18th week in Japan
12/13/2015
4th Transfer Begins!

Dear Family and Friends,

It is so wonderful to be able to write you on this Monday morning. As
some of you may already know we got our transfer calls this morning.
After almost every final district meeting of the transfer we write on
the board where we think that everyone is going. Weakley choro and I
thought that both of us would be staying for sure. I really love
Okayama Nishi and how strong the ward here is. I am way excited for
Shu to be baptized on the 25th of December also. Anyways Weakley choro
and I hurried over to the church this morning to see what would be
going on with the new transfers coming up. I had been praying that I
would stay in Okayama Nishi with him. We looked at the transfer calls
this morning and saw that I am going to Kyoto! I couldn't believe my
eyes when I read that I would be leaving this place. I felt extremely
bummed out that I wouldn't be able to stay one more transfer here with
Weakley choro. Even though I am sad about having to leave this amazing
place, it will be cool to see a new area of the mission. The place
that I am headed to is called Fushimi. Weakley choro told me that it
has a completely different feel than almost anywhere in Japan. It will
be hard to say my goodbyes here in Okayama Nishi, but it will sure be
cool to see a new area. Weakley choro will be staying here in Okayama
Nishi as a senior companion. I will be missing Shu for his baptism,
but I know that Weakley choro will be able to help him get baptized
when I go. I sure will miss Okayama Nishi.

This past week has been a very good last week of the transfer. Weakley
choro and I worked so hard to get our 20 lessons this week. We were
finally able to achieve our goal and got 4 investigators to church on
Sunday. We have been working on teaching people more at their houses
and while on the street. Last Friday during zone conference they
taught us how to do just that. We learned from our zone leaders about
not giving up on people. If someone turns you down at the door or is
busy outside on the street we try our best to help them learn more
about the church, even if they are not prepared for the gospel at that
time. We have been able to teach so many more people about the gospel
because of this new way of teaching. We have also been spreading the
true meaning of Christmas more and more with everyone.

A couple weeks ago President Welch challenged us to read from the
bible and look for Jesus Christ's relationship with Heavenly Father,
Jesus Christ's way of teaching, and the Doctrine of Christ. I had just
finished reading the first 3 gospels when he gave us that challenge so
it was a little bit funny that I would have to restart it. Even though
I had learned so much from reading the first time, I have really been
able to recognize so many new things while reading through this time.
Jesus Christ was the best missionary of all time, and all of us
missionaries are striving to become like he was. I have learned the
way that he teaches is so personal. He loves the people that he
teaches and knows exactly how to teach to what they need to hear.
Sometimes it is not easy to understand the bible, but I have really
learned how to understand by using the foot notes while being out here
on my mission.

My district leader, Elder Bateman, and I had a companionship exchange
that took place on Wednesday. His Japanese is extremely good, so it
was fun to learn some things from him. I have been working hard at
trying to learn this language. I have really felt a lot of
progression, but it just takes a lot of time. There is no secret to
learning the Japanese language. We just have to be diligent, obedient,
and patient. We had a fun exchange and I learned a few techniques to
use while tracting. We also taught our deaf investigator in shuwa and
I have really learned how cool Japanese sign language is. It is
basically like a game of charades. I wish I knew Japanese a lot better
so that I could learn more shuwa for our investigator. Sadly the only
place where missionaries really learn shuwa in the mission is in
Okayama Nishi.

It has truly been a blast here in Okayama. I will miss it a ton. I
know where I have been called to serve now is where Heavenly Father
wants me to be serving. My ponderizing scripture for last week was
John 6:69. I will be setting some good goals for my next transfer in
Kyoto. I am excited to meet the people there. I love these people and
I know that we are all brothers and sisters of a Father in Heaven. He
loves us each individually. I know that Jesus Christ is our brother.
He came to the Earth to atone for each of us. During this Christmas
season lets not forget to ponder about the savior and what he did for
us.

Questions:

1. I am not sure yet what is the best time for skyping at Christmas. 
I will have to ask my new companion and find out a good time.
I will let you know next week for sure.

