Week 7- Actions vs. Thoughts
Aloha Minasan,
Literally another insanely fast week. Once the days start blending together time just shoots by. It’s kinda hard remembering what even happened through the week and what day something even happened on. But that’s probably the only thing I have to worry about. Which is a good thing. Also this email is long, but they all are LOL.
This week was a lot of reflection on who I am as a person. Ever since I’ve gotten here one of the biggest things for me has been my thoughts vs. my actions. In the sense that I try my best to do the right, to be kind and loving to others but my thoughts are not always on the same page. It’s so easy for me to get annoyed and think of some unkind words in my head when I don’t like what someone else does or says something. I find myself wondering why I was even so mad in the first place and why I had such angry thoughts towards others. Reminding myself that there is no need to be so angry at others for things that are so small. It really is a struggle, especially in the MTC where there are so many different people with different backgrounds. It’s easy to misunderstand someone else's intentions or actions without clear communication, which happens a lot here. Through reflection I kept constantly asking myself how to align my thoughts with my actions. I may do actions that define me as a good person but am I truly a good person if sometimes my thoughts are not as well intentioned. This doesn’t mean I’m always angry (I swear) but I wish I was not so quick to anger. As I was pondering this subject however, we had a worldwide missionary devotional. The speaker was Neil L. Andersen from the Quorum of the Twelve. Btw I was literally sitting in the front row. I was so excited. Anyways, he reminded us of what the Prophet told us during conference. “Think Celestial.” If you don’t know what that means, basically think with the end goal in mind (The Celestial Kingdom). A few points he talked about was:
-How do we become more and more like Jesus Christ
-Adopt the practice of thinking celestial
-Teach your mind to ALWAYS think celestial
-What kind of person do YOU want to be?
This literally hit spot on the nose what I was pondering about and it gave me even more to ponder about throughout the week. What kind of person do I want to be? How can I teach myself to ALWAYS think Celestially? I felt so down because I'm pretty sure that thinking Celestially did not include thoughts of annoyance, anger, or spite towards others. But it also reminded me that we are not perfect and never will be. Although I do have times where my thoughts are not where they are supposed to be, we can still be perfected through Christ. But that’s not going to be easy. I’m actually wayyyyy far from aligning my thoughts and actions. But overtime I will slowly improve. If you find yourself like me, often in a state of annoyance I encourage you to take a deep breath and be like a bridge over water. Let everything run under you like the water of a stream. You can help yourself do that by finding something that relaxes you, whether that be music, reading a book or just working out. I encourage everyone who feels as I do to work on aligning thoughts and actions with me! Let me know what your thoughts are on the subject I would love to hear from you all! (Also if you want me to send you my notes from the devotional LMK!
Highlights of the week:
-My comp got sick
-Surprise a package???
-The cut is real!
-The unbeatable volleyball team
-Bye my friends
-I think I’m getting the hang of Japanese? (Maybe)
My comp got sick:
Surprise Package???
No one told me this was coming but the Maui Medeiros family sent me a little box with some candy and halloween socks. It was such a nice surprise because I really only expected to get some Melatonin that week. So I just wanted to say thank you for that! And thank you to Aunty Anela and my parents for sending me goodies too! Also the box was so cute LOL!
The cut is real!
Down 7 pounds BABY! Usually I was never really a fan of pushups, or choices (like a healthy chipotle) but they both do wonders. Along with running massive amounts of volleyball and hitting the weights every now and then. I swear all I eat here is either choices or the dietary meals which are usually just protein and a form of carbs. I did do a massive cheat day though, I could not resist the nutella cheesecake and the ice cream on friday. It was just calling my name. But it feels so good to be physically, mentally, and spiritually growing inside the MTC.
The unbeatable volleyball team
So basically how volleyball works in the MTC is there's two courts and a line for both. King of the court, winner stays on, loser gets off. Except the bleachers broke so there was really only one court. So the lines got ridiculously long. One day I hopped on a team with some guys who played volleyball and we ran the court for the whole hour without losing. It was so sick. Since being in the MTC I really have been tryna focus on setting and these guys loved it. Almost every guy on the team had a cannon for an arm and not to flex but my sets have gotten pretty good since recovering from the ankle injury. A lot of people in line were lowkey salty and I would be too if I had to wait in line to have to block a 6’ 5” guy. Unfortunately most of them were stateside missionaries so they left this past friday. But we ran it again before the left and you can already guess what happened. Some of them are coming to BYU provo after the mish too, so yk I already got the Facebooks LOL. Our teacher also ran some volleyball with us today too. I focused too much on sets though because my hits and jump serve was LACKING. All fun though, except he left and I literally did so good. Jones sensei I swear I’m not a BUM, Tibbs can verify!!!
Bye my friends!
So our old roommates and a lot of the Spanish missionaries left this week. It sucked saying goodbye this time because they were all such cool people. Especially Elder Humps & Harding (Our roommates) and Elder Nye. I know they’re all gonna be sick missionaries and….. They get 10’s for wives when they get back.
I think I’m getting Japanese?
I swear sometimes I feel like I’m doing really well, putting sentences together well without too much thoughts and then bam. I get humbled. It’s all good though, I’ve been really focused on improving my word knowledge because as I get more grammar patterns down I can plug in all types of new words and they’re honestly just fun to learn. It is a process of trial and error though because sometimes I find a really hard word that has a simpler meaning or a more common word that everyone uses. Regardless, it's been fun learning and growing more and more.
Japanese word of the week:
じゅんぷうまんぱん=Smooth sailing; chill
Apparently it's not used that often but it's a very fun word to use. Whenever someone ask げんきですか? (Are you good?) We've been replying with じゅんぷうまんぱん。So you know if someone ever asks how you're doing just say (jun-puu-man-pan) and you're basically a native Japanese speaker.
Let me know how you're doing, everyone! Would love to hear from you! 愛してます！！
Shoots!
エリスちょうろう
#TheRisingSon
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