Nihonjin

Ohayooooooo,

 

Wow, this week has been absolutely insanely crazy. To put it in a nutshell, after the earthquake and everything last week we thought everything was settling down a bit but we were definitely wrong. There are countless rumors flying around within our branch about what is happening in Japan and what will happen to us as a result. From what we know, they have evacuated Tokyo and Sendai, so all of those missionaries are now spread out within the other missions. As a result, they sent about 45 missionaries home early who were supposed to be returning home in April and May. So with that, a lot of us are wondering if we'll be able to leave for Japan in three weeks like we're supposed to. I've been told by a missionary currently serving in Japan that we won't be going until after May. If that's true, we will either be kept in the MTC longer, or we might be temporarily reassigned state-side or something. Like I said, this week has been crazy. There's a lot of uncertainty, but we're still learning, still studying the language and hoping for the best. Personally, I love Japan and can't wait to go, but I'm not too upset at the prospect of being reassigned state-side for a little while. A mission is a mission, and I'll serve wherever the Lord needs me. Maybe there is a Japanese person waiting for me somewhere else who needs to hear the gospel! Please continue to pray for the people in Japan, and also for the missionaries that we can continue to be focused on our purpose and not let all of this craziness distract us from learning how to teach the gospel.

 

Another taihen(unfortunate) event this week is that one of the Elders in my district, Ray choro(he's the one from Canada and probably the most awesome Elder ever) found out that he won't be going to Japan at all due to medical problems. The doctor said he has some form of collitis(??) and will need to be treated for 2 years or something. He has a really great attitude about it, though, so he's helping us all stay positive. Another one of our Elders this week came down with the flu and had to be put into "quarantine," which basically means you're banished to live in the senior missionaries dorm for a few days. We all thought it was pretty funny, until they told us all of us had to start taking pills in case we caught the flu as well. So now my whole district everyday takes our pills (rumor has it that each set of 10 pills costs the church $200!). So that was also exciting this week.

 

I performed for the senior missionaries orentation yesterday, "Abide with me tis Eventide" !!!!! It was so much fun. I'm so glad I got the chance to perform at the MTC. We also got all of our new Japanese missionaries in last night. Two of the sisters are going to Fukuoka with me!!!!! I gave Tsutamori shimai her tour yesterday and she doesn't speak one word of English so i was really excited to practice speaking Japanese. She's from Hokkaido and her last name means "ivy grove," which I thought was pretty cool. She's adorable and I hope someday we're companions in Fukuoka!

 

This week my favorite scripture has been D&C 121. I love verses 7 and 8, but later in the chapter it talks a lot about being a leader and how to discipline, which I think is super interesting. We have been talking a lot about humility this week, which is pretty fitting considering our circumstances. The missionaries in my branch right now need to be really humble and just accept whatever happens concerning going to Japan. We need to remember that we're on a mission for the Lord, and wherever he calls us is where we need to go. Being humble is truly submitting to the Lord and accepting that he knows what is better for us than we do. As long as we're being obedient, we don't need to worry about anything. The lord will lead us on the right path.

 

I love you all!! Send me dearelders!!

 

tingey shimai!

 

 

I'm a Senpai!

Kazoku to tomodachi,

 

Thank you thank you thank you for all of your wonderful DearElders and letters. They really mean so much to me. It is extremely hard to write letters back because my time is so limited, so please know I am grateful for all of your letters and packages even if i don't write back right away. Today is Pday, obviously, so hopefully i will have time during laundry to write some people back.

 

I'm especially grateful for letters about spiritual growth and lessons learned at church and elsewhere. It really fills my heart with joy when I read them and know that my family and friends are learning more about this amazing gospel and strengthening their testimonies. I have received a few letters that contained short lessons on hope, charity, etc., that I ended up using during some of my personal study, so thank you! I am truly grateful!

