Week 70- 1/30/17 I Dictated This Email

Hello friends and family! So I don't have much time today but I figured I still need to write everybody. This week was a bit of a busy week. We also had a lot of warmer days which is better than the weather in Nagaoka ever was. Let's get started with my week. 

On Tuesday we took the train a little out of the area to go visit a less active youth but he ended up not being home at the time we went. We then took the time to return and we went and visited a couple less actives. We ended up getting into one house and having a very delicious dinner and talked about mountain climbing.

On Wednesday we took a lot of time to try and find new students for Mission school program however we did not have much luck we did end up bumping into a Samoan less active and that was very fun.

Thursday was the big worldwide missionary broadcast with all the schedule changes. Our schedule changes include an extra thirty minutes at night time, and we move that 30 minutes into the next day and do planning. Usually we plan at night. Also on Pday we get more time because they got rid of study time. I like the new schedule especially since I have to do calls at night time so I have more time to do the things I want to do.

On Friday, we went down to the zone leaders area to do splits in Koga. The weather was beautiful that day. I haven't sweat in a long time so it felt good to get some warm weather. We also pounded a yakiniku place and ate a ton of meat.

Saturday was full of studies and planning and returning from splits, and on Sunday we went out and advertised for our mission school with members.

The week was a pretty good week. I don't remember most of it but it was a fun one. I'm afraid the weather is about to tank though. I hope everybody has a good week!

Elder Moore

       末日生徒

イエス・キリスト

          教会

Week 69- 1/23/17 Life in Oyama

Well hello everybody. I made the transfer safely to Oyama. I only had

to ride like one train after the bus and it was super easy. I

accidentally led a couple of other missionaries to the wrong train

though. That's what they get for trusting me I guess.

I'm liking life in Oyama. My companion was with me in the MTC so we

already knew each other. He's been in the area for three transfers now

before me. Other than getting up and moving to a new area, life has

been fairly normal. District Leadering is pretty fun. Everybody is

slamming with lessons right now so that takes a lot of worry from my

back.

Fun story. I a, an 雨男, which just means I bring rain everywhere I go.

Well Oyama has some pretty decent weather. However, on the one day

when water actually did fall from the sky, it snowed. I

brought snow from Nagaoka to here. But I'm enjoying this new area so

far. The ward is so much bigger than the one in Nagaoka, and there's a

youth program and kids. There's also people under the age of sixty in

my ward, which is great.

I don't actually have much to say this week other than life being

extremely normal. Elder Sharon and I figured we can get an all you can

eat Indian food buffet here so we may try that today. It's been a

while since I've had Indian food. I hope every body has a good week

and enjoy your lives!

The bus ride from Nagaoka and my new area. 

The bus ride from Nagaoka and my new area. 

                              

Week 68- 1/16/17 Snow Removal Team 6

Old man winter has decided to finally make a stop off in Nagaoka because it hasn't stopped snowing since Tuesday night. We get to walk through snow up to our hips in some places. I take back everything I said about the snow here because it snows A LOT. 

To be honest this week was one of the most busily-boring weeks of my mission. We didn't have a full day in our area until Saturday, and that was spent shoveling the church and making a pathway for cars which didn't happen. The Branch President eventually just called in a bulldozer. That'll get it done.

Monday we went up to Niigata for a zone p day and zone meeting the next day. We pretty much just played frisbee is the cold. It started to sprinkle snow and the wind was going everywhere. Tuesday was the zone meeting I mentioned before. 

Wednesday was another busy day because we went in the exact OPPOSITE direction of Niigata to help the Joetsu elders move apartments. That wouldn't have been horrible except for it started snowing Tuesday night and we woke up with a good 6 inches on the ground. So we rode our bikes through it. Again and again and again. We moved an apartment in a snow storm. I ended having to just push my bike through the snow. Now I have an idea of what the pioneers went through. Thursday was spent getting back to our area and doing some service and teaching English. 

Friday was interviews! I got to see President Nagano. We went back up to Niigata and had a good chat. We also had a ton of appointments that day but they all fell through one by one. 

Saturday was really just spent shoveling and talking about how to get the Branch members pumped for missionary work. We're going to hold a fireside and talk about how to treat people and be nice when they come to church. My challenge for all of you is to greet an investigator at church!

Sunday was Sunday. A very busy Sunday.

Today is transfer calls. I'm sure everybody is shaking with excitement on where the heck Elder Moore is going. Well, I've got News for you. 

