Wednesday, October 27, 2010

October 27, 2010

Watashi no kazoku!

I'm am officially emailing you from Japan! I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to call you again from tokyo, we had some problems (the plane got in an hour late, an elder lost his passport, etc.) but, good news. I'm safe, i'm happy and my mission president is the best mission president i could ask for. Sister Margetts and Brother Margetts are awesome people and I'm loving my stay under the Fukuoka temple. I leave tomorrow afternoon for my mission area...which i still don't know yet but i am anxiously waiting.

So quick story. I felt sick on the plane and luckily i got to the bathroom for that fun experience. When I got to the airport...I got to the welcome to tokyo sign...I threw up all over the floor. All the elders and sisters laughed! I did too actually. And then I had to go over to a hostess and tell her in fairly bad Japanese about what I had done. She told me it was ok, but I felt bad. Well, that's going in the journal.

Whew, I think i'm making it through the jet lag. It's like midnight in the states right now and I still have 8 hours till bedtime. It's been the best day so far though. I had one of the best breakfasts of my life this morning. And then we went out for dendo. Yes, I passed out fliers for 2 hours this morning. I spoke to maybe 100 people, and 50 of them accepted fliers. IN JAPANESE!! It was crazy. Keep praying for me that I'll be able to help people feel the spirit and to be interested in hearing about Christ.

I saw a great quote today under the Savior's picture. "Kaette kinasai" which means "Come home." And that's what it is all about. Helping people to get back to Christ and The Father.

Alright, well I need to go in for an interview. Love you all!

Robert

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Elder Gregory Update

Robert is in Japan! Can you believe it? He sent a letter to me today which included his SD card with all of his MTC pictures. I will upload them soon. In the meantime, check out his Facebook page and you can view the pictures there.

Also, feel free to check out my blog post. My husband shared with me tonight how truly exhausted he was when he arrived in his mission in the Philippines. I wonder if Robert is experiencing something similar.


Brittany

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Letter to Family October 19, 2010

Hey family, I only have a few minutes to write, i'm sorry. I gave up my p day because some japanese sister who is doubling as a nurse on her mission for missionaries had to go to a medical seminar and I had to translate it for 8 hours today. My head is seriously going to explode. But it was a wonderful experience and I'm gratfeul for it.

So here's my schedule...I leave monday at like 5 in the morning. I'll be in the LAX airport and able to call family from 9:30AM to 12:30 LA time and 4:30 to 7:30PM Tokyo time, whatever that is. So yes, I don't think there is a limit on how much time I can have when i can call you but i have to pay for it with my own money when it is from the airport. so i'll use a pay phone, borrow someone's cell phone, or buy a calling card or something like that. so yes, i think the tokyo time is like from 4:30 to 7:30 in the morning tuesday or something like that...maybe wake up at 6 and i'll call you!

Anyways, i'm sorry this is so short, I love everyone and next prep day i'll be sure to write you a long email telling you how it is! oh by the way, i'm sending my memory card to brittany and then she'll send it to you! I love you all!

love
Robert

Sweet! My friend had some extra time of email so i'm using his!
So this last week has been pretty great! I got my travel plans and i've been talking pretty much nihongo dake (japanese only) which has been a challenge but i'm feeling the blessing of it. Spiritually I have been edified this whole MTC time. It's truly amazing what the Lord does here at the MTC. There are alot of great elders here, but so many more missionaries leave better, more prepared teachers of the gospel than the number of those who come here. Thank you for your prayers everyone. I feel part of a fantastic family and i'm very grateful for my parents. And you too Miles, Matthew, and Brittany!

So quick thought. I'm hosting this wednesday and Parker, Gainluca, and Stickler all get here that day. My chances are slim but I might be able to host for one of them and carry around their luggage! How exciting is that!?

Well once again i'll say, i love you! keep it real, be safe, pray for Grandpa Craig. I hope he will receieve baptism soon. Love you

Love,
Robert

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

October 12, 2010

私の愛するかぞく!

お元気ですか。あなたたちの証はどうですか。

Hey family!

