Phone calls! Halliday shimai makes phone calls! Wow, she's terrified of making phone calls...

Dear Fambly,

Yes, Clarissa is almost a mommy...I think that I think about that at least once a day. I have only gotten one letter from Clarissa here though *cough cough* and it was at the beginning of my stay here so yeah.

The new shimai are doing swimmingly. We've gone from flashlights at 10:31 to complete silence from 10:15 to 10:30. Sometimes its a little sad being a shimai...you're more expected to keep the rules than the elders and you KNOW they're in their residence halls having sleep overs. (yeah...the elders dragged all their mattresses into one room the other night and had a sleep over. needless to say...they were completely useless the next day.)

K, I don't know WHAT is up with the postal service. It sucks and I don't understand it at all. I'm glad Aubrey finally got my letter cuz I got the letter on Friday that told me to send her one and I was like "I wrote one two weeks ago!!!"

And now you tell me Yoo Jin didn't get one?!? AUGH! I sent Yoo Jin one at the same time as Didi! Someone please explain that! And comfort her and tell her I still love her please.

I got a letter from Natalee this week. I think that girl only writes when she has pictures she can send. lame!

So my choro tachi absolutely love you mommy. Larose choro is silly and thinks that you are now in competition with his mom...I think what he hasn't realized is that for every package he's gotten I've gotten like 3 and they're for the district...and he never shares his. I think he's made the connection between food and popularity though.

Am I ashamed of buying my popularity? No. hee hee.

Harris choro loved the letter and I think he's planning on writing back today actually. Apparently Sullivan choro now thinks he should write because he was personified on the front of the letter. My choro tachi are weird man.

I still love Smith choro to death. But he can't be my favorite anymore because there are too many other choro tachi to choose from. Ward choro has been on the list for a while now...he's been really nice and he totally saved my butt on Sunday when Larose choro imformed me at the last minute that he never practiced his piano and didn't want to play in Sacrament.

No one in our branch can play without practicing a little...there's just no one like that here. (the Mormon moms have been neglecting their duty) Anyhow, Ward choro offered to play even though he hadn't practiced. Which reminds me...I need to inform Allen choro its his turn to play this week.

Easter here really wasn't that different. Weird huh? The janitor in our building set up an easter egg hunt for us on Saturday...but surprisingly on Sunday, none of the talks changed. I think the atonement was mentioned like once...and then once in our individual interviews with the Branch Presidency. *shakes head*

The weather however was BEAUTIFUL and we shimai went up to the temple for a walk. We ended up whining about the field not being open cuz we're tired of the gym but every time I think about it, I think of Elder VanLeishout (Brittan's old comp)... "THE FIELD WILL NOT OPEN! THEY SAY IT WILL BUT IT WON'T! IT'S A LIIIIIIIIIIE!"

So I guess flight plans actually aren't coming until next Wednesday. Grrrrr. What the lame!? Oh well. *sigh* I'm so ready to get out of here. Not that I don't love it here but I've seen the same food rotation like 6 times! ugh! (thanks for the soup by the way. it helps muchly)

I've decided I'm going to be totally lost when I get to Japan anyhow so if I went tomorrow I probably wouldn't miss the last 2 weeks here anyways =P

Oh yes, so we got a new choro in our district. Sugihara choro. He was in a threesome...and since Howe choro left early, we had a threesome in our district and Sugihara choro is leaving early so it all worked out I guess. It's definitely an adjustment having him in here though. We're all really laid back and he's pretty serious. He's really fun when he wants to be...but sometimes he just doesn't understand the things we say. Can't think of any examples right off...but he's just not as laid back. Still, we all like him and he's fluent of course so people can stop asking me questions I don't know the answer to. (seriously...why do they ask me anyhow? Ward choro is better than me)

Let's see, oh! The big news of the day.

We went to the RC last night and I made 4 phone calls! No one actually answered and Williams choro says they don't count...but they do and he can just go to the celestial kingdom.

I made one, and Smith choro wouldn't let me log off until I had done one more. So then I did one grudgingly and he wouldn't let me log off again. And again! I ended up logging off when he was distracted...since it was past time anyhow. He says I have to do eight next week. Stupid district leader.

But really I love him of course.

