Elder Brett Moore

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Week 5- 10/29/15

Konnichiwa Mina-san!!!

Week 5 has been completed here in the MTC. Crazy stuff has happened but all according to missionary life. Lets get started, shall we? Hajimete!

First and foremost, Elder Anderson spoke to us. It was easily the best devotional I've ever been to. He highlighted the 4 key aspects of Missionary life. Sacrifice, Opposition, Adversary, Deliverance. Every one of those four words applies to missionaries. Every missionary has sacrificed something to be on a mission, Every missionary experiences opposition, the adversary is real and is working hard to slow the work, and deliverance. Deliverance effected me particularly. Christ is the ONLY one who ever had to experience anything alone. We do not need to face our trials without Him, and as we diligently seek Him, He will be there. John 14:18 states "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." With that promise, why would we ever try to attempt anything without Him? The atonement isnt just for sin. Through the atonement, we feel companionship, comfort, courage, anything to uphold us in our time of need. Because Christ performed this sacred act, He knows us and our trials.

I have been thinking a lot of the saviors sacrifice. When you think about it, we are not giving back a equal trade. These two years are never enough to compensate what He did for us. He doesn't ask of much in comparison of what the Father asked of Him. It makes me determined to try my hardest. All of us are incredibly indebted to Him, and all he asks in return is to follow Him. It is not a fair trade. My love for the savior has increased ten-fold. I feel His love every day. I told dad about a video you guys should watch. It teaches us how we can see people the way Christ does. Through that, we feel His love

The rest of the week has been fairly normal. I teach a lot. My investigators are progressing on tract and I love teaching them. My true realization came however, during TRC. In TRC, we teach native speakers. Its always a little stressful because you cant really understand what they're saying. However, this time was different. I understood every word. I didn't have to use my dictionary. I was able to just teach. That is the blessing of the MTC. I still suk at Japanese and I'm certainly not perfect, but little victories like that motivate me and keep me learning. Theres no way without the spirit I could do this.

It's been getting colder here and I love it. Only three more weeks and I'll be in Japan, so send all the mail you can until it gets expensive! Pictures to come!

God be with you till me meet again!

Elder Moore

Letter to Dad 10/22/15

Crazy to think My mission is 1/24 of the way completed. Its honestly gone pretty fast. I'm dying to get to Japan. I've learned so much its crazy. However, I realize my time in the MTC is important. Everytime I

think I'm ready to leave, we enter a lesson and theres a moment where I literally can't explain what I want to say and just look like an idiot. However, my skill has increased to the point where I dont have to look in my learning books to give a lesson. I know enough bunpo (grammar) and tango (vocab) to have a decent gospel converstion. My speaking is crazy.

Its very interesting how the spirit and the Lord bolster missionaries. There have been times where I'm bearing testimony during TRC (real native speakers) and I'll be saying one thing then the next thing I know, my testimony is over, my investigator is in tears, and my companion just looks stunned. I remember in one of our last TRCs. I couldnt remember how to structure something I learned that day. So I just started talking about the simple truths. Before I knew it, I was literally watching myself speak perfect japanese. The best part is that my investigator was watching and I saw the moment when the spirit took hold. Now I understand what President Monson says about "the light in there eyes."

Sadly, not many people contact me. Please spread my email around.

Theres no way, a boy like me should be able to speak with such conviction and power, in a language that literally has 5 different words to say 'give' but I do. And all that is attributed to the spirit.

seirei ni yotte, watashitachi no akashi wa tsuyomeru ni naru koto ga dekiru da to shitte imasu. Throught the spirit, our testimonies can become strong. You should see my scriptures. I started marking them last week in just the Book of Mormon with things that would be useful to an investigator. I'll send a picture later but I have so many tabs sticking out of just my BoM. I'll New testiment next week.

Tell everyone I said Hi! Miss you guys but theres nowhere I'd rather be (except Japan of course).

Talk to you later,

Elder Moore

Friday, October 23, 2015

Week 4 Livin On A Prayer- Oct 22,2015

Konnichiwa Minna-san!! Genki desu ka?

I hope you liked my subject title because I'M HALFWAY DONE WITH THE MTC. Its gone so fast its kinda crazy but the individual days take so long. Some good stuff has happened this week so lets get started.

First, I found out we can open our air vents and store drinks in there, since we dont have refrigerators. All the air vents have been unscrewed in the past, so everyone just pops open their air vent and puts drinks or food inside. Yesterday we went on a hunt to find stuff. We found a Dr. Pepper, Aloe Drink (pomegranate flavor), and a game created by prior missionaries. The game is called Super Fight. In Super Fight, you draw a character card, a weapon card, and a power card. Then, you and your opponent argue about who would win in a fight, then everybody else judges. For example, last night I was Emperor Kuzco (as a llama), wqith a bow that shoots snakes, and the power to read minds. Howeverm every power card has a weakness and my weakness was that I cant see farther than 10 feet away. Its good fun.

On a more important note, I have two baptismal commitments! Dennis, our English investigator, and Yoshida, our Japanese investigator. It's been a pleasure teaching them and I cant wait to teach them more.

Also, apparently they try to get an apostle speak once a month here, so we migtht have an apostle speak on sunday or tuesday. Either way, I'll send pictures when it happens.

Japanese has been going good. I can now give a lesson without bringing my grammar and vocab books. I still need to use a dictionary however but what do you expect, Japanese is hard.

Despite the difficulty of the language, I love learning Japanese. A few days ago, we had a member of the seventy speak to us. I would like to challenge all of you to ponder just how important Christ's atonemnt has been. That's been the topic of my studies for the past few days for my investigators. I want to say that the Atonement is the most important thing that has ever happened. Ponder it, pray about it, and appreciate it. It is the greatest gift mankind has ever received. We are all indebted to Christ, and in return all He asks is that we follow Him. That is a pretty sweet deal in my opinion.

Well, this concludes my update. Its been great talking with you all, and as always-

God be with you 'till we meet again.

Game they found in their air vent

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Week 3- Oct. 15, 2015

Konnichiwa Minna-san!

Elder Moore reporting in from the MTC, just finished up 3 weeks. Only 6 more to go.

This week was pretty good. We did a ton of teaching, in english and in japanese. We lost a few investigators but not because we sucked. Our schedule just keeps getting messed up.

However, this week was also a sad week. Our senpai left for their respective missions so now the dorm hall and the class building is sadly empty. Its really weird being the most experienced class in the zone. New japanese missionaries came yesterday but theyre not our kohai. They belong to the other zone but its still nice to see new senkyoushi.

Our english innestigator, Dennis, is no longer being taught by us. Its too bad because he was golden. Rasied catholic but had some concerns about the way they did stuff. We gave him the lessons on God, Jesus Christ, and the restoraation and BoM. He was so receptive. I'm confident we could have baptized him.

My japanese is getting good. I no longer need to bring teaching rescources into lessons, and on monday nights we do TRC which is like family home evening but in your mission language. During the last trc, I didnt have to look in a book or dictionary once. I attribute this all to the spirit. Without it and the gift of tongues, this work would be impossible.

Any ways, lots of teaching, lots of studying. My life consists of books and characters i barely know how to read but I love it. I cant wait to actually get to Japan, and use what I'm learning. I am tired of the MTC food however. There are only a few food items I absolutely love. I eat a bagel and cream cheese avery day for breakfast. typing is really hard. Using japanese a lot more has been messing with my linguistics.

I got Grandmas Porter’s package. Tell her I said many thanks and I really enjoyed them.

Thank you for tuning in to this weekly update.

This is Elder Moore, signing off.

And of course, God be with you 'till we meet again.