52nd week in Japan
8/8/2016
慈愛、キリストの純粋な愛 (Charity, the pure love of Christ)

Kiyomizudera (清水寺, literally "Pure Water Temple").

Dear Family and Friends,

As missionaries we are constantly seeking and praying sincerely for the gift of charity. I have truly come to recognize the importance for having charity for those around you during the time that I have spent on my mission. I have also come to learn more what the meaning of charity is. I think many people may have their own definitions of what charity means to them, but to me charity is truly the pure love of Christ.

When Jesus Christ came to the Earth he always had one purpose in mind. That purpose was to number 1, above all else, accomplish the will of Heavenly Father. The reason that he did this was because of his love for the Father first and then his love for all mankind. Jesus Christ truly had charity for all those around him. There is a countless number of times where it says that Jesus had compassion in the scriptures. He recognized who the people around him truly are. They are his brothers and sisters. He knew what Heavenly Father's will was and was 100% obedient to it by helping his brothers and sisters come to a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He constantly sought to show love to those around him. He is our example.

Whenever I think of the Savior, Jesus Christ, I think of what great love he had for Heavenly Father. I think that this should always be our number one goal in this life. To seek to develop more love for our Father in heaven. We can do so by doing the things that he asks us to. The gospel is so simple. As we show forth our faith and seek to develop love for our Heavenly Father, he will always bless us for doing so. I know that I talk about it a lot in my emails, but I always love to talk about seeing others through God's eyes because it is an attribute that I have really strived to acquire on my mission. I just wish that I could take one glimpse of what God sees in all of his children. I know that if I could, my outlook on everyone around me would be infinitely different.

I love what the prophet Mormon teaches us about charity in the 7th chapter of Moroni. He was so full of wisdom on how to gain charity for those around us. We must pray to the Father with all energy of heart to gain charity for those around us. (Moroni 7:48) I have felt this scripture take place in my daily life as a missionary. Last week we met with an investigator named Hayata kyoudai. He has gone through some hard things in his life and I have been praying for him a lot lately. I have really prayed with all the energy of my soul and have sought to gain charity for Hayata kyoudai. During one of the lessons that we had in the middle of the lesson he was talking. We asked Brother Hayata if he would follow the example of the Savior and be baptized. What he said was nothing special and actually not that relevant to what we had asked him, but for some reason God had poured out his spirit upon me and truly filled me from head to toe with charity towards my brother Hayata. I felt the spirit strongly and felt a sincere love for him. I hope that one day I can help him reach the waters of baptism. I have a sincere desire for his eternal welfare.

The gospel is true everyone! I love this gospel! Please everyone join me in praying with all energy of your souls so that you can gain charity for those around you. I love each one of you. You are all my brothers, sisters, and sons and daughters of a Father in Heaven who loves you! Please never forget that.

Ponderizing scripture: Mormon 9:28

Questions:

1. My investigators here are amazing. I love them all so much. I hope that we can find some more investigators who will progress more quickly, but we are doing our best to help them.

2. Our next transfers are on August 25th.

3. My companion's first name is Riley. He used to live in California, but his family has moved during his mission. They moved to Huntsville Utah. His family loves the lake, especially lake Powell. He has 1 older brother and 2 older sisters. He is from Glendora California.

4. The members in this area feed us every once in a while and give us food in a basket every Sunday. I have had a few meals with members already here. I love them all so much. We had a very powerful fast and testimony meeting yesterday. I don't know if there is a specific job that most people do it here.  It iss just kind of random. The bishop is a carpenter. The Stake President is a lawyer.

5. There haven't been any more festivals since the last ones. The kids are back in school I think. They only get out for a few weeks.

6. The trains here are pretty interesting. It seems like a very effective way of transportation. I know what a bento (boxed lunch) is and I have had quite a few, but never on a train.

7. There are more stores here in the Kyoto area like the ones in the US. They also have a mall with a lot of foreign imported foods, which is really nice. I have seen quite a bit of Pokemon stuff especially with the new Pokemon go game. Everyone is playing it.

I love you all. Have a great week!   

Elder Hirschi
ハーシ長老

More pictures at   https://www.facebook.com/raylinda.hirschi

Zone training meeting

Practice lessons with their duck investigator

51st week in Japan
7/31/2016
心の変化 (A Change of Heart)

Dear Family and Friends,

Lately while I have been going throughout my days trying to serve those around me I have been thinking about what a great opportunity I have to serve the Lord. I love being in the service of God and trying my best to always put his will first. I have really come to recognize that no matter who I go out to serve, no matter how young or old they are, no matter what problems they may have in life, they are all my brothers and sisters and they need this gospel. It is such an important responsibility to share the gospel with those around us.

