JT - Going to Osaka!?!

Dear Everyone,

I don't have too much time today because of the transfer calls that we received today. It happened. I am transferring out of beloved Maizuru and I am going to a place completely different. I am going to the Higashi Osaka area! Woah! From one of the most Inaka(country) places to one of the most tokai(city). Osaka is a huge city and I am going to have to do things that are completely different than what I have done my whole mission, so we'll see how it goes. My new companion is Elder Wharton. He is 6th transfer. That's about all I know about him. I am going to be District Leader there, so I am excited for the new adventures that await me there.

Today is the start of my 10th transfer (out of 16 total). This means that I reached double digits and I can now be considered an "old missionary." I swear I just got here...

Well, I'll just share one cool experience from last week. On Saturday night, we went over to Sukiya, a famous restaurant in Japan, to eat our "fast Sunday eve" feast, but it was stuffed to the brim. We walked around the restaurant and there was nowhere to sit. So, we were just going to step outside and wait when an older couple saw us, scooted over and made room for us to sit with them. Woah what nice people! So we sat with them and talked for a while. They were so nice and fun to talk to. They kept asking us questions about why we were in Japan and asking about our family and stuff like that. It was way fun and we were able to eat together and talk together for about 45 minutes. Turns out they are SGI (a crazy religion prominent in Japan) so they had no interest in our message, but they were just a delight to talk to. After we finished eating, we got up to pay for our meal, but the couple insisted on paying for our meal! These wonderful people let us sit with them because there weren't any other seats, talked with us, and they paid for our meal! I was pretty baffled; that was the first time anything like that has happened to me. It was a sweet experience. Our meal was paid for by a couple strong SGI people. Haha!

This week, we went to Ibaraki for TTT (Trainer Trainee Training) and I was able to see some of my missionary friends! Somehow, I was able to navigate my way from one end of Japan to the other end without any difficulty. Ask me to do that a few months ago and I would have pinched myself to see if I was dreaming and passed out due to lack of oxygen. Somehow, I am now able to work through the crazy train schedules, station names and prices and all that jazz to make it on time to where we needed to go. Things you learn on a mission...

Our whole district taught 20+ lessons again! So proud of my district. They all work so hard and they are doing so well. It's kinda sad that I'm leaving, but everyone expected it. Now I have to pack and say goodbyes and all that again.. I hate goodbyes... I love this little branch so, so much! :(

Well, that's all I got for this week. Love you all! Thanks so much for all of the love and support! Next week, I will be in a whole new place. Osaka, here I come!

Love,
Elder Lamoreaux ラムロー長老
Japan Kobe Mission 日本神戸伝道部

Some pictures from our Eikaiwa (English class) Halloween party on Tuesday!  I didn't know what to wear, so I decided to just wear all my BYU things and call it good.  (I didn't realize I had so many!  I couldn't bring all the BYU things I had).  It was a lot of fun!  We started off teaching them some Halloween words, then we had games.  The last picture is of the Branch President as a ninja and his wife as Maleficent.  They are so cool.  Lots of fun.

The Branch gave us Root Beer!  It's been so long!

TTT or Trainer Trainee Training.  All the trainers and trainees came together on Wednesday and received training from the Welchs and the AP"s.  Well, this is actually half of them.  More then 60% of the mission is now training/being trained.  Crazy stuff.  P.S. I have no idea what I am doing in the picture...

We found a Filipino store/restaurant and we were talking to the lady who works/lives there.  I saw Royal True Orange and said that i used to drink that all the time in the Philippines.  Then, she gave it to me for free!  It was way cool!

Baskin Robbings!

Fukuchiyama Zone after Zone Training Meeting.  Love these missionaries.  Sad to leave this zone...

These four missionaries next to me are in Nishiwaki (my first area) right now.  They wanted a Nishiwaki picture and so I joined them :).  Nishiwaki is a really interesting place because it is called "the Belly Button of Japan" and it means West Armpit.  Hence the weird pose.:)

I didn't know we had a missionary mall in Japan :)

Isn't that awesome!