Week 4 in the MTC - The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Konnichiwa! 

Thank you for all the letters I received this week! They were wonderful!

This week was a blur! I honestly do not remember when what has happened. Some days feel like two and other days I blink and they are over. But, I still have 4 1/2 weeks left; so time could always move a little faster.. Don't worry though, I am still enjoying being here at the MTC. The food has gotten old. But I think that happened a few weeks ago. Everyone in our district has gained a couple pounds...or 15! I don't think I've really gained anything. Sometimes I'm a few pounds more, but other days I'm the same weight as before. I've also taken up running- just to be on the safe side. I can run over a mile!! It is quite the accomplishment. Between not having run in a long, LONG time and the altitude. It's great.

I learned a new phrase this week...well I've learned lots of new phrases this week...but this one is just for my mother. "torei ni iku hitsuyo ga arimasu." It translates. I have need to go to the toilet. Very useful! Well, despite my leaps and bounds in Nihongo I still have been making some mistakes. Here were my favorites of the week:

- Dopp Shimai and I went to pick up a package for her. The guy at the package office served in Japan so we always have a little Nihongo exchange. Anyways, he asked Dopp Shimai where she was serving. Then he asked me. Except I didn’t know what he asked so I said "Ma ma" It's like come ci come ca....kinda like so, so (something that doesn't really exist in the English language) Universal answer. Demo, not for where are you serving! His face was priceless. And he told me I needed to work on my Nihongo. Dopp Shimai and I got a really good laugh. Especially when she told me what'd he'd asked.

-During one of our lessons with an investigator, I was telling her about church. I meant to say "during sacrament meeting we partake of the sacrament and then church members speak to us," Instead, I told her that we take the sacrament and then none of the members will talk to us." Luckily her face clued me in on my mistake and I fixed it. But it was still pretty funny. And that's better than Dopp Shimai. She enjoys teaching false doctrines such as god is the spirit of the trees and we start our prayers "dear Jesus Christ." Super funny. 

Remember my earlier story about cookies?? Well, yesterday I learned what coo-shoo-ki (the way I had pronounced cookie) meant! It means strange. So when I thought I was offering a box of cookies that my family sent I was really saying "here is a box of strange. It's from my family" hahaha it's a classroom joke now. 

Good news with our investigators! Tominaga san has committed to baptism!! Now we just need him to stop drinking... And Katayama san came to church! It's so excited that, despite our weaknesses in the language that people still feel the spirit and have a desire to come closer to Christ! 

I learned something new about priesthood meeting (last hour in church where all the men meet) this week! Apparently in WA they are told "the more prayers you say the prettier wife you'll be." Now that is a fantastic way to get people to pray! Poor Elder Jensen didn't even catch what he said. So that made it even funnier. I'm sure he meant to say "the more prayers you say the prettier YOUR wife will be" demo English is no longer anyone’s strong point. 

Dopp Shimai and I are in charge of picking music for sacrament meeting and priesthood meeting for our branch. This past Sunday we picked "sweet hour of prayer" for the closing song. But, when I wrote down the hymn numbers I switched the English and Nihongo numbers...so the poor Elders sang some strange song only sang in Japan. I heard it was pretty funny! I'm glad I wasn't there!

Last P-day Dopp Shimai told me the greatest thing ever. Apparently our first week here she was VERY concerned about my happiness! She was so sad that I was so unhappy here. All I did was complain. Then she realized I just enjoy complaining. Regardless of if I truly mean the complaint or not. hahaha she had been praying so that she could find ways to make me happy! But, she realized that I am one of the happiest people she has ever met. It makes me laugh every time I think about it. Poor Dopp Shimai. 

Ok now for something a little more spiritual. And I will try really hard not to botch it up this time!

Eder Quentin L. Cook came and spoke to us Tuesday!! He was amazing. He is one of my favorite speakers so far. He spoke completely unscripted! I think since that doesn’t happen in General Conference his talk has more of an impact on me. He spoke about the mission assignment process. It was really cool hearing about it! They don't throw darts at a map!! He said each prospective missionary comes up on a big screen and they look at our picture, read about us and read references from our Bishop and Stake president. Then, they look where missionaries are needed and they get a prompting! The cool thing is that there are different promptings!! It's not just oh she should go here. It's "the people of Japan need her" or "this missionary needs this mission president" or "this country will become important to this person sometime in the future". How cool is that!!! And he said sometimes they pick the wrong place and go back and fix it! He finished telling us about the process by saying "You are going where you should go to do things only you can do." Very inspiring!

