Friday, July 29, 2011

Natalie's Letter

Konnichiwa!

 

Well another week has gone by and I am on the final countdown. I have two weeks left before I am shipped out to Tokyo! Crazy! It's very weird to think about and is so excited adn freakin scary at the same time! But I am ready. I have felt like my mission is ending after the MTC but now that we are drawing closer reality is setting in more and more and it's a little nerve raking. But hey, get me out there, get me struggling and get me really learning that language. We came from teh temple today and in there was a missionary who is from Fukuoka serving in Provo so he was talking to us a little and he said, "Japanese people hate and love gijins (foreigners) all at the same time." I just hope that they can love me and that they can trust me. Because Elder Eyring once made a prophecy that when the members adn the missionaries start to really work together, that is when Japan will become like South America in baptisms. They say that Japan is on the verge of baptismal explosion but it's just a few things that are holding it back. I hope that I can help move the work forward and that this white gijin can do some good. I pray. This week was once again really hard but amazingly good as well. I finally figured out the MTC. Yes it took me 8 weeks to do it but I got it. Yes, the MTC is about trying to learn a language but really they only teach you the bare minimium but even then I still cannot introduce myself properly. What I found is that the MTC, espcially for those of us who are here for so long, is to convert your self. They always so that you should come home with at least one convert...yourself. And i figured out that that was the purpose of the MTC. We have only an hour to study Japanese and a lot more to study the gosepl adn I always thought that it should be backwards but then I realized that the MTC was for me. TO get my testimony strong, to really be converted to the gosepl and be converted to the work I am about to go and do. And this week, I truly became convert. I am in it for the long run. There is no turning back. I have learned things that will help me battle anythign that will come my way. I have learned where I can go in times of hardness adn I have learned that it is only through our Savior Jesus Christ that we can gain exaltation. He knows me better than anyone and he knows what I can do and handle and where I am best needed. He can see above the clouds. So why not anchor myself in Him when He is truly the only smart way to go. I am ready to be the best person I can be. I am ready to be everythign I can adn everythign the Lord wants me to be. I had a thought this past week about the future and this came to me: How I serve my mission will greatly affect what responsibililties and opportunities I will have in the future." If that doesn't give me the motivation to serve the best mission ever, I don't know what will. I want to be a help to the Lrod so I am going to do everythign I can. It's funny how life works because after that day of feeling these thoughts and knowing that I converted I had a really hard day. Japanese wasn't coming and I just felt down. Should have known that Satan would be right on my tail wanting me to get discouraged again. After that I decided taht I would never have a bad day again. Everyday would be a good one. Although that doesn't excluded hard days. There will be many many hard days to coem but that doesn't mean they have to be bad ones. Wish me luck as I start this new way of thinking.

One final thing: Last night our Nihongin (Japanese) missionaries came. They come adn stay for three weeks and then fly out with us. There's one sister whose going to Japan so i'll make friends with her. But they have a testimony meeting with them where they tell why they are here. They spoke in all Japanese and I could pick up pieces here and there but the Spirit I felt was unbelieveable! These people are so dedicated to the gospel adn they love their Savior so much. I am already falling in love with these people adn I can't wait to get over there adn really be with them. I wish I could better describe it but it doesn't matter what language you speak because the Spirit speaks every language. I felt it so strongly adn I love it!

 

Mom asked a bunch of questions so I'll answer then now so everyone can read them: What can I do in Japanes right now...Well I can teach the first two lessons of Preach My Gospel which include The Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. Granted I can barely understand when people respond so a lot of the time I am guess at what they are saying but if you let me just talk I could teach the whole simple lesson, including inserts of the Word of Wisdom adn Tithing. I struggle with carrying on a normal conversation though. That's tough. I can pray adn I can bear my testimony which is the most important thing. Me and another Elder have started to read the Book of Mormon. Granted we really cannot understand it, it more to just become better at reading. My companion is going to Fukuoka. In our district there are 4 elders going to Tokyo plus me and then 4 going to Fukuoka plus my companion so it will be bitter sweet when we say goodbye. Flight plans come on Tuesday...scary! The last group half od them flew to Seattle with a 6 hour lay over adn then other half flew straight to Tokyo. So we all go to Tokyoa dn then separate our different ways. Pray that I get exactly who my trainer needs to be! Apparently rumor has it that some of the missions have ipads adn iphones as planners adn area books. I'm assuming that might be Tokyo mission because it's Tokyo but I will keep you posted. could you imagine. Missionary work going techy.

