October 28, 2011

Attention EVERYONE!

 

ニホン　似　息ます！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！I am going to Japan!!! I got my travel plans and my flight leaves from SLC on November 7th at 8:31am. I fly to LAX and have a layover from 9:30 to 11:30 and at that time I get to call my family!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait to hear all of your voices!! so be ready to be on the phone at that time family!! After LAX we leave at 11:25am on november 7th and get to Japan at 4:40pm on November 8th. Crazy huh!? (feel free to send me coloring books or a nice sedative...) haha jkjk but real about the coloring books.

 

okay so this week was great!! I taught one of the Japanese sisters to say "ballin" as she shoots the ball in basketball. That was hilarious to me. I love teaching them english slang it's hilarious. and you should see the reaction they give when i show them pictures of me working at Disneyland. they literally die. I feel like I was always meant to be amongst Japanese people. they accept me. hahaha

 

Nothing else to new going on.. same ol same ol... yesterday in a lesson we were asking our investigator if he has ever committed a serious crime (baptismal interview questions) and he said "nai to omoimasu" which means "no, i think" but we thought he said "hai, to omoimasu" which means YES. ahahaha so we were like ohhhhhh ummmmmmm what did you do? (this is all in japanese btw) and he was like, ummm what was your question again? hahhahaha it was so funny. In the same lesson my companion also asked him if he thought the word of wisdom was delicious on accident. hahaha needless to say my Japanese obvi is not perfect yet...

 

Well, I love you all! I know the church is true and it brings me such JOY!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I sent home my address for Japan so you can start sending letters there. CRAZYYYY!!!

 

xoxo,

soon to be in Japan gossip girl,

Sister Swainston

October 22, 2011

HELLO ALLLLLLL

 

Yep. I'm still at the MTC but next week we get travel plans which means there is a light at the end of the tunnel. not that i dont love the mtc because i seriously do. i am going to cry like a baby when i have to leave. but i have been here for 9 weeks!!!! I am SO ready to get out there and teach! (even though i dont know japanese at all)

 

Anyway, this week we got the missionaries from japan going to japan and i was able to take them around and show them what to do and stuff IN JAPANESE. i felt soo cool. but dont worry two seconds after i had a failure of a lesson in japanese where i felt like i knew nothing and couldnt understand anything my investigator was saying. needless to say i am humbled every single day, multiple times a day by this language.

 

On Tuesday, Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us!! what is that apostle #4? Anyway it was incredible as always. I sang in the choir for it and we sang this is the christ. It was incredible i could barely sing. It IS SO COOL when apostles come and speak. The power in the room is like nothing I can even begin to describe. Elder Scott is an ANGEL.

 

Funny Kim choro (elder Kim) story: so he is the Korean going to Japan and this week we learned how to say black person in Japanese so now he always calls me mama kokujin which means a little black. He is seriously hilarious. We love when he substitutes the j sound for the z sound so he says things like, "You are not JeJus!!! and I love Jone Readahs!!" he is so funny.

 

ALSO, a few days ago, president brown, the president of the MTC came and sat with our district at lunch time and talked to us for like 30 minutes. It was so cool. We talked about the scriptures and the purpose of the MTC and our families and a bunch of other stuff..

 

As always, my time has expired, but the good news is, this time next week I will be sending an email with my detailed flight plans and a little over a week from that point, I will be FLYING TO TOKYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

love you all

minasan, ai shite imasu!!!!

 

xoxo,

Swainston Shimai

October 14, 2011

MTC happenings......

 

Currently there are a few elders behind me trying to figure out the last 3 of the 151 first edition pokemon. if you dont even know what that means, its cool. neither did I. Thus, I am in the MTC and its a huge nerd party constantly.

 

This week nbd I gave a talk in sacrament meeting.. IN JAPANESE nonetheless. It was so scary. Every week we have to prepare a talk and then at the beginning of sacrament meeting they announce who will be giving the talk. You should have seen my face when they said my name. Plus everyone turned around to look at me and my look of terror. one of the members of my branch presidency came up to me after and told me my Japanese was really good! It made me feel great about myself not gonna lie.

 

Julie B. Beck gave the devotional on Tuesday. I entered the devotional and was like, "JULIE BECK OH MY GOSH!!!!!! YESSSS!!" and all the elders around me proceeded to make fun of me slash mock me. happens a lot here don't worry. Also one elder asked me today, "did you do drama?" and I was like yes! how did you know?! and he was like, "you're very dramatic" im like, I know. (not the first time I have heard that one)

 

Last night we got an extra hour of sleep!!! It was amazing. Literally the highlight of my week. Just goes to show the little things that can make me happy up in hurrr... It was because they had a scheduled power outage so we got to return to our residence early and go to sleep early. I AM ALWAYS TIRED HERE. its ok though, comes with the territory.

 

Things I hear in the halls of the MTC,

 

Some elder talking about p-day, "dude, p-day is awesome, we get to chill, write letters, read letters, giggle....... alot...." You kind of had to hear his tone of voice but it was really funny I promise.

 

This week we get new Nihongin which means the missionaries from Japan going to Japan come in. That's my FAVORITE. They are all so cute and hilarious.