Also cool, it took 175 years to hit 1 million missionaries sent out. Within 25 years we will hit another million sent out! Elder cook talked about how special our call was and what we have been sent out to do as missionaries. The last thing I have written that he said is actually a Gordon B. Hinckley quote concerning missionaries "If they have more faith, they will have more success." I LOVE that! And I think that it applies to everyone. Not just missionaries. If we have faith all things are possible. I know this to be true.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas (and Holiday) season! Eat lots of sugar cookies for me! And don't forget the true meaning of Christmas. We are celebrating our Savior's birth! 

I love you all,

Molinari Shimai

Week 3 in the MTC

10 December 2013 MTC, Provo, Utah, USA

Konichiwa!

For starts I would like to apologize for my Japanese testimony... It was brought to my attention that it did NOT translate correctly. Most translators don't do Romanji too well.. I promise that my Japanese isn't as bad as your on-line translator may have led you to think. 

This week has been lots of fun! Dopp Shemai and I were trying to think of what we were going to write about today and neither of us could think of any good stories. Instead we created a very long list of all the funny things that happened this week and we ended up laughing so hard our stomachs hurt! It is still snowing here! Blahh! The mountains are beautiful covered in snow. Especially when the sun is rising, they take on the colors of the sky! But that doesn't make the cold any less cold or the ice any less slippery. There are casualties every day from the ice! As a general rule, I think it may be the people who have never seen snow before who are falling the most!

Ok, here are the highlights of my week;

My Japanese is getting better! I can string together basic sentences, pray and bear my testimony (and I believe it is being understood). Part of our language learning program is something called SYL. Speak your language. So, as you learn words you replace them in your vocab. The end result is that you use no english words! Well, as my Japanese improves, my English disappears and the result is rather funny. My sentences may or may not include English, French and Japanese all at once! And sometimes Spanish... Yesterday I was speaking to Dopp Shimai in multiple languages at once and she says "You mock my pain! You rub your gift of tongues in my face!" Oh boy, it was sooo funny! Especially since early that week she answered our Japanese investigator in Spanish! I take full responsibility (and credit) for that! We are also both having a problem speaking English. It is ridiculous!  Sometimes I just make noises instead of words and Dopp Shimai just nods and usually understands what I was trying to say. Other times I just don't form sentences right or use the wrong words. Yesterday was probably the worst day. We decided the people of the tower of Babel experienced something a little similar. As we were laughing about this I tried to say we should draw a tower on the chalk board. But..instead of tower I said towel. And then after 5 attempts I was still saying towel. Of course we both found this insanely funny! That night we had to teach a mock lesson to another of the companionships. It was painful. I started out and I could not find the words for very simple truths! Dopp Shimai's favorite part of the lesson was when I stopped talking, opened my PMG (Preach my gospel- which is basically our lesson guide), flipped a few pages, read, and then said "God is our loving Heavenly Father". When she started teaching she would look at me to say something and I just had absolutely no idea what to say, and that was if I knew what she was talking about. My English had left me! At one point she was talking about Joseph Smith (Our first prophet) and says "I know Joseph Smooth was a prophet." I lost it at that point. 

Last Tuesday, we had a really awesome devotional! One of the apostles was suppose to come but, because of the snow, he was unable to make it. So instead we had Bruce C. Hafen speak. His talk was amazing! And it was exactly what I needed to hear. It's hard to pick out my favorite bits..but here are a few. He spoke about his very good friend, Elder Holland. They grew up together! Elder Hafen told us that before both their missions Elder Holland had no desire to go! He had met the girl of his dreams and he wanted to marry her. But, he chose to serve a mission..and maybe a little half heartedly at that. But when he came back he was a completely changed man! I thought that was amazing and sooo inspiring! Our potential to grow and change and learn is limitless! And the happily ever after of that story is that he still ended up with the girl of his dreams. And his mission has blessed both of their lives! Elder Hafen also talked about the temple a lot. He urged us to go as often as we could and to take advantage of our time there.  He ended his talk with what he believes our Heavenly Father has said to each of us "Thou aren't my son (or daughter) and I have a work for you."

