Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - Week 2

Dear Mom,

Let Marisa know that I did get her letter.  I wrote her a letter last week but didn't get a chance to go to the store and get stamps and envelopes.  I'll be sending letter it sometime this week.  Good to hear that she's still dancing like a maniac!

Tell Ally Duffin congratulations!  That is so cool!!!  I'm so excited for her!  Serving a mission is so amazing no matter where you go or what language you speak.  The promised blessings and the fruits of missionary service are incredible!

Things have been going great here.  The Ni Hon Go is coming along all right and things are great.  The food is okay and I'm just fine.  There's really nothing new or strange to report.

Well okay, I guess something awesome did happen this last week.  The Tuesday devotional speaker was Elder Holland.  He gave an incredible talk about the power associated with a missionary's call.  It was an incredible experience to have an Apostle of Jesus Christ directly addressing me as a part of a group.  It never fails to amaze me how powerfully true Apostolic direction and promises are.  It's incredible to me to know that so long as I am striving to do what the Lord wants me to, I'm promised incredible blessings.  The Preach My Gospel manual is full of them, as was Elder Holland's talk.  Something else really amazing was that he said a dedicatory prayer for 2 or 3 new MTC buildings that were recently completed.  The blessing was amazing.  It's incredible to hear the specific blessings, consecration, and dedication that the MTC has.  The MTC is truly a wonderful place where servants of the Lord can be prepared.
 
I love the MTC and have had a wonderful time here so far!

Elder Hutchings

My district (Left to Right): Me & my companion Hapi Choro, Watanabe (Provo) and Hansen (California) Shimai, Benzon (Utah) and Moretti (Brazil) Choro, Oliveira (Brazil) and Jensen (North Carolina) Choro.

I love my District!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - Week One

Hey Mom and Dad!

The MTC is awesome!  I'm absolutely loving it!  The food is all right (my stomach has been a tad on the fritz adjusting to it, but I'm all right) and very plentiful!

My companion is Elder Hapi, and he is also going to Kobe.  He is from Australia, but he's of native New Zealand descent.  He is an amazing guy and we get along great.  He's funny and he laughs a lot.  There is another companionship in our room.  Elder Oliveira (from Brazil) and Elder Jensen (from North Carolina).  They are also going to Kobe and they are so much fun to be around.  It has been a bit strange adjusting to having a companion, but it's a good kind of strange.  Like I said, Elder Hapi and I get along great and we're basically like brothers.

The Ni Hon go is coming along wonderfully!  The gift of tongues is real and the Lord truly blesses those he calls to learn a new language.  I have been learning Japanese so much more quickly than I ever have before.  Beyond that, 2 Elders (Moretti and Oliveira) in my district are from Brazil so they are learning Japanese (completely new to both of them) from an English speaking teacher.  It has been absolutely incredible to see how amazingly quickly they've progressed and how they've been blessed.  My sensei is an amazingly loving guy and is so supportive of me and the rest of the district.

It's really cool that they have us teaching lessons to investigators already.  The first appointment we had with a kyudosha was last Friday, and it was all in Japanese.  My companion and I struggled a bit, but it's really amazing how the Spirit works through you and you can feel it's presence and feel it testifying to you and your investigator of the truth of what you're saying, even when you don't entirely understand what you're saying.

Sunday was amazing.  In sacrament meeting they blessed the bread and water in Ni Hon go.  The talks were in Japanese and we sang the hymns in Japanese.  It was super cool!

Jolly Choro and I have been able to see each other quite frequently.  Beyond seeing him around classes and just walking him around, I normally walk or run with him during gym time.  It's so nice to have a friend to talk to and share my thoughts with.  Though I'm making many friends I really love being able to have a close friend around.

Justin is going to Pennsylvania?!  That's so awesome!  Tell him congratulations for me.  He's going to be an incredible missionary.

By the way, please keep using DearElder.com.  They send me a hard copy of the letter you send the same day, whereas with e-mail I have to wait until P-day to read it.  It's nice to have letters earlier so that I can read them and start to think about what to reply to you throughout the week, rather than having to read and reply on P-day. 

I'll try and send you some pictures soon!  I love you and miss you all so much.

Elder Hutchings

Wednesday, January 9, 2013 - MTC Day

Kyle (Elder Hutchings) spent the morning do his final packing and putting the finishing touches on his room.

Final review of the packing list

Everything are in these two bags

Good-bye dog

Good-bye house and snow

Last "Healthy" meal before entering the MTC

Yum

5 minutes to drop off

Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - Getting Set Apart

Elder Hutchings was set apart as a full time missionary at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Grandpa & Grandma Hutchings, Mom & Dad, Kyle, Grandma Ingrid, Marisa, Jason

Kyle with his Grandma's (Amazing Kyle is so tall considering the height of his Grandmas & Mom)

Friday, November 23, 2012 - Called to Serve

Friday, November 23, 2012

Dear Elder Hutchings:

You are hearby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Japan Kobe Mission.  You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, January 9, 2013.