June 29th:

                "Is it week 3 or week 4? ha I'm losing my mind here. Time in the MTC is SO trippy (and I forget what I have told you and what I haven't ha so forgive me if there are repeats). Someone told us the "days here are like weeks and the weeks are like days." ha True that. AKA Shinjitsu sore. It's strange. The days individually are all super long (and definitely mentally taxing.....have you ever tried to learn three new characters alphabets before???? it's muzikashi (difficult) fo sho.) And then the weeks are just flying by. How is that even possible? Anywho..... "The weekly update of Chloe's missionary life is......." (wait for it......)

1) Tuesday DEVO. Ok who's heard of Janice Kapp Perry? Ha I barely had. And I thought she was another Jenny Phillips. Not true. She's old. ha But that's is A OK. Cuz she is So very cute... this week she was our devotional speaker. (we have a devo every Tuesday and every Sunday). So I was a little skeptical at first. Because, really. This old lady has to follow up the worldwide broadcast (which I will get to later). But I mean the bar was raised pretty high for a 60 something year old. But she met it. Go Janice  so she starts her talk off with the first line her (future) husband dropped her. She was a college student at BYU prepping to play her clarinet mid term (or some various band instrument) and he goes......" I think those lips were made for something better than clarinet playing!" haha. So that's pretty funny in and of itself.... BUT then. Her now 70 something husband who was there with her gets up waddles over (ha old people kind of waddle....it's cute) and puts both hands on her face, turns her head towards him and SMOOCHES her. Hilarious! All the elders start "hopping and hollering" and all of the sisters just go "oh....that's so cute. I want a marriage like that one day" (ha guaranteed nearly every sister said that). and it got a standing ovation. (ha it deserved one). It was pretty dang awesome. Also she had us all sing primary songs aloud with her. And her husband (which has a voice disorder which makes him all the more impressive) talked to us about him opening up a mission in France and how that city now has over 700 members (so... you may have a super baptizing mission but you also might just be laying foundations) I'm trying to keep that in mind. And they served a senior mission in Chile. and their stories were way awesome! So we all really liked that devo. (oh and we all sang the "EFY" theme which now says......" we are now the lord's missionaries"....everyone stood up for that too. it was super powerful).  

2) rewind to the broadcast. How luck am I to be in the MTC when 11 of the 15 major leaders of the church come! It was so flipping cool. We had to be there WAY early for choir. Like 1 (and it started at 4).... so we practiced for like three hours. And then the apostles walked in. Who'd have thought 11 old men would have so much strength? (I'm learning alot about old people here... ha they're awesome) But really. On a serious note. The sister in our district from Georgia hadn't really ever been in the same room as the apostles. And she was really touched. She started crying (not going to lie,

I may or may not have teared up too). They were so cute. always turning around and giving us thumbs up. You could just tell that they loved us. And I love them so much too. Such strong,, Christlike men. But.... the content of the broadcast. Looks like you all better get busy ;) haha. Nah, But I am super excited that they really stressed involving members. Not only will that greatly help the missionaries, but I believe it will strengthen the members too because ( I assume ha I haven't really been out in the field yet) but sitting in on super spiritual lessons where someone learns for the first time (or is reminded) that God really does love them. Personally. or that they have the opportunity for eternal life with their families forever. or that they can be completely healed for their past mistakes. Or that they will be able to see those have passes from this life again- is just something that cannot be duplicated or measured up to. So I sincerely encourage everyone (ha missionaries always do this in their emails....their super bossy) but.... I do sincerely encourage everyone to just open their eyes, look around, and see who's been placed in their life that they might be able to lift. Through a kind word, or a bit of service, or an invitation to a church activity, or family dinner... with a few extra guests (the missionaries). Alot of people don't realize that the gospel of Jesus Christ ( of all things) is the answer to their life's biggest trials. And if they choose to accept it- missionary work can be a spiritually healing process. It's kire (beautiful). PS( super cool to sing in a legit missionary choir....and to make it on Camera!! check me out during the footage of the 1st speaker ha).  

