Email #9 (First from Japan!)   Sent Monday, December 22, 2014

Dearest Family and Friends,

I'm in Japan!!! So crazy. It's been a crazy week. I'll just start from
the beginning. Nothing really happened the Friday or Saturday after p
day, but on Sunday the BYU Men's Choir came and sang. They were super
good and Elder Madsen was in it! I kept waving at him after songs and
he had no idea who I was but i ran down afterwards to say hi to him
and it was super sweet. He's doing really well and says hi to everyone
back home. We took off at 3 in the morning and took a bus to the
frontrunner and took it to the SLC airport. We flew through Seattle
and the flight was 10 hours to Tokyo. I thought it was going to be way
longer. I sat by all missionaries which was kind of nice because I
didn't feel bad about sleeping. We arrived and went through customs
and I got a gaikokujin card, or foreigners card. It looks pretty
sweet, except they used my awful visa picture. The visa looks pretty
sweet too. It lasts for three years so I might as well stay an extra
year. We met President Budge and the APs at the airport. President
Budge is super nice and way younger and shorter than he looks online.
We took a train to the Mission Home and had dinner there then went to
the church just down the road and slept on futons. I was out in 3
seconds. We woke ip the next morning and got ready in the office
missionaries apartment, then went over to the Mission Home and had
breakfast. It was super good. I'm definitely appreciating Bradley's
emails way more because good food is worth talking about now. We had
French Toast and it was amazing. I had my first interview with
President Budge that lasted literally 2 minutes, but it was good. We
then had training which was really sweet, they told us about the
vision and the framework of the mission. We then had lunch and they
announced all the trainers and areas! I was so nervous that I couldn't
eat. Rare. I was the last person they called! It was so nerve
wracking. There's an area in the mission called Niigata that's so far
away that all the trainers there had to Skype in. That's where I am!
We had to take off right away to catch a 5 hour bus ride to Niigata. I
didn't get to say goodbye to some of the people in my district which
is kind of a bummer especially because i can't email them. Daijoubu
desu. Niigata is more north in the mission and super cold. There was
so much snow on the way up that the 5 hour bus ride actually took 10
hours! We weren't allowed to dendo on the bus so I slept and talked
and it was sweet. We got into Niigata at around 2 in the morning and
we had to take taxis to the apartment because we had so much stuff and
it was so cold and windy. It was super windy. All my winter stuff was
packed away in my suitcases and they were getting shipped over so I
wasn't able to grab anything warm. It was brutal but also surprisingly
fun. We all slept at the Niigata Elder's apartment and then got up in
the morning and took a bullet train to our area, Sanjo. Taking a
bullet train here is a big deal and the Elders in Sanjo were way
jealous. We arrived after like 20 minutes, it was super fast. I met my
trainer, Elder Mobley at the train station! He's super cool. I'm
running out of time, it takes me forever to type on this iPad, I'll
write my email in notes this week so I can write a longer letter. This
picture is from my first lesson! I'll tell you guys all about my
investigators and the people here next week! Or just on our Skype call
this week. I love you all, thank you so much for the Christmas
package! You all rock!

Love,
Elder Calhoun

These photos are in reverse chronological order:

 View from window of church in Nigata

 Map drawn by James of USA at the church???

James with his trainer, Elder Mobley at a teaching appointment in Sanjo--James's first area!

Elder Calhoun in Tokyo

We (James's family) were able to talk to James on the morning of Monday, December 15th as he was about to board the plane for Japan!  He sounded wonderful and so excited.  We can't wait to get our first email from him, and to hear where he is and with whom! :)



Tuesday, December 16th, we received the following from the Tokyo mission:

Dear Parents,

We just want to send you a quick note to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in Japan last evening.  President met them at the airport, fed them, visited shortly, and then sent them all to bed for a much needed rest.

Today they will receive training and will soon meet their new companions who have been chosen to train them.  We will take pictures at that time, and within a few days you will receive another email with these pictures attached, and our mailing address.

Thank you for entrusting your missionary to us in the great Japan Tokyo Mission.  We so appreciate all you have done to get these missionaries to this point in their lives!

Sister Rosemarie Evans

Japan Tokyo Mission Secretary

On Thursday, December 18th we received the following 2 photographs from the mission home, but there were no accompanying explanations.  I believe the quilt was made by Sister Budge, and every one of their missionaries signs it.  James is, I believe, pointing to his signature on the quilt.  The other photo includes James in the center of the very back row.  The Budges are in the front row, center.  We have no idea who everyone else is.  We are guessing the new missionaries and their companions.  This makes us wonder if James might be in a threesome right now?  We can't wait to know details! :)

We love you Calhoun Choro!!

 James and his districe

Elders Erickson and Calhoun, Sisters Kennedy and Reber

The Elders in James's district

Email #8-Last one from the Provo, MTC

Dearest Mother,

Hello hello! Thank you so much for the cookies, they are delicious! I also loved getting all of your letters, they made my day so much better! I will be sure to keep the pocket luck angel with me. You guys are the best. Hayden is doing well, he's loving it here and I got to orient him and it was awesome! He won't be able to email until next Wednesday, so maybe you could tell his family he's doing great? I got to show his district around and bare my testimony to them in Japanese and it was way fun.

