24 Jun 2011

First I like to have a guest writer.  Elder Anderson is a missionary who has also had 6 years of Japanese experience.... let's see what it's like from his perspective.

 

or he'll write about whatever....

 

"I awoke at 3 AM, a cool spring morning. The wind brushed lightly against my face, while the sun painted my skin a cool golden brown. There are very few things that give me this much joy as a super action ninja TV star. Today is day 332 of filming my new action movie: Threat Level Midnight. I crawl from my tattered sleeping bag, rolling in the leaves that neighbor my humble tent. They crunch noisily under my red tennis shoes, almost crying for help. I revel in their misery. As a ninja, it's difficult for me to imagine anything but doing awesome ninja-esque moves on everything I see. The leaves are no exception. I jumped quickly into the air, twirling my body like a whirling tornado, the leaves rising into the air. I use my sweet, hot ninja legs to kick them into oblivion. I am pretty dang awesome, and even the leaves know it. They humbly return to the ground, touched by my presence. I flash a quaint grin, and continue with my day. I can't help but think to myself 'Yes, the MTC will be awesome.'"

 

In case you ever thought that I was the only one slightly off my rocker here.... I'm just a dime a dozen when it comes to the missionaries going to Japan. Well, maybe not, Elder Anderson and I are kinda different.....  Well, I don't have a whole ton of time today due to various reasons: we pretty much have all of the 12 apostles here and the first presidency because of all of the new mission presidents, so today is a special fireside at 4, and I want to be in the choir which starts at 3, which is like 5 minutes from now.

 

The temple was nice, kinda sad that it was my last time to go to the Provo Temple in 2 years, our next p-day will be almost entirely in-field orientation, so I don't actually know if I'll have time to write or not.  I do know that I will not be able to go to the Temple though.  Speaking of temples, Sonntag and a couple of other international elders went to the Salt Lake Temple today to do a session.  I was kinda jealous.  Sonntag got to go because he actually turned his papers in from Tokyo, so he counts as an international missionary. 

 

Everything here is doing pretty sweet, we've got to host new missionaries for the past 3 weeks so it's been really nice to see all of the new missionaries come and to be reminded of how I was only 10 weeks ago.  I've gotten to know everyone here very well and I am very grateful for all the opportunities I've had to change and affect the lives of those that I've met. 

 

I told you that we got new Japanese roommates right.... well, one was Korean, couldn't do Japanese only class and moved to be with our lower class and will be here for 9 weeks, the other roommate moved to another room so we lost both of our foreign roommates.  Sad day.  But it's all good, I go to Japan in 10 days.  Our flight plans are here and we get to go on a non-stop flight straight from Salt Lake to Tokyo.  So if you happen to be in Salt lake around 2:00pm on the 4th of July, look up, you might just see me fleeing the country on it's anniversary. 

 

Good luck everybody, and remember, you are all supposed to be great, so go be great

 

Elder Everett

17 Jun 20011 Update

THE JAPANESE ELDERS HAVE ARRIVED.  AND WE HAVE TWO NEW ROOMMATES.  One of them is Kwon 長老、he's from Korea, and he's actually only 18 years old.  He didn't study much Japanese or English, so it's a very interesting situation, but he gets language so well, it's kinda scary.  Our other new roommate is Tanaka 長老、 he's from Ibaraki, his English is good, but we haven't had much time to talk in either language.  The first couple of days at the MTC are packed, so the Japanese elders are still in the midst of the longest days of the MTC. 



Tuesday our devotional was by the General Primary President!  I heard some groans from the audience when her name popped up on the board, but I had to stop myself from shouting "YES!"  Her talk was quite simply, amazing.  Her opening remarks were entirely centered around the simple gospel truths contained in Primary songs, and to illustrate her point, she had us sing them.  I love Primary songs!  Her entire talk was expounding on the lyrics to "The Church of Jesus Christ." 



I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I know who I am.
I know God’s plan.
I’ll follow him in faith.
I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
I’ll honor his name.
I’ll do what is right;
I’ll follow his light.
His truth I will proclaim.


It's amazing how powerful a simple little song can be. 



So to be truthful, while writing this I got a little distracted by LDS.org.  Mainly because I found the Japanese site and spent the past hour going through it, watching Mormon Messages with Japanese subtitles, and printing off a copy of For the Strength of Youth.  I should not let myself wander so much online.....


Other cool news, My companion's parents sent us a booklet of Japanese Sign Language and I've been learning that in my free time as well.  I've got the alphabet down, and a few random words too.  Let's see if I can actually have time to learn/use it on my mission, I think I might be able to. 



