woooooooho! ONE MORE FULL DAY LEFT IN AMERICA! i don't have a ton of time so i really want to stress a couple of things: 

1. i'm excited to call you on monday and skype you in 6 weeeks!! (: also, i would like to send a shout-out to santa claus for the camera: it works super well and i love it and i won't even drop it ever

2. ari, violette shimai and i were released as sister training leaders last sunday and we sang a trio in sacrament meeting. The song was called the "Olive Tree" and was super gorgeous, not necessarily because of our singing, but because an elder from our district who has more talent than anyone i've ever seen, accompanied us. ALSO, last night, we went into a piano room and he went super crazy and composed a medley of Christmas songs and video game themes and millions of other things. i also discovered my 3rd favorite thing in the entire world: laying underneath a baby grand piano and absorbing the vibrations of a master pianist-- it was the one of the coolest feelings of my lifE

3. also, we had our last lessons with our investigators: all 5 of them. I basically cry every day now because it makes me super sad knowing that this will be the last time I'll be with some of these incredible people-- i've grown SO close to so many angels here and it'll be really hard to say goodbye. I probably should just carry tissues around with me everywhere. Classic. 

ahhhhhhh sorry, i stink at this. until next week!! happy thanksgiving!!!!!!! (:

meg

WE'VE GOTTEN DOWN TO SINGLE DIGITS! i leave the MTC in 9 days!!!! we finally got our travel plans! monday the 18th we report to the travel office at a ripe old 2:30 a.m. because our flight is at 6:00 from salt lake to san francisco. we have a 4 hour layover and then we leave straight for osaka!!!!!!!!! and we'll get there at 4:30 on the 19th hahaha. our travel group is HUGE. 32 of us are flying together and all going to kobe!!! AH THIS IS SO REAL! (: 

other items of business:

- we hosted again this week and a TON of nihonjin came!!!!! I got to practice my japanese on some real-life japanese people which was super exciting and they basically just laughed at me a lot but i don't even care because they are the cutest things i've ever seen in my entire life. and i could understand most of what they said so that was really reassuring that they're teaching me a real language here. hahah sometimes i wonder

- also, we had this AMAZING opportunity to help out the new missionaries this week! The very first day, all of the newbies are split up and sent to different rooms where they are joined by a volunteer. This volunteer is at his/her "house" and it's a simulation kinda thing where some missionaries come over to their house and give an example of how to begin teaching. Meaning they just get to know the person, figure out their needs so that they see how they can help them, and then evaluate how they can help this person come closer to Christ. Which is just a regular lesson. In this case, however, the group takes over after approximately 10 minutes of us teaching. But since this group is new, they sit in on what a lesson is like. Violette shimai, Grundvig shimai and I were chosen to be these missionaries that groups of new missionaries got to watch which was super exciting and also a little intimidating. But we just focused on the individual and beforehand we just prayed to be able to feel God's love for them and oh my word it was incredible. I felt overwhelmed with love for this person that I had never met and it's soo incredible to feel just a tiny portion of what my Father in Heaven DOES feel for me, and feels for every one of us. If you haven't felt it in a while, pray to feel it and then give Him a chance to shower us with His love. He loves us so much and wants us to feel it and I promise you He will. 

sorry this is so short. I love you all and am always praying for you! 

love

meg

That's it: we're officially dai senpai! a.k.a. we are officially the "oldest" group on MTC campus. I think this marks week 7?? All I know is that I leave for JAPAN in 16 days and that although my language level is far below ready, MY SOUL IS. I'm sososoos excited, especially after that email that Dad sent about the Japanese festivals and the nihongo men carting around delicious treats while they sing. I am ready. But mostly I'm excited to just go find real people to talk to and real people to invite to come unto Christ. The MTC has been such an amazing time for spiritual growth and I just want to go share with as many people as I can the joy and peace that I've found in Christ and help them to do the same. More about that later, though. Here are some wonderful things that happened this past week:

1. I SAW MITCHELL WORKING AT THE MTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he got a ground crew job on campus and after gym on monday (?) I saw a familiar ohio state sweatshirt blowing leaves. hahahhahahah Ari yelled, "IT'S HER BROTHER!" as I ran up and hugged him since the rules here are really firm about opposite gender physical contact--  Even with our branch presidency. So i hug them super tight in my mind. But, since Mitch is family, I gave him 3 hugs and talked to him for awhile about life and missionary work and I bore him my testimony in japanese. Tender mercies!!!!! hahah but sometimes i catch myself looking for him whenever we're outside. but i PROMISE that i'm staying focused! like 99.3%.

2. On Wednesday we got the new shipment of missionaries here at the MTC, and we received SIX new sisters in our branch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are two new districts in our branch and it's the best thing ever. i love them so dearly. We gave them a tour of campus on Wednesday night and apparently there is a second door to the laundry room that i never knew existed??? hahah i think i lost some credibility when they realized i've been here 7 weeks and i still don't know these things. i've decided it's my calling in life to be embarrassing to help people feel better about themselves. I ain't even mad.