2. On Christmas day we were going to go to Shu's baptism and probably
just do our regular missionary work ,but other than that I don't think we
do anything different for the most part.

3. It has not snowed yet. I don't think it will snow, and if it does
it probably won't be too much. I am staying very warm yes. Even though
it has been getting really cold, I bought a good jacket last week that
is extremely warm.

4. For transfers I will be headed to Fushimi in Kyoto! I cannot believe it...

Thank you everyone so much for all that you do. I am excited to tell
you more about my new experiences in Kyoto! It is crazy to think that in a
week I will be in a completely different part of the mission. I love
you all so much and pray for you always,

Hirschi 長老

17th week in Japan
12/6/2015
Another crazy week here in Okayama Nishi!

Dear Family and Friends,

First I just want to say that I love you all. Thank you for all of the
support that you have given me this far. I hope that everyone is
having a fun Christmas season thus far. Weakley choro and I have had a
ton of fun sharing the true meaning of Christmas with the people in
Japan. Not too many people know about Jesus Christ, and if they do it
is usually very little. We get to share with others the real reason
that we celebrate Christmas. This last Friday they handed us some
cards that have the webpage for the new Christmas video that the
church put out on gospel library. I would encourage all of you to
watch it also. It is pretty short only 2-3 minutes or so. It is so
cool to tell all these people about the real reason that we have
Christmas.

So last Monday Weakley choro and I went over to another area called
Kurashiki. We went to go check out some of these old Japanese shops
that we heard had a lot of old Japanese souvenir stuff. After walking
around for an hour or so we found alleyways and alleyways just full of
these little shops. It was cool to look around and see all the
traditional Japanese things that they were selling. While walking
around through the shops we found a path that led to one of the
shrines in Kurashiki, so we thought we would check it out. The shrines
here in Japan are really cool. The one that we hiked up to took a
while to get all the way up, but it had a beautiful view at the top.
We had some fun checking that out. I will have to send a few pictures
of what our trip was like.

We also met with the old folks again on Tuesday last week. We played a
fun kickball game with them. They are always so cheery and fun to be
around. That night we went streeting around the Okayama station, and
they flipped all the Christmas lights on for the Christmas season,
which was really cool. We went and talked to a bunch of different
people about Christmas. It is cool to see all the lights getting set
up even in Japan. I wasn't expecting them to really celebrate
Christmas much, but they do set up a lot of stuff for it. Weakley
choro and I bought some Christmas lights for our tree and threw on
some ornaments, so that was fun also. It is fun to be celebrating the
Christmas season even though in Japan it is a little different than in
America.

Last week we met with our investigator that we had planned to be
baptized a little while back. His name is Shu and he is from china. I
love this man! He is the coolest guy ever. He had us over to his house
to eat dinner with him. He made some traditional Chinese food that was
absolutely amazing! He talked to us a lot about his Chinese culture.
They have so many good beliefs that are way cool. One thing that I
thought was really cool is when they eat nobody has their own plate.
They just set out all the trays and everyone eats together from each
of the trays. Their culture is so unique and different from both Japan
and America. We had a good lesson with him, and he told us that he has
been thinking about getting baptized. He said that he wants to get
baptized on December 25th this year! Christmas day! I was so pumped
when I heard that he wanted to get baptized! He told us that he wanted
to take courage and do it this time. We are really preparing him to
get ready for his baptism. With transfers coming up pretty soon, I am
just praying that I will stay in Okayama! I truly do love this place,
and I want to be able to help Shu get baptized.

We had ZTM last Friday and met with our zone at Okayama. It is cool to
hear from the zone leaders and sister training leaders about what they
have to teach us. I really love being able to see all of the members
of the zone to. All of the missionaries are just awesome people! Last
transfer one of the missionaries in our zone returned home, but he
came back to Okayama to visit! It was incredible. He even came to one
of the lessons that Weakley choro and I had the other night. He said
it was his Christmas present this year to come back and visit the
Okayama ward that he served in. He bought us a really good meal at a
diner place that, which was a lot of fun. I really miss all these
older missionaries that have returned home.

