46th week in Japan
6/27/2016

悲喜交々 (Bittersweet)

Dear Family and Friends,

The life of a missionary is full of ups and downs. Sometimes you can feel immense joy one day and the next day be completely cut down. We are all constantly striving for improvement, but sometimes the goals that you had hoped to reach are  just unreachable. Even when you have given every last bit of energy that you have, you just can't quite reach them. I feel as though often times this is what missionary life is like. You put in all our effort, but sometimes it just doesn't turn out how you had hoped it would. My time in Uwajima has really felt like this. Amongst all the hard work and often times feeling unsuccessful, I have come to learn one of the most important things that I have ever learned in my mission and my life. Heavenly Father's will is first.

If I am being completely honest, learning to do Heavenly Father's will first sometimes is not very easy. There are often different routes that you could take, decisions that you could make in life, that are a lot easier than the choices that Heavenly Father wants you to make. Sometimes making the right decision is not easy; however, I do know that it is always worth it. I have really been learning how to submit my will to the Father's this transfer.

Heavenly Father knows what is right for us, and sometimes those things won't be easy. He may ask you to stand up in front of your ward at home and give a talk. He may ask you to walk out of a fun party with your friends. He may ask us to keep certain commandments that we don't completely understand. Even though these things may be difficult, Heavenly Father asks us to do them for a reason. It is because he knows what is best for us. He loves us. He wants us to grow, to learn, and one day to become like he is. In order to do so it may sometimes be difficult, but it will always be worth it.

Towards the beginning of the week last week we met with one of my favorite investigators in this area. Her name is Katayama Midori. I have been meeting with and teaching her since the first week that I came to Uwajima. I have developed a good relationship with her and she has become a good friend. Midori San has been taught almost all of the lessons and is completely prepared to be baptized. She has a strong testimony and has really helped me strengthen mine at times. When we met with Midori San last week we had prepared to invite her to be baptized for the last week of this transfer. I thought without a doubt that she would be able to accept and be baptized. When we extended her the invitation to follow the Savior and be baptized, she politely declined. She said that she could not be baptized yet, but that she would be able to be baptized in the month of October. I was devastated. After all the time of getting to know Midori San I thought forsure that I would be able to help her reach baptism. Even though I may not understand why she won't be able to baptized this transfer, I have come to recognize that all that matters is that she will get baptized. Heavenly Father's will is not for her to be baptized yet, and accepting that may not be easy but it is what is right.

Often times I think that it is difficult for me to accept Heavenly Father's will, but then I think back to the Savior. The Savior, Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life. He never did anything wrong, never. He did everything that he Heavenly Father wanted him to do. When it came time for the Savior to perform the atonement, he knew that it would be difficult. He suffered pains beyond comprehension. So much so that he asked Heavenly Father if there was some other way. Even though the Savior was going through an incomprehensible amount of pain, he still said to Heavenly Father, "Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done." If anyone knew how to put Heavenly Father's will above all else, it was the Savior himself. I know that often times it will be difficult to do what is right, to do Heavenly Father's will, but when those times come, we will always have someone we can look to for help.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 1 Nephi 20:10. "For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

Questions:

1. Yes, we get rides with the Hasagawa couple at least once a week. We also teach quite a few lessons with them. They help us teach very often. They also help us teach our investigators who live very far away.

2. It seems like there are less pets here than in America, but quite a few people have pets. Nothing really unique though. 95% of the time they are just cats and dogs. One of the less actives in our branch does have a really cool water lizard pet though.

3. I actually never have been chased by a dog before. We still haven't done interviews with President Welch yet. I am not sure when those will happen.

4. Sumo wresting actually is really big in Japan. I have seen it on t.v. a couple of times and I have seen a few posters, but I have never been to a match before.

5. My companion lived in Japan for 5 years. He is very good at the language and helps me out a lot. I think he likes Uwajima. He has gotten used to it over the time he has been here.

6. Yes, we listen to the church music you sent a lot, thanks. My companion loves music. He actually just bought a new CD today.

