The thing which must never be spoken of again...?

Hi Family!

Well its been another week at the MTC!  I don't know if anything terribly exciting has happened but I guess I will tell you what I can.

This week has really seem to have flown by fast.  I know that I say this in every letter, but the days are long, the weeks are short, every week seems like one realllllllyyyyyyyy long day (until P-Day).

The AC in the MTC is great except in, you guessed it, our classroom and our dorm (not everyone's, just ours).  So, we had to do some quick thinking and bring one of our two classroom fans (yes, we have two huge fans in our classroom) to our residence.  Senpuki-kun (Senpuki means fan in Japanese, and kun is a title for a young boy, we couldn't name it -chan because we are not allowed to bring girls into our dorm) has been the best thing that has ever happened in our dorm residence.  We just sit outside the long dorm hallway with 14 other people just chatting away while Senpuki-kun blowns nice, cool air on us.

Speaking of dorm room experiences, we had my companion's, Elder Baldwin's, birthday yesterday.  He got some exercise equipment, a crap ton of food, and a birthday card (one of those ones that talk to you when you open it) that screams at you, we laugh every time.  He also got candles (hint for later) and some little cakes (another hint).  I cannot tell you what we did, but it is the thing which must never be spoken of again, don't worry we looked it up in the handbook and it said nothing about it.  I don't think that we will want to do it again, it was so nerve racking.

By the way, if my grammar is out of wack it is because I do not know language anymore.  English is a SVO language (I ate the apple) but Japanese is a SOV language (I the apple ate).  It is simple when you are talking about apples, but when it comes time to tell about the first vision and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days, it can become a little more complicated.  I am trying to make progress though, the thing that gets me stuck is changing verbs into different bases.  Quinn, you'll know what I'm talking about.

To answer some of your questions that you had for me:

1) Parker I think is either going to          Domestic:  Washington                           Abroad:      Canada

2) Air conditioning: I think I already talked about that

3) Treats:  This one has a story.  Every Wednesday, Thursday, and (I think) Friday, the MTC brings out food carts so that we don't have to go into the cafeteria where literally every new person doesn't know where they can get food (I don't know how they manage that) or where to put their tray (a little more understandable).  It is harmless, individually, but down right annoying and dangerous by herds.  So back to the lunch carts.  We learned from the dai-senpai a couple of weeks ago (the ones that just left for the field, every three weeks a new batch of Japanese missionaries go into the field) told us that the MTC lunch carts let you take their leftover food.  So, being teenage boys, we took advantage of this situation.  I will not tell you how it went but let me say that I have about 20 packs of Sunchips in our room.  It would be nice to get something though, just collaborate, I don't want 10 packages filled to the brim with food.

 4)  Backpack:  It is working really well, I don't know how I survived without it.  I don't know if there really is anything that you have to send me.  In a couple of weeks, you might have to send me more socks/garments.  It seems as though every time I wash my clothes, I have to sacrifice one of my pairs to the false and idolous Laundry Matt  gods.  That has to be the case, how else can I lose a pair of socks between the time I pull it out the dryer and into my bag, doubling checking, I might add, for any left overs in the dryer and/or floor?

So, anyways, it has been going alright.  I feel a little bit better this week, the branch presidency released all of the district leader and assigned the new ones (they do this every 3 weeks).  Now all I have to do is make sure Elder Steers, our new district leader, is a much better one than I ever was, so that his name is first on the list for Zone Leader Candidate Sheet.  Elder Steers is so funny, very sarcastic, but very loving.  Every night before the last announcement comes on, right after the BEEP that marks every hallway announcement here, he yells HAPPYO DESU (which means ANNOUNCEMENT!).  He tells us stories from his Pre-Earth life (we call the time before we were in the MTC the Pre-Earth life because it seems as though a veil is being put in front of our eyes and we are starting to forget things about our life before this time) from the time when was a bartender to when he and his cousin were in Hawaii.  In Hawaii, they were asking a local about where they can catch a bus, he starts to explain it to them then the local says, "Wait, I don't care, I got my bike."  We don't know why it is funny, but in the MTC I laugh at things I thought I would never laugh at before (I think I am going insane).

 I am trying my very best to stay afloat.  I sometimes think about giving up then turn my mind to preparing for our investigator lessons.  One of which took a turn for the worse.  One of the people that we have as investigators is Ippe-san.  We committed him to being baptized, going to church, reading the Book of Mormon, but.... When we asked him about his feelings about Christ he said that he had none, WHAT!  So we had to change course immediately from what we thought would be a good thing to talk to him about to talking about having faith and love in Jesus Christ.  I feel so sad, I know he is not a real investigator, but it still makes me sad :(

Speaking of crazy investigator stories.  We were having a lesson with Shimada-san, our other investigator, and we were explaining to him the importance of the Book of Mormon.  We said that when you read the Book of Mormon you will be happier, see the purpose in life, the gospel will be opened up to you.  So I want to end on a high note.  I have trouble keeping my conjigations (I don't even know how to spell anymore) straight.  So I looked him straight in the eye and said:

Morumon Sho o yoma naide kudasai (Please don't read the Book of Mormon)

As soon as it had left my mouth, I said, "No wait,", then for two minutes we were laughing our guts out.  I will never forget naide kudasai again.

I am swimming along though.  Some days are better than others.  Sometimes I feel as though I am the worst missionary to ever have come into the MTC.  It is hard, it really is.  It has been so hard to give up on my family for two years, I hear stories about Mom's trailer, Madisen screaming her head off about a baby bird while Elizabeth wants to feed it to the cats, Dad talking to Ms. Julie, I just want to be there so much.  But, I keep going.  I get over myself.  Everyone feels these feelings, some are very open about expressing them while others don't.  Everyone does.  What they do with the time that they are given separates the good from the great.  Dreaming about the future is a kind of nostalgia, but I guess that is the same with worrying.  I can't do much, but I can do the best with the time that has been given to me.

私はみなさんをあいしっています。

I love you all so very much, more than you can know.  I read your letters each day, loving every moment.  Keep on writing, please.  I love you keep on doing what you are doing.    LOVE YOU!

With Love,

Klein-choro (Elder Klein)