Hello everyone!
My first week at the MTC has simultaneously felt like the blink of an eye and like three months squashed into one day. My companion is Grover
Shimai (Sister Grover)
. She's from Portland, Oregon and she is absolutely amazing! (Not gonna lie, she reminds me of Lindsey Stirling.) My whole district is super awesome. We've
all
become
fast friends and we've even started calling ourselves the Kobe-Fukuoka Kazoku (The Kobe and Fukuoka Family). All the shimai and chourou (elders) are so much fun to be around and we have such a good time together. We go from laughing at puns and Valdivia Chourou getting an orange creamsicle stuck to his tongue for five minutes to discussing insights and feeling the Spirit in what feels like the blink of an eye! I love them all very much and I can tell I will be very sad when we part ways in the field.
Some cool things about my district members so you all can get a good idea of why they're so awesome:
Adams Chourou - our District Leader from Las Vegas. Loves food and kinda silly, but always has amazing things to say after devotionals. If he were an animal, he'd be a mouse.
Komiya Chourou - used to do theater in school and makes ties!! Looks like a cat and also kinda reminds me of Tom Ellis. Also low key very sassy.
Valdivia Chourou - has the exact same sense of humor as me and once we told each other bad dad jokes for like 10 minutes straight. Played bassoon in high school. Is like an excited puppy.
Bodily Chourou - the quietest of the 12 of us. Doesn't say too much, but when he does you always feel the Spirit. Really likes computers. Reminds me of a teddy bear.
Stewart Chourou - a great composer and a wonderful conversationalist. Likes to build computers and study Japanese grammar. His patronus would probably be a turtle.
Hoki Chourou - quiet but very funny. He's got a chill aura and makes really cool mocktails out of the MTC cafeteria sodas. He's a peacock.
Grover Shimai - super cute and brilliant! A total foodie and has 3 years of Japanese classes in school under her belt so her pronunciation is awesome. She reminds me of an otter.
Nelson Shimai - a total bunny rabbit. But she's a second degree brown belt in karate! She lets me braid her hair and it's awesome.
Griswold Shimai - she got here a little late because she was sick but she's such a wonderful addition to the team! She always has wonderful insights and is so smiley and gentle. She's basically Bambi.
Denley Shimai - from Sydney, Australia!! She's hilarious and taught us about vegemite and other fun Aussie things. Amazingly articulate. She'd be a dignified, beautiful show dog.
Koutsoukos Shimai - from the other side of Australia. She's so pretty and we have matching shoes!! I love listening to her jokes and stories. She's definitely an elegant swan.
Valdivia Chourou - has the exact same sense of humor as me and once we told each other bad dad jokes for like 10 minutes straight. Played bassoon in high school. Is like an excited puppy.
Bodily Chourou - the quietest of the 12 of us. Doesn't say too much, but when he does you always feel the Spirit. Really likes computers. Reminds me of a teddy bear.
Stewart Chourou - a great composer and a wonderful conversationalist. Likes to build computers and study Japanese grammar. His patronus would probably be a turtle.
Hoki Chourou - quiet but very funny. He's got a chill aura and makes really cool mocktails out of the MTC cafeteria sodas. He's a peacock.
Grover Shimai - super cute and brilliant! A total foodie and has 3 years of Japanese classes in school under her belt so her pronunciation is awesome. She reminds me of an otter.
Nelson Shimai - a total bunny rabbit. But she's a second degree brown belt in karate! She lets me braid her hair and it's awesome.
Griswold Shimai - she got here a little late because she was sick but she's such a wonderful addition to the team! She always has wonderful insights and is so smiley and gentle. She's basically Bambi.
Denley Shimai - from Sydney, Australia!! She's hilarious and taught us about vegemite and other fun Aussie things. Amazingly articulate. She'd be a dignified, beautiful show dog.
Koutsoukos Shimai - from the other side of Australia. She's so pretty and we have matching shoes!! I love listening to her jokes and stories. She's definitely an elegant swan.
Nihongo is a tricky language, but I can definitely see the gift of tongues working in my life. We've already taught three lessons completely in Japanese to our investigator, Asai-san, and we have another one this evening! I love learning the complexities of the language, and though it's frustrating not being able to say everything I want to all the time, it's all daijoubu (okay). The Lord is on our side!
As most of you know, General Conference was this past weekend, and I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts from the talks that were given. I absolutely loved Holland Chourou's talk and anyone who heard my farewell talk will know that I TOTALLY CALLED THAT HIS TALK WOULD BE ONE OF THOSE COMFORT/CALLOUT TALKS! I really loved his message that as children of God we should not demean and vilify ourselves, and that here in mortality, perfection is still pending. We may not be able to demonstrate yet the perfect 10,000 talent perfection that God and Christ have achieved, but it is not too much to ask for us to be a little more godlike and forgive and love and improve. It's all daijoubu. Keep pressing forward.
Man, I'm at a loss for what else to tell you all! We've mostly just been learning and studying and teaching, with a little bit of 6am workout and weekly Nihon missionary sand volleyball thrown in there. I hope all of you are doing well. I'm going to attach a lot of photos to my emails so you can see all the shenanigans we get up to.
Note: I can read your emails any time so if you ever miss me or want to talk to me, just email me whenever! I promise I'll read it and respond on P-Day. I miss you all and love you very much.
Ai shiteimasu! (I love you!)
Sherwood Shimai
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