Life here in the MTC is great at the moment. P-day is going well and I'm excited to get to go to the temple this afternoon. In the week that we've been here thusfar, time seems to have slowed down to almost stopping. We do so much and learn so much each day that it seems that a week has passed by. The first few day were really long and tough to handle, but the days get better and better. My Japanese is exploding with improvement, and I am slowly but surely becoming a better teacher.
We have learned how to pray, testify, meet others, and a few other random things in Japanese. We have taught quite a bit, and my knowledge of Preach My Gospel has grown immensely.
My branch presidency is really awesome. Pres. Johnson, Bro. Tong, and Bro. Krueger are all really great. Brother Krueger used to live at 813 Holiday Drive before we did, so we had a nice chat about Brigham City. It's pretty crazy that he lived in our old house (or rather, we lived in his old house).
Another crazy connection is that Elder Anderson in my district lives across the road from the Corlesses in Shelley.
My companion is Elder Evans from West Jordan. He is almost 21 and is in the Army. He got back from 9 months in Iraq back in May. He is really easy to get along with and we work together great. He is extremely neat (thanks to the Army) and we probably have the cleanest room in the MTC (at least of the elders).
My district is made up of 8 elders and 2 sisters. The sisters and my companion are going to Tokyo, 3 of the elders are going to Hiroshima, one to Nagoya, and then me going to Sapporo. I am the only missionary in our zone (both old and new missionaries) going to Sapporo. There is another zone of Japanese missionaries, and there is one sister going to Sapporo, but she leaves in 4 weeks. For at least 2 weeks then, I'll be the only missionary in the MTC going to Sapporo.
So, as far as emails/letters/blog go, I get exactly 30 minutes of email time. I would prefer not to receive email so that I can dedicate all 30 minutes to writing and not to reading. Everyone can send me letters through DearElder.com, and I'll get the letters the same day. It is by far the best method to write me. I think I am just going to write one big email per week and then let Mom forward it to everyone and decide what reaches the blog.
. If you send questions in letter form, I will ponder them throughout the week and try to answer them all. If the questions are in email form, then I probably won't have time to think about it, so don't expect an answer. Thanks for all the prayers and support. I'm glad to be a missionary and I know that the Lord will bless me and you for my service. Have a great day, I love you all.
Kurisutensen Chooro (Elder Christensen