I, Elder Moore, will be transferring out of Nagaoka now that the snow has started and going to Oyama, with Elder Sharon, who was with me in the MTC so I'm pretty excited. Oh I'm

also a district leader now. Turns out I can do stuff like lead

apparently!

That's all for this week. Pictures.

day one of snow

in Niigata for interviews

Snow Removal Team 6

day 3 of snow

Church

Week 67- 1/9/17 Getting Wet Having Fun

Hello famiry!

Welcome to another week in the life of Elder Moore! On this weeks episode of "it didn't snow in Nagaoka" I will be discussing my week! We started off with our New Years bash, which just means laying down all day reading or cleaning the entire apartment. 

Wednesday was when we actually went out and started our week. It was a pretty normal Wednesday however. We just found places to knock on doors and taught Eikaiwa. Thursday was a little busier. We did service for some old people and helped our English student memorize his text book, because that's how Japanese people study. 

Friday was way cool. We taught the Gwon family who we found last week. Teaching families is so nice. That must be how it feels in America. We've also been getting a good amount of referrals. One of those referrals even came to church. We then finished the day with guitar class, which is always fun. 

Saturday was extremely busy. We took the train down to Joetsu for District meeting, then had an exchange. After that exchange we came back, had some singing practice and taught TOEIC class, which the preparation class for a huge English test in Japan. If you have a good score you can get hired in more places. On Sunday we accidentally housed an old folks home and this old man came out and started yelling at us and calling us a plethora of mean words. He wouldn't have fought though. I probably could have won. Now I'm here talking to y'all. We're on our way to Niigata today for a zone p-day and Elder McIlrath and I already decided we're are going to go to all-you-can-eat barbecue. It's been a while since we've had an astoundingly large amount of meat. 

Next week is transfer calls. Next time you here from me I will probably have news about that. On to transfer 11! I think I'm out of here because I'm finished up a new missionary. We'll see tough. Till next week!

Week 66- 1/2/2017 Another Weekly Weather Report

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello everybody and happy new year from the future. I sure hope y'all are enjoying your time. 2017 has come and it's gone by SOOO FAST. I've come to the realization that I come home this year, start school is year (hopefully), and just begin normal life again this year. It's a weird feeling. Let's go through the week shall we?

Well Monday was Monday. We really didn't have much to do so we went bowling. That's about all there is to do here but we found a ton of cool looking shrines throughout this week so maybe we'll start visiting those. Tuesday was a basic rainy, nothing much going on Tuesday. We taught Brother Yoshida. We pretty much go over and make sure he's okay because he's a little mentally unstable. That's pretty much my whole mission experience. There's a lot of mentally ill people in Japan. We found out that like half of our investigators are actually mentally ill. After all that we ran and grabbed our stuff and took a train up to Niigata area for splits. 

Wednesday was the actual split day. I went with Elder Burch. We ate at a buffet and then biked really far to go to a college. We biked about two hours then ran out of time so we had to turn back. We weren't even half way there. Thursday was just busy. We had service and came back from Niigata but not necessarily in that order. Friday was also busy with District meeting. We ended up having a little time to find so we decided to house. That's when we met the Gwon family.

They're absolutely prepared. The husband is atheist but he said he doesn't know if that's true and wants to get back in touch with what he used to believe (Christianity). He said to come back and teach them every week, and teach his kids English because he understands if you want a good job in Asia, you need to know English. I love hem already. We departed with chips and apples as a thank you present.

Saturday was an adventure. We took the train to the next city over just for kicks and giggles and to see what dendo is like in a city where people don't absolutely hate us. It was pretty great but it rained way hard when we got there. The storm passed but by the time we had to leave we just hopped on a train and caught up with the storm anyways. It's actually not supposed to be raining. Everybody is way weirded out because there's no snow right now. Maybe y'all Americans should just stop driving cars and walk somewhere because you're making me have to deal with rain every single day. Anyways, it's really weird apparently. We have a typhoon coming in on Monday, in the WINTER so it's going to be very cold and wet. But not snow apparently. 

That's pretty much it for this week. We stay inside for the next few days because it's the New Years in Japan. The streets are absolutely dead and nobody walks outside or does anything. President just lets us stay inside. Hope y'all have a nice week! See ya! We went to a way sick shrine called Yahiko today. It has the biggest tori gate in Japan standing at 30 meters tall (about 100 feet). I took a ton of pictures for y'all.