36th week in Japan
4/17/2016
地震がありました！(There was an earthquake)

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had a very eventful last week of the transfer here in Uwajima.
I cannot believe that the transfer has already ended. I feel like I
just met Elder Philburn at the mission home the other day. I have
learned so much from him and I am so grateful for the opportunity that
I had to be his trainer. I have also learned so much more from being a
district leader this transfer than I have learned in any of my past
transfers. It has been such a privilege to see the missionaries around
me. They have truly inspired me to become a better missionary. I love
being in the service of the Lord.

Maybe some of you have already heard, but there has been a few
Earthquakes going on in the Fukuoka mission, which is the mission right
next to ours. On Thursday night we had just finished our daily
planning session when we got an alert message on the phone. I couldn't
tell what it was until we felt the ground start shaking. It was the
first real Earthquake I think that I have ever been in. The ground was
shaking and it felt so strange. It was nothing big, so nothing to
worry about here, but I sure hope that the people in Fukuoka are okay.
We also felt one more Earthquake the next night at around 1:30 a.m. It
woke us up for a few minutes and then we went right back to sleep. It
is supposedly all over the news though and everyone has been talking
about it.

All crazy disasters aside, it has been a good final week of the
transfer. We got an email at the beginning of the week from one of the
APs saying that as a mission we need to work together to make this the
best week yet. We worked hard to make our week as effective as we
possibly could have. We were able to reach almost all of our goals and
we were also able to find 6 new investigators this week. It is nice to
be able to talk to some people who actually have some interest in the
gospel. The Lord has truly blessed us for our efforts. I am grateful
for all of the miracles that I have seen this transfer, even though
Midori san had to cancel her baptismal date on the 17th. We will still
keep working with her to help her set up a new date and progress
towards being baptized.

One miracle that I am truly grateful that I was able to take part in
this week was a lesson with a referral from a member in the ward. We
were able to teach her about the restoration of the gospel, and help
her understand everything very well. The lesson we taught that day was
one of the best lessons I think I have taken part in on my mission.
She was able to understand everything very well, and it seemed like her
curiosity built up, and we are excited to be teaching her again.
Sister Matsumoto, the member who referred her has really built a
trust with us this transfer. I am truly grateful for her and for her
effort to do missionary work with us.

I can honestly say that this transfer has truly been a blast. I am
grateful for Elder Philburn and all of his hard work. He has such
strong faith and is willing to do anything for the Lord, even when he
gets tried. I hope that I can stay another transfer here with the
people of Uwajima, but we will see what the Lord has in store for us.
My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 3 Nephi 11:39.

Questions:

1. I think that the missionaries in Kumamoto are okay after the earthquake. 

I haven't really heard too much about how they are doing down there though. We
did feel the shaking. It was pretty crazy, but nothing dangerous. I
don't remember if they did any training about what to do if there is a quake.

 I don't think they did.

2. I think that I will stay here with Elder Philburn in Uwajima this transfer. I
would like to stay here in Uwajima longer. I really love the
people here. I feel like I have come to love them a lot more this
transfer than my last transfer here.

3. My companion likes Japan a lot. He wants to stay in Uwajima this transfer and
then transfer out next transfer to another place. I got to see
Weakley choro at our zone training meeting this last week.

4. We have met a bunch of new people this week. It has been great to
find some people who actually have some interest. However, we have had
to drop quite a few also. We are looking for those who are prepared,
not those who just want to talk with foreigners. Yes, we have a primary at our

church, but Sadly there is only 1 kid that goes to primary and that is it. We
don't really teach other classes to kids other than English or gospel
lessons, but we do have quite a few English classes here. We have our
regular Ekaiwa every week and we have 2 other classes that we do every
week. I will send a picture from one of the classes this week. We
actually were able to teach everyone some of the discussions in these
classes, but they weren't interested.