 

I feel great about the world today and everyday I don't feel so good about the world, I say to myself, what are you doing wrong adn how can you make this better because everyday I have to be a missionary is a blessing from God. It's the greatest gift I have been given. I love being a missionary. And hate to break it to ya but I'm picking up asian habits....like bowing!

 

Love you all!

Shimai


Riley's Letter

ninthly, so two way good experiences that happened this week. One happnened last saturday teaching at the trc. me and elder de la mare were teaching the plan of salvation in japanese to this japanese guy Aso San. The lesson went really well. He is way funny, really active and interested. for some reason i got the feeling that he wasnt a member of the church. but in the middle of the lesson i just felt the spirit so strongly bearing witness of gods love to all people. specifically the japanese people and more specificailly our investigator Aso San. It was the best,warmest feeling of love i have ever felt. towards the end of our lesson as we were wraping up i told him: "Kamisama wa Aso San o ai shite iru da to shitemasu". Which means in english, i know that god loves you. when i told him that i felt the spirit way strong and it was cool becasue i wasnt planning on saying that i didint really think about it when i said, it just came out. afterwards, my comp said how much he felt the spirit when i told him that, so it was a really cool experiecne. my testimony is strengthened in gods love. i know he loves me and you and everyone. i cant wait to go to japan and tell the people there that. everyone needs to know that. it is so comforting. the second experience and realization came after we had watched elder hollands talk to the mtc like four years ago. defintiely the best talk i havbe heard. its called a mission is forever. anyways he said how hard a mission was and i was thinking well does that mean i have to be ssad while its hard? the answer came to me and it was: no you can and should be happy everyday even when it is the hardest thing you will ever do. its like how an athelete is never 100% healthy. they play through pain all the time and they play well theough the pain. so i realized that as a missionary the sooner i can learn to play through the pain and the trials and challenges, the happier, more comfortable and better missiionry i will be. i have to be comfrotable liveing through and with trials becasue they will ccome. anyways,t hat hwelped me out a lot this week. you just gotta play thorugh the pain and be comfortable with it.

my time is about up. travel plansd come next week. life is good. god loves us. the mtc is the best. love you all.

elder stevenson

PICTURES!!!!!

"The Nihongin Shimais
So cute"

"Sister Jamisyn Stanford"

"These two are great friends of mine. They're fun!"

"Yep we are missionaries!"

"Where we all came from & where we are going"

Natalie's Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

It's crazy to think that I am over half way done with the MTC! The time has gone by so fast yet so slow. (I feel like this is how i start all my emails...opps, but it's true) This week like every other week has been an up and down one. But this one I think has been the hardest one so far. I'll start from the beginning. On Saturday we taught in Japanese for the first time and let me tell you I was definately blessed with the gift of tongues. I could understand pretty much everything or was able to put ideas together and while two days before I could even put a sentence together, that day i was able to completely talk. The gift of tongues is real and I got a little taste of it. So i know that I am going to be okay. However, after feeling great the the Lord helped me, I felt like I then hit a wall. I really felt like I had so much more to learn yet didn't know how to keep progressing. I was now able to teacha  simple lesson in Japanese but how in the world was I going to communicate and listen to what the people were saying. It was a very depressing week because here I was feeling like I had this big wall in front of me and i didn't know how to get around it. I am still feeling like this currently and it's a little frustrating cause i want to keep progressing but really don't know how. Advice would be nice.