 

So, yesterday morning the senpai (our senior/older/more experienced/much loved) missionaries left for the field. I'll be quite honest; I am super excited to be a senpai now, as we are having a giant wave of new missionaries come in next week. When I first got here I had so many questions about the language and the gospel for my senpai, and I just admired them so much, (which is funny because they were all 19 year olds that had only been out six weeks longer than me! haha). I hope that I can play that same role for the new cohai coming in next week. I spend a lot of my time here answering questions from my elders and companion in my own district (in japanese, that is), and I have really learned to love teaching and trying to understand what the missionary isn't getting so I can help them. I am so so so in love with the Japanese language, it's ridiculous! But even more than that, I am learning so much about the gospel and how to be an effective missionary. That aspect of the MTC, in a way, is the most challenging for me.

 

I have begun reading the BOM in Japanese and I am loving it. Who knew that all of those semesters at BYU endlessly translating Japanese newspaper stories and silly stories in books would actually pay off. I noticed that I now have a great patience for looking up dozens of words for each sentence and writing them in, and then figuring out what the sentence means. I never thought i would enjoy doing that, but now I see how the Lord has really prepared me for the work. At BYU I never really knew why i kept taking Japanese every semester. I didn't really enjoy it that much, and didn't really know what was going on half of the time, but now that I am here I can really focus on learning the gospel and teaching with the spirit instead of being super stressed out about the language like a lot of the senkyoushi here. It has really been a blessing in my life here and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for preparing me in that way!

 

Every week we have a devotional and a fireside where a member of the 70 usualy comes to speak to us. Sundays and Tuesdays are my favorite days of the week! The speakers are amazing and really have a way of either motivating us and making us feel awesome, or telling us we're retarded and to work harder. Somehow, the speaker always knows what we really need because we always come away humble and ready to change.

 

I finished memorizing the first vision in Japanese yesterday! I spent my whole gym period staring at it running around the track and i finally got it. I'm so excited because this week we are teaching a 35 minute first lesson in Japanese in the TRC and I'm hoping I'lll get to recite it, unless my companion wants to.

 

One kind of funny story this week....last Pday in the laundry room this Korean elder came up to me and asked me if I would take a picture with him and another missionary. i thought it was really weird but I agreed thinking maybe he liked my blonde hair or something (it has happened before!), but then when i got over there i asked him why and he said it was because I looked EXACTLY like Angela from the Office and this other missionary looked a lot like Dwight so he wanted a picture with us. Haha! I was super offended because I hate Angela hahaha. But i took the picture with them anyway, and that same elder who asked me to be in it PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME! I was like...whoah buddy!!! But the worst part about this story is that now everytime i see any of the elders going to korea they all call me Angela. It wouldn't bother me that much except that i have gym time witht them. Yesterday I was playing volleyball and this one elder i had never met said, "hey, you must be that Angela girl!" and i looked right at him and said, actually I am a daughter of God and a missionary, my name is sister Tingey and i would appreciate it if i you and your friends didn't call me that anymore. hahaha. He was so mortified! i actually did it more to mortify him than because i was actually mad. I got a real kick out of that.

 

I love you allll!!!!!! Be good and keep readign your scriptures and praying everyday. the lord cannot bless you and take care of you unless you do the things he has asked you to do through his prophet.

 

Jya-ne!

 

Love, Tingey shimai

Hazumi-mashyou

The District at the Temple.  What an inspirational sight.  Can you believe there are 53,000 of these righteous kids?

 

 

The title of my email means, "let's bounce." Haha. My Elders are obsessed with saying it. In Japanese it literally means "lets bounce something" but they don't seem to care that they're saying nonsense.

 

Konichiwa!!!!

 

I'm so excited it's Pday, mostly because we get to go to the temple today! wahoooo.

Sister Tingey and Sister Willis hard at work

 

Exciting things that have happened this week:

* My companion Sis. Willis became the new coordinating sister for our branch. The reason this is exciting is because I am the Branch coordinator, and have been required to go to all of the meetings. We were having to go on splits everytime I had a meeting which is no fun because we are basically in love, so now that she is coordinating sister we get to stay together on Sundays!

Is that a halo above Lucy's head?