This week was pretty normal. We got released as zone leaders so the new elders can have a week or two of experience before their kohai arrive. It was such a blessing to be able to get to know everyone better through being zone leader. The new elders are going to be awesome! This is our last p day in the MTC! Next time I email you, it'll be from Japan! So wild. I probably won't be able to email until next Monday, because we fly out this Monday and we'll miss that P day. I'm so excited to get to Japan and teach the people there! Christmas there is going to be awesome. Oh, also, I get to call at the airport, so be expecting a call sometime on Monday! 

The highlights of this week were probably our devotionals and orienting the new Italians and singing for our branch presidencies. On Sunday we had mission conference because it was fast Sunday. Everyone gets together and the MTC presidency talks to us all. It was pretty good, they shared a lot about the new Church video, "He is the Gift." You should watch it, it's really good! This Sunday, my testimony about faith really grew. Ever since we had the devotional in which Elder Golden said that faith is personal righteousness, I've been really praying and working to know if I really do have as much faith as I thought I did. Faith for me really grew in importance after that and I have been thinking about it all the time. James 2:20 has also really changed a lot in meaning for me. Before, I thought that it meant that unless you follow your faith with works, by acting upon your faith, you might as well not have faith. But now I think it also means that you can't have faith without works, because if faith is personal righteousness, you have to act and make sure that you are doing everything you can to be as righteous as you can, and that for sure includes working. My testimony of faith has also grown a lot because of the people in my district. I have learned so much about becoming better and progressing and just being a better person because of all of them. They all have traits that I need to improve on, and I know that Heavenly Father put me with them so that I can progress. I really have the best district and companion and zone ever. They are all such hard workers and such great examples to me on how I can be better. We bare our testimonies a lot, after devotionals and on Sundays, and I don't think I've ever cried more often than I have here. I feel like I'm cried out and then I bare my testimony again and I can't help it! It's awesome because I'm feeling the Spirit so strongly so often but also the worst because it's crying. 

On Friday, we went and sang to all the branch presidencies. They were having a big thank you dinner in the gym because of all the hard work they do, and as a surprise, the MTC Presidency arranged to have the choir come and sing to them. We sang, "Silent Night" and it was incredible. The Spirit was so strong and really testified to me that Jesus Christ really is my Savior! It was an amazing experience. Sunday was also really neat because President Butler interviewed me, and as we were talking, he answered all the questions that I had been struggling with that I hadn't told anyone or even prayed about. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus know me individually and love me individually and care about me. It was a really powerful, sweet experience that I'm incredibly thankful for. I think that the two things I have come to love the most here are prayer and the scriptures. I have become genially more thankful for the blessing that I have received and for all the things that Heavenly Father blesses me with. I remember there was a challenge sometime early in my young men's where a leader challenged us to pray for 5 minutes. I tried and didn't even come close! Now it's really hard to say one less than 5 or 10 minutes, I have so much to be thankful for and so much I need Heavenly Father to bless me with every day that it takes at least that long! I have also really learned to love scripture study. I am going through the Book of Mormon and really trying to get as much as I can out of it, and because of that I am reading incredibly slowly, but I am also learning so much. There is so much to learn from the scriptures and the Book of Mormon really answers so many of the questions I have. 

I'm out of time for the week, but that's about it for this week. I forgot to bring my journal and my devotional notebook with me, but the devotionals this week were really great. We listened to the First Presidency Christmas devotional on Sunday, and had the Zwick's come on Tuesday. Both were really good. On Tuesday we also heard this little 12 year old girl sing who was amazing. I forget her name, but she has been to Carnegie Hall and is really talented. She sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives, and it was so powerful. Really neat. The MTC is wonderful, and I'm going to miss it. I love all you guys and am so thankful for all of you! Next time I email you, I'm going to be in Japan! So crazy.

Love,

Calhoun Choro

カラフン

                                                      Email #7 from Provo, MTC, sent 12/4/14



Hello Family!

How are you guys? I miss and love each and every one of you! Thanks for the update on the Buckeyes, that's such a bummer he's out for the season. Good thing I'm in the MTC and can't watch the games! My one request/beg for the week is to please send Dear Elders and emails! I didn't get the family update this week and I'm only the MTC for 11 more days and would love to know how you guys are doing! (Also, can you please stop filtering the pictures on the blog? It looks a little ridiculous haha. Thank you so much for your work with it!)

This week was pretty normal. We had a big Thanksgiving hangover for the first few days, everyone was so tired because we didn't get a p day but we're all basically recovered now. There were a few cool things that happened this week. On Sunday, Vocal Point came and sang at our devotional, and they're basically superstars here in the MTC. Everyone was going nuts over them and I had no idea who they were. They were good though! They gave some good advice and sang some good songs. The coolest thing this week though is that Oozeki Son agreed to get baptized! Her mother in law really doesn't want her to but she knows it's the best thing for her and that God will help her with her mother in law. So awesome! Our other investigator, Iwamotto Son, is also doing really well. He is reading the Book of Mormon and praying and is working on quitting coffee and smoking. They are both such good people and it's going to be a bummer to leave them! The other exciting thing is that we got Kohai, or a new district younger than us. We got to bare (bear?) our testimonies to them in Japanese and it was awesome to see how blown away they were but in like 2 weeks they'll realize how little we know! They seem like great people and I'm really excited to get to know them! That's about it for this week, I'll keep describing the people in my district!

Elder Mutz: He's probably 5'10, has black hair, and always wears sweaters! He's from Australia and had never left his home state until he came here so he's always freezing. He's great! He's going to Tokyo and works really hard to prepare lessons and learn Japanese and increase his testimony. He is always singing songs from home, like the Australian National Anthem. He's awesome and I'm glad we're both going to the same mission!

