A Week (and a Half) Left

So the end of my MTC experience is coming fast.  We get our travel plans this Friday and then we will know when exactly we are going to Nihon!  The three da senpai who left for Nihon almost six weeks ago flew to Detroit and then Japan so don't be surprised if I randomly say in a couple weeks that I went and ate at a McDonalds in a random city in the Midwest.  And then I will finally be catching up to the number of states that Shelby has been to.  You might have been to Illinois, New York, and Mexico without me Shelby but I will hopefully catch up to you with a random midwestern state for my layover and with Japan.  I will win this battle one day! とにかく,

 I have kind of mixed feelings leaving.  I finally get to go to Japan but then I won't have my amazing teachers anymore to always ask questions to and I won't be in the same district.  But, on the other side, I can finally cook my own food.  But then again I will have to find out how to cook Japanese food.  Hopefully my trainer will know about all that stuff.  I am trying not to worry too much about the language and focus on just doing my best to keep focused on learning and growing as much as I can.

Yesterday we skyped with an actual Nihongen for forty minutes and we kept the conversation going without much dictionary looking up.  He was living in California but had joined the church in Nihon forty years ago.  We talked to him about the importance of prayer and it was cool to actually see someone on the outside world, even if he was a member, be able to be touched by what we said. This past week me and Ricks Choro have been working with our one-on-one coach (who gives me Jazz updates every once and awhile) on preparing a lesson plan.  And it has actually worked really well the last three lesson.  Monday was Chie no Kotoba (Word of Wisdom),Tuesday was Junketsu no Rippo (Law of Chastiy) and Wednesday was Eien no Kekkon (Eternal Marriage).  Our lesson yesterday was my favorite.  In my pre-prepared, broken up Japanese, I testified to my investigator Taira Shimai about the blessings of my parents being sealed and married in the temple.  It was the first time in our lessons that I felt the Spirit hit me really strong.  It was like POW!!!  It was so strong when I told her that I know that because of the temple, that after death, my family will live together.  It has been amazing to teach the gospel to our investigator and learn about all of the blessings of the commandments.  We also try to make that the main point of the lesson so when Taira Shimai had to give up tea in order to live the Word of Wisdom or to find an apartment so she wouldn't be living with her boyfriend anymore to keep the Law of Chasity, no matter how hard it was to do, she could get through it because she had the blessings in sight.  I guess I never really focused on the blessings of many of the commandments and just followed them blindly.  But through focusing on the blessings of the commandments, it made me realize how much God loves us and how he gives us commandments so that he could bless us.  I know that if we follow the Word of Wisdom, we won't be numbed to the feelings of the Spirit and that if we keep the Law of Tithing the Lord will bless us much more than the money that we are giving up to follow him.  When we show self-control and keep these commandments, it shows us love for God and he will bless us for that.

 I love everybody and I hope that everyone can have a good week!!!

 またね!!!