5. My bike is still holding up well. I got hit by a car last P-day and that
messed up my bike a little bit, but I was totally fine. The lady was really
sorry and was willing to help me out with anything. We exchanged
numbers and it actually didn't take any money to fix my bike, so that
was good. Her car was fine too. Other than that, it has been holding
up well. We have to clean it and fix it up fairly frequently.
Especially when it rains, but it is good to learn how to take care of
it. No flat tires yet. I have been very blessed. Yes we have had to go
up a lot of hills still, but it is very good exercise.

6. When we travel far, we always travel with the couple in the area to go to 

district meetings and zone meetings. It is about an hour drive. They are so
nice to take us. The district is doing so well. Everyone is working so
hard. I also got the opportunity to interview someone for a baptism on
Friday last week. It was the Matsuyama elders investigator. He passed
and has his date set for next Sunday. I wish I could go so bad. The
guy I interviewed was so awesome.

7. I feel like a lot of kids play games and stuff here, but I don't really know
about Nintendo. A few of the members have bikes in this area, but a few also 

have cars.

Sheila and Georges question: I actually don't know why we always do
the peace sign. I guess we just feel awkward if we stand there and
don't do anything haha. It is kind of interesting though. Maybe we
should think of something else to do instead.

Thank you everyone for all of your support. I love you all. Keep up
the Ponderizing and have a great week!

Hirschi 長老

35th week in Japan
4/11/2016
Heaven is cheering us on!

Dear Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing? I am so glad to be able to write to you this week about the things that I have learned from conference. I was not able to watch conference until this last weekend, but I learned from all of the speakers. I feel like watching conference as a missionary puts a whole different perspective on what the speakers are talking about. Something different about this conference is that I want to be able to do what Elder Holland has asked us to by remembering the revelation that I have received from conference. I hope that conference went well for you all. Let us try to remember the things that we have learned as we go throughout our daily lives.

I enjoyed all of the talks from conference, but one that stuck out to me was the talk given by Kevin R. Duncan. He talked a lot about the savior's atonement, forgiveness, mercy, and justice. As I have been reading through the Book of Mormon noticing more things about the atonement, the talks in conference just helped me create an even better image of what the atonement truly is. It is something that we cannot comprehend in this life, but we can feel it take affect in our daily lives. Over the time I have spent serving others on my mission I have acquired such a love for these people. I have come to realize that each one of these people are truly my brothers and sisters. I want them to be able to have the blessings of this gospel that I so deeply cherish myself. Even though I love these people so much, I know that Heavenly Father loves them even more. He truly does see each of us as precious in his eyes. I know that because he was willing to send his son to earth, knowing what he would go through, to die for each one of us. How great is our Heavenly Father's love!

One thing that came as no surprise during conference was that Elder Holland spoke last. He gave such a powerful talk you could just feel the spirit pierce your soul. It was the same feeling as Nephi describes in the Book of Mormon. 3 Nephi 11:3 "...notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn." The spirit was so strong during his talk. You can just feel the power of his words. I loved this quote from his talk, "The first and great commandment is to love God, and the first great truth is that God loves us." It is so simple yet so powerful. I am grateful for Elder Holland's powerful words and I will never forget them. I loved how he told us that "Heaven is cheering us on." God sees our potential and he wants us so bad to be able to reach it. He is there to help us reach our true potential.

Well conference was truly incredible. I hope that each one of us can remember these powerful talks given from the leaders of the church. I know that as we strive to remember we will be blessed in our lives.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was Alma 41:8. I have developed such a love for the scriptures on my mission. Please continue to read and try to ponderize the scriptures. They are truly God's word. They were meant for us today.

I also wanted to say that is incredible that you got to meet Watanabe Shimai and her new husband! They are so awesome! I got to talk to her a few times in my last ward in Fushimi. They are so nice and such good people. I was shocked to see that you had met with them in America. Hopefully they are doing well.

Questions:

1. We did not see the little deer in the parks, but I have heard of other missionaries seeing deer in the parks.

2. We like to cook pretty simple stuff. We cook curry, nabe, ramen, mabodofu, and tempura. Philburn choro is a pretty good cook, so it is fun. I haven't seen too many stores that are as big and have such a variety of items as Walmart. There are a lot of different stores here, but I haven't really seen anything like Walmart yet.