I love all my choro tachi! They're so amazing! We've already made plans to go houseboating on Lake Powell when we come home. It'll be weird though cuz we'll probably all keep calling each other Elder and Sister and the girls will probably claim one half of the house boat and the elders take the other. And we'll probably all wake up at 6:30 for personal study and set aside half an hour for swimming...and probably begin and end with a prayer...if we even dare go swimming...the devil might get us =P

Yeah...oh well.

Anyhow, the shimai are in a different district but our same zone. The kohai all get their own districts cuz it would throw everyone off if half your district left for Japan. And no. Perkins shimai is leaving with her group. Not ours. I think she was just confused when we talked to her.

Well, I have two minutes left so I better go!

One more thing for future reference. When you take things off the SD card, if you used the canon software from my camera, the videos won't lag. That of course depends though on if you can use the other canon camera to upload the pic cuz it won't work without a canon camera. I don't know if that one even works anymore.

Anyhow! Gotta go!

I miss you all! really really!

oh and dad. you're gonna laugh at this...but I've been wanting to go fishing for like a week now

bye!

Halliday shimai is humbled...well sort of!

Dear Fambly

Lots to write and I wanna TRY to respond to your many questions mom so lets get started.

Harris Choro isn't our district leader anymore, it's Smith choro now...and I'll probably start gushing about how much I love Smith choro in a little bit here but I'll try to refrain for now.

Also, yes, our TRC lessons are in Japanese now and I'm not gonna lie...they suck. It's not as bad as Brittan made it sound...he made it sound like we'd never be able to do it. But I'm of course better at Japanese than he was anyhow so yeah. He sucks.

Anyhow, this week we began teaching lesson two in Japanese. That's a pretty intense lesson. So many new vocab words like "reikai" (spirit world) and "fukkatsu" (ressurection)

I'm sorry the weather in Arizona got cold again.

No wait...I'm not. You know WHY?

CUZ IT FLIPPING SNOWED HERE ON SUNDAY!!!!

Here I had hope MAYBE the fields were gonna open cuz I'm getting tired of the gym...and it snows. Elder VanLieshout was right...the fields will never open. (that was brittan's old comp by the way)

Speaking of Brittan's comps...Elder VanLieshout just got tranferred and Brittan's new comp is none other than Elder Stokes, who happens to be Elder Brown's best friend...or as he says "best mate" cuz he's an aussie.

But yeah....that's pretty crazy and Brittan was pretty excited about it. but this letter isn't about Brittan...it's about ME.

Harris choro reminds me of Brittan too by the way.

Moving on. Harris Choro...he would like you to write him. Because he's a dork and he's jealous of my cute and brightly colored envelopes. I say if you write him...spray the letter with febreeze or something too cuz he was also complaining that the other elders get scented letters. =P

The MTC is just as amazing as it was before and always will be. You should know that by now. My Japanese is going pretty well and my teaching is coming along.

One bad thing about starting out ahead in Japanese is that no one really cares if you improve... Everyone sings Webb Shimai's praises and then they are like "oh..and Sister Halliday...well yeah....she can speak...like always" grrrrrrrrrr. =P

Seriously, Bro Farnsworth yesterday told Smith and Ward choro how great Webb shimai is doing and then told them "And Sister Halliday can speak like always" I was like "AUGH! WHY EVEN MENTION ME!?!?!"

I'm ok actually...I don't care. I'm glad Webb shimai is improving.

Ok I can't do it anymore...I'm going to gush about Smith choro again. I do it every night when I get home. I walk in and I'm like "I LOVE SMITH CHORO!!! HE'S AMAZING!!!" ...and then everyone laughs at me. But seriously! The kid is amazing!'

He's a GREAT district leader and he takes his calling very seriously. I love how much concern he shows for EVERYONE in the district.

Teaching has been pretty hard for me and contacting even worse cuz I freeze at the door so I asked him for a blessing the other day. He gave me a hard time about my middle name at first but he gave me a blessing all the same =P

Things have been much better. It's still WAY scary to talk to people but I can do it somewhat easier.

Smith choro wrote my middle name down too and has it taped to his planner. He studies it every night during language study. haha. I'm telling you, the kid is AMAZING.

He calls me mom all the time and tries to delegate upon me the responsibility of planning activities (like what time we're going to the temple). When I do it he tells the district and then says "thanks mom" =P

He's a good kid and I'm glad he's going to Nagoya and not Tokyo so I can still write him.

