MTC: Week 7

Kon'nichiwa Kazoku to Tomodachi!

How are you all doing?

What a crazy week it has been! I can now officially say that I am 100% better from that massive cold that I had. I've got some totally great stories that were caused by the cold though, let me tell you! On Sunday night, my nose was so stuffed up and my throat was so tight (the funny thing is that I didn't even notice how bad it was, I truly didn't feel that bad.) that apparently, I started humming super high pitched and as consistently as a metronome almost the second I fell asleep. No sooner than 10 minutes after I had fallen asleep, I woke up to the three other shimaitachi that I room with laughing hysterically. Let me tell you, their immitations were so hilarious. Seriously, I felt stupid because I was laughing so hard at how crazy my apparent humming had been that I started crying. My companion is hilarious, I don't think I've ever been so close to having a six-pack in my life. Anyway, luckily the excitement from my crazy attempts to breathe when I'm asleep are over with officially. Honestly, I feel so great right now!

What else? So there is some pretty big news today! I get my travel plans this next Friday! I will know what time I leave the MTC, what time my flight is, probably about what time I can make the family call, and then I will probably know about what day and time that I'll land in (probably Osaka!!!) I'm one step shy of ecstatic, it's the moment I've truly been waiting for!

I don't remember if I told you this, but I have another investigator for role play- bringing the grand total up to 5 different investigators- they are the best! Yesterday as S. and I taught T. Sensei (who was role playing for one of his past investigators,) he said, "Wow, you two are always together!!" In Japanese. For some reason it was just hilarious coming from a returned missionary. We had a good laugh and I simply told him that we were really good friends. T. Sensei does a really good job of portaying an investigator, sometimes it's hard to remember that he's our teacher when we role play because he does such a good job. A. Sensei is the same way too. I'm not quite sure how I was so lucky to have the MTC's best Sensei, but I feel really blessed. They've taught me so much, and I hope I can be as good of a missionary as they both were.

Apparently I haven't told you all very much about my companion! There is a lot that happens here, and I always forget what I have and haven't told you. For that I apologize sincerely! So, once again, my companion is S.  Shimai. As you've probably been able to tell by the few pictures I've sent, we're about the same height, she has blonde hair, blue eyes, and is one of the funniest people I've ever met. Some of you might appreciate this description because I know a lot of you have read Harry Potter. But truly, she is like one of the Weasley twins- she pulls the best pranks. The other day, our other roommates were coming down the hall and didn't realize that we had beat them back to the room. So, S. Shimai took it upon herself to turn the light off (it is pitch black in our apartment when the light is off,) and sprawl herself on the ground in front of the door with the intention of shocking them when they entered. Let me tell you, that was pretty funny. She always keeps us on our toes. As much as S. Shimai likes to joke in her spare time, she truly is a great and hard-working Shimai! She always puts her heart into everything, and I've learned a lot from her. Also, she is super skilled at sports. She played on her high-school's basketball team, and also did some kind of speed-talking debate thing. She can talk about 300 words per minute with minimal effort. It is pretty insane.

So I know some of you are all probably wondering what I do with my spare time. Well, we have an allocated gym time every single day except for Sunday- so my district has a lot of fun together. Volleyball is becoming one of my best sports! Although I have to admit, my ability to spike things is pretty bad with my height- but it's still fun.

Thank you all for taking time to write, e-mail, and send me packages! I enjoy hearing from each and every one of you so much! I'm not sure if you all know about this, but for now, I'm only allowed to write on Saturdays. If I don't get to respond to your letters or e-mails, don't fret. You are all the best, and I want to respond to you as much and as often as I can.

Ja Mata! (See you later!)

~Watkins Shimai