Hola

Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009

I'm going to have to apologize before hand to everyone out there. Nothing exciting happened this week and I really don't have anything to write about. All the missionaries here are getting antsy for today and the rest of the weekend. As Braden discussed about getting a new president this week we get all of them! That's right, over 120 mission presidents are coming today to get the training they need. I don't know if Elder Hellewell knows him yet, but I've seen pictures of him. Although I can't remember the name. But anywho, because all these dudes are coming this weekend, we are going to have general authorities walking around left and right. Apostles, seventy, you name it. Instead of having our devotional on Tuesday we are having it on Friday, and we are expected to have one of the members of the first presidency speak. It is so awesome. I can't wait.

The language is coming great. Last week we taught the first lesson in Spanish for the first time. It was pretty hard. All we have left to learn is past subjunctive and then its just a matter of getting fluent at it.

The time is ticking down here in the MTC. We are now the oldest district in our zone. 19 more days til Chile.

Love you all
Elder Yoshida

Hey Everyone!

Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009

Another week gone by, and another week I'm getting closer to blowing this joint. Being a missionary is great, and this week flew. I don't have as many experiences to write, but I will try to entertain you.

I'll start with a Spanish lesson. NEVER DESCRIBE SOMEONE AS CALIENTE. Many high school teens will say "that girl es muy caliente" thinking they're saying she's very hot. No way. In Spanish, when you describe "someone" as being caliente. You're actually saying that they are very willing to... well the slang term is a 5 letter word that starts with an "h" hopefully you get my drift.

I'd like to give a shout out to my step sister Liz. Happy Birthday! and hope all is well.

Funny story: so last P-Day we were doing laundry, and I returned to my room. There's this awesome elder in my district, Elder Wilson, who I've become pretty close with. He dared me to jump a whole flight of stairs. I was like, "dude I got this" So I jumped, and cleared the stairs, however I did not give myself enough room to catch my self and bashed my head into the brick wall in front of me. I think I knocked myself out for about five seconds. It was funny, but very stupid as a missionary. I learned a valuable lesson there. :)

The TRC is a place in the MTC where you teach volunteers in real life situations. We go to the TRC once a week and boy does it get intense. The only thing I can compare it to is when I would get ready for a football game.

Sorry there's not more to write about. The week just flew by this time with not much going on. We're getting new zone leaders this week. It'll be interesting to see who it is. I love you all and thank you for your support.

Elder Yoshida

Almost Halfway!

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009

So I got to thinking today that in 3 days I will be halfway through my stay at the MTC. That's so crazy to think about. And then I'm 6,000 miles away. Kinda crazy if you ask me.

Not too much has happened this week. There are still some people getting sick, but for the majority of it it has died down. Until yesterday. Now I'm starting to get neck aches and congested sinuses. It sucks! I'm still good to go when I take some medicine, but not being 100% is a bummer.

Elder Ray is feeling better. This kid had everything but the flu that was going on. He had the flu at first but got better, then coughed for a week straight, got an ear infection, and then got pink eye. He is our sick mascot, but I think he's finally back to normal.

Funny story that happened to Elder Williams a couple weeks ago. As he was getting out of the shower one day some zone leader on the other side of the hall thought it would be funny to fill his garbage can with water and splash it all over him. Elder Williams got soaked. We found out who it was, and made him apologize. He had to beg our zone leaders not to report him, because they don't tolerate pranks here, and there would have been a good chance that he could have been sent home. Our zone leaders confided and the kid is lucky, for now. If it was me I would have told, but hey that's why I'm not zone leader right?

Speaking of going home something sad happened this past week. One of our zone leaders, Elder Cheesman was sent home today, because he was so sick. It was sad to see him leave, but there is a chance he can come back. I sure hope he feels better.

One thing I've learned from a mission, and I feel every young man should know. SCRIPTURE INSERTS ARE USELESS. You know those things you get in seminary where you glue the paper and then glue it into your scriptures. My advice is to not do it. All they do is flip pages when you don't want them to, and they just get in the way. I tore all of mine out, because they bothered me so much. Save yourself the trouble.

