Mission Conference Week!

Dear Everyone,

Whoooooo, crazy week! We had a few highlights and only one low light. Let's talk about the low light first.

So, because of the aforementioned Mission Conference on Sunday, we weren't able to go to our own ward for church this week. So, we get a call from Moose, our investigator who is supposed to get baptized this Saturday. Well, he said that he talked to his parents more about his decision to be baptized and unfortunately they are now against him being baptized. They say that it's too fast and that he is too young to make this big decision in his life. So, for the time being, Moose will not be getting baptized this Saturday... Very disappointing, but hey, it happens on a mission. He'll still get baptized. He says he will still go to church and everything else, so it will all be good. Sometimes, it's frustrating that things like this happen, but I know that God has a plan and everything happens so that we can learn and become better from it. Ugh.

Well, now for the high lights!

On Thursday, we had Zone Conference and we we all taught by President and Sister Welch. Ahh, I love Zone Conferences so much because we get together with the zone and we listen to President Welch talk. I always learn so much from them. The main thing I learned this time was the power of the scriptures and the importance to really know them. In the training, we made a list about all of the things that we as missionaries struggle with. There was a big list ranging from personal weaknesses to investigators progress. President Welch looked at that list and then pointed us to the scriptures to figure out how to fix those problems. He pointed us to 1 Nephi 3-5 and we had a discussion on it. We honestly spent 2 hours talking about a couple verses from that section. I never knew you could go on and on and on about a story that we have heard ever since we could talk. And we were able to talk about all of the problems on the list and all found ways to fix those problems personally. I learned the importance of treasuring up in your heart the words of life. If you do so, the scriptures will have new meaning and it becomes fun. It was so cool. Another cool thing that I learned was "don't prepare a talk, prepare yourself." Before my mission and the start of it, I needed to have every word of my talk or my lesson written down so I can read it word for word. But, now I can go up there with a couple notes and can talk for a long time, in Japanese even. Crazy stuff. Mission changes you.

Then, on Sunday, we had the amazing opportunity to gather as a mission to hear Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak to our mission. It was the first Mission Wide conference we've had since Elder Nelson came last March. This was a really short one though, only 2 hours. It was so nice to see everyone in the mission and old friends from the mission. Really, friendships among the missionaries are one of my favorite things about the mission. I love everyone in the Japan Kobe mission.

The biggest thing that I learned from this conference was an answer to one of my questions that I had for it. That was "how can I make these last three months the best of my mission?" That answer came very directly to me. I learned that all I have to do is to my best that I can do everyday. Put it all in. Love God and serve him with all my heart, might, mind and strength. Focus 100% on my mission. See baptisms. If I just trust God and give it all to him, he will bless my life after the mission and everything will work out. It was so comforting to know that everything will work out. So simple, but for me now, that was so reassuring. Everything will work out in the end. Don't worry about it. It was a great conference and a special opportunity.


Well, that's the week! Probably no baptism this week, but we are still working hard and the baptisms are going to come flowing into our area! I know that! This church is true. So, so true. Joseph Smith is a prophet. Revelation is real. Book of Mormon is true. Have a great week!

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

P-Day last week, Elder Racker came from his area and we went to a mall in Okayama.  Elder Racker served in West Okayama last year, so he wanted to come visit some people.

This is sad..... ¥118=$1.18... For an absolutely tiny piece of crappy
pizza. That's about the size of my index finger. I could easily eat
that in one bite. Ugh... Never take pizza for granted America.

McDonald's with a recent convert and a member!  Taught a sweet lesson about scriptures afterwards.

We used Skittles from America to teach our investigator about Tithing in seminary!  Nothing beats Skittles in the early morning!

Zone Conference

Baseball with the Ward!  It was a ton of fun!

I made Lumpia for the lunch after baseball!  Look how good it looks!  It tasted great and all 60 were gone super fast.

Whipped Cream finger?

We spent the night in Akashi so that we could make to to Kobe in time for the Conference that started at 2:30.  We took a little walk in the morning to the Pacific Ocean!

A bunch of us going to Church in Akashi ward.  There were 16 missionaries here and we all sang a musical number during sacrament.  The ward loved it.

I translated Sacrament meeting to these three awesome Filipino members!  The cool story behind this is, on day last year, I went on exchange in Akashi with the Zone Leaders and we went to go teach a few Filipino investigators/members at their house.(The two in the middle and a few friends)  Fast forward to yesterday where i randomly came to Akashi and they came to church and I translated for them.  They even remembered me and said I look like a Filipino.  Also, the guy on the left just go baptized in January.  The missionary that helped him get in the water was my last companion Elder Clarkson.  It was sweet!  They are so awesome.  I also was asked to teach Gospel Principles class to them in Sunday School with no preparations.  It went really well.

Adventures in Okayama!