The Shimaitachi:

Sister Jurado: Sister Jurado is from Las Vegas and is fluent in Spanish. She's older than anyone in the district and is really awesome. She works super hard to learn the language, and she sits next to Elder Hamilton in class and they have so hilarious interactions. She's super funny and a great story teller and really fun to be around. She was a temple worker before she came and is a great example to me of perseverance and faith!

Sister Goldberry; She's the one with the curly hair. She's incredibly nice and is always smiling and keeps everyone cheerful. She wrote home and described us all on the second or third week. She said I had a comb-over that I'm always touching and preening. Glad I got some of dad's genes. She has the Goldberry curse, which means whenever people look at her they tell her their life story and it's true! She has these super expressive eyebrows and when she looks at you they go up and you want to her something. It's funny. She's really awesome and humble and has learned a ton of Nihongo and is also fluent in Spanish!

Sister Bullock: Sister Bullock is shorter and blonde and super shy and really awesome! She's the only sister not going to Tokyo, she's going to Sendai with Elders Erickson, Diderickson, and Hamilton. She is a really example to me of quiet focus and how you can learn something from everyone! She is really observant and picks up on things we do and tells us how she has learned something from every one of us. She's great!

Sister Gotfredson: She's a genius! She has curly blonde hair and is super nice and grew up in Japan from the ages of 6 to 9. She already did 2 years at BYU. She picks up Nihongo like no one else in the class and is super talented. She's super good at focusing and has great stories and is really nice about helping people and translating what our teachers are saying when no one else understands it. Everyone in her family who has served missions has gone to Japan! Crazy.

Sister Frazier: Sister Frazier is so incredibly happy and cheerful! She has dark brown hair and is incredible at learning Nihongo and memorizing flashcards and scriptures and laughing at my jokes which I appreciate. She is amazing at the song game we play, I'll say a topic and they think of a song that either has that word in it or is about that topic as fast as they can. Kind of like the one we play with Sarah and Marcus expect it's about speed, not endurance. She's really awesome!

That's my district! I'm really grateful for every single one of them and all that they have taught me and how well they are doing and wonderful they are as human beings and as missionaries. I know everyone in our district is going to crush it in Japan! Seriously so great. Next week I'll describe our teachers. They're seriously so amazing. I love you guys and am so thankful for all that you do for me and I miss you all!

Love,

Calhoun Choro

P.S. Please thank Liz for me BIG TIME, getting those family names was seriously so awesome. Her weekly letter is a highlight and everyone in my district is so jealous! Also, please thank the Pickards for me, they have sent me two letters and they mean a ton. Liza, you haven't taught me any Spanish words yet!!!! Also, since I'm leaving in less than two weeks, Dear Elders and emails are probably the way to go because it takes a while for letters to get here and I don't know what they do with letters that come after I'm going. I'll send pictures and then I'm done! Love you all!

 An elder from New Zealand in the room next to James's has the talent of being able to turn any Japanese character into a beaver in a matter of seconds.  Who knew, right?

 Elder Calhoun ran into Sister Hendricks with whom he went to EFY some years back.

 Elder Calhoun and Elder Seagle

 Elders Calhoun, Seagle and Fletcher

 Elder Calhoun with the Shutlesses (he is 1st counselor in the MTC branch presidency)

