Send Mail! :-)

hey, so DearElder.com does work, and Friends and Family can all use it while I'm at the MTC! and it's FREE! I get stuff from DearElder the day after you send it! It would be great to get mail. :)

July 16th is the date!

Well, its been an information stuffed week! Everyone was right about the MTC being really slow until the first Sunday, and then the time goes pretty fast! Up until the first Sunday, all they do is teach you the rules of the MTC. over. and over. and over again. Really I wasn't surprised by anything the first time they told me the rules. Anyway, that's all over now, and we've moved on to more substantial subjects, which is good :) So I found out my departure date finally! I had to go to the travel office and ask them, no one else knew anything! So I leave for Japan on JULY 16. I know, right?? so awesome :D so I'll only be spending 5 weeks here at the MTC, unless the visa doesn't go through, which the visas to Japan are usually pretty fast, so I should be OK. I'm pretty excited :D

So I've been teaching myself Japanese during my study breaks, and its payed off! So I got to meet with one of the Japanese teachers yesterday, and he said he could act as a progressing investigator and I could practice teaching him. I told him "I don't think I'm ready for that...." so he said he would just get a feel for my Japanese skills. After talking to me for about 3 minutes, he told me "Ok, I think you're ready to teach the first lesson." "........ ok......" and so I did. It was kind of rough at first, but I think I actually did pretty good! :D though it's only been a week, I've picked up a lot of church vocab during my personal study time.

Ok, so 4:30 is not really that early to eat dinner. Actually its a great time. No I'm not starving anymore at night haha.

Anyway, more about my Companions: Elder Puailoa is from Samoa, and he is going to Samoa on his mission. Elder Martinez is from Arizona / Mexico, and he is going to LA. they're both great guys, and we get along alright.

OK, so last time I said I was in the international district. Well that is incorrect. I'm in the advanced language district in the international branch. Its so cool! Everyone I talk to is from some foreign country. There are tons of missionaries from Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Brazil, Samoa, Spain, and all over the world! (not many from Europe for some reason) When I say I'm from Utah, I'm actually the odd one out! haha. So that's different. I don't know anyone in the whole branch who has the native language of English besides me. For a lot of people in the branch, it's their first time in the States. So it's really cool to talk to people about where they're from. I can also get some practice talking to native Japanese speakers, which is definitely a plus. Anyway, I'm all out of time, so That will be all today!

じゃあ、またねぇ！＾＾

オライリ長老

Straight from the MTC

So my MTC experience is not what I expected..... at all. So I got to the MTC, and I got to my classroom right away once I got my nametag and such, and my teacher greeted me, in English. My missionary host (the guy who brought me to class) said "what? My class was completely in my mission language, you are lucky!" and my teacher said, "nope, this class is only in English." So I was pretty confused. So I sat down and Br. Williams, my teacher, asked where I was going. I told him, and he asked me "oh, you're fluent in Japanese?" and I was like "uhhh.......... well...... I can get by I guess...." He explained to me that this was the "advanced language program" where everyone is already fluent at their mission language. woah. I guess they have pretty good confidence in my Japanese ability. Probably more confidence than I have of my Japanese ability. haha. So I'll be learning how to teach all of the lessons in English for 3 weeks, then I will be in a Japanese district for (I think) 3 weeks (but no one seems to know for sure how long I'll be here). So I'm trying to learn the lessons in Japanese in my spare time.... basically I'm still teaching Japanese to my self. There are no missionaries that I can practice with. My district is only 4 people, of which I am the only one who's native language is English. I have 2 companions, and there is a "solo sister" in our district, who has a companion, but they are in a different district. My 2 companions are from Samoa and Arizona / Mexico. the sister is from some island around Australia I'm pretty sure. Anyway, I'm currently working on lesson one in Preach My Gospel, trying to learn it simultaneously in English and Japanese in my study time. I'm about half way through memorizing the first vision (JSH 16-17) in Japanese. I'm doing that because it's hard to know what to study, really.

I don't know how to get my mail yet, and I don't know anyone's address, so sorry if my reply is a little late this first time haha.

The hardest thing to adjust to is the dinner time. We have dinner at 4:30! kind of stupid really. I'm starving every night. The first night was awful, didn't sleep very good so I'm exhausted today. By the second day it was better though, which is good.

The Lord knows what trials I need right now, and he's giving me all of them. My patience is what is really being tested right now, and patience is something I've never been good at. I really want to be learning in Japanese, but its just not possible because I'm the only missionary in my situation. I know that I can help my district though, 2 of them are there polishing their English for their missions.

I've been made district leader! I don't really know what that means yet, I just got the assignment, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I'm doing great, and learning a ton.
Elder O'Reilly

P.S.. No pictures from the MTC. this computer doesn't even have the ability to upload pictures. sorry. Maybe next week I'll try the computer lab, but I have no more time today.