Week 6 Oct 26, 2016 - Still Here

Hello everyone I want to start this letter by just simply saying, GET ME OUT OF THE MTC AND OVER TO JAPAN!!!! But other than that I'm goood.

Wednesday: after our endowment session, Osmond Chourou and planned with his mom to drop off some Cafe Rio, it was fantastic to have real food. Regretfully our meal did not go unnoticed, about half way though it one of the MTC security guards came up to see what we were doing but she seemed pretty chill about us having food. After we had finished, we placed our empty containers back into a trash bag Sister Osmond had left and put it some where she could find. We where walking back to the MTC when we see some crazy driver pull up super fast into a parking space, an old man hop out and he stated yelling at the group in front of us and all we hear is "did you guys have cafe rio ?!?" Yep, when e rounded on us he proceeded to start yelling and cussing at us about littering. He claimed he was the MTC grounds keeper but I don't know. He also got there super fast if the MTC had called him but in reality he probable was watching us and called us in to the MTC. No one got in trouble and its also not in any rule book we have but we won't do it again.

Thursday: Today I was humbled. We were teaching Yoko San, our progressing investigator, and through out most f the lesson I had no clue what was being said. I hadn't been super prideful up to that put but I hadn't been as great-full as I probable should have. The reason the Lord "knocks us down a couple notches when we are prideful or when ever is so that we can reach far greater heights than before.

Friday: Today my Senpai, the senkyoushi that have n here 3 weeks longer, got their flight plans to Japan today. It is especially sad because the new kouhai is going to be one district of 6 Shimaitachi and they are 2 districts of about 17 chouroutachi and 3 shimaitachi, there is no one left. I have applied more studying, SYL and obedience (Juujun) to prove to the Lord that I am worthy of the Gift of Tongues and I have seen improvements.

Saturday: we got a referral today. He's name was Nakagawa San, from what I remember and understand was his mom is a member and referred him. The lesson was mostly getting to know him and we talked a little about God and the Book of Mormon. I'm pretty excited about teaching him because now I get to apply(oyou) all the things I learned about how getting to know them is supposed to go and now I get to uses it. I think I am on the track of improvement because I understood more than I usually did and that makes me super grateful.

Sunday: In Priesthood today we talked about fait and the teacher also talked about asking for blessings. Here is what he said "first you got to ask What do you want, be specific on the blessing(s) that you want Why do you want that specific blessing(s) and How will you use it when you receive it" he called it presenting yo case to the Lord. Since the senpai are leaving, we need new zone leaders and since its been 3 weeks, we also need a new district leader. The new Zone Leaders are Neslson and Walbeck chourou, they are in the other district and the new District Leader is Arnold chourou, he was not super excited but he will do a good job. I have never realized how much symbolism is in the Book of Mormon, it's crazy. I challenge you guys that as you are reading the Book of Mormon look for how it can be applied in your life.

Monday: I got woken up and 5. It was to say goodbye to our senpai, so it was for a good cause. Instead of doing our usual 3 hours of class time this morning, we did an hour and help all the new senior couple missionaries to their rooms until about lunch time, it was great. It had been sprinkling all day long, which was great. I got this fancy new bluetooth keyboard, THANK YOU!!!!! And this thing is fantastic, I love it. We unexpectedly taught Yoko San, she kept her commitment to going to church and we committed her to baptism and SHE EXCEPTED we still go to teach her the lessons but still.  

Tuesday: today was a good day. You especially know this because I never say it. I had a bomb diggity personal study in the morning. I did a lot of studying today and I hope it helps improve. We had a our devotional  set up and then choir, we sang Jesus once a Humble Birth and the K Brett Nattress talked to us about the Jesus and his Atonement and I felt the spirit so strong. He also handed out notecards and had us write "Be not afraid, only beleive" like the on that President Hinckley got for his mission. We had the Turpins for our devotional review and it was super cool. Brother Nattress also said a joke "I wonder is the Devil checks under his bed for Elder Holland before going to bed"

Its been a good week. I love getting mail and emails for you guys and I do appreciate you guys sending me my ballot, it was very random. I become Dai senpai today, to a district of 6 shimai. I love it here but i would love it more in Japan, mainly because of the food but serving would be good to. Until next week matane

Meet my new friend Elder Barlow. He got here 2 weeks ago and is going to Fukuoka. We had a special bonding moment when he was sing the aqubats song talking about how Friday was the best day of the week and I started to sing along and that's when we made the connection that his and my dad wee both in Sendai at the same time. I found him dad, it took me a week to relieve it was him.