We got a new group of 24 missionaries going to Japan. It is so nice to have them here caue it was getting a little lonely. Included are two sisters. They are great. One is super excited about everything and it's almost too much, the other one is very calm yet super cool. We'll be good friends. Last night they had a get to know you meeting and in it they all gave a little introduction and told why they were on a mission and their testimonies and their strength was unbelieveable. They boost me up and remind me to have to same conviction that they have. The world is is good hands with missionaries like these boys. They are strong and all know why they are here and have such a testimony is the work and the gospel and doing what the Lord wants. I came out from that meeting knowing that the world is being changed because of elders like them. On a personal note and struggle, In that group of 24, probably 75% had some time to Japan and had taken Japanese before. One it makes me really wonder why I missed the band wagon and very far behind yet at the same time makes me think about how much greater my calling a missionary to Japan is. The Lord called me, a 21 year old girl with no ties to Japan, no language experience and here i am starting from ground one. It makes me feel like I have a special work to do in Japan that no one else can do. same goes for Riley. Makes me wonder what the significance of that was. I feel like I need to work extra hard to become good at this language and at knowing the gospel better. The hardest thing here at the MTC is not to compare yourself with others. It's hard when you see half your class understanding what the teacher is saying and you have no idea what he just said. It's hard when you are contacting people and your companion just goes off and you can't even formulate a sentence. It's so frustrating. But last night in our meeting the zone leaders (who had both taken Japanese and my companion, whose half Japanese were telling the newbies that took Japanes before to keep learnign more adn more and to keep progressing, they then let me say somethign about learnign the language and i spoke more to those like 4 people who didn't know japanese before that you can not compare yourself becaue that is just letting satan right on in. I was so preaching to myself. I think that is what i struggle most with. Not comparing. Pray for me to know that I am doing my best and that I am making progress in the language.

Not gonna lie, the mission is hard and it pushes and stretches you in ways you can't understand. It's good beacuse it means that the Lord knows you are ready to become better and that you are ready to grow but it hearts. But everyday I always go to bed thinking how this was the best thing ever and that I am going to come back a better person than when I left and if I don't help anyone else on my mission I know I will have at least helped myself is one way or another.

I love you all and pray for you everyday. Do the work that you can do whereever you are and the Lord will bless you. I love this gospel and the work that I am called to do. Trust in Him and he will direct your paths in all things!

