9th week in Japan
10/12/2015
Conference week at last!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, it truly has been such a wonderful week this week. I hope that
all of you are doing well back at home. I really appreciate all of the
emails and prayers of support. I honestly cannot express how much help
I have been able to receive from all of your support. Thank you all so
much. The time continues  to fly by at the speed of light. I still
feel like I left the MTC just yesterday, and that I left the St.
George airport the day before that. I cannot believe how much fun it
has been to come out here to serve the Lord for these next 2 years. I
guess time just flys by when you are engaged in the work of the Lord.

Last week hopefully all of you were able to watch general conference.
It is truly a privilege to be able to hear from the prophets and
apostles each conference session. I was not able to watch conference
until this last weekend, but it was such a blessing to hear all of the
talks and thankfully in English. I learned so much from all of the
talks that were given. In Elder Christofferson's talk he talked about
how we are called to preach the good news. In Japanese the word for
gospel is 福音. In other words the literal translation for gospel in
Japanese means "good news." It was cool to think that as a missionary
I literally am called to preach the "good news" (gospel/福音) to the
people of Japan. I also thought it was really cool that President
Uchtdorf talked about faith, and he mentioned my favorite scripture
Alma 33:23. He talked about how there is no magic to believe. The way
to believe is by constantly exercising our faith. Even though all of
conference was awesome, my favorite talks were by Elder Haynie and the
new apostle Elder Renlund. Elder Haynie's talk was on repentance and
the atonement. The spirit really hit me as he talked about Jesus
Christ volunteering to be the savior in the pre-earth life. The savior
descended beneath all of us, and now he pleads with the father in our
behalf for the salvation of our souls. It is truly incredible to me
how the savior knows each one of us perfectly. He also talked about
how repentance is not easy, but the result will be worth it. I also
really enjoyed Elder Renlund's talk about serving others. Our callings
are not about us, they are about serving those around us. In order to
serve those around us we must see other people as Heavenly Father
does. Only then can we see the true worth of souls. Conference was
truly spiritually inspiring.

I finally was able to finish reading the entire Book of Mormon last
week for the first time. As I came to the end of the Book of Mormon  I
read in Moroni 10:3-5. Moroni talks about how we can know of a surety
that the Book of Mormon is true. We always talk to our investigators
about this and show them these verses, but I never really thought
about it myself. After finishing the Book of Mormon I took some time
to ponder about it, and then do as Moroni asked. I prayed to our
Heavenly Father with a strong faith that I could receive an answer.
After praying I received an immediate witness from the Holy Ghost that
the Book of Mormon is true. I know without a doubt in my mind that the
Book of Mormon is the word of God. He gave us these holy scriptures so
that we can be guided and directed back to him. I am sincerely
grateful for the sacrifice that the prophets of old made to preserve
the Book of Mormon for us in these latter days. It is a truly
incredible gift to be able to read from it every day. I sincerely
plead with each of you that even if you only have a little time before
going to bed, to read and ponder about the Book of Mormon each day. So
many people have sacrificed so much for us to have this book now. It
has been a life changing experience to not only read, but really
ponder about what I have been reading while reading the Book of
Mormon.

Last week I invited everyone to join me in praying for others. I asked
that when you pray you would seek to pray for those around you. This
week I have really been striving to do just that. I know that as we
put others first, the Lord blesses us even more for it. God wants each
of us to be able to return to live with him in Heaven again, but we
cannot do it alone. We must help and pray for our brothers and sisters
so that we can all receive eternal life together. When Heavenly Father
sent us to Earth, he did not send us alone. My challenge for this week
is to remember the savior and his atonement throughout the week. We
heard in conference from multiple talks about the importance of the
sacrament. If we always remember the savior, we will always have the
spirit to be with us. I will try my best to constantly remember the
savior throughout this week, and I would invite each of you to join
me. The savior made the biggest sacrifice imaginable, and we cannot
comprehend it in this life, but if we try our best to think about what
he did, I know that Heavenly Father will give us the spirit to always
be with us.

Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so great. Honestly it could
not have been any better. Weakley choro and I surely celebrated it. I
woke up in the morning to a huge mess of strings tied around the
house. Hahaha it was hilarious I will have to attach a photo and
video. I had to untie the strings and then we made some Oreo pancakes
for breakfast. Afterwards we headed to Zone Training Meeting. It was a
good on of fun to see all the missionaries. I saw smith choro again
and another sister in my MTC district. I really miss those days with
them, and hopefully I can see them all a few times while I am out
here. Anyways somehow the zone leaders knew about my birthday, so they
had everyone sing to me. Also sister Welch called me up and sang to me
with president Welch. They are the best. After ZTM we went out to eat,
and I even got to have Alfredo noodles for my birthday. I was told
there is no Alfredo in Japan, but we found some in the mall at a
restaurant. Afterwards I was able to make that cheesecake, and it
turned out really good so thank you. Thank you everything. Also for
priesthood session on Saturday we had some traditional ice cream
afterwards, and bought some werther type things to do the werther
challenge. I heard that you guys did it back at home so I figured we
would continue the tradition here in Japan haha. Thank you again for
everything. I want to try to start a photo share on the iPad. It is
way easier to attach photos and videos on it and you can attach more.
You could also send me videos then, hopefully including the video when
you went boating and you tried to send it. Yesterday we had a fun
festival also. I will send some pictures. We just finished a fall
festival at our stake center a few hours away today.

(Also I don't know if this matters to much, but a few people told me
it was illegal to send jerky to Japan. They didn't take away the
package so it was okay, but that's just what I heard anyways)

Questions:
1. Yes, I loved the package. Thank you so much. I got some really
awesome ping pong paddles and cool ties, from grandma and grandpa I
think. I also got a letter from Kayli, Brinly, Chayla, and Siela. I
got the new umbrella so now I have two brand new ones haha. Owell at
least now I won't need one for 2 years ha.
2. Yes, I got to make cheesecake brownies,p and have Alfredo noodles.
It couldn't have been better.
3. My investigators are doing well. We had to put Shu's baptism back a
week because stake conference is on the 24th, but he is doing great.
We are working on the word of wisdom with him because it is hard for
him to understand why we don't drink tea. We continue to pray for each
of our investigators each day. We might have one other investigator
who could be baptized by the end of this transfer.
4. I think I have been doing a little better. I just try to look for
landmarks and stuff, but I still struggle a little. My companion and I
are doing awesome though. Even though sometimes we get lost we just
follow where the spirit takes us.
5. Our stake will celebrate Halloween, but it is not very big in Japan.
6. We just had a zone training meeting. We also will have trainee,
trainer, training meeting, and hopefully I can see my whole MTC
district there.
7. My bike is holding up really well. I crashed it once and felt dumb
when I did it haha. Thankfully the bike didn't even get scratched and
I was fine also.
8. I am pretty sure that I got grandma and grandpas stuff, and I
cannot express how thankful I am. I truly appreciate it. I don't know
if I got Sheila and George's stuff, but I am thankful for their help
and support also. Thank you for making my day great.
9. We haven't been able to play ping pong again yet, but we will
probably be able to play again soon. My companion is very good at it.
10. I was able to open the video, and it was awesome. Thank you. I
hunk with the new photo share thing, we can share photos and videos
easy. I will try to set it up.

Thank you to everyone for all of your support. I love you all so much.
I hope we can all try our best to keep the savior in our thoughts this
week.

Hirschi 長老

8th week in Japan
10/5/2015
Looking for the Elect

Dear Family and Friends,

I am very appreciative of this opportunity that I have to email each
of you every week. It is so much fun to tell you about all that is
going on in Okayama. Thank you for each of your prayers and support. I
know that I wouldn't be able to serve this mission without each of
you. I am truly grateful for your help. This week has been a little
different than all the weeks that I have been in Japan. My companion
Elder Weakley loves to go and talk to people on the street. He has a
lot of courage and it really helps me come out of my comfort zone. It
really lights the "Dendo fire." (dendo is missionary work). Over this
past week I have really learned how to just start talking to people.
Honestly, I will admit that it is pretty tough to walk up to random
people on the street and try to talk to them in a language I barely
know; however, when I see people on the street now I know that they
are all God's children. I know that he loves each of them individually
more than we can even imagine. He wants each of us to be able to
return to live with him someday. Even though when I walk up to someone
and I have no idea what to say, I just start talking to them because
it doesn't matter how bad I speak the language. What matters is that
they know that they all have a father in Heaven who loves them.

