61st week in Japan
10/9/2016
総大会 (General Conference)

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope that everyone had a great conference! I know that I am a week
behind, but let's try to continually treasure up the words of life and
not forget the things that we learned this conference. I know that
there were many powerful talks given and hopefully many of you were
able to have specific questions answered. My companion Elder Johnson
and I sure received a lot of revelation through conference and we are
excited to apply it to the missionary work in this area.

Recently we have received a challenge from President Welch. He told us
that he has been fasting and praying a lot about how to help the
mission and he has received revelation that each companionship in the
mission can see a baptism by the end of the year. I know that
conference only boosted our spirits to help us gain the faith required
to achieve President Welch's new vision. We are excited to get to
work, to do all that we can to labor so that we can see
miracles happen.

One of the things that really stuck out to me from conference was the
talk "There is Power in the Book," by Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. He
talked about a few different stories of people who's lives
dramatically changed by reading the Book of Mormon. Through hearing
this talk it made me think back at when I first came to know for
myself personally that the Book of Mormon is true. Knowing that the
Book of Mormon is true is just the beginning of our testimonies. I
believe that it is truly the foundation of where our testimonies
should stand.

As Elder Stevenson mentioned in a talk just previous to Elder Curtis's
talk, the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. The entire
truthfulness of the church all relies upon whether or not the Book of
Mormon is a true book. That being said how important is it that we
each gain our own conviction individually that the Book of Mormon is
true. Our entire testimony of the church depends on it. I can truly
say for myself that I know that the Book of Mormon is God's word. It
was translated by a modern day prophet, Joseph Smith. God loves us so
much that he carefully and thoroughly created a plan for us to have
this book today. Many people have sacrificed their lives so that we
can read this book and come closer to Christ through abiding by the
principles written within.

It is truly a great blessing to hear from the prophets and apostles 2
times a year to know how we can come closer to Christ and follow his
gospel. I am grateful for these great men who sacrifice their lives in
the service of our Heavenly Father. I love them and sustain them will
all my heart. I know that through following the counsels that we
receive from the prophets and apostles we can live happy lives. We can
grow, progress, and gain more faith in the Savior. We can find
strength to endure, and one day we can return to live with our Father
in Heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Ponderizing scripture: I have to be 100% honest and say that I think I
left it on the wall when I transferred, so I forgot what my scripture
was, but a good scripture that I would like to share is Colossians
2:5-7.

Questions:

Did you make it okay to your new area?  How is the area?  Do you like it?

1.  Yes, I arrived okay. It is a good area. It is pretty flat and the
roads are nice. The members are amazing and have great faith. I
actually got to do my first split ever with members yesterday, so that
was fun. My companion is Elder Johnson. He is awesome! He loves
basketball. He is about 6  foot 6 inches. He likes to work really hard
too. We are going to have a blast this transfer!

Have you ever had any Asian pears there in Japan?

2. Yes! They are called Nashi. They are absolutely the best fruit I
have ever had. I got a huge one from a member in my last area, but I
forgot to take it with me. They are really juicy too.

Do they decorate there for Halloween?  Have you seen any Halloween stuff lately?

3. Yes they do. They actually had a little Halloween party thing that
anyone in Fukuchiyama could go to. It was kind of fun. The church will
also be doing a party pretty soon.

Do you ever use your mini hymn book that is in English that we sent with you?  We are wondering if we should send one with Logan.

4. I actually have one on the iPad, so I never really get the chance
to use it. He probably doesn't need one.

What is your new companion like?  Where is he from?

5. He is awesome! He is from Woodland Utah. He lived in Spain for a
while and used to be able to speak Spanish. He is way good at
basketball! Loves to work hard and is pretty funny too. I am excited
to work with him this transfer.

 When will you get to watch conference?  Will you do anything for your birthday?

6. We were able to watch it on Saturday and yesterday. I actually
forgot it was my birthday yesterday until one of the members blurted
it out in the middle of while we were eating lunch together, so
everyone sang to me. It was very nice of them. Other than that it was
a normal day. I got to do a split though. Also I didn't get my bags
yet, so I wasn't able to make cake, but we will probably do that
today.

Were the slacks we sent for you good ones and enough of them?  We are trying to decide how many to send with Logan? 

7. Yes, they work good. He probably only needs about what you sent me
with 3. They still work for me and honestly you can get some that
missionaries leave behind for free that work when the other ones wear
out. He could probably also get some in Chile and they might be cheaper there.

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Hirschi