Week 8: Goodbyes and a Love-Sick Shimai

This statue is only up for Christmas!

Flight plans are in woohoooo!!

I'm so busy packing, I would accept the help of a cat. That's a Japanese saying (nekonotemokaritai). ^___^  Before I came to the MTC, I was trying to say goodbye to my cat Scooter by holding him in my arms, but he scratched me (drew blood) and ran away to go eat some food. Yeah, love you too!
Next Monday, we have to be on the departing bus at 4:50 am. Salt Lake -> Portland -> Tokyo -> Fukuoka. The main flight from Portland to Tokyo will be 9-12 hours long, depending on weather conditions.

Even though I'm really excited, sometimes I do get homesick. When that happens, I look on google maps at all the wonderful places I have traveled to and that gives me the traveling spirit. My sensei tachi tell us about their experiences teaching people in Japan, and I feel the Spirit so strongly!

Here are some cultural things I've learned about Japan, because I want all of you that read these emails to fall in love with Japan as much as possible:

--At church, when "Amen" is uttered at the end of the prayer, everyone keeps their eyes closed just a little longer to reach out for the divine light, for personal revelation. Shouldn't we all try to tarry in the spirit of prayer just a little longer?

--Early morning in Japan (6 am), the parks are alive with crowds of grandmas doing their morning exercises together. "Itchi, ni, san!" So cute! I hope you dream about a bunch of obaachan doing squats tonight. Haha.

--Sushi conveyor belt restaurants. Just let that soak in....Yes it really is a thing. How they charge you at the end of the meal is counting the number of plates you have.

--The crime rate is so low, that neighborhoods will have stories like, "Remember that one time a few years ago Tateishi-san got robbed?" Policemen don't carry guns, and my teacher said in the year and a half she was there, she never saw someone get pulled over.

--They love white people. All the Nihongian choros here want to marry American girls. In Japan, they love to dress you up like a life-size doll. Something about seeing a white girl in a kimono makes them giddy.

Can't wait to be talking about their culture first-hand!

As I look back on my MTC experience, I ask myself the question, "If the MTC is what you make of it, how did I make this a positive experience?" My MTC experience being so positive overall, I attribute it to the testimony I have that God guides our lives. Every night, I feel an assurance that even the bad moments are towards a higher purpose. When I consider the trials of my past, I can sometimes dimly recognize how they have helped me take this current experience in stride so that I would have an increased appreciation for it. Sometimes I think all the preparation in the world could not have made me ready for the friendships I have formed with people here, because these people are so unlike people I have ever met before. These are friendships I will cherish. I have been exposed to mindsets, viewpoints, and opinions that have altered me toward greater openness and love.

Our sister training leader said my doryo and I have a "dream companionship." Well, it's really not so perfect but I will miss Askew Shimai soooo much as well as many other people in my zone. Here, I'll be talking with someone and have this weird moment of, "Wait, I've never told this to someone before." That has happened again and again with various people.

My doryo and I

Now we Skype real Nihongian every week for our lessons!

Even as I am writing about what the MTC experience has given me, I find that saying goodbye won't be so heart-wrenching after all is said and done. Why? I trust God more than I ever have in my life. I trust that many small, but mighty, miracles await each of us in our lives. Isn't the sunrise a symbol of renewal, of fresh starts? Going to the Land of the Rising Sun is my new beginning, and I look forward to that.

I got two fortune cookies recently and doesn't this seem rather coincidental....

"You will move to a wonderful new home within the year."
"Traveling this year will bring your life into greater perspective."

One of the best moments this week was when President Daniels said I had a good hatsuon after I said the prayer. Good accent?? No way.

Some of the goals I set in the MTC were to read the New Testament and Jesus the Christ before the plane ride. I will talk more about this next week (and I will also be in Japan!)

Much love,

Rogers Shimai

Word of the week:
Kimokawaii
being both repellant and attractive at the same time, being both cute and disgusting
Troll word lol

#dandruff

Shimai tachi in our zone (sister missionaries)

Where's Waldo?

Creating memes is my part-time job in the MTC. One time I created a meme joking that a shimai was obviously thinking about a certain elder. But then I found out I was dead-on. Oops. 🙊

"Look at the mountain for a picture."

Like a painting