Much love

Shimai 

Riley's Letter

  Greetings,

This is, like all the others have gone by pretty fast. Last saturday we taught at the trc all in japanese. it went really well. although i probably only understood like 20% of what they responded back to our questions, it still went really well. i was able to formulate sentences and my comp and i were able to get a nice flow despite it being all in japanese. the spirit was way strong which was the best part. it was cool to bear testimony and make promises all in japanese. so that went a lot better then i expected it to go. the language is coming slowly but surely. i am super excited to continue to learn the language and then to get to japan. i am way excited. so next tuesday for the mtc wide devtional in which a general authority speaks, i am saying the opening prayer and natalie is saying the closing prayer, so that is way exciting, that would be way sweet if it was one of the twelve. so we are excited for that. class is way fun, still love my district, we have a blast. some of the guys in it are hilarious and i have gotten to know the other guys in our zone really well. we all get a long way good. quin, what was with the ashcroft person that you knew or soemthing? he is in my zone and i know him pretty well. he is hilarious. the food still wrecks the system way bad and gym time is still awesome. we got new japanese missionaries last wednesday so that is cool to be the senior missionaries. we only have like four and half weeks which is so crazy. yesterday we checked off all the grammar we have done and all the ones that we still will cover in class and it was crazy becasue we are like 3/4 of the way done with the grammar that is on the MTC cirriculum. the mtc and learning a language is crazy because one moment you can be pretty stoked with your progress and the next realize how far you have left and then be discouraged. but its easy for me becasue i figure if i just relax and work hard it will come and worrying about does nothing. so although it is way humbling i am doing fine. natalie on the other hand....well....she's..natalie. haha just kidding. she is doing way good and its sweet to have her around cuz she gets a boatload of packages all the time from random people and i get to eat the food in it so its all good. but this week i got two packages from sister cranney and katie cranney so i have a fresh supply of goodies thanks to them, so that was way nice of them. and i got a letter from grandma jo so that was way cool. she is definitely one of the number one providers of food and packages so that is really nice of her. i write them back everytime i get something from her. i also write the garners too. mail is good. mail is super fun to get from you guys which i like and i know that you dont email me so i dont waste my time reading emails instead of writing them but if you guys have any specific questions you wanna ask you can email those to me becasue some email days i have so much to tell you guys and am crunched for time and then other days (like today) i cant really remember/dont know what to tell you guys, so if you have any questions that you want me to answer you can email them to me. and yes, cobb, i slapped elder collinsworth's the other day when i saw him. he is way cool, i'll try and hook you up. thanks for looking for sweatshirts. as far as stuff i need, i dont really know. my brain hurts like all the time here so thinking while emailing or thinking on p-days in general is a real task so i probably need stuff but cant remember right now so it must not be anything too improtant. i would ask for my flips but i dont know how much use i would get out of them, they are just my comfort item. but i am doing way good. the whole mtc experience is really humbling at times becasue your flaws are a lot more prevalent here becasue you are trying to be so good. but its a really good experience. oh funny story: the other day me, natalie and our companions were in the mail room checking mail and of course she got two packages and i got none (the mail room people put package slips in our district mail box but they dont specify which stevenson has a package, so i always let natalie take care of it because it usually for). anyways as we were walking out of the crowded mail room i reached for one of the packages in natalies arms and she wasnt letting go and i wasnt really thinkning and i starting pulling harder to the point where some how her head was by my elbow and when i decided to let go it looked like/ i kinda did elbow her in the head, so it was this huge scene in the mailroom and since my brain was fried i didnt pay any attention to it and kept walking and so did natalie but our comps who were behind us said that everyone in the mailroom just froze with huge eyes becasue from their point of view this random elder just clocked this random sister in the head. so our compaions were like, "its ok, they are brother and sister, dont worry, they are siblings". natalie and i didnt comprehend the situation until after we got outside and then we realized how funny that must of looked. we laughed about for the whole day. im surprised that hasnt happended more often. but i just thought i'd tell you about that funny incident. im a writing the twins a letter in whcih im filling them in on all the funny, immature stuff that happens here. life is goodd. quin, i talked to jordan, the tall roomate who works here for a while the other day. he is way cool and funny. i dont see jackson at much though. i love you guys. the days are long, the weeks are short. its all good. thanks for everything. love to hear from y'all.

Love

Elder Stevenson

July 8, 2011

 
Natalie's Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

 

It's crazy to think that I am over half way done with the MTC! The time has gone by so fast yet so slow. (I feel like this is how i start all my emails...opps, but it's true) This week like every other week has been an up and down one. But this one I think has been the hardest one so far. I'll start from the beginning. On Saturday we taught in Japanese for the first time and let me tell you I was definately blessed with the gift of tongues. I could understand pretty much everything or was able to put ideas together and while two days before I could even put a sentence together, that day i was able to completely talk. The gift of tongues is real and I got a little taste of it. So i know that I am going to be okay. However, after feeling great the the Lord helped me, I felt like I then hit a wall. I really felt like I had so much more to learn yet didn't know how to keep progressing. I was now able to teacha  simple lesson in Japanese but how in the world was I going to communicate and listen to what the people were saying. It was a very depressing week because here I was feeling like I had this big wall in front of me and i didn't know how to get around it. I am still feeling like this currently and it's a little frustrating cause i want to keep progressing but really don't know how. Advice would be nice.

