Week 8 Oh Boy!

Minasan, konnichiwa!!

So I feel like I did everything and nothing all week this week and I can't remember like anything that happened. It's all a blur of Nihongo and teaching and everything bleeds into the next it's kinda crazy.

Of particular note though is new kohai (the new baby missionaries who've been here less than 3 weeks)!!! I only know a few of them, but I made good friends with the shimai kohai and also the two chourou in the other zone who're going to Kobe!! Hollingworth Chourou and Dettimer Chourou are my new best friends. They're precious little rays of light and happiness. Dettimer Chourou is from a little town near Munich, Germany and he's a very cool person with lots of fascinating insights. He and Hollingworth Chourou seem very in sync with each other and I'm very blessed to have made their acquaintance. 

Also, get this: THE MTC CHOIR IS GOING TO SING WITH THE NASHVILLE TRIBUTE BAND ON THANKSGIVING!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!! We've been practicing "John's Song", "I Was Born", and "When the Son of Man Comes Again." Dettimer Chourou has enlightened me about the fact that the German line in "I Was Born" is not actually accurate and it's chotto weird to listen to if you speak Deutsch. Regardless, I'm so so so excited.

Ano,,,, we've also been starting Skype TRC and teaching people over that and it's been so much fun! Grover Shimai and I can almost read the Morumon Sho and understand it!!!! I'm so glad we get to be here for so long and improve our teaching skills so significantly before we go to Nihon and serve the people there. It's really a huge blessing.

Also Elder Adilson de Paula Parella, the new Seventy that just got called in April, came and spoke to us yesterday. Incidentally, his wife, Sister Elaine Parella, is a sweet wonderful lady, a precious and pure cinnamon roll too sweet for this world, and I want to be her friend. She challenged us to reread Elder Holland's talk from last conference, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect...Eventually" so I extend this same challenge to you as well.

Elder Parella talked a lot about the Atonement, faith, and hope. He pulled up the definitions for both faith and hope and had us comment about what stood out to us. Something that really stood out to me was from PMG's definition of faith:

"You accomplish what He wants you to accomplish."

I love that line so much! It connotes not only that by faith you're willing to do what Kamisama wants you to do, but that because you have faith and you're doing your best, you WILL accomplish everything you're supposed to! It's like how it says in D&C 80:3 - "Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss."

Ye cannot go amiss!!! Subarashi desu ne! Isn't that wonderful! We need not worry about whether or not each decision is perfect. As long as we're being good people and honoring our covenants, our steps will be guided, our utterance will be given, and we cannot go amiss!!!

I love you all very much! Until next week!

Sherwood Shimai <3