Elder Kelson Eliot's Blog: Well, I'm in Japan!

11/09/2014

Japan at first sight!

Well.

I'm in Japan

How awesome is it that I'm actually in Japan.

I'm typing this on a Japanese Keyboard (which is super annoying because all of the punctuation marks are in weird places)

I am in Otaru Hokkaido Japan.

I am breathing Japanese air.

I am eating Japanese Food.

I am (trying very hard) speaking the Japanese Language.

I am relieving myself on Japanese Toilets (which are a whole story in and of themselves)

It is so amazing here. The town is beautiful, the people are so nice, and the weather is great. Its apparently already snowed here a few times, and its been raining today. It is so cold even in the church right now. It is hard for me to type because my fingers are frozen. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

It has definitely been a culture shock. All of the Native Japanese I've ever heard came from TV shows, and the Ni Hon Jin that came to the MTC. So when I got out here and everyone voices were different, I couldn't understand a thing. Not because its a different language, but imagine someone that has learned English from someone who speaks with a British accent, then they come over to america, and the here someone with a southern accent. It's not accent but it is different. I've already gotten used to it.

I'm already fluent in Japanese though. I can speak to anyone anytime anywhere, and I can read everything, and pay for anything. I'm well set.

JK I'm actually struggling so hard core. I am more prepared than I expected to be though, and that's been a huge blessing. For those of you who didn't hear, my trainer's name is Elder Rostedt. For those of you who don't understand the significance of this, when I got my call in May, and was super excited, my dad was even more excited. He started checking everything out about this mission, and eventually found someone on the Facebook Mom pages that just so happened to be Elder Rostedt's dad. So his dad sent my dad a PDF of all the emails he had already written, and then proceeded to forward the rest of them to me. So I have known Elder Rostedt for a few months now. When I got to Japan I started talking with Nakatsuka Kaicho and the AP's (Assistants to the Mission President) about people that I already knew here, and when I mentioned Elder Rostedts name they were shocked. Eventually on Wednesday the announced our trainers, and when I was told that I was going to be with Elder Rostedt, my heart leaped with Joy because I already knew how awesome he was.

Most of our get to know you time has been him getting to know me though, because I already know quite a bit about him. He is wonderful though. I'm loving getting to work with him. His testimony is So Strong, and he is a very Spiritual Person.

Well I'm out of time this week. I did get to see Elder Roylance at the Transfer spot this week. I'll Send pictures. I'll talk about Nakatsuka Kaicho a little bit next week, as well as explaining some different things about Japan.

As for now, I will be done.

So until next week everyone.

愛しています。

Elder Eliot