Sayonara MTC!

So here is the dealio kazoku, I leave on Tuesday August 27th from the MTC. I report to the Travel Office at 3:30 AM then I take FrontRunner to the Salt Lake Airport. My flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle leaves at 8:25 AM I will call home while at the Salt Lake airport. I am not sure what time but I would guess sometime between 5 AM and 8 AM, probably earlier. From Seattle we fly to Osaka, Japan and that is where the real fun begins. Our flight from Seattle leaves at 11:25 AM on the 27th, and I arrive in Osaka at 2:25 PM on the 29th. So Crazy!

The Tokyo South missionaries in our district leave on Monday which means ONE WHOLE DAY WITHOUT HAVING TO SMELL ELDER MAK!!! I kid somewhat, but really Monday will just be a weird day in class without half our district there.

We got our Japanese nametags this week and they are so cool! As difficult as all those characters are to read and write, they sure are cool looking on my badge. 

SCHOOL STARTED?!?!? I swear it just ended! I hope everyone is having a great time! Eliza, hope all is well with that crazy thing we call high school. William is in Junior High?! Since when?! He's like 4 feet tall? I hope he's loving it though! I wish I could be there for all of you and hear all your great stories and experiences, but alas... CAROLINE I LOVED YOUR LETTER!!! (Eliza and Rebecca you too) Mom don't be sad that I'm gone. I'm where I should be. Besides I'll be crying enough once I get to Japan and can't even communicate with anyone but that's okay. 

So I don't know if I ever told you this but here is what a typical day is like at the MTC for me. I wake up at 6:00 AM and shower, get dressed, do my hair, smell nice, etc. I have breakfast at 6:45 AM for which I usually have some muffins, or some cereal if worse comes to worse. Then from 7:15 to 8:10 I have personal study time in which we read The Book of Mormon for about 20-30 minutes and then spend the rest of the time studying whatever we had planned the night before to prepare for our lessons that day. (Japanese grammar, vocab, PMG, practice reading the Japanese BoM, etc.) Then from 8:10 to 11:10 we have class, in which we learn Japanese, and teach our lessons to our investigators. At 11:10 is lunch, and that is usually some sort of sandwich, burger thingy, with chocolate milk of course. Then from 11:55 to 1:30 is PMG study time, followed by gym time until 2:30, and then until 3:00 you have time to freshen up as it were. From 3:00 to 4:10 is TALL. it stands for Technology Assisted Language Learning. It's a program made at BYU to help us learn the language and get more practice listening to native speakers. After that is Dinner until 4:55 and then we have class again until 8:00 PM. After class is Language Study until 9:00 and then from 9:00 to 9:30 we plan our next day and then go back to our residence to write in our journals, brush our teeth, say our prayers and go to bed by 10:30. So in case anyone was curious, that's what I've been doing here for the last 9 weeks!

I am so excited but I can't decide if I am more likely to shout for joy or burst into tears that I am actually going so far away. This will be the hardest thing I have ever done. I'm sure lucky I have the Lord with me because otherwise this would be impossible. I love and miss you all! In case you were wondering which I know you are, it takes 7 days for mail to get to Japan so I've heard, so that's not even that bad! I am just so excited but I am scared out of my mind! Everyone pray for me. I'm praying for all of you! Mimi and Papa thank you for your package it was very well received! I Love You!

Love,

Jonathan, Elder Pace