Week 56- 10/24/16 Livin la Vida Nagaoka

Well hello again Mina. As some of the more perceptive may have mentioned, six weeks have passed. And we all know what that means. Yes Elder Moore is now transfer nine. Oh and also TRANSFER CALLS. Now some of you may be thinking "how could this transfer call have anything interesting, he just transferred?" And I must say you're right, I did just transfer. But as is my tradition I'll wait until the end to share the details.

So this week was a very special week in the Tokyo mission. Elder Bednar came and we got to have him talk with (emphasis on with) us for a few hours. You know what they say about learning at the feet of the Lords chosen? Well I was literally there. Because we had to leave a day early for the conference due to the fact we live clear across the Kanto plains, we were there first and got the best seats in the house. Right in the front. I learned so much. The spirit was there and it was just a continuos stream of revelation. One of the biggest points was we have our agency, so use it. We are agents to act, not objects to be acted upon. Pretty much gave me a new motto for my life.

We got to ride a bus for a while as well. More nostalgia came back from my temple trip days and it was quite he experience. I would say that we had time to actually work in our area but nope, after we got back we headed on drown to joetsu for splits. An interesting fact about Joetsu, because there's only 4 active members the two elders there also contact women on the street. That was a very weird experience.

I had to give the Gospel principles lesson on the plan of salvation. I'm much better in a one-on-one teaching environment for sure. I also didn't have much time to plan as well so it was very bara-bara in my opinion, but everybody seemed to enjoy it. 

It's been getting colder here in nagaoka. This week there's a low of 35 degrees and yesterday was a high of 50. It usually starts snowing in November so we'll see how that goes. 

Now as you've all patiently waited here's the news for this transfer. After two weeks in nagaoka, Elder Moore is................

Staying.

However, my companion is transferring to Shibuya, and is training. That means my new companion is................

I actually don't know yet.

BECAUSE IM TRAINING AS WELL! I'll go pick him up from the Honbu on Wednesday. I finished up Elder Titels last few weeks of training, and will be starting with a fresh off the plane green bean. I'm very excited, especially since winter is coming soon. 

Anyways that's all I've got for you. Net time I email you I'll be a fresh mission-dad

coming back from Tokyo

Niigata zone elders slumber party before Bednar conference

Niigata zone p day

tried to take a selfie but the sun was in the way

Week 55- 10/17/16 Livin' In Nagaoka

Hello family and others! Coming at you from the winter wonderland of

Nagaoka. Actually it's not quite winter yet but it is significantly

colder than anywhere else. I have to wear sweaters and stuff. There

are a few good things about living here though. Number 1, I get a real

bed and a real mattress. After a year of sleeping on the floor that's

pretty nice. Number 2, I get to actually dry my clothes in a dryer

instead of leaving them outside to dry. The downside is I have one of

the biggest areas in the mission, again. But we never leave the city

because anything outside is just mountain or field.

This week was jam packed. Mostly because I spent the first 3 days

preparing and in transit. I miss Abiko, and feel cheated that I could

only spend 4 weeks there but the Lord needs me here for a season, and

it looks like that season is winter. I'm finishing the training of a

new missionary so I get to be a trainer for like a week. Pretty

stressful job.

Other than that, I've just been doing the thing missionaries do. We

had a really good lesson with an investigator named Koki. The

missionaries found him while trying to cost a less active. They go to

said less actives house, knock, and it turns out that he moved and

Koki lived there now and has interest. We taught him the Restoration.

Before he was saying that he really wanted to know how we're different

from Protestantism and which church was really true. He committed to

pray about the Book of Mormon after he reads it. Pretty cool guy!

Right now I'm typing this on a train to Niigata, the Zone Leaders

zone. On Tuesday we get to listen to Elder Bednar speak to us and

because we're in the farthest zone in our mission we have to go down a

day early. Everybody gathers together and takes one long bus ride.

While I'm on the topic of Elder Bednar, he gave a really great

devotional last night. Probably one of the best on my mission/life. He

and others spoke a lot about joy and how it's a gift off the spirit.

In order to receive joy from the gospel, we need to do the things

we're supposed to be doing. But we shouldn't be turning it into a

large list and checking things off. That's not the point of the

gospel. We do the things we do in order to have the Holy Ghost in our

lives. We pray to receive the Holy Ghost. We read scriptures to

understand how the Holy Ghost speaks to us. We go to church meetings

to feel the Holy Ghost. Once the Holy Ghost is in our lives, joy flows

naturally. I also learned that when we feel doubt and look for flaws

in the church, it's not the church's fault. When you stop believing,

it's not because the church isn't true, it's because you weren't true

to the church. All in all, I learned a lot from Elder Bednar.

