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

Week 9

AAAHHHHHHH  I only have 2 weeks left in the MTC.  How mega crazy is that?  So time is going by super slow and super fast at the same time.  Just yesterday I hit my 2 month mark!!  So unfortunately this week's episode of Sleepwalking has been cancelled.  I didn't do anything dramatic or crazy this week. And as far as anything else goes, really it was a rather hmmm not to say a boring week, but we didn't have anything exciting or crazy happen.  We had Elder Kevin B Pearson of the Seventy come and talk to us.  We also now have a new group of Nihonjin here that are terrific and so much fun to talk to.  So I'm jumping all over the place because I'm running out of time.  Unless I'm mistaken  I get my flight plans by the end of this week.  And then I'll be calling from the airport.  So yeah that's what's happening in the life of Elder Keith.  Just to say if you want a letter from me then the best way to get that is to write me : Hope you all are well

 

Elder Keith

Week 8

Ohayo gozaimasu,

 

So this week was full of good points. I'll start with the sleepwalking story of the week. (I guess I should start having one every week eh?)  So Sunday night I had a dream.  That in these other elders room that there was a door that I really urgently needed to get into.  So in my dream I opened the door and looked in and upon seeing that the door wasn't there I was disappointed.  That's all I remember.  So the next morning, I was thinking "Wow, what a vivid dream" and I asked the Elder who's room it was, if they locked their door at night.  He said no and then laughed and said "Are you the one that opened our door last night? I woke up at 1:30 a.m. and the door was open."  So I guess I didn't only dream it.  The funny thing is though, that this elders room is a good 30 metres or so down the hall, so I made quite a trek. 

 

So the other cool thing that happened this week was that we had Nihonjin (Japanese people (missionaries)) arrive yesterday.  There are 3 Elders and 8 Sisters!!  It was so cool to be able to talk to them.  And comparing these Nihonjin to the last group I understood tonnes more and was able to respond.  It's kinda funny though,because there was an Elder and a Sister Kishi (brother and sister) who arrived.  But when they say his name it sounds more like "kish" (keesh) which is really close to my last name in Nihongo "kisu" (kees).  But it's still awesome to have them around.  But that means I only have 3 weeks left in the MTC and 1 week until we get our flight plans!!!  AAAHHHHHH!!!!

 

So I can't say that this week was totally full of good points though.  I did have to deal with a couple bad days actually.  For various reasons.  And I guess that's life.  Being a missionary doesn't prevent you from getting angry or being in a bad mood.  But I do work my best to not have those days and it really does pay off.  They don't happen that often.

 

 

Tonikaku...  The final point I wanted to mention was that last Tuesday we had yet another Member of the Quorum of the 12 come and talk to us.  4 in a row!!!  I wonder what it is that we as missionaries need to learn for them to send us 4 Apostles in a row.  We were assured though that there wouldn't be another one this week, which is kinda disappointing but it means that we got to finish with one of my favourites.  David A Bednar.  He is probably the one that I've enjoyed the most too.  He came and talked to us about doctrines principles and applications.  It was terrific.  It was also truly spiritually uplifting to me because one of the things I've been praying for is how I can make my scripture study more effective.  When we were in DDR (district devotional review) afterward that's when it hit me that his talk was the answer that I'd been seeking.  That, that was how I was going to make my scripture study more effective.  You just can't describe the feeling you get when that happens.  You really can see that the Apostles are truly inspired men.  I feel so privileged to have heard some of their words.  And with this I bid you Sayonara til next week

 

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Elder Keith

Week 7

So the end of week 6 brought some pretty interesting things.  First I'll start with the lighter stuff.  So last night I was just chilling in our room and chatting with a couple other elders and I looked at the bottom of my foot.  And I began to wonder "what are all these little red dots?"  So I asked one of the elders who was there "is this athlete's foot?"  and he's like yeah.  So I have athletes foot.  One of the elders in my room had some stuff to spray on so I put it on last night and this morning to get rid of it.  The other thing is it's kinda funny to realize just how much I sleep walk.  The other night I woke up (but didn't really wake up) in the hall outside my room with my blanket balled up in one hand.  I can't seem to recall how I got out there or how long I was out there.  My companion was like what's it gonna be like in Japan?!  Ummmm let's see what else...   Oh yeah I'm up to weighing 182 now.  It's funny because I never though I'd put on weight but I've done nothing but that since I got here.  Besides studying and sleep mind you.  The thing is that I don't show the weight that I've gained.  However it turns out that the pants we bought, while they fit, sitting in class with them all day got to be kinda tight around the waist.  So I had them expanded.  (sheepish grin)  heh heh heh

