Week 1. WHOAAA. Probably one of the longest weeks of my life. But I'm happy and learning lots.
Favorites / Things I have learned / Fun facts / Otherwise notable things:
1. The sisters in our district like pigtails. That lasted all of two days when the MTC Presidency outlawed them for fear that we would be channeling Laura Ingalls Wilder.
2. The MTC does not have the capacity to handle all the electricity that sisters consume. Discovered that when I was blow drying my hair a few days ago at the same time as a sister next door and all the power went out.
3. Elder Bednar's missionary haircut was very similar to mine.
4. The cafeteria has all the salad, cereal, and ice cream that I could ever want. So I guess it's okay I didn't pack boxes of cereal.
Favorites / Things I have learned / Fun facts / Otherwise notable things:
1. The sisters in our district like pigtails. That lasted all of two days when the MTC Presidency outlawed them for fear that we would be channeling Laura Ingalls Wilder.
2. The MTC does not have the capacity to handle all the electricity that sisters consume. Discovered that when I was blow drying my hair a few days ago at the same time as a sister next door and all the power went out.
3. Elder Bednar's missionary haircut was very similar to mine.
4. The cafeteria has all the salad, cereal, and ice cream that I could ever want. So I guess it's okay I didn't pack boxes of cereal.
5. The elders like to walk around saying, I'm gonna teach this lesson bosu no yoni. I'm pretty Japanese people don't often say "Like a boss" but it's kind of funny.
Here's a windy rundown of how things have gone this week:
The night before I entered I had the best dinner with two of my favorite married people (Brittani will always be on my list of top companions :) and then the next day I went and taught English with Kristen to two boys from Saudi Arabia and a girl from Mexico. We met up with Aunt Leslie and Josh to have lunch at Cafe Rio with every other sister missionary within a 100 mile radius. Kristen had to go to work at the same time that I was to report, so we pushed my suitcases the two blocks from their apartment. We were literally standing on the curb across from the MTC when a senior missionary told us that they couldn't let us in because of the huge influx of missionaries (930+ on that day) so she had to turn around and go get the car. So I sat on the curb while she ran home and got the car so she could drive me 20 feet to get inside the gate. So as a note to myself for the next time I decide to serve a mission, no walking to the curb.
When I tried to check in, they couldn't find me anywhere in the system. (How on earth did I come to the MTC on the wrong day??) Turns out they just did everything under Okaasan's (my mother's) maiden name. So that meant I was walking around with missionary tags that read Sister Ochii Willden for a couple days. I got another set of tags so that I have one set to match my American passport and another to match my Japanese. It was a little bit of a struggle but now I know what my name is.
Our district has 8 sisters and 4 elders. Our entire zone got 24 new missionaries last Wednesday, all going to Tokyo. I think there's another zone with more new missionaries all going to Tokyo too. So there's a lot of us. 16 Japanese missionaries flew in yesterday who are joining our branch. Japan's exploding with missionary work! It really is exciting. My companion is a 19-year old sister from Alaska. You could probably say that we are the most opposite in terms of personality but we make it work. She's quite good at talking to everyone regardless of what language they speak. That includes the cafeteria workers who don't understand a lick of Japanese and give us weird looks. But it's great.
My Japanese is slowly improving. I can officially pray, bear my testimony, ask people to commit to things and I've been working on learning a new kanji everyday. So I should be able to read the Book of Mormon in Japanese by the time I get home. Just in time.
Magi-chan
PS: Lydia! Your wedding announcement is adorable. You two are like a dream. Also, to the really nice person with an 801 number who texted me the night before I entered the MTC, I didn't have my phone so you should let me know who you are so I can write you.
PPS: Happy birthday this week to Otousan and Heid. I hope you have a lovely birthday and wish I could bake you a cake.
Pic 1: awkwardly teaching the midget in the depths of the laundry room
Pic 2: sisterly roommates
(Tuesday, June 11, 2013)
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