Blog of Elder JT Lamoreaux

Monday, September 14, 2015

穏やか "Odayaka"

Dear Everyone,

"Odayaka" is the word of the week. It means calm, gentle or quiet. I learned it on Tuesday and I swear I heard it at least twice everyday since then. It is a beautiful word and I decided to make that my title because I have like no other ideas for titles.

This was an awesome week! I had District Leader Council in Kobe on Tuesday. So, my companion and I went to Fukuchiyama Monday night. I went on splits with the DL in Fukuchiyama so we could go together to Kobe. It was a great meeting! We received lots of training on the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and how an understanding of that can really solve any problem that you have in life. As a mission, we have been reading the Book of Mormon with a focus on understanding the Doctrine of Jesus Christ better. We spent about an hour and a half in that meeting discussing what everyone has learned so far. Then we discussed about the difference between Ministering and Administering. I am called as a DL to minister to these people as the Savior would minister. Throughout our discussions, I came to the conclusion that the most important thing for a person to do in this life is to develop Christlike love. Love truly is the motive for anything good in the world. If we can just let go of our pride and learn to love everyone, despite of their actions, this world would be a much better place. So, I am trying to love more all those around me. Showing love through simple acts of kindness is the most important thing. I realized that saying you love someone and actually loving someone are two separate things; much like the principle of Faith. It is through our actions that determine our love. Love is really so important, and I am working more on that. After a lunch consisting of Costco Pizza (yesssss!!) we were trained on teaching simple lessons so that our investigators will understand what we are saying. All-in-all, it was a great meeting and I learned so much.


DLC! (District Leader Council) here are all of the District Leaders in the Japan Kobe Mission!  We were able to receive training from President and Sister Welch and the Assistants.  It was a great time!
Tastes like America! (But much more expensive..)

Elder Simpson and I at Burger King in Kobe going on splits for DLC
On the bus.. Yay!

Friday was District Meeting and we had some great discussions about the things that I learned in DLC. Everyone in my district participated and it turned out to be a great opportunity to learn through the Spirit. We even had a recent convert come and participate in our meeting! We also talked about the importance of testifying about simple truths. I am getting better at organizing district meetings. I found that you can prepare really well, but sometimes, the Spirit makes the meeting go a different direction than you have already planned. It's pretty cool to see it flow throughout the meeting. Somehow, we were able to cover all that we needed to cover and I think everyone had a good experience there. Everything is starting to come together, little by little.

The district at Sushi after District Meeting!
Saturday and Sunday, we were able to teach a few fun lessons. One of them was to one of our old investigators. We decided we wanted to sing 神の子です "I am a Child of God" to him. I haven't really sung in lessons before, but when we did here, there was a great spirit that was felt. Hymns can truly bring the Spirit into a room more than anything else can. I think we will try to sing more during lessons. Also, we decided to deliver cookies to some investigators that have been really hard to meet lately. One of them, an older couple, actually invited us in and we had a good, unplanned, teaching opportunity. It testified to me that when you are going about doing good, God will recognize your efforts, and will bless you accordingly.

We went to visit a Potential Investigator we found in the area book. All that was written was "he likes gaijin (foreigners)" and he was close so we thought "hey, why not?". Well he let us in and welcomed us into his "man-cave". Dang I want this so badly!! Inside were 3 Saxophones, 2 pianos/organs, a beautiful acoustic guitar, a framed "fender" bass and electric guitar, a flat screen T.V. and a small recording studio! It was so cool!! He played the saxophone for us and he let me play the piano and the guitar that he had. He then fed us some dinner out of nowhere which we appreciated. We tried talking about the gospel, but he said that he wasn't interested and said that it was "dame" (forbidden) for us to talk about God or pray with him. So, that's that. I like these kind of experiences you get on a mission haha! Then after that, we taught our 41 year old investigator who has the mind of a 10 year old. Let me just say, that was a tiring lesson, trying to teach a primary lesson in Japanese to a middle aged man...

Here is a cool fact about the city that I am serving in, Maizuru. Maizuru, being on the coast of the Sea of Japan, is home to one of the biggest Naval bases in Japan. There are also many cruise ships that stop in Maizuru and there are always naval officers walking around here. Well, rewind to the times of World War II. The United States were wanting to drop an atomic bomb on Japan right? Well, they initially wanted to drop the A-bomb on Maizuru. It would take out their naval base and I guess be better for America. However, that day as they were getting closer to Maizuru, they realized that the weather over Maizuru at that time was too cloudy; not good for dropping a bomb. So, instead of dropping the bomb over Maizuru, they changed course and dropped the big bomb on Hiroshima. So, thanks to the crazy weather of Maizuru, the U.S. had to move their plans to Hiroshima. I hate the story of the atomic bomb, but now it kind of hits home to me more that that could've been the people that I am serving and talking to now. Anyways, I think that is an interesting fact about Maizuru. Pretty cool right!?

Well, that's some of my experiences from this week. This church is true, and the gospel is the solution for everything. Literally everything. If you ever come across a situation, think "which principle of the gospel would help me if I understood it more?" I promise if you ponder on that, and then act accordingly, you can overcome that and you can be strengthened by it. Love you all! Keep smiling and give 'em Heaven!

穏やか "Odayaka"

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


 
King size at Sukiya

No comments:

Post a Comment