Well this one is a little short, my bad... Anyways, good luck everyone and I am sincerely indebted to all of you that have sent me mail so far, I'm sorry that I have yet to return the kindness (I'm working on it).


エベレット　長老
Elder Everett

June 10, 2011

Ok, so I spent most of last Friday waiting in the sick bay to check out my thumb.  Absolutely nothing is wrong, but it took an hour in the waiting room followed by 30 minutes in the patient room by myself, followed by a 5 minute talk with the doctor, followed by an x-ray (I got to leave MTC Campus for that; super weird because the place was halfway between the MTC and my dorm at BYU) which was then followed by another doctors appointment with the same hour wait and a short conversation in which he told me nothing was broken or sprained, that I had just stressed my ligaments, and to wear a brace.  So all in all, roughly 4 and a half hours were taken to tell me that nothing was actually wrong with me and I should probably wear a brace (by the way, they gave me a lefty brace for my right hand; it ended up exacerbating the problem and I had to go back the next Monday for a replacement).  Super successful P-day, huh?  Yeah, after that we came back to do e-mails and the LDS website was down in Provo, so no luck there.

とにかく　(anyways), That same p-day one of the missionaries in my zone, Wycoff 長老、　got one of everything from the Temple cafeteria.  It ended up costing about $11, he almost ate the whole thing, but stopped roughly a quarter of a Belgium waffle, and a couple bites of a cinnamon roll short.  It was still impressive nonetheless. 

 

Sunday during the devotional we sang a version of "Called to Serve" kinda of on the fly.  The wife of one of the MTC presidency led on the Piano and a friend of her's conducted.  It started off with a short introduction with two fanfares after the which we all came in singing the first verse pianissimo, the first chorus followed the same route.  After that there was a short interlude with two more fanfares and then we all came in the second verse mezzo piano.  The second chorus was forte and we sang it normal until we got to "Called to serve our King" at that point everyone in the audience stood up on the word King and we began the chorus again this time fortissimo.  After the chorus we repeated "God our strength will be, press forward ever, Called -- to -- serve -- our -- king---------------------" holding out that last note in what they called "The 20 minute note".  It was quite possibly the most epic thing I've heard at the MTC save maybe one, and that could only be that Hungarian organist playing "Go Tell It on the Mountain"  If I ever run into anything that comes close to the sheer power of those two times again..... quite frankly, I'm already at a loss for words.

 

As far as the actual devotional, we learned of the history of the Nauvoo temple, which, if you haven't read the accounts, you need to.  Possibly one of my favorite devotionals thus far.  Tuesday's was equally as good.  Sonntag 長老 and I sang in the Choir again, we sang a John Ritter piece that I hadn't heard of before called "Look at the World"; it was a very pretty song, I highly encourage everyone to look it up. 

 

We had Elder Kikuchi of the Seventy come and give a powerful talk on the importance of finding our own sacred grove.  As we search and use our own personal sacred grove we will be endowed with power and peace, and we will learn to become masters of ourselves, forever progressing in all that we do.

 

OHHHHHHH Other super exciting news, we got our new 子灰　(Junior) missionaries last week.  My goal has been to speak to them only in Japanese, and so far only two of them have ever really heard me speak English.  One of them overheard me one time while I was translating and I saw him turn to his companion and ask "Whoa, did you know that he could speak English?"  That made me feel kinda good about myself.  I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I've had before the MTC to be a teacher because it has taught me patience with others, and I've seen how working with them has augmented their (and my own) learning.

There are also two new missionaries that grew up speaking Japanese often so I've been able to talk to them, a third that grew up speaking as well but not as often, and there are some other missionaries this time that have studied Japanese. One of them has studied just as much as I have.  This new group has such a good basis, it's kind of amazing.

 

I realized this week that Frisbee season if over for TYUL.  I really loved all of the time that I got to spend with everyone on that team, and I don't think there is a single person in all of my zone that hasn't heard at least one story about you guys.  As soon as you can, I would love to hear how the State tournament went. Hit me up sometime, I've got a little under a month left here in the States, so time is running out to send mail to me cheaply. 

 

Also to everyone that has sent me letters, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.  They are quite literally the highlight of my day, and if I don't respond to you right away, just know that it's because I'm busy, but I am getting your letters.  I love each and every one of you and keep you in my thoughts daily.  Each new missionary Wednesday I see the missionaries come and say goodbye to their family for two years and it's such a bitter-sweet moment that I can't help but feel for them. 

