How We Love the Slow Life, Just Tokyo Time

Hola! Alright first, I know that my fam is itching to see my schedule (sorry BYU and missionary friends who have gotten the same email from every missionary about what their schedule is). Feel free to scroll past this part. So here is my daily schedule for the most part:

6:30-7:30: Wake up, workout, run

7:30-8:00: Make breakfast, squeeze in some extra language study

8:00-9:00: Personal study

9:00-10:00: Zoom call companionship study

10:00-12:30: More language study, spend time with the family, eat lunch, exercise, etc.

12:30-3:30: Class

3:30-5:15: Dinner, toss the ol' pigskin, workout, go on a run, etc.

5:15-8:15: Class

8:15-10:00: Ping pong, family movie, play some basketball, etc.

10:00-10:30: Get ready for bed and sleep

The MTC is such a fun experience but also drains you. I am so tired each night and have been tending to fall asleep around 9:30 more often than 10:30. Who would have ever thought that I would be choosing to go to bed at 9:30. I guess I got my late nights (more like early mornings) out of my system at college.

The MTC PACKS so many different activities and we learn SO much in class. For the two 3 hour blocks, we do lots of language learning/practice, scripture study, grammar, learning about how to be a better missionary, etc. Also side note: the breaks that you see between classes goes by SO fast. They are not long enough to fit in much, and you always think you have more time than you do.

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Let's take a quick commercial break to share some of the things that I would not have experienced if I was able to attend the "normal" Provo MTC experience:

- Day Care: There are always kids running in and out of the downstairs sliding door, and oftentimes they will take a pit stop and ask me a question in the middle of class

- Our home became a Zoo: As many of you know, Chloe recently convinced my mother that it was a really good idea to let her purchase a kitten. She named her Nala and she is a cutie. However, if Nala is not getting enough attention, then she will come to the sliding door and "meow" until someone comes to the door and pets her. So sometimes I will have to leave class for a quick sec and satisfy her needs. What a spoiled cat.

Chloe and her new kitty named Nala

 

- Rebranding Ourselves: One of the many perks of zoom is the ability to change your name and profile pic. Many people in our district have become fond of taking screenshots of one of the elders or sisters in our district and then setting the picture as their profile pic, and changing their name someones as well. This has brought many laughs and really interesting pictures to class.

My district

- Push-up Comp: For the last 15-20 minutes of class we have "one-on-one" time where the teacher meets with one of the missionaries in our district and checks in with them on how they are doing with their goals, language study, etc. The rest of us missionaries are left in the main session with some extra time on our hands. Some of the senkyoushi (missionaries) have become quite fond of the game "ni juu shitsumon" (20 questions). Sometimes during this time I will participate, but sometimes I will participate in other activities (such as push-ups). There was this one time when I did not do a very good job at getting out of the view of the camera and then I noticed that Elder Layton was counting my reps out loud. I thought it was super funny, because he was just quietly counting my insane amount of reps...(it went something like; "198, 199, 200, 201")... in the middle of everyone else playing 20 questions. And now that I wrote that whole paragraph, I realize it was more funny in my head...but I can't let it go to waste, so please pretend to laugh.

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Preparation Day:

My P days usually go like this:

6:30: Wake up

7:00-8:00: Meet up with kyle (elder murdock), wake up kade, get kade dressed, hop in cleatus and drive somewhere to fish (anywhere in washington is an option basically). Kade and I tend to prefer close spots but Elder Murdick likes to go far away. Another thing that makes fishing the past few weeks a little more fun and interesting is the fact that Kade is temporarily disabled, so we have to find good fishing spots that are also wheelchair accessible.

8:00-3:00ish: Casting lures into Washington glacier water and occasionally pulling out fish (usually a trout, but we have been looking for bass recently too)

3:00-5:00: Language study, comp study

5:15-8:15: CLASS (yes... I even have class on my p day...)

8:15-10:00: Eat some food, play basketball, play ping pong, try to enjoy the end of my p day

Elder Murdock

Kade Griffith and Elder Murdock fishing together.

Kade fishing in a good handicap spot.

Side note: my favorite day of the week is either Sunday or Tuesday. Sunday's are awesome because I get to enjoy church with my family, bake and deliver cookies, play some family games, and I have NO classes! Tuesdays are my favorite because I only have my afternoon class (I really enjoy the teacher that teaches the afternoon portion, and I like learning sometimes), but I do not have an evening class, so I get a little more time away from screens!

To end this email, I want to let you all know that my teachers are awesome! Their names are Sister Barnes and Sister Peterson. They are great teachers and have taught us so much.

Kade practicing his BB gun shooting.

Words you may not know:

*P day: (preparation day) day off of the normal missionary life! (usually the one day we can communicate with friends and family)

*District: Just like in school, you have a class full of kids all learning. At the MTC and all throughout my mission I will be a part of a district, which consists of missionaries (the number varies, but right now there are 12 missionaries in my district) 

Japanese Words (if the kanji is wrong - I apologize. I don't know how to read or write kanji yet):

Missionary: senkyoushi : せんきょう : 宣教師

To take a break: kyuukei : きゅうけい : 休憩 

20 questions: ni juu shitsumon : 20しつもん : 質問

Hello: konnichiwa : こんいち : 今日わ

*for the above words, the order goes as follows..."english : romaji : hiragana : kanji"... there is also katakana, but none of the above words are written in katakana*

Song of the week: "You Say" by Lauren Daigle. Mom reminded me of this song last Sunday, and had never really thought of it as a "church" song before then. But now as I listen to it, I totally see how it can be related to Heavenly Father lifting us up and strengthening us. Give it a listen :)

Love, 

Elder Ditto

Eating skittles is hard with chopsticks!!

