Mike, Emily and Elan saw the sights in Salt Lake, including attending General Conference, going to the SLC Temple and eatingdinner at The Roof Restaurant atop the Joseph Smith Building.
On Oct 8, Emily entered the MTC. Here's a picture of her right after she received her name badge. Notice the orange dot; that stays on for the first day until she's had her interview with her Branch President. Also notice the Japanese characters on her name badge. Yikes! After an emotional but spiritually powerful farewell meeting with about 100 other new missionaries, Emily left thru the famous "missionary exit" and Mike and Elan left out the opposite side of the room thru the "family and friends exit." We knew we had left Emily in the best of all possible places, but it was still difficult to say good-bye. She will be in Provo until Dec 22. She can contact us with weekly emails and/or letters. Here's an excerpt from her first letter/email:Wed, Oct 8:
I made it here. I'm super tired, though. Stephanie Shaha (Shay-hay) is my companion. Isn't that cool?! (Emily had met Stephanie via Facebook) She's senior companion for the 1st 6 weeks and then I'm senior companion for the second 6 weeks. Can you tell I am hurrying? Quiet time is 10:15 and lights out at 10:30. I still need to read my scriptures!
There are 3 bunk beds in our room and 3 desks. I'm on the bottom in the corner. There are 3 other sister missionaries in our room. They are going to Japan but not Tokyo.
I will take a picture of my books. There are a TON. We got a bag of all our books/materials in the bookstore today. Japan's stack was one of the biggest ones!
We had an orientation meeting with the MTC president today. I love the president! He's very funny. And we had an orientation meeting tonight with our our branch presidency. The very first thing we did was sing " I am a Child of God" in Japanese. They wrote the lyrics on the board in Romanji.
There are six elders in our district and then us two sisters. One of the elders is from Australia. Another one is from New Zealand.
Thur. Oct 9
Got up at 6 to shower. You are to get up at 6:30, no earlier than 6. The bathroom is right across from us. You can't leave stuff like soap or shampoo in the bathroom. I don't need a tote or anything. It's not a big deal.
The group of new missionaries from that Wed. got together for a LGM (Large Group Meeting). We watched a movie on missionary work. The brother giving the presentation gave me the microphone for after the movie. I stood up and shared my thoughts. It was intimidating to speak to a sea of black (all those suits!) My companion shared her thoughts as well.
Fri Oct. 10
Got one of your letters today! Our district leader retrieves the mail. It is his job. My companion and I played piano after lunch. That was relieving. We learned from our sensei (teacher) that we were to only pray in Japanese here on out. Yikes! We didn't even know the language yet. Playing piano helped relieve our brains.
Our district decided Teiexiera Sensei (Teshiera) is the 4th Nephite because he is so amazing! He speaks 4 or 5 languages, is Brazilian, went to a year of college in England, has lived in Europe, is a chemistry minor, and has a dynamite testimony. On his way out of class, Tex Sensei said "Sister McMahan you are very Japanese-y)! That is such a compliment!
We have two sensei. The other is Johnson Sensei. He is a swimmer. That is all I know.
Sat Oct. 11
Today is worse that yesterday. I am very stressed out. We learned how to conjugate verbs today and we also learned many particles. Japanese sentence structure is confusing. I think it is impossible to think of a sentence off the top of your head. We had our first gym period today. Sis. Shaha and I ran around the indoor track. I did some machines. In companion prayer I said, in Japanese: "We're thankful for the Holy Ghost. Please bless our efforts. We ask for work. We ask for faith." Sentences are very "plug and go" at this point.
Sun Oct. 12
Breakfast wasn't until 7:40. Usually we have MDT (Missionary deferred time) from 7 until 7:40 where we meet as a district in our classroom, sing a hymn (in Japanese) and pray (in Japanese) and then study or read the scriptures.
Our district leader, Budge Choro, interviewed us. I thought it was extremely odd to be interviewed by a 19-year-old and I felt funny being without my companion. Budge Choro can only interview the Shimaitachi (sisters) if the door is open!
Church was 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 English. Each Sunday someone from the pulpit says Choro/Shimai so and so will give us a talk....
So.... EVERYONE must have a 5 minute talk prepared in Japanese each week because you never know when you'll be called!
We went to choir practice. Sisters can always go. Elders rotate. The director was HILARIOUS! I've never laughed so hard. We will perform in devotional this week. OH--- ALL of the sisters go to Music and the Spoken word before relief society each week. NONE Of the elders get to go. Ha!
Mon Oct. 13
Went as a district to the referral place (don't remember the name).We are a chatting district so we get to chat online with people who sign on to the lds.org chat session. We also do some calling as well. The computer dials people who received a BOM, DVD, or pamphlet etc. We check to make sure they received it and then we proselyte as the situation permits. I have yet to place an outbound call because today was only orientation.
TODAY, Tue, Oct 14
I have 8 more minutes until my time is up. I'll write fast.
My companion is Stephanie Shaha, the same girl that I became friends with on Facebook! She used to play drums in the marching band, but got tendinitis so the had to stop. She wears special wristbands. She has a young man waiting for her at home. He just got back from his mission.
There are 6 chorotachi (plura for choro, or elder)in my district. My district is 25C. We are with the district of Mumford Choro's people. There are two sisters in his district. They are very nice to us. We two sections of the district eat together at lunch. I look up to them so much! They are well behaved and speak Japanese well. As a matter of fact, when I first came in contact with Mumford Choro and his companion, Mumford Choro held out a card that said: "We are on an English fast. Sorry." HAHAHAHA
I need to go. It will shut me off and this will not be saved. I LOVE you! Thank for the letters. You can e-mail me here.
McMahan Shimai
2 comments:
I lOVE her letter! She's so descriptive. THe pictures are great too.
It was SO great to see you guys at the Church Office Building while you were up there. We even blogged about it. Sounds like Em is doing great!
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