I absolutely love the MTC at Holiday season. The day after thanksgiving we started celebrating Christmas! I'm happy. All our talks and devotionals are centered around Christmas and Christ and we sing Christmas songs all the time! On Sunday our speaker, Neil F. Marriot, challenged each of us to find just one person to reach out to between now and Christmas so they can feel the love and light of Christ in their life. I'm going to extend that challenge to all of you! Find one person whose life you can touch between now and Christmas. You don't have to do anything big either; a simple act of Kindness is all it takes.

One of the other highlights of my week was teaching our "investigator" Tominaga San. He is a 50-some year old whose entire family are members of our church. He isn't. So we are meeting with him. Our last lesson we were teaching him about prayer, and that God loves us so he wants to hear from us! The best part of the lesson; he prayed for the first time ever! It was the sweetest prayer too. He started off with "Dear Heavenly father" and then said "Hello, it's me, Tominaga san." It was so touching. I loved it. I love that we can all pray to our Heavenly Father and ask him for things that we need or just say hi! Lessons are becoming more enjoyable for me, I can understand most of what our investigators are saying and I can usually convey what I want to say!

This week we also did this thing called TRC..I don't remember what it stands for. But it is were members of our church who speak different languages come and volunteer. We, as missionaries, just get to practice talking to them! Dopp Shemai and I spoke with a couple first. Turns out they have been in Hill Cumorah Pageant before! So we talked about that for a while. What made the couple even better- their son is in our zone! So we got to take a message from them and deliver it to the Elder. Super sweet. The other person we got to practice with was this kid from BYU. It was awkward. SO AWKWARD. He didn’t really seem like he was enjoying himself and halfway through he gave up speaking in Japanese and just switched to English. Anyways after a few very painful and awkward minutes Dopp Shemai decides to bare her testimony. It was beautiful. Then..it was my turn. The only thing I could think about was tests! Who bears their testimony on tests??? Well, I went with it. I told this boy that if he was doing all he could do, Heavenly Father would pick up where he left off and help him make it through finals week and do well too. Turns out, that was just what this boy needed to hear! Imagine that!

Ok, a few more funny stories from this week. I got a piece of gummy bear stuck in my nose! I was chewing a blueberry gummy bear when Dopp Shemai made me laugh. The thing ended up in my nose. And then next ten minutes were very painful, yet blueberry scent filled. I sat in the corner of our classroom trying to blow it out and making all sorts of ridiculous noises, while Dopp Shemai laughed. Some how no one noticed! And the gummy was finally dislodged. Painful. But funny. 

We have an Elder in our district from Finland. He has a hard time expressing himself in English sometimes so he doesn’t speak too much. But when he does he always says something ridiculously funny or insanely spiritual. Here are a few of the funny things he said this week:

-Talking about Santa Clause in Finland "sometimes Santa comes by reindeer, sometimes in Volvo...depends on the weather."

-Talking to our Sensei about marriage "Maybe you should extend a commitment. Like in baptism. If you come to know that you love me then you marry me"

-Dopp Shemai and were talking about snow and he says "speaking of snow-I've been naked in it!"

He is just too funny! We call the things he says "gems". ‘Cus that is what they are.

Last funny story; Dopp Shimai and I were being not so serious about planning our lesson the other day. It was about Joseph Smith and the restoration and she wanted to know how to say a certain word. Instead of me telling her the correct word I was telling her things like lawnmower and leach (in Nihongo). We were laughing and then, all of the sudden, a picture falls of the wall and hits her right on the head! It was a picture of the first vision! WE took it as a sign that we needed to get to work! 

Ok that is all for now. I promise we really are well behaved and don't spend all our time goofing around. The MTC is a great place and we feel the spirit ever day! We love teaching together. We are quite the team. I'm so grateful for all your emails, prayers and support!

I love you all!