 

All of you back home, do your best, exemplify each day, and don't let your life slip past you, take advantage of the time that you have, because if there's anything that I've learned here at the MTC, it's that time only accelerates as you get older, so don't you miss a minute of it. 

 

I love you all

 

Everett 長老

May 27, 2011

For some inexplicable reason we determined that the best time to do Laundry was not at the time appointed, but rather at 5:30 in the morning before our Temple trip.  Okay maybe we didn't have to vie for washer space, but really, I rather enjoy our Laundry time, I get so much done during that time... whatever though, it's kind of nice having all day open on P-Day.

I've also determined that my meals at the Temple are becoming too much of the same, maybe I should switch up what I get every once in a while, but then again, why would I break something so amazing?  Today was a seafood quiche with hash browns and gravy with some bacon strips and a fruit cake with gravy.  I'm convinced that the gravy at the Temple can go on anything.

Wednesday Steven Wong came to the MTC.  He's going to the Philippines so we get him in our Gym time, that's awesome.  Speaking of gym time, I'm pretty sure people have decided that I'm straight up crazy when it comes to any sort of physical activity.  Crazy not in the fact that I'm particularly good, just that I look like I shouldn't be able to do much, but will still smack that ball out of your hand the second I have a chance.  Few things feel as good as stuffing your muscle-bound 6'1" companion who’s under the delusion that a small guy in the lane means an easy basket.  And sinking a basket from the three-point line with two people blocking you, that feels pretty nice, too.

Tuesday was pretty awesome, we had Elder Nelson come talk to us about obedience and pride.  Sister Nelson spoke first on the importance of exact obedience.  Her main message was that "obedience brings blessings; but exact obedience brings miracles."  There are definitely some rules that we would like to think don't apply to us, but she testified that the rule that we think doesn't apply to us was made especially for us.  If we just work a little bit on taking correction as it comes and never despise an opportunity to grow, we will be endowed with Power and be able to perform miracles we never previously thought were possible (anywhere from knowing what to say in the moment you need to say it, to actually learning another language). 

This week our district is teaching the first lesson in Japanese.  Sonntag and I have been trying to do this since the second week, but it's the first time for the rest of the district so they're freaking out a bit.  With that, I have received an influx of questions concerning Japanese.  Part of me wants to take it as flattering, but other parts of me are a little more hesitant... mainly because I realized that they are relying on me to help them learn this language so that in turn they can help others come unto Christ.  When I realized the magnitude of the people that suddenly became reliant on what I could teach others, it frightened me, and this is but a small portion.  Don't get me wrong, I am super excited to go to Japan and preach the gospel, but the idea of people's eternal salvation on my shoulders...........

I can do it, and so can you.  Be strong and of a good courage, and let no one despise thy youth (not even yourself). I love you all and remember you in my prayers every day.  Let me know how you're doing, I'll try to respond, but it may take a while. 

Do cool things!

Everett 長老

20 May 2011

Today marks exactly one month since arriving at the MTC, how appropriate that it's P-day!
Today Sonntag 長老 and I served as proxies in a sealing session.  That was pretty cool hearing the blessings associated with eternal families and enduring to the end.  The officiator was quite the interesting man, too.  Apparently he lived in Jerusalem for 14 years and speaks English, German, Spanish, and can read Hebrew.  I don't recall ever hearing scriptures being quoted in Hebrew before, that was pretty cool.  One day I kind of just want to sit down with the guy and (as Sonntag 長老 says) talk story with him.  Also, new discovery today at the Temple's cafeteria: fruit cake + sausage gravy = delicious.

So last night was pretty nice, I actually slept through most of the night, which, of course, meant that I was wide awake about an hour before I normally would be.  That's a good thing though because I was able to use the time to talk to another missionary (宣教師）for a while and I was able to read a little more in the scriptures than normal.  Also I've come to the decision that Enos is a pretty cool guy (and I'm not just saying that because of the awesome poster I have of Enos on his way to hunt), and that Shiblon is pretty sweet, too. 

Japanese is going rather well, I've mainly been using class time to either study what I want, or to help other people as they are trying to learn Japanese, and I'm able to somewhat carry on a gospel related conversation.  Also, I recently learned that I can recite the missionary purpose in Japanese in roughly 20 seconds.  First vision.... that still takes me about a minute, but it's getting to be more fluent.  I'm also working on memorizing the articles of faith and have the first 4 down, as well as some simple scriptures (James 1:5; Moses 1:39 etc）

I've also decided that the MTC actively separates English speaking missionaries and Foreign language missionaries; it's super rare that I ever see any missionaries that aren't going out of the country, or at least learning a foreign language.  I did happen to run into Christison 姉妹　(Sister Courtney Christison) and was able to talk to her for a while.  Maybe we'll get to talk more during choir practice.  I've also been running into a bunch of people who were in my Ward at BYU.  In fact, one of them (Alex Gunnerson) just moved onto our floor.  We happened to meet while I was on my way to the shower, it was only a little awkward. 