 

So the next thing is that we got new kohai.  Kohai means junior and it's the term we give to the senkyoshi (missionaries) who came here after us.  There's only 6 of them though.  4 Elders from various parts of the states and an elder from Thailand (the first ever missionary from Thailand going to Japan) and a sister from New Zealand.  So it's pretty cool to see.  And it's very empowering to think just how far I've come since I got here. 

 

The last thing I wanted to mention was that last week marked Sannin Shito!!  Meaning 3 apostles.  Last week we had Elder M. Russell Ballard come and talk to us and he gave a tremendous talk.  It was really inspiring.  At some point I'll get around to copying and sending the notes that I took home, that way you all can read them.  It was terrific.  He really is an inspired man and you can just feel the aura that radiates from him.  He reminded me a lot of Grandpa Keith.  Maybe because they look alike.  But also just because of they way they are. 

 

Well I must conclude with the statement.  I have less than a month left until I'm headed to Japan!!!  Aaaaahhhhhhhh.  Time really does fly by here at the MTC.  And I would highly encourage anyone planning on going on a mission to do so.  It's the best experience ever and you can feel the spirit so strong.  I miss you all and you all are in my prayers.  Mata ne

 

Elder Keith

Week 6

So wait, it's November already?  Goodness gracious where does the time go.  This week, like all the other weeks went by soooo fast.  We had a lot happen this week.  The first thing was that last Tuesday, October 26th, we had Elder Richard G Scott of the Quorum of the 12 come and speak to us.  It was soooo incredible.  You can really just feel the aura that radiates from him.  He spoke to us about the Spirit and following it's guidance.  It was such a good day. 

 

So after that life returned to normal.  We wake up, study, eat, go to class, eat, go to class, eat, and then go to class some more.  Oh yeah we get an hour of gym time somewhere in there too.  It's funny what my definition of normal has become.  So we have this thing called the TRC (the Teaching Resource Center) which we go to every week to practice teaching and to practice different tasks.  The different tasks take 15 minutes and have always been in Japanese.  Then we had lessons in English that lasted for 35 minutes.  BUT because last week was week 5 (which makes this week week 6 which means I'm more than halfway through the MTC ahhh) we had the task in Japanese and then we had to teach the first lesson in Japanese!!!!  For 35 minutes!!!!  We say the difficulty level is "kyu sen ii jo!!"  Which translates to "it's over 9000"  To be honest I probably only caught about 35-40% of what the guy was saying, but I was able to respond a lot of the time and the rest of the time I just tried to look like I understood what he was saying and then moved on.  It's really an eye opener but I'm going to have to get used to it because from here on out the rest of the lessons are going to be in Japanese.

 

So the last 2 things I was going to mention was (one of them) that I have started learning Kanji.  That's right and so far I think I have about 25-30 memorized.  Only 1970 more to go.  I'm on a roll. 

 

The last thing was that I discovered that I'm allergic to something that they have here in the cafeteria and I've narrowed it down to either Strawberry Orange Banana Juice or Caffeine free coke.  I say this because the other day I had both and that night my upper body erupted with hives!  Just like that one time when I was at home.  The only difference being that this case was worse.  So then I thought it was the juice at that point so the next day I had a glass of coke and then later that night I found that I had sporadic little patches on my arms and upper body.  Luckily one of the Elders in my district had some Benadryl so I was able to take some of that and just go to sleep.  The second day me and my companion skipped gym to nap because he was feeling really sick and I had hives on my legs.  But by the end of the day I was completely free of them.  So now I seldom have more than water and chocolate milk and I'm avoiding coke entirely. 

 

So that's the story of what's been happening here in the MTC.  It's hard to believe that I'm already more than halfway through my MTC experience.  Tomorrow I become a Senpai.  One of the seniors here at the MTC.  So also I have to say that my Halloween experience was probably the lamest one I've had in my life.  I was a missionary!! Which isn't lame but...  So I hope everyone is well :) Ai shite imasu.

 

Elder Keith