Third of the way done!

Family and Friends,

Tomorrow marks the conclusion of my third week at the MTC. It’s crazy just how fast things are moving here. The weeks fly by. Tomorrow is when the next wave of Japanese missionaries arrive. The Senior Japanese missionaries left early this morning. A lot has happened since I last wrote:

I have gained a better understanding of the Language. I can barely understand but I’m getting there. Everyone speaks so fast. I can understand words like: "Prayer" and "Let’s go to meal". Some of the most common phrases.

This week I had the opportunity to teach a volunteer member who came just to help the Japanese Missionaries get ready for Japan. Her name was Uema and she is a student at BYU. She served in Japan I wasn’t able to understand her. My companion did most of the translation and I bore my testimony. This week I challenged one of our "investigators" (really our sensei acting) to read the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately for me and my companion we forgot to bring one to give him and he didn't have one on hand either. Whoops.

I learned the word for pants: zubon, and have started making sentences along the lines of: "If you wear pants, you will be blessed." Or "Because I wore pants, I can go to church." It’s a great way to help me work on my grammar. Also, the rest of the district has joined in in making silly sentences with words. I’m not so sure what our sensei thinks of it. Although he has come up with a few. Please don't think I’m being irreverent mom, I’m not.

Side note: I'm slowly losing touch with English. I know my emails are starting to show this. Please forgive me. Also the right mouse button doesn't work on these computers for some reason.

My roommate keeps knocking things off his bed and they fall onto mine since our bunks are pressed up against the wall. I’ve had books, alarm clocks, pens/pencils, pants and last night a full bottle of water exploded when it hit me. If he wasn't 300 pounds I might kick him out of the room. I’m sure that’s the best course of action. I'm just glad the bunk hasn't broken. Yet.

They have gluten free bread here, Jacob can eat his heart out when he comes.

My schedule is super exciting: I wake up, workout, eat, go to class, eat, go to class, eat, and go to class. It’s kinda routine but my district is really really cool so were able to make it an enjoyable experience. We played a game last night in the resident hall after class got out called "Fruits and vegetables" it’s a total Mormon game but hilarious none the less.

I was saving the scotcharoos that Aunt Ruth made me for the flight to Japan but I caved in last week and ate half of them and gave the rest of them to my district. Needless to say, they definitely age with time. Also, there is lots of peanut butter here so I've been trying to fill my 2 year quota on peanut butter. I think I am nearly there.

Shout out to the Young women and Men of the Dublin ward I and the other elders enjoyed your letters. Also, Elder Hernandez enjoyed them too. He thoroughly enjoyed the drawings attached. One of the elders in our district received a letter randomly from a young women’s group in the west who sent mail to the MTC and then they were randomly assigned from there. We opened it up and it looked like a ransom note with Mormon lingo. Sort of like: "Baptism", "Happy", "Church." It’s hanging on our classroom wall right now.

My senseis that I have had are: Sensei Anderson, Sensei Horne, Sensei Gregory, and Sensei Holbrook. All Male. We have zero sisters in our district. I haven't talked to a girl face to face in weeks.

The MTC is full of music. I didn't bring my ukulele and can’t sing so I’m stuck with whistling. Good thing I’m above par with it so I can get by. Every morning you can hear the Elders whistling a tune to some hymn and then it’s stuck with me the rest of the day. I’m getting pretty good at it though. I’ll be a professional by the end of the MTC stay.

The Japanese Missionaries from Japan arrived last week. They are pretty cool. It’s hilarious because they walk around in their suits since they are freezing. I'm not looking forward to going to Japan because I'm going to sweat out my guts. If that’s even possible. They eat all the rice in the dining hall. They stack their plates with it. I don't know why I am so surprised by this. Also, all the Senseis have told us that Natto is gross but they learned to love it. I'm sure the Japanese don’t think the dining hall rice is good. I can’t wait for authentic Japanese food. At least twice a day someone in my district mentions Japanese food and how excited they are for it.

It’s super exciting to be here at the MTC. You can feel the spirit everywhere. Also the food is pretty good. It’s going by so quickly. It'll be done in 6 weeks!

Love,

Elder Farr

All the mids (except Elder Rydalch)