August 21, 2012

Mina-san!

Ohaiyo Gozaimasu! This is it! It’s my last week here at the MTC! By this time next week I’ll be in Japan!
How crazy is that?! It still doesn’t quite seem real, you know? I’ve been telling people I’m going to
Japan since February… Now it’s actually happening!

I’ll be honest, this week was rather rough. I think it sort of hit everyone that we’re not going to see most
of these people again. I’ve made a lot of really good friends here in the MTC and it’s going to be so hard
to say goodbye to them. (Some of them it won’t be so hard to say goodbye to. ;D) I’m excited to go to
Japan, but I’m really nervous. Like really. I’ve really been struggling this week with speaking and saying
the things I want to say. I feel like when someone speaks at me in Japanese I can understand it pretty
well, but I can’t respond for the life of me. It kinda makes the whole prospect of going to Japan pretty
daunting. :P

But that’s part of the fun right?

I really don’t have a lot to talk about this week, but that’s alright.

Flight Plans:
This week we got our Flight Plans! It was so exciting! Everyone got to Lunch on Friday kinda late for
some reason, but we were ALL done eating within about 10 minutes. (Keep in mind there’s roughly
40 sempai who ate all their food in about 10 minutes. :P) Then we all jumped up and headed over to
the mail room singing (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell) “Nihon ni ikimasu! Nihon ni ikimasu! Ookii
hikouki de Nihon ni ikimasu!” Which translates to: “We’re going to Japan! We’re going to Japan! In a
big airplane we’re going to Japan!”

Luckily right after we got our flight plans we had gym so we were able to burn off some of that extra
energy from the excitement. xD It was so fun. I’m so excited.

Oh, and for anyone who really wants to know, I’ll be leaving the MTC at 5am and go to LA first and then
take a flight from LA to Tokyo. I should be in Japan by about 4:30pm on the 28 th. (I’m required to
remind you all that you’re not allowed to come see me off. Don’t do it! :P)

Tower Challenge:
-sigh- I honestly can’t believe I’m writing about this. Don’t judge me, kay!? xD

So, life as a missionary is honestly really really boring most of the time. At least here in the MTC. We
tend to find some of the most RIDICULOUS ways of entertaining ourselves. Like talking in strange
accents… trying to slip spoons in each other’s pockets without them noticing… tossing a tennis ball at
the wall directly above someone’s head and seeing how close you can get to hitting them… x) Yeah.
We’re bored. :P

One of these really stupid traditions of the MTC we do out of sheer boredom is called the “Tower
Challenge.” Every morning, the cafeteria has these towers of cereal for people to go and eat. They’re
huge. Each tower holds roughly 4 or 5 bags of cereal. The Tower Challenge is for a group of people,
during a meal other than breakfast, to try to empty an entire tower of cereal. One of the districts in
our zone did it. They had 10 people in their district and they were able to finish the tower. One choro
actually ate 11 bowls of cereal. Between everyone involved they ate 63 bowls of cereal. :P

Well, naturally our district didn’t want to get shown up…

We have the smallest district in the zone. Up until yesterday we had 7 people in our district. (Yesterday
Fukino-choro’s older brother joined our district! Super cool!) We decided that we, the smallest district,
would attempt a tower challenge.

We completed the tower challenge. X) I honestly can’t decide if I’m proud of this fact or not. :P One
choro from another district decided he’d help us out since there were only 7 of us. So between 8
people, we had roughly 54 bowls of Life cereal. The most bowls eaten out of us was 7 or 8.

We need to get out of here. xD

(I can just hear you all asking, “Christine! Did you actually participate in that!?” Unfortunately I have to
answer yes… yes I did… I ate 4 bowls of cereal. My doryo ate 6. Blech.)

MTC Wrap-up:
Well, my MTC experience is finally over. Part of me is really sad about that and the other part of
me is thrilled beyond all reason. The MTC has been an amazing experience. Those of you who are
preparing to go on missions right now, look forward to the MTC. It really is awesome. You will never
feel the spirit as strongly as you will here. I’ve learned so much and I feel like I’ve grown. (Not in height,
unfortunately.)

When I think back on my MTC experience I think of 3 major moments. My first week here we had an
amazing devotional on Joseph Smith. It was SO powerful. During that devotional it hit me like a ton of
bricks that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I’ve been told that since I was little and believed it, but I
feel like that was when I really could say I know Joseph Smith is a prophet.

The second moment I think of is another devotional quickly after. The speaker said “Christ is always
right behind you. His hand is extended out next to you. All you have to do is take it.” Even though this
wasn’t the point, it hit me that Christ and Heavenly Father have a body of flesh and blood. Meaning, I
literally could reach out and touch them. And when Christ comes I will be able to touch Him and know
that He’s the Christ. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation grew immensely!

Then the last experience I think of is Taylor-san and the power of the atonement and forgiveness.
Heavenly Father loves us and will forgive us for our mistakes.

Now here’s the crazy part of this whole thing. While I was thinking about all of this I realized something.
Everything I learned here followed the same pattern as the lessons in Preach My Gospel. Lesson 1: The
Restoration. Lesson 2: The Plan of Salvation. Lesson 3: The Doctrine of Christ. I have literally been
God’s kyudosha throughout my time here in the MTC. I’ve been learning exactly what it is I’m about to
go out and teach to the people of Japan.

Mina-san, the church is true. Heavenly Father is real and He loves each of us. He knows what He’s doing
and we have to trust Him. I know He answers prayers. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph
Smith was a prophet. Christ came to Earth and suffered for all our sins and if we will repent and use the
Atonement we will one day be able to return to our Heavenly Father and live with Him for eternity. Use
the Atonement as often as you can. Use it every day. If we’re not using the Atonement, doesn’t that
make Christ’s sacrifice in vain? He suffered more than we can imagine. Don’t let it be in vain.

The MTC has been amazing. I can’t wait to get out to Japan and spread the gospel to them. Mina-san, Ai
shite imasu. Honto ni honto ni ai shite imasu. You all are amazing. Thank you for all of the support and
please keep me in your prayers. These next few weeks are going to be rough and I’ll need all the help I
can get. Thank you guys for everything. You’re amazing.

Love,
Christine