 

This past Thursday I taught 2 lessons in the TRC. Usually one is exhausting enough, but my senpai (has been in the MTC longer), Sis. Goodale, asked me if I wanted to teach a full Japanese first lesson with her in the TRC. We taught some of the Japanese sisters that arrived a few weeks ago and I loved it!!!! I actually like teaching in Japanese way more than in English, weirdly enough. Its probably because when I teach in English I have all of these things swirling around in my head and no idea what to actually say, but in Japanese my vocab is so limited that I'm able to just give a concise, on the point lesson about whatever I need to without freaking out. Needless to say, I'm excited to get to Japan.

Study corner with a beautiful view of the mountains

 

Japanese is really starting to click. I finally understand how to use multiple grammar patterns to construct a sentence. For some reason it just never clicked before. I'm loving it, though, and Sis. Willis and I try to SYL (speak your language) every day.

 

I'm not leaving early! Phew. The senpai are leaving next Monday, and I didn't receive any travel plans to go with them, so that is a relief. There is another missionary in my branch who has a lot of Japanese experience (he is wayyyyyy better than me) and he basically begged our teachers not to send him out early haha. I can see why. I'm really sad the senpai are leaving, though. I have made lot of good friends, but they are all really excited to go.

If anyone knows what this says, please translate!

 

I had two amazing spiritual experiences this week. One occurred last Tuesday in the temple, and then another a few days later. The second experience was a direct answer to prayer. I always had a testimony that Heavenly Father cared about me and has answered many of my prayers, but this was seriously the most obvious, direct answer I've ever gotten and I'll never forget it. Major testimony builder!

 

I ran into Sister Gill the other day!! She works in the MTC now with missionaries who have reading disabilities. It was really fun to catch up with her!

 

It has been snowing a lot and I couldn't be happier. Sis. Willis loves the rain (ehhhhh), but I am soso sosoos happy when it snows. Mostly because for the next 15 months of my life I'll be living in the tropics sweating all day long. Sis. Willis is going to Sapporo (The frozen chosen) and she is not too happy about it. Yesterday we found this extremely giant red coat in the givaway box and I made her take it sayign she would really need it in Sapporo (knowing it was extremely hideous, hehe). We took it to our room and I made her put it on and it was the most hideous jacket of all time! haha. I'll send some pictures. It looks really awesome with her red hair.

There's always time for girl time!

 

I'm glad everyone got my letters!! I sent some pictures and I'm planning on printing some more today. I

 

I'm 1/3 of the way done at the MTC! It's funny, everyone has these theories about how time works in the MTC and it's all true. People always say, "The days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days," "The first 4 days are the worst, and then it gets better," and some other things. Well, it's all true.

  

Jyamatta!

 

Love, Tingey shimai

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dear Family and friendies,

 

Happy Valentines day! Yesterday was the best valentines day ever. I think it was because there were no expectations. Everyone in the MTC was seriously SO genki(happy) haha. It was awesome. With the exception of some poor weepy elders (one in my district) who have girlfriends at home. The mail room was shut down for half of the day becauase they were "attacked" by packages. Two of those were for meee!!! Thanks to Sarah and Annie for sending me such cute packages! I was soooo excited! Sis. Willis and I made these awesome valentines cards for everyone in the district. Yesterday we had each person sign everyone's and then we made them wait until Monday morning to read their own. I cut out pictures of each district member and put it on the card and everyone got a pretty big kick out of it. It was a really good day and everyone loved their cards. We also gave them to our sensei's.

 

I love love love studying Japanese. I am learning so much. I have learned more here in the past 3 weeks than in the 9 years I have taken it, haha. sad. But a miracle. I love SYL-ing (Speak your language). We make a time everyday where we can speak only Japanese. My poor companion gets so frustrated sometimes because I just speak speak away saying anything I can think of and she has no idea what I'm saying. I wish we could SYL all day long. I want to get to Japan so bad, but I also love the MTC. My heart is being torn in two! We got 7 new senkyoushi (missionaries) who are native Japanese and everyone is so excited to have them here. I asked them to sing in sacrament meeting on sunday and they are really pumped. It was fun trying to get accross the message to them in Japanese but great practice.