That is a vacuum, i hope all are as amused as I was

-Elder Brinkerhoff 

Testimony for Kylie Jo

Here is my testimony for KJ

わたしはふくいんがしんじつだとしっています。かみさまがわたしたちためにだとしっています。イエスキリストがわたしたちのすくいぬしだとしっています。そしてそのイエスキリストのほはんしったがうです。モルモンしよをしんりだとしっています。カイレはじゅうじゅんときにしゅくふくをうきます。わたしたちはせいれいをそんすります。そしてそのせいれいをかんがえます。カイリがバプテスマをうけるからしあわせをかんがえます。わたしわカイリをあいしてます。

-あいする

あに バリンクハフ長老

Here is what I think I am saying in english 

I know that this gospel is true. I know that God has a plan for us. I know that Jesus the Christ is our savior and that we're supposed to follow his example. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that when we are obedient we will receive blessings. I know that the holy ghost is real, I have felt it. I am happy because you choose to be baptized. I love you. 

• love 

big brother elder Brinkerhoff

Week 5 Oct 19, 2016

I can't tell if the weeks here are getting longer or shorter but they are fun

Wednesday: After I laundered and emailed I planned sand volleyball
with my zone, so much fun. After that we hung out in the room until
dinner and after that we did TRC. TRC is when you teach RMs to help us
with our teaching and Japanese.

Thursday: wow, my journal says today was boring. We did teach Yoko San
today and it did go super well. I got a book set from home called "The
Book of Mormon made Easier" and it is super cool. The author has some
pretty cool insights about everything.

Friday: celebration, me and Campbell Chōrō memorized all Katagana and
Hirogana. Now its time for the bad news, our lesson with Nakahara San
was pretty bad, it ended well but it did not go well. I got a package
today, Thank you Curtis, Dennis and Curtie, the cupcakes lasted more
than an hour because of exercise time but they where delicious!

Saturday: we had a curve ball thrown at us this morning. We thought
that we were going to be teaching Yoko San in the afternoon, turns out
is was in the morning, but it went well. Today on my B.O.M. Study, I
was reading 1 Nephi 4, and one thing that really stood out to me was
how forgetful Laman and Lemuel were, so as a personal challenge I'm
going to try to journal better.

Here is the Cafe knot I tied Sunday 

Sunday I taught the lesson in our district meeting today, which is
like teaching Sunday school. It went pretty well and the topic was
obedience. Today's special speaker was Vai Sikahema, anyone know him?
All I know is he was raised in Mesa and played football. Other than
that he taught us about using our influence to build up the kingdom.
It was amazing and he had a ton of cool stories.

I love the cloudy weather that Provo has been having.

Monday: family, thank you guys for sending me the little booklet on how to tie ties, sadly I can't have a knot that draws attention, which means I can't do all the fun ones😢. Today was a weird day when we don't have a straight 3 hours of PCL and I hate it. I did play sand volleyball again and it was especially fun because it had rained earlier this morning so that meant, the sand was freezing but it was a fun game.

I SAW MR ANS MRS MOULDING. They are leaving on their mission to Germany this Friday, same one as Elder Bates. Mr, I suppose that its Elder Moulding, informed me that Karen was coming in Wednesday, I hope I get to see her but she is in the MTC for 3 weeks and I am in for 4 more weeks, not fair.

This is on the bulletin for my classroom's building and that is where all the asian language missionaries go.

Tuesday: today was a subarashi day. It started with a 3 hr continues of PCL and that was amazing. I saw the Mouldings during lunch and I ate with them which was super cool. Today was a devo day and my zone helping set up for it, which also means no exercise time😢. We had Lynn G Robbins and his wife come talk to us, Elder Robbins talked to us about loving and how our missions are preparation for marriage.

I am well, I've gained 10 pounds since being here. I'm starting to understand Japanese better but the Gift of Tongues is really. I am enjoying  all of the study and me and the district are getting along pretty well. I've started to read the Book of Mormon in Japanese before bed, I don't know what I'm reading but I hope it helps my Japanese. How are things back home? We don't get any news here, has Trump finally dropped out of the race, if not I'm probable going to be in Japan until he gets impeached.

Week 4

Hello again, its been another week and its been a fun one

Wednesday: instead of doing an endowment session like we normally do, we decided to an initiatory session. It was different but after that we got really food at the temple cafeteria. Every Wednesday is when new missionaries come in and this Wednesday my zone got a new district of Kohi. I haven't been able to interact much with them because I've been so busy.

Thursday: I may have gotten a little sick and I still have a bit of a cough. Everyday we have over 3 hours of study time, so me and Campbell Chōrō found a nice spot with couches.

I got one zone leader taking the picture and the other chilling by me. There weren't a ton of people in the gym during exercise time, so we started doing doubles on volleyball until more people showed up.

