week 7: 

Again, nothing out of the ordinary really happened. The MTC is pretty straightforward, like the gospel. But, last P-day they did shut off our water for the afternoon and when they turned it back on Satan had control over it. Our drinking fountain water was all chalky, but the other side of the hall had thick lemonade coming out of theirs, so I consider us lucky. And when I tried to flush the toilet, it became more of a waterfall than a toilet. It was pretty chaotic to say the least, but then we called the front office and got it all figured out. But ya, that was pretty exciting. 

I really did learn a lot this week, though. It's really the small things that you pick up from just observing others and working daily to study the gospel and the language. I know why the Lord calls elders at such a young age, it's because they teach so humbly. That was awesome to see as we did a mogi (role play) with two other elders in our district. Another thing that I have learned through just being here at the MTC and plenty of stories from the emails our sempai (the district above us that just left for Japan) and from our sensei's (teachers) is that if you put in the work, you will see more results. The harder you work, the more miracles you will see. To be honest, they usually say the percentage is the same of success and not so much success, but because the numbers of greater, you bring more souls to Christ. Which is our goal as a mission, is to bring as many souls as possible. So I have to trust in the Lord and work my hardest and have faith that he will bring ready souls in my path. 

Another thing that happened, is that we committed one of our "investigators" to a baptismal date and we have asked the other to start preparing for baptism. It kind of felt a bit like pulling teeth at times, but I know that the Lord will bless people who follow his plan. And one of the principles they taught is to promise blessings, because the Lord is always wanting to bless us. He is constantly waiting for us to turn to Him so that he can pour out His blessings upon us. And that is always something that gets investigators excited about sticking to their commitments. 

Also a goal that I have recently been doing is trying to get used to meeting people and starting conversations. So at every meal or anytime I go out of the classroom for an extended period of time I try to meet somebody new or sit by someone I don't know. And I have noticed that my confidence has been increasing. I haven't been doing it in Japanese, however, but it's a work in progress. And I know that when the time comes, if I open my mouth the Lord will bless me with the words he needs me to say, which they need to hear. But currently I am just meeting other missionaries, so I don't really preach to them, but I am going to try and start doing that from now on, maybe like try and sum up some principles in a minute or so. It is also very evident that the Lord is preparing me for awkward conversations, because even in the MTC not all my conversations go super smoothly but I was talking to my sensei, and he said that that does happen in the mission field all the time, but just because that conversation didn't go according to plan that does't mean that the next one will, too. So I guess I just have to always open my mouth. 

This week we also got a new district, I have only seen them once so I don't know much about them, but they seem very nice and I will probably get to know them better this week or something.

Anyways, I love you all and love the MTC. But I am also super excited about leaving for Japan and I think we get our flight plans this week!!!!! I'll keep you posted!

Love

Johnson Shimai

I only took one picture this week, and for some reason it was a picture of these elders. Half of them are not even in my district, but enjoy!