Week 5--Keep Moving Forward

P-days here seem to never be normal- last week the companionship having issues was splitting up (funny that they suddenly realized they liked being together...?) So we kept Sis Makin, and now have Sis Carey - we love her!! Really positive and crazy, but knows more Japanese than us, and was a theatre major (stage management), but there's someone I get to talk to about theatre - yay!

Smith Shimai - the one that left :( had us all whiten our teeth with her. Apparently brushing your teeth with charcoal makes them whiter? Sounded like a Pinterest thing. But it was fun and we looked crazy!

Friday we had our 1 month party - we're halfway through the MTC! Also we got to watch Pres Packer's funeral. So uplifting! What an example of service, dedication to the Lord, church and family. (Saw the Packers in Ukraine walk in, that's nice that they were able to come back for this). I loved that they said he was always in the service of the Savior. Also yay Brigham City! Grandma told me he's buried next to Lorenzo Snow (which p.s. I do remember where that is!) One of my thoughts was, there's no way there's room for his entire family at the BC cemetary! :) 

Sundays here are always good - this was a really good one. Our topic of the day was faith in Jesus Christ. Everything was good. I didn't fall asleep during Sacrament or devo, didn't even start to doze off!! (My district thinks its funny when I can't keep my head up...so that was a goal and prayer this week!) Ended with the Joseph Smith movie. Oh that movie is my favorite. The sacrifices made and dedication to the Savior - just like Pres Packer. Striving to be more like them. 

Tues Devo was Elder Banks (emeritus 70) who was pretty old, but talked really fast and had some pretty funny stories! He talked about PMG, and about Pres Hinckley a lot - who was over PMG and was good friends with Elder Banks. They are both just happy, funny people! It's nice to remember that those are good qualities to have. 

Carey Shimai gets up and goes to early morning Sister Workout Class, so a few of us went with her this week. They have different classes everyday - zumba, pilates, yoga, cardio, etc. I like the options! So Tuesday was supposed to be abs but ended up being more legs and glutes. OW. I haven't worked that hard in a loooooong time. Tons of squats and lunges and wall sits for eternity, then all over again. So. So. So. Sore. Like I kept waking up in the middle of the night when I'd move because I'd discover I was sore there too. Guess that's a warning to me to not get lazy here! So on Wednesday stairs hurt, walking hurt, sitting hurt. I know, I'm a whiner - tried to hold it in! Don't worry! It's really not that bad, but it was. Like ballet! Other shimaitachi just found it funny that I would grab onto everything to get up or go up/down stairs - am I 90? No. 19... today I feel a lot better.

Also stupid me...so our bedroom has been pretty cold the last few nights, and then we just discovered we have a thermostat! But we were skeptical, because the one in the classroom doesn't work. So just to see if it would work I moved it from 65 to 85. And forgot about it. Guess what? The thermostat works!! Soo hot. Rees Shimai told me she woke up and thought she had a fever. Oops. I'm now banned from using the thermostat :)

Nihongo has been much better this week! As a district we've all been working harder and more focused than ever before. I think it's cool to see that we thought we were working our hardest before, but now we have an even greater capacity - Igen no Tamamono here we come! We all do tango (vocab) together all the time - flashcards almost 24/7.

Here's some fun new stuff: 

shinpai shinai de kudasai - don't worry

kimazui - awkward
un no kano - duck of luck, or lucky duck!

It's amazing how much we can learn and retain here so quickly! Love you all, love hearing from everyone!

Love, Wagstaff Shimai

T's wisdom teeth sound miserable, but at least it's over!  Zannen = unfortunate. Said as an exclamation

Also! Great new word this week: oonchi = poop.

So we don't have our official travel plans, but we do leave on the 11th. It says 11 and 12 in places depending on how you think about it, because we're leaving here the 11th, getting there the 12th. Figuring out the calling situation. You either buy a calling card here (cheap at the MTC!) or get a go-phone? Not sure, figuring it out. But will be calling on the 11th! 

I really feel like I finally have been pushing myself to the max with langauge this week. Before it was still very stressful, so we liked to take breaks, but now we're learning to have fun with the language. It was my "MTC Birthday" yesterday, so my district complimented me yesterday. I really don't care about music/talent compliments, that's nice but not to be prideful, I know. I really appreciated the thoughtful comments about my testimony and a lot of people talked about me being positive, focused and happy to be here. THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON! It's just nice to hear that my efforts are noticed, working out. As a district we're all just learning to make Nihongo fun - flashcards have been good, we like to learn weird words. 

Another phrase: Shikkari shite kure! (Equivelent to: Get yo life! But turns out it's rude in Japan, so we only say it lovingly here. Promise!)

I make plenty of mistakes: turns out I have thus far taught/ or agreed to the fact that 1) Prophets are God's grandpas...that was a confusing lesson. We cleared up prophets though, no worries! 

2) I tried to pray for the Lord to help the investigator, ended up praying for the Lord to help himself. Sentence structure matters. And the Lord has to have a sense of humor! We're trying and these are innocent mistakes, which we fix as soon as we know about them! I'm having a good time, love you all!

Hope Drew has a great time at Disneyland, you know I'm jealous! I know he's good at making friends and being nice to people, so it'll turn out well!! 

And to Dad's remark, we don't just go to Disney for extra trips, I went to NYC too...:)

I love letters and packages! Amish stuff was pretty good! District AND Sensei loved the cookies! Sharing with the teachers! 

Couldn't think of things I needed this week...I'll let you know next week if I think of anything! Really I just love Dear Elders/ letters - feel the love and don't get fat :) 

Aishiteimasu! Katya

My district with new Carey Shimai (short one on the left above me!)

Also me and the doryo at Provo Temple... they read us the First Pres letter concerning Same-Sex Marriage ruling at the temple. So nice to have that perspective!