So today we're fasting. It's really hard to fast on P-day I've discovered and it's only 7:45! Aiyah...

But its for a good purpose. Larose choro found out yesterday that he might not go to Japan cuz he had to have that surgery on his butt. (I mentioned it on the tape but I don't know if you could understand at all) Anyhow, he's officially off a bike for two years and as we all know...Japan kinda revolves around bikes...

He's pretty upset and says that if he can't go to Japan he's going home. We all decided yesterday to have a district fast for him so that's what we're doing. I think it'll be good for all of us because this is probably one of the most intense things we've fasted for in our lives and for me at least...its the first time I've fasted not on Sunday. (probably not the last I'm sure)

Anyhow, keep him in your prayers.

K that's really all. I have about 5 minutes for some housecleaning items...

Kaban brand ichigo milk pretzels are WAY better than Pocky and cheaper too...with more per pack. Brittan sent me some for girls/white day and they are amazing! I believe they have them at Lee Lee so try them out.

I got the books yesterday and they're so amazingly fun! My Japanese is getting better already!

I got the letters from Aubrey's primary class. I'd like to write everyone back but I might not have time. We'll see. I'm writing a general primary letter today though.

Oh...and mom...you mentioned that my bangs looked like they had been cut by a beaver...k. embarrassing story time!

So two weeks ago we're in our room on P-day and Sis Beaufort is cutting HER bangs and I decide MINE are way too long. So I decide to cut them...

Well, I cut them a little short but I was like "Not TOO bad..."

Ummm...the ELDERS asked if I got a haircut. You KNOW it's bad when the Elders notice... *shakes head*

So yeah...I learned my lesson...or maybe not. I wasn't gonna put my name on the appointment list at the hair salon and wait two weeks just for my bangs.

They've grown out and they look ok now...aside from looking like a beaver cut them apparently. Thanks mom -_-

K well that's it. Enjoy the amazing Arizona weather!!!

Love,
Sister Halliday

Halliday Shimai, Musical Peacemaker and Volleyball Demon

Hello again family!

Well, I tried to write a list of what I wanted to talk about today but I left in the classroom. blah -_-

So I'm winging it again!

Let's see, first off, I'm SORRY I didn't get time to write a real letter yesterday. I wrote one for Aubrey and its going into the mail today along with a tape and my memory card so look forward to that. I hope you can make sense of the tape because I recorded it over like a period of 3 weeks. and the speed changes randomly too...sorry.

Anyhow, last p-day we went to do sealings in the temple. I've never done sealings (as any of you might know) but it was amazing! I loved every second of it. And we had the nicest old couple helping out. She couldn't kneel for too long but she held out as long as she could so that we missionaries could do as many names as we could. (we're only allowed to be children of course) We got to see a couple of husband wife sealings too. It was amaaaaaaaazing! I'm so excited for...a year and a half from now. or more. However long it takes me to get married. I thought of Clarissa and Jacob and how they're going to have a family in like....less than a month...or about a month. Anyhow it was sooooo exciting. I'm all growed up!

Tuesday night was a VERY eventful night. Since we got done with the temple early, the shimai went to dinner BEFORE choir so between choir and the devotional we had extra time and went back to our room. We returned a little bit late to the devotional and they were already singing prelude hymns.

I walked in, looking at my feet so I didn't trip down the stairs...and everyone stood up suddenly. I was like "whaaa...." So I looked up and Elder Holland was walking into the room.

He chastised us for stopping singing and we all laughed and continued.

Elder Holland is AMAZING!!! He is sooooooooooooooo funny you wouldn't even believe! He was comparing missionaries to super heroes and he was up on the stand pretending to be flying around. It was hilarious.

He gave an amazing talk about our purpose as missionaries and the purpose of Preach My Gospel. After his talk I don't see what ANY missionary would have to fear about inadequacy. But that's just me. Beaufort shimai and I were talking the other day about how so many people can get so many things out of a talk and its crazy. That's why devotional review is always so fun, because you can talk to your district about what you all got out of the talk and its all different.