7. Obviously my favorite thing here is still the people. I just love talking to people. It is pretty cool to be communicating in a different language. I love the food in Japan. Almost more than in America. I really enjoy getting to know the culture. There are quite a few unique things that they do in Japan that are completely different than we do in America. I also really enjoy participating in the festivals that they have here. They are way different than the parades in America. Learning the language is also really enjoyable.

Let's all remember to put Heavenly Father's will first in our lives. I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Hirschi
ハーシ長老

Sunset in Uwajima

Shacks that are unattended where you can buy things.

A huge cockroach we found while cleaning

45th week in Japan
6/20/2016

Constantly Learning

Dear Family and Friends,

Uwajima is a great place. I continue to love the people here more and
more every week. My companion and I have been working on getting to
know our investigators better and teaching people rather than lessons.
I have come to realize how important it is that we focus on people's
needs individually. God made every single one of us different, so it
is very important that we teach people to how they need to be taught.
Teaching the gospel is such a great learning experience. I am grateful
for the chance that I have to constantly testify of the joy that this
gospel brings to me.

This last week nearing the end of the week we had a companionship
exchange with our Zone Leaders in Mastuyama. After district meeting we
exchanged companion and Elder Murakami and I took a train to go visit
one of their investigators. We were going to help him clean up his
house. I was way excited because there are very few service
opportunities like that in Japan. We were able to help their
investigator clean up and teach him a lesson about the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Teaching people about how they can be happy in this life and
receive salvation in the life to come is such a special opportunity. I
am so grateful for my zone leader Elder Murakami. He has been such a
great example to me and I feel like he has really helped me out a lot
the last few transfers here in Uwajima. On a mission you just build
special friendships with certain missionaries, and I really feel like
I have with Elder Murakami.

Serving a mission really changes who you are. My life has changed so
much since I left for my mission. I have gained such a stronger
testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. I have learned how to
truly pray for help when I need it. I have learned that the Book of
Mormon is true. Learning is something that I have actually come to
enjoy on my mission. I know that by the time I come back I will be a
completely changed person.

This week I am going to work on praying with more sincerity. I know at
the end of the day sometimes it is difficult to kneel down and give a
sincere pray when you are so tired, but think about how much of a gift
it is from our Heavenly Father that we can pray to him. I would like
to invite everyone else to join me on praying with sincerity this
week. My Ponderizing scripture for this week was Mosiah 23:22.

Questions:

1. Stores are pretty similar here to what they are like in America.
Obviously they have a lot of different foods, but the layout is pretty
much the same.

2. My companion does like to cook. He is pretty good too. His mom used to cook
him a lot of Japanese food in America. I did not see him at the MTC
because he fast tracked, which means he was only there for 2 weeks
because he already knew Japanese. We have not gone to Uwajima castle
yet because it has been raining on our P-days.

3. Yes, they do bull fighting in Uwajima. I haven't been able to go
see it yet, but I would like to go one day if I can. I am not sure
which river that is, but there is a lot of fishing that goes on in
Uwajima because we are right next to the ocean.

4. I am not exactly sure why they built the castles. I think they were
all built a long time ago though. Some have been remolded. There is an
emperor and a prime minister in Japan. I haven't read much on the
history of Japan, but I do hear about it a lot from people while we
are housing. When they talk about their religion sometimes it leads
back to the history of Japan.

5. I don't know of any museums really here. Uwajima is pretty small, and
there isn't too much to do. It is a really good place though.

6. It is actually just a branch, but things are going pretty well. We
are trying to get more people to church right now. That is a big
focus. The branch president is doing well. He is awesome. I love
playing ping pong with him because he is really good. (Maybe even
better than dad... Maybe). My new companion did introduce himself in church.

7. We haven't met too many new people lately. We meet new people every
day, but not too many new investigators. We haven't had interviews for
a while. I think we will have them this transfer though. Interviews
are once every 2 or maybe 3 transfers. I forgot.

8. Yes, I have been feeling great. I have been exercising a lot more
and eating really healthy lately, so that has helped. The umbrellas
work awesome, but we don't get to use them much because we can't use
them while we are biking. I actually gave one of them to my trainee
because he had to go far away and I figured he might need it on his
way to Osaka.