My ponderizing scripture for this week was Moroni 8:26. Last week I
asked everyone to join me in being more patient. It has been difficult
to be patient with some investigators and learning the Japanese
language, but over this past week I have truly noticed what a big
difference it makes to be patient. It has helped me to stay focused
and to work harder instead of just getting frustrated. I feel like I
have learned a lot more what it means to be patient. Thank you for
everyone who took the challenge and tried to be more patient
yourselves.

Questions:

1. I am not to sure yet, but I think that president Welch might let us
choose when we can skype for Christmas. Let me know what you think 

would work best, and I will try to find out.

2. We might sing some Christmas songs at the old folks home. That
would sure be a lot of fun. I don't know about what we can do for
service projects yet. 

3. I don't think they have too many different Christmas traditions. They have
put up a lot of lights. Also every Christmas season people will buy
this stuff called mochi as a gift. It is like pounded rice and can be
made with a ton of different things.

4. I don't think it will snow too much in Okayama, or really anywhere
in the mission. I think if it snowed a ton maybe we would just walk
around a little bit instead of biking. We really only use bikes and
walk around.

5. We have a district meeting almost every Friday. We had a Zone
Training Meeting last Friday though. I have seen a few people from the
MTC, but not very many. I hope I get to see all of my MTC district a
few times while I am out here though.

Thank you to everyone for all you do. It has been fun to hear from you
in America. I sure hope that you have a great Christmas season! Don't
forget to remember what the true meaning of Christmas is though. Love
you all,

Hirschi 長老

16th week in Japan
11/29/2015
Thanksgiving!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a blast! Weakley choro and I had a great
Thanksgiving on Thursday! I hope that Thanksgiving was fun for you all
back in America. It is crazy to think that the year is already coming
to an end! I still feel like 2015 just barely started. Also with
Thanksgiving ending people are probably already starting to break out
the Christmas decorations back in America. In Japan they start getting
Christmas decorations out even sooner because Thanksgiving isn't
celebrated here. I am truly excited for the Christmas season though.
Weakley choro and I have already broken out a little Christmas tree
and some decorations ourselves.

Last Tuesday Weakley choro and I were able to walk around the Okayama
castle and talk to people. There is a light show going on at the
castle for the Christmas time, so it was a good opportunity to go
finding around the castle. We also got to see the lights at the
castle. They were incredible! The Okayama Castle was lit up with green
lights and surrounded by a lot of other cool lights. I will have to
send some pictures to you. We talked to a lot of different people.
Even though in Japan their culture is a fairly closed off personality,
it just makes it even more enjoyable to try to help them open up! We
really try to help people realize that the gospel is fun! It is
something that makes our lives full of so much happiness and peace. As
we have done a lot of streeting lately we have tried to help people
realize just that. Every person we pass by while riding our bikes we
say hello, every door we knock we throw a huge smile on our faces, and
every person we talk to we try our best to show them that we love
them. It is such a gift to be serving here for Heavenly Father.

Human service was fun this week. We folded some origami Christmas
trees and what not. We love to go talk to the old people. I can never
understand what they are saying, but it is fun to be there and have a
few laughs with them. Weakley choro and I also visited our deaf
investigator Takeo to try to learn some more shuwa. We have been
studying a little more, but it is fairly tough to learn Japanese sign
language when you don't even know any Japanese haha. Even though it is
difficult, I know that Heavenly Father wants to help us learn at least
some so that we can help teach our investigator. We also had a good
Eikaiwa (English) class on Wednesday. Teaching english is always
something that is so fun to do. I have really learned how strange our
own language is sometimes when actually trying to teach it haha. It is
a pretty difficult language to learn. Most of the students in my class
are very good at it though.

On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving! We had a fairly regular day
until the end of the night. For dinner we ate until we could not eat
anymore! Thank you again for the package. I hope you all had a
wonderful thanksgiving also. On Saturday we had a fun finding day at
the big park. We tried to share the gospel with a lot of different
people, but not too many people are very interested! It never gets our
hopes down though because Weakley choro and I both know that Heavenly
Father has prepared people in our path. We just have to keep looking
and remain diligent! After streeting for a while at the park we saw
some college kids playing basketball. Weakley choro knew that I really
wanted to go play with them so he offered to go play! It was a ton of
fun! We didn't play for too long, but it is so fun to be able to play
some good old basketball! It feels like it has been forever since I
played, but we had a blast!