Friday: Man I wish my life was more exciting. Nothing really big happened to today. We doing a Zone Volleyball, where the whole zone heads out to the volleyball field every Friday. Actually, one of the shimai from a different zone came up to me a bore her testimony in Nihongo (Japanese), and that's crazy since she has only been here 3 days and I definitely didn't and probably wouldn't have done that on my third day.

Saturday: I have memorized the first vision in Eigo (English). That's all

Hahhahha joking, along with the first vision I got the Mokuteki down in Nihongo. I played sand volleyball today and was a blast, the sand was super cold too.

Sunday: Fast Sunday, yippy. It wasn't actually that bad but my throat was dying and I couldn't get a drink. We started the day with President Stevenson talking to use in depth about the Plan of Salvation. After that we study tell Priesthood, the lesson was on recognizing the Holy Ghost. Then we had our temple walk.

It was a nice day outside. After the walk, Arnold Chōrō taught us again in our district meeting then we had sacrament meeting, which did include testimony meeting. I was the last person to go up and bare my testimony but it was super cool. Normal we don't have choir on fast Sunday but we have someone important coming in for the Tuesday devotional, so we practiced Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer. We had the devotional given today by President Heaton, I can't think of the topic but there was a lot of crowd interaction and that was really cool. That didn't have a ton of movies going but I did see the new visitors' center film, which were super cool.

Monday: today Osmond Chōrō turned 19. He got a total of 7 packages today and he has been getting a package pretty much every other day since we got here. When we went back to the room we did a little birthday party for him

It was some good cake.


Tuesday: THANK YOU FAMILY FOR SENDING THAT PACKAGE!!!!!!

Yes, it is hanging on the door that goes to our room. 

Me and Campbell Chōrō taught our investigator named Nakahara today and it went pretty well. 

Now I'm sure you are all dieing to hear how the special speaker for the devotional was. It was David A Bednar and his wife. It was awesome. He talked about how he takes notes during conference and then gave some examples for us to try. This is how he takes notes, first he writes the speaker, then he writes what the doctrine or principle they talked about was, then the invitation to act and lastly the promised blessings. Start paying attention, those 3 things are in every talk. After the devotional was done we went back to the classroom to do our devotional review. 

Before I get to that, we had been trying to get the pocket sized Japanese hymn books but the were always out so President Stevenson offered to buy us some and inscribe it with our names.

I'm pretty happy with it. With the devotional review we had Brother Turpin, he gets distracted super easily but he has some cool stories

I'm doing good. The language isn't getting easier but its making more sense. Everyone in our district has been getting sick so hopefully it is over soon.

Miss you all but I am not coming for another 2 years  

Week 3 Oct 5 2016

Wednesday: after I had sent out my email, my district had gone to go
do exercise time. They have a room full of machines so I just hopped
on one of the bike ones. They were also playing Conference talks and
Mormon messages at the same time but, I did not have an earbuds to
listen. I didn't know what was being said but they seemed cool.

Osmond Chōrō for a picture on how to tie ties, except it was the different ones and before our temple trip I had gotten the Elderege  knot and I haven't been able to since
Thursday: thank you guys so much for the letters. I noticed some of them were dated the 18 and I sincerely hope that they we just sent later. I loved reading what you

I do love the Chocolate milk.
Friday: You get a lot of repetition at the MTC, though during Zone volleyball, as it sounds everyone in the zone goes outside and sand volleyball, one of the Shimai would do a cross between a growl and a grunt every time she hit the ball, I have actually super funny many because it didn't seem to help the ball go over the net.

I have found Elder Bates, I seem to be meeting everyone I know on Fridays.
Saturday: General Conference. That sums up my day.
I'm only partially joking. Between sessions my district just went back to our room, Winchester downloaded and started playing Meet the Mormons. During the Priesthood sessions I was hoping for Utchdorf's roast on the men again but it never came. I did really enjoy Elder Holland's talk during Priesthood though. I do miss watching General Conference at home, I had get into my Sunday clothes and sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs.

Meet Elder Brinkerhoff, I randomly saw him in line and don't know how we are related

I found this will exploring a little bit, I wasn't there when it was placed but I want to be around when they take it out
Sunday: started off by watching "music & the inspired word", it was pretty good and I liked it. Pretty much the same schedule as yesterday, though between the sessions I downloaded and started watching Meet the Mormons too. We still had our Sunday evening Devotional but this one was different.
Talley, Lauren, Emma and Emily get ready to be jealous.
BYU's Vocal Point gave us, the MTC, a little concert and it was super cool but, they asked for no pictures so I don't have any. After that awesomeness we watch a movie again because they do an inspirational movie every Sunday, this was 3 new segments of Meet the Mormons. They were The Artist, The Horseman and The Entertainers. My favorite was the Entertainers, it's about a musical group, all siblings, called bless4, they were a ton of fun to watch. I forgot to mention, they are in Tokyo and that made me super excited to get to Japan, also the youngest brother is serving his mission in California.