Are you all happy/healthy/fine? How are everyone's testimonies?

Next week I'll have something ready for you so i can type it out really quick. It's hard to type out kanji and hiragana! Anyways, I hope everyone is doing fine. It's cool to hear that you were in provo this last weekend. If would have run into you on saturday, that would've been the coolest! After my mission you all are going to have to meet my current companion. He's pretty awesome.

So how's california? How's the weather? Have you all stopped by the beach yet? Here in Provo it is absolutely wonderful. Good story actually. My district and I have been bummed because the soccer field has been closed...due to a sink hole!! (Which I definitely took pictures in!) Anyways, we've been bummed until recently when they opened it up again. So everyone runs out there and it is just the most prefect weather. And then followed the best soccer game of my life. Sigh, life at the MTC sure can be great sometimes.

This last week I have been talking with the Japanese missionaries who now come here instead of the Tokyo MTC. It's been great...I even had to translate for the 日本人宣教師 district leader in branch council and still take notes for my own district at the same time. Slightly difficult. So I just have to get this off my chest...I am so glad that I decided to stay here the whole 12 weeks instead of cutting my MTC time short. There's an elder who took 3 years of japanese in high school and he put on his application that he was fluent. He is definitely not anywhere near fluent. So now he's leaving with our group in two weeks and he's only been here for about two weeks. Oh man, he has got a lot of japanese to catch up on. I'm praying for him!

I love you guys. I'm glad that you are my family...you are all すばらしい which means you are all very wonderful. Be safe and enjoy life! I'll be seeing you in 22 months!

Love,
Robert

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Letter October 5, 2010

Hey Family!

It's junbi no hi again and I get to email you! Yes! This last week has been pretty great, especially with general conference, choir and the Japanese missionaries coming to the MTC! I have been talking with some of them and it's great knowing that I can actually talk to real people using what I've learned in the MTC! Some times my district feels like we're going to get to Japan and we'll all say "this isn't what they taught us in the MTC!" But it's working out! I finished my Japanese dictionary project were I wrote down all the words that are everyday use. Now I'm just committing the one's I don't know to memory! If you are curious, there are 1758 common use words, not including their different derivatives. Oh and funny story, i went back through to see if I missed any and I missed one, shijin i believe it is, which means earthquake. It also means self confidence randomly enough.

So anyways, what did everyone get out of conference? Who were your favorite speakers? I think that my favorite were Uchtdorf and how he talked about slowing down and focusing on the fundamentals. That and his talk about how humility isn't thinking less of yourself but less about yourself. I know it might be wrong to have favorites but Uchtdorf is definitely my favorite along with our Prophet Thomas S Monson. I'm going to have to go back and listen to their talks again before I leave them MTC.

Quick story. One of my japanese teachers here is really cool and his dad is a religion professor at BYU and UVU. So as his son, he has a ton of gospel knowledge and cool insight. We read from Ether where it talks about how the Brother of Jared chose to have the Lord touch the stones to provide light for there Jaredities journey across the sea. Then we discussed how he thought of that idea. He was a prophet, was he not? And he most likely had access to scriptures and such. Go to Genesis 6:16, read it, and then check the footnotes. Dad has been studying hebrew so he might have a better understanding. This is where Noah is building his ship and the Lord is telling him how to build it. So, the hebrew word for window or glass is something like "toshur" and historians think it means "shining stone". So Noah may have done the same thing with the Lord and the brother of Jared, being a prophet and having the scriptures, searched them and saw that Noah lit his ship with "shining stones" as well. Cool story.

Anyways, I've had a wonderful week. Singing in choir was an experience I will always remember and I'm glad I had that opportunity. I don't know how the apostles and general authorities do it. When I walked out and sat down, there was literally so much to see, it hurt my head. It was impressive. This last week I taught a Japanese woman in the TRC and I finally felt like the lesson went amazingly. My companion and I have been focusing on teaching the lesson, but this week, we better tailored it to her needs, and we were able to answer all of her questions. Sigh, sweet success!

I'm off to the temple! I love you all!