Well it's been one crazy week and I don't have many pictures for you,

but the email was extra long this week so I hope that makes up for it.

Have a nice week!

guitar class

Hopping on the bus. Brings back memories.

Week 54- 10/10/2016 Some More Unexpected News

As you may be intrigued by my title, I'm sure you are all dying to

know what's going on. Well just wait a minute. I'm pretty tired today

so sorry if this email is lack luster

This week was a busy one. We had meeting after meeting. We started it

by going to the temple on Tuesday, then on Wednesday we taught Hiroki

the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. He said it all makes perfect

sense. The next few days starts interviews and zone meetings.

President said that I might be training in the future and it will more

than likely happen. Then we had zone meeting and got lectured on all

the rules because a lot off newbies came and keep flirting and being

dumb. We also had a tempura dinner with our investigator Kenji and he

said he'll be going to Peru to join his family. Sad stuff.

The rest of the week was general conference. To be honest my favorite

was Elder Yamashitas talk because 1. I'm biased. 2. I met him a few

months ago. We also get to meet Elder Bednar in a week!

So at the end of conference we have dinner and go home. This is the

unexpected news. I'm sitting at my desk reading and the phone rings.

We're getting a call from an assistant to the president on a Sunday

night which means bad news. Turns out that after 4 weeks of being in

Abiko, I'm being transferred again to Nagaoka area in Niigata zone.

One of the coldest areas in Japan. The snow fall in this area rivals

that of northern Japan and people have to build doors on the second

stories of their houses. Guess who gets to go for the winter. This

elder does. I'm pretty bummed about leaving Abiko after such a short

time. But President Naganos words came to pass because I'm finishing

up the training of a new elder. So I am a trainer. For like 2 weeks.

My new companion is named Elder Titel.

Hope you enjoyed the suspense. Next time you here from me, I'll be in Nagaoka!

Week 53- 10/3/16 I Got One!

Hello family. Let it be known you heard it first here because this

past week was a very special (and weird) week. I have officially lived

long enough to see one of my investigators baptized. THATS RIGHT FOLKS

ELDER MOORE'S BAPTISM COUNT HAS SHOT UP TO 1! I'm now on level with the

average missionary in the Tokyo Japan mission. Shuma from Kiryu got

baptized this past Sunday. I was going to go and attend but something

came up and decided not to go. I'll talk about it later. But I'm so

stoked!!! By the end of this transfer we're looking at one more

baptism as well.

As to why this week was weird, things just kept happening and or

falling into our laps. First I'll tell you why I wasn't able to go to

Kiryu. One of our investigators families just straight up left for

Peru and aren't coming back. They left they're home, dogs, and him. So

we went over on Sunday to see if he was alright and if we can help.

Kind of sad I couldn't go to the baptism but hey, another person

needed me.

We also found three new investigators this week, a personal record.

Remember that Japanese kid that trashed us in basketball? Well he had

interest and now we meet with him. And while we were playing him

another kid walked up and joined and we got his number. Then at

scripture study class we got another investigator, and at church some

guy walked in and became a new investigator as well. Abiko is on fire

right now and we are in the center of it.

One fun story for this week, we met a man and taught him the

restoration. He seemed into it but hen started saying how it's

impossible for us to be the same family (Gods children) because white

people come from Japheth, and Asians come from Ham, despite there

father (Noah) being the same guy. He also got mad when he learned

that Christ appeared to America and not Japan (as far as we know)

because America only has 200 years as a country and Japan is old. Then

he denied the reality of the Book of Mormon by saying there's no such

thing as branches of Israel anywhere else except Israel and Japan. By

the end of the lesson he was lecturing us on how the big 9.0

earthquake a few years back was not actually a disaster but a terror

attack by Israel and America. The whole time our investigator Hiroki

was sitting in because we were already teaching him and he's just

watching with a look of bliss on his face. We were afraid this guy

would put some wrong idea in his head but after Hiroki was like "that

guy was crazy, it was like a movie, I can't wait to be a missionary."

He'll be baptized for sure. He has a date in 2 1/2 weeks. Long story

short, main stream Christianity in Japan is more confusing than

Americas. He let saying that the Book of Mormon is evil, but I still

got him to take it and read it.

Well that's about it from me. Don't spoil conference for me. We get it

a week later here.

I am the happiest Elder ever.

Shuma's baptism!

Playing hide'n'seek but you have to stay within sight and

sound of your companion

Elder Swenson broke the chair

This is a good half way picture

A turtle we found. Named him Homer.