It has been getting really cold here in Okayama all of a sudden. The
past few days have been freezing, but thankfully we have some good
clothes to keep us warm. The cold weather makes streeting and housing
a little difficult, but we are starting to work hard and setting up
more lessons. This transfer has been so much fun so far, and we have
only been getting more and more lessons each week. Weakley choro and I
set some high goals at the beginning of the transfer to help stretch
ourselves, so we have been working hard to achieve them.

My ponderizing scripture for last week was Luke 12:32. Heavenly Father
wants to give us his kingdom, all we have to do is do what he asks. We
have really been inviting a lot of the members we teach to do the
ponderizing challenge with us. It has been fun to see what they think
and to see what they have learned. So one thing that I have been
working on this transfer is patience. Sometimes it is hard not to get
down on myself about the language. I have to admit it is really a
tough one to learn, but through patience is helps me to realize that
it will take time. I want to work on it really hard this week, and I
would like to invite all of you to join me on this challenge. I know

that as we are patient with ourselves and with others we will truly be
blessed for it.

Questions:

1. Yes, there are a lot of Christmas lights already set up. Not too
many people do it individually, but we have seen some here and there.
I will send you some pictures.

2. We actually found a little Christmas tree while cleaning out our
closet. It is not too bad either. We put all the presents that you
sent under it. I will send a picture of that too.

3. They do have hot chocolate here thankfully. We always have to make
sure we are not buying coffee or tea though because coffee and tea are
huge in Japan! I am okay on a sweater I have a pretty good one. If i
need an extra one (which I possibly might because it is getting so
cold) I can buy one here if thats alright.

4. Yes it snows in different parts of Japan. Okayama isn't known to
get very much snow, but it does get pretty freezing cold haha. I am
good with the socks and shoes I have. I can throw a second layer on if
I need too. Our apartment does stay pretty warm in the room that we
sleep in. We have a small heater and an AC to keep us warm and cool.

5. Yes we have been fixing up our apartment a bunch. We have cleaned
out all the closets, we just need to finish up one of the rooms. It
looks so much better than when I first got here.

6. Not any games, but we do have a few apps that help out. We have
some really good books that we study from. I also love to read the
Book of Mormon in Japanese during my language study time. It is really
cool to be able to read it in a different language.

To answer dad's question on whether or not I have been homesick yet, I
would say there was only a few days that I got homesick really at all.
The very first couple of days at the MTC were really tough for me.
It is extremely hard to get over those first couple of days at the
MTC, but from there until now it has been not bad at all. I still miss
you guys a ton and love you tons, but I wouldn't say that I have been
homesick really.

Thank you all for all your love and support everyone! It is so fun to
be able to email you each week. I hope that Thanksgiving went great,
and that you are getting ready for the Christmas season! I know
Weakley choro and I are sure excited for it. Until next week. Love you
all,

Hirschi 長老

15th week in Japan
11/22/22
A week full of Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends,

I just want you all to know how much I am grateful for all of you.
Thanksgiving is coming up pretty soon, so I hope that will be fun for
you all. Even though people in Japan don't celebrate thanksgiving, I
know that Weakley choro and I will surely be celebrating it. This past
week has been a week full of the spirit! I truly love and cannot even
describe what a blessing it is to have the spirit. I is incredible to me
that Heavenly Father loves us enough to give us such a wonderful gift.
Throughout this week I have been truly looking for the spirit and
trying to follow its guidance.

