Hello Family!

February 5, 2016




I love hearing from you and am glad that you all seem to be doing so well! I miss you a lot, but am so busy here that I don't have time to stay sad. haha. We have quite the district! haha Grahm Choro is a stud! He's 20 Years old. He is way into crossfit Eric! He loves skiing, and has done summer sales the last two summers, and did so well! He is going to be an amazing missionary. His companion, Harper choro, is the biggest character ever. He is the super skinny, very pale skinned, pretty tall elder, in the pictures I sent you. He is well, the best word to describe him is geeky. He's awesome, and super super smart. He is a "programmer", loves his video games, and is also apparently a DJ, and always talks about the lifestyle of a dj. It's hilarious. Some quotes by him, "As a programmer I have no need for muscle." What about being able to hold your kids when your older? "I can build a robot to do that." hahahahaha another..."I don't get up at 6:30, because I am worried about my safety. I will literally run into things!" haha another..."I can build robots to move my couches". "I'm a dj, I'm used to going to bed at 2 and waking up at 5." (The dj comments are hilarious, because he's the last person I would assume to be a "DJ".) Another quote: "My mind is blown by how well they protected this computer! I literally cannot bypass any of these walls, and that has never happened to me!" 

We also have another elder in our district who is also really tall, but not super skinny, (Still relatively skinny though) He is extremely smart, and also a character. He has lots to say, all the time, about all of his opinions and ideas. He's the kind of person who likes to take 10 minutes seemingly to contradict someone, only to end up agreeing. It's hilarious. As far as ages, only me and Harper choro are 18, everybody else is 19. Our zone leader Monopori choro is from australia, but is Samoan, he's the biggest G ever, and is the funniest coolest elder. He is 24 years old!! He's so awesome. Basketball and volleyball here are sweet! My companion is great! He's also a G, more of a quiet G. He has 3 tattoos! haha. 

The days have started to fly by here! The first 4 days were good, but they lasted an eternity, but now the days zip by. I haven't had any issues getting up on time, so that's been good! The food here is good! I am not sick anymore, so I can eat things that I would like, and not just drink water and cranberry juice now! haha They have really good granola and honey bunches of oats type cereal here! I haven't eaten any really good cereal here, because I wasn't healthy, but I might eat some sugar cereals now. haha. I've been drinking almond milk with cereal! It feels a lot better. We went to the temple again today! I love being a missionary! It's so fun and I am learning so much about what it really means to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I've found that whenever I have a judgmental thought about someone, or am allowing myself to be bothered by someone, that the spirit is not with me. I have been able to overcome a lot of my pride, and not be irritated by things that can be extremely irritable! haha. Japanese is awesome! I am learning a lot! I am almost as good at Japanese as I am at German! It's crazy how fast we learn things here! I can pray, and bear my testimony, and many other things in Japanese! I set a goal to learn at least 20 words a day outside class, 5 during each meal, and 5 in the morning while getting ready. At night I make flashcards for the next days words. I might up it to 30 words a day soon! The gift of tongues is real, and helps a lot! We have progressed a ton in the language!

This is the G 24 year old!

Last friday night we taught our first Japanese investigator! I went into the lesson literally thinking that he was not a member, and that we had to speak Japanese to teach him the gospel. He didn't understand any English at all. I barely knew any Japanese and I had to teach this investigator about how God is his heavenly father who loves him. My companion is awesome, because he knows a lot of japanese from being in the mtc for 5 weeks here a year ago. He helped a lot, but the spirit was strong and I was directed to where I needed to look to find the words and how to say what I wanted to say! It was such a cool experience. I have learned that the more that I trust in the lord with total humility, the more he helps us. I went into the next lesson pretty confident(In myself) and it did not go well at all. The third lesson was great again though, because I recognized that I had to be humble and know that any ability I had to speak was soley because of the spirit. The fourth lesson was also good, and we invited him to be baptized, and he said he would after learning more, and now we are getting a new kudosha (Investigator). That investigator (Inasan) will most likely become one of our new japanese teachers, and then we will have another volunteer investigator to teach. It's awesome! It's really important to see the investigators as real people, and pretend that they really are real investigators, who want to learn about the church and know literally no english. The more I do that the more the spirit helps me in the lessons. It is super awesome. I love being here. I am tired a lot, which isn't necessarily bad, it's just how the mission is, haha I'm sure Eric can tell you that. I love you all so much, and hope you are doing great. I am praying for you and I know that Heavenly father and Jesus Christ love you so much. 

Love, Conover Choro