Last week I challenged myself and each of you to pray more sincerely.
As missionaries we have to follow up, so have you been doing it? I
have really thought about what it means to pray with sincerity. Before
I thought that praying sincerely was trying to tell Heavenly Father
about everything, and trying to give a long prayer. When I really
thought about it though, I realized that isn't what it means to pray
sincerely. Yeah, I am sure that Heavenly Father does want us to pray
to him by telling him everything that is going on, but that is not
necessarily what praying sincerely is. As I thought about it
throughout the week, we had a district meeting on Friday about  that
exact same topic. Elder Sproat, our new district leader, talked about
how we can pray sincerely. He talked to us about captain Moroni. I
always love reading and hearing about captain Moroni. He referred us
to Alma 46:12-13. I can just imagine Moroni preparing for war, ripping
his coat off, writing what he is fighting for, and all the enthusiasm
he has. He is ready to go out and fight. After all that he has done to
prepare and put on his armor with so much faith in God, he then prays
to God mightily in behalf of blessings for his brethren. It is
incredible to me that even though he is about to go out and battle all
these people, with a huge risk of dying, it says that he prays
mightily for his brethren. There are numerous times in the scriptures
that it talks about prophets praying mightily for the welfare of
others. In 3 Nephi 1:11, Nephi prays in behalf of his people. I think
that in order to pray sincerely we prepare to pray like Moroni did,
and then we pray mightily in behalf of others.

Yesterday after church I was able to witness a baptism. One of the
little girls in our ward just turned 8 and we taught her a little bit
about baptism on Thursday. The whole ward had a little program for her
after church. It was a very spiritual experience. Hearing the
baptismal prayer and confirmation in Japanese was really cool. My
companion and I were invited to participate in the confirmation, and
as the dad gave the confirmation I could just feel the spirit so
strong. I know that the spirit is so real and helps us so much. There
are many times when I have no idea what people are saying, but because
what they are saying is true, I can feel it through the spirit. I know
that it applies the same way to us as missionaries. When we teach
investigators, even though they can only understand some of what we
are saying to them, if we can help them feel the spirit through our
testimonies they will be able to know what we are teaching is true.

I have almost finished the Book of Mormon, and I still continue to
learn so much from it. I hope that each of you get the chance to read
it, even if it is only a few verses each day. I can promise you that
if you do it will change your life. I am currently reading in Ether. I
hope that I can finish it before we have general conference next week.
I hope that conference was awesome for all of you. I won't be able to
watch it until this Saturday/Sunday. I actually had no idea that Elder
Scott had passed away until just this Sunday. I can't believe that 3
of the apostles passed away in such a short time. I hope that your
questions were answered in conference and that it went well. My
challenge this week is to pray for others.

I hope that all of you are doing well back in America. Thank you so
much for all of your emails and packages/post cards. Also on music I
don't really ever listen to music from the iPod or iPad. Each of the
missionary apartments has a CD player, that we just plug a flash drive
into, so that is best. Just the flash drive is awesome thanks so much.
I don't think our iPads have drop box.
Questions:
1. My companion likes to do wrestling, play zelda, skim boarding (in
the Virgin river in St. George), and snow boarding.
2. I am absolutely loving it here! It has been a blast this past
couple months. I am starting to understand a few more things that
people say, but not too much. I am getting better at just walking up
to people on the street and talking to them though.
3. We get to watch conference next week at the stake center. I think
it is at the Okayama church, but it might just be at Okayama Nishi. It
is this weekend though.
4. At Okayama Nishi we never really get to use a computer, unless we
want to pay to use one. At every other area in the mission, they have
computers.
5. Yes, we were able to set up ping pong on Saturday. Sadly not many
people showed up, but we had a lot of fun anyways. I hope we can get
more people to come.
6. Not that I can think of, thank you for all of your help. I know it
is a lot of work to forward to everyone, and forward everyone else's
emails to me. You are the best.