3) next. My teachers- I haven't really talked about them yet. We have "tingy sensai" (she's a she :) and "gregory sensai" (a he).....and sometimes Fowers sensai (a he). The teachers here are way sweet. And my district is proud to say that we got all the best ones. Gregory sensai has been with us from the beginning so he holds a special place in our heart. He appreciates our district's sense of humor and is fun to talk too (when he can get him to break his Japanese dialogue). We're secretly his favorite district (we're sure). He just isn't allowed to say it. He served in Fukuoka. He's a fun guy. Then there's Tingy Sensai- she had some big shoes to fill cuz she came in later than Gregory sensai. we love her too. SO much! She is super kawaii (cute). And is super loving, and a super good teacher (let's face it, for the most part, girls are just more understanding and more patient teachers). So I am glad to have her! hopefully I can get the pics to work today and "y'all" can see them. (o wait that's on someone elses camera...JK)

4) Narnia hole. SO in our room we all have vents and then these dresser things. And the elders all decided to look into their vents (and behind their dressers) and someone loved them enough to leave them sweet gift. (ha I can't even remember what they were). But as such those areas became dubbed "Narnia holes" ha. So us sisters decide to check ours right? and.... nothing. Except for one vent. ha the one right above the door. SO one sister has one foot on her bed and tho other draped over the door. While another girl is holding the door stable and we are all handing the door girl various objects to try and get the screw out (tweezers, scissors, a duster etc.). FINALLY (after none of the worked) the door girl squeezes her hands into one of the slots and pulls out our gift. It's an Easter egg. So we're all excited for what might be in there...... ancient candy. Ha oh well. It makes a funny story now right??

5) Because of the buttload of mission presidents we got kicked out of the cafeteria Saturday through Tuesday this past week. And had to eat in another building. We all now really appreciate the cafeteria.

6) We get gym time every day. I LOVE volleyball. Especially sand volleyball. It is now one of the biggest highlights of my day. And two of the sisters played volleyball (including my doryo) so they are attempting to teach me legit volleyball. plus all of my district is pretty competitive so.... by the end of my stay here at the MTC I'm going to be volleying it up on the Olympic sand before you know it :)

7) Japanese is hard. I hope you all appreciate just how hard it is ;) pray for me. It's trippy (characters give me a head ache.... especially Kanji). And the sentence structure is wacko. And the words just sound so different from ours so they're difficult to remember. plus..... there are words that don't have an English equivalent (like they have a word that literally means "question mark." 

8) Oh Also. The nihonjin (Japanese) left. Makes me way sad. But there was this one sister companionship- Sister Matsumoto and Sister Kubota. They were just the cutest little things. Always so happy :) And sister Matsumoto was always hugging everyone. And they were nice and let us practice our super crappy Japanese on them. You may be seeing a pic of them in the near future.

Ok well I suppose that's all I can fit for this week. One thing I have learned is that I shouldn't have complained about my typing class in middle school- dumb orange keys covers. Cuz now I am a terrible typer and it takes me ages to write emails. Excuse all the typos!

Love you All very much!!!

PS ( thanks to heather, annie, noelle, sav, and gram for dropping me a line. I will be getting back to you as soon as i CAN! it makes you realize the outside world still loves and hasn't forgotten about you... it's lovely)

elderlogancottlle.blogspot.com (check out this blog- he's in my district)"

 

June 22nd
:"Konichiwa Kazoku!!

