16 January 2014 MTC
Provo Utah USA – Last letter from USA
Hello everyone!
This week has been
really great.
It is so exciting getting ready to leave the MTC. Friday we
received our travel plans and it made leaving and going to Japan ever so real.
My district is all on the same plane too! Everyone got their Visas!! We are
super grateful for that. We leave at4:30 Monday morning!!
So last Thursday we
had a really great lesson with our investigator Tominaga San. We taught about
the Atonement of Jesus Christ and why we need it in our life. Not only can we
access it for healing and forgiveness but also for strength. It was such
an amazing lesson and the spirit was so strong while we were teaching. At the
end of our lesson Tominaga San finally really committed to stop drinking. I
think he realized that he really could do it!
All our lessons have
been really good lately. Dopp Shimai have finally found a way we love teaching
and the spirit is usually present when we teach. I also am not afraid to speak
and that makes lessons much better too.
Last
night we got a chance to Skype at TRC again. I can't remember the lady's
name..but she was a real spitfire! She was a Nihonjin (ed. Japanese) that lived
in Mexico!! I had to try really hard not to snicker through our whole lesson...
So for starters her camera connection wouldn’t work. But I'm not really sure
she was aware that we couldn't see her. So the entire lesson we spoke to a
black screen. So she starts by asking us our names and we tell her and then she
continues to question each of us individually.
Half
of the time I had no idea what she was asking. But she thought it was really
cool Kristoffer is serving a mission in Tahiti. She was really nice and would
repeat things for me. And we had a decent "get to know you"
conversation. Then it Was Sister Dopp's turn! The longer this Sister spoke to Sister
Dopp the slower she spoke, and it was the funniest thing EVER! Out of the two
of us Sister Dopp is NOT the one who needs to be spoken slowly too. So this
continues, I keep trying not to laugh..Finally she asks us what we have
prepared to teach her.
We
share this quick message about the atonement. She gives us these great answers
to our questions and then...nothing. We had run out of things to say. So she
asks if we can share our testimonies. Dopp Shimai goes first. And all through
it she gets corrected and told the correct way to say things. Then it is my
turn...I was pretty nervous. I didn’t want to be corrected that much!
Well,
I started in Nihongo and everything came out perfectly! And quickly too!
Usually, I piece together sentences slowly but this time it came out smoothly
and quickly and before I knew it I had finished! I was so shocked I was done!
And that there had been no corrections either!
After
that I told her I was excited to share the gospel and used Waku waku which she
told me wasn't the correct term for the sentence and shared the correct one.
After that she asked (and i thought it was to both of us) if we had attended
seminary. WE said yes. She then asked if we'd slept through it. hahahaha
Afterwards Dopp Shimai said that was directed to her and gave me a full
translation of that segment of the conversation.. I almost peed my pants from
laughing. I always feel like Dopp Shimai does better out of the two of us when
speaking/ teaching in Nihongo. Guess our Skype Sister didn't feel that way!
During one of our
lessons this week we practiced "train approaches." Or how to start
speaking to someone on a train. Our sensei for the day gave us an example and
then asked for a volunteer. No one volunteered so I said I would if we did one
in Eigo (ed. English) first.
So Dopp Shimai and I
go up and we just sit there. I had no idea what to say! And then...he starts
speaking to us in Japanese!!! I was a little annoyed and stayed silent. Dopp
Shimai had to do the entire thing.
Afterwards our Sensai
said ok what went wrong? And I said "You said it would be in
English!" And he starts apologizing cuz he forgot. No big deal. I get a
second try to redeem myself - in English. One of the other Shimai in our
district became my new companion. So we are sitting and still don't really know
what to say but are trying to chat about church stuff to maybe catch his
attention. OF COURSE that didn't work. So I smile (or rather smirk) at my
companion and say "Smith Shimai...do you remember which station is our
stop?" and of course she didn't know...so I asked our sensei who was
pretending to be the passenger "excuse me..could you tell me which stop
is..." The class burst in the laughter. I think they saw that as a very
Sister Molinari thing to do. It was great. And a conversation was started. It
didn't go beautifully, but at least we spoke that time!
Don't worry! I won't
do that in real life unless I genuinely don't know where I am going. Which will
probably going to happen a lot at first.
Elder Bednar came
again on Tuesday. He just continued to answer questions from Christmas. He did
tell us something that I am going to extend to all of you. He said ask your
family and friends to be praying for you to have the gift of tongues. So,
friends and family...please keep me in your prayers so I might be able to speak
well and learn Japanese quickly!
Sorry this is kind of
a boring letter. And I need to run! Next one will be much more exciting
hopefully...It'll be from Japan so it has to be right? I love you all! Thank
you for all your support and letters. I got a big pile of letters yesterday and
it made my day!
Love,
Sister Molinari
