Hey Mom
and Dad,
First off, I think that
Mom can take the fall for Dad not receiving emails. I thought this
entire time that you guys were sharing responses, and that it was a one email
per household type of thing. I have been getting all of dads emails, and I am
glad that you both have taken the time to email me. I also really enjoyed the JST version
of John 13:34, and I'll keep it in mind as I go around.
With that out of the
way, it sounds like everyone is having a great time! I can see that I've
already been replaced by Jackson, as you have a nice family picture of 4 people
at Harpers Ferry, but at least its someone that I know. Things here
have been going really swell, and there are just a couple big items from the
last week that stand out.
First, last Friday they
called all the Japanese missionaries to a special devotional. We were in a room
with one other zone, and the last zone was in a different room. When we got in,
we learned that the speaker was named NoguokiIrie, and he was a
returned missionary, mission president, BYU grad currently on
vacation from his home in Japan, and that he wanted to share his conversion
story with some of the missionaries about to leave. The amazing thing was that
the meeting was about an hour long, and he talked the first half-hour in 95%
straight Japanese. You could tell that he had tailored his experience to MTC level
Japanese, but it was still amazing to understand his testimony and conversion
in a language that I have only been studying for 5 weeks. I know that part of
the was the gift of tongues, and I look forward to when I will be able to
understand fluent full native speakers. His conversion also showed all of us
that miracles occur in Japan, and that as we search, we will find people that
want to talk to us.
Second, our district is
just a touch athletic and bored, so we challenged on of the other districts
that came in with us a a kickball game last Friday. The final score was 20-4,
with us winning. It was fun to play, and it was also fun to see how athletic
everyone at the MTC is as a general rule. I guess that as you prepare
to bike for 10k per day, you have to think that you are in good shape. We might
be challenging another district to volleyball or kickball, and it has made all
of exercise time really fun.
Last thing for this week
was our devotional last night. We were luck enough to hear Elder D. Todd Christofferson give
the address, which meant that the room was absolutely packed. It made me glad
that we have been singing in the choir, because we get both the spirit of the
choir director, and the seats are guaranteed! The address was about our purpose
as missionaries, which has now been summed up into 5 words. "Teach
Repentance and Baptize Converts". With this motto in mind, we are working
to shift our approach to teaching, and to really focus on what repentance is in
personal study. It was a good address, but it is something that we have heard a
lot already in theMTC, so I'll see what other aspects I can pull from the talk.
One that stuck out was his quote "As missionaries, we carry eternal
salvation in our hands as we knock doors" I really look forward to having
this chance, because I know that I have enjoyed my time learning here, and
other people can enjoy the gospel for eternity.
Thats really all I
have for the last week. 5 down, 4 more until Japan,
Thanks,
Elder Mitchell Woodhouse
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