  I hope y'all are doing great (ha there may or may not be a Southern sister in our district) (and she may or may not be rubbing off on me). Since I don't have a bunch of emails to respond to I should be able to write a nice letter this time :) (which is good!). Ok so...... I'll start off  by telling you a bit more about our district. There are 3 companionships of girls and 3 companionships of boys (so 12 people all together).
      This week was great!! I can't believe it's P-day again already!!. It's been pretty hot here actually. Like all the outside, shaded spots for study time are coveted. I do get to go outside pretty often. That's nice! And thr MTC is set up similar to a college campus- lots of seperate buildings. So to get from your residence to the cafeteria and the classroom you have to walk outside, and they landscape it all pretty. Plus a bunch of your study times you're allowed to go outside. And they have an outdoor field/ sand volleyball court that you can use for your gym time. So I get my daily dosage of vitamin D pretty well. :)
       Man I am ADD. Back to my district....... So. There is Sister Ivory (my comp) she's super sweet. And hardworking. And spiritual. (she cries alot) ha it's cute. She did track in high school/ played volleyball so she's pretty athletic.  And is easy to get along with. Then there is Sister Christensen. She is from California (orange county- so she goes to disneyland all the time and has a beach house. I'm green with envy) ha. But she's a sweeheart. Seriously. Such a dedicated missionary and always really cheerful and upbeat and smiling even when the language is hard. Sister Moss (her comp) is also a sweetie pie. She has a bigger family and is the second oldest. In fact her older sister just got to the MTC this week and is going to Australia. She strives to be super obedient and you can tell she's a determined missionary. Sister Day. She is from Atlanta, Georgia. She's hilarious. She's got long blond hair (which always has a lot of volume :). And says what she thinks. I love it. She keeps things interesting- and the way she says things is just hilarious. And Sister Snow! She's from utah. (ha who isn't) JK. But she is the oldest of all girls in her family and is just a really balanced person. Really focused but easy going to... I like her. She says what needs to be said but isn't ever rude (definitely a peacemaker). Any who! Every night is like a big slumber party with these ladies cuz they all have such great personalities. Love my "Shimaitachi"
       The Elders. ha. The elders are......elders. And we have a lot to learn from one another? ha all I can say is they make our days interesting and entertaining. Quick down lo: Elder Earl- we call him "yoda." ha he's a genius. He understands Japanese probably the best and the way he says things is very wise....ha he sits like a doctor and always puts his hand on his chin (like his contemplating deep matters) ha he has glasses and the longest legs I think I've ever seen. He's a kick in the pants tho when the other elders get him all hyped up ha- cuz he seems like he's 50 and then all the sudden this 19 year old boy comes out of him. (funny story about him to come). Then his comp- Elder Greenburg. He's from Idaho (Boise tho)....we have arguments about which side is the best. Ha he reminds me of how Chandler and Hayden talk. Always coming up with slang from Japanese words. He's hilarious....and such a boy. Ha gotta love the elders! Then there is Elder Olsen- from Canada. He's one that's not quiet about what he knows (language wise).....and is very proud of Canada. ha conversations with him are interesting. Then his comp, Elder Jacox. He's our district leader....and a good one too! Ha he's funny. He is hard to describe. Just a happy guy that wants to obey the rules and be a good missionary- but prob more of a book worm than an athletic person. Then there is Elder Von Neederhausen- ha he's a character. He's from Florida...and is also super funny. He's a bit more quiet throughout the day (and is the only 18 year old we have) but when he does speak up, it's usually worthwhile to listen. He basically just sings Japanese hymns everyday ha. And by the and of the day his shirts a bit untucked and he looks thoroughly tired. Really respectful to the Sisters tho. I'm pro Elder Von. He's a humble guy. Then there is Elder Cottle. Such a sweetheart. Super nice kid and also has a good sense of humor (the peacemaker of the boys I think).
       So. funny story- Sister Moss's sister (haha) came to our dinner table to meet everyone. and Sister Moss is introducing everyone to her.... (and it's just girls left and Elder Earl and Elder Greenburg). And Sister Moss goes: "and these are our chorotachi" (elders) and we look over (only two girls noticed at first and then told the rest of us) but right at that moment Elder Earl is trying to stuff the bottom of a cup in his mouth. hahahahaha. Elder Breenburg had convinced him to try and see if he could do it. We all busted up.... the two original girls that saw it couldn't even breathe. Yoda has a funny side. Ha. Elders. Ok well...... more good stuff about my week. 
      We now have two investigators (one of our teachers and then...... the other teacher) ha. But yesterday. Ah yesterday was the best lesson Ever!! ( One "investigator" is aboy and the other is a girl). We taught the boy yesterday. And it was so awesome. So his character (for lack of a better term) is named Shohei. And he's 18 and his parents are divorced. Yesterday was the second time we had taught him and the first time he was super sad and disconnected. (Besides the fact that we're trying to communicate back and forth to him in Japanese). But yesterday, we asked him the question. " Why is it you wanted to meet with the missionaries Shohei." and He basically said the missionaries seems super happy and he wants to be happy everyday. And the life is difficult and he doesn't understand it's purpose. The NEXT thing we had planned was to have him read a quote that said something to the effect of.... "many people wonder why we are here? where we are going? and what out purpose is?" then to ask him if he had had similar questions. Kanzen (perfect) He said he did (obviously). The next thing we had planned was for me to testify to say that we knew that the plan of salvation gave us answers to these questions. The spirit filled the room when I said that that statement. And I felt it reassuring the profound truth behind those words (it still make me tear up). The amount of genuine concern that I felt for Shohei's happiness and well-being was so powerful. Love (the spirit) illuminated that room and our souls. Sister ivory could barely make it through the next statements of- We lived with Heavenly Father as spirits before, He made a perfect plan for us, that plan is called the plan of salvation, God's whole purpose is to bring happiness to his children, life is an opportunity and a blessing and the gospel of Jesus Christ brings us happiness in this life and the opportunity for eternal life in the world to come. It was almost as if I was seeing the wonderful plan through his eyes- new to it and so wanting to know the truth. But speaking it from my own mouth that knew- in my heart that was I was saying was true and that I had experiences that confirmed that truth to me. The mixture of old and new. I don't know, it was something else. Our investigator started to cry ( an RM) and you could just tell that there was something more to what we were saying than just words. That is what being a missionary is really about.Moments like those are what make all of the difficult moments worth it. And I can't wait to have those moments with real investigators.
        Other highlights of the week. Are that Ivory and I taught the "district meeting" lesson this past sunday. (So about 6 days ago). And it was on Faith on Christ.... we used Elder Holland's talk (Lord I Believe) super good! and PMG and some videos. Let's just say there were some tears shed....from both the teachers and the learners. 
        Also. There is a big missionary broadcast this Sunday. All the 12 are coming!! woo hoo :) exciting....and I'm in the choir. They're recording it and will be posting it to the church website. So if you want to you can look for me. That should be super awesome to experience. Excited I am. ha (Japanese sentence structure). 

