Week 5

 こんにちは　みなさん！　おげんきですか？ 

This week I have to say has been the best week out of the Japanese weeks. I still don't understand a lot of Japanese obviously, but I'm starting to understand a lot more and I'm able to form some basic sentences on the spot when asked a question from my teacher. I think the pinnacle of the week was last night. We had another Helping Hands this week in Japanese. Last week we did it with Eri-san, and that lesson with her was a complete failure:). But I learned from that experience so this past week I practiced just saying sentences and making them up. This week we decided to do a new person called Haato-san. He was SO much better. Don't get me wrong, Eri-san is just as a person as Haato-san, but he spoke a bit slower, and laughed with us. Just a more relaxing atmosphere where I didn't feel like he would care if we messed up. Anyway, the lesson went a ton better than last week. It was still far from a perfect lesson, but we got the general message across, together. He even accepted our invitation to pray, which was cool. 

As you also see from the pictures, a lot happened this week. The missionaries that I've known forever finally had to be transferred, Elder Lake and Elder Williams. :( But I'm excited to meet the new ones! 

We went on a cool hike where we had to go through a mile-long tunnel-the Blue Ridge Tunnel. We went with the Swinsons. Dad and I got the bike carbs we bought. It's nice that p-day is on Saturday, so my Dad and I can mess with the car a little bit. 

There's some other funny pictures below from our online district. If you look at the PingPong.png, the guy with the massive arms is my companion, Elder Rahm. 

A cool analogy that came to me is about a tunnel. Many apostles and leaders have compared us going towards the light through a tunnel. But what I thought was that yes, the light in front of us is our goal, Exaltation and Eternal life. But there's a light behind us, the Premortal life. On both sides we can (for premortal we just were, but you all get the point) be in God's presence, but the difference between the first light and the second and final light, is you. You and I and everyone on this mortal earth changes through experiences, good and bad. When we go through that darkness in the tunnel, we change and grow and know from light and darkness. In that tunnel, we choose to follow the light and choose for ourselves to serve the Savior and listen to Heavenly Father. If we went around the tunnel, there would be no point, we would never experience hardships. We have to go through and then we see and desire light. It's truly amazing what the Holy Ghost shares with you when you are seeking it. Anyway just a thought that hopefully is understandable. 

Have a great weekend and stay safe! (And if you ever play Othello with my Mom, she will beat you)

またね！

ロバートソン長老

Week 4

 こんにちは 　みなさん！ 

This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions but through the end I have learned a couple things. We can always work harder and focus more on Christ, if we don't accomplish all that we wanted to do, don't beat yourself up, and be patient. 

This last Friday, I had my first Japanese Helping Hands...it went pretty bad. I was upset about it even though it was practice. Afterwards though I thought that instead of focusing on that, use it as a learning experience to further my Japanese study. 

Anyways, this Saturday was helpful being able to go up to the Philadelphia temple and do service for others. We were also blessed on our way home where we encountered some bad traffic in the DC area and we were able to avoid some accidents. You all probably have already heard, but I'm being reassigned to serve in the Gilbert, Arizona mission! To start off, I am anything but disappointed, I'm excited to go! Yes it may sound "boring" compared to Kobe, Japan, but it's just as inspired as my original mission call. 

Plus I will go to Japan. When? Well from my companion, Elder Rahm, and some other connections, Japan wants to reopen for business in the next couple months. I haven't had the time to see if this is true or not, but this is from people living in Japan, so I'm 79% sure it's true. I just keep thinking how awesome it is to serve in 2 places! One of our Elders in our district got released because he's going to the advanced district on October 2. He'll return to normal life and then get called again for the advance district. We all said bye to him last night. It's a short one this week, but I gotta go and eat!

またね！

ロバートソン長老

Week 3

 こんにちは！ Another week has flown by! Before I know it I'll be off out in the field! From what I've heard I'll probably be reassigned for a couple months until Japan opens up. That's not 100%, I hope I can go straight there, but that might not be possible. It could happen, and I will go to Japan, it might be in 2022, but I will go. I just might not go right away. Even if I'm reassigned, I'm excited about where I might go! Come on, it's cool when you get 2 areas :). 

This past week we started Japanese and of course, it's been rough. This past Friday and Saturday though I've been understanding a bit more. At first I was having a hard time studying, because I didn't know what I should practice/study first. Particles, vocab, and sentence structure and much MUCH more are things I could practice. So I talked to some teachers and now I have a solid study plan for the next 2 weeks. 

But yeah, no one in my District has gotten a reassignment yet, from what I've heard I might receive mine this week or my last week. So it'll be a surprise :). On pday this week (Saturday), I went to the Raleigh, NC Temple and did proxy sealings with Amy, Sam, Shawna, and my parents. It was a great experience and afterwards we went to World Market and my Uncle Sam bought me a bunch of Japanese snacks which was really fun. I liked getting my family's reactions on the way home as we tried out the snacks. We also got this spicy chicken flavored noodles and everyone died because it was so hot. Like we were all crying that night. It was pretty funny honestly :). Cal even drank the broth. His mouth was so numb that he was able to drink the whole bowl. Let's just say, he definitely felt the consequences of his actions  (After a little bit I dumped my broth and just ate the noodles, and still I suffered). 

I think the thing I'm worried about this week is what the MTC calls Helping Hands. I've talked about it in previous emails, but it's when you practice teaching. This week though we have to do it in Japanese, sooooo yeah. It'll be rough. But it'll be a great experience. Have an awesome week!

ロバートソン長老

Week 2

Konnichiwa Minasan! 

The 2nd week has been just as amazing as the first! It was really funny, because this week just flew by. My first week though was so slow. It was amazing, but the week just crawled on. This past week though flew by. I think why that's the case, is before that I was on summer break just doing what I wanted during the day. During the MTC though I've had around 7-8 hours of study and classes. But I'm really enjoying the classes and becoming friends with my district.

Study Japanese has gone pretty well. I've memorized all Hiragana characters and most of Katakana. Now I'm just practicing phrases and get used to saying and hearing Japanese (of course as much as I can while not immersed in Japanese). But yeah this Wednesday we start Japanese language study in Japanese... But I know through the Gift of Tongues and putting my faith in Christ I can start to understand Japanese. I know it won't be immediately and that's honestly expected. I still want to be on top of it though. 

I got to clean up the house a couple times, help move someone's things from one shed to another in our ward, and played tennis and board games with my dad. Probably the longest phrase I've memorized is, "We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". In romaji it is Watashitachiha matsujitsu seito Iesu Kirisuto kyōkai no senkyōshi desu. In good ol' Japanese it is わたしたちはまつじつせいとイエス・キリストきょうかいのせんきょうしです。

It's cool because even though Japanese is complicated, grammar is like a math equation. And there are spaces, but not between words. They have periods and commas, but that might just be for a more Western style of writing (left to right, horizontal). The video is a cool beginning of a fun Book of Mormon video (we're still working on it). This week will definitely be interesting, but hopefully in a good way. Have a great week!

https://youtu.be/n9hKOsdWuvY