A while back President Welch came up with a new vision. He wanted us to teach 20 lessons every week. With this new vision in mind we have been going out every day to teach as many people as possible. One thing that has always been on my mind since we have been trying to teach these 20 lessons is that sometimes I feel as though I was just trying to teach 20 lessons every week and I wasn't focused on the people. My last few transfers I have really come to learn how it is so important to keep my focus on the people. In order to do so I must have charity and try my best to see those around me as God sees them. God sees these people, each and every one of them, as his children with great potential. They all have the potential to become like he is one day. I think that it is so important to keep this in mind( as we go out to work each day.

Through applying this principle into my life as a missionary, I have come to develop a sincere love for the people around me. I love these people. I want them to be able to have the happiness that I have grown up with and had throughout my life. There is no greater joy in the world than the joy that is found through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that through living the gospel of Jesus Christ we can one day return to live with our Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He has atoned for us and through using and relying on the infinite power of the atonement we can overcome our trials in this life. We can repent. We can receive forgiveness and be cleansed from our sins. Nobody is perfect in this life, but through Christ we can be made clean. I love this gospel. I know it is true. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Questions:

1. Yes, we have district meeting every Friday. We will have ZTM (zone training meeting ) next Friday. We had interviews with President Welch last Tuesday. It is always a powerful and spiritually uplifting experience to meet with the mission president one-on-one.

2. The Leaders in our ward are amazing. The bishop is very hard working and we have built a very good relationship. There is about 30-35 people who come to church every week here in Katsura.

3. I haven't had time to go see many places yet in the new area. They did not have fireworks at the festivals that were here. I am not sure why.

4. I saw Boetcher choro again recently which was awesome because I haven't seen him in forever. That was great! There is only one zone in Kyoto.

5. There are a lot of similar words in Japanese and English because they took a lot of words from the English language. I feel alright about the language, but I know that I will never be fluent in the language. It is just one of those languages that if you are not a native it is very difficult to become fluent. I do like learning the language a lot though.

6. I have not given a talk in church yet. I did a little self-introduction on the first Sunday here, but it was only like 5 minutes.

7. We have a few pretty fun investigators here. Yes, we teach English in every area.

8. I am okay. You don't need to worry about sending me anything. Thanks tons.

Love you all so much. The church is true everyone! Have a great week!

Elder Hirschi

Elder Hirschi

50th week in Japan
7/25/2016
新しい冒険と熱心な働き (New Adventures and Hard Work)

こんにちは友達家族の皆さん、
Dear Family and Friends,

The Joy of missionary work is so indescribable. I love being out here in the service of the Lord. My time is going by fast and so I want to give all that I can to the Lord for the next year that I have on my mission. This past week my companion Elder Wheeler and I have been working hard to teach as many people as we can about the restored gospel and the Book of Mormon. I have gained such a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon on my mission and I have come to realize that it truly does change the hearts of the people.

I love being able to read the Book of Mormon every day. Even when there is just a few minutes to be able to do so at the end of the day it is one of my favorite parts of the day. The Book of Mormon is truly God's word. We can know personally for ourselves of its truthfulness by reading and asking God. When people come to recognize this it makes the gospel so simple. I love being able to go out and share my testimony of the Book of Mormon with those around me. These people are my brothers and sisters. They are Heavenly Father's children. He wants them to return back to him one day, and in order to do so we must declare his word so that they can find out the truth for themselves. This transfer we are trying a competition to see who can hand out the most Book of Mormons.

Lately I have been thinking about how much joy we receive from sharing about the gospel with those around us. As I was thinking about this I read through 1 Nephi chapter 8 in the Book of Mormon. In this chapter Lehi has a vision of the tree of life. In verse 12 Lehi describes the fruit of the tree of life. "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." Lehi recognized the joy of the gospel. He wanted so bad to share it with his family. This is what happens to people recognize how much joy the gospel brings them in their lives. They want to share the gospel with their brothers and sisters around them. I am so grateful for this gospel. It is truly a gospel of joy.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 1 Nephi 8:12.

Sorry it is short everyone, but the Kyoto zone is headed over to North Osaka to play basketball against the North Osaka zone. I am so excited to play some basketball!

Questions:

1. My new companion is awesome. 1 important thing to know about him is that he is a very good swimmer and he is very good at water polo. I think that is so cool. He likes Japanese foods. He likes Indonesian curry a lot. He said that it is his favorite food and there is a lot of Indonesian curry in Japan. He is pretty good at the language. I would say he is similar to Philburn choro at speaking.

2. I love being back in Kyoto. It is funny though because Kyoto is the coldest and hottest place in the mission. I got to experience the freezing cold winter, and now I get to experience the scorching hot summer. It is really hot. I have seen a few members from the Fushimi Ward and I hope to visit one of my golden investigators who I taught in Uwajima named Ishiki Miyu San. She is awesome. She moved to Kyoto a while back.

3. There are some places I would like to see in Kyoto. They have a monkey park that sounds pretty cool and a place called Kiyomizudera. I really want to go see those places.

4. The ward is absolutely incredible! I love this ward. There is not a lot of little kids, but they have a lot of young single adults and a few youth. They are all amazing people!