                             Love, Sister Haderlie"   

June 15th:

"Ok..... So time goes really fast so I'll just do some highlights from the week:

 

Still feeling really good about everything. My district has HILARIOUS upbeat people. That all have really good attitudes about everything. The word for "two" in Japanese is "Ni." And of the Elders asked our teacher, "Sensai how would you say Ni legit Ni quit?" haha. Super funny. My favorite part of the day is classtime, Because something funny always happens and its kind of fun to try and pick out words our teachers is saying. I feel like I'm understanding more and more all the time. And progresss is all you can ask for so that is good! Speaking of classtime, we just had basic grammar lessons this week. Nihong (Japanese) is messed.. Their sentence structure is wacko SUBJECT OBJECT VERB gets really confusing when you are trying to format questions. And they have words that mean nothing more that "this means this statement is a question" and this work means that "this is the subject of the sentence" but I'll get used to it.

 

Ok so.....literally my two nicknames of "clueless" and "sissy" are true now. The majority of the time  I have no clue what is being said around me and my new first name is sister. So my family must have the "spirit of prophecy" Speaking of clueless. Me and my missionary tag aren't getting along. One day heading into the outdoor field for gym I realized I lost it. Super annoying. Then I found it in my room later, how it got there? no clue. Then..... later (on a different day). Well let me back up for a second. We have a desk that has this metal bar on top of it, and since our tags are metal we just stick them to it. Also.... at the gym thay have these containers you stick your tag in, AND our bedroom door locks automatically. Ok, on with the story. So... one day I'me grabbing my towel to go take a shower and I see "Elder Bandolino" on our desk. And I think " How in the world did an Elder get in here?" I was super confused and starting to be a but creeped out. Then....I realized MY tag wasn't there. Even more strange. Finally, I realized that I had grabbed the wrong tag after gym and walked all the way from the gym to my room as Elder Bandolino !! :) hahaha. AND took that tag off and stuck it to our desk without even noticing it said elder. HA no worries though...Elder Bandolino and I got everything straightened out. Pretty Hilarious.

 

Next, so apparently missionaries that are from Japan that get called to Japan come to this MTC for two weeks before going back! So there are Japanese here :) we don't get to see them or talk to them much (not like we really could anyways cuz we're the greenies and can't hardly say anything) but it's still exciting to see them around. They are super cute!! Anywho, one day.... I see them and I'm all excited so I say "Konichiwa!!" and they all go..... "We're Koreans." Hint: don't say Konichiwa to the Koreans. They don't like it much at all..... I did it two days in a row. Now I know, look at their tags. The characters are different. :)

 

Ha. Well I am almost out of time....So i'll wrap up. Our fake investigator agreed to be baptized already, so that's pretty "yosh" (awesome). But..... our teacher now becomes our new investigator.... that was a soap opera moment right there. Anywho, I have mixed feelings. But i'm sure it will be a good experience. Still liking my companion! She's from Utah and went to SUU and reminds me a lot of Rachael Roos. Sh'e s like as least high maintenance as it gets so I am sure she's super sick of always waiting for me but I'm trying to improve.

 

Anyways, LOVE you guys!!! Have a subarashi (wonderful) week.