3. Also, with the new shipment of missionaries, I got to host!!! I, along with a hundred other missionaries, stood at the curb side, took pictures for mom, assured mom that we have food and showers and laundry and email, lugged suitcases around, and showed the missionaries to their dorms and classrooms. It was way fun and I loooooove seeing the families dropping off their missionaries. It was wicked cold outside so we also got hot chocolate <3. hahahhaha AND THE BEST PART WAS THAT ONE FAMILY WAS WATCHING NACHO LIBRE SO I WAS ABLE TO KIND OF LISTEN TO IT WHEN I WAS WALKING BY A CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahha we quote that a lot here. I didn't actually see anything, but it was the scene when Nacho gets lots of confidence and decides to go fight for the orphanage. <3 so inspiring.

4. On Halloween my doryos (companions) and i decided to dress up like star wars characters. our options were suuuuuper limited so i basically looked like i just wanted to wear all brown and put my hair half-up. Ah you all guessed it! I was Qui-gon ginn!! (forgive me for spelling that wrong.) Ari was anakin, and Violette shimai was princess leia. hahahah she had side buns and ari had a rat tail but other than that we just looked like brown and white crayons. BUT an elder in our district has- i am not making this up- JEDI CHOPSTICKS. AND THE BEST PART IS THAT THEY'RE BOTH RED AND THE ENDS ARE MAGNETIC SO IT LOOKS LIKE DARTH MAUL'S LIGHTSABER. It is clear we're all supposed to go to japan. i can't even say i'm embarrassed that i freaked out so much when i saw them. I tucked one in my belt (; but a couple people caught on! hhaha we changed around dinner to orange and black clothes. please send me pictures of the kids' costumes!!!!!

5. I am blessed to know some of the sweetest people in the world! Mom and Ferderber family: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGES!! (: it definitely made my LIFE. Ferderbers: you have a thank-you note on the way. Also, the Fegels sent me a super sweet letter and I also got my gloves in the mail! DAD THANKS SO MUCH THOSE ARE PERFECT AND I LOVE THEM. 

6. There was a super cool guy from the quorum of 70 who came and spoke to us (: he had the BEST portuguese accent and he was just the cutest thing I've ever seen. Also, i'm running out of time so i'll talk more about what he said next week because it was awesome. 

I'm sorry spencer that I stole back my OSU shorts. Also, i'm super proud of osu crushing purdue 56-0. I shed a tear. 

I hope everything is going well! I pray for you all a million times every day. Kono fukuin wa kanzen to shinjitsu kokoro kara da to akashi shimasu. Kamisama wa watashitachi no Ten no Otosama to Iesu Kirisuto wa mina san no Sukuinushi to Aganainushi da to shite imasu. Iesu Kirisuto ni shinjinasai. kare wa hoho o ten ni modoru to shite imasu. Iesu Kirisuto no mina ni yotte to akashi shimasu amen. 

have a great week!!!! (: 

Hello, loved ones!!!! i found sister ferderber before she left for brazil!!!! <3 woooooo! tell sister ferderber that she's doing super well, as expected (:

This week has been the biggest blessing of my lifeeee. I have had 0 migraines, 0 headaches. which never ever happens, especially for this length of time???? That priesthood blessing was takusan chikarazuyoi deshita ne.-- really powerful. and Heavenly Father is so loving. So now i have even more of an opportunity to learn as much as i can and grow as much as I can since He's given me even more of an amazing opportunity. 

A couple things that happened this week:

~FAMILY: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! i should be obese. 1. because of  all the delicious food you are sending me, and 2. because my doryo (companion)'s father works at trader joes, and sends packages of the most amazing food i've ever had: cookie butter, for example. it is like peanut butter but made of cookies and it's basically what manna would be. but grundvig shimai has me run with her all the time (which i actually enjoy??!?!) and also she, violette shimai, and i divide all of our food between each other and also our choro tachi in our district andddd the girls on our floor! which brings me to another exciting gem of information:

~we should be getting more sisters this week!!!!!!! we're still sister training leaders so we get to move them in and give them the grand welcoming/tour. I'M SO STOKED!!! sister missionaries are so fun (: 

~we met a ton of nihonjin!!! (japanese people!) and one night we met 3 choro tachi, and they asked me to bear my testimony to them! so that was AWESOME! it was sososo cool and they were really nice and told me that i speak japanese really well, which is a lie. hahahah but they were impressed when i said "dispensation" and testified of Joseph Smith being the first prophet in this last dispensation? i even got a fist bump. <3

~mitch: you'd be proud. we went a day of only speaking in nihongo! i spoke less than 50 words! but we spoke english when ari and i ran together during gym time. so really it was more. also during planning. i'm sounding less and less impressive hahahhaa. 

anyway, i love you all and i pray for you all every day and night. If you're ever struggling with anything, read the Book of Mormon. I promise you it'll make your day better, every time. 

itsumo kokoro kara ai shite imasu! 

ganbatte! yoroshigo onegaishimasu! i definitely spelled that wrong. 

<3

daniels shimai