3. The people of Uwajima are different than in my last couple of areas. They still have the same kind heart and strong spirit, but most of the people here are older. They also speak a different dialect here. They use different words in different parts of the mission. For example, normally people will say "tabete kudasai" which means please eat; however, in Uwajima they say "tabesaya" which means the same thing. They have various different words that mean the same thing, but are different in different areas. The members are always willing to get up and share their testimonies. Hearing them bear testimony is such an amazing experience. They all have such strong faith. There is about 30 ish active members in this branch; however, there is about 250 or so members in the area. So over 200 members are less active... Pretty crazy right?

4. They people bow all the time. I have picked it up myself. They do a lot of different gestures that are pretty funny, that I am sure I will bring back to America with me. You guys will probably think I am really strange for doing it to. They don't hug very much. Some members in my last areas do, but the older people here are too old for it haha. Shaking hands is very normal in Japan I feel like. So yes they do that. We take our shoes off every time we enter the church (the church in Uwajima is special, all the other churches you don't have to take your shoes off) or if we go inside someone's house or even our own house then you have to take your shoes off. I actually like it better because it seems to keep from getting things dirty. My shoes are holding up pretty well. Thanks.

5. District meetings are fun. I love talking together with the district and learning about how we can make our missionary work more effective. We met with president Welch for interviews the week before last. It went very well.

6. I loved conference. I hope I can never forget it. I know that probably everyone else will say the same, but I have to admit that my favorite talk was Elder Holland's.

7. They do have Mother's Day and I think Father's Day, but I am not sure. Mother's Day is on a different day in Japan.

8. My clothes have held up fairly well. The tide pens have worked great to get out some stains. I used to iron my clothes fairly frequently, but I don't much anymore. They are holding up well. I have used the first aid kit a few times. That has helped. I think about the same stuff you sent me with would be good for Logan. I would recommend not getting him a jacket though. He can probably get that in his area where he serves. Also the bag that I came out with wasn't the greatest, so maybe a little more sturdy and not as big bag.

Thanks everyone for your love and support. Let us always remember this last conference. I love you all and always remember that Heaven is cheering you on,

Elder Hirschi

34th week in Japan

4/3/2016

Finding the Elect

Dear Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing? I hope that conference went well, and that everyone enjoyed all of the talks. I am more than excited to watch it next weekend. This past week I have come to realize a lot about finding those who have been prepared to hear our message. I know that Heavenly Father truly has prepared people to hear the message of the gospel. We just have to show forth our faith and do his will. When we work our hardest to do Heavenly Father's will, he will bless us for our efforts. This week we have learned a lot about how to find those who have been prepared, by doing what Heavenly Father asks of us.

I have been pondering a lot about how to find new people as our efforts have seemed somewhat ineffective this transfer. We have worked all the hours of the day that we should and I thought that we were doing what Heavenly Father would want us to. We did a lot of tracting and some streeting on the days that it was possible, but we haven't seemed to be able to find anyone who is ready to hear the message. Over time I have come to realize that Heavenly Father's will is not for us to go out tracting everyday, but to work with the members in our branch to find those who are ready. Through working together to do missionary work our will has become more aligned with Heavenly Father's. As we work with the members we will see everything change in our missionary work. The members are the ones who know who are ready to hear the gospel, not the missionaries. The members have been living in this area all of their lives, but the missionaries are always changing. They know these people. With their help we can find those who are ready.

On Wednesday last week we had the privilege to go with the branch to a park in Uwajima called Nanrakoen. We started out with a picnic and we were able to build a better relationship with the branch members. We had a fun quiz, laughed and sang songs together. My love for these people just keeps growing more and more. It is amazing to see how good these people are and how much faith they have. We were able to walk around in the park for a while and see the cherry blossoms. It was so much fun to be able to talk with the members and get to know them more.

Later on in the week we were also able to attend another event in Uwajima with the members. Fairly recently a new bridge was built to an island called 力 (Ku). They had a big festival and we went cycling around the entire island with the ward members. We were able to meet a ton of different people and hopefully some of the people we met can become new investigators. They had a lot of fun events and Japanese music that was pretty cool. They also did the tradition of carrying this giant monster (Uwajima's mascot) around the island. It was interesting and a really good way to work both with the ward, and meet new people to tell about the gospel.

