Week 14

Minna-san Konnichiwa and Meri Kurisumasu

I guess I should apologize for missing Christmas.  Last week we had a party for all the missionaries in our mission, at the mission home, on our Pday.  It was much fun.

So, you all are probably pretty curious to hear about Japan.   I will start with some stuff that's taking some time getting used to:

-On my bike, my brakes are switched, the left hand is the back brake, the right the front.  I've only almost gone over my handlebars once ;P

-The cars drive on the wrong side of the road and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car.

-The people talk really fast and speak a language similar to Japanese (just kidding they speak Japanese but upon coming here, I discovered that I didn't)

-Instead of regular doorbells they have  "kekko boxes", where you can talk to the person without them coming to the door.  I have been turned away many times by this.

-A lot of the food is really good!

-Some of the food, (like nato ---> fermented soy beans) is probably the worst thing on the entire planet!!

-I do not sleep on a bed, I sleep on 3 inch thick futons and surprisingly I have not slept-walked at all since being here.

-I take my shoes off in a place called the genkan before entering anyone's house.  

-Everything is in yen not dollars.  1 yen is approximately 1 cent.

There's a lot I wanted to say, but I forgot my journal from which I get all my stories for the week.  I will have to share stories next week.  If there's anything you want to know about Japan or anything, then you can email me, or write me and I will include my response in this weekly blog.  That being said, if there is anyone who I emailed while I was in the MTC who is not a member of my immediate family, I'm not going to be able to do that, because it says so in the white handbook.  If I want the blessings, especially help with learning Japanese, then I need to be exactly obedient.  I can still write letters, it's just the emails that must stop.  I miss you all and love to hear from you. Just to say too, it takes around 12-14 days for mail to arrive here.  Thank you to everyone for your support.  It really means a lot to me here.  I hope you all are well.  I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a great, terrific and Happy New Year.  ありがとございます.

Elder Keith

キース長老

Week 13

No email from Elder Keith this week.  : (

Week 12

So I have arrived here in Japan.  And the adventure/rush has not stopped since we got here.   First we spent the night in the mission home.  The jet lag actually wasn`t that bad.  I think I only slept for maybe 20 minutes of our 9 hour flight.  Then as a result, I slept very well in the Honbu (the mission home).  Then I woke up the morning ready to start the day and haven`t had any trouble since then.  The MTC address will no longer be usable.  Now send mail to the address that you either have or can get from my family.  I do appreciate all the letters up til now.  Keep them coming.  I am in an area called Tama.  I`m not actually in Tokyo itself.  I`m in a sub district of it. When I first met my new companion he sprung some interesting news on me.  "We have a lesson tonight at 6:00."   My first day in the field I had my first lesson.  It went well I guess.  I didn`t say much and didn`t understand much but from what I did get it was a good lesson.  Then immediately after that was my first Eikaiwa (English Class)  It went really well actually, because the people that I was teaching spoke English well, so I was able to just be myself (not that I wasn`t before but I can`t express myself as well in Japanese).  So, that was my first day.  The next day we went and got my bike and stuff and we started dendo-ing (dendo=missionary work).  It`s gotten to the point for me now, where I can stop someone on the street and ask them questions and nod and act like I understood what they were saying and then look to my companion, Elder Skabelund, for him to take over and respond.  My companion is a terrific guy.  He`s been out around 19 months and his Japanese is incredible.  So one of the things that we`re trying rather hard to do is to speak only in Japanese.  This as you all may imagine is rather difficult for me because I don`t yet know enough Japanese to express myself the way I would like, but I am studying very hard.  Japan is rather overwhelming.  The culture, the people.  The people are rather nice most times but it is not uncommon for us to be completely ignored trying to stop someone on the street.  I guess it`s more polite to ignore someone than to turn them down haha.  I do take my shoes off before entering houses and I do bow to people although not as much as I expected.  So Sunday I had to get up and give a brief jiko shokai (self introduction).  And I can truly testify of the gift of tongues.  After saying a sentence or 2 about myself I bore a simple testimony.  The words that came from my mouth, came out the way that I wanted to and I got the thoughts across that came into my mind.  On my way back to sitting down I couldn`t help but feel the spirit and an overwhelming sense of love from the members.  The members are nice but slightly leery as I guess they would be with all new missionaries.  Maybe once I can speak better and get to know them all a bit better, things will get better.  There`s so much more I could and want to say, but my time for this week is up.  If you have any specific questions or anything please write me (a letter, not email) and I`ll write you back on my next Pday (which is Tuesday for me, but Monday for all you back home).  So I`ll close by saying that I love you all and miss you all, because I really do.  Each of you really helped me with my mission preparation and I really thank you for that.  I pray that you all are well and that you can have the Spirit with you as much as possible.  I can say that I know that this is God`s work and that this Gospel is true.  My mission, even so far has really strengthened that in me.  So until next week I say mata ne! (see ya later eh)

Elder Keith

Week 11

This is not a post from Keith Choro this week.
Monday he left the MTC for the Japan Tokyo Mission. He arrived in Japan on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.  It is not that the flight took over 24 hours, but that Japan is 13 hours ahead of us.  So, when he arrived it was already the next day.  He lost Dec. 6, 2010!!  We had the wonderful pleasure of speaking to him from the airport!!!  He is in fantastic spirits and as he puts it "He is stoked!!!"  He loved his time at the MTC, but he was ready to be out in the field working.  Can you believe he got to see 5 General Authorities?!  It was fun to hear The First Vision in Japanese! He spoke like a natural!!
His P days will be Tuesdays.  He may not have computer access every time.  So, if you email him, he will get back to you, but it might take a little longer then anticipated.  He loves and appreciates all letters and emails!!

Week 10

So basically this week was probably the most terrific week that I've had here in the MTC so far.  First reason being that on Wednesday, WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS!!  So we actually have a day that we're leaving now.  The end is finally in sight.  I leave Monday December 6th.  And then I have a 12 hour flight!!!  Yippee.  So that's the biggest thing.  Then for our Tuesday night Devotional we had the Swedish Elder Per G. Malm of the Seventy come and talk to us.  He was terrific.  It was a super inspirational talk and he himself is rather hilarious.  So Thursday was the American Thanksgiving.  So we didn't have class at all but rather we did service, making the materials for bags for humanitarian aid.  We also had Thanksgiving "dinner" at lunch time.  With all the works.  Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes.  It was really good.  Probably the best part of the day though was the morning devotional.  We had the special guest of Jeffrey R Holland come and speak to us!!!  How incredible is that?  It was terrific too.  He actually had his grandchildren sing to us.  It reminded me of the primary presentations we used to have in Hawkesbury.  Made me just a tad bit homesick but not bad.  Things are winding down.  We have less than a week and everyone is getting antsy.  I myself, as much as I love the MTC, can't wait to get out and be going tracting and all that.  It's soo exciting and looking back I can see how much I've grown.  So this will be my last email from the MTC.  Also everyone from now on if you want to write to me you will have to use the Tokyo address because I will no longer be at the MTC.  Thanks for all your support.

 

Elder Keith