I hope that school is going well for all of you. I love all of you and
pray for you every day. I hope that we can all pray for others this
week. Thanks again for everything.

Hirschi 長老

7th week in Japan
9/28/2015
I found my friend!

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been another fantastic week in Japan! So last week I said that transfers were on Wednesday, but they were actually on Thursday. It was crazy to see elder Goldhamer packing up to go to Akashi. As he was packing to leave I really thought about all the things we did over the last transfer. I told him, "Man it has been a blast!" We had so much fun and taught so many people. I loved just talking to him about everything. He was an extremely good trainer. I will never forget all the things I have learned from him over this past month and a half. It was really sad when he was saying his goodbyes to our investigators and members. He was in Okayama for over 6 months of his mission so he had a good relationship with everyone. He knew that he would see them all again someday though, whether in this life or the next.

On Tuesday night we visited the Kono family (not the one I sent in my picture last time). We taught a sister named Keiko. She has a little daughter named Hanachan who elder Goldhamer wanted to give a present to before he left. We gave her those glowstick bracelets that you sent me and she loved them so much! They were so glad they got to visit with elder Goldhamer one last time. The next night we went over to Okayama to stay there for transfers. A bunch of other missionaries were there Sent from my iPad

It is pretty crazy being the area leader now. I hardly know where anything is and finding stuff in Japan is a little bit difficult; however, I also think back to what President Welch told us when we first got here. He said, "If you don't get lost at least twice a day, then you are doing something wrong." Even though I really don't know where I am going elder Weakley and I follow the direction of the spirit. It is also really new having to call people in Japanese and try to set up appointments. I can say a few things to them, but I can hardly understand when other people are talking to me. They talk really fast, but I can pick up a few words here and there so that helps haha. I think Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to be the area leader early because he knows that I need it. Even though I know that it is pretty difficult for me, I have learned a lot over these last few days. Heavenly Father always gives us trials for a reason, and it is because he wants us to grow stronger, it is because he loves us.

Saturday afternoon elder Weakley and I taught an investigator named Shu. Shu is the coolest person in the universe. He is from China and he is 24 years old. He also speaks fluent English, which is awesome. We met him at the church to catch up on how he was doing. We got out of an appointment a little later in the morning so we had to bike over to the church as fast as we could. We made it a little late and he was waiting in front of the church with a bag of pistachios for us. He is a friend who I know that I would get along extremely well with at home. We taught him about the word of wisdom. He is so receptive to everything that we have to teach him, and he always keeps his commitments. After the lesson was over I felt like we needed to invite him to be baptized. He agreed to getting baptized on October 24th! My companion and I were so pumped after that lesson to keep teaching him! I am so excited to help him get baptized and come closer to our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have been given as a missionary to help those around me know about the truthfulness of the gospel.

In our sacrament meeting yesterday our ward mission leader yesterday gave a talk in English and had Baba kyodai translate for him. It was a neat experience to hear the correlation between what was said in Japanese and in English. I was also gifted with the opportunity to give the sacrament prayers in Shuwa (Japanese sign language). I had to practice a bit in the morning before, but I will never forget the spirit that I felt as I signed for the members. In shuwa the sign for Jesus Christ is pressing your right finger in your palms, and then make a c and bring it across your chest like a sash. Knowing that I was giving these sacred prayers in such a cool language was such a blessing. I will never forget that opportunity.