 Elders Calhoun and DeSpain

James's district's classroom

6th email sent from Provo, MTC  11/28/14 Hello Family! Sorry this is a day late, but I promise it won't be a dollar short. How are you guys doing? How was your Thanksgiving? Did you stay at home? I miss you all! That's so awesome about Sammy. I want Adley to know there's absolutely no way he can win as many trophies as me. You should put Sammy to sleep in Dad's office next time. Dad would love that. This week was really awesome, mostly because of yesterday! I'll give the big Thanksgiving update and the highlights from the rest of the week and then I'll tell you guys about everyone in my district because I haven't yet.  Thanksgiving was seriously so awesome. Our Senpei came in at 5:45 and did Christmas for us. Christmas is this tradition where the older missionaries pass down all the things they have from their Senpei and all the stuff they don't want to us. It's fun but also the worst because our room is tiny and so we have like 20 boxes of random items we have to put away and we have zero room. Some of the highlights of the things we got: 4 nerf basketball hoops, a large blue suitcase, a small foosball table, a Napoleon Dynamite wig, 2 things of peanut butter, a pink rat punch balloon (those ones that you inflate and then have the handle you hold and punch as fast as you can), and sooooooo much candy. Seriously so much stuff. We can't wait to get rid of it, that's the best part. You wake up early and bang on their door and then bust in when they open it and wish them a Merry Christmas and then you go to the lounge area and we have a little Christmas tree that you put all the boxes around. Each person chooses who they want to give their stuff to and what they are going to give. One person also dresses up like Santa and puts on a shaving cream beard. We don't mess around with Christmas.  After that, we went and did laundry and had breakfast. I had one bowl of cereal so I could pound the Thanksgiving lunch we had. We then went to the devotional. The choir sang Come Thou Fount and absolutely crushed it. We weren't allowed to sing because zone leaders had to leave early which was a bummer, but it's ok. It all worked out super well! Elder Bednar came and spoke! It was awesome, he's so awesome. He brought his wife and one of his sons and his family, but it wasn't Eric! I was really hoping I would get the chance to see him or at least tell his younger brother I say hi, but I didn't get to. Can you do me a big favor and please say hi to Eric and his family for me? He really had a great influence on me and was so awesome, I miss them a lot! Elder Bednar did a cool thing with his devotional, he did a question and answer session. He passed out cell phones and you could text your questions to a number and he would choose which to reply to. We had gotten there early and had good seats right down the middle in the front. While people were typing their questions (Elder Bednar said we were rusty from not texting for a few weeks) he said we could raise our hands and he would choose one. I shot my hand up and he chose me! I asked him, "As a member of the 12, you have to be tired all the time. What do you do to fight through it?" He talked about the spiritually invigorating aspect of this work, and how that should motivate and energize us. It was awesome because I actually got to ask him, and he addressed me the whole time, as opposed to the anonymous text questions. It was a super great devotional and I learned tons.  We then had Thanksgiving lunch. It was much better than I thought it was going to be! They had cranberry sauce which was awesome. I really hope they have the leftovers today. After lunch, we went and helped set up the service project. It was exactly the same one we did in Chapel Hill a few years ago, where you make the assembly lines and make meals for children who need them. We then went to a Thanksgiving presentation. It was so weird. The first part was legit because they had a guy play the violin and he played it like a fiddle and he was a BEAST. He was killing it and everyone was getting so into it. It was one of the highlights of the day for sure. The second part was so weird. They did a skit where they tried to explain the origin of Thanksgiving to foreigners in a funny way, but it was really just awful. They had people go up and be Indians and Puritans and all the Indians were brown and it was just weird. We were watching the Nihonjin (Japanese people) the whole time and they had this wide eyed look on their face the whole time. After the awful skit, we went and did the service project. I was in charge of a line. We crushed it! We were only supposed to do 8 boxes worth of meals, but my table did 13! We did the most of any table all day. The all time record was 16, but we ran out of boxes and couldn't do anymore or we for sure would have smashed it. President Hackney, the first counselor of the MTC Presidency, even admitted it. They were so awesome, they were singing hymns and getting our whole section to sing along. After we cleaned up, we went and watched Meet the Mormons. It was really fun to watch it with a bunch of missionaries. We got popcorn and it was sweet because one of the guys is the Navy coach so we got to watch clips of football. You take what you can get in here. After the movie was over, the MTC Presidency said they had a surprise for us out in the courtyard, and they had set up Christmas lights everywhere! It was super cool. We got to chill there and talk for a while. I got to talk to Sister Kennedy for a little while, it was awesome. She's so great. We're the lone Irvine survivors now. She's also the only person I know from before the MTC now. That was my Thanksgiving! It was so different from all my previous ones and I missed a lot of good food and I probably wouldn't want to do it again but I really loved it!  Early in the week, on Tuesday, Elder Oaks came and spoke to us. It was pretty good, he gave a lot of great instruction.  He gave a really great analogy about being the Lord's instrument. He compared us to a pen. He said that a pen doesn't say, "I can't write, I'm tired. Oh, it's my P day, I don't need to work today." We need to be like a pen and work whenever and however the Lord needs us to work. I liked his talk. Plus, we got to listen to 2 members of the 12 this week, which was awesome!  Ok, the people in my district. I might not be able to finish this week, but I'll try. You already know about me and Elder Erickson, he's awesome as always.  Elder Diderickson: He looks a lot like me. He's 6'2, brown hair, athletic. He's just better at doing everything I do. He's a super good basketball player, he was on Pleasant Groves' team when they made it to the State Championship against Lone Peak. He is a good example for me of patience and keeping a good attitude and working hard. He's going to BYU after which will be super awesome. Plus, after I ate his pumpkin bread, I wrote his family apologizing and thanking them for all the packages they send him that I eat. It was funny. They said I can be adopted into their family, so we're basically brothers now. Elder Hamilton: He's the tall blonde one. He's from Mesa, but doesn't know the Richins. He's a really good guy, and is getting better and better at focusing. He wonders off a lot and Elder Diderickson has to go find him. He's a good storyteller and is really forgiving and smart, I'm liking him more and more the longer we are here. He is a very good letter writer, a much better one than me. He is also good at coming up with puns, kind of like Greg. He's a really great missionary! Elder Nielson: He's from Boise. He's really awesome. He's really good at seeing the best in people and not focusing on the worst. He is also a great leader, he was district leader and did a really good job. He also has the best laugh out of all of us. He gets this big smile on his face and gives this big hearty laugh that's awesome. He is also really nice about helping all of us with our Japanese, he took 4 years of it in high school. He's really a kind person and I really like him. Elder Mutzelburg: I'll start with him next week!  I'm running out of time and still need to send pictures. I still need to do all of the Sisters as well. They're all great. I really, really love my district. I am loving it here at the MTC and am learning so much. I love and miss you all so much! You all rock! With Love, Calhoun Choro  James's Sempai, leaving Monday will be much missed!  James with President (MTC branch president) & Sister Butler

The 5th Email         Sent from Provo, MTC         Thursday, November 20, 2014

Hey Mom and Dad and Family and Friends,

Thanks a ton for the package, it came on Friday and the sweaters have been lifesavers.Thanks a ton for the letters this week, they really mean a lot. I loved hearing from Abbie, and getting Liz's letter every week is so awesome. I'm so tired right now and not really thinking too straight right now, so this week's update is going to be shorter, sorry!