9. I think Father's day is Sunday here in Japan. I am pretty sure it is the same day as in America.

Thank you everyone. I love you all. 皆さん最後まで耐え忍びつずけてください。愛しているよ！

ハーシ長老
Elder Hirschi

playing pictionary with the English class

lunch I eat about everyday now

44th week in Japan
6/13/2016

英雄 (Heroes)

Dear Family and Friends,

Being in the service of the Lord as one of his missionaries is one of the greatest opportunities I have ever been given in my life. I am full of so much gratitude to have been given this opportunity. On June 10th of this year I officially hit my one year mark on my mission in Kobe Japan. I still cannot comprehend why the time moves so much quicker on a mission. If I was to guess, I think it would have something to do with being closer to God's time. Although the time has flown by I still have many new journeys that lay ahead. It has been so great to meet all of these people. I love them dearly. I am grateful to be in here in a part of God's vineyard, even if it is only a short time.

I would like to share with everyone one of the biggest highlights that I have seen on my mission so far, and it will impact me for the rest of my entire life. When I was serving with my second trainer Elder Weakley in Okayama Nishi, my first area, I was nearing the end of the Book of Mormon in my reading. I had been pondering about the Book of Mormon often throughout each and every day. I love the stories of the prophets and I cannot even begin to describe how grateful I am for the sacrifices that they made to give us the Book of Mormon today. One day during my personal study time I had finally finished reading the entire Book of Mormon for my first time. I thought about all the stories in the Book of Mormon and I really pondered about Moroni's promise that he has given us in Moroni 10:3-5. He asks us to read the Book of Mormon and ask God with a sincerity of heart to know if it is true. I finished my reading and pondering about the book. I truly had a sincere desire to know whether or not the Book of Mormon was true for myself. So, I did what Moroni asks. I went into the other room and knelt down to ask God. In that moment I was changed. Before I could even begin to express myself in prayer I felt the spirit hit me like I was hit by a car or something. It almost hurt it was so powerful! God had told me what I had desired to know. He told me, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is a true book. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is. There is no doubt in my mind. It is God's word and because of it I have been changed forever.

Lately I have been reading through the atonement challenge that President Welch has asked us to read. Right now I am reading from 1st Nephi. Nephi is one of my heroes. As I was reading in 1 Nephi 17 I recognized something that I had never really thought about before. Nephi talks about how they had been going through the wilderness with hardly any food and had many hardships for over 8 years. They had gone through much afflictions and sufferings in the wilderness. Eventually Nephi and his family make it to the land bountiful. By the time they get there they set up there tents and are very joyous to have plenty of food and a time to rest; however, soon after getting there the Lord calls Nephi up to the mountain. At this point I imagine Nephi is very tired, he just suffered many afflictions in the wilderness for over 8 years, but he does as the Lord directs and goes up into the mountain. The Lord then asks him to construct a ship. (1 Nephi 17:8) Nephi a man who has probably never even seen a ship, living in the desert in Jerusalem and after traveling through the wilderness for 8 years, which I imagine was extremely difficult, instead of saying to the Lord can't I just rest for a few days. I have been through so much already. The first thing he says is okay, where can I find some ore. He probably has no idea how to construct a ship and he is probably over exhausted from his journey, but instead of complaining he tells the Lord okay here is what I can do, let's go find some ore to make tools. Nephi is absolutely one of the most incredible men to walk the face of this Earth. I am so grateful for his obedience to keeping the Lord's commandments. He has given me an example to look up to, so that I can try to be as obedient as I can myself.

The Book of Mormon is full of so many of my heroes. I love the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful that I have the chance to read it every day, even if it is just a page or 2. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that it is the most correct book out of any book written on the earth today. Through following the things we learn from the Book of Mormon we have been promised more blessings than we can ever imagine. I know that because of the Book of Mormon that this church is true also. Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ appear to him in the sacred grove. He truly did translate the Book of Mormon and restore God's true church back to the Earth today. I am grateful for my savior Jesus Christ. The Savior has a very special spot in my heart. He did atone for us. He knows us. He loves us. I know that God is our Heavenly Father. I know that one day we can return to live with him and with our families for eternity. These things I know and testify to you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 1 Corinthians 2:4.