Thank you to everyone for your emails and support. I hope everyone is doing well back at home. Also dad asked me about the members not feeding us. They actually have fed me a few times. We had a visit with the Egis and the Babas, and they fed us. It is just not that often that they do it. They also feed us after church on Sundays sometimes. I think the reason they don't invite us to eat at there houses much is because they are all so busy all the time. The people in Japan work a lot. Also almost all the missionary apartments only have 2 missionaries. Some have 4. A few months before I came to Okayama nishi it was a four missionary apartment. One thing that reminded me of home this week was in 4 Nephi 1:8. I thought of when we used to play settlers of Zarahemla every Sunday. I miss that, we will have to play some when I come back in 2 years haha.
Questions:
1. My new companion is awesome! He is from Salem Utah and has been here for almost a year.
2. I got a birthday package, thank you so much! I haven't opened yet cause you said I should wait so I will wait until the 9th. It was pretty heavy though wow. If stuff is expensive to send I wouldn't worry about it too much. Thank you so much though, I also got some postcards and  letter in the mail Sent from my iPad
3. The language is coming slowly but surely. I still can hardly understand anyone, but I am getting a little more each day. I have not learned any of the articles of faith haha, I have learned the first vision, missionary purpose, and a few other things though.
4. I haven't really hated* any of the food. Some of the food is a little odd, but I eat it anyways. I also did have the fermented soybeans, which was really strange. It is called nato, and I thought it was kind of disgusting, but I could see how some people would like it. It has a really sticky texture to it.
5. I have been on more exchanges, but nothing near as much fun as elder Boettcher and I had.
6. We celebrated the 60th anniversary of missionary work in Okayama yesterday which was fun. They also have parties every now and then, but I haven't really participated in any crazy traditions yet. I can't wait for the time that I get to do that though, it will be fun.
7. My keyboard works perfect, thank you. I think I have everything I need thanks.
8. We are trying to get ping pong started up on Saturdays now. We are going to hand out flyers, and get the ward psyched about it.
9. I am good for music thanks, I think shawn was wondering if he could send me some, so if you really wanted to you could get some from him and send it on a flash drive.
10. The pictures you send are great thank you. Whatever is good nothing in particular, it is just good to see how everyone is doing.
11. They do not have basketball courts at the church sadly. Also I won't be able to play much basketball on my mission so maybe not. Some ties would be cool, but I wouldn't worry to much about sending me stuff. I just love hearing from everyones emails/letters.

Thank you so much to you all for everything. My challenge this week is to pray with sincerity. I know that sometimes it is tough to pray every night before we go to bed, and when we get up in the mornings, but when we do it Heavenly Father loves us even more. I am going to try my best to pray with real intent this week also. I love you all, have a great week!

Hirschi 長老

6th week in Japan
9/21/2015
Love the People

Dear Family and Friends,

Yet another phenomenal week here in Japan! I hope that you are all doing well back home. How is everyone doing? Thank you all so much for your continual support and for all of the emails. I have really enjoyed being able to read your emails throughout the week rather than just once a week. I hope Michael is doing well at the MTC. He sounded like he was having fun. The first week or so at the MTC was pretty tough for me, but once you get to know the people it is so much fun! Although he will only be there for a little longer (if he hasn't left there already.)

We got our transfer calls this morning, and I found out that I am staying in Okayama Nishi! (not to much of a surprise) However my companion is transferring to Akashi to be a zone leader! I felt pretty bummed out when I heard that he would be transferring to a new area. He has taught me so much here, and I know that I will never forget my first transfer that I had here in Okayama Nishi with him. Elder Goldhamer really taught me how to be a good missionary. I don't think that I could ever thank him enough for all of his help. Even though he is leaving, the work must still continue in Okayama Nishi. I know that being the area leader might be a little difficult for me. I have a pretty bad sense of direction, but as long as my companion and I follow the guidance of the spirit we cannot get lost. My new companions name is elder Weakley. I have not met him yet, but we will be doing transfers on Thursday, and I will be able to meet him then.

