Week 4 "Party Shitai" (I/We Want to Party)

Hi minasan!

Now that I've done my laundry and eaten my breakfast, I feel very relieved.  (Note: the laundry room and cafeteria are the most contentions places on the MTC campus.  "Elder, that washing machine is MINE!!")  I can't believe I've been here nearly a month.  The MTC definitely puts you in a strange sort of time warp.  The other day I was looking at a recent journal entry and realized that I had been dating everything to the year 2011.  Anyway.

Thank you so much for all the birthday lovin'.  I loved all the emails, packages, and letters (Tace Face: loved your birthday package, even if it did make me cry on my birthday gosh darn it).  The stationery will certainly come in handy and I smiled when I pulled out the washcloth.  Also, Zachary's picture made my day. 

I can't tell you how many times this week our district used the phrase, "Party shitai."  Don't worry Okasan--we are all being obedient missionaries :) But here is a rundown of all the shenanigans that occurred this week.

As Tacy called it, I had a lovely "MTC prison birthday."  After playing soccer I was getting ready for class and heard a knock at the door, only to find a random maintenance girl standing there with a huge box with a chocolate in it, courtesy of Aunt Leslie and Uncle Stephen.  It was the happiest moment of my life and you can bet that it was all gone by the next day.  Sister Cheney found some candles, matches, and even a birthday crown in the free bin so we partied after class that night.  As hard as you can party in the MTC.  All the elders had been stashing all the food that their parents had been sending them and so it was a feast of candy, cake, and goldfish crackers. 

Yesterday we celebrated Canada Day in honor of our resident Canadian, Elder Keith.  His parents shipped him a bunch of goods so we gorged ourselves on Ketchup-flavored potato chips, maple syrup cookies, Cadbury chocolate, and supposedly the best chocolate chip cookies ever made.  And we sang a rather off-tune rendition of the Canadian anthem.  But I'd consider it a success, considering none of us actually knew the words.  On a side note, it reminded me a lot of the Genovian national anthem, thanks to the millions of times I watched Princess Diaries as a child.  

This year for my birthday I got some nice whiplash.  On Friday morning, all the shimai (sisters) and I were playing soccer, and I went to shoot, only to slip on the dewy grass and smack my head on the ground.  I was banished to the goalie box for the rest of the game (translation: I was usesless, haha).  Whiplash for daysssss.  But I can almost turn my head to the side now, so no need for a neck brace :)  But I'm trying not to be so clumsy and I'm sticking to the track for now.  One of the elders in our zone had to go home last week for tearing his meniscus during a game so I shall be a little less competitive.  

It was a week of solid speakers.  On Tuesday we heard from Janice Kapp Perry and her husband, which was more a party than I was expecting.  She was telling us about the pickup line her husband first used on her.  She was getting her clarinet ready for a playing test, and her then-colleague leans over to her and says, "Those lips were made for more than playing the clarinet."  As she was telling this story in the devo, Brother Perry leaps up and runs up to the podium and lays a big wet smooch on his wife's lips.  Half the missionaries gasped in shock (probably for lack of witnessing public displays of affection in the MTC) while the other half jumped up and gave them a standing ovation.

Not gonna see that in any BYU devotional.

We had the best Relief Society meeting of my entire life last Sunday, no exaggeration.  I think that every week, but really.  Sheri Dew came to speak, and she gave an incredible talk on being "spiritually smarter."  The following is a paraphrase, so just imagine it a whole lot more eloquently articulated:

Understand who you are, and who the Savior is.  Do you really believe it? Because when you do (and you've really felt it through the Spirit), it changes everything.  How you spend your time, what you think about, what you say to people.  Once you have an understanding of your self-worth and the Atonement and it's just running through your veins, THERE AIN'T NO STOPPING YOU. Sister Dew talked about how she was "intrinsically shy" (which I felt accurately described me) but she overcame it once she had a solid understanding of who she was, expecially in the Lord's eyes.  Tap into the Atonement by finding out what the Savior has done for YOU.  If you don't understand something, ask in an environment of faith.  Don't start by saying, "I don't understand this so the Church must not be true."

Amen.

That's all for now.  Thank you thank you for all the messages.  I love you all.  The Church is true!

Love, Magi-chan

Pic 1: Happy Canada day.  

Love, District 27B.

Pic 2: Favoriteeeee sister-in-law.
(Kristen works at MTC.)

Pic 3:  Best birthday cake. 












(Tuesday, July 2, 2013)