My favorite part of our week was being able to go to church on Sunday. At church we are able to learn and grow from each other. Fast and testimony meeting is always so spirit filled. When I hear these members testify of the gospel and what they know to be true I am just blown away at how much faith they have. I also love being able to share my testimony every fast Sunday with these members. Being able to always testify of our Savior Jesus Christ is such a blessing as a missionary. I am so grateful for these members and for this opportunity to be serving in the Lord's work.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was Mosiah 16:8. "But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ."

Questions:

1. We did not get to hear conference this week, but we will be able to next week.

2. The next transfer calls are on April 18th. I really hope that I won't be leaving this area yet. I still feel like I just got here, but if I did happen to leave I would miss everyone. I don't know if there is just one person that I could say I would miss the most. I love all of these people. They are all such good people.

3. I actually didn't hear about April fools day here from anyone haha. I don't think they celebrate it or do anything here.

4. Yes, the cherry blossoms here are very beautiful. I will send you some pictures.

5. Yes, I still am writing in my journal every night, but I often fall asleep while I am writing. I am always way tired when I get to bed at night, so it has become a little more difficult to write every night. I still do it though haha. My companion writes in his every now and then. I usually write just before I go to sleep.

6. My companion can play the piano about the same as me. (Just the right hand simply). He doesn't play any other instruments, but he is super smart. Got a 34 on his ACT and graduated early from highschool to go to BYU for a year. He is getting more used to speaking Japanese. I feel he is learning a lot faster than I was at the beginning of my mission, so that is great!

7. We met a really cool girl from France at the park the other day, who seemed to have some interest in what we teach. Philburn choro was pretty happy because he studied French in high school, so he could speak to her a little bit. Her mom is Japanese and her dad is French. Hopefully we can keep meeting with her and set up a baptismal date for her. We also have met with Kinoshita san (one of our current investigators) a lot recently. He is super cool and wants us to keep coming back. Hopefully we can also help set up a baptismal date for him.

8. One of my favorite places in this area is to go up to the Uwajima castle. Also when Tanaka choro was here we went to Yusu, which was a pretty cool place. I would like to go back there sometime. The Ku island was really cool to cycle around this week.

I hope conference was great! I am super excited to watch it. Hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week! Love all of you,

Hirschi 長老

33rd week in Japan
3/28/2016
The First Great Commandment

Dear Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing? I want to start out by saying thank you for all of your help, support, and love. It is so good to hear how you are doing. Another week has come and gone. There is no slowing the time down, no matter how much you want it to. Last week I wrote a lot about being able to repent and use Christ's atonement. This week I want to write about something that we talked about at our TTTM (Trainer Trainee Training Meeting) this last week. Love. There is so much more meaning to this one word than I have ever thought about before. I find love to be the number 1 motivating factor to help me work harder as a missionary.

This past week on Wednesday we went to do service for a nice less active lady in the ward. We actually get to do service in her garden weekly. It reminds me a lot of working in the garden at home. (Good thing I got a lot of practice before I came out to the field). After finishing up our service we talked with her for a little bit and then headed home. We were then getting ready and reviewing our plans for the day when Murakami choro (My Zone Leader) called me on the phone. He asked me what time we would be headed over to Matsuyama to go to TTTM. Because we were so busy that week, I had totally forgotten about TTTM. So we packed everything up as soon as we could and took the bus over to Matsuyama. From there we took another 5 hour bus all the way back to Kobe. One thing that was cool on the way over though, is that a couple of deaf high school kids got on the bus. I hadn't practiced my shuwa (Japanese sign language) in a while, but I could at least say a few words to them. It was cool remembering some shuwa and being able to converse without them being able to hear me.

