November 12th, 2015: Time Flies!

Time flies. I never understood that term until I got here in the MTC.

It has officially been four weeks since I arrived, and I can't

remember where it has all gone. One of my teachers said, "You'll get

home from your mission and question whether or not it was all a

dream." It goes by that fast. In that same sense, so is life. We get

so caught up in the routine of things that we miss out on life in

general. The science behind it is actually pretty cool. Our brains,

When experiencing new things, try to build pathways in our neural

network so when that same thing is experienced again, it draws on that

pathway to mitigate the amount of effort used when processing this

said stimuli. This goes on and on until our brains need little to no

effort to process the stimuli. So take driving for example. Have you

ever been driving and gotten to your destination and realized that you

remembered no real details of the entire drive? That is your brain

being as lazy as possible. It is making habits. Yup. Thanks brain.

Don't let that drive be your life. Don't reach the end of the road and

look back and realize that you remember nothing of this incredible

journey called mortality! The only way you can combat your brain in

this endeavor is to keep experiencing new things. DON'T. EVER. STOP.

Get outside of your comfort zone! Break out your protective shell!

Shatter the habits of daily life, and experience this gift that God

has given us. Because that is what is. A gift.  So go learn a new

language (Japanese! ;)). Do some yoga. Learn how to play the piano.

Serve as a volunteer in a soup kitchen. Ride an elephant. Climb a

mountain. It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you do

something! Make your life a story worth sharing!

Yesterday we committed our second investigator to be baptized! Wow.

What an incredible feeling. We were in our lesson teaching about

repentance, and my companion asked the question, "Do you have faith in

Jesus Christ?". She said she had a very small amount of faith. We

looked up and shared the scripture Matthew 17:20. It was weird. I

introduced baptism, and after we discussed what is was, I asked the

question. She said she wanted to, but she felt that she didn't have

enough faith. I testified that even the smallest amount of faith was

enough. I have never spoken with as much conviction, and never felt

the spirit so strongly while testifying. It was almost shocking! It

was a PHYSICAL wave of the spirit, and of course I started to tear up.

Even writing it now, I feel the truth of what I testified. Our

investigator/teacher came up to us after and told us just how much she

felt the spirit, and apparently it was just as much as I had while

testifying. It was really cool.

In one of our devotionals that we had recently, the idea of smiling

whenever possible was stressed. It is the easiest way for us, as

missionaries, to share the light of Christ within us. And it's fun!

Our brain is pretty cool. When we smile, even if we are totally down

in the dumps, our brains release some chemicals in response to our

smiling which in turn LITERALLY makes us happier. How cool is that?

And once we are happier, we want to smile more! And so the cycle

continues until we are jubilated! But you have to make the decision to

smile. Whenever I am struggling, or when I feel like I can't learn

this crazy language, I put a smile on. God made our rad brains that

way for a reason, I think. So that when we are sad, if we can smile,

we can feel joy and happiness.

Speaking of this crazy language... I love Japanese! It is quite a

gratifying feeling to be learning a new language. It is almost like a

game. And there is no better place than the MTC to do it. Every day I

feel like I am expanding my comprehension and grasp of Japanese. In

the lessons, we now aren't allowed to bring in any notes to help us,

and it is fabulous to be able to speak from the heart in a foreign

language. I still have a LONG ways to go... But I am very happy right

now. They say to become fluent in Japanese you have to make over

50,000 mistakes... I doubt I've made that many, but I sure have made

some funny ones! Hahaha, life is great.

I'm sure you're all getting sick of hearing it, but I really do love

the MTC. There is no better environment for a young adult to be in.

You feel the spirit so strongly here, as well as a fun and nurturing

environment. We have some serious fun here. I have actually gotten mad

volleyball skills. All of you that play volleyball would be so proud

of me! I have had some mad stuffs and spikes! Haha, but the best is

zone volleyball on P-Day. Our zone is so cool because everyone loves

to participate. Even if we're not good, we still have a blast playing.

Other quick stories;

A kid in my district almost knocked his teeth out after slamming his

head into my desk while playing an intense game of limbo! (Yes, there

are teeth marks on my desk now...)

Thanks to my mom, and the racquet balls that she sent me, my zone

created a new game to play when we're bored. We call it batsu ball.

The whole purpose of the game is to hit some other elder with a

racquetball from across the hall. The person who gets hit is out and

it continues until there is only one person remaining. It was crazy!

It is so scary, too. You do not want to get drilled with a racquetball

by someone who is throwing it as hard as they can... That is no fun.

It also snowed here a little bit!!!

....not a whole lot of exciting things happen here in the MTC....

Oh well! Maybe by next week!

I love you guys and am so grateful for you!

あいしています！

Passey ちょうろう