Molinari Shimai

Pictures at the Temple 3 December 2013 Provo, Utah, USA

Sister Dopp, Sister Molinari, Elder Johnson, Elder Wilson

(Part of) MTC District at the Temple

Dopp Shimai and Molinari Shimai at Provo Temple

Week 2 in the MTC

2 December 2013 MTC Provo, Utah, USA

Ohaiyo!

Technically, this is week three according to the MTC... but I am trying to ignore how fast the weeks are flying by. So, for me I'm calling it week two.

We woke up to snow today. BLAHHHH. I'm wearing my rain boots though so it is all good. No slushy nastiness is making my feet cold. I've been getting lots of compliments on my boots too! Makes me forget about the snow.

This past week was lots of fun! Once again excuse me for grammar/ spelling/ any other kind of error. These keyboards are awful and I just want to type as much as I can in the limited amount of time I have.

Happy late thanksgiving!! Thanksgiving here was great. We had a real thanksgiving dinner too! And there were mashed potatoes and gravy so I was happy. That is the best part of thanksgiving to me. We had a special thanksgiving devotional where Elder Nelson came and spoke to us. Elder Nelson is one of our leaders of the church, under the prophet- so someone special. He spoke about what we need to do as missionaries and who we should be making friends with as soon as we get to a new ward (church ). We need to be working with the ward mission leaders and the family history coordinators. They will be the most help to us and help us be as successful as we can be in finding others to bring unto Christ (or in some cases bring back too). There was a special musical number by the choir. And guess who was in the choir???? This sister missionary right here!! WE sang a special rendition of Hope of Israel. It was really cool to sing because WE are the hope of Israel! And I'd have to say the coolest part about the whole experience was that the devotional was being broadcast worldwide to the other MTCs around the world! I was on tv! So while we are singing the camera pans around the choir and we are told we can NOT look at the screen. After being told you can't look at the screen it makes it 100 times harder not to look! There is so much pressure!! Especially since if you are caught you get kicked out of the choir! Gahh!

After the devotional we got to go on a temple walk. It is sooo nice leaving the MTC grounds. We are surrounded by buildings and cement so it is sooo nice to walk on and smell grass haha. After that we did a service project. It was really awesome. I can't remember what the organization is called, but they make meals and put them in backpacks for kids to bring home because those kids aren’t fed when they go home! We (as in all the missionaries in the MTC) made over 350,000 meals!!! There are a couple articles about us in the news too. I found one on Mormon news room...I think. It is linked through LDS.org too. It was so fun getting to do service. I loved it! 

My companions and I also took pictures in front of the famous map. I'll be sure to actually send some pictures today. Last week got a little crazy and we never got the chance to get back onto the computer.

We finished our thanksgiving day with a fun little fireside where missionaries where selected to act out the first thanksgiving. It was super funny. And then we got to watch Ephraim’s Rescue. For those of you who haven't seen that movie-watch it! It was great. I loved watching it as a missionary too. It had a much different meaning to me and I took a lot of different things out of it. I am sooo grateful for the pioneers and the faith they had to cross the plains to get out west. And I am amazed by the faith they had that allowed they to perform miracles and have miracles happen to them. 

Ok...other fun things... here at the MTC we have real investigators who volunteer their time and then we have pretend ones...I think I told you about Suzuki San in my last email. She ended up being our teacher! I wasn't too surprised. Between Kristoffer and Blake that surprise had been ruined, But watching some of the other member's in our districts faces were priceless. They were sooo shocked. I'm so glad she is our teacher too! She is adorable. And she in from Japan so I'm hoping I can really listen to her and get accents right.

As for the real investigators...my companion and I made friends with one of them! Her name is Sarah. She is from Tennessee and she is the sweetest lady ever! I love her. We sit with her at lunch time and I love it! We get to share the message of the gospel with her without sharing doctrine. We get to be an example to her and show her we can be happy. She always tells us how much she loves our smiles and it amazes her that so many missionaries can always be happy! It is great. She makes me feel like I am actually being a missionary. In class that doesn't happen as often. She also brought us pie! It was her happy thanksgiving present for us. We had apple and pumpkin pie and both were MUCH better than the MTC version on thanksgiving. I am sooo grateful for her. She has had such a hard life too and all I want to do is give her a hug and tell her the gospel can make that better. But I think that is what everyone tells her so instead I am just trying to be a friend. 