Last week we had interviews with President Welch. I cannot believe
that even though he is so busy he still has time to meet with each of
his missionaries individually. President Welch truly has the power of
teaching by the spirit. Over the past few weeks I have been thinking
about how I can help my investigators progress more and how to teach
them by the spirit. So before my interviews I prepared a couple
questions to ask President Welch about that topic. During my interview
the coolest thing happened. Without even knowing what questions I had
to ask him, he told me exactly what I needed to hear. It was like he
read my mind or something! That just goes to show that President Welch
is truly called by God. As missionaries we always talk about how he is
so full of wisdom. I am truly grateful for President and Sister Welch
and for all that they do for us missionaries.

Throughout the remainder of the week I started looking for how I could
apply what President Welch had taught me in my interview with him. I
can honestly say that I have seen miracles happen because of it. We
have a standard to get 2 investigators to church each week. As Weakley
choro and I applied what we have been learning from President Welch we
were able to get 5 investigators to church last week. We have seen the
spirit touching the lives of our investigators even more.

So the past week has been really interesting with all the rain we have
received lately. Being from St. George it is crazy to see how much it
just pours when it rains here in Japan. The last couple of weeks have
been a little chilly and rainy, but I am so excited for the winter
time that is coming up. I really do love breaking out the Christmas
music, and getting out the warm heater with hot chocolate. Because of
the rain we had to go get a tune up on our bikes, and for some reason
my kickstand got busted, so they made me pay for it. I tried to
refrain from being too upset haha. I also had to replace my back
brakes and my pedal, but that wasn't too expensive thankfully. Riding
around on bikes all the time is actually something that I truly do
enjoy though.

This Sunday was one of the greatest days that I have had out here on
my mission! I have truly seen Heavenly Father work miracles with the
Okayama Nishi ward. On Friday night Weakley choro and I were talking
about giving talks in church. He said that he has done it a couple of
times before on his mission. Then ironically the next morning Egi
kyodai called us saying that he wanted me to give a talk in sacrament
meeting. I had completely thought that I was safe this week with
singing and giving the shuwa prayer in sacrament! Apparently I was
not. On Sunday it was a little nerve racking to get up in front of
everyone, but I could truly feel the spirits comfort helping me to
know what to say. I talked to the ward about missionary work. Over the
past little while, our ward hasn't really been involved in our
missionary work, so Weakley choro and I were wondering how we could
help them. We had ward council meeting after church on Sunday, and the
ward really worked hard to give us any help that we need with joint
lessons! They also helped fellowship all the investigators that we
brought to church. Weakley choro and I were gifted with the
opportunity of singing "How Great Thou Art" in sacrament meeting also.
We sang the first verse in Japanese and the last verse in English, and
the spirit completely filled the room. Sunday was a day full of the
spirit and miracles.

This past week I have been ponderizing Alma 26:12. In God's strength
our weaknesses can be made strong. I have seen that have a huge affect
on me while on my mission. I have a countless number of weaknesses,
but through God's strength I have been able to be made stronger. I
hope that everyone has still been ponderizing. In Deven G. Durrant's
talk he said that we could be ponderizing for the rest of our lives,
and then he promises us the blessing of feeling an increase in
spirituality. Please continue to try to ponder the scriptures. The
prophets made so many sacrifices for us to be able to have the
scriptures. I have truly developed a love for the scriptures on my
mission. They are God's words, and because he loves us he has
preserved them for us in these days. Lets all continually read and
ponder about the scriptures.

Questions:

1. Yes I still write in my journal everyday. I actually had to buy a new one
that I will probably be writing in soon. I have almost filled up my
first one.

2. Yes we got the Thanksgiving package! Thank you so much! We will be
cooking all that for Thanksgiving day.

3.  I haven't seen too many crazy animals that are different than in the USA. I
think that is because I live in a very city area. We saw some
endangered cranes at the big park that we went to though. We also have
a cockroach problem at the apartment. I have seen some huge spiders
all over the place too. Maybe I can send some more pictures haha.

4. The next transfers are on December 14th. It is coming up so fast! I
feel like my 3rd transfer just started.

5. Yes we have a ward Christmas party on the 19th. It will be a lot of fun.

6. My favorite place I have been to is probably the Okayama park that we went to. It
was extremely beautiful. Maybe I can go there again before I leave
Okayama. I think we are going to go to the Okayama castle today.