TTTM was a great experience! We received a lot of revelation and inspiration for President and Sister Welch. The AP's are also extremely good missionaries and it was good to hear from them also. President Welch talked about one thing at TTTM that really struck me. He talked about how much Jesus Christ had love for us. He loved us enough to go through each one of our pains, sicknesses, temptations, and he suffered beyond comprehension for us. Even though Christ loves us that much, he was still here to number 1: do the Father's will. He number 1 loved the Father first. "36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." If we love God first, our love will automatically be shown to those around us. We will be submitting to his will. And God's will is for us to help his children.

One thing that has been on my mind this week is how to show more love for these people. I know that as we show our love for God, by doing the things that he asks us to, we will be showing our love to those around us. It is just like what King Benjamin says "if you are in the service of your fellow man, ye are only in the service of your God." I wish I could even being to imagine what great love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us individually. If you just think about everything that he has done for you, how can you help but not love him and put him first above all else. I testify to each one of you that God loves you. I promise you that I know that without a doubt. If you don't know that he loves you I challenge you to kneel down in prayer and ask him. He will answer you. I am truly grateful for his love and especially for his many gifts. It is such a blessing to be able to talk with the creator of the Universe each night. He hears and answers our prayers. He is not just my Heavenly Father, but he is also my friend. He will listen to anything no matter what you have to say. What a great gift!

I challenge each one of you to make your prayers more sincere and to do all you can to show love to those around you this week. I will be doing my best to do the same. I forgot my Ponderizing scripture this week, but I will repent, change, and remember for next week.

Questions:

1. My companion said that he does like Uwajima. It is pretty countryside, but very beautiful here. His first name is Zachary. He said that he doesn't mind biking, but he wouldn't say it's one of his hobbies.

2. A few people mentioned Easter on Sunday, but we didn't really do anything to celebrate for it. We did have a shokuji (meal) on Sunday though. I forgot to boil an egg. Woops. It is hard to remember all these things haha.

3. We have been trying so hard to teach as many people as we can. We were able to meet with sister Midori on Sunday and she has her baptismal date set for the 17th of April. She is progressing really well, but has a slight problem with drinking coffee. She said she will try her best to stop one step at a time. We also met a really cool guy named Kinoshita last week. He is way open to hearing from us and said we can come back anytime, which is nice. I love just being able to at least talk to people. Even if they aren't immediately converted because it is hard to find people in Japan who are even willing to talk about the church. However, I know that it is possible. With God's help, anything is.

4. I love the Brechtefeld family. Sister Brechtefeld is from Japan and got married to a guy from America. They are a super nice family, and she teaches English here in Japan. We are working with one of her kids who is less active right now. I love them all to death though.

5. My companion has not had to speak in church yet. He did a little self introduction on his first Sunday here, so I guess he kind of has. He is a lot like I was as a trainee. It is pretty sketchy speaking this new language that is so hard. Supposedly the hardest language to learn for English speakers. He is improving a lot though.

6. My favorite thing about the Uwajima area has got to be the people. That is my favorite thing about every area though, so next would probably have to be how beautiful the area is here. It is cool to travel to some far areas and see how beautiful the scenery is as we are going out to work.

7. Training has been a lot of fun. I would say it is probably not as hard as I thought it would be, but it has truly humbled me. I have come to realize how much Japanese I don't know and how much harder I need to be working each day. One thing that is good is that it helps me to push my Japanese to get better. I like being able to be Philburn choro's first impression on the mission. I hope that I can put a good impression for what missionary work is for him and he can become a lot better trainer than I was by the time he becomes a trainer. It is fun to remember my time as a trainee. I have realized a lot about how much I have learned, but more than that how much harder I need to work, improve my study, become a better teacher, and learn this language. I am truly grateful for this calling that I have been given from Heavenly Father.

8. Spring is great! The weather has been fantastic lately! We have not gone to see the cherry blossoms yet, but we will on Wednesday. I will take lost of pictures and send them home.

