I'm on a mission, 'n' stuff!

Konnichiwa!!! 

Alright, they don't give us much time to think read or type, so here goes nothing!!

Let me tell you about my district!

First the Sendai Missionaries:

Nebecker Choro (oh, FYI I will spell every one of their names wrong): He's the DL! He's 18, and is probably one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He's got a fake tooth that he can pop out on command, and he's pretty buff. He was into sports 'n' all that. HE'S AWESOME! (oh he's from Utah)

His companion: Rasmussen Choro- He's really small and quiet when you are in a large group. We call him the 'Ninja' because you can't tell if he's there. But however, when you are alone with him, he'll talk you're ear off. He's small but strong, and he's like a professional martial artist. He could probably kill me with one punch. Also, apparently he's got 6 or more nun-chucks at home, and a ton of swords. (from Utah)

ME: Awesome, cool, etc.

Anderson Choro- He's amazing. I'll talk more about him later.

Tokyo missionaries:

Watanabe Choro- He's half-Asian, half-Indian (like India Indian), and half-white. But he looks Indian. He knows nearly everything about the Japanese language, so yep... He's awesome. He is from Utah as well. He has an uncle who's Indian and can do a perfect Indian accent. He walks around to the newer elders and says in a perfect Indian accent: "What mission you go?" And they all explain slowly in English. It's so funny... Ahh I love him.

Day Choro- (Watanabe Choro's companion) He was a drama kid. Yep. Pretty stereotypical. He's really loud and likes to mess with people and act crazy. I see many good things about him. He shattered his neck the day he got his mission call (he fell off a 10-20 foot platform backwards and landed on his head) and somehow it shattered all around his nerves but didn't cut any of them. He somehow recovered to go on his mission on time... Amazing. He's really a good kid. 

Gray Choro- Take every aspect of Cody Dickson (physically and personality-wise) and you've got Gray Choro. He's got a more mellow personality though, but he's classy and nice. (And he gets 20 billion letters a week. This is not a hyperbole. This is real) He's a nice guy that'll help anyone out who needs it.

Allred Choro- He's from Texas (everyone is from Utah unless otherwise specified) and has a classic tough guy personality, but sprinkled with beautiful flecks of kindheartedness. He was in the military before, and he's.... HUGE!!! Take your hands- form them both into fists- put the before mentioned fists on top of one another- put those on your sternum- this equals his chest size. (no joke) He's an amazing Elder that's tolerant of everyone.

Lutz Choro- Oh Lutz Choro... Oh Lutz Choro.... He's a ginger who is a little crazy. He loves to laugh and he's always smiling with a crooked smile. He is always positive and tends to fall asleep in class. Oh man... He's so funny. In the bathroom he dropped his mtc card while he was in the stall. He yells "Oh no! BUD'S COIN!" I couldn’t stop laughing.... AHHH I love him.

Hobenden Choro (that's how we pronounce his name in Japanese) - He's the choir guy. Singing every time we shower and making sure we sing at the beginning and end of all of our meetings. He's from Washington state, somewhere around Federal Way. He loves to correct people, and has a contagious laugh. Overall, he's a nice guy.

AH WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE!!!!

Okay now the sisters-

Kelly Shimai- She's amazing and nice, and I don't know too much about her. She's from Oregon maybe... She's 20ish I think, and she's really sweet.

Cortes Shimai- Cortes Shimai is amazing. She's 19, from Mexico, and speaks every language. (Korean, German, English, Japanese, Spanish...obviously) She's amazing. Apparently down in Mexico they don't have all the extra-curricular activities that we have the in United States, so learning Languages became her hobby. She also started a school dancing team or something. She's so sweet and kind.

Skabulend Shimai- She's half-Asian, and unlike Watanabe, she looks it. She's amazing at Japanese, and is very clever. She says one thing that sounds too sweet and innocent, but in reality it is like 12 sarcastic insults. She's really nice, and knows so much.

Sickles Shimai- She's from Oregon for sure. She's the oldest of us all at 22. She's taken like 6 years of Japanese and puts us all to shame... She likes to talk, and she's very sweet.

TA DA!!!! That's everyone... phew...

