week 1: long days and short weeks

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 First day in the MTC with my companion, Gawrys Shimai.
She is from Riverside, California.
My roommates: Hippolite Shimai, Rasmussen Shimai, and Gawrys Shimai.
We are all serving in the Fukuoka, Japan mission!

GROUP EMAIL:
Konnichiwa!

This has been a crazy fast week... the days are slow but the weeks are fast. Week 1 is over. The first day was crazy fast. They don't really give you a lot of time to miss family in the MTC. I met my host who helped me get everything to my room and then I went straight to class. Everything was in JAPANESE!!! It was pretty confusing! But we all survived. I met my companion Sister Gawrys. She is from California and going to Fukuoka as well. Our district is made up of 6 sisters and 5 elders. There are 4 different missions in our district. My whole Zone is so nice and fun! The spirit is with you all the time here. It is the most amazing thing ever!

The gift of tongues is real!! I am understanding a lot and the words don't seem so hard after a few days. Don't get me wrong, it's a ton of work on my side but the Lord is raining down blessings on his missionaries.  We are already teaching in Japanese... not good Japanese, but we are doing our best. They had us start teaching on our 3rd day here. It's been really hard but the spirit helps a lot.

Cool story... Gawrys Shimai (Shimai  means sister) and I were studying and brother Nelson (He is in the MTC presidency I think) walked by. We waved and said hi. He was about to get on the elevator and he stopped turned around and started talking to us. He talked about the spirit and about how the language we learn is a tool to use, but the reason we are at the MTC  is to learn how to teach with the spirit. He said he had an elder in his mission who couldn't speak any Spanish so no one understood him, but he taught with the spirit and everyone he bore testimony to was baptized.  I thought it was awesome and it was something Gawrys Shimai and I both needed. 

Funny story... Stanley Choro (elder) called Gawrys Shimai and I Choro on accident. So later we called him Shimai and it was pretty funny. 

So the two Japanese words are Choro meaning Elder and Shimai meaning Sister.
I love you all and miss you all a lot. The church is true and the Book of Mormon is the true word of God.  

Love!
Thompson Shimai

FAMILY EMAIL:
My days are great. They have been hard and last night all the emotion hit me like a ton of bricks. Gawrys Shimai and I talked and I felt a lot better after. My schedule is usually, wake up at 6:30 and get ready. Then eat breakfast and after work out for an hour. Then shower, and study (personal, companion and part of language). Then we have lunch. After lunch it is usually class or a work shop. If it work shop it's work shop and class after.then we have a little break and go to dinner. Then we have class again. Then get ready for bed. Sundays, tuesdays, and wednesdays are different but thats the usual schedule. The food is awesome! I haven't gained any weight but I feel like I eat a ton... I'm not used to burning this many calories. I love the packages, they made me smile a ton.
So all of us in my room are in the same mission ( Gawrys,  Hippolite, and Rasmussen). Gawrys Shimai is a really layed back and chill person. She talks a lot and is excited to study the scriptures. She is really nice. We laugh a lot and have fun!  We all get along in our mission really well. We already have lots of funny jokes going around. 









My district: 6 sisters/5 elders






sweet notes from my roommates



Most beautiful place to study


P-day temple trip to the Provo temple






Books, books, and more books!


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