Wixom shimai no dendou

November 21, 2020  Hello everybody! This week was one for the books! To start off, my district's new saying has become "It's a great day to be a missionary!" Whenever someone looks down or is having a hard time focusing on Japanese, we let them know it's a great day to be a missionary! It has honestly become so helpful. I have loved doing the MTC online, but it isn't always the easiest thing. I have become so grateful for each missionary in my district. We can always count on someone saying something so wild, like when Morgan Chourou started to do the Christian rap, that it brightens our whole online classroom.  We had a class focused on the Atonement of Christ this week, and it was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever been a part of. We did a silent lesson, so no one was allowed to talk during the lesson, and the Spirit was able to be so strong. I went into the lesson with a love for the Atonement, and after the lesson, I had a much stronger appreciat

November 16, 2020  Hello everybody! My district received our reassignments last week! The Elders are going to Montana, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. My companion is going to Tampa, Florida. And I have been reassigned to *drum roll* Orlando, Florida! Of course, I am a little disappointed that I don't get to go to Japan right away, but I also have learned more than ever in these last 5 weeks that this isn't God's backup plan, this is HIs plan. At this point, I don't know how long I will be in Florida for which means I am trusting in the Lord and His timing. I know this is where I need to be for the time, and I am grateful to think that I get to teach people about the gospel I love in Japan and Florida.  In one of our classes this week, one of our teachers shared a scripture that I have come to love. He shared Ether 12:27, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all me

November 7, 2020 Hello everybody! I don't know about any of you, but this week went by so fast!  My district has been trying to find ways to improve our Japanese, so we set a goal this week to speak as much Japanese as possible, wherever and whenever we can. Which means that most of our sentences end up being half English and half Japanese. BUT it's getting easier, which is the biggest blessing since I have a pretty thick stack of vocab flashcards piling up. We also start doing practice appointments next week where we can only speak in Japanese, so we will see how that goes. The Gift of Tongues is so real and I know I wouldn't be able to do any of this without my Savior's help.  The funniest thing from this week was when we were reading scriptures and discussing how they applied to the Gift of Tongues and our purpose as missionaries. I was with Morgan Chourou and we read D&C 4:4 and he said that we need to attack Embark, the language app we use, with our sickles and

 October 31, 2020 Hello everybody! Happy Halloween!! This week was more full of spiritual experiences than anything else. So to start off, on Tuesday, my district watched a devotional given by M. Russell Ballard and Jefferey R. Holland. Super cool. The whole devotional was based off of questions missionaries might be asking right now, especially because we are having to do things differently because of corona. They made it clear that missionary work has never been easy, just look at all the missionaries in the scriptures, and that just because we aren't able to do things the way we used to, doesn't mean we still can't spread the Gospel. They pointed out that the Lord has prepared us to preach at this time and it reminded me of what a missionary said during one of our workshops. He said that this isn't the Lord's backup plan, this is His plan. I just loved that so much. I know I have been able to see so many miracles and feel the Spirit so strong, even with everythin

October 24, 2020 Hello everybody! I have officially been in the MTC for just over a week now, and what a crazy experience it has been so far!  Last Wednesday I got to meet my companion and district. There are only five of us in our district, three Elders and two Sisters. BUT they are all the best! We've been able to become so close, which is definitely a good thing because we have seven more weeks of this thing. Four of us are all going to the Tokyo South mission and one is going to the Sapporo mission (RIP Bench Chourou).  I have gotten especially close with my douryou(companion). Her and I are so different from each other, but we also have had a lot of similar experiences that help us to value and appreciate a lot of the same things, especially when it comes to the Gospel. We are constantly making one another laugh with the dumbest jokes, most of which include the struggle of trying to learn Japanese. The best one this week was when she said, "Wixom Shimai, when you see me a