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!!