These out my Di Sendpi, the leave for Japan early tomorrow(Monday) morning. It was fun being around them.
Monday: I slept in a little this morning so that morning was a bit off. We had another Sub this morning, Rockwood Kyōdai, the cousin of my seminar teach Bro Rockwood, so that was fun to talk to him. For the first hour or so of class we walked up an art gallery of paintings of Jesus Christ which was pretty cool.

For all who didn't know, they're building a new MTC right next door and this is what it'll look like.

This is an bird's eye view of the current MTC, all the star shaped building, right next to the new MTC, the almost square of buildings.

I suppose some background is necessary, so ever classroom has one painting but as you can see we have 3, that is because all of the rooms that used to have Di Sendai are now empty and the paintings looked super lonely, so we took the them to our room to lighten it up.
Tuesday: Today started off with studying, tons of fun but, we did find this cool new spot that had a ton of soft chairs and better yet nobody was there.

Regretfully that didn't last, our Zone leader, Maines Chōrō and Warner Chōrō found us. Eyring Shimai was our sub again today and we helped set up for the devotional. Me, Campbell and Arnold participated in the choir again, it was super small today. We didn't have Brother Agett directing us today so it wasn't as fun and we sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace" good song but it was slow. Lynde K Burton and her husband spoke today, Brother Burton spoke first and started by calling up his granddaughter up to the podium. He place his suit coat on her and talked about how the Mantle of a missionary was like the oversized suit coat and how as we fulfilled our purpose as missionaries, we would begin to grow into it. Sister Burton talked about our purpose as well, she talked about each individual part of how we bring people to know of the gospel and she only got to repentance before she ran out of time. During the devotional review I was released  as District Leader and Osmond Chōrō was called, also my whole district has been wanting to buy mini Japanese hymn books but the bookstore has never been in stock, so our Branch President, President Stevens order one for everyone online so we could get one.

To answer a common question I get of "How is Japanese going?" Hard, very hard. For those who don't know much about it, they have three alphabets, their sentences sound like Yoda is talking and if you don't hold a vowel long enough, it's a completely different word but I've learned how to pray and I can understand a word here and there so I can get the general idea of what is being said.
I love it here at the MTC, my Dōryō is pretty cool, my district is basically my family, that's right since you guys didn't come with me I had to find a new one. Talk to you all next week.

Week 2.5 - Sept 28 2016

Elder Spencer sent me (Spencer3 the Elder) a letter answering some of my questions. I've decided to rewrite my questions to him and add his replies into a new post. So I'm going to pretend I'm Mormon and compile some of those records into a single concise record.  My writing is in RED and his responses are in BLUE.

Well, hello my boy! (Konnichwa musuko¹).

I hope that you are doing well and study Lots. It's fun to see you practicing your SYL². Be careful with the auto correct in your emails. I don't think that it knows what to do with Japanese language. ;-)

Not sure if Mom told you or not but her friend Tracy was scrolling through Facebook and found one of her friends posting a photo of you at the airport. And then the other day your Aunt Jennifer tags me on Instagram in a comment on Swap Choro's mom’s photo. So just keep up the good work and stay out of trouble because I have eyes and ears everywhere. ;-)

What vocabulary are you working on? Are you taking notes at these things or just soaking in the spirit?

Most of this week I've been working on the prayer vocab and I'm trying to memorize verbs too.

We have devotional twice a week and I take note on my iPad during the Devotionals so I can read them later. The notes are also cloud saved to my iCloud account so I can get them when I switch iPads in the mission.

It's totally easy for me to sit and dictate an email to you using the voice translator on my phone. I wonder if you can do the same thing on your iPad?

I can dictate but I feel there were a ton of grammar errors that I missed so I typed it out this time.

You mentioned that you were preparing to teach a lesson in Japanese. So how did it go?

The hardest part of teaching the investigator is I don't know enough Japanese but other than that its going well. I do have a Japanese dictionary app on the iPad called Imiwa, It’s a wonderful name for a dictionary because it’s a Japanese phrase that means, “What’s that mean?”

Are you sharing any LightSticks with anyone?

I haven't had time to mess with the LightSticks much, but the photos don't turn out super great on my camera and my iPad doesn't have a flash.

Remember next Wednesday when you send us your email that you have a whole week's worth of communication to catch up on. So make it juicy and full of details. I love your face and look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks Dad. Two more things, one of the Elders in my district is Osmond Chōrō. His dad is Jimmy Osmond from the Osmond Brothers if you know them and check out this picture of Samurai Jesus! 

1. こんにちは   息子

2. the MTC program encouraging missionaries to “Speak Your Language”