Questions:

1. My new companion is good. He likes to sing and do acting. He is very kind and always looking out for those around him. He is a very good missionary.

2. It is starting to feel like summer. The summers in Japan are way hot too. The weather has started to get pretty crazy lately. We just hit rainy season, so it rains almost every day right now. Some days it doesn't rain too much, but some days it pours pretty hard. It is fun though because we don't get the chance to swim as missionaries, so we can swim in the rain :). I don't see people go swimming very much. All of the schools in Japan do have swimming pools though. I hear of some kids that do that for their clubs and stuff.

3. There are a ton of gardens here. I think a lot of people like to grow gardens in Uwajima. They grow lots of different things. In Oomiya shimai's garden, the garden that we do service in every week, she grows potatoes, mint, cabbage, strawberries, cucumbers, and some other things.

4. Yes, I have gotten pretty good at using chopsticks. We use them all of the time. Almost every day for 90% of the meals. I do have a pair of chopsticks that are pretty cool that a member gave me in my last area. I use those.

5. It seems like most people work on Saturdays too. The kids don't have school on Saturdays most of the time. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they even have schoolon Sunday's, which is crazy. I am not sure what they do on Saturdays. Maybe just hang out with friends or stay home and play games or stuff like that.

6. My district hasn't changed at all except for my new companion. Our investigators are doing well. We still have to get a date set for Midori San, but I think she will get baptized this transfer. Also Mizumoto San was able to meet with us last week so that was good. The rest of our investigators aren't really progressing too well, so we may have to drop a few and start looking for new ones.

7. We also go everywhere on bikes. We hardly ever do much walking. My bike is doing very well. I am taking really good care of it. I hope I can keep it in good shape until the end of my mission. Maybe I could even send it home, I am not sure.

8. I am good on everything. Thanks so much though. I truly appreciate all of your help and support.

Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. Thank you for reading my long emails haha, sorry this one was so long. I hope that you all have a great week! Love ya,

Hirschi 長

43rd week in Japan
6/6/2016

Staying in Uwaima!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off I just want to say that I hope that Davier and his family are doing okay. I am praying for them and I hope that they can make it through this hard time in their lives through relying on God. I hope that everyone is doing well at home. Last Tuesday we figured out what would be going on with transfers, and we learned that Elder Philburn would be headed to Osaka. He is going to do great things. My new companion is Elder Anderson. He is a 7th transfer missionary. He is from Arizona and he is half Japanese. His mom is Japanese and his dad is American, so he is pretty much fluent in Japanese. He also lived in Japan for about 5 years. I am excited to stay another transfer in Uwajima. We are going to see miracles and hopefully some baptisms along the way.

This last week was sad to say goodbye to Elder Philburn. He said that he wasn't ready to leave Uwajima yet, but he has always wanted to go to Osaka, so he was excited for that. We took a bus and stayed the night in Matsuyama on Wednesday night. Elder Philburn had to travel to Osaka by himself, but thankfully he made it safely. My new companion elder Anderson came in on Thrusday and we got to work that night in Uwajima.

Right now we have quite a few good investigators who we feel like could get baptized this transfer. Midori San is one of our investgators who is all the way ready to be baptized we just have to help her set up a date and finish up the rest of her lessons. We also currently have 2 other investigators with baptismal dates, Mizumoto San and Yamashita San. Hopefully we can help them reach their dates that we have set for them. We are constantly striving to show forth our faith and work hard to do God's will.

One thing that I really want to focus on this transfer is focusing on doing God's will. Above anything else Heavenly Father's will should come first in our lives. When Jesus Christ lived on the Earth, he always put the Father's will first above anything else in his life. When we put Heavenly Father first in our lives, everything seems to fall into place. We become much happier. Heavenly Father truly does know what is best for us in our lives.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 2 Nephi 22:3. 

Questions:

1. Transfers were a change since Philburn choro left to Osaka. I am still in Uwajima with Elder Anderson. I am still the district leader here also.

2. I am not exactly sure if they have youth conference or girls camp here, but they have something called FSY that is coming up. A lot of the youth will be going to that. It sounds pretty fun. Actually our branch is so small the the young men's and young women's have been combined into one class. My companion and I will teach that class.

