MTC - Final Week

Konnichiwa, :D

 

Things were busy here this last week at the MTC.  We had a lot of things to keep us busy and to distract us from getting too excited about going for JAPAN!! Ohh MOM I tried calling you this morning but you probably saw that it was a random number or something and didn't answer.  But I was trying to surprise you! Unfortunately we are only allowed one call though. We found out yesterday that our flight plan was going to be moved to TUESDAY the 24 of MAY because our Mission President couldn't make it to pick us up. It will still be the same times and everything as before, it's just moved to the next day which is kind of helpful because we've been stressed about getting everything packed and now we have one more day to do it.  It's only the Tokyo Mission that is staying behind for a day.

We have been super busy this week. Monday was pretty normal but from Tuesday on it has been kinda busy with stuff. Tuesday we got to usher for the Fireside so we had to be super early for that. We didn't do much but just stand there and direct people down to the seats towards the front. We had Richard G. Hinckley come talk to us, the prophet's son who is a member of the Seventy. He was really good. He was a great guy to have as our last devotional speaker. He really told us to be focused and be bold with the gospel and share it with everyone. It was pretty good.

Then on Wednesday we had hosting again but this time it was raining. It has rained like the whole week just at least part of each day. So we had umbrellas(kasa) to have for the families as they got out of the car so they wouldn't get too wet. I helped one guy who was going to Roseburry, CA or something up by Sacramento and then the other one was going to the Netherlands and he was super excited to be here on his mission. He even gave me a hug when we dropped him off to his class. It was funny.

Yesterday, on Thursday, me and my companion had a very interesting day. As we were going down the stairs he rolled his ankle at the bottom. So I gave him an ace bandage to wrap it cause we had gym next and he didn't want to spend the whole time doing rehab on it for our last gym here at the MTC. So, after gym we went to the trainer to get some ice for it cause I knew it was going to swell. As we did, we explained it was our last gym and couldn't come back for a check up. So the trainer sent us to the health clinic, they looked at his ankle and said he need to go see a doctor and get x-rays just to make sure before he left. So in our sweaty gym clothes we got a shuttle from the MTC down the street to BYU urgent care center and got some x-rays. Then went back and I sat there in the lobby for about 3 hours at the MTC health center while they looked at his ankle and the results of the x-rays. And since I didn't have any of my stuff I was just sitting there in silence and felt so unproductive. I couldn't study or read Book of Mormon or anything. Finally they get done and give him some crutches to walk with and ankle brace much like the one I had for volleyball. So he has been wearing that since yesterday. Then we get ready and eat lunch and finally head to class like an hour late or so. But 15 minutes later I had to go get my shot before I leave. After that we had a meeting with Bro Mills who is the Mission Director of  all the International MTC. He went to Japan and so he speaks to all the missionaries going to Japan every time and really gets us pumped for going. Then we had have language study, dinner and class. Then about 30 minutes into class we get called to the International office and found out that our plans got changed to a day later and finally the day was over.

Then today we have an in-field orientation all day, tomorrow is our P-day, Sunday we have church, and Monday is a normal day of class again and then Tuesday we are leaving!!!  It has been a very long week but we've been very busy which has made it go by super super fast. I can't wait for Japan!  I will call Mom, Carissa, Brianne, and Dad on Tuesday during travel, I just need all your cell phone numbers by Monday at the latest so I can call everyone personally.  Remember that I LOVE YOU, GOD LOVES YOU!! And I know this church is true. If you aren't sure, I ask you to pray about it to God and ask him to know that it is true. 

 

Elder McKinney

MTC - Week 9

Konnichiwa!! :D

 

How is everyone doing? Things here at the MTC are doing good. Me and my companion are doing much better. We hit a little rut, just getting annoyed with each other from being with together all day everyday, but we are doing better now! 

We had a district party/potluck thing and ate some of everyones' food. We will probably do that again today because everyone is getting packages with food. Last week we had homemade salsa and chips plus all of my Japanese food. Everyone really enjoyed the food from you and they say "Arigato Gozaimasu". They really loved having different food to try!! 

 

We got to teach with a Japanese Elder this week for practice and it was super hard to follow what he was saying because he spoke so fast and used different grammar that we don't know yet. But it was good practice to listen and try to understand what they saying. We had a lot of fun with them, they are so funny!! :)

 

Last Sunday was fast Sunday but it wasn't too hard to do because we fast for a reason which is usually to learn/understand the language. 