 

This week I gave Kim choro a manicure. It was hilarious because he is this cute little Korean kid in our district. He is going to Japan and only knows a little bit of English so he his hilarious. We always make him say english words with L's in them. Its a you-tube dream i swear.  and he LOVES American movies so he is always quoting Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or the Office. SO FUNNY. such as, "Regoras, not no en nas" (from lord of the rings.) and he straight up looks like the little asian boy who meows on the Grudge. I told him that. I dont think he really understood because after i told him he just went on about how the Japanese bersion of the Grudge is scarier. (yes, bersion) anyways he is just a bundle of joy and constant entertainment.

 

Things are always the same here at the MTC.. not much new info... In a couple weeks we get travel plans which means we find out how much time we have to call our families at the airport. SO EXCITED! also did I tell you that Tokyo is the first mission that they are allowing the missionaries to have lap tops? Which means we get to SKYPE at Christmas!! Cool huh!? Everyone come over to the Swainstons to skype with me!!

 

 

anyways... I love you all! I love my Savior!

 

xoxo,

gossip gurl

October 7, 2011

IT SNOWED HERE YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! death. literally freezing i want to die. you can imagine how dramatic i was upon walking to the temple this morning.

 

So this week we had conference and it was amazing!!!! Seriously for two days all we did was watch conference, chill, eat then repeat. IT ROCKED. All of the talks were amazing and Elder Yamashita the one who came and visited our district spoke too! I felt like he was talking to me. Everytime anyone spoke about missions or missionaries, the spirit was soooo strong. Imagine like 2000 missionaries all assembled together watching conference at the same time. It was like a burst of quiet energy shot through the room every time they spoke about missionaries. Every day I understand more and more how lucky I am to be on a mission.

 

A couple funny stories, so the other sisters were at the temple the other day and they told this older gentleman that they were going to Japan and he was like, "Oh that's nice, the last time I was there I was dropping a bomb!" hahahahahaha so funny. He was like, "good thing you are going there for a much better reason."

 

Another, Yesterday we had service and we had the daunting task of cleaning the showers. Literally the most disgusting experience I have had to date. Picture 100000000000 girls all showering in the same showers and then having to clean it out. Needless to say my companion and I were heaving and screaming and yelling things like, IM GONNA DIE and NOOO NOOOO NOOOO!!!!!! THIS IS A JOKE I'M GONNA DIE! We were laughing so hard and literally crying. our glasses were fogging up and our gloves were HEINOUS. a few girls who just got to the MTC were in the hall getting oriented and they were probably terrified, (they could hear us). Then a couple of them came in and were like, are you ok?! I thought we heard someone throwing up! haha I was like oh no sorry I just have a bad gag reflex... best. service. ever.

 

so anywayzzzzzzzz...

 

Harvey choro says konnichiwa.

 

ok well I love you all! I will be in Japan in one month from today!!! CRAZYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

xoxo,

MTC gossip girl 2011

September 30, 2011

Ariel Hendrix tells me I have a whole 5 followers on my blog. #imsopopularithurts. Thank you fans.

 

sooooo this week.....

 

We had fast sunday this last sunday because tomorrow starts the Super Bowl for missionaries, yep. thats right, GENCONF. love it!! So excited it's not ok!!

So when we have fast sunday we have whats called mission conference and it is 2 hours of a million people giving talks. I love it though there was some great stuff!! This week I have really been trying to internalize slash understand how great of an opportunity I have by serving a mission. So many people in this world would give anything for the opportunity to leave everything behind and serve the Lord and I am one of the lucky ones who gets to. I am so grateful to be here I love the MTC. I can't wait to get to Japan!!!!!!

 

This week officially marks the halfway point for me at the MTC. I feel proud. Only 6 more weeks and I will finally be on a plane to meet all the crazy Azns I will adore. I already do adore them and I don't know them. haha Something Elder Clarke of the 70 told us this week at a Devotional: "Eternity will be changed by you". That hit me pretty hard. I have so many people's salvation on my hands. Every single day I have the chance to change eternity. That is not just because I am a missionary. Everyone has several chances to change eternity each day. We just have to take them and let the Lord help us and guide us.

 

Things I hear in the halls of the MTC:

 

ok so there is almost always a few elders outside of every bathroom waiting 20 years for their companion to come out.. so i was walking by one of the bathrooms and there is an elder just barely opening the bathroom door so he can talk to his companion that is in there and he says,

 

"Elder... Are you ok in there?!?! What's going on it's been like 10 minutes! Gimme some feedback!"  which just proves my last point, the MTC stinks.

 

In other news, this week Melissa sent my companion a wand. Luckily now we both don't have to make our beds anymore.

 

Also just a random story that popped into my mind... sometimes after gym when we go outside and play four square by the temple we like to parkour our way back to the MTC. So I was doing some siiiiiiiick parkour and i used one of the elders to push off of. I kind of just pushed him and then jumped (obvi im a beginner at parkour) (**** side note, who am i? what has this place done to me?! I DONT PARKOUR) anywayzzzzz..... so i jumped and the elder goes, "You can't treat me like an object. I am not some pole you can use to jump off of." he was dead serious. needless to say I was just like oops! then I ran away... ahhhh the things that entertain me at the MTC....

 

Anywayzzz sorry my email was lame this week.

 

 

I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

xoxo,

gossip girl