 

I totally forgot to get a musical number for sacrament meeting this week so by the time Wednesday rolled around I realized I needed one and I just decided to do it. I ended up singing "I need thee every hour." First verse english, second Japanese. It was reallly pretty and my roommate Goodale Shimai played the piano for me. Afterward one of the branch president's wives told me my voice quality reminded her of David Archuletta! hahahahahah. My companino was so embarrassed because I started busting up laughing right there in front of everyone (Its even funnier because all of our roommates have been randomly having really weird dreams about David Archuletta singing at MTC firesides and being called to speak to all of the missionaries). Anyway, I can't seem to get away from him here in the MTC, which is funny because I have never even thought about him in my life before this. I guess its a nice compliment? paha

 

One of our elder's moms sent him a huge Japanese flag so we hung it up in our room. It looks awesome. One of my Elders from Brazil is the funniest person I have ever met. I sit next to him and I haven't heard anything come out of his mouth that isn't ridiculous. I write down pretty much everytyhing he says in my notebook and I'm planning on making an "Elder De Freitas quote book" for everyone in our district. He entertains us a lot. My district is recently obesessed with a game called "signs." Whenever we have a break we play it, and if you get caught with the sign you have to say a Japanese sentence using a grammar pattern we have learned. It's really fun.

 

I have been playing a lot of four square, volleyball, and SHOOTOUT at gym lately. For some reason I am the bomb.com at shootout. For anyone who has seen my basketball skills, that is sort of hilarious, but I am actually kind of a good shot. Yesterday I got like 6 Elders out in a game and everytime they all started whooping and hollering and making fun of the poor elder I got out. I usually run a mile or 2 at the beginning of gym, too. I love gym time. hehe.

 

I don't have that much time to write to individual people but I'm going to write handwritten letters today. Sis Willis and I came up with the idea for a "grateful box." everyday each missionary in the district has to write something theey're grateful for and put it in the box, and we're going to read them today during laundry. I decorated the box with pictures of all of us, but they haven't seen it yet so i'm excited to surprise them haha.

 

We have been going to choir every week and I love love love it. Last week Sis Willis and I got projected on teh big screen when the choir was singing during the devotional and afterward people in our branch were like....we saw you guys on the giant screen!!!!! Hahah we didnt' even know. I hope we didn't look retarded. I'm going to try out for the MTC sunday night fireside musical number on Thusday. Wish me luck! Our district is also trying out singing the Sisters in Zion/armies of helaman duet.

 

Our senpai (older missionary's) are leaving in two weeks!!!!! I'm so sad. I have made so many good friends in that group, but they are all excited to go. That means that we will become the new senpai...and new little cohai (new missionaries) will be coming in. It feels weird, but I'm excited.

 

Thank you everyone for your DearElders and letters! Thanks for your Email Sara (Greenwood), the one from Emma! I barely have any time to be on email so thank you everyone who emailed and sent me letters this week. I'll be writing A TON of letters during laundry today. I simply don't have time to write back during the week. I seriously study for 16 hours a day haha. My brain is going to explode.

 

I found a onesie in the lost and found box in our dorm, and I was running around in it last night. It was awesome. We can't email pictures here, but I made a CD with some pictures and I'm going to mail it to Annie or mom so someone can upload them and put them on my blog. I'm also goign to send a lot of pictures I printed to everyone so you can see my awesome life here in the MTC.

 

I have a super crazy roommate named sister Burns. She is the weirdest person ever, and we are already talking about rooming together in Provo after our missions. She's going to Korea (figures).