 

Oh, we also heard from ANOTHER APOSTLE!! Three of them in the last 4 weeks!! It was Neil Andersen this time. He mostly spoke on The Atonement and Repentance and how we need to use it for ourselves and repent of our sins now before we go out. It was pretty powerful!! Maybe we will get the PROPHET next week!! HAHA JK We probably won't but I wish we could.

  

Oh and I haven't told you yet we got our TRAVEL PLANS!!! We will be flying out of SLC at 839am on May 23 and landing in Portland, Oregon at about 940am. We have a long layover there. Our flight to Japan is at 205pm and land in Tokyo 505pm May 24. So I will skip a whole day while flying which will be weird. I will still be with my same companion until the day after we land and then we get our trainer companion. Our whole district will be on the same plane all the way to Tokyo. But then three of them are flying to Sapporo the very north side of Japan. But it is still cool that we will all be together for the whole flight there and say goodbye in Japan.

 

Well I'm out of time now so I LOVE EVERYONE!! Keep letters coming before I go so that you don't have to pay for it! =)

Hope everyone is well. Stay healthy

Elder McKinney

 

MTC - Week 8

Konnichiwa,

This week has been pretty good!! :) Except the food of course, but nothing new there!! 

Anyways, we had fast Sunday and had mission conference instead of the Priesthood meeting which was really good. We have all the missionaries here for a conference and the MTC Presidency give a talk to us. It was really good and lasted about two hours. We also had our Nihonjin come here!!! :D There are 12 elders and 16 sisters who came, they are all super fun and know a lot of english. On Wednesday, I got the chance to be a host, where we are the ones who take the new missionaries arriving to the MTC and get them around on their first day. We got a better chance to take one Nihonjin from their temporary housing to their permanent housing on our floor. It was awesome. I got an elder named YAMADA!! His name means mountain rice field! He is super excited to be here!! He wanted me to teach him English and I was telling him to teach me Japanese. So as we walked around the MTC campus he would point stuff out and I would say it in English and he would say it in Japanese. It was way awesome!!! We had so much fun together!! I can't wait to get to know them better! He was so surprised at how good my Japanese was but I don't think it's that good. He kept calling me a genius!! It was super funny.

Thats nice of my mission president to send you a letter to reassure you of me going there. Oh, and I found out that we can't Call on Mother's Day :"(  I'm Sorry! ~ But I will get to call you when we get travel plans in the next week or so!!  Only 5 minutes are allowed just to give you the travel plans and such. So that you can know when I will have my layover which will hopefully be in LAX so its not that far from you.

Sorry again for such late notice on the Mother's Day call. Also they ran out of Mother day's cards here :'( I would have gotten you one mom but just realized how soon it was coming up till it was too late.

I LOVE YOU MOM!!! YOU ARE AWESOME AND GIVE ME LOTS OF SUPPORT HERE ON A MISSION!! I NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN HERE WITH OUT YOU!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!! :D YOU ARE WONDERFULL!! :) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!! <3<3<3<3

There's a card for you mom!! You are the best. I love everyone!! <3 Please keep the letters coming especially before I head out to Japan and the letters get a little more expensive.

Just to sum up, I'm doing great, All is well here in the MTC, I can't wait to go to Japan and serve the lord!! I will talk you all next week.

Love ,

ELDER MCKINNEY! <3 (BUD)

MTC - Week 7

Hey all - Sorry for the delay with Nathan's letter this week.  The internet wasn't working too well at the MTC so Nate had to write a handwritten letter which took a little while to get to us.  Anyways, enjoy!


Dear Mom and everyone!

Sorry it took so long to get a letter to you.  The email thing didn't like me this week.  So things are good here, still learning a ton.  It's crazy how much we learned in a month and a half.  I never thought I could speak to someone for 30 minutes in Japanese and have them understand all of the sentences that I said.  I can't understand other people outside of our district very well because they know different vocabulary and grammatical patterns though.

I hope you and Rick try learning a little Japanese so I can practice writing it more and then maybe you could talk to Jon's mom for practice too! :)

We are supposed to get 28 Nihonjin on Wednesday, May 4th, which means we only have 3 weeks left till we go to Japan!! :-D

We got some pretty cool "greenies" in our room, they like sports and work really hard.  It is like a boost of motivation to get better and practice more and look good for them.  Their names are Elder Davis and Elder Maughn.  I asked him if he is related to Bryan Maughn, but I don't think they are closely related at all.

