18th week in Japan
12/13/2015
4th Transfer Begins!

Dear Family and Friends,

It is so wonderful to be able to write you on this Monday morning. As
some of you may already know we got our transfer calls this morning.
After almost every final district meeting of the transfer we write on
the board where we think that everyone is going. Weakley choro and I
thought that both of us would be staying for sure. I really love
Okayama Nishi and how strong the ward here is. I am way excited for
Shu to be baptized on the 25th of December also. Anyways Weakley choro
and I hurried over to the church this morning to see what would be
going on with the new transfers coming up. I had been praying that I
would stay in Okayama Nishi with him. We looked at the transfer calls
this morning and saw that I am going to Kyoto! I couldn't believe my
eyes when I read that I would be leaving this place. I felt extremely
bummed out that I wouldn't be able to stay one more transfer here with
Weakley choro. Even though I am sad about having to leave this amazing
place, it will be cool to see a new area of the mission. The place
that I am headed to is called Fushimi. Weakley choro told me that it
has a completely different feel than almost anywhere in Japan. It will
be hard to say my goodbyes here in Okayama Nishi, but it will sure be
cool to see a new area. Weakley choro will be staying here in Okayama
Nishi as a senior companion. I will be missing Shu for his baptism,
but I know that Weakley choro will be able to help him get baptized
when I go. I sure will miss Okayama Nishi.

This past week has been a very good last week of the transfer. Weakley
choro and I worked so hard to get our 20 lessons this week. We were
finally able to achieve our goal and got 4 investigators to church on
Sunday. We have been working on teaching people more at their houses
and while on the street. Last Friday during zone conference they
taught us how to do just that. We learned from our zone leaders about
not giving up on people. If someone turns you down at the door or is
busy outside on the street we try our best to help them learn more
about the church, even if they are not prepared for the gospel at that
time. We have been able to teach so many more people about the gospel
because of this new way of teaching. We have also been spreading the
true meaning of Christmas more and more with everyone.

A couple weeks ago President Welch challenged us to read from the
bible and look for Jesus Christ's relationship with Heavenly Father,
Jesus Christ's way of teaching, and the Doctrine of Christ. I had just
finished reading the first 3 gospels when he gave us that challenge so
it was a little bit funny that I would have to restart it. Even though
I had learned so much from reading the first time, I have really been
able to recognize so many new things while reading through this time.
Jesus Christ was the best missionary of all time, and all of us
missionaries are striving to become like he was. I have learned the
way that he teaches is so personal. He loves the people that he
teaches and knows exactly how to teach to what they need to hear.
Sometimes it is not easy to understand the bible, but I have really
learned how to understand by using the foot notes while being out here
on my mission.

My district leader, Elder Bateman, and I had a companionship exchange
that took place on Wednesday. His Japanese is extremely good, so it
was fun to learn some things from him. I have been working hard at
trying to learn this language. I have really felt a lot of
progression, but it just takes a lot of time. There is no secret to
learning the Japanese language. We just have to be diligent, obedient,
and patient. We had a fun exchange and I learned a few techniques to
use while tracting. We also taught our deaf investigator in shuwa and
I have really learned how cool Japanese sign language is. It is
basically like a game of charades. I wish I knew Japanese a lot better
so that I could learn more shuwa for our investigator. Sadly the only
place where missionaries really learn shuwa in the mission is in
Okayama Nishi.

It has truly been a blast here in Okayama. I will miss it a ton. I
know where I have been called to serve now is where Heavenly Father
wants me to be serving. My ponderizing scripture for last week was
John 6:69. I will be setting some good goals for my next transfer in
Kyoto. I am excited to meet the people there. I love these people and
I know that we are all brothers and sisters of a Father in Heaven. He
loves us each individually. I know that Jesus Christ is our brother.
He came to the Earth to atone for each of us. During this Christmas
season lets not forget to ponder about the savior and what he did for
us.

Questions:

1. I am not sure yet what is the best time for skyping at Christmas. 
I will have to ask my new companion and find out a good time.
I will let you know next week for sure.

2. On Christmas day we were going to go to Shu's baptism and probably
just do our regular missionary work ,but other than that I don't think we
do anything different for the most part.

3. It has not snowed yet. I don't think it will snow, and if it does
it probably won't be too much. I am staying very warm yes. Even though
it has been getting really cold, I bought a good jacket last week that
is extremely warm.

4. For transfers I will be headed to Fushimi in Kyoto! I cannot believe it...

Thank you everyone so much for all that you do. I am excited to tell
you more about my new experiences in Kyoto! It is crazy to think that in a
week I will be in a completely different part of the mission. I love
you all so much and pray for you always,

Hirschi 長老