On Tuesday last week my companion and I were able to meet with the Murakami family for a very spiritually uplifting experience. The Murakami family is a very strong member family in the Okayama Nishi ward. Their daughter is currently serving a mission in Tokyo, and they really like the missionaries. They had us go with them to visit a less active member. We drove to a place called Kurashiki about 3 or so hours from Okayama. It was my first time driving in a car for 3 months so it felt a little odd. I got a little motion sick because of all the winding roads in Japan. I also realized how much mom would hate driving in Japan because the roads are all so tiny haha. Sometimes I see roads that look like a go-cart could barely fit in it. Anyways when we arrived the Murakami´s told us that they just wanted us to sing a few songs to this old less active man. He was living in an old folks home, and couldn't talk, but he could understand everything we were saying. As we went into the room sister Murakami talked to him about us and said that we were here to sing for him. We sang a few hymns and by the end he was bawling. He looked like he was so full of joy, and the spirit hit me so strong. Even though we were doing something so simple, it meant so much to him. I then realized how it is just the little things we do that make all the difference. I encourage all of you this week to try to find something you can do for someone else, even if it is something as simple as smiling at them.

Before our district meeting on Friday our district did an activity called Suika Wari (watermelon chopping). It was so much fun. We set out a tarp on the floor and put the watermelon in the middle. We all got in a circle, and blind folded someone with a wooden sword. We spun that person around and helped to guide him to the watermelon. It was a lot of fun, and I will attach a picture of it. Also the zone leaders joined us for district meeting and they are awesome. They are both Australian and they are super funny too. They also do a tradition where you take the split parts of the watermelon and wear them as hats for a picture ( kinda strange, but hey it is tradition).

In district meeting last Friday I was given the opportunity to teach a lesson on charity. Before teaching I never really knew the true meaning of charity. I had always thought it was just trying to show love towards others. I read Moroni 7: 45-48 and realized that charity is a lot more than that. In Preach My Gospel Charity it says that charity is the “the pure love of Christ” (Moroni 7:47). It includes God’s eternal love for all His children. In order to show charity we look at all of God's children with an "eternal perspective." Whenever I see people now I look at them and try to think of how Heavenly Father sees them. He loves all of his children more than anyone can even imagine. Charity is an important attribute that we need to try our best to gain as members of this gospel and as missionaries. This next week I am going to try to show charity to all of those that I come in contact with. I would also challenge each of you to do the same.

I have been able to get to know my mission President a little bit. We had interviews once, and before I left for Okayama we spent a couple days at the mission home. He is so full of wisdom and extremely nice. I hope to get to know him more. Surprisingly we haven't actually talked to people much about family history here. I thought the same thing before I came to Japan about family history being so big, but I haven't heard much about it since coming here. They do celebrate their ancestors for a week, but I am not sure how big it actually it is.
Questions:
1. Yes we have transfer announcements, but we don't transfer until Wednesday. It will be fun.
2. We have 1 zone conference per transfer, so not yet.
3. I have a couple pictures with some members, but not too many yet. I will try to get some more.
4. I do get to teach kids, and I get to teach them English sometimes. I have given some pennies away and they love them! They are fascinated when they see them haha.
5. The scenery is sooooo beautiful. It is soo green and there are trees everywhere. Also there are some mountains around.
6. I couldn't get the video to open, I actually haven't been able to see any of your videos yet because they cant play on my iPad. If I find out how to get them open I will let you know. Okayama Nishi is the only area where we cant access a computer very easily, so I may not be able to open them until I transfer somewhere else.
7. We went to the castle today! It was awesome I will send some pictures.
8. We haven't played too many different games yet, but we are setting up ping pong family home evening night for Saturday nights. It will be extremely fun if we can get people to come.
9. The speakers and music are great. I think I am good on that thanks so much. I also got some more music from my companion.
10. We email from the church on our iPads usually. We are able to do laundry at the apartment because we have a washer and dryer.
11. I actually like Sundays the most, even more than P day. It is a very relaxing day, and I love talking to all the members.
12. I actually wish I could play more piano. There is a keyboard in one of the rooms at the church that I play on sometimes, but not very often.

Thanks again so much everyone for your prayers and support. It has been so great to hear from each of you. I love all of you and pray for you always.

Hirschi 長老