Ok, last highlight of the week. Dopp Shemai and I taught on Sunday. We did our version of Sunday school for our district. We were assigned to talk about Faith in the Atonement. We really didn't want to go the regular route of "you can be forgiven of your sins through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." So we pondered and prayed and finally Sunday we had a brain blast! We taught about the healing power of the atonement instead. And that through it we can be healed of our heart ache and the holes we feel can be filled. It was a fantastic lesson. We used stories from the New Testament of Christ healing people to show that all we need is faith. Christ does the rest. It was fantastic! It was exactly what a few people in our district needed to hear. We could really feel the spirit so strongly. I'm so grateful that it turned out so well. Everyone is joking that the bar has been set to high now haha.

Ok, here are a few funny stories. First, every week we meet with one of our leaders over our zone(all the missionaries going to Tokyo). We (my doryo and I) get asked how we are doing and if we need help with anything and such. Well, Dopp Shimai and I are doing awesome. WE still love each other and we LOVE teaching with each other. Dream come true. I was totally worried I wouldn't like my companion. Anyways I told our leader that the only thing that I was having a hard time with was sitting ALL day. And that my butt hurt! Oh how I wish there had been a camera there to get Dopp Shimai's reaction. She looked like she might die. She got really rigid and her eyes got soo wide. Of course that made me want to laugh but you should all be proud of me! I kept it in till we left the room. hahaha it was great! She proceeded to tell me afterwards that they do not use that word in her house, so between that and me using it with one of our priesthood leaders she was beyond shocked. I loved it ha.

We learned how to bear our testimonies this weekend. I am SO happy. I was feeling pretty down about myself and Japanese all week because I couldn't share how I really feel. Well, now I can. Simply, but that is ok. Anyways, we were practicing bearing testimony and just to make sure we had it down really well we practiced with other words. Here are a few of my favorites:

"I know that the goats are trying" -Dopp

"I know that your insides are red"- Me

"I know hippopotamuses are true"-Me Sadly the word for hippo in Japanese isn’t as funny as it is in Eigo. It’s Napo or something boring like that.

Needless to say we were giggling away in our corner that evening. But here is a short, more serious sample of what I learned.

Ten no Otosama ga minna son da ai suru to shitte imasu.

Mormon sho ga shinjitsu da to shitte imasu to

watashitachi wa kamisama des kodomotachi to shitte imasu

I love you all! Thank you so much for your emails and letters. They mean so much to me. I am loving it here. I learn so much everyday and I am so grateful for this opportunity!

Molinari Shemai

First Picture

Sister Dopp, Sister Molinari, Elder Johnson, Elder Companion

in front of the Provo Utah Temple

Welcome Letter From MTC Mission President

Dear Sister Kirstin Amanda Molinari,

Congratulations on your call to serve!  We are excited about your arrival at the Provo Missionary Training Center next week and are grateful for your decision to serve the Lord.  We would like to share some important information about your stay at the MTC.

You should arrive for your training at the main MTC campus (2005 N 900 E).

This will be your MTC mailing address:

Sister Kirstin Amanda Molinari
MTC JPN-TOK Jan 21
2007 N 900 E Unit  17
Provo UT 84602

Please share this address with those who may want to write or send packages to you while you are in the MTC.

Also, please pay close attention to the following instructions:

  1. Your service begins the day you check into the MTC.  Remind your family that complete separation from loved ones is part of the sacrifice that families and missionaries contribute to the work.  For this reason, you should ask your family and friends not to attempt to see or visit with you while you are at the MTC, not even during your temple walks or at other places near the MTC.
  2. All missionary mail must come through the US Mail or commercial delivery services.  These services should not be used to send pizzas, fast foods, ice-cream, or any items that will spoil if they are not refrigerated within 24 hours.  Missionaries are not called out of class to receive packages, nor do they have access to a refrigerator.  For security reasons, we cannot accept any items delivered by hand.
  3. Communication with family can be done through your missionary email account on your weekly Preparation Day. We cannot accept telephone calls for missionaries.
  4. Families and friends should not visit missionaries as they depart to their field of labor, whether at the MTC or at the airport.

Please do not reply to this email.  If you need to communicate with the MTC, please call 801-422-2602.