It's funny how things can be called different names. Since we can't play basketball "games" we basically resort to playing Lightning. But not very many people call it lightning. I've heard it been called "knock-out" "twister" and "speed" crazy huh? Oh and another thing. I think its only an Idaho thing but people call spinning in your car donuts. I call them cookies, but donuts do make more sense. I still prefer saying cookies though.

Thank you Uncle Kendall and Aunt Anne for the package. I didn't think you would actually send Dew. I love the package, and my companions love it too :)

For the grand finale we had an awesome experience yesterday. For our devotional we had David A. Bednar come and speak to us. It was so amazing, and I hope Braden, Kyler, and Shayne, read this. Elder Bednar said, "the most common question asked to me by missionaries is, 'How do I know when it's me or the Holy Ghost prompting me' My answer is, 'Don't worry about it. Press forward with faith, be a good boy, keep your covenants, and keep the commandments, and your steps will be guided" Wow that's awesome. So don't just sit around waiting for the Holy Ghost to bash you over the head with revelation. He related three stories of where he did things without even thinking about it, and not realizing it was the Holy Ghost til after he did it. I loved it so much and I wish I could share more, but I'm afraid I would be repeating myself, but remember, (this even can apply to you at home) Don't be searching for the spirit to guide you. "Be a good boy, be a good girl, keep your covenants, and keep the commandments, and your steps will be guided."

I love you all!
Elder Yoshida

I Am Legend

Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009

Day 21

Today has been the first time in four days that I've been out of the residence halls for longer than 3 hours. Things are getting pretty crazy here. The swine flu/regular flu has hit the MTC hard. I don't know how much longer I have until I'm the last one left. Around 60 elders have already had to be put into quarantine (solitary confinement with other sick elders). I don't know what is going on in there but I can only expect the worst. and I'm safe to say that at least 40% of the elders have been hit with some sort of sickness. It's only a matter of time before the MTC turns into a place full of Missionary Mutants and a movie called I am Legend 2 will be coming to a theatre near you.

There's my story for the week. It's all true too. Things are getting pretty crazy, and I've been blessed to not be getting this sickness that's going around. Missionaries are not allowed to leave the MTC until at least June 13th. New missionaries coming in only get to have their parents drop them off on the side of the sidewalk, and that's there goodbyes. Kind of sad, but that's how bad it's getting here. I think they have a thing on LDS.org about it all. No one be worried though. This will all blow over. I just wanted to make a joke of it all. I'm perfectly fine (knock on wood) I say I've been stuck in the residence halls because my companion has been sick and we've had to stay behind with hi. It's pretty cool.

Congratulations Elder Hellewell on a successful mission. I actually have two missionaries in my zone that were supposed to leave yesterday to the Mesa spanish speaking mission, but can't leave because of the sickness.

The gym is finally fixed and I've been loving it. It's fun to play basketball with the other elders, but two days ago they cancelled playing basketball because it's a "contact sport" and they don't want people getting sick. Yeah crazy I know.

Funny experience. I go to the temples on Wednesday after I e-mail. Last week I went to the temple and after I had received my name I was waiting for my companion. There was an old guy waiting at the bottom of the stairs making sure we all had names. He told me to go on upstairs to the chapel. I told him, "Oh, I have to wait for my companion." and he said, "go on upstairs." and I said "my companion's just back there" and then the dude yelled "GO UPSTAIRS" I couldn't help but laugh. An old guy in the temple yelled at me :( It's okay. he's old so I didn't frown on it too much. It was still pretty funny.

One of my favorite things about this place is how everything here is so cheap. In the bookstore everything in here is like 40% off for missionaries. I get bags of candy for like 40 cents, but hey still send me more cause I love candy. I could seriously get the quad scriptures for $30. Pretty nifty if you ask me.

Sorry this letter isn't very long, and I hope everyone is doing well. I'm loving the work and can't wait to get out in the field. It's crazy to think I'm already a third of the way through my stay at the MTC.

Yo Amo Ustedes.
Elder Yoshida