We got a new group of 24 missionaries going to Japan. It is so nice to have them here caue it was getting a little lonely. Included are two sisters. They are great. One is super excited about everything and it's almost too much, the other one is very calm yet super cool. We'll be good friends. Last night they had a get to know you meeting and in it they all gave a little introduction and told why they were on a mission and their testimonies and their strength was unbelieveable. They boost me up and remind me to have to same conviction that they have. The world is is good hands with missionaries like these boys. They are strong and all know why they are here and have such a testimony is the work and the gospel and doing what the Lord wants. I came out from that meeting knowing that the world is being changed because of elders like them. On a personal note and struggle, In that group of 24, probably 75% had some time to Japan and had taken Japanese before. One it makes me really wonder why I missed the band wagon and very far behind yet at the same time makes me think about how much greater my calling a missionary to Japan is. The Lord called me, a 21 year old girl with no ties to Japan, no language experience and here i am starting from ground one. It makes me feel like I have a special work to do in Japan that no one else can do. same goes for Riley. Makes me wonder what the significance of that was. I feel like I need to work extra hard to become good at this language and at knowing the gospel better. The hardest thing here at the MTC is not to compare yourself with others. It's hard when you see half your class understanding what the teacher is saying and you have no idea what he just said. It's hard when you are contacting people and your companion just goes off and you can't even formulate a sentence. It's so frustrating. But last night in our meeting the zone leaders (who had both taken Japanese and my companion, whose half Japanese were telling the newbies that took Japanes before to keep learnign more adn more and to keep progressing, they then let me say somethign about learnign the language and i spoke more to those like 4 people who didn't know japanese before that you can not compare yourself becaue that is just letting satan right on in. I was so preaching to myself. I think that is what i struggle most with. Not comparing. Pray for me to know that I am doing my best and that I am making progress in the language.

Not gonna lie, the mission is hard and it pushes and stretches you in ways you can't understand. It's good beacuse it means that the Lord knows you are ready to become better and that you are ready to grow but it hearts. But everyday I always go to bed thinking how this was the best thing ever and that I am going to come back a better person than when I left and if I don't help anyone else on my mission I know I will have at least helped myself is one way or another.

I love you all and pray for you everyday. Do the work that you can do whereever you are and the Lord will bless you. I love this gospel and the work that I am called to do. Trust in Him and he will direct your paths in all things!

Much love

Shimai

Riley's Letter

So it really seems like just the other day that i emailed you guys. thats sweet that dad and cobb are in dc and thats way cool that quin is in provo. things are going way good. last week we taught a good lesson about the plan of salvation. before each lesson we do a task in japanese with the people we are teaching, who are mostly all native japanese speakers and it was the first where i did not have to use my notebook in the japanese part. granted it was probably way inaccurate but at least i can now start making sentences in my head, so thats good. we also teach some "investigators" who are way fresh off their missions from japan. all of them love it and they all say that it goes by way too quickly. it is cool to talk to them. i am so excited to go to japan. we had some native japanese missionaries come here and they were only here for three weeks becasue they are already fluent and then they left last week to go to japan with our older group of japanese missionaries. while they were here i really developed my intial love for the japanese people. i know was only around about two dozen of them as opposed to a whole country but i have started to develop a pride for japan and a love for the japanese people. the missionaries that were here were super funny and way nice. i am really glad that i have began to develop this love because it was something that i struggled with when i first got here. i struggled with having a desire to learn japanese and to develop a love for japan. but now i feel like i have that. i love the japanese missionaries that were here and i am way excited to be going to japan. we only have a little over six weeks left and i know that may sound like a long time but i know that it is really going to fly and sooner then we know it we will be on our to japan. we have so much to learn. tomorrow at the trc we teach in japanese for the first time. it will be way intense but fun at the same time. we had our first practice lesson in japanese and it was a way humbling experience, it was a struggle but i know that i am making really good progress and that i have to keep my head. i think teaching in japanese is way fun because it is such a challenge. its kind of like an obstacle course where you know what you want to say but you have such a limited vocabulary and then even in that vocabulary it is difficult to formulate sentences, but i think the challenge is fun. my companion, elder de la mare took four years of japanese before this so he is way good at it. it is really nice having him around because not only does he help a ton to have in the lessons but he helps me a lot with the language on the side. he is a way cool, i really like him. so tomorrow will definitely be interesting, teaching the lesson all in japanese. i pretty much have the first vision in japanese memorized but it still needs work. i love it here. i love being around so many awesome guys and there is no other place where i would want to be with them then here. like the other day i talked to cameron and collinsworth for a while and that was way fun. we are all good friends, we have a way fun time when we see each other. and then i see my best friend from hawaii Jack Armstrong quite a bit and a love talking to him. its so sweet becasue we did like everything together in hawaii and he is a way solid guy so its super cool that we are both here in the mtc together. and then i just talked to elder tyler morgan, a friend from hawaii, who is also uncle jonh's nephew or something, in line at the caf. it is way refreshing to see frineds from hawaii because everyone are way good guys, way funny guys and now we are all on missions which is sweet. the brotherhood that the missionary service brings is way unique and powerful and strong. like i would love to live with any of these guys when i get back, so its way fun.