7. I wouldn't say I have a favorite person in the ward. I really love
them all! Mitchel kyodai, our ward missionary, is really awesome.

Thank you all for your help and support. Hopefully thanksgiving goes
well for everyone. Have a good Holiday. We will try and do something
here this week. I love you all and pray for you always,

Hirschi 長老

14th week in Japan
11/15/2015
Another Great Week!

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been another great week full of amazing experiences in Japan. I
just want to thank all of you for your emails and support. Thank you
for your prayers and love that you have shown me. It has truly
strengthened me over my time on my mission. I am grateful for the
chance that I have to write to you each week and to tell you about
what is going on here in Japan. This place is truly incredible, and I
continue to learn new things each and everyday. I have really learned
how much a mission can change someone. I have learned so many things
on my mission that I know by the end I will be a completely changed
person.

Last P day after emailing, Weakley choro and I went to a place called
Coco's curry. It was really good, and apparently they have some really
spicy curry there. They have a scale level from 1-10 and in order to
eat the hottest curry you have to eat a more mild one first. The food
was really good, but I didn't dare try anything too spicy haha. I have
really learned to like the food here in Japan. Yeah, we eat a lot of
rice, noodles, tofu, and other stuff, but it is really good. I like
being able to get used to their new food and culture. Like I have
talked about before there are so many unique things about the culture
in Japan. Sadly one of the things about Japanese culture is that
people really keep to themselves. As President Welch puts it, they
have a very big bubble around themselves, and it is hard to get past
it. As missionaries that is one of the things that we have to do is
break that barrier and help them be more open to new ideas. I have
really learned to be able to do that a lot easier over my time here,
and it all starts with just loving the people.

Weakley choro and I experienced a huge miracle on Tuesday last week.
We went streeting and were talking to people around the train station.
As we were walking around an lady that we met on the street about a
month back walked right up to us and asked if we remembered her. At
first I didn't recognize her, but after she started speaking English
to us, I knew exactly who she was. She told us that she wanted to know
who God is, she wants to learn more about Jesus Christ, and that she
wanted to come to church on Sunday. I couldn't believe it! Nobody does
that in Japan, especially because that is just not the culture. It was
truly a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father that we were gifted with
that experience.

Later in the week I went on an exchange with Parkin choro in Tsuyama.
I was there one time during my first transfer, so it was sooo good to
be able to go back and see that place. I really love it there! We had
a fun exchange and did some service in the morning for an older lady.
We also visited an member who was an investigator that I taught the
first time that I went there, but got baptized a little later. It was
really cool to see how she had changed. After that lesson we were
invited to a party with a Pilipino family that are members. We had a
lot of fun talking to them. It is really cool because all of them knew
4 different languages. They speak to each other in their original
language, but if they can't understand each other (because the dialect
is different everywhere in the country,) then they speak in Tagolic.
If they still can't understand each other after that, they speak to
each other in English. It was crazy and a lot of fun visiting with
them. They are the nicest people ever! It was a fun week full of great
experiences.

My ponderizing scripture for this past week was Mark 27:10. I have
learned that with the help of God all things are possible. Last week I
challenged everyone to be a light and an example for others. We were
able to share President Monson's talk for our home teaching this week
with some members also. The gospel really is true! Other people need
the light of the gospel in their lives. I really hope that you were
able to be an example and a light for others in your lives.

Questions:

1. In all honesty I actually haven't seen any kendamas here. That kind of
surprises me, but Weakley choro said that he has seen some here and
there. I bet the Japanese people are pretty good at them though.

2. They do have some games that are pretty unique in Japan. I saw some kids get
out these little top things and battle each other with them. I have
also seen a lot of card games and video games all over the place.

3. Yeah my companion is a pretty good cook, but we make really simple stuff. I guess he
likes to make mabodofu and french toast. Just the simple stuff.

4. Yes we get to meet with President Welch every now and then. We also have
interviews with him on Thursday this week. We also send a weekly email
to him every p day.

Thank you everyone for all your emails of support. I love you all and
pray for you always,

Hirschi 長老