at the Y!
Yesterday, we taught a Nihongin (a Japanese Native) about Heavenly Father. He had no previous experience with religion, had never prayed before and had no concept of deity. My doryo and I gave it our all and it really challenged our vocabulary. My favorite part of the lesson was the speed that he talked at, but of course when the Spirit is present we are able to do things that would sometimes seem impossible. We had a great discussion and to our surprise he wanted to meet again. We told him that we would continue to study our Nihongo so that we could better answer his questions.
Watabe San, our second investigator, the other day asked, "If Jesus Christ died in Jersusalem how did he show up in South America." Of course we could easily answer in English most of the questions that are asked, but when it comes to answering in Nihongo we sometimes get a little stumped and are beginning to use the phrase "We know the answer to that question but we don't have enough Nihongo to answer it right now. We will go back and study so that we will be able to answer next lesson." I am slowly gaining a testimony of why we have Senior Companions and I am really hoping that my first companion is Nihongin. Working with progressing investigators here at the MTC (which are our Senseis, playing the investigator role) has been an eye opening experience. Sometimes my companion and I will think that we know the answer and we will try our best to answer it but instead miss a few pronunciations and totally mess the entire thing up. As you know the English language is spoken in the order of subject, verb, object. Well in Nihongo it is spoken subject, verb, object, with particles in between each word that explains what the previous word is doing. Sometimes we mix the two languages and say things like; "Heavenly Father appears to me everyday" or "I am Jesus Christ" or my personal favorite was when I was trying to discuss the sacrament and I didn't remember the word for blood so I started doing a cutting motion across my wrist hoping that he would understand that I was acting out bleeding. However it backfired and scared him a lot of course it was funny afterwards. But I learned my lesson that I need to prepare more vocabulary for lessons.
The devotionals are amazing, and the Japanese missionaries have been recognized at the past 4 devotionals, each speaker has stated something along the lines of "even if you're trying to learn Japanese..." and each time there's always a "Yosh!" in the crowd. Yosh is a Japanese word that we think means yes but the Nihongin always laugh when we use it. Oh yeah, the Nihogin are great but we have been advised that Japanese girls are very fond of American boys so we have to make sure that everything we say isn't taken differently. The Nihongin sisters have nicknamed me "Woody" as in from Toy Story, and of course I probably will always be known as Woody after I said, "there's a snake in my boot". Whenever they see me walking by their class they will always crowd around me and tell me to say "There's a snake in my boot". The Nihongin elders are great, almost every night me and a couple of the other elders on our hall will go and talk to them for a little while and make sure that we are saying words right. My favorite part about the Nihongin is their infatuation with Harry Potter aka Heh-dee Paw-tuh, if you find anything that looks similar to a wand and say "avadakadabra" they will pretend like they are dying and it's honestly the funniest thing in the world.
Speaking English is slowly becoming more difficult I have forgotten how to say several words and it takes me a while before I remember how to say them. So when I call home from the airport in three weeks don't get frustrated that some of the words that I say aren't in English just remind me that the sentence I just said wasn't in English. That should explain to how well I am getting the language. The power of the Spirit is amazing and I know for sure that every missionary here who is learning a language and doing what they are supposed to has the gift of tongues. My advice to those who are preparing to come on missions and are going to be learning a language focus mainly on rewriting PMG lessons in your own words and making sure that you have read the scriptures all the way through. Studying the language before hand will do you nothing. My companion and I have already passed all the kids who took 4 years of Japanese in high school.
I saw Elder Lutz the other day, I am proud to say we are both in the choir of 1,600 missionaries. We will also be singing in the Worldwide Broadcast tomorrow Sunday the 23rd so keep an eye out for us if the camera decides to come our way.
We will be becoming daisempei this Wednesday meaning that we are 6 weeks into the MTC and in Japan Daisempei is a very honorific title. As well as Elder, it turns out. When we say that we are Elders, we are basically saying that we are very wise and all knowing people, so hopefully I will give the title justice when I try my best to speak Japanese in Nihon.
I hope everything is going well back at home. Josh - have a very Happy Birthday I think this will be the first birthday in a long time that I won't be able to see you for, so make it a good one. I don't have much more time left, they have been cutting down our email time so that all the missionaries that are here, can get a chance to email home. Thanks again Mom for the rain coat and pants, the color was impeccable and even the Nihongin loved it as you see in the pictures I sent.
Disclaimer: The pictures I sent may appear to be horsing around, but in reality I am having the most spiritual time of my life. Going on a mission is the best decision I have made in my life and I would encourage everyone to go on a mission.
Ai shiteimasu yo,
Wilcox Choro