 

Haderlie Shimai"

Chloe's district

Sister Haderlie & Sister Ivory

June 8: "Hola Familia!

 

oops. Wrong language. :) It's really Konichiwa Kazoku. Allright well here we go......let's see if I can capture the first three days of the MTC in my alloted time:

 

Day number one. Curbside dropoff went pretty well I feel, Mom kept it together (way to go mom!) Plus they're super good at keeping you distracted. From there we were led to our residence halls and dropped off our suitcase and then the rest of the day we were BUSY (soon to find out that every day for the next nine weeks-at the MTC would be busssay). Some of the things I remember from that first day are that we met our sensai (teacher)- who apparently has forgotten how to speak all traces of English but can definitely still tell what we say, so in other words he's faking and we have to learn Japanese from a teacher that speaks only JAPANESE. It'll be good for us in the end though, very frustrating at times though. Also we had a workshop with fake investigators. Very cool. There was a large group of newbies that sat in on three different investigators (Lawanda, Doug, and George) all from different places and at different stages of their life. And one person would raise their hand and either ask or answer a question as if they were teaching a missionary lesson. Loved it.. Made everyone realize missionary work isn't necessarily about knowledge but is definitely about people.  

 

That Night, we met all the other members of our "district" (totaling 6 girls and 6 boys). Like them. Alot. They all have really good attitudes about learning Japanese and not one of us has cried yet!! So....success. We unpacked (as fast as possible) and went to bed nice and early. PS 10:30 now feels like the latest possible time to go to bed since we have to wake up at 6. at 6! Because our district gets the earliest assigned breakfast time at 6:45. And there's just no way I could look presentable in 10ish minutes (I'm barely alive by then!!)

 

Day two- (Thursday) A blur. All I really remember is more painstaking hours with "Gregory Sensai" attempting to make any sense of the jabber coming out of his mouth and fervently jotting down anything we learned.

 

Ohh...I forgot to mention the MTC cafeteria. Definitely not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, many delicious meal choices and when you're only downtime is meals it makes everything taste better anyways!!

 

Day Three- (Friday) Oh man. This was the day that we taught our first Japanese investigator. On day three. Knowing not much more than how to day hello, thank you , and good bye. Thank heavens for the books they gave us so we could at least spout out random Japanese phrases at him but....very akward. What can you do when someone asks you something and you have NO clue what they said and NO ability to answer them. Oh well we're told that's the worst lesson and things only get up from there. But, we'll see. We have to "teach" (more like stare) at him again tonight and I don't think we've really improved much.

 

Day Four- (Today) (Saturday) (P Day). Ahh... everyone waits for P day. But the first one is kind of stressful. You're given more liberty as to how your schedule goes but haven't been here long enough to know the ins and outs of when to do what. But... we survived. And now know how to do our laundry, when the bookstore opens, and how to get to the temple. Man are you guys right when you say that when those lights go out your eyelids get REAL heavy. The 1-3 in the afternoon drag is always really hard to push through, let alone when you're in a nice comfy chair in the dark. Oops. Hopefully I'll get used to it.

 

More details: My companion's name is Sister Ivory (we're taught to call her Ivory Shimai - pronunced Sheemayee). Love her. She's super duper nice and want's to work hard. She is always ready ahead of time (also very good for me). She has a positive attitude and a good sense of humor, is super polite and easy to get along with, and is super easy going at the same time. We're both just figuring it out together. It's good to have someone there all the time since I am without my 3 Amigas. Also the girls in my room are Sister Moss: super good at volleyball, really kind, like her. Sister Christensen: from California, brought more clothes than me (woo hoo!), super duper cute, really smiley, and always has a good attitude. Like her. (their companions). Sister Snow: from Utah, really organized and put together, good at getting conversations going, like her. Sister Day: from Georgia, brought more medication than me (mom's a doctor...woo hoo!), really sweet, kind of quiet, but also has a good attitude. Like her. They're all super cute....I like my roomies alot!!!

Hope everything's good in good ol' Idaho,

 

Sister Haderlie.

 

PS (I have run into some people I know. that's always fun. Met Sister Barret! ....and everyone is super kind and upbeat. Makes it fun to be here!!)

 

So.... this is to help friends & family keep up with Chloe. I, her not-so-capable mom, will attempt to make it worthy of the awesome person she is...anything in quotes will be her own words from emails. She'll be flying out to Tokyo Aug. 6.