Last Saturday I woke up and had pink eye. It sounds bad but really it was awesome. We got to leave MTC campus and go to the health clinic and pharmacy. Then I couldn't go to class because I was contagious so I got to sleep all day which was really awesome. We weren't teaching or anything so it worked out. On Sunday, Erickson Choro and I got called as zone leaders, who knows how. I'm really grateful for the opportunity and am working my hardest and trying to love everyone and lead by example. Erickson Choro is a really good example for me on how I can become better. The cool thing is that the Italian branch president always asks our branch's zone leaders to orient the new Italian missionaries because they only come every six weeks, so there is no overlap between the groups. This is cool because it means I get to orient Hayden when he arrives! That is going to be way cool.

I'm really excited for thanksgiving this week, they have a big service project planned that the zone leaders are playing a big part in, but they won't tell us what we're doing. There is going to be a general authority coming, one of the twelve, it would be way cool if we got to meet him. Especially Elder Bednar.  We could talk about Chapel Hill and Eric and it would be way cool. The only thing that stinks about it is that it's on our P day so we don't get a long gym time or temple time this next week, but it's ok. Last P day I went off in basketball. It was awesome. I couldn't miss :). 

We're more than half way done at the MTC! It's nuts. It's gone by so fast but also felt like forever. I'm getting more and more ready to get out and bike and be outside and in the outside world and helping people and eating good food and making people happy and spreading the gospel. It's going to be so great. This week has been pretty normal, nothing too special or crazy. I did have a cool experience with Oozeki son, she has really been feeling that the church is true so we invited her to baptism. She said she really wants to but her mother-in-law is really opposed to religion and she's too afraid to ask. I felt like I should tell her that it will all be ok and work out and that Heavenly Father will help her, and I know it will be! I love this gospel and am so grateful for the opportunity to go to Japan and help spread it! I love you guys, have a great week!

Calhoun Choro

P.S. Sorry, I didn't really take any photos this week either. It's hard to remember to bring my camera and every day is basically the same. I'll try to take some pictures of the MTC and our classroom or something this week so you can see what our lives are like.

More Pics

 Jenner Choro, James's zone leader from Australia, who has a great sense of humor

 R to L: Erickson Choro, Calhoun Choro, Irma Huisken (going to Brazil) and companion

Canon Choro, Nicholson Choro, Calhoun Choro 

 Erickson Choro, Johnson Choro, Calhoun Choro

 Nicholson Choro (Tokyo S) and Calhoun Choro

Provo Temple. James says it's really growing on him :).

Email #4 sent from Provo MTC Thursday, Novemver 13, 2014

Hello Family and Friends!

This week, i'll have been in the MTC for a whole month! Wild. The blog is up! So exciting. Just a couple of things to fix. The formatting on the last post is really weird, maybe dad could fix it? And the picture at the temple labeled, "Elder Brown, going to South Korea." That is actually Seagle Chorro, he is going to Kobe and is in my zone. He is incredibly funny and nice. And maybe you could remove the quotes around Yuki? Sorry, but you know where I get my perfectionist genes from. Thank you so much for your letters this week and for sending the package! I haven't received it yet, but I am very much looking forward to its arrival. I don't have anything to request in the mail this week since you guys are so amazing at sending everything! Regarding the letters from other missionaries though, could you just ask the moms to send them to you? Then just copy and paste the letter into a Dear Elder so I don't use email time. It was awesome reading Cam's though! One more thing I still need is evidence that North Carolina is the BBQ capitol of the world. I am also getting my shot today for Hep A, and it is around $75. I'll try to pay with insurance info, but I have my debit card. Is the Citibank account set up? I would really love it if you would let me know so I can know if I can keep using my debit card or not. Thank you so much Betsy for the package, the Sees Candy were a huge hit with my district and so good! Also, thanks to Lisa for her letters, they are so awesome (surprisingly). Dang. I think I'm losing my sarcasm a little bit, everything just sounds mean now. Sorry Lisa, love you! The watch band brand is Triwa, you can find one on their website. It's ok if not though! It was also great getting a letter from Abbie! I'm glad that I have not been forgotten at school, and hope you will always be known as James's sister. Nope, all the ties I have I brought, our Branch Presidency doesn't want us to do tie exchanges. All the awesome ones are thanks to Bryce! I've gotten tons of compliments on them, thanks Bryce. That's super exciting about your patriarchal blessing. I read mine so often now, and it means the world to me! I miss you too! and Liza and Mom and Dad and Kuma! And that's so awesome about Quiggle! Please tell him congrats for me and that I'm super excited for him! I still haven't received a letter from Catherine or Kelsey or Bailey though (cough cough). 

It's been another awesome, great week. Our district is really getting super close and becoming good friends. I'll include some dumb stories from this week just so you still know I'm a teenage boy with lots of room to improve. A couple of weeks ago, Elder Diderickson got some pumpkin bread from his family. He said we could have some and I was talking to some people in our zone and eating some and then it was gone. I had eaten almost the whole loaf on accident! Elder Diderickson was really nice about it. His family sent a new loaf for him and while he was in the shower, I cut off all of the loaf except one slice and hid it in my closet. He thought I had eaten the whole thing again and wasn't very happy, but thought it was funny when I gave it back to him. I wrote his family a letter apologizing for eating the loaf they had sent. He's a great guy. In class, Pearhson Kyodai, one of our teachers (same guy as Yuki) loves long pieces of chalk. I do too, but I have broken two of his pieces by using them. I am no longer allowed to use his chalk, as evidenced by this picture. Once, I replaced the long piece with three short pieces so he thought I broke it. I gave it back to him. I'm a funny guy. There are a few more but they're all dumb and I don't have much time. It's nice to have a district that has the same sense of humor as me, and that has fun while working hard!

