I am Elder Brett Moore, an LDS Missionary serving in the Japan Tokyo Mission from September 2015 - September 2017. I can be emailed while on the mission at: brett.moore@myldsmail.net

Elder Brett Moore

Elder Brett Moore

Monday, March 28, 2016

Week 26- 3/28/16 Bonkers

What's up 皆さん! Yes today was transfer calls but before I tell you
that, I'm going to wish you all a Happy Easter! Easter here was nice,
although there wasn't anything Easter related in church today. Kind of
a bummer. I actually really enjoyed this Easter though. I spent a lot
of time studying Christ this transfer, so it's really opened my
perspective.

I guess you're all waiting on the news. I am being transferred! My
next area is Urayasu is Tokyo! My new companion is Elder Masterson.
This will be my first non Japanese companion.

This past week was a bit crazy. First of all it was my one fourth
mark! I didn't burn anything because I'm in Japan and literally two
inches from our neighbors, but we did go out to Indian Curry, because
I've been saving coupons to my favorite shop. Last Monday we ate with
Kato. He made tako okonomiyaki, which is a pancake with cabbage,
onions, octopus, and some tuna. You put mayonnaise and Takoyaki sauce
on it. Then you sprinkle on ground seaweed and shredded fish fins. It
was very good, and easy to make!
I went on a lot of splits this last week. First with Elder Alder, the
district leader. We biked around a ton and hit up all the ekis
(stations) on the Takasaki line, which leads to our house. He could
only pass out cards to old ladies so that was pretty funny. We also
went out to kappa sushi, which was really natsukashii (missed). I took
a video, which I will send in a different email, of the sushi train.
I also went on splits with Elder Broberg, one of the zone leaders.
That was a really good day. We went to Ōmiya eki and walked around the
entrance for like 2 hours, but because it's one of the busiest ekis in
the world, and the busiest in Saitama, we had a ton of contacts. On
the way to head back however, an American interrupted us talking to
some high school kids. At first I thought he was a member, because he
greeted us with an enthusiastic "Elders!" My opinion of him changed
when he said "How's your salvation?" And it just got worse. He was
absolutely, totally, 100% crazy. You know those conspiracy theorists
who find God? Well that was him. He was also kind of aggressive, and
Elder Broberg and I were getting pretty weirded out. He accused us of
being cultists, Nazis, and we only baptize people so we can make them
sad and control their lives because organized religion is like an
army, and armies only bring sadness and death. He also had a crushing
handshake. Personally I think he was trying to convert us, because he
was telling us how to do our job, but I was so scared I was ready to
throat punch him and run. To make it worse, the other Elders were
watching this happen, didn't help, and took a picture. The guy was
like getting in our faces, saying how we're cultist soldiers, saying
everybody in the area was going to "die in seven years" because we
were standing in "one of the highest radioactive areas since
Hiroshima." I can't put everything he said into words, because it was
so confusing, fast, or vulgar. You meet some crazy, and I mean crazy
people on your mission.


Spring is finally hitting here. The cherry
blossoms should bloom either this week or next week. I'm pretty
excited.


Well that's pretty much everything interesting that happened. On
Saturday we had a Takoyaki party. When I get home I'm buying a
Takoyaki grill. I love Takoyaki. And on Sunday we went to a members
house for dinner. We had soft tacos and they were amazing. Then we ate
cheesecake! It was like a little taste of outside of Japan. I've eaten
so much rice it's crazy.
Thanks for tuning in everybody! Love you all!
Picture one- Indian curry
Picture 2- my favorite snack. Tamago pan is a slice of bread with a
semi raw egg, cheese, salt and pepper, toasted.
Picture 3- Eikaiwa party