 

I am learning sooo much here about teaching the doctrine of Christ simply to the people in Japan. Also, teaching with the spirit is crucial. Sis Willis and I pray like 200 times a day to have the spirit. We are in a special pilot program, so we teach twice as many lessons as the other districts. This means a lot of planning, discussing lesson plans, and PRAYER! We have a fake in vestigator named "Naoko-San" who we teach twice a week. She is a progressive investigator, so instead of just the TRC, where the investigator changes every week, she stays the same and we teach her different lessons. We commited her to baptism yesterday and she was very hesitant, but I told her a personal story yesterday and the spirit was SO STRONG she actually started crying, and told us that during that lesson it was the first time she had felt the spirit in her life. IT WAS so amazing. I am really learning a lot teaching her.

 

One of our elders went home this last week and our district was devasted, but life moves on. We are all praying for him. No word on whether I'll be leaving early. I don't really think I will. Even though I am fine language-wise, I have a lot to learn about teaching the lessons effectively.

 

I am loving life so much here. I know that it was the right decision for me to serve a mission. I can't imagine my life anymore without this experience. I was made to do this. I am thriving so much and really learning a lot about myself having my companion around 24/7. She is seriously amazing. Last night I found a note on my bed that she wrote me, and it had 10 things she appreciates about me. I can't believe how lucky I got with my comp.

 

My testimony has grown so much in the past 3 weeks. I know that heavenly father loves all of his children, and that this time on my mission is just for him. I am so excited to be able to think of nothing else but trying to be a good missionary. It is such a blessing . Thank you to everyone who is sacrifi...(she must have gotten cut off because that  was it!)

MTC week 2

 

 

 

My second week in the MTC was as great if not better than the first. We all finally settled into the routine of things.  Last Wednesday we were told by our teacher that our district was being put into a special "pilot program." The program is an experimental way of teaching the lessons and language to new missionaries. They want to eventually implement the program into every district in the MTC. It's crazy intense. That day we were told that each companionshiop would receive a "progressive investigator," which means an investigator we will teach twice a week. Our investigator happens to be one of our teachers, but she's a really good actress and she pretends to be "Naoko-san." We were told last Wednesday that we were teaching her the next day on Thursday a 20 minute 1st lesson in all Japanese. You can imagine the whole district's distress. Haha. My poor comp. Nothing seems to really stress me out here just because I have the language down pretty well for what we are doing. It's really nice but at the same time I'm struggling to find ways to push and stretch myself so that I can be just as anxiety-ridden as the rest of my district. lol. So our lessons with her are going really well and we're all learning a lot. 

 

Emma Charlsey is here now and I bump into her about 10 times a day. Its awesome! Also, For Sarah, I see April Harrison every single day. So random! She's going somewhere spanish speaking. 

 

Yesterday and today it was realllllly snowy and freezing. I love it because I know in a few months I'll be dying in the Fukuoka mega humidity so I'm just soaking in all the freezing weather I can. 

I was made the branch music coordinator on Sunday and I'm really excited about it. I get to get people to sing and stuff and pick the hymns, and lead the music. Yeshhhh. I'm also goign to try out to do a musical number for the sunday or Tuesday Firesides. Last week my comp and I participated in the choir and it was amazing.

 

The branch President's wives are the bomb.com. I love them so much.

 

Oh also I had my interview with one of the Branch Presidents yesterday and he said he wouldn't be surprised if I get sent to Fukuoka early...maybe even in 4 weeks. i'm not sure how I feel about leaving that early because I am in love with the MTC, but he said I will probably progress more out in the field than I can here because of my Japanese experience...so we'll see. I might not be here for much longer, but I love my companinon and my district like crazy so I don't want to leave them.

 

I love you all! Please write me! I'm doing awesome and I think i'm the only missionary in my district who hasn't cried Paha. Figures.

 

Jyamatta!

 

Tingey shimai.

