12/21/2015
Kyoto!
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everyone during this wonderful Christmas season! I hope it has
been a fun Christmas season so far! Japan isn't that huge on
Christmas, but it has been fun to spread the Christmas cheer with
everyone. One thing that is pretty unfortunate about Japan is that
hardly anyone gets a day off of work for Christmas! People in Japan
work so hard. Anyways I don't want to get everyone down on the
Christmas cheer because Christmas is coming up in a few days! I cannot
believe how fast the time has gone by! I sure hope you all have a
great Christmas.
So I transferred to my new area Fushimi last Thursday. It was hard to
say goodbye to everyone in Okayama. I will sure miss that place. After
saying some goodbyes I packed up and got ready to go. It was funny
because all of the elders that were leaving to Kyoto left early so
Weakley choro and I didn't really know what to do. One of the Japanese
elders stayed behind for something so he and I made our way over to
Kyoto. In order to transfer my stuff I packed up my bags and sent 2 of
them through a system called sagawa which is nice. They got here last
Saturday. Then I had to pack up my bike in a bike bag, my backpack,
and my carry on and haul it around with me haha. Thankfully my bike is
extremely light so it wasn't too much of a problem at all. People on
the trains were way confused why I was carrying a bike around with me.
It was pretty funny. Anyways the transfer process wasn't a problem at
all because the Japanese elder I was with knew exactly how to get to
Kyoto. It was cool talking to him because he is almost finished with
his mission, so he gave me some good advice.
When I finally arrived at the Osaka station, I met my new companion
elder Iverson. He is a pretty funny nice guy. We went with a member to
eat for lunch. After lunch we headed to Fushimi to see my new
apartment. It was way nice to have a new apartment. I mean I really
miss Okayama a whole ton and everything, but the one thing I won't
miss is that old apartment haha. I have heard it is one of the worst
in the mission. Anyways my new apartment is awesome! The missionaries
actually just moved the apartment a couple months ago so it is pretty
much brand new. Also the new area I am in is beautiful. It is still a
big city and not very countryside at all. I have heard a lot of good
things about Kyoto. This is the place to go visit lots of fun places
on P day. It is also a very traditional Japanese place in Japan.
The ward here is absolutely incredible! I just love the new ward that
I am in. I miss the Okayama Nishi ward, but these people have already
become my new family. On Sunday I met all of the new ward members
here, and they are the nicest people in the world. Also our new ward
mission leader is the coolest guy ever! He is about 21 years old and
just got back from a mission in Saporo. Somehow he is able to speak
fluent English just from serving a mission even though he is full
Japanese. He is so awesome! I cannot wait to work with this guy more.
We have already become best friends. We also have like 3 dinner
appointments scheduled with the members next week! They are so active
in working with the missionaries it is amazing! I love this new area
that I am in!
After giving a short introduction to everyone in sacrament meeting on
Sunday, the bishop asked me to give a talk in church next week. That
was fast. He is a good guy though, and the ward is awesome, so I am
happy to do it! After church we went with some of the members to do
Christmas caroling at an old folks home. It was a lot of fun to sing
songs for them and help bring them the Christmas spirit. That night a
bunch of missionaries from the zone got together to sing Christmas
songs in the middle of the Kyoto station! That was a lot of fun too!
The best part about it all was that I got to see Smith choro again! He
moved into the Kyoto area last transfer, so it was sad not being able
to see him for a while, but now we are in the same zone! It was so
good to catch up with him and see how he was doing. I also got to see
my old zone leader who is an awesome missionary! I love that guy. We
had a bunch of fun singing Christmas songs and visiting for a little
while. It will be fun to work in this new area, and I am very excited
to celebrate Christmas.
My ponderizing scripture for last week was Jacob 3:2. Thank you for
keeping up with the challenge for everyone who is. I hope we can
continue to remember the savior during this Christmas season. Jesus
Christ was the greatest gift of all. My challenge for all of you is to
watch a short video called he is the gift on gospel library. It is
only a couple of minutes long.
Questions:
1. Yes I have been opening my presents every day. Thank you so much! I have actually made a video for each of the gifts.
2. Yes I got the package with the stockings right before I left Okayama Nishi. I gave Weakley choro his stuff and headed off to transfer. Thank you tons you are the best!
3. My new companion is a good guy. I love my new area a ton! It is
incredible and the members here are awesome!
4.For the transfer, I had to pack up my bike and some luggage and carry it around. I just took a bunch of different trains to get here.
5. My companion said he wants to skype around 10:00 a.m. on the day
after Christmas here. That would be about 6:00 p.m. on your Christmas
night. Will that work for you? I could do it a different time if not.
I also tried to add you on Skype, hopefully that works. Let me know.
6. I met the new ward on Sunday. It was fantastic! They are all way awesome!
Christmas will probably be a fairly normal day. I think we will do our
regular study and go out to dendo (do missionary work after lunch). We
might get to visit a member that night for dinner.
Thank you everyone! I love you all. Have a great Christmas season!
Hirschi 長老
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