So my dorio (companion) and me had an 'unscheduled (companionship inventory) .... yep. He thought I was working 'too-hard' and he wanted to have more fun. Well, that's what he said. He's not very good with words under pressure, and let's just say sometimes (I’m working on it) I put a little pressure on people when we 'discuss. Yep. But I finally worked out what he was saying and he had valid points. I've been working hard and haven't been happy with anything. I'm always looking at what I can improve and not rejoicing in what I've accomplished. I've got to keep my sight on perfection, but not to beat myself up if I don't reach it. Especially with Japanese. But my companion is seriously probably one of the most amazing people on this planet. I love him so much, and we're open about it. "aishiteimasu!" We say often. I forgot my card once at the book store and was checking out a Japanese hymnbook, and then put it back. little did I know he picked it up and bought it for me... Ah... I love him. Then!!! Later, I was mad because we only have PMG's that are in fake Japanese (written in roman characters) and I didn't know where to find a real one. The next day, he found one somewhere and gave it to me. He's always kind and hardworking, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better. The Lord has seriously blessed me so much.

Sunday= Amazing.... Seriously. The talks that we had were life changing. I don't know if you can even ever find this talk, but "TheCharacter of Christ" by Bednar Choro is amazing. It's a talk he gave at the MTC on Christmas a few years ago... AHHH!!! It's awesome. Spiritual Battery Power = Over 9,000.

Alright!!!

So we've been teaching this investigator named Harukawa-san. It's pretty rough to teach only in Japanese (hence me beating up myself), but he's an amazing guy. He's pretty white looking, so I thought he was a returned missionary but Anderson Choro thought he was real. Anyways... I challenged him to get baptized and he said he'd think about it. He seemed like a nice guy. Anderson Choro (being a nice guy again) brought him a root beer once and he bowed so low "domoarigatogozaimasu!". Yep. I was sad we'd never see him again.

We had a second a free time a few days later so I was practicing piano for sacrament, and we headed off to class. I walked in an Vealobos Sensei was gone, and Harukawa-san was our teacher!!! He just hugged both of us in one big hug. And you know those moments where you just smile for minutes on end because you're so happy? Yep, one of those. Ah.... His real name is Todd Sensei, and Harukawa-san was someone he taught on his mission. Yep. It was awesome to see him. So now we've got two Sensei's! (I'm not sure how to spell it in English)

My other Vealobos Sensei is amazing. Todd Sensei is excellent at explaining Japanese things, Vealobos Sensei is excellent at everything spiritual. Not that the other lacks the previous, they are both amazing.

Vealobos Sensei didn't want to go on a mission but then changed so much, and now he teaches missionaries. He's fresh off from Fukuoka, and he's a man that I very greatly admire.

Whew... I love you all.

The gospel is true.

Random facts: There are over 200 Japanese speaking missionaries in this MTC right now, Earlier in April, there were only 7.

Awesome.

I love you,

Elder Wheelwright

MTC Week One

So I'm in the MTC... And stuff.... I'm not exactly sure what to say because I haven't had any time to think. We jump from one class to the next and when we're not doing classes we're trying to make flash cards, learn how to pray, or bear our testimony.

Alright. So first day of class 'n' stuff:

They brought all of us into a big (I MEAN BIG) room with all the new Chorotachi and Shimaitachi (Elders and sisters) and told us we were on a mission. I fell out of my seat! No, sarcasm. They welcomed us all. I met my dorio (companion) in my first class and it was like- "Hey... I'm supposed to love you 'n' stuff." I didn't say aloud, but it was a prevalent thought. But yep. My dorio is an excellent young man. I was almost too prepared for him to be a disrespectful and rebellious choro that wanted to run away from me. But Neerp! He's an excellent man. He's a lot like me, but not really at all. He's like me in the fact that he wants to accomplish the Lord's will and he's willing to work hard. We both get distracted easily, but we're working on that. His name (which I should've already said) is Anderson Choro. He reminds me a bunch of Josh Fiso. At least his personality. But he's an excellent young man that takes suggestions with ease and gives them as well. I've had some times where I've had to breath hard and just tell myself that we don't have to do things my way, and that there's nothing wrong with walking a different way into the lunch room than I would think was best, etc. But HE'S REALLY RIGHTEOUSLY AMAZING!!! In all seriousness though, I love my dorio.