3. We have not been to any training meetings for a while. We have our regular district meetings on Friday, but we don't have them on transfer week. The last time that I met with president Welch was at the Elder Stevenson Conference.

4. One time in a lesson I told the investigator that Jesus felt our shoes instead of he felt our pains. (Kutsu is shoes and Kutsuu is pain). I accidentally said Kutsu instead of Kutsuu.

5. I haven't really seen any fireworks here, but they have a lot of different festivals. I am sure they have fireworks, but I haven't seen them before.

6. Yes, I did get the one year package,thanks so much! The poem was awesome! That really changed my mindset of my year mark. Thank you for the motivation and for all of your support.

7. Yes, I read my patriarchal blessing every now and then. Every time I read it I can feel the spirit so strongly. It helps remind me of the reason I decided to serve a mission. I still write in my journal every day. Some days I am so tired at the end of the day, that I am not able to write in it until the next morning, but I have written for every single day on my mission. I am okay on all of that stuff, thanks.

8. I don't know if I will do anything too special on the 10th. I know that from there I am going to try to start a diet to get in better shape and I also want to reevaluate my mission goals. I want to be a better missionary and work harder than I am now. I think that my language ability has come a long way. I still feel like it is nowhere where I want it to be yet, but I am working on it little by little.

Thank you everyone for your love and support. I love you all. Please get better Davier.

Elder Hirschi

42nd week in Japan
5/30/2016
The Sacrament

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope that everyone has had a great week this past week. I know that
my companion Elder Philburn and I sure have. Being our last week of
the transfer we tried to work hard to help as many people as we could.
I feel like I learned so much this transfer and I am so grateful for
the chance that I had to be district leader again. I have truly come
to love the people here and the missionaries in my district. I have
learned so much from each one of them, and I look forward to hopefully
having another transfer with these people in Uwajima. We will be
getting our transfer calls tomorrow to see what happens.

The last week of the transfer was a blast. Earlier in the week we were
able to do a half English teaching half gospel discussion with one of
our new investigators named Fukumi Yamada San. She is really cool and
seems to be very accepting. We met her at Eikaiwa and she seems to
like the influence that we have on her kids. We taught one of her kids
English at her home and then taught her about our purpose as
missionaries. Hopefully through continuing the lessons with her she
will accept the gospel into her life and accept the invitation to be
baptized.

We had a great district meeting followed by a trip with the Hasegawa
couple to a few places in our area on Friday last week. It was good to
be able to visit a few of the less actives and to help them out with
their lessons. I am truly grateful for the Hasegawa couple. They have
shown us so much love and they are such good missionaries.

One very important thing that I have come to recognize on my mission
is the significance of the sacrament. During sacrament meeting every
week you can just feel the spirit so strongly. It is a time to
separate yourself from the world and think of the savior. Being able
to forget about the things of the world and focus my thoughts on the
savior is such a peaceful feeling. Back in America, every time I would
take the sacrament I would read a few verses that my dad told me to
read during a sacrament meeting about 7 or 8 years ago (Luke
22:40-44). Ever since that time I have recognized how powerful the
taking the sacrament truly is. The savior suffered for each one of us
individually. I know that he knows us and he loves us. We must always
remember him, and by so doing we may always have his spirit with us.

My Ponderizing scripture this week was 3 Nephi 27:6. 6
わたしの名を受け、最後まで堪え忍ぶ者は、�Kわりの日に救われるであろう。

Questions:

1. The kids here have school year round. They have a spring and fall break I
think, but that is about it. I think they have the same amount of
grades as we do. I am not really sure on the school graduations.

2. Yes, we are going to try to play basketball next Saturday if I stay
in the area.

3. Maybe I will send some stuff home if I do get transferred. I don't know if I will have
any time though. I don't think I will.

4. Music is pretty popular here. I don't really like the music that is
popular here in Japan, but that's alright. There is quite a bit of
American music here. Japanese people like to listen to American music.
Yes, we use a lot of formal/honorific language. Especially when
praying.

