first email

Elder Roopinia and Elder Mecham

The New Kids 

First off let me start by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENALYN!!!! I really wish I could be there to celebrate this day with you, but I know you are having a great day.  You are a great young woman and we all love you so much.  I love and miss you, but it is really good that I am here.  So I am sorry that I was not able to send my letter earlier.  I actually wrote one the first day that I was here, but I did not have time to send it.  I will send it today, and hopefully it will get there tomorrow.  
So here has what has happened since being in the empty-sea,
After first being dropped off, I did not cry.  I know you were all probably thinking that I was going to cry, but I still have not.  It has hit me that I am gone, but it doesn't quite feel like it yet.  The first day I went to class and met my sensei.  He is Powell Sensei and looks like Ditty Kong. (If you don't know who that is, look him up.  You have the internet. I do not.)  I understood nothing that he said, and then we went to a meeting.  We learned about the rules and like such as, then we all went to dinner.  The MTC food is pretty nasty, but it can be good sometimes.  The wraps are good, but the food gets old and gross pretty fast.  We went to the Temple today and getting Temple food was pretty great.  There are some things that I will need to get, but I will send that in my letter.  Thank you so much for the package! I had no idea I was going to be getting Kneaders bread. Actually I did.  Sorry I lied.  I still have a few slices left, and I eat one every night before I go to sleep.  I think I talked about it in my letter, but my companion is Elder Roopinia, from Tahiti.  He is a awesome Elder.  He is 22 years old (had his birthday on Saturday) and is a convert from 5 years ago.  He is learning English as a second language, and Japanese as a third from his Second language.  He is doing so well for how much he has to be learning.  Thursday Friday and Saturday were basically a blur.  The days all meshed together.  I learned how to pray and bear my testimony the second day being in here.  I no longer pray in English and only in Japanese now.  Which by the way, thank you so much for your prayers.  I really do feel it.  We taught our first 'investigator' on Friday and on Saturday.  Seriously so stressful.  I have the hardest time preparing the lesson, because I am basically doing it on my own, because it is hard for Roopinia Choro to understand what I am saying and for him to create sentences.  The lessons are progressively getting better, but for some reason, finding inspiration through the spirit is pretty hard for me.  On Sunday I was made District Leader and there are 12 people in my district.  There are 6 choros and 6 shimais.  Shimai's are sisters and they are the best.  Seriously they know everything and they always feel the spirit.  The time I felt the spirit the most was on Sunday.  We were in sacrament and the branch next to us started to sing Nearer my God to thee.  The message was extremely powerful, about sacrifice and becoming truly converted to the Lord, rather than just having a testimony.  For the Sunday night fireside we sang, How Firm A Foundation.  We sang all 5 verses and it was so amazing.  I really felt the spirit during that song.  On Monday we taught our investigator another lesson.  She asked a lot of questions that I had no idea how to answer.  I just flipped through my notebooks and tried to find out how to answer it, but I had no idea how to do that in Japanese.  She asked what the gospel was, and it was so hard to answer.  We bore our testimony and tried our best to answer, but I have no idea what she felt of understood.  Today I saw Grandma Mecham in the Temple.  It was great to see her there.  We talked for about 30 seconds and then I had to go eat delicious food.  I want to write more, but there are about 800 people down in the laundry room waiting for this computer, and my companion is waiting for me.  Oh mom you wanted detail about "everything" well that "everything" is called special tahitian time.  That is when we know that somebody has to go to the bathroom.  Probably the funniest thing that has happened here so far.  I love you all so much. The church is true.  Thank you so much for the letters.  They mean a lot to me.  Jenalyn I love you so much.  You are such an amazing older sister. Heavenly Father is always there to help you out with anything you need.  I know that He answers our prayers and He loves us.  Happy Birthday Jenalyn you are so incredible.  "I'm never changing who I am." 
-Mecham Choro 

Elder Mecham entering in the provo MTC

The moment before he enters the MTC

There he is jumping for joy

We love our Elder

Families can be together forever

As close to Japan as you can get

Friends forever

Brothers

Goodbye Elder

Don't look back....

He didn't look back. He is going forward...

Jakes Farewell talk

            Throughout my life there have been many experiences that have strengthened my testimony, and helped prepare me to be a full-time missionary.  During almost every strong testimony building experience, my family was involved in some way.  At a young age my testimony was not my own.  My testimony was a combination of what my parents whispered into my ear, and anything I could remember learning in primary.  Although I did not have my own testimony, I had knowledge of the truths of the gospel, and how to gain my own testimony.  The Family Proclamation to the World states, “Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and to serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”  My immediate and extended families have taught me many principles that have helped prepare me to serve a full-time mission. 

While I was preparing for this talk I thought very hard about stories or instances when I have learned how to be a full-time missionary from my family.  I prayed to know what to write, but my mind was blank.  I was searching for long stories or strong testimony building experiences, when in reality my family has always been preparing me to serve a full time mission. Similar to a testimony, over time the lessons my family taught me helped me to become strong and to grow.  My Aunt Sarah loves to call my family and ask us who our favorite Aunt is.  When I was in fifth grade, my aunt Sarah called and pretended to be my writing teacher.  I was oblivious and too excited to think that my writing teacher wanted to talk to me, to realize that I was not speaking to my writing teacher at all.  I was asked by my “writing teacher” who didn’t even know her own name, who my favorite aunt was.  She began to explain how she wanted me and nobody else in the class to write an essay about my favorite aunt, but wanted to know who it was first.  I felt so important that my writing teacher wanted me to write an essay and nobody else in the class so I began to tell her who my favorite aunt was.  I told her my favorite aunt was my aunt Claire because she always teaches me to do what is right and sets a great example for me.  It became very uncomfortable after Sarah decided to tell me that I was not actually speaking to my writing teacher.  This became a funny experience to look back on, but has also taught me how much I have learned from my family by the examples they have set.

