Elder LamoreauX4: JT - A Whole New World

Dear Everyone,

Well, as the title implies, we reached a new place as the Japan Kobe Mission. We now have iPads! They are way cool. Right now, we can use them for study and for teaching. I found the Gospel Library App to be really convenient and helpful. I used to use that app before my mission, but now, I really, really appreciate it. It literally has just about everything the church has to offer in it. All the Mormon Messages, "I'm a Mormon" videos, Bible videos, all the church manuals, church magazines, conference talks. Not only in English, but just about every language, including Japanese. It is so helpful to have everything in one, easily accessible place that you can hold in one hand. It felt like Christmas Day when we got them on Thursday. I feel like a person who just discovered technology, because I think all the things that you could do on them is so cool! Anyway, as the time moves forward, we will be able to move on to using the Area Book App and then later on to Facebook and Skype. I am excited to find out about all the amazing things that these can do and how it can make our missionary work so much more effective.

So, this week was great. On Tuesday, one of our plans fell through, so we were housing. I wanted to do an area that I have been thinking about going for a while. So there we were able to talk to a couple people and we found a new investigator! He said that he believes in Jesus Christ and has been wanting to learn more about him. He was first introduced to Christ when he was in prison actually. When he later got released, he met with some kind of missionaries (i don't think it was our church) who read the bible together with him. Then he moved to 西脇 Nishiwaki and has been wanting more ever since. So, we found him and hopefully he can progress in the gospel. Then after that, we went to McDonalds for an appointment that we had. It was with one of our Filipino investigators and he accepted a baptismal date! Hopefully all goes well with him, he can continue to progress and he can be able to make his date at the end of the month. I am so excited for him and I have a really good feeling about him.

Then on Thursday, we went to Kyoto for a combined Zone Training Meeting with the Kyoto Zone. We woke up pretty early to make the train to Kyoto. We rode 5 different trains (Dad would be jealous) in order to get to Kyoto, so you can say that was pretty stressful to try to make it on all of the trains on time. We only had about 4 minuets tops in between trains to find it, pay and get on before it left. We were able to do it pretty effortlessly though which was good. The train ride there took us through Kobe and Osaka, so I was able to see the 3 big cities in the mission.

View of Osaka in the distance. On the way to Kyoto for the iPad handout, We took trains that took us through Kobe and Osaka and Kyoto, the 3 biggest cities in the mission.

Cool buildings in Osaka

Meiji headquarters in Osaka. The building is a big chocolate bar!

Kyoto

Awesome river in Kyoto

So, in Kyoto, we got the iPads as well as screen protectors and cases from President and Sister Welch. We set them up there and then I was off to Toyooka for a kokan (Companion Exchange) with 高橋長老 Elder Takahashi, one of the zone leaders. So, A LOT of train rides that day. In all, about 6 hours of riding in a train.

The kokan was a lot of fun. We were able to teach a few lessons that Friday and we ended the day with a meal at an investigator's house with the Toyooka Sisters. There, we had Karai Nabe (Spicy Nabe... look it up on Google). With that, they had a bottle of "Death Sauce" a very spicy hot sauce. A little tiny drop was incredibly spicy. We had fun taking turns eating that. I have a couple funny videos that I wish I could send but the email won't let me. Anyways, it was a fun Kokan, and I learned a lot also. Being with a Japanese Elder for more than a day was difficult, but it was a great learning experience.

Me and 高橋長老 Takahashi Choro on a Kokan. We went to SUBWAY!! We were asked by a couple different people if we were 双子 (twins)! 1) he is 27, I am 19. 2)He is Japanese, I am not Japanese. It was pretty awesome!

When I came back to Nishiwaki on Saturday, Scowcroft choro got sick, so we went with our branch president to the hospital (because everyone in Japan goes to the hospital for every little thing). It was my first experience in a Japanese hospital. It smells just like a normal hospital, and the language barrier makes me not want to ever have to go to a hospital on my mission. Anyway, turns out that Elder Scowcroft has a "Respiratory infection" which I guess is just a fancy way to say he has a cold. So, we were stuck in the apartment the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. I was able to get a lot of study down and was able to really learn how to use the Gospel Library App on the iPad.

Well, that's about it for this week. I encourage you all, if you have some kind of smart phone, or tablet, to download the Gospel Library App and a really cool app called LDS Pamphlets. You can do so much good for others via facebook or other social media, and you can have everything you would ever need to study right in your pocket. The videos on the app are great and you can post them on facebook or share it with coworkers, friends, people at school. Really the possibilities are endless. Right now the church has an Easter campaign called #becausehelives. There is an amazing video on Mormon.org. Please watch it and share it with your friends. Because He lives, we can live again and we can be together with our family forever. Because he lives, we each have a best friend that we can rely on for anything. Because He lives, we are forgiven of sins if we follow him.

Hope you all have a great week! The church is true! Keep Smiling and Give'em Heaven!

Love,

Elder Lamoreaux

ラムロー長老

日本神戸伝道部　西脇市

末日聖徒イエスキリスト教会