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