Thanks for everything. I love you all, but a lot more importantly Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you. Please try the challenge this week.(頑張って下さい!) Love ya,

Hirschi 長老

Back to the MTC....I love these guys

32nd week in Japan
3/20/2016
Repentance is truly a gift

Dear Family and Friends,

I just want to start off by saying how grateful I am for this opportunity to serve as a missionary for the Lord. It is such a privilege to be part of this work. Thank you all for your support while I have been out here. I hope that everyone is doing well. I hope that Davi and George are recovering well. Say happy birthday to grandpa for me too would ya. Anyways this past week has been another good week here in Uwajima. I am continually amazed at the members here and how faithful they are. This past week I have learned a lot about Christ, his atonement, and repentance.

At the beginning of our week last week we were able to teach a lot of people after our P day ended. I still find it difficult to find people who are ready to hear the gospel here in Japan, but I do know that there are people who have been prepared. We just have to keep teaching as many people as we can to find them. Something that I have come to realize over this past week is that I need to be working a lot harder. Yes, we do our study and get out to serve everyday, but I need to be studying even harder and showing more love to these people as we go out to teach. Everyone needs the gospel in their lives. Following the gospel is the only way that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again; however, so many people do not know about the gospel. These people are our brothers and sisters. They are Heavenly Father's children! He loves every single one of his children. They are so precious in his eyes. They need what we have. They need our help.

Realizing that God loves all of his children pushes me to work harder, to give more effort to sharing the gospel. Heavenly Father loves us, he has given us so much. The least that I can do for all he has given me is serve him with all of my heart, might, mind, strength. I talked about this in one of my recent emails, but I know that with God's help anything is possible. Even though I am weak myself, I can be made strong through Christ. Christ's atonement is so real. I have felt it have a huge impact on my life. My companion and I were not able to reach President Welch's standard of teaching 20 people last week. I felt pretty down about not being a good trainer/district leader. Just last night I knelt down to ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness for not giving him all my effort to help his children. I felt the strongest sense of comfort from the spirit. I know that I can change and become a better missionary because of what Christ has done for me. He has gone through all of our trials, temptations, sins, and more pain than anyone can possibly imagine because of his love for us. I can only imagine how hard it was for our Heavenly Father to send him to Earth, knowing that he would go through the atonement (John 3:16).

Jesus Christ is our savior. He loves us more than we can imagine. He came to Earth and performed the atonement. Because of his incredible sacrifice each of us have the opportunity to live with God again for eternity. I am truly grateful for him.

I want to challenge each of you to think about the savior this week. Think of everything that he has done for you. There is a new video put out by the church on gospel library for Easter. I want to ask each of you to watch the video and post the link on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media website. Share about the savior Jesus Christ with those around you.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 2 Nephi 30:8.

Questions:

1. My companion is doing well with the language. I remember when I was a trainee and didn't know anything. I feel like he is for sure ahead of where I was. He likes Uwajima a lot. I feel like Uwajima is quite a bit different from most of the other areas in the mission, so it is interesting for this to be his first area.

2. I don't think we will be able to see the temple dedication, but I hope that it goes well.

3. I know that one of the ladies at our English class wore green on st. Patrick's, but nobody else really celebrated it haha. I did get the Easter package thanks so much. I truly appreciate all that you do. You are the best! We will probably have to cook some eggs and decorate them on March 27th even if nobody else really does haha.

4. We have been teaching a lot of new people and seeing new faces, but it is hard to find people who are interested in the gospel. When we do exchanges we actually go to the Zone Leader area and stay there. That is President Welch's new change with exchanges. We go to Matsuyama, but it is also a great place.

5. We have district meeting almost every Friday. About 4 or 5 times a transfer. As a district leader now I have to prepare the meeting and conduct it. It usually goes for about an hour and half, but the district here is great. I try to make it a big discussion so we can all learn from each other how to improve and help people reach baptism.

6. My companion likes to cook a few different things. He said he liked to do baking at home. Because we can't really read the labels on the food here, it is kind of difficult to cook, but we try new things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

7. The members here give referrals but almost never invite us to teach the investigators in there home. It has happened a few times, but not too often. The members are all always just so busy. People in Japan work so hard, and the education system here is crazy strict. I do love the members to death though, and they are incredible people.

Thank you all for everything. Hope everyone is doing well. Love and pray for you always,

Hirschi 長老