February 24, 2010

Dear Family,

First I'd like to just mention that any photos of me and friends (any friends) would be great. Also with any family members. I already brought some of the family so it's not as important. People just want to see them and I imagine companions in the field will as well. So I'll be sending about 18 pictures home today.

New missionaries come tomorrow. It will be exciting. When the natives come in 3 weeks we will have over 100. It's the most that they have ever had going to Japan. It's ridiculous. Also it's sad that they recently closed a mission in Japan but it had something to do with one of the missions doing really well on baptisms. It will be tough being the older missionaries now. We actually aren't allowed to speak English at all tomorrow except to people that only speak English and the new missionaries. We don't speak English at all in class or at meals when we are with our districts. We've done it for half a day already and it was tough. The language is going all right. It's still killing me though but I'm getting through it. The Lord is helping me.

I love packages but I think I will need to be the one that starts sending stuff home and it's not worth the money because I might need stuff in Japan and that will be the most expensive. Also I will be having some big purchases once I get there like my bike which my sensei said will be more like 500 dollars for a good one. I'm hoping to get one off of a missionary. Also I might need to buy about a $150 electronic dictionary. We will see. So just don't worry about packages. I also need to start sending tons of letters and journals home. I'm filling up journals fast. I think I will be fine on weight though going over to Japan. I had to move dorms today with my whole zone because the incoming districts are so big. It's super nice because we are in the nicest dorms now and we have better showers and stuff. My suite cases weren't too full at all. If you ever do send a package by the way protein would be cool. I'm gaining too much weight just eating fats and starches. The protein would fill me up and I workout a lot too. I'm not as tired lately by the way and I'm still running and talking singular. I can now run 3 miles in 21.5 minutes. It's not great but it is good for me.

I feel so stupid learning the language sometimes. I couldn't go in the class room a couple of days ago because there was a smaller lecture going on that I didn't need to be a part of because it was on older stuff and so I decided to learn colors. I was out walking around our floor and someone would point at an object and I'd say the color. I feel like they could make a children's book called, "Tyler Learns Colors" It would be like a 2nd grade level Japanese book. Those kids would laugh at me and tell me how slow I am to say the words. Anyway, I've totally got orenji and pinku down.

I hear that there is a website that's called missionary moms or something and the mom's in our mission/zone/district can write to each other and send pictures and stuff. I'm not actually sure. This is kind of a weird story but it made me feel good. There is a sensei over one of our districts that I've never really met but I went in to go to the bathroom just before me. I was at the urinal and he was in the stall and we had a whole conversation in Japanese. Yes it was very weird if that's what you were just thinking. I felt pretty good though. It's a bummer that we don't have culture study on Sundays (like Dad had when he was in the MTC), but I do love the fireside talks.

Good job on the debate thing Dad. It sounds like you are getting good support. It sounds like BYU and the US are doing well. I guess a Mormon auzzie (that's how elder stachowski told me to spell it) woman won in snow boarding or something. The headline in Elder Stachowski's hometown was "No sex No drugs No alcohol." I thought it was funny but then again I'm a missionary. Grandma and Grandpa Hooton sound like they are doing well. They sound busy though. Speaking of Hootons. I don't know if I said that but our name in Japanese is written AND pronounced Futon. It's literally Fu to N. Everyone keeps on laughing at me when I go to teach lessons and there are native Japanese people there.

I did receive a package from Alec's mom. So did Jacob fix that speaker in the truck or not? Is the rest of it consistently working right? Please tell me the truth. My lesson in Japanese went all right last week. She kept asking hard questions that were didn't prepare for and she snuck us a couple hints in English so the camera couldn't see. Yes I now know 3 written languages. One is romagi which is just English letters but the pronunciations are different and it doesn't have all the letters. I know the other two now. I can read the romaji faster but my senseis stopped using it so I am forced to read in it now. The 2nd one is used for foreign words, so like most of the book of Mormon names and then just random words every so often. The last one is the Chinese characters and a Japanese person will punch you in the face if you call them a Chinese character but I haven't learned any of them yet, but I need to.

My haircut is nice. it's really short but it's how a like it. I like the long sleeve shirt it helps. It will start to warm up soon so I'm okay. I just used the debit card and it works. I'm doing fine on money. I don’t spend that much at all. I don't have a departure date yet. We will receive travel plans like 10 days before we leave. I'm not longer a senior companion. We switch at six weeks. My companion was also called as District Leader so I get the wondrous job of checking the mail. It’s so exciting. Things are going well. This week flew by. The TRC (our lessons) are like tests and they make the week go by faster. I'm still just chugging away at the language but now I'm already starting to think in Japanese. Boy, it's tough.

I hope everyone has a good week. I'll be praying for you. I know that this is exactly where I need to be and I love that I'm learning Japanese and I will be able to love and teach the people of Japan. I'm really excited and I know that I'm taking part in a good work. I'm already 1/16 done. It's flying by..right :). Katie might not think so though. I love you all.

Elder Tyler Hooton

(I will try to send pictures off today)