Every year my family goes to Lake Powell during the Fourth of July week for a family reunion.  During this week there is a lot work that needs to be done so that we can play. Whenever there is an opportunity to help another, my Aunt Linda is always there to serve.  She has been the greatest example of service to me.  In a talk given by President Gordon B. Hinckley he shares a story where he received a letter from his father, which said, “Forget yourself and go to work.”  Through the example my Aunt Linda has set, I have learned how I need forget myself and go to work. 

Every missionary needs to be a hard worker.  Currently my house is being remodeled, which requires a lot of work.  I would return home from work, and immediately start working again.  During the remodeling process there were many times when I wanted to be able to just sit down and relax, but I was not able.  There was always work to be done.  Although my family may not have intended for remodeling the house to serve as a learning experience for what missionary work will be like, I have learned how much energy missionary work will require, and how heavily I will depend on the spirit to help me. Genesis 3:19 says, “By the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread.” This means that all the work I do on my mission will allow me to receive strength and experience joy. It would be impossible for me to serve a mission if I was lazy, or did not know how to work hard.  My family is definitely not lazy and has done a great job on teaching me how to be active and work hard. 

(Julies Story)

-Swim meet when mom came in and told me what happened to Julie

-Family traveled to Colorado to be with Julie, Brought them together

-Found out we were going to run the marathon for Julie

-We have our families to support us, but our progress is individual

-Being surrounded by family, running alone then being surrounded by family.

-Working hard for a good cause

Not only is it important to be a hard worker as a missionary, but missionaries must also be obedient.  We know that the missionaries must go to be early and rise early, study the gospel and in my case a new language.  In the Hymn “How Great the Wisdom and the Love” the first line of the third verse says, “By strict obedience, Jesus won.”  Most of us like to win.  I have been blessed or cursed with the extreme competitive gene, which makes my desire for winning very intense.  So obviously I want to win on my mission.  Just as Jesus won, I will be obedient and return home with honor and can say that I won. 

Alma 57:21 says, “Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.”  My family has taught me many times about obedience.  After I was baptized I worked so hard to be obedient and to stay perfect.  I thought that if I never made a mistake for the rest of my life, I would have my golden ticket to heaven.  Every little mistake I made felt like the world was going to end.  I was obeying everything that I was told, but when I made a mistake, I felt like my mistakes would just keep adding up on this giant list of mistakes that I had made throughout my life.  This is when my mom taught me about the importance repentance and the atonement.  She reminded me that I could pray to Heavenly Father and ask for forgiveness.  She taught me how I can give my pains and sorrows to Christ and say I am sorry for what I have done.  When I went through the temple I was reminded about the atonement. My grandma Mecham said that yes baptism, repentance and the atonement are very important to teach on my mission; also teaching that families can be together forever is important.  The ultimate goal of this life is to return up to Heaven to live with Heavenly Father, Christ, and our families forever.  I was able to perform sealing’s with my parents and grandparents, which reminded me the importance of my family. The gospel teaches us that there must be opposition in all things. 

There was a time in my life where deaths in my family and funerals almost became a routine.  My dad was struggling with unemployment, and my mom was working her hardest to support my family.  My family did not lose our crazy energy, but the energy in our house was controlled.  Whenever the news that a family member passed away, it always seemed to be while my siblings and I were all together downstairs.  I remember sitting downstairs on the couch, almost waiting for my mom to come upstairs and tell us who had just passed away.  The first funeral was a shock for me.  Not because a family member had passed away, but because I saw all of immediate and extended family suffering together. I wanted to help everyone feel comforted, but I didn’t know how.  Soon after my cousin, Aunt, Great-grandpa and Great-grandma passed away.  I had many doubts about whether or not I would see my family members again.  I became nervous that someone in my immediate family would pass away. Throughout those funerals, my family worked together to help comfort each other.  I would listen to the stories they told and the way they talked about the family members.  They would testify that they would see them again, and the spirit confirmed to me that I would see my family again. These trails helped to strengthen my testimony and taught me an important principle that missionaries use to help convert others to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that families can be together forever. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go skiing with my family one last time. When we first arrived it was very foggy and hard to see anything around us.  As the day went on the fog began to clear and the sun came out.  I am sure there will be many foggy days while I am on my mission where I will want to just fall down in the snow and lay there, but through the lessons and principles my family taught me, I will be able to make it through those foggy days.  Just like my Grandma Mecham taught me the importance of sealing families so they can be together forever, I will be able to teach the people of Japan that they can be with their family forever, and be led out of the fog.

My family has always been the greatest blessing in my life.  One Sunday my family and I were at my Grandma Mecham’s with my extended family, talking and sharing stories.  My cousin Lindy began to share how much she loves and is grateful for her family.  She said that every day in her prayers she thanks Heavenly Father for the family she has.  I knew how much I love my family, but I was reminded to always express my gratitude to my family and my Heavenly Father. 

My family has prepared me to be the best missionary I could ever be.  They have taught me so much and made me the person I am today.  I have so many great examples of cousins, aunts and uncles who have served missions, and cousins who are currently on missions.