5. We have not tried to make sushi at our apartment yet, but we had a
meal with an investigator yesterday and we made sushi with her. We
don't make it on our own. My favorite fish might be salmon or sashimi.

7. They do have libraries here. Their books seem to be similar to ours, but
their kanji is impossible to read haha. We always go to the post
office or convenience stores to take out cash when we need it.

Thank you all for your love and support. Have a great week!

Elder Hirschi

41st week in Japan
5/23/2016

Always working on Faith

Dear Family and Friends,

It is good to be able to email you this Monday afternoon. I hope that
everyone is doing well back at home. This week has been full of a lot
of traveling, but some great experiences along the way. We have been
seeing miracles, and I have come to recognize more of what it takes to
see miracles happen. It isn't easy, but with God's help it is
definitely possible.

Towards the end of last week we had the opportunity to go to Ozu and
visit an investigator named Mizumoto San. She lives about an hour away
from Uwajima and is the sister of one of the members in our ward. We
taught Mizumoto San about the plan of salvation and invited her to be
baptized on July 3rd. Even though she seemed somewhat apprehensive
about it at first, the Hasegawa couple ended up testifying very
powerfully to her and she eventually accepted the invitation. I won't
be able to forget how powerfully the spirit testified to me that day
from the Hasegawa couple's testimonies.

By the end of the week on Friday we had pretty much given all of our
energy out to our dendou (missionary work). We had our district
meeting, came back, worked, and then headed out the next morning to
the mission home in Kobe. We took a couple of buses there that ended
up being about 7 hours because Uwajima is the farthest area in the
mission from the mission home. On the way over I reflected a lot on my
mission and thought about where my faith is at. In district meeting we
talked about exercising faith to see miracles. I really want to be
able to strengthen my faith to see miracles. In order to do so, I
prepared some questions to think about during the conference with
elder Stevenson.

Sunday afternoon, after church, elder Stevenson came to the mission
home. We got to hear from him, elder Choi, president whittling, and
president Welch. It was a very spiritually uplifting meeting, full of
much needed revelation from the Holy Ghost. During the meeting I
thought about what it would take to see miracles and what I could do
to increase my faith. I got my answer. It is so simple. I just have to
change my mind set and attitude. If we are 100% obedient and we work
as hard as we can, then we should have the mindset to expect to see
miracles. Heavenly Father wants us to see miracles. All we have to do
is... Do his will.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was D and C 121:44. This week I
would like to challenge each one of you to join me in trying to
increase your faith. Find out what it takes to do so and try it. I
promise that through increasing your faith your lives will become so
much better, it will become easier to overcome doubts, and you will
see God's hand in your life.

Questions:

1. Yes, we had our zone conference on Wednesday, which was really
good, and we also met with President Welch at the mission home for the Stevenson
choro taikai. I like district and zone meetings because I get to meet
with all the other missionaries and hear their ideas.

2. The transfer calls should be on June 3rd I think. I am not ready to
move to a new area. I have developed to many good friendships here. I
love the people in Uwajima, and I don't want to leave them yet.

3. Yes, we do have a key to the church so we can go there whenever we need to.

4. Thank you so much for sending the stuff for my year package. You are the best.

5. Ryota is a recent convert. I don't think he has a calling with the
missionaries, but he loves the missionaries so much. He always likes
taking pictures with us. He is a funny guy. He likes to come to our
conferences sometimes.

6. The weather has been really good. It has gotten a bit hotter
lately. The rainy season will start up pretty soon. It has rained a
bit, but I still have a good umbrella. We don't use umbrellas much
because we are always biking. That's alright though because I have
some good rain stuff. Thanks.

7. We meet new people every day. It is so fun. Sometimes a little bit
awkward, but so fun. The language has slowly become easier and easier.
I feel like lately I have realized how much I still need to learn. I
am at a lot lower level than I should be, but I just got a couple of
grammar books that will help me out a bit. I am going to focus during
my study harder.

8. I have given out a few bookmarks and cards that you sent.
Thanks a ton.

Thank you all for your support. I am grateful for this opportunity
that I have to serve here in Japan. I love the people here and my own
personal testimony has grown so much. I love you all and hope you have
a great week.

Elder Hirschi