 This week has been pretty normal. I feel like I'm plateauing a little bit with learning, so I just need to focus more and work harder! I am also so tired all the time, but I'm figuring out how to work with it. Lindsey would be happy to know that I still fall asleep in class sometimes, especially during personal study. I have to get up a lot and jump around and sing Taylor Swift's, "Shake It Off" to stay awake. I'm getting better though! I did have a really neat experience this week. On Monday of last week, Pearhson Kyodai challenged us not to use our Ninja, or the book that has a bunch of pre made sentences in our lessons. So, for the past two weeks, we've been making our own sentences. We have really had the Spirit more and the lessons have been going much more smoothly! On Friday, the day after I emailed you last week, we had a lesson with Oozeki Son, and it was one of the first lessons we taught with our own sentences. During the lesson, the Spirit helped me so much, it was like He was pulling words out of my mouth that I would never have thought to use or say. It was so neat!

I need to keep working hard and being obedient to keep the Spirit and keep progressing and improving! Sometimes it's stressful because I always feel like I could work harder and be better. Vocab flashcards are hard for me, I really don't like them and it takes me a little bit to learn each one. But I'm getting there! I have also been doing choir and loving it. It's so frustrating though, I can hear that I'm not hitting the right notes but can't fix it. It's great being around such great singers though and feeling like I am too. The choir director is awesome, he's super nice and tells super great church history stories. Heavenly Father really is blessing me with the gift of tongues, along with so many other things. A great district, a wonderful companion, health, loving family and friends, patience, more humility, a strengthened testimony, discipline, a better work ethic,  more of the Spirit, an amazing Branch Presidency, and so much more! I am loving it here, working hard and working hard to work harder, and feel like I'm doing ok! I'll send some pictures after this, that's about it for the week! Love to all of you!

Calhoun Choro

Email #3    Sent from MTC Thursday, November 6, 2014

Hi Family! I'm going to start this letter the same way as last time, with the things I would love for you to send. Thanks a ton for all the package you're sending Mom! If you haven't sent it by the time you get this, would you mind adding the following? If not, no worries! I would love some tabs I can use for my scriptures. The ones that are colored on the end and see through on the sticky part. I'm going to use them to help mark my lessons, so if possible light blue, orange, green, purple/pink, and yellow would be the optimal colors! They have them here at the MTC but they are like 8 dollars which is ridiculous. I would also love a Mead spiral notebook, like the ones I had for school. Not the massive one, but one with one or two dividers would be awesome. Also optional requests: a yo-yo and some bouncy balls. Some of the guys are very good yo yoers and having something to relax every once in a while is such a stress reliever. Could you also dear Elder me some evidence that North Carolina is the BBQ capital of the USA? Maybe Dad could do that, I made that statement in class and no one believed me, they were much too stiff necked. That's about it for the packages, thanks a ton! I got an email from President Budge this week, I need to have at least $250 either in cash or on my debit card when I leave for Japan. $150 is for the checked bag, which the mission reimburses, the other $100 is for a bike helmet and bag. Is everything up and running with the new account? I do have one other request. Instead of emailing me the missionary updates, could you send them to me via Dear Elder? That way I wouldn't use any of my email time to read them and I could see them not just on Thursdays. I would love to hear from as many people as possible, including Cam, Tessa, Nate, Hailey, Jolie, Camille, Stephen Tenney, Nate Livingston, or whoever you can think of. It's so fun to hear from other missionaries, especially those who are in the MTC with me, and see their take on things. Thank you so much!

This was a pretty normal week. Our temple session was really great again, and I talked to President Butler, our branch president, about the questions I had. He helped a lot! It feels so good to go outside on P days, and throw around a frisbee or a softball. As you know, I ran into Sister Kennedy and Sister Huisken at the exact same time last thursday! We ran into each other in the cafeteria, it was and is so great to see them around the MTC. How was your Halloween? Ours was pretty great. We had a normal day, but lots of people in our district got Halloween stuff which made it super fun. Elder Diderickson got glow stick swords and teeth and stuff. When we were heading back to our flat, our Sempai, or the Elders a few weeks ahead of us, had rushed back and put on whatever stuff they could find and dressed up. They then came rushing into our room and we had a dance party while they threw candy everywhere. It was super fun. Their costumes were super creative, two guys were men in black, complete with glasses and ray guns (no idea where they got them), there was a ghost, Santa Claus, Superman, and an evil jack o lantern man. I know this sounds so dumb but you have to take whatever entertainment you can get in here!

I worked a lot on grammar and Katakana this week. I almost have it all the way down, and I'm working on my sentence structure. Japanese sentence structure is so much different, it's crazy. If you wanted to say, "I know that the Book of Mormon is true through prayer," the structure in Japanese would be: Prayer through the Mormon Book true is I know." At least I think that's write, I'm probably still wrong! It's a work in progress though, and it's getting there! One of our teachers, Pearhson Kyodia, said we weren't bringing in the Spirit as much as we should because we were reading from this book we have called the Ninja, which gives sentences in Japanese and is super helpful. He challenged us to not us the Ninja for sentences at all, and to come up with our own. It has been way hard but really good for learning and it HAS brought the Spirit into our lessons way more! I'm glad we have teachers that are so kind and helpful but also super honest. 

