Elder James Calhoun, Tokyo Japan Mission

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?