That's crazy to hear that Zac and Mirian are getting married, it seems like he just got back from his mission.  And, I'm bummed to hear that boys Volleyball isn't doing too well :(  I hope it gets better for them.  I try to play some here but it just isn't the same level of play or have the same spirit about it.  Sort of just jungle ball all the time and gets a little boring but it's still good to get some touches on the ball.

How are Jon, Adam and Spencer?  Did Jon ever get the letter I sent him?  I hope I didn't send it to the wrong address.

We didn't do anything too special for Easter here.  But the last two devotionals the last two Tuesdays we have had an apostle speak.  The first time we had Richard G. Scott who talked about how to use the spirit effectively and not to hesitate to do what it says.  That is something they always try to emphasis here so that we can teach to the investigators needs and have the spirit to touch their hearts.  He also used his apostle powers to give us the Gift of Tongues which really gave me a lot of relief to not be as stressed about it but I still have to work hard.  The other apostle we heard from was Dallin H. Oaks who I really could feel the spirit right when he walked in the room.  It was awesome, I really feel the spirit so much here.  Anyways, he spoke about 7 ways missionaries can be better.  They are really effective.  1. Physical Health  2. Be an Insurgent in the Lords hands  3. Prepare yourself to act in his service  4. Remember who you are and the work you are involved in  5. Work to establish the Church  6. Teach and testify  7. Nurture - truly care for the investigators.  Those seven things can really be applied to missionaries like me now and for the rest of my mission.  Those two talks were just plain awesome!!

It's crazy how time flies in here but can also go by so slow at times.  We just all want to leave so bad and to do some real work.  Our teachers tell us all these cool stories to motivate all of us but we sort of feel useless just sitting in here learning.  We all want to share this message but we have to just be patient until it is time for the Lord to use us.  Just hoping we don't get delayed like the people before us.

Here are a couple pictures for you so you can see what I've been up to and who i've been around.  Hope you enjoy them. :)  Love you all.  Keep the letters coming!

Love,
Elder McKinney

MTC - Week 6

Konnichiwa Minason,

Genki desu ka? Watashi wa subarashi desu. How is everyone? I'm doing wonderful. This week was a very weird one. A lot of different things happened. To start, thanks for the packages and letters. Next, we had our first lesson in Japanese, teaching about lesson 1 in PMG(preach my gospel). It's crazy to think how much we have learned to talk with someone about themselves and give a 35 minute lesson in only 6 weeks. It's unbelivable how fast time flies here.  I feel like I have been here for a whole year but it's only been a month and a half or so. We have like 35 days left here in the MTC, that's super weird to think about. Can't wait to go in about a month but so not ready to speak Japanese full-time though. I just know that I won't be able to understand a lot of things for quite a while when I get there. But, still super excited to go!! :D 

We met President Albrecht this week and found out that Tokyo should be open by the time we get there but nothing is official. He also told us that Tokyo might be the pilot program for having missionaries use laptop, which would be super helpful in many ways. We could send emails easier plus have lessons or slides on it to help people understand different points of the gospel. Or, we could even talk to the business men that get up and come home later than we do. That way we could be like the referral center but more effective. So we will have to wait and see if that really does happen or not.

Last Saturday, one of our teachers is gradutating from BYU, so he had to quit.  We found out that they are only allowed to work 3 years teaching here at the MTC.  He served his mission in Tokyo so we had a lot of story-times about what it was like there. It was fun and got all of us super excited to go serve in our areas. It was just super weird to have to say goodbye to him before we even left the MTC. But we did get a new teacher, and he is super cool too!! He was the tutor for Japanese so he is really good at teaching new grammar and such. Plus, he is super energetic, it's awesome!!

Also we found out that our schedules here are completely changing. My next personal day won't be until next Friday. All of our P-days will now be on Friday's which kinda sucks and we now have gym times at 8pm at night. It's gonna be a little weird but it might make time fly by fast since we will have to re-adjust to a new schedule.

