27th week in Japan
2/14/2016
The atonement of Jesus Christ

My Dear Family and Friends,

It has been an incredible week here in Uwajima (like every week). We
are truly seeing God's work move forward, and are praying our hearts
out for these people every day. Uwajima is such an incredible place.
Yes it is very countryside compared to my last two areas, but that
doesn't mean we can't see miracles here. We have been able to teach so
many more people by working towards President Welch's vision. The
biggest thing that I have grown to recognize this week is by relying
on Jesus Christ's atonement we can overcome anything.

Last week I mentioned that it was pretty tough trying to speak
Japanese 24/7, so I prayed my heart out to Heavenly Father for help.
He answered my prayer. To be honest I haven't really seen my Japanese
get much better since that prayer, but I have felt the strength of
Jesus Christ's atonement. Christ knows us. He knows us each
individually. He knows all of the trials, pains, sufferings, every
thing we have gone through and will go through. Serving a mission is
tough, and I know without a doubt that the savior knows that 100 times
more than I do. Jesus Christ has constantly given me strength to
overcome the obstacles on my mission, even when they were in ways I
would not have expected. I know that Jesus Christ performed the
atonement so that he could know each of us. He is always there for
you. If you ever need strength or are going through a difficult time,
please ask for his help. I know that he will give you help.

We had zone conference last week on Wednesday. I love zone conferences
so much. We get to receive training from President and sister Welch
and the APs. President Welch is just so full of wisdom. At zone
conference we were given a new challenge from President Welch. He
talked a lot about the importance of the atonement of Jesus Christ. We
just learned about Jesus Christ by reading the bible challenge, so
President Welch's new challenge is for us to read the Book of Mormon
and look for anything about the atonement. The atonement is something
that is beyond our comprehension in this life, but as we study about
it, we can gain a better understanding of what the atonement truly is.
I thought it was so cool that President Welch talked about the
atonement because that is something I felt had a huge impact on me
this past week.

Like always Sunday is the best day of the week. I just love meeting
with the members. They are all so kind and loving. This week I was
gifted with the opportunity on giving a talk about Faith in Jesus
Christ in sacrament meeting. Like my last area I have been able to
talk in church the first 3 Sunday's here also. It is a gift to be able
to testify of the savior so often as a missionary. Later on Sunday
night we went to the Breaktfelt's home. They are such strong members,
but a couple of kids in the family are struggling a little. So my
companion and I had the opportunity of giving a blessing to 2 of their
kids. What an incredible gift it is from God to be able to use his
Priesthood! God's Priesthood is such a powerful tool and can really
help you feel the power of the Holy Ghost. It was a great experience
to be able to help out their family.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 2 Nephi 2:6. "Wherefore,
redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of
grace and truth." Because of Jesus Christ's grace we can be saved in
the life after this. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. I am grateful
that he endured through the atonement so that we would be able to live
with God again. He has so much love for each of us. I know that he is
our savior and redeemer. I testify that to each of you in his sacred
name amen.

Challenge this week: remember the savior and his sacrifice for you
throughout the week. If you ever need his help or know of someone who
does, ask for his help for whoever may need it.

Questions:

1. For Valentines some of the people in the ward handed out chocolates. My
companion and I also made some homemade chocolates for the ward and
handed them out. I did get the package. Thank you so much!
2. Yes, we have been working on cleaning the apartment up. It looks a ton better
now. There is always room for improvement, but it is way better than
it was before.
3. The language does seem to be getting a bit easier. I have been able
to communicate with my companion fairly well. There are times when I can't
understand everything he says, but I have really seen improvement. I
know that it is all because of God's help.
4. The members feed us a lot. They don't really invite us over for meals too
often, although we did have a meal at the Breaktfelt's yesterday, but
they do give us a lot of food on Sundays.
5. Hahahaha actually yes. We went to a sushi place and I ate some
fries with chocolate and whip cream on it. It was actually pretty
good. It is fairly interesting what Japan thinks of American food and
culture.
6. My companion is awesome! He has a family of 6. 1 older brother serving in a
different mission in Japan. Two younger sisters, one who will be
headed to BYU Hawaii soon. He is from Sendai, which is near Tokyo. He
loves to listen to music and dance. He is actually really good at
dancing, and we have found some investigators who may have interest
off of him teaching them how to dance. I will send a video of him
teaching them how to dance.

Thank you all for your love and support. I love being able to write to
you each week. Have an awesome week everyone. I love you all,

Hirschi 長老