 

The "Empty Sea"

Dear family and friends,

The MTC is offically my favorite place on earth! I love it so much here. I've been told I'm still in the "honeymoon" stage because I think everything and everyone is just so great! My friend Curtis told me that being in the MTC is like going to Hogwards, and I have to say I totally agree with him. It really is! Haha. The first day was pretty much a blur and everyone was extremely confused. I got shoved to and fro without knowing what was really happening and I ended up sitting in about 8 hours worth of lectures, demonstrations, etc. By the end of the first day everyone was so exhausted that we just collapsed in bed. I think they do that on purpose. The next four days were pretty much the same as the first. Weirdly, although it has been extremely tiring and difficult for the first week, I haven't had one moment of sadness, regret, homesickness, depression, or desperation. Haha. Lets be thankful for that. I am really having the time of my life. I think it has to do with the fact that 1)I LOVE studying Japanese ALL DAY LONG, 2) I love being lectured about the gospel and feeling the spirit ALL DAY LONG 3) I love my companion and district. What more could you ask for!?

My companion is sister Willis. She's from Heber, UT and I can't imagine someone I would rather be companions with. She is amazing. She has bright red hair and she's the sweetest shimai (sister) on the earth. She has a really great sense of humor, but she is also way more mature and responsible than me, so you can imagine my surpirse when I was made senior comp. the 2nd day! I'm don't think that really means anything besides that we pretend like i'm making the final decision about things (when really both of us mostly agree on everything and make every decision together). We are like two peas in a pod. She has such a powerful testimony and amazing way of teaching the lessons. We work off of each other's strengths and weaknesses and have a great time. She is going to the Japan Sapporo mission.

My district is equally amazing. We have 9 Elders and us two sisters. Two of the Elders are from Brazil: one is going to Fukuoka Portuguese speaking and the other is to Fukuoka Japanese speaking. Weird, eh? They are both super hilarious and always making us laugh during class (which isn't always the best when we're trying to be productive). They have another companion Elder Beckstrand who is with them in a three-some, and they are all three going to Fukuoka with me. The rest of the Elders are going to Nagoya. Most of them are from Idaho, Utah or Colorado. We all have a lot of fun together but we work hard.

Today is Pday which means laundry. Wahoo. One of the best things about the MTC is the exercise routine. The sisters can get up at 6 AM if they want and go to yoga, pilates, kick boxing, stretching and toning, etc. We also have gym time everyday where sis Willis and I usually run a mile or two around the track, lift weights, and then I usually play volleyball for a while. I am extremely pleased that I'm able to continue my love of exercising while i'm here. I was honestly a little worried about it. The food isn't the best, but its edible. Everything that tastes half decent is the most fattening, unhealthy thing I've ever seen, so I have been just sticking with the salads and stuff. We'll see how long that lasts, haha.

I have two other sisters in my dorm. Sis Goodale is also Japanese and she has been here for 6 weeks. She is a solo sister. The other sister is going to Korea, Sis. Burns. She is also a solo sister in her disctrict so they are kind of companinos. They are both super hilarious and fun and we are mostly just cracking up in our rooms everyday.

Lets see......Sunday was the best day of my life. Relief society was amazing, sunday school was amazing, and then during sacrament meeting I got randomly called on to give a talk in front of the whole branch....in Japanese! pahaha. We all knew that they call on 2 random missionaries every sunday to give talks, so we all prepared for it, but everyone said they never call first-weekers so I was extremely suprised when I heard my name in the announcements. I gave my talk and everything went fine haha. People were mostly just amazed that I could speak any Japanese, so I have a lot of people telling me that I'm getting sent to the field early. We'll see about that. Honeslty, I have no preference either way at this point. I love the MTC, but I'm also excited to get to Fukuoka. Whatever the Lord wants!

My time is running out quickly. Thanks for all of your letters and support! Dont' worry about me. I am having the time of my life here in the MTC. I'm the most chipper everyday than I have ever been in my life. I love waking up at 5:50 every morning and dedicating my time to the Lord all day long. Who would have known huh? Haha. I love you all and I hope everything at home is going well.

Jyamatta!

Love,

Tingey Shimai

How to write to Lucy in the MTC.

Sister Lucy Rebecca Tingey
Japan Fukuoka Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604

Her PDay is Tuesday,and her email is lucyrt.myldsmail.net

You can also write her on dearelder.com
MTC box # 126 departure date April 11
If written before noon, it will be delivered to her the same day.