We also get our Kohai (young ones) tomorrow. It will be weird to not be the young ones anymore and have them ask us all the questions about how to say things for their talks and things like that. Plus, we might get a whole room to ourselves, just me and my companion, because we had two older guys above us and they left. There will be 28 new people and only one Sister. So she will be a solo and then one of the guys will have a triple and then hopefully we won't get a new one in our room. Maybe it would be a good thing to have them though, so we can show them the ropes and such.

Well I think my laundry is almost done so I need to go, but keep the letters coming!!  I hope all is well there wherever you are reading this. I love you all (watashi wa minnasen ai shitte imasu).

 

Love, 

Elder McKinney

MTC - Week 5

Konnichiwa Minnasen, (Hello everyone)

 

This past week has been pretty good. My Japanese is coming along better. I can't fluently speak it but I am understanding the grammar stuff more fully. I hope I have the gift of tongues for this week's lesson practice. We have to teach the Whole First Lesson in Japanese, 35mins long!! It will be scary and hard, we just need to find enough scriptures to take up some times :D Oh, things I forgot to put in my letter from last week, because I ran out of time, was that I met two professional super-stars last Sunday, conference Sunday, I met Vai Sikahema and Chad Lewis, two former Philidephia Eagles players that are members of the church. They came and talked about how their missions were very inspirational. It made all of us want to go out and search for people now!! HAHA 

This last Sunday we had the enjoyment of listening to the BYU Mens Choir. They were super good!! They sang so many songs from different languages like Latin, Chinese, Samoan, Hungarian, and English of course. It was so awesome to feel the spirit so strong through singing. They have about 200 people in their choir, most in the world for an all mens choir. Oh also before I forget, I met Jamie Hughes sister-in-law here. She is going to Kobe, Japan. It was kinda weird how small this world is. She said Jaime is doing great with their new baby. Also one of the branch presidents in my branch knows John and April McKinney. It was super crazy!! SMALL WORLD!!

 

Anyways, to answer some of your questions, we have pizza for dinner on Friday's. It's from Papa John's but it always seems to be cold when it gets here so it's not the best thing ever. The Missionaries leaving this up coming Monday got re-assigned to other places and were told that it is permanent. :(  Most Tokyo people got moved to Nikyoga (thats not how you spell it, i forgot how its spelled) and all of the Sendai people got moved to Sapporo. They haven't really said anything about us yet though. The Nihonjin also leave with them on the 18th of April and they also got moved to other places.

 

Thanks again for the addresses and the package! :)  Sounds like the house is slowly getting done, maybe its going to take these two years just for you guys to complete it! HAHA JK :P 

Well my time is almost up here, I love you all and grateful for the prayers you all have. I pray every night for you too.

 

Love <3,

Elder McKinney

MTC - Week 4

Konnichiwa Watashi no kazoku!! :) 49 days left in MTC!!

 

I am doing well here. Its getting a little easier here but I just want to go to Japan. The older group is leaving in a week, they're so lucky. We all want to go with them because we know we could pick up the language much quicker that way. 

The food here is pretty bad, not the most gourmet. Sometimes I dont want to eat it because it doesn't look very good at all.  The other day they had chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole.  It was yellow and didn't look good but I tried it anyway and it was pretty good.  It's similar to broccoli jack casserole but they added curry powder to it or something.  I really do miss home cooked food. I want some of the Scott cinniamon rolls :D

Conference was awesome!! I actually stayed awake though all of it. Our teacher told us to have three questions in mind before the conference and pray to God for the answer.  So much is going on everyday, it seems like all of the days are just blending together.

We get to go to the temple every Sunday and have a temple walk.  We made a box for putting in compliments to everyone in our district.  We read them as we walk around. On Tuesdays we actually go into the Provo temple. We also try to make it to the Endownment Sessions unless we need to do other stuff, like get our lessons ready. Every Thursday we have a task like contacting people and talking about family or other things like that. Then, we have to give a lesson from preach my gospel.  Next Thursday we have to give the restoration of the church in ALLL JAPANESE!!!  I am so not ready for it, it will be really hard.

Keep telling people to write me or maybe get their addresses and I can write them first or something. :)

 

I hope to hear from everyone soon, keep the packages coming :D its nice to get food from you all because I know I can count on it to be good!!  I keep you all in my prayers!!  Hope everyone is doing well and in good health.

 

PS. to say mom in Japanese 母  (haha) , and dad is 父 (chichi) thats how you pronounce them. Anything else you want to say??

 

Love you all,

Elder Nathan McKinney