Grundvig shimai, violette shimai and i all became sister training leaders this past sunday! basically we're zone leaders for all of the sisters in our branch: we get to check in with all of the sister missionaries each night to make sure they're doing okay and talk to them if they have any concerns or problems. also we welcome the new missionaries which we may or may not get this week... we'd give them tours and tell them all of the rules about the MTC and everything else that's important. hahah but it's kinda unfortunate because we are still learning the rules as well. The first counselor of the branch presidency that called us told us that we are the youngest/newest sisters that they've called. takusan shinko desu ne. so we get to visit lots of the sisters who leave MONDAY (there are 6) and then also the girls next to us, one of them is sister millham from michigan!!!!, but there are only two of them. we're praying for loads of more shimai tachi to come in this week!!!!! woo! also the 1st counselor is the nephew of President Hinckley and the most inspiring person i've met here at the MTC (which has been almost everyone)

3. I SAW FERDERBER SHIMAI!!!!! she came in on wednesday and i saw her at dinner!!!!! <3 tell Sister Ferderber for me (: she's doing great!!! and her comp looks super nice. also i saw her at lunch in between general conference sessions which was great (: she's a killer missionary.

4. hahahhaahhahaha okay so one of my comps, violette shimai, is 6'1" inches tall. she's very tall. and a stunner at basketball. but she hurt her foot awhile back so she was in a boot for forever and her foot was hurting again for the past couple of weeks, but FINALLY she's all better and we thought we'd go to the gym to play volleyball with all of the choro tachi in our district. it was super crowded so we decided that we'd play basketball! but at the MTC when boys and girls play together, girls have to always be guarding each other. and, due to the lack of sisters here currently, i offered to play so that she could play-- it's been like 3 months since she's been able to and she was super stoked. Slash grundvig shimai wanted to run on the track and i thought this was the lesser of two evils. hahahahah. so anyway, i was attempting to guard a 6'1" 3-year-varsity basketball star. I, Daniels Shimai, who has never played a real game of basketball in my life. hahahaha it was WAY FUN and i loved it but obviously i was suuuupa bad. hhahahhahahah and at the end of gym time i had FIVE ELDERS come up to me. FIVEEEE. and they all said something along the lines of, "so we saw you trying to guard your comp. and it was the funniest thing ever. but great try!!! it looked like a lot of fun!" ii desu ne. hahahahahahh. i wish i could've seen it, though. 

5 GENERAL CONFERENCE IS THE BEST THING EVER. i've never been so psyched for general conference?! but today it went by super quickly and i loved loved loved Elder Bednar's talk, particularly the part about blessings. This past week I started getting really bad headaches and had a migraine and i actually received a blessing from black choro and eversole choro. I was super hesitant to at first, but it helped me IMMENSELY. What he said is true, and I've seen it SO much here. The Lord often blesses us with spiritual blessings, even when we ask for physical ones. I was praying super hard that I would be able to shuchu (focus-- wonderful word) in class and that my migraines would go away (silly) so that I could focus on the spirit and just be happier and at ease. so really what i was asking for was that my burden would be taken away from me. but burdens (omoni) would be pointless then. In my blessing, Black Choro said that this particular burden is for the intent that I learn and grow and that I can become a better leader, and be able to feel the Spirit (mitama) moto (more) as a missionary. That blessing was truly amazing and I know that it came straight from Heavenly Father. Regardless---- as I was praying to be relieved from mortal strain, I was definitely blessed with increased stamina. Since the blessing, i'll still have a lot of pains in different parts of my head, but through it all i am still able to focus on the nihongo and watashi no mokuteki as a senkyoshi. (purpose as a missionary). Slash i really enjoy all of these talks about missionary work. all of them were just so amazing!! Elder Holland's talk and Elder Christofferson's talk and Elder Soares' talk and basically the Spirit was amazingly strong and the world is just great and I have so much hope. I just feel that way all the time here-- the MTC IS THE BEST. Which reminds me-- my district leader quotes nacho libre all the time. iiit's da BEST.