We have an excellent district as well. Everyone is willing to work hard, and it's not like high school at all. I thought people would make fun of the weaker and push them down, etc, but all that I see happening is people lifting each other up. "You can do it!" or "That's a really good idea, Elder!" Which kinda made me think everyone was being sarcastic and I was afraid, but they really mean it. Everyone is so amazing here and I love it so much! Some Elders are struggling, but everyone is there to support them. The great thing about a mission right now is: everyone wants to be here. It's an excellent thing. In classes the Senseitachi respect the Chorotachi and seriously accept everything they say. They respect the title to Choro and Shimai, and are willing to be taught by them.

So I'm here for nine weeks... Phechw. (That's a sigh with a smile at the end.) We're here the longest of all the Elders. I like it here, but I really want to go preach the gospel to the nihonjin.

So then!!! Nihongo class!

We're all sitting down not exactly sure what to do when a slightly older young man comes in and starts waving his hands and speaking nihongo at us. He didn't speak any eigo (English) at all! I just sweated though the class and tried to write things down, but it's getting easier. We also taught an 'investa-gator' (they're like alligators, but scarier... somimasen. I'm tired.) only in nihongo. We prayed from the book, testified from the book, read scriptures from the book, and frantically flipped though the dictionary every time he asked a question. It was.... rocky. But we're working on it.

I love the Lord so very much, and He has consistently picked me up every time I've fallen down.

But seriously guys, ( we're not allowed to call each other 'guys' here. Only chorotachi and shimatachi (elders and sisters) which is hard) the Lord exists. Take advantage of His marvelous Atonement and apply it in your lives. (Cool scripture thing Watanabi Choro was telling me: the Holy Ghost is the means of the Atonement's cleansing. Correct me if I'm wrong)

So missions...

Sensei was teaching us (like Senseitachi do) and Day Choro raised his hand.

"Sensei, I've seriously been wondering, does it get any easier."

Almost instantly Sensei replied: "No it does not. If it does, you're doing something wrong."

Yep. So it's hard, but it's a good hard. (Like when you run.) But the Lord will pick me up though all of this. I am His chosen servant that the prophet has called to represent me.

WHOA!!!! An Elder (who I don't know) just walked in and told us that the investigator that he was teaching was an actual investigator and he committed her to be baptized. It turned out the sister (investigator) was working for the Elder's father. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!@#$!@#$!!!! Whoa that just turned blue. Uh, I don't know if the Church is true because of that, but because I have felt it burn in my soul.

One last thing: It is righteous-ing me out (we can't use slang) that the rules aren't enforced. If we want to stay up late: we do. If we want to leave the MTC: we do. If we want to walk away from our companion: we can. If we want to use the phone to call home: yep we could do that too. Now, of course we don't do any of those things. But I was just amazed that there wasn't some leader staring over our shoulder at the computer, or someone checking on us at night. Obedience is a choice, and I've made the choice to be obedient. A mission is a choice and sometimes it's harder to work when someone isn't looking over your shoulder, but I've learned, and still am learning, how to work my hardest to be able to bring souls into the fold of God. If you're sitting and doing nothing, it's a wasted moment- and an investigator might suffer because of that. The Lord watches us and we'll be accountable unto him.

Well speaking of such, I've got to go.

I've been called to play the piano in Japanese sacrament. ALL IN JAPANESE!!!!

The shower water is hot, the drinking water is cold, and the Lord loves us all. What more could I ask for?

Love, Wheelwright

Who Am I?

As a missionary goes out to teach people in foreign lands.  One of the wonderful principles is about our identity.  Who am I?  Is a question that many people ask themselves.  A Missionary Teaches who you are!

MTC Drop Off

Provo Temple as a backdrop is always needed just before drop off

As you can see Tyson is excited to go!!!

Go ELDER!

Elder Wheelwright is now a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He will serve for two years and will report to the MTC July 17th at 2:00pm.



The ADVENTURE BEGINS!!!!!!

Join us on this exciting ride and have fun with us!!!!

"A Missionary Leaves His Family for Two Years so he can Help Families Be Together for ETERNITY!"

Go Elder