25th week in Japan
1/31/2016
びくりした！Off to Uwajima!

Dear Family and Friends,

So the last transfer just ended on Monday last week, and I emailed you last time about how I still had no idea what was going on for the transfers. I was fairly certain that I would be staying in Fushimi. I love it there. The ward and people there are the greatest! On Tuesday afternoon I got a call from my zone leader. He told Elder Iverson that he would be staying and as for me, I would be headed off somewhere else! I still had no idea where I was going so the suspense was pretty crazy. By the time Wednesday morning rolled around I got a call from the Japanese zone leader, Miyagi 長老, in Matsuyama. He told me that I was headed to Uwajima and that my new companion would be 田中長老 (Elder Tanaka)! He is Japanese, so I was extremely surprised when I found out! Also my new area is the farthest away from the mission home. It is on an island called Shikoku. It is also the farthest south and in the very corner of the mission. (Maybe I can send a picture so you can see). I was shocked to find out that I was leaving Fushimi and headed to Uwajima.

I am so excited to see what lies ahead this transfer! I have already had a week of experience with a Japanese companion. He doesn't speak very much English at all, so it is crazy to be speaking Japanese literally 24/7. I know that it will help me improve my language ability by a long shot. The good thing is he knows a lot of random words in English, that I don't know the words for in Japanese that helps, but for the most part it is just 24/7 Japanese. Some things about only speaking Japanese are pretty tough. I cannot express myself as fully as I would like too, but Tanaka choro is an awesome companion. He is also the district leader of the area. Even though we have only been together for one week he has already taught me so much.

Uwajima is such a beautiful place. Unlike my last couple of areas it is a very countryside area. As a matter of fact it is fairly opposite of my last two areas haha. The church here is actually a branch because it is pretty small, but I already love this ward so much! The members here are incredibly strong! The funny thing is there is only about 10 active members here that are under 60 years old. Everybody else is 60+. I was able to share my testimony for my first Sunday here yesterday! It is truly incredible to me how much I have changed. I used to hate speaking in front of people, but like my dad said, you get used to it, even to the point where you almost enjoy it. Even though I am speaking in Japanese, and it is very difficult to express myself the way I want to, I do love trying to talk to these people. Sometimes it is harder than others and I feel stupid when I can't understand them, or they can't understand me, but I am working hard to learn how to speak this language. I know that the gift of tongues is real.

On Thursday I had to transfer to Uwajima. So I had to pack quick Wednesday night and head out early Thursday morning. We got up at about 5:00 and went to the Kyoto station. We couldn't find the bus that would take me to Uwajima so we were late. I ended up having to go to Osaka. With the new transfers we are allowed to be alone on public transportation, so it was pretty odd traveling from Kyoto to Osaka all by myself, carrying a big bike and suitcase around. Eventually I made it to Osaka and found the bus that would take me to Uwajima, but they said that you are not allowed to take bikes on the bus! I didn't have a phone or any other instructions on what to do, so I talked to a nice older Japanese lady who let me borrow her phone. I called up the Matsuyama zone leaders and they said there was another missionary headed to Shikoku (the island) also. So I ended up being able to meet with him and went with him on trains the rest of the way. It ended up being a pretty crazy trip there because it is literally on the opposite side of the mission. It took us about 12 hours to get there, but we finally arrived and I met my new companion. I will never forget my trip to Uwajima.

My Ponderizing scripture for last week was 2 Nephi 22:2. I love this scripture because God truly is our salvation. I hope that everyone is trying to keep up there Ponderizing :).

Questions:

1. Transfers? Haha pretty crazy! Moved all the way across the mission to Uwajima.

2. Elder Bailey Hill was hit by a card, but he is actually doing very well! We were all praying for him to. The story that he told is actually pretty funny when he told it. Everything is alright now, no worries :).

3. So my companion said that they don't do anything at the schoolsf for Valentines; however in Japan for some reason all the ladies give the guys that they "like" chocolate. The guys don't really give chocolate to the girls. He doesn't really know why, but that is just what they do haha.

4. I have not ridden my bike in the snow. I don't think it would ride very well in the snow. It didn't snow too much in Fushimi, and it hardly snows at all in Uwajima, but it did snow a little before I came here. Luckily Uwajima is 10X warmer than Kyoto is! The weather here is awesome.

5. I will hand out the cards and bookmarks you sent to some people. For now I am good on everything thanks so much though.

6. I have not tried the Kobe beef :(. How was the one back at home? They do have some delicious meats here. I love their pork and beef. They also have some good octopus stuff that I am going to try with my companion today. We do cook meat fairly often at home. We made some taco sandwiches a couple days ago that my companion calls the Tanaka special. We also make chicken fairly often.

I love you all. I hope that everything is going well back at home. Thanks for all the support and have a great week 下さい！

Hirschi 長老