31st week in Japan
3/14/2016
With God, all things are possible

Dear Family and Friends,

It is such a privilege to be able to write you on this beautiful Monday afternoon. I know I always say this, but I still feel like the time continues to go by at the speed of lightning, and there is no slowing it down. This last week has been such a humbling week for me and has helped me realize how much we truly need the Savior's atonement always. I have realized that responsibilities just keep getting bigger and bigger during your life as a missionary; however, at the same time, the mission only continues to bring more joy into my life. This past week has been a week full of recognizing that anything is possible with God's help.

My last companion Elder Tanaka and I went to the Matsuyama train station on Wednesday morning and said our goodbyes. He will be an awesome missionary in his new area. I will sure miss him. From there another elder and I took a bus ride over to a place near the mission home. We were not able to make it all the way there in one day, so we had to stay over night at an apartment in an area close by. At the apartment I met with Elder Smith and some other missionaries. It was so good to see how Elder Smith has been doing. Maybe someday we will be companions. We then woke up the next morning and headed to the mission home to pick up our new trainees. We received some training on what we should be doing as trainers, met our new companions, and headed back home to our areas.

My new companion's name is Elder Philburn. He is from Tennessee and loves cross country and track. He also likes cooking, which is good because I am not very good at it haha. He was excited to see our area and get to work. Elder Philburn has such great faith and is willing to do what the Lord has asked him to. On our first day of full work together we went out Streeting right after our study time. He had so much faith that as I was talking to someone he walked right over to someone sitting down and sat down next to him. He ended up teaching that man a lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon to read. He is so full of faith and I am very excited to see the miracles that will be happening this transfer!

President Welch has set some pretty high standards for us with the new standard of getting a baptism a week; however, I know without a doubt in my mind that this is possible. We have all heard about the prophecies for Japan, and if you haven't I recommend you look them up. One thing that I was thinking about recently is that the kanji for Kobe is 神戶. 神 means God and 戶 means door. The Kanji for Kobe actually means God's door. The Lord's work is being hastened. We can see miracles happen in this land of Japan. I am grateful to be a servant for the Lord at this time and to be part of this marvelous work.

My Ponderizing scripture for last week was John 14:15. "If ye love me; keep my commandments." We can truly show our love for God by doing what he has asked us to do. Keeping his commandments. It is a gift to be able to follow his commandments and show our love for him. In turn he promises us with safety and blessings.

Questions:

1. My new companion is so great! He is American, from Tennessee. He has such great faith! I am excited to see what things are going to happen this transfer.

2. Training is a bit more work, but a lot of fun. Also being district leader I will prepare for district meetings on Friday and have follow ups with the other missionaries in the district, but It is a lot of fun. I am excited to be working hard this transfer. When you are working your hardest you have the most fun.

3. When Elder Tanka moved out we were able to clear out a ton of junk out of the apartment. We have to take out a lot of different things, and the garbage in Japan is so complex, so it will be a little bit of work, but it is going to look a lot better. It is going fairly well though.

4. The language is getting better. I still struggle to communicate fully and I have a ton of room for improvement, but it is slowly getting easier. I hope over the next few transfers being senior companion will put me in positions that my Japanese will just have to get good or I won't be able to survive haha.

5. I don't think they have the Easter bunny here in Japan. They know about Easter for sure, but I don't know if it is really celebrated much here in Japan. I doubt that it is.

6. I don't think they have time changes either here in Japan. They might, but I don't think so.

Thank you to everyone for all that you do. Know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you. You are a son or daughter of God. This gospel is true and full of joy. Have a great week! Love you,

Elder Hirschi ハーシ長老