Things have been quiet this week but we're getting 2 new shimai tomorrow! We're so excited! We already made their beds and wrote them notes telling them welcome and we're picking them up to take them to dinner tomorrow night too. (the cafeteria is INSANE on wednesdays)

The relations between the Korean missionaries and Japanese missionaries have been strained lately. It's some grudge that carries over from gym. The Shimai are getting really worked up over it. I feel like a hippie always telling the choro-tachi to be nice and love the Koreans.

The Korean missionaries are all VERY nice...which I'm sad to say surprised me too because they're all ball hogs in the gym and I must say I didn't like them much either =P

But we tried this week to focus on improving our relationships and now we're greeting each other in the halls in Korean and they're speaking Japanese. It's great. The Elders are all so nice. And I finally have their respect in the gym so they set the ball to me and I spike it...or attempt to. And all that good stuff. It's fantastic!

As my first act as music coordinator I devised a plan to sing Called to Serve as a zone every saturday night after closing activities. We usually do that so I went over to zone 27 (the other japanese zone) and invited them. They gladly accepted.

Well that wasn't enough for me...so behind the choro-tachi's back, I went and invited the Koreans to join us too. They weren't happy about that but luckily they didn't say anything.

Well, if it didn't affect anyone else, it affected us shimai. We couldn't stop smiling....it was hard to sing we were smiling so big. There were so many voices!!!

This week I'm mixing it up. I'm having us all sing in our mission language the first verse and then second verse in english so we're all unified. I'm also going upstairs to recruit the cambodian and laotian missionaries. We WILL have the whole building singing before I leave.

So let's see. That's all I can remember of the amazing stuff. But let me tell you...it was AMAZING!

Embarrassing stories? Well Larose choro has been wanting to meet Farnsworth Sensei for weeks now so to tease him I started telling him stuff like "Farnsworth Sensei has eyes that are so blue they can pierce your soul"

Well... Long story short...Larose choro told him and I had an appointment with farnsworth sensei last night. I was embarrassed to go. *shakes head*

Everything was daijoubu though.

Let's see what else? I'm always doing something dumb at some point or another. The other night the elders were knocking on the classroom window. I couldn't see because of the reflection on the window so I got up to look outside and apparently Harris choro had his butt in the window. That caused the choro tachi to laugh for about 10 minutes. -_-

Speaking of Harris choro. He's jealous of my brightly colored letters and wants one too. I don't think he actually expects that you would send one but if anyone is ever bored...Elder Harris likes my brightly colored envelopes. =P

Oh, and you can tell the bishop that this week it has been my goal to say thank you to every employee here. Let me tell you...the cafeteria worker who is emptying the trash can gets very surprised when you walk by and say thank you. Kinda sad actually.

I LOVE it here!!! The weather has been so nice and we're having a picnic today! Curry for everyone! (Brittan sent me some instant curry and rice so I have enough to share with my shimai!) YAAAAAAAAAY Picnics!

We're also eating dinner at the temple cafeteria cuz we're sick of the MTC food...even though its PROBABLY the same but its not packed with protien for those going to places like Africa where they'll lose weight. -_- *has gained 10 pounds officially*

The field isn't open yet but I have faith that it will open soon. And then we can play SAND volleyball! and Ultimate frisbee! And we can get our butts kicked by they Brazilians in soccer! YAY!

Well, I've got 2 minutes so I gotta wrap up! I miss you all and the aminals too! And Mesa! .....cept maybe not the temp. It's pretty nice here.

and Jacob...if you're reading this. Happy late birthday!!!

Love,
Sister Halliday

Ha Ha! Halliday Shimai is the MUSIC COORDINATOR!

Hello family. It's me again. I'm sure you are not surprised. hee hee

Well this week has been CRAZY and I hope that I can remember all the stuff that happened when I have a timer counting me down in the corner there.

First off, I got a letter from TIM!!! It was so exciting! He's coming home soon he says so I don't need his address anymore...if I ever even asked for it.

Let's see...oh and mom I got your letter. Thanks for the concern but really I'm fine... When I say something makes me want to cry I don't mean literally. Well, except for the guy in the RC but that was cuz we were sad for HIM.

Speaking of the RC. Last night we talked to a guy who wanted to know what made our church different from others. Easy question right?

Yeah cept he phrased it like this, "Why mormonism?"

I was like "duhhhhhhhhh....why not?"