oh, thanks for the letters, but i have to tell you about my fourth of july experience. so the whole day we were all kinda bummed that we were going to miss the fireworks from the concert Stadium of Fire held in the football stadium that saturday the 2nd. i was totally fine with not seeing the fireworks but everyone was still kinda missing the forth of july fireworks. we had a fireside at 900, which was weird cuz they all start at 730 usually and we were supposed to be back in the residence halls by 930, so we went to the fireside and it was really really good. we sang a bunch of patriotic songs and then we had this district president was has also been the adviser to three presidents of the usa speak to us. it was way good and really inspiring. then they had this flag ceremony with all the flags of the world. it was incredible. there was a professional group of bagpipers that also came in and played praise to the man (like in the joseph smith movie) it was so awesome. and then the mtc surpised everybody when they told us that we could all go outside and watch the fireworks from the stadium even though it would be passed our bedtime. so we all got free hagen dawgs ice cream bars (moms favorite) as we made our way outside to watch the fireworks. it was way fun. i didnt expect it at all. i will definitely remember that fourth of july forever, it was awesome.

but i totally remember watching it on the roof with gregor and mom and cobb and the hot dawgs, good times for sure. how is gregor doing? tell him to get his john brown hind parts and report to the mtc, is the best, the food wrecks your system, so its exciting.

in case you were wondering i weighed myself the other day and i have gained three whole pounds, so i am getting hefty.

as far as stuff i need: mail is always good but i think i might be set. if you could find the sweetest picture(s) of the laie temple and send it me that would be way good. i think i am good on everything else, meaning i am not in dire need of anytihng but that being send, anything will be much appreciated. another week in the mtc is in the books, and another is on the horizon.  i love you all

quins email and the twins eamil addrerssees pleases?

Love elder stevenson

July 1, 2011

Natalie's Letter

I can't believe another week has already past. It's crazy how time works in this place. A little scary too. Today is our one month mark. hard to believe. and i don't know if it's gone by fast or slow... This week was again like every other week. up and down up and down. and it all happens mulitple times in one day so it's hard to keep track of if that day was a good day or a bad day. This week has been a little more difficult in the sense that the language is getting to me. my companion is getting really good and i'm not keeping up with her so it's hard when we are trying to have a conversation and i'm trying to think of something to say and she's just going off and then says the sentence i was going to say. It's really frustrating. but i am praying for strength and keep telling myself that if i just keep working it will come. and everyday i am so thankful that i can been here at the mtc and that this is really preparing me for the rest of my life. that is why i am starting to see why missions are so important. they teach you so much about life and the real purpose here. i love it! thanks for you constant prayers and letters. they really help! still loving having riley is my district. it's fun to finally see him come out of his shell. People are starting to tell me how halirious that kid is and i smile and am glad that he is making himself comfortable. our senpai leave on monday for japan! crazy to think that their time has finally come. i can't express how much i am going to miss them. they have been such a support to me and i have come to love them all sooo much! with them leaving means that in a week 1/2 that new japanese missionaries come in! so excited! do i feel ready to be a senpai and be the older ones with more experience. no. but does that means it's not gonna happen. no. so i'm gonna work hard and pray that i am some what fit for the role of senpai. we're hoping for either no sisters or two but no more becuase we like being the only shiamai's ;) well, that's pretty much it for this week. MTC life gets pretty repeative. i love what I am doing and love this gospel. keep praying for me and stevenson choro! love you all!

loves,

stevenson shimai