The best part of my week was the combination of Fast Sunday and the devotionals we heard. There's an Elder who just left the MTC, Elder Lee (He's actually going to my mission, i'm so excited!). He's from Hong Kong and is honestly one of the nicest, most kind, happiest people I've ever met. He works incredibly hard and is always smiling and asking you how you're doing. I was wondering how and why he's so happy and how I can share his same happiness, so I decided to fast on Sunday to be a happier missionary. I had a little dumb epiphany during testimony meeting. Someone was doing something that was really bugging me, I don't even remember what it was. It was making really irritated and thus less happy when the thought struck me, "Why is this irritating me?" No good is coming out of it, they aren't doing anything wrong, and I'm just being dumb. I've been really trying much harder since then to not let little dumb things bug me, and I've noticed that I've been much happier because of it! We had a great devotional on Sunday by Wendy Nelson, Russel M. Nelson's wife. She talked about having questions going into devotionals and asking for specific things for help and lots of other good stuff. The Tuesday devotionals were the best though. We got to go to the Marriot Center in the morning and heard David E Evans speak, the same man who said, "May our strength be faithened." He had a great attitude about it and even talked about it. He then spoke about tenacity and being a tenacious missionary. (All of the speakers talk about tons of good stuff but I just don't have enough time to tell you everything they say!) We had the Goldens come that night, Elder Golden is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy from South Africa. His wife spoke first, and wouldn't you know, she spoke about being a happier missionary! She spoke about 5 things we can do to be happier missionaries: Understand that we are working on the most important work ever, to leave behind the things of the world, to work as hard as we can, to be as obedient as we possibly can, and to love the Lord, my companion, and the people we are going to teach. Her talk really helped me, and it helped me with my testimony of fasting! Elder Golden also gave a great talk. He was called to be an Area Seventy in his thirties, and was called to salt lake when he was 48. He thought he was going to be released, but President Hinckley called him to be an General Authority until he turns 70! (You really don't have it so bad, Dad). He thought that President Hinckley made a mistake because he was getting older (his own words) and was about to call to confirm, but then thought, "I don't want the Prophet to think he's called a fruitcake as a General Authority!" He asked for a sign that it was the right thing for him, and he opened his scriptures to a scripture he had never marked or really registered before, and the next day, when President Monson was setting him apart, he quoted from the exact same scripture! Wild. He also had a great line in which he said, "Faith is personal righteousness." I really like that, and am working on increasing my faith!

Well, that's about it for this week. I didn't really take any pictures, the only ones I took are with Sister Huiskin and you already have them! I'll be sure to take more this week. Can you do me a favor and fix any spelling errors I made before you send this out? I'm sure there are plenty of them, I just don't have time to fix them! Love to all of you, especially Liza!

Calhoun Choro

P.S Please thank Lisa and Liz for their letters this week! The Halloween cookies were a huge hit in our district and the other gift that came with it came right as I ran out, so thank you so much! Also please thank George for his letter and Tessa update last week. Also, thank you Heidi and Bradley for the package, and Nana and Betsy for the cookies, photo album, and supplies! I bring my photo album to all our lessons and all the investigators love to see the pictures. I'm still expecting a letter or email from Kelsey too. Liza: here are two Japanese words for you: Chikaraziyoi means powerful and ai means love! 

MTC Email #2

                                                                                            Written and sent from the MTC, 10/30/2014

Hello Family!

We went to the temple after I emailed you guys and it was amazing! I had so many insights but no one likes thinking about that stuff like I do and I can't figure out the answers to my questions which is driving me nuts but I'm living somehow. It was a great session! The day after last P day, we all woke up and were soooo tired. It was the worst. Our day off took the most out of us! It was great to here from Abbie and Liza, I totally remember how Abbie feels, but we have 16 hour days every day of the week so just think of me every time you don't want to get up. I'll try to write Abbie and Liza a letter this week, we have such busy days and only an hour to email on p day so it can be hard! Please thank Nora and the Bunches and George and Liz for me. Getting Tessa's weekly update was awesome, it's fun to read about things I can look forward to! I loved hearing from Nora and want her to know I learned from the best. Her! The Bunches' survival kit was a huge life saver last week, my thanking them got lost in the depths of the emails I sent last week I think. I've been bring Siracha to every meal and everyone loves it. It was great to see pictures of the cousins and get the update from Liz! It was also pretty good to hear from Lisa I guess. Just kidding, it was great! She's such a great speaker that it doesn't what time she has to speak, she'll do great! Thanks for telling people about DearElder, it's seriously the best thing ever. 

