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.
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
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