26th week in Japan

2/8/2016

Faith of the members!

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been another great week here in Japan. I love being able to
serve these people. Like I said last week I transferred over to
Uwajima, and I already love the people here. Uwajima is actually only
a branch, so it is a little bit smaller than the other areas I have
been too, but the ward members here are incredible. This week has been full of a lot of biking and a lot of hard work. I can't say that it
has been easy, but I can for sure say that it has been worth it.

At the beginning of the past week we went to a completely different
area in Uwajima. Uwajima is a very countryside part of the mission, so
it is completely the opposite of my past two areas. In order to get to
the area that we went to, you have to ride up a ton of huge hills. It
took us about an hour to get there, and the people that we wanted to
visit weren't home or couldn't visit. That was a bit of a bummer, but
it didn't get our hopes down. We went housing around the area for a
little while and found a few good potential investigators. One more
thing about Uwajima is that we cannot go streeting. When we don't have
lessons set up it is all tracting. I have been able to work on my
housing approaches in Japanese. My companion has helped me out a lot with learning how to house. Anyways on the way back from the far town in Uwajima, we road back down a huge hill in the rain, which was way sketchy. It was a pretty fun experience though. One I am sure I won't forget.

On Friday we had zone conference. We rode over to Matsuyama with the couple missionaries in our area. They are super nice and really good
missionaries. We learned a lot about becoming Preach my Gospel
missionaries. We also learned a lot about working with the members and
seeing miracles. I know that as we pray for God's help and try our
best, that we can see miracles here in Japan. It was fun to meet
together with all of the missionaries there, and I got to see a few
missionaries from my MTC district, who I hadn't seen since I left the
MTC. It was really good to see them.

One thing that will really be good for me this transfer is that I am
with a Japanese companion. I didn't realize how hard it would be to
communicate with him. I hope that my Japanese can improve a lot this
transfer. I really want to be able to communicate with these people,
but I feel like I can't express myself the way I would like. I have
never prayed harder in my life before for God's help. I have really
seen his hand in my life this past week. A little earlier in the past
week I woke up one morning feeling pretty down about my language
abilities. I prayed my heart out to Heavenly Father for his help. I
was having a pretty rough time, but I know that God loves every single
one of his children. That morning during companionship study my
companion chose to sing be still my soul. Never have I felt God's love
more at that time than ever before. I know without a doubt that God
loves us. He is watching out for us. He wants us to succeed in this
life and in the life to come.

The members of Uwajima are incredible. On Sunday I was given the
chance to bare my testimony again. I love that I have the opportunity
to bare my testimony in church once a month. It is truly a privilege
to say how I feel about the gospel. We heard so many powerful
testimonies that Sunday. About half way through the meeting a little
old lady named Sister Ootani stood up to bare her testimony. She is
the nicest old lady ever, and loves the missionaries. She always talks
about how she remembers my name when she sees me, even though she is slightly losing her memory. When she stood up to bare her testimony she declared to everyone that she knew the church is true. She knew it. She said it in such a powerful way that I just couldn't help from being brought to tears. I cannot believe how much faith these people have in the gospel. They are such incredible people.

Questions:

1. I was able to pack everything in the suitcases I have still, thanks so much. I am good on my bags. I might send a few things home at the end of the transfer if you don't mind.

2. We take our sheets with us when we transfer, but they have the
futons (the little beds on the ground) for us when we transfer.

3. It isn't too weird not having a regular bed. At first I thought it was a little different, but I think that it is actually pretty comfortable now. It is plenty warm, especially here in Uwajima. Kyoto was freezing, but Uwajima is pretty warm.

4. I love Uwajima so much. I will admit there are a few things that
are different and a little challenging, but I love these people and
this area. We haven't really had time to go check out any places, but
we have sure traveled to some far places to visit people. Some of the
hills here are crazy!

5. It is really good that I have a Japanese companion. I have noticed a difference. I feel like I am learning faster, but it is pretty tough. My companion is pretty straightforward about correcting me, which helps. I think he gets a little frustrated sometimes when I cannot communicate with him, but I totally understand why. It has helped me a lot though in being able to learn the language.

6. The members here are absolutely incredible! I love them all. The Branch President is pretty cool. He is extremely good at playing ping pong. I also love Ootani shimai and her strong testimony. We have a ton of great members in this branch.

Thank you everyone for reading my emails. I have to admit I forgot to
do my Ponderizing this week because it has been a crazy busy week, but
I will repent and pick a new scripture for next week. I love you all.
Have a great week,

Hirschi 長老