Sincerely,

Provo MTC Presidency

26 November 2013 MTC Provo, Utah USA

Konichiwa!!

How is everyone?? I am doing great! And I am loving it at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) here in Utah.

This last week has been crazy! It flew by. The first day was kind of a blur. I reported at 1:30, brought my belongings to my room (which is on a 4th floor..I get winded every time we climb up to our room) and then was brought to my classroom. There was a sensai (teacher) there who was ONLY speaking in Japanese. Of course, I had no clue what was going on. That continued until all of our district showed up. Originally there were 11 people. 4 choro or elders and 7 shimai or sisters. But, yesterday one our the Sisters was transfered out. She is basically fluent in Japanese so her arrival date to Japan was moved up! She leaves in 2 weeks now! It was sad to see her go. But I am soo excited for her to get to go to Japan so soon! 

Because she left I have 2 companions now! Dopp Shemai and Trent Shimai. I love them both. Dopp Shemai was my original companion. We get along like a dream. We both have the same sense of humor and we have a lot of things in common. Of course we have our differences too...but they are pretty minor. We spend a lot of time giggling in class over all the incorrect things I say in Japanese! She has had a few years of classes so she is pretty good. And thank goodness for that! Both of my companions are from Idaho. Dopp Shimai is 20. Trent Shimai in 19 and fresh out of high school.

So everyday we wake up at 6:30, go to breakfast, and either have gym time or personal study time. During Gym time we go play volleyball. It is super fun! Yesterday we were playing Volleyball and we were all getting pretty into it. Anyways, I dove for a ball yesterday and ended up burning a hole through my pants...and my knee! So....Mummy and Daddy...I need a new pair of work out pants please.... I sewed the hole up but the pants don't look right, or hang right anymore. 

Other fun things... For everyone who is wondering YES I've seen Elder Johnson (Blake). We have our meals at the same time. So we smile at each other from across the room. I also saw him when I arrived! He had a little goody bag and letter prepared for me too. It was pretty exciting to see him after not seeing him for over a month! I have pictures too...I'll send those out later. Sunday night we had a devotional (meeting where all the missionaries gather and we get to listen to a usually more prominent member of the church speak). Elder Johnson and I sat together..kind of. My companion sat in between us haha. Any ways-the speaker was having missionaries stand up for certain things. Anyone learning Japanese stand up, anyone who just got here stand up, anyone who is leaving this week stand up. Well, his second to last "stand up" was "anyone who is writing to a significant other stand up." Of course Elder Johnson and I stood up. I think both our faces turned a little red and us and our companions were all laughing. I NEVER thought that would happen in the MTC.

Utah gets colder by the day. And I am NOT a fan. But the MTC is fabulous. I'm learning so much and I love getting to devote 100% of my time to language and gospel study. Japanese is hard, But I know I'll get it eventually. Our language class is super crazy. Our sensai only speaks japanese to us. After our first class I was super frustrated but I've gotten better and more positive now. I can understand WAY more than I speak. And I am pretty decent at ready hirigana. So I am not too worried. Our teacher, Hugo Sensai looks like he came straight out of a classic movie from 50's or 60's. It makes paying attention super easy haha He also knows what he is talking about and does a good job incorporating gospel principles into teaching the language. I really enjoy that class. Especially when I know what is going on!

We have our first investigator. Suzuki San. She is the cutest girl I have ever seen! And she is sooo nice. Our first lesson was horrible! I had no idea what was going on. Thank goodness for Dopp shemai. She saved the day. But just barely.. Our second lesson was better. And our lesson last night was fantastic! We brought cookies for her, started with a prayer, talked about the holy ghost and how to recognize it. She had questions about "the gift of the holy ghost" so we got to explain baptism too! Then Joseph smith came up too so we explained who he was. The we sang I am a child of god in Nihongo and asked Suzuki san how she felt. When we asked if she would like to pray to close she said yes! Of course this was all done with pre-planned sentances and we had our books with us too. But we all knew what was going on and could answer the questions! I loved it. I can't wait to do that without any books. 

OK, well I must go. Please excuse the grammer and mis-spelling. I just wanted to get as much as I could written in the little time that I have.

I love you all!

Molinari Shimai