09 October 2014

Brewer Shimai Survives MTC!

Hello Adoring Fans, Family Members, Facebook Friends, Bored Folk, and Accidental Blog Stumblers,
I am now a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I am in the Missionary Training Center preparing to go to the Japan Nagoya Mission. This report may be a bit unorganized, I apologize for the shortage of time but I've got gospel magic to do!
 Learning Japanese is really fun! I said my first prayer last Friday and I get better every time! SYL (speak your language) is truly a rule and pretty intense but good! Our sempai (older elders and sisters, except not really older just more experienced) are so nice to show us the ropes and help us out. Japanese is going as well as it can, I think. It is so overwhelming to try to figure out what someone is saying just based on the vocabulary I know. Everyone else in my district except one elder has taken at least three years of Japanese, so I feel pretty behind but it is okay because I know I'm doing my best! We taught out first lesson to "Yamashita Kyodai" who is acting like an investigator. We have to teach him a lesson every day. That is the hardest part because if you can actually understand his questions, you know exactly what you want to testify to answer but you don't know the vocabulary or structure so you're rifling through your dictionary and phrasebook at rapid speed trying to come up with something competent to say. It's good. I can really feel the spirit helping me learn. I can introduce myself, carry on a short conversation, pray,and ask a lot of questions. My sensei is really nice. 
 The Lord takes care of His missionaries. This really is His time and not mine, so I want to use all of it as effectively as I can. The food is AMAZING. Really good. It's a cafeteria, but there is so much and I haven't had anything awful and I never go hungry. I'm blessed. My marvelous companion is Wilkinson Shimai, she is from Sandy! Her mom is a convert from Japan and her dad went to the Okinawa mission. It's a blessing that she can understand Japanese pretty well! she is so willing to be my friend and we work well together. We laugh together and have so much fun, but study hard and accomplish a lot. She is the best part of the MTC so far for sure. The MTC President is President Nally and his wife. They seem nice from the short addresses they've given. My branch presidency all served missions in Japan. President Stephenson is really nice and cares about us and our success a lot. The presidency's wives are so nice and want to be our moms.
 I thought learning Japanese this fast was the hardest thing I've ever done.
But then we went to cardio.
They have 6am fitness classes and they are actually really good! I also LOVE gym time waaaaay more than I thought I would. It feels good to move and take care of my body. I'm trying to try and eat as many vegetables as possible. Most of them are okay but who the who decided cauliflower was something you eat? Are we sure that's not just a plant we should leave alone? 
The spirit here is also great! General Conference was a  great experience. I love how Elder Bednar spoke directly to the non members, I  hope that sparks a lot of interest. I also loved the talk from the danish elder about taking responsibility for ourselves. I felt like each talk was very direct and a call to action and that is very good! I feel so much love from our yogensha President Monson, it is a blessing to have his keys and care. 
My district has ten senkiyoshitachi (missionaries) total. Four sisters, six elders. It's a great group! I love spending time with them, everyone is willing to help each other which is great!
The computer doesn't have an SD card slot but I will figure out how to post pictures soon.
 The Savior lives and loves us and love when we serve each other. Thank you for being you! 
Love,
Sister Brooklyn Brewer

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