Picture 4- biking to dinner last night





Thursday, March 24, 2016

Week 25- 3/21/16 I have no witty name for this email

Oh yes, it's that time of the week again. However this next week is
very special. I hit my 1/4 mark this Wednesday! It's tradition for
missionaries to burn something but I don't think I'll do that because
I'm in Japan, and don't really have room to burn things. I'd rather
not ruin our new apartment as well.
The weather this week has been kind of weird. It's been in the high
50's but it'll rain for hours and hours on end. Or it'll be extremely
windy. I don't know what's worse, biking into 20mph winds all day, or
being buffeted by 20mph winds from all directions all day. The thing
about the wind here is it doesn't just go in one line like in America.
It comes from everywhere. At once.
So we did a lot of teaching this week. The members are a little mad at
us but there are more that think we're amazing so that's okay. I don't
think they understand that as missionaries, we will be bringing new
people to church, and these people will not understand our culture or
rules until it is explained to them. I don't really like going to ward
council, especially big ones because it pretty much turns into a "this
is how you should do missionary work" lecture towards the
missionaries. Yesterday was a pretty big deal apparently. A bunch of
stake representatives came down and there was a big meeting.
But we do have some progress to update on. Our teaching is going well.
This is the last week of the transfer so we're trying to set up a
whole bunch of appointments or teaching things before anybody leaves.
Next week I will learn my fate about whether I stay in Okegawa or
finally transfer. Honestly I kind of want to leave. I'm the most
likely to be transferred so it may well happen.
Our friend Noda is progressing very well. It's definitely a different
experience teaching someone with a Christian background. We don't have
to do much explaining. He doesn't even bible bash. He'll read
something from his bible and we'll match it and explain it and he'll
be like "oooooooohhhhhhhhh." He really likes the book of revelations,
so we spent a lot of time there last lesson. The only problem is the
language barrier. He speaks Japanese but it's a little hard to
understand because of his Spanish accent. He's Peruvian and speaks
Spanish. Luckily, we have an entire family in the ward from Peru, who
speak perfect Japanese and Spanish.
Koda is also doing very well. We had a lesson on a bunch of the
commandments the other day and he took them all very well. Our main
focus is now helping him to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon,
because once that happens, he will be baptized.
I ate a bunch of good food this week (for cheap too!). We found a
kara-age tabehodai which for you gaijin is translated as "all you can
eat fried chicken" for about 8 bucks. We also found a roast beef shop,
where you can get a massive bowl of roast beef on rice for 8 bucks as
well. The put a raw egg yolk on top though. It's actually pretty
tasty. I've eaten so many raw eggs since getting here. This week,
we're hitting up a hottokeeki tabehodai, which is all you can eat
pancakes since Elder Alder has one more week till he goes home. I'll
update you all next week, when I will be a transfer 4 missionary and
probably going to a new place!


モア長老



Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Week 24- 3/14/16 Sickness and Rain

Week 24
こんにちは皆さん!今は私のメール時間です!ごめんなさい、皆さんに私のメール時間はたぶん大変けど皆、耐え忍んで下さい。

Yes it's that's time of the week again already. Sorry to have to put
you through this but everybody will just have to endure. How's
everybody doing this week? We had a zone p day yesterday so sorry
about getting this email a bit late.

I'll tell you how I'm doing. I'm sick. Also my companion was sick.
Last Wednesday we literally spent all day in the apartment because
Elder Sato was sleeping. I was recently hit by a cold last Saturday
and I'm still feeling bad. We took time after church to rest up a bit.
Those 3 hours in church, surrounded by a bunch of germaphobic Japanese
people were grueling. However, I've noticed a recent break through in
my Japanese before church started. I can formulate sentences and
answer pretty quickly now. That's a big step for conversation. I
attribute that to the fact we have 2 Japanese elders and a last
transfer missionary in the apartment, so not only am I the youngest by
far, but pretty much every conversation is in Japanese.

So I guess I'll recap this week. We actually had some cool things
happen. I'll start with our most promising investigator Kouda. He's
honestly awesome. He's reading and praying everyday and we're just
blowing through the lessons because he just accepts them. We haven't
had any problems so far. A big problem with Japanese people is the
word of wisdom because smoking and drinking are big parts of the
culture here but he realized about 2 years ago that none of those
habits are helping his family, so he quit. Like straight up. He's
pretty much a member. I probably won't be around to baptize him but
I'll come back for the baptism for sure. I've worked a lot with him.

Our big miracle of the week is with a Peruvian guy we met last
Saturday. We arrived to the church for sports and we saw the sisters
talking to some guy we've never seen before. We took over and found
out he'd been waiting at the church for a pastor to come out. We
explained we don't have pastors and that the members talk on Sunday's
while the bishop oversees everything. After we invited him in and got
his Facebook (because we're allowed to use it here) and talked for a
while. He's a seventh day Adventist but loves the bible and prophets.
He used to be Catholic but his own words were "the Catholic Church is
bad." We gave him a Spanish Book of Mormon and told him to contact us
when he has questions. He was very happy to receive it.

So this week we were all pretty sick. Not much was done but I'm glad
to see some miracles. This transfer has been pretty rough. I've been
focusing a lot on the members and my relationship with them. Let's be
honest the only way this church will grow in Japan is when the members
start getting active in missionary work. Two gaijin walking up to you
on the street and saying hello asking you if you want to learn about
God and Christ can be pretty scary to a Japanese person. However, when
the members start to reach out to their friends, a lot of success will
be made. My goal is to strengthen the members and get them excited for
missionary work.

Lastly, I'd like to direct your attention to 1 Nephi 17:49-51. In this
section of the chapter, Nephi is chastening his brothers after they
mocked him for building the ship. I exhort you all to read and ponder
it this week.

Well I hope everybody's been good this week. Please email me back! I
love seeing emails. I won't respond right away but I'll get to it! If
you have any questions you want answered, or words translated, I'd be
willing to help. Thank you for tuning in this week!

Picture 1- it was like 70 degrees that day so I took a picture
Picture 2- our church building
Picture 3- a jacket we saw on splits
Video- We found sparkling grape juice that requires you to actually pop the cork. 
モア長老