No, I didn't really say that but such an ambiguous question deserves an ambiguous answer. It kinda reminded me of a speaker we had at a fireside when I first got here. He was talking about how easy it was to share the Gospel and he said that often times he just asks people if they are members of the church and when they say no he asks "Why not?"

Pretty simple? Yeah... don't think I'll be going and doing that lol.

Well, yesterday Webb shimai and I had to make the long trek to the BYU health center. That's the third time we've been there and I'm seriously starting to wonder WHAT on earth the health center here CAN do if they keep sending us there!

We're getting used to seeing people without nametags now since we go there so often haha.

We get bored sitting around and waiting there so we practice our contacting on all the BYU students sitting in there. It's kind of amusing, specially since they don't speak Japanese and here we are rattling off Japanese that probably isn't even correct. =P

You're probably wondering why we go to the health center so often. It's not that big of a deal really. First it was cuz webb shimai and I had colds...then it was cuz I had a sty that was apparently "caused by stress". Yeah...no one could figure that one out cuz I'm the most laid back of everyone in my room. And then this last time I had to go pick up a perscription for a sleep aid cuz with so much Japanese being crammed into my head all day I can't sleep at night cuz it's buzzing around in there and I just lay awake ALL night making sentences.

It helps my Japanese....but not really my body haha

So anyhow I took the medicine last night and I was out. It was soooo nice to sleep through the night.

Our Senpai left this morning. We only have 3 girls in our room now. Weirdness. It's really quiet but we've already claimed the empty closets. haha.

Howe choro and Osterloh Shimai left with them because they are fluent already. So Beaufort shimai is our new companion.

She wanted to stay with her district though so she's a "solo" sister now which means that she either has to be with at least 2 elders or 1 sister at any given time. So basically the whole zone has to watch out for her. It's really fun actually.

I'm excited to have a new companion, Beaufort Shimai is so full of energy and happy all the time. She also laughs sooooo easily. It's hilarious.

Oh yeah, and Webb shimai is fine. When I got your letter mom it was a little late as letters usually are. Usually I fix problems that I write about...hmmm...about the day I write them.

We had companionship inventory and I mentioned to her what was bothering me. I know that's usually a bad idea with girls but I'm also not really that much of a girl and I tend to handle my problems more like a guy would. But anyhow, together we agreed to stop saying "hate" and it's been REALLY great.

the district helped inadvertantly as well because they decided it would be funny to be overly positive instead of negative so now when we want to say "I hate you go die" we say "I HOPE YOU GO TO THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM AND LIVE HAPPILY WITH YOUR FAMILY"

It's actually really funny. And don't worry, I don't want to tell anyone "I hate you go die" really...except when Smith choro is making faces at us while we're trying to teach. =P

Speaking of Smith choro, he's the new district leader because after 6 weeks everything gets changed around.

HE'S SOOOOOOOO good! Yesterday he was there helping Larose choro plan instead of telling him to plan from across the room. I was like "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! SMITH CHORO! YOU'RE SO CUTE!"

but I didn't say that cuz elders don't like being called cute =P

But really, he's doing really well. I'm so excited for him.

Speaking of rearranging leadership...with the senpai leaving they had to call new zone leaders and a new coordinating sister.

I'm not the new coordinating sister =P Which kinda made me sad cuz I wanted to see what went on in Branch council. =P

I am however, music coordinator.

WHAT THE HECK!?! I think God is sitting up there saying "Let's give Sister Halliday all the music callings possible. It'll be HILARIOUS!"

Actually music coordinator isn't that bad. I just get to pick the hymns and arrange musical numbers. This is probably what I get for proclaiming that I love singing the hymns and all that. =P

I played the piano on Sunday...so I have officially done everything in sacrament except bless and pass the sacrament...which isn't gonna happen. =P

Yeah...playing the piano... umm...the pianos here don't play themselves... IT WAS SOOOOOOOO HARD!!!! I basically screwed up like every verse. But oh well. *shrug* life goes on. I didn't freak out when I screwed up though. I was like "Yeah...well, I did the best I could and you all know how to sing apparently so if there wasn't piano for half the song you people did fine =P"

Ummm...I know you need more pics. I'll send my SD card home soon. I have to print off pics for everyone first. I'll try to do that today but p-day is usually crowded.

Anyhow, I have 2 minutes so I have to send this off. Thanks for all your letters!!!

Love,
Halliday shimai