On Tuesday we heard from Elder Hinckley of the 70.  You may or may not have heard of his father, Gordon, but he was a pretty cool guy.  Elder Hinckley spoke to us on the value and necessity of work.  His wife knows something of what hard work can accomplish; she was the number 1 ranked tennis player in all of Utah and the 7 surrounding states.  She exhorted us all to "do what you are supposed to do, when you are supposed to do it; whether you want to or not."  I'm becoming more and more aware of the wise counsel in this statement.  If a mission is nothing else, it's hard work; and if there's something that I have found out as of late, it's this: the harder the work is, the more satisfying the outcome.  If you're trying to change, and you're not doing anything hard, are you really trying to change? I say unto you nay.  (Also the MTC is making me speak in scripture speak)  Do the work, follow the rules, and never disable your progression. 

In three days our せんぱい　(The missionaries in the group ahead of us) leave for Japan.  At that point we are no longer the "younger" group, but the experienced fogies of the MTC.  I can now say, "I've been here twice as long as you're going to be here, and I'll still be here after you've left".  I'm still deciding how I feel about this.

Anyway, MTC is still awesome, and my district is awesome.  And the spirit that we've been able to feel here is awesome. I challenge all of you who are reading this to pick up a copy of The Book of Mormon and see what it's about.  Whether it's true or not, you can only know by reading.  Don't let you're inhibitions halt you in the search of truth. Good luck and do cool things.

Everett 長老 (chourou)

A Friday the 13th update

Okay, so this time I only have 24 minutes.... game on!

 

Happy Friday the 13th, what a good day to have P-day (you know, the day where I get to visit the Temple and do laundry and all that fun stuff).  Let me start off with this morning... So we went to the temple this morning, awesome, and after our session we saw that the Temple had a cafeteria for patrons.  My companion and I looked at each other and we're like "Hey, we're patrons! Let's go!" so we did.  Holy sausage gravy and quiche that was a delicious idea.  The quiche they had today was mostly made with olives, I don't even like olives and I was still scrounging my plate for every last morsel I could find, and let me tell you what, hashbrowns and sausage gravy is like comfort in your mouth.  Real food every once in a while is awesome.  If the cafeteria there opened up any earlier I would seriously consider going there for breakfast every morning, but I suppose that at least once a week is sufficient for my needs.

 

One important revelation I had this week during class: don't shy away from all that I have done up unto this point, but embrace it and use it for the betterment of all those who I will eventually teach.  Specifically this week I found a connection between my time as an archery teacher and the plan of salvation.  I realized, that in my own little way, I was able to experience stewardship over people, and help them grow and develop, and learn, a little bit, of the joy that Heavenly Father must feel when we finally get something right and just do what he says.  I like stories, I am a story teller of sorts, so whenever I can find a story to relate to gospel principles, I am a happy camper. 

 

This past Tuesday we had Neil L. Anderson come and talk to us about the atonement; which is awesome because that's what our teaching task is this week, to teach the plan of salvation.  We lived with Heavenly Father as spirits before we came to this Earth.  Heavenly Father had a perfected body, and we, as his children, desired to be like him; for that purpose He created this Earth that we may grow and become as He is.  Adam and Eve were the first parents on this Earth, prior to their fall they were perfectly innocent beings, knowing no sickness, sadness, or ills; however, they also knew no joy, happyness, or peace.  "Adam fell that men might be, and Men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 25)  The fall gave men the ability to choose how they will conduct their lives.  "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men (Jesus Christ), or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Nephi 2:27)  We have the ability to choose liberty and eternal life, but only through the atonement of Jesus Christ our savior and redeemer.  He gave us the ability to repent of our sins, no matter the weight.  He suffered for all that we have done, and will do, and he will suffer even if we do not repent.  Do not let Christ suffer in vain.  I have a testimony of the peace and joy that this Gospel brings, I have seen it change the lives of every person that I have met here in the MTC, even in 3 weeks the changes that some people have gone through are astounding.  Be strong and of a good courage, for the lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest.