Fighting Fires and Wet Underwear

こんにちわ (Hello) and welcome to my weekly-ish post! If you have any questions regarding anything that I say during this post, then please shoot me an email (tyer.ditto@missionary.org) and I will do my best to answer them☺

I want to start off this post explaining a little bit of the "backstory" before I began my training at the MTC.* 

Last Sunday my family and I left to spend a fews days at Lake Roosevelt with the Ditto fam! We spent the next three or so days boating, playing lots of spikeball, soaking up my last few days being able to swim, eating good food, playing games, etc. It was a perfect way to end my time before my mission and kick off the next two years! On the evening of Tuesday, August 11th, I was set apart* to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Due to my stake president being out of town, my dad was the one who set me apart and my uncles Logan, Kelly, Ryan, Vaughn, and Brent were all able to stand in, which was really special. I also had the Sherry fam and Alex and Alexa on a zoom call, so they could be a part of it. I was also lucky enough to still have wet underwear from my last time wake surfing right before my setting apart. The next morning, we woke up early and packed up all of our stuff from staying at the lake and then drove home quickly so that I could get home in time for my first class at 12:15pm.

Last wake surf for two years!

I was so grateful to have my uncles and dad be apart of setting me apart for my mission.

Love my mommy!

SOO I am sure you are all DYING to know what my at-home MTC schedule looks like. Well, below I attached a picture of what my schedule was like this past week and then what it will look like for the weeks to come. Also for those wondering: I was called to go to the Provo, UT MTC, but due to COVID-19, the Church has adapted and made it possible for missionaries to continue their training from the comfort of their own home! I will do a little more detailed rundown of my schedule in my next email...sorry to make you wait a little longer.

My schedule

Also I want to take a quick second to thank all the people who helped set up a fun little entrance to my home MTC. And thank you for all the snacks and gifts. Special shoutout to Brother Ridd for the chopsticks... I have become quite fond of them due to the fact that they make it a lot harder to snack during class, and it takes me way longer to eat. Here are just a few of the foods I have eaten with chopsticks: carrots and ranch, m&m's, skittles, water (shoutout to elder scow for the suggestion...that was a hard one), lots of goldfish, sour patch watermelons, fried rice, peanuts, etc.

So fun to be surprised with this "Welcome to Basement MTC" when I got home from the lake.

Side note: I have filled out my VISA application. I am just waiting for the questionnaire portion. But still no real news on when or if Japan will be opening up anytime soon. BUT nobody in my district has received a reassignment yet. So let's all keep praying;)

I LOVE MY DISTRICT! They are so awesome and I have really enjoyed getting to know them as best as we can through zoom. They are all so fun and really bring the spirit to the lessons and classes. Everyone in my district is getting so good at Japanese too. It is so rad to see us progress in our language study each day. I cannot wait to someday meet them all in person.

My District

To close this email, I would like to blame the fact that this email was not sent out last week due to the crazy wildfire that hit Yakima last Sunday. I will try my best to not over-exaggerate this epic story too much:

The fire from my house.

Just a bit later the fire had spread so fast!

I was attempting to write my email last week when my dad ran downstairs and asked me if I wanted to go help my AWESOME stake (and mission) president protect his house from the fire! WOAH. I knew that there was a pretty gnarly fire going on the hills across the valley, but I had no idea that it was that close to people's homes. I quickly threw on my Chacos while my dad grabbed some shovels, headlamps, and masks and jumped into our car. I then ran and gave my mom a big kiss and hug before I went off to battle. To which my beautiful mother told me that I cannot wear Chacos when fighting fires...so I ran back inside and put on boring normal shoes. We then picked up a few other ladies and gents who wanted to help, and drove over to President Hendricks' house. Our efforts included spraying down the electrical pole, pulling out lots of sage brush, fighting off killer scorpions, raking dead brush, and trying to convince President Hendricks that the fire was getting too close for comfort and that it was absolutely necessary for us to evacuate his collection of sweeeet cars (we were not successful in that regard...). 

Clearing out the fire hazards from our Stake President's home.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the Hendricks' house was blessed to never be harmed by the fire, and after we finished working at his house, we ran by a few other people's homes to see if they needed help with anything. 

Song of the Week: 

I REALLY miss music, so I am planning on sharing with you all some of my favorite songs since being a missionary. And if you really don't have enough time to listen to the whole thing, then at least skip to 3:33 and get ready to be blown away!! 

P.S. - Someone please make a playlist with all the music I will be missing for the next 2 years:)

I just wanna end this email saying THANK YOU so much for everything you guys do. If you are on this email then you have definitely made some impact on me and my life. Thank you for always supporting me and I can feel all of your prayers in my regard. I am so excited for 8 more weeks of being at the MTC, and learning more japanese. I LOVE THE GOSPEL!

Here's a few explanations!! 

*Setting Apart = “We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.”

*MTC = Missionary Training Center (where new missionaries learn how to speak a language (if applicable) and better teach our church beliefs)

Love, 

Elder Ditto