Another week has passed, which means that I am now on week four of eight! What is this madness! It's truly surprising how fast time flies here! I guess it's like that old saying.
Well, the most interesting thing that has happened this week is also extremely hilarious. It's one of those horror stories that you can't actually believe happened. I should probably just get to the point now that I've peaked your interest -- it began last week when teaching one of our "fake" investigators, Yajima-san. We were teaching him about eternal families since he is about to get married, and it seemed to be a really relevant topic to him. It was all going great until he asked about what sin was, a question we were unprepared to answer. We struggled to explain it, and the best way we could describe it was that it was doing bad things, such as killing or stealing. Yajima-san's countenance changed at this, and I had this feeling that we had done something very wrong, but I couldn't figure out what. Even after the lesson was over, I felt this very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I assumed it was just me being me. Me fussing over the fact that we didn't have a "perfect" lesson. However, we came to realize at the end of our next lesson, that we had told Yajima-san accidentally that he must sin and kill people to have an eternal family! OH MY GOSH, WE WERE SO EMBARRASSED! We emphatically told him, that no, that was NOT something he should be doing and that it was, in fact, a sin to do either of those things. We apologized over and over again, and explained that our Japanese is really not very good. All I can say is, thank goodness that he wasn't a real investigator, or he would've ran out of there thinking we were some kind of cult!
We later talked to our teacher, Beezer-Sensei, who is the man who roleplays as our investigator, Yajima-san. He told us a bit more about our mistake, so we could more fully understand what happened and where we went wrong. We misinterpreted something Yajima-san said, and that was where it went sour. We ended up teaching a 15 minute lesson about how we needed to kill and steal, all because we thought we understood what he had said! In addition, the next lesson we asked Yajima-san about his day, and he told us that he had stole something, just like we had taught him. And we, again not understanding, were like, "Oh, awesome!" ... AHHHHH! Beezer-Sensei taught us a valuable lesson -- that we should not assume we understand what is being said to us. Just because we understand one word of a sentence, does not mean we can infer the meaning. If we don't understand, then we should ask the investigator to repeat it again, slower. Use our dictionaries more to look up words we don't know, and although that may take time away from the lesson, it will signal to the investigator that we care enough about what he is saying to understand him. It's a very good lesson to learn, and I am glad that it happened in a hypothetical situation and not in real life. But honestly, can we just take a moment to truly appreciate how funny that situation is! You just got to love the mistakes you make when learning a new language! It is better to laugh and learn, rather than to become completely despondent and put out because of it!
In addition to that....interesting...experience, my district has become a fester-bed of germs. It seems that at least one missionary from each companionship is feeling a bit under the weather! It all started with my companion, Asto-Shimai. She got really sick on Thursday, so much so that we had to go to see a doctor. At first, she was determined not to miss any class, but after she accidentally fell asleep at breakfast, I knew that she had to rest. So, we went to the doctors, then headed back to the Residence Hall so that she could sleep. She slept for 5 hours straight! During that time, I read my scriptures, studied the Ensign, read some more scriptures, studied Preach My Gospel...I had a lot of time on my hands to say the least. I had so much time, I even drew little pictures of each Sister in my district to put on the door of our Residence Hall room. Yeah...it felt sort of strange to be in the room for that long. I have become so used to being constantly busy, constantly out and about, studying and learning and growing and teaching...and I've come to realize that I like it that way. I like being that insanely busy. It makes every day more meaningful, and makes it harder to waste any time. It makes me reflect on how I spent my time before my mission, and how I could have been more productive. Oh well! I figure that is one of the biggest and best side-effects of a mission -- to become better than you were before.
Anyways, once Asto-Shimai woke up, she was feeling slightly better. We had to go pick up some of her medication, but we couldn't pick it up from the Health Center on the MTC campus, we had to go get it from the BYU Health Center that was just down the road. So, you know what that means....*drum roll please*... WE GOT TO GO OFF-CAMPUS! This is a pretty big deal, since the only time we ever get to go anywhere outside of the MTC gates is on our Sunday walks, where we cross a street and walk a couple hundred feet to the temple and back. Now, don't misinterpret what I'm saying here. I LOVE the MTC. It’s truly magic, like Hogwarts or something. Everyday is another adventure and a new experience! But, it is sort of it's own bubble away from non-missionary life. Walking to the Health Clinic, we saw people who were, you guessed it, NOT MISSIONARIES! GASP! They were people doing ordinary things, like walking to work or driving their car with the radio on and the window down. Funny how those kind of things are amazing to me now! It made me that much more excited to go to Japan! As we walked, I realized that it was EXACTLY the kind of thing we would be doing every day in Japan, (plus a bike). I was really able to feel the love of God for each of His children as we walked. Not only that, but I remembered walking to the same place, the BYU Health Center, months before to get my mission check-up done for my papers. I was so close to my old life, to the dorm I lived in for two semesters, and yet...it felt so far away. It hadn't moved, but I had. It was a surreal experience. |
| Elder David A. Bednar "The Character of Christ" BYUI - 25 January 2003 |
Okay, last thing! We saw this old MTC devotional given by Elder Bednar called, “The Character of Christ.” I don't know if you can find it, but if you can, READ IT THIS MINUTE. It is life changing. Everyone at the MTC had been telling us that it was amazing, and they were absolutely right! Elder Bednar talked about Christ and how He always looks outwards to the needs of others instead of selfishly inward to his desires or wants. In the same way, our mission isn't about us. Who cares about what we want? It's about looking outwards to others and serving them with our all our hearts, mind, and strength.
Our lives aren't about us. It's about becoming like Christ and looking outward to the needs of others.
From,
Sister Weigl
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