 

3 weeks are down and the wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey vortex that is the MTC continues to blow my mind.  Some days I can't imagine being here for 8 more weeks, and others it seems like time if flying by faster than I can handle.  I just wish my sense of time would pick one pace and stick with it. 

 

Stuck in my head has been "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd" look it up, find a performance, read the words.  Hopefully it will strenthen you as it has strengthened me this week.

 

こんお教会が真実だと知っています。　私たちは完全福音をとうして神様の御許へ戻ることができます。　私はみなさんを愛しています。　がんばりましょう！ (this is my testimony in Japanese)

エベレット長老

Elder Everett

 

May 6, 2011

Ok, so I have 27 minutes with which to compose everything I want to say.... here goes.

 

This week we had the missionaries from Japan come.  There were 30 missionaries from Japan, 14 Elders and 16 Sisters.... I don't think I've ever seen a group composed like it.  My companion and I were excited when the Japanese elders were coming because we have two open beds in our room, so we thought we might get a companionship to room with.  Sadly that wasn't the case, but the room is fine with just the two of us in there.  The Elders are pretty cool, but they don't want to talk in Japanese to the English missionaries, they only want to talk in English.... it's difficult sometimes.

 

Anyway, I had a pretty awesome experience on Thursday.  One of the Japanese sister missionaries got sick and was in the sick bay.  Neither her nor her companion spoke English, so the Nurse came up the 5 flights of stairs to where we learn Japanese and asked if anyone here felt comfortable translating.  I was in the room at the time and an Elder out in the hall (His last name is Everett, too *weird huh*) and was volunteered by his companion, as he was going he was like "hey, let's grab other Everett too."  So I get called over and we go down to the sick bay.  I don't even know how it happened, but I was able to relay the information from the Sister to the doctor and from the doctor to the sister insomuch that we made a plan for the rest of the day and the Sisters knew what they needed to do.  I'm pretty sure I haven't used that many mental faculties in a long time, and if I thought the AP test gave me a lot of pressure..... try having somebody's well being on the table... that was something quite special.

 

This Tuesday's devotional was all about Faith.  I enjoy when people talk on faith, it always seems like a call to action for me.  We learned that faith, in it' purest sense, will naturally lead you to action.  If you believe, I mean truly believe, then you have to act upon what you believe, because if your faith does not lead you to action, it's not really faith, it's just a nice thought.  They quoted Joshua 24:15, which I thoroughly enjoyed. *not that it's on my mission plaque or anything*  "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, whether the Gods which your fathers served, which were on the other side of the flood, or the Gods of the Ammorites in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  If you've known me for a while you know that I work best with deadlines, and what better deadline is there than to choose ye this day?

 

A little bit of sad news, I was informed that they aren't going to let me leave with the group of missionaries 6 weeks ahead of us.  I was told that they didn't have such a system set in place (even though I know of 1 missionary that did it a couple of years ago, and another missionary that is doing it now, but his Sister is a Teacher at the MTC, so apparently he can do that.........)  Well what can you do but continue to learn and grow? I've been able to teach myself most all of my stay at the MTC so far  and I've become much more proficient at reading Japanese.  In fact I'm working on translating the "Family, A Proclamation to the World" from Kanji during my free time.  Also, I got a new toy, a Preach my Gospel in actual Japanese, not the romanized version they gave us here;  I had wanted a legitimate Japanese Preach My Gospel since I came here, but I was told "You're not allowed to learn that here", so I grabbed one that one of the Japanese Elders had thrown out. (works for me)

 

Also this Wednesday, a friend of mine, Brady Miller, came to the MTC.  We lived on the same hallway at BYU, his family lives in Japan and he is going to Vancuver Canada, Korean speaking.  The weird thing is.... He went to High School with my companion.  Did I mention how Elder Sonntag knows everybody? Well he does, and this was the first instance that we knew the same person.  It was a strange, strange thing when we all met at the food line. 

 

I'm trying to think of other things that happened this week, but the MTC is really just a crazy time vortex.  It seems like yesterday that I typed my last post, and now it's weird that I'm typing another.....

 

Oh, and it's awesome that you guys are sending my Mom messages about how you enjoy my comments... but it's really okay to send me messages too  (I got one today from a friend from BYU! That makes 2 so far)

 

Know that I keep all of you in my thoughts everyday and that I pray and hope that you all live your lives to the best of your ability.

 

With much Love,

Everett Chourou

Here's Ben's address until July 4:
  Elder Benjamin Everett
  MTC Box #144
  2005 North 900 East
  Provo, UT  84604