Friday: We got great news, a whole new load of Japanese Elders and Sisters will be joining our zone! In fact we'll be gaining 2 entire districts made up of 8 Sisters and 12 Elders. It's a similar feeling to becoming an upperclassmen in high school, since now we have officially become Senpai. It's been fun looking back that exactly 4 weeks ago I had no idea what anyone is saying and I felt like a lost puppy. The Gift of Tongues is crazy real, there is no way that I could have learned this much Japanese in 4 weeks. When I first got here I could introduce myself and tell people that I was Elder Cuff. That was it. Now I get to have conversations and crack jokes with the native Japanese missionaries in our Zone. It's so much fun, plus everything is exponentially funnier in Japanese. And then, it happened. We had a bomb dropped on us. Conversation isn't too bad in Japanese, but effectively discussing The Gospel is a whole new ball game. We've had to use notes and phrases for our lessons and basically wrote out a translated script when working with our investigators. Our teachers, who act as the investigator anyways, said that we can no longer use notes in that fashion. Our lesson plans had to be written out in English, and if we wanted to use what we wrote, we'd have to translate it on the spot. I was a bit excited about the new challenge, but Elder Chab was a bit unsure, luckily, he's a freaking prodigy and has picked up more of the language than I have.
Saturday: Our teachers are so amazing! Seriously, every class is awesome. I'm still amazed that I have that much fun in a 3-HOUR class block. Saturday was our last day to use scripted notes. We had a lesson with one of our investigators and it's a good thing Elder Chab was there cause I could not speak Japanese for the life of me, I didn't translate some of my notes correctly so our investigator was completely lost during my portion of the lesson on The Atonement. Later that night on our 2nd class block we had personal companion coaching with our teacher, the legend, Strauss Kyodai. He pulled me out of the biggest rut that I've ever been in at the MTC. Remember it's okay if you feel like absolute garbage; cause there's only one direction you can go after that, which is up.
Sunday: Fast Sunday, oh the humanity. Just kidding, it wasn't bad, plus the upside of fast Sunday is we get a steak dinner and ice cream for dinner. Fast and Testimony meeting was so satisfying, who knew that a bunch of Elders could be so spiritually strong? Choir practice came around, and the song we were singing was special, it was called, "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer" and it is absolutely beautiful. Loved every minute of it. I can't remember who spoke at devotional that night, but I know he was an administrative member of the MTC who served in Japan. I know he talked about repentance, but he had a super monotone voice, and spoke for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I fell asleep, I'm not sorry.
Monday: I'm sorry, but when it comes to my schedule at The MTC, Mondays, and Thursday-Saturday all blur together. It's just going to class, teaching lessons, and studying, no devotionals, choir, meetings, or time at The Temple. But this was the first day that we taught without any notes; about 95% of what we said in a 35-minute lesson, was straight from our minds. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Honestly my confidence in the language has doubled since that first lesson, I kind of wished we did this before.
Tuesday: You know how last Sunday was the best day ever? Yea, I lied. Tuesday? BEST. DAY. EVER. We taught a stellar lesson, made progress on a new form of grammar, and then choir came around. We went through the entirety of the song, and we asked why we were suddenly doing such a special song for Tuesday devotional. Here's why. Elder Bednar and his wife came and spoke to us. When an apostle enters a room, you don't even have to be looking, you feel it. He spoke on effectively taking in the words of General Conference through organizing your notes into 3 sections. Doctrine and Principles, Invitations, and Promised Blessings. Or, as I remember it, DIBs. Also he talked about going to conference while at the MTC, which I can relate to, and said, "Conference never changed, I did" Also fun fact about conference. The speakers at conference aren't assigned topics, or even coordinate. Heaven does. Every conference has a theme, and all their talks come together every time. The best part is they don't ever talk about it with each other, they get prompted, prepare, and then show up individually. How do you like them apples.
I'd love to tell you so much more but I'm under requirement to get a haircut. My appointment is in 15 minutes and my laundry isn't done. Later Nerds.
Naturally, this is NOT the MTC choir. It is the hymn that has touched Elder Cuff's heart and strengthened his testimony of our Savior.
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