Missionary Moments

It's been nearly 5 weeks now since Jakob departed for the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Centre), and although we are all getting used to him not being at home and only hearing from him once a week..... I still miss him. I love getting his letters and hearing how he is doing and how much he is enjoying his time there, and how he is looking forward to leaving for Japan.

Henry is loving his "new" bedroom, and we even have a spare room in the house - although every now and then Katie says she would like her own room.... but for the most part her and Lilly enjoy sharing a room.

So some moments from this week after a 10 day - p (preparation) day free week....

So, it's been a longggg week. First of all, I think I'm putting on weight here at the MTC, probably a direct consequence of starting to enjoy the food....

The weather here is warming up. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but Utah is so dry! Humidity wise. Wet things dry really quickly, and it's almost compulsory to have some kind of moisturizer. Even when it's cold. .... Perks of living in a desert I guess. 

I had just enough clothes to last me the 10 days wash free...

My Japanese is improving. I can understand most things in a conversation centered in the gospel, and get a bit out of one that's not. I can communicate some things, and usually do well when we learn new grammars and stuff. The real learning curve will be in Japan though I think. We've definitely been blessed to learn the language, and as we try hard, we can do amazing things.

We had a good devotional from Elder Packer this week... his son Elder Allen Packer. He's like some family history buff, and his talk was relating that to missionary work. Missionary work is family history work, and vice versa sort of thing. It's so good that we get so many top church people speaking to us here.....