My Nihongo is really coming along! I have my Hiragana down, i'll attach a picture in the next email I send, i'm afraid to attach it to this email because of what happened last week. I can write them all out in order from memory which is super satisfying. We can also sing hymns for the most part, the fast ones are really hard but we're getting there! As always, I'm a step behind Elder Erickson. He is crushing it in every department, he can write all the Hiragana faster than me and is a flashcard machine. He does like 30 every day and I struggle to do ten. It's a motivator though, it's great that he's competitive and it really helps that he can help me! Our district is doing super well, everyone is either up to plan or ahead of it. We all get along really well, and everyone helps each other. I am 100% sure we are in the best zone in the MTC. Our Sempai rock. They help us all the time and are so nice and easy to get along with. They still come in every night to aishtaymas us. We also have the best schedule in the MTC. We have gym right when we wake up which is awesome because you don't feel stir crazy all day and you only have to shower once. There are some ballers in our gym time. Cannon Choro, one of the guys in our district, is unreal. He's like 5'6 but impossible to stop and is ambidextrous so he has incredible touch around the rim. He's super strong and knows how to use his body. He's fun to guard. I'm getting to know the guys in our gym well, they're all great guys and fun to play with. There's a companionship going to South Korea who we bump into all the time and they're great. Elder Brown and Elder Baker. Elder Brown is like 6'4 and plays ball with us too. They're way nice and fun to talk to. 

It's been a pretty normal week class wise. Yuki, our first investigator, moved back to Japan according to Watanabe Shimai, but she totally lied. He turned out to be our second teacher! We knew all along but pretended to be surprised. He's a great teacher! He isn't nearly as affectionate as Watanabe Shimai or Olson Kyodia but he's a wonderful teacher. He only writes in Hiragana which is hard but it is forcing us to learn faster. On Monday, we did this thing called TRC, where they bring in real Japanese people or return missionaries who are all members and you have to teach them a lesson. It's tough because they are only supposed to speak in Japanese. We had to teach two lessons, and the first one was a train wreck. We taught a RM named Brittany, and she wouldn't speak any English. We read a scripture after apologizing that we can't read in Nihongo yet, and she was like, "Oh I didn't understand any of that," even though she totally did because she's from Las Vegas. We ended up sitting in silence looking for things to say because we burned through our lesson because she just said yes to our questions and nothing else. The second lesson WAS SO GOOD. We taught a woman named Irre, and she is Nihongen! She was so incredibly nice and easy going and spoke to us in English as best she could as we spoke to her in Nihongo as best we could.  It got me so excited to go to Japan and teach the people there! I'm getting less and less apprehensive to leave and more and more excited!

We also got two new investigators, but all of our investigators are our teachers pretending to be people they taught. Watanabe Shimai is Oozeki Son, a super nice lady who wants to find out how she and her family can be more happy! She asks like a million questions per lesson which is great but they can be hard to answer sometimes. We taught her about Christ like attributes and how having charity can make her more happy and draw her family closer together, and she said that it worked! It was great. Our second new investigator is Iwamoto, a 60 year old man who drinks, smokes, and gambles and is recently divorced. He wants to be happy and thinks the church can help him, and I know it can! We teach him later today for the first time and hopefully it will go well. 

I have run into a few people I know this week, which has been way fun. I ran into two EFY friends, Kayla Stockwell and Grace Hendricks. Kayla is hoping that Kim will send her Jewel's contact info, especially his email address so she can email him. She was in the EFY group with me, Cam, Jordan, and Jewel. Maybe Kim could DearElder me the info or send it to you and you could send it to me so I can give it to her? Grace was friends with the people I hung out with at my first ever EFY, I don't think she recognized me because I've become so much more handsome, but it's ok. Jared Nickerel, my buddy from that same first EFY group, was in Elder Erickson's ward at BYU! Small world. Maybe Dad could facebook message him for me and tell him, and that I'm thinking of him? Maybe you could give him my email address too and ask him where he's going. I haven't talked to him in forever! And last and definitely not least, I saw Karen Fuller! She was walking behind me on the way to the mail room and I didn't recognize her until I saw her name tag. We had a good talk and I forgot to take a picture, but it was super fun to see her. It's crazy that she's in Rome now, but she'll be great! Hailey Kennedy got here on Wednesday and I haven't seen her yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open. It's going to be way fun to be at BYU with all these people.

That's about it for this week's report, I am loving it here! Despite the hard things, the Spirit and the love that are present here make everything worth it. I also think I had such low expectations about the MTC that everything is better than I thought it would be, which helps a lot. It actually isn't being locked in a class room for 8 hours at a time, which is great! I'll send pictures from this week and hopefully they'll send this time, fingers crossed! I love my companion, I love my district, I love my zone, I love the MTC, I love my teachers, I love this church, I love the gospel, I love Christ, I love you guys!

Until next week,

Calhoun Choro

  Calhoun Choro, with his AWESOME
MTC companion,  Erickson Choro

 Elder Calhoun with the other Elders in his district
(see names is district photo below)

Seagle Choro in James's zone, going to Kobe

 Hiragana alphabet missionaries have been mastering

 District teachers: Olsen Chorro and
Watanabe Shimai (amazing!)

 Lost in thought ;)

A day in language class at the MTC 

 Elder Calhoun's missionary badge

 Erickson Chorro with "investigator" Yuki

 Daily Schedule

 Elder Calhoun feeling enthused about Hiragana

 Canon Choro and Calhoun Choro.  Canon Choro
is an incredible baller according to James and all
 the missionaries in his district.  They play basketball
 for gym every morning (but Sunday) before class.

 Watanabe Shimai and Calhoun Choro

James's district:  L to R (no respect to rows) Goto Shimai; Bullock Shimai; Goldberry Shimai; Frazier Shimai; Jurado Shimai (petite one not bending down); teacher Watanabe Shimai; Hamilton Choro; Erickson Choro; Calhoun Choro (who says "not sure what I'm doing in this picture"); Didericksen Choro; Mutz Choro; Nielson Choro (closest to camera)