Released from Spirit Prison...haha

Hi Family!

Well, I am at the finish line.  Wow!  It has been 2 whole months.  In some ways, it has flown by pretty fast.  In other ways, it seems as though it has been an eternity.  Being on a mission does weird things to your sense of time.  It gets all wacked out, it's probably from the MTC food...

So, before I get started on my monologue I think I need to tell you a couple of things:

-I don't think that I will be calling from the old phone that you sent me.  I know I sound like a typical missionary when I say this, but I just don't feel good about using it.

-Because of said "won't be using my old phone", I will be sending it back home.  I will use the free shipping option and you can come and pick it up.  That is, if you have any desire to have it back that is.

-That brings me to this point.  I will be using a pre-paid phone card at the airport to call all of you.  Just be ready to answer a call from my lay-over times.  It might read "Salt Lake City Airport" or "Seattle Airport" don't worry...this is me...

-I will be trying to call Mom's phone and Madisen's phone, so if you want in you have to be their best friend for the day and stick by them.

-Elizabeth, I think that it is great that you are practicing for cheerleading.  If that is what you really want and you are willing to put in the time and energy into it I think that it would be worth while.  I really hope that you wrist is feeling better.  From the previous letters, it has looked like that you might have hurt yourself pretty badly.  My prayers go out to you.

-Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, and Madisen.  Yes, I am getting your letters and care packages.  They are really awesome and they have been such a blessing while I have been in the MTC.  Every time I get a package I jump for joy!

-Thanks for all the food that you have sent me this week.  I think that my companion thinks that I am completely spoiled though...


Well... IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (Que Music)

So this week, a couple things have happened and I don't know if I will be able to cover them all.

For starters, we got to do Skype TRC this week.  I don't know if I have told you about TRC, but it is when we talk to members and try to help them come unto Christ.  When doing it, we talk in the language that we are learning.  This was pretty good face to face because when we did it in the past we almost always had a Gaijin (foreigner...but basically a white dude) and they are easy to understand.  But, Skype TRC is a little bit different...  We got to speak to native Japanese members and talk to them for 40 minutes.  It was amazing, I couldn't believe that we could pull it off...but we did!  We shared scriptures, we taught him for a little bit, got to know him...pretty fun.  If all Japanese people are like him then I am significantly less nervous.

Another thing that we did this week is In-field Orientation.  This is when we sit down for 10 hours and hear about different aspects of missionary work; then, at the end, we all go "YEA!" because this means we are finally done with the MTC!  Well, kinda...  We still have P-Day to pack and Sunday with all the Devotionals, but we are basically done with the MTC.  Kinda sad in some ways (and by some - I mean few) and really happy in others (by others - I mean a lot).
So yeah.  Today, I will probably be packing for most of the day.  I don't know if I can get everything I need to into those two bags.  I would have been just fine from the time that you dropped me off at the MTC, but now that they have given me 25 books in which I have to take...well... we will see.  Worst case scenario, my one carry-on bag will weight about 50 pounds.

I want to go to Japan already! It is going to be such a rollercoaster.  I won't know which way is up.  I have tried so hard to learn the language, but I don't really know anything.  I am sure that my true learning has yet to begin.  It is just a little frustrating knowing that my language skills are pitiful and that I will have to rely on my trainer the entire time.  Oh well...that is why he is my trainer.  I just want so bad to be able to understand the people that I am talking to.  I feel as though going English speaking at this point would be such a comfort.  But, I'm diving in nonetheless.  It will be such a blessing in 8 months from now when I can actually speak the language.  Doesn't mean that I won't try hard though, I will try my very best to learn the language.

Well, Dad, it was your Birthday this last week so... Happy Birthday!  I know it's a little late, but I think that I have the most legit excuse than anyone else.  I hope that it went well and that you feel another year older and wiser, too.  I just hope that you know what an inspiriation you have been in my life.  I couldn't even tell you.  I wish so bad that I could hug you right now.  But a virtual hug will have to suffice for a little bit.  I hope that you had a great birthday and I was thinking of you a lot this week.  I hope that you had a great time at Five-Guys (I know you love it there).  I send you my love and know that every day I think of you while I am here, and know that I will probably be thinking of you every minute when I am in the field.

 It seems as though my email time is slowly winding down.  In a few days, I will be in Japan and not know a single thing that is going on.  I am way excited and way nervous.  At this point, I think that the only way for me to learn is to dive straight in.  Even if I was at the MTC for another 9 weeks I don't think that I will have learned as much as if I had gone to Japan for 1 week.  Its going to be crazy!  I won't know anyting and I am pretty sure all my Japanese will leave me as soon as I step off of that plane.  I don't care that much though.  That is why I have a trainer.  I realllllllyyyyyy hope that he is an awesome guy and will be patient with me as I am struggling through.  Look forward to some of my pictures.

In a couple of days, I will be climbing Mt. Kobe with President Zinke and you will be able to see my picture (on the mission blog).  Don't be so surprised if it seems as though I have gained a few pounds....I have.  Some of it muscle from working out, but probably most of it is from over-stuffing us with mediocre food and then forcing us to sit down for 10 hours straight in a classroom (for 9 straight weeks).  It's like the exact opposite of what they do on the biggest loser...

Anyways... I can't wait.  I know that I know what I know.  There was never a test last year at USU in which I felt totally, 100% prepared.  At a point, you have to take that leap of faith and trust that you will be ok when you finally get there.  I stepped into so many of those tests and walked away feeling good, some of them (Bio Engineering in particular) I walked away feeling as though I couldn't spell my name right.  I know that being in Japan will be the same.  That now I am at the edge of that cliff and that I have to take that leap of faith that so many before me have taken.  I need to just trust that I can do this.  That I can really pull this off.  I won't be easy.  I will have to work the hardest I have ever worked in my entire life.  But, I know that it is worth it.

As J.R.R. Tolkein said about troubling times, "[All of us wish we haven't come to see such troubled times,] but that is not for us to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

And what J.K. Rowling said, "It is our decisions that decide who we ultimately are, far more than our abilities."

I know these things are true.  I can't wait to get there.  I will be tough.  But, I will do it and I will work hard and I will trust that I can do it.  I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!  You don't even know how much! As they say in my hometown, Don't Forget to Be Awesome!

 With Love,

Klein-choro (Elder Klein)