Area: Provo MTC
Companion: Elder Hamilton
Hey my beloved family!!! How are you all doing!? It was so fun to hear from all of you this week. It sounds like you guys had a fun Thanksgiving! I'm sure it wasn't as fun as usual though cause lets be real, I'm the life of the party! Those pictures you sent me are so awesome! That is totally Matthew to be hiking in deep snow in shorts and chacos! I sure wish I could have been there to witness the weird looks he got from people! Today has been pretty good. We went to the temple first thing this morning again and then went to the temple cafeteria. Seriously, being at the MTC for so long, that place is definitely of the Gods. I know its a temple so it kinda is, but the food is such a nice change than from normal sack breakfast we get every morning. Then we did laundry and wrote letters. I finally was able to write letters to people this morning! So there should be a letter getting there in the next couple days!
This week has been pretty good. The MTC is full of ups and downs. For example, yesterday we were teaching about repentance and the atonement. It went pretty well. In these lessons, I have been getting a lot better with teaching them with little to no notes. I write down the ideas I want to convey in English, and then I just translate them as the lesson goes on. It is pretty fun sometimes. But then last night I was humbled pretty hard core. We had another skype TRC and we taught a member lady who lives in Nagoya Japan. She wasn't super talkative so we had to do most of the teaching. It's much harder to come up with sentences on my own when I am talking to a real Nihonjin (Japanese person) in the heat of the moment. And they are kinda hard to understand too, adding on to the fact that we are talking through the computer. It still went well for the most part but it for sure is a humbling experience. That's why we are kinda freaking out a little bit cause we are gonna be experiencing baptism by fire in a little over a week! I'm really excited though just to see what the country looks like and to meet my mission president. Japanese is tough and its gonna take a while to get but it will come eventually. I just pray everyday to have the spirit and have the gift of tongues. I know you all are praying for that as well.
Another awesome thing that happened was the devotional on Sunday. It was a pretty cool surprise. The MTC had Vocal Point come do the devotional. It was so cool!! They pretty much just sang and bore their testimonies for the whole time. Their first song wasn't even a church song. They did their famous 12 days of Christmas rendition. At the end, they sang part of it to the tune of Africa by Toto. IT was so awesome to hear sort of real music again. I miss it so much. When they did they chorus of Africa with all of the harmonies together, it was near to Angelic. Probably cause we have been so music deprived... Then they sang really awesome hymns like Nearer my God to Thee and other ones. It was a way fun devotional. I sure wish I was blessed with pipes like those. And there was a guy who looked just like Zac Efron so that would have been a cool blessing to have as well. Oh well.
The rest of Thanksgiving was really good. We had an hour and a half long service project where we packed little meals for the hungry. It was pretty much a big assembly line. It was pretty fun. Then we were able to watch Meet the Mormons! I loved it! It was really good, partly cause it was the first kinda real movie I've seen in two months. Have you all seen it yet? I'm not going to lie to you though, one of the people they highlighted was a Mormon mom that lived in Draper who was sending a missionary off and that stuff kinda hits home for me. I really miss you guys but I know that I'm supposed be out here. The football part of the movie wasn't too shabby either! I miss sports.....like a lot!
Also, we got our new Kohai yesterday. I haven't been able to talk to them too much but I will be able to this week. Next Thursday is Christmas for them and we will be able to dump all of the Senpai's crap on them! That day will be glorious!
Well that's about all of the exciting things that has happened this week. I'm really excited to get out there and start doing the real thing and to start meeting the people and learning the culture. It's kinda weird being the veteran on campus here. It feels like I was just a newbie sometimes. BUt I'm out of here in a week! Its crazy! I love you guys and miss you! The church is true!!
Aishitemasu!
Love,
Elder Nathan Didericksen
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