The Crowded "Empty Sea"

We got new Senkyoshi (missionaries) this week! That means we are officially Senpai. It's weird not being the newbies anymore. Now instead of asking all the questions, we're the ones that have to answer them. I remember when we first got here it seemed like the missionaries above us knew SO much. Now that I'm there though, I realize we don't really know anything at all haha. This week flew by. Two of our sensei's were out of town on vacation, which meant that two of our "investigators" were also gone, so we only taught two lessons. We usually teach 5 in a week. But it was a good week to only have two lesson because I'm pretty sure all the Shimaitachi (Sisters) are getting sick. Watashi no Doryo (my companion) has a stuffy nose, sore throat, and other symptoms of what sounds like a sinus infection. She's been coughing for the past few days. Yesterday I started developing a sore throat as well, and the other two sisters in our district aren't feeling super great either, so we've just been suffering together. Luckily, today is Junbi no hi (Preparation day) so we can all relax a little and hopefully take a nap. Since not too much has happened I'll write a little about the MTC life in general. The MTC is super crowded right now as I'm sure most people have heard. At meal times, they've started serving food outside from carts as well as in the cafeteria to spread out the crowd a little. Tuesday night devotionals are at the marriot center over on the BYU campus. I need to get a picture of everyone walking over there because there is seriously just a never ending line of missionaries as far as the eye can see leading from the MTC to the Marriot center every time we walk over there. The laundry room is a mad house during our laundry time, so we've decided that its worth it to get up at 5:30 on P-days to do our laundry before everyone gets there. It's a little sad when P-day is the day of the week that we wake up the earliest. On Saturdays we do the Training Resource Center, which is basically just teaching random volunteers in Japanese. Funniest moment of the week happened last Saturday during that time. So tsumi, in Japanese, means sin. And Shumi, in Japanese means hobbies. We walk into a room with a random stranger and start trying to get to know him. We ask his name, where he's from, and then I ask him "Tsumi wa nan desu ka?" He gives me a strange look and it didn't register to me yet why my sentence sounded weird. "Tsumi?" He asks. My companion and I look at each other for a second before it clicks for her and she yells "SHUMI! IIE, IIE! SHUMI WA NAN DESU KA!" (Hobbies! No, no! What are your hobbies!) I slowly begin to realize that I just asked this random stranger what his sins are. We certainly had a good laugh about that one. Let's just hope I never make that mistake in Japan. The Nihongo is coming more and more every day. Sometimes during language study I try to translate the Morumon Sho (Book of Mormon, in case you didn't figure that one out) from Nihongo to English. I basically write down the writings from characters to the roman alphabet onto my paper, and then I pick out the words that I know and write those down in English, and then I look up the other words that I don't know until I have gotten the gist of what the writings are trying to tell me. It usually takes me like 20-25 minutes to do one verse. Sounds discouraging, I know, but sometimes it feels like a treasure hunt so I don't mind too much :) I see people I know quite often whether it be from Riverton, Herriman, or from Utah State. Its always fun to see familiar faces. It's also somewhat awkward when you see a boy you know and you're now allowed to really touch them so you run up to them all excited and then when you get to them you just have to stop and give them a handshake. It's a bit anticlimactic. Well, that's about all I have time for. The MTC is really a great experience whether it be the good days or the bad. I'm learning so much and I'm so happy to be supported by so many great friends and family. Thanks everyone who's been keeping me in their prayers! See you in about 17 months! Ai Shitte Masu Minasan!