5. I love the new apartment. It is a pretty newly opened up apartment so it is really nice. I have done quite a bit of cleaning, but it is really nice. I do have to hang my clothes to dry (like in almost every apartment in the mission. Only maybe 1 or two apartments have dryers).

6. It hasn't been raining anymore because rainy season ended. It is really nice. Also the humidity has died down a little bit, but now it is really really hot. It is fine though. My bike is holding up really well. My area has an asahi (a good bike store that I bought my bike at in Okayama) that is right next to the apartment. It is so nice. Whenever I need to tune it up a little I can just take it in and they will fix it up. 

7. It is very hot and we go around to a lot of different peoples houses. We also can do Streeting here which is really nice because I haven't been able to do any Streeting for half a year. The shopping is really good because we have a really big mall next to the apartment and some other good stores around. This area has everything next to the apartment. It is really nice. Even the church is about a 3 minute walk from the apartment.

I love you all. This gospel is a gospel of joy! I am now off to play some b-ball, so have a great week!

Elder Hirschi

Egg vending machines 

49th week in Japan
7/17/2016
京都に戻りました！(Back to Kyoto!)

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been an extremely crazy week this last week. We were able to see Katayama shimai get baptized and that same night get transfer calls from our Zone Leaders. I am headed back to Kyoto! The new area I will be serving in is 桂(Katsura) and my new companion is Elder Wheeler. Katsura is actually right next to Fushimi, which was my area before Uwajima. I am so excited to get to work this transfer! I already love the ward here and my companion is awesome! He is a really hard worker and we have already made some big goals for this upcoming transfer. Elder Wheeler is a 3rd transfer missionary from California. He likes water polo and wake boarding. He loves Japan and we are both ready to get to work and help people come unto Christ.

Katayama shimai's baptism was on the 12th last week. It was such an incredible experience to take part in someone receiving their saving ordinances and making a special covenant with Heavenly Father. Katayama shimai is going to be such a good member of the church. She was already starting to do missionary work with us even before she was baptized. It was extremely sad to say goodbye to her and everyone in Uwajima. I developed so many good friendships with the people there. I know that I will never forget them. I hope to one day return there and see them again.

The next day I packed everything up and headed over to Matsuyama. We stayed the night with the zone leaders and on Thursday morning I made my way back to Kyoto. It was pretty weird being alone again, but it wasn't nearly as nerve racking as last time. I actually felt pretty calm about the whole thing. I feel like it has become a lot easier to travel around in Japan now. It was pretty hard to carry my bike in a bag and my carry on bag around the whole time, but eventually I made it back to Kyoto. It took me about a total of 6 hours to get back there from Matsuyama. As expected, there was a ton of people at the Kyoto station. I met my new companion and one of my zone leaders there. They are both so awesome! It is going to be a great transfer!

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was Alma 17:10.

Questions:

1. It was sad to leave Uwajima, but I am glad to be back in Kyoto. The ward here is absolutely amazing! It is good to see some youth and young adults again also. My companion is Elder Wheeler. He is awesome!

2. I have seen a few missionaries since I have come here. It took me about 8 hours to get from Uwajima to Kyoto. It was a long trip. It was pretty odd going alone.

3. Everything is holding up well. I sent a package home a little bit ago, but if you don't mind I would like to send another one.

4. We had Dominos pizza in Japan, which I have only had once before and it was actually pretty good. The pizza that we bought was $40 though! It is crazy expensive. I haven't found anything really new lately, but there is a ton of good foods in Japan.

5. I have to say that the big park that I went to in Okayama was probably the prettiest place I have been to in Japan. There is a lot of cool places in my new area including a monkey park and a famous place called kiyomizudera. I am excited to go there.

6. Before I left Uwajima, we got the apartment way cleaned up. They are going to get a new dresser there pretty soon. This new apartment is fairly clean, but I have to get back to work again and clean it up some more. It is good to throw a bunch of junk away though.

7. People do talk about Mount Fuji a bit, but I have never heard of the fish market. As for where I would like to go in Japan, I am not actually sure. It would be pretty cool to go to Mount Fuji. I also would like to see Osaka a little bit more.

Sorry the email is short. We have a lot of stuff to do. I love you all. Have a great week! Happy Brithday dad!

Elder Hirschi

48th week in Japan
7/12/2016
諦めないで！ (Don't Give Up!)

Dear Family and Friends,

Right now I feel as though I am without the words to describe the tender mercies that the Lord has bestowed upon us this last week. My heart is so full of gratitude and joy. Heavenly Father truly does love each one of us! I have learned that God is truly a God of miracles! This past week has been full of miracle after miracle. God has been so merciful towards us and we will forever be full of gratitude. This gospel is truly a gospel of joy. I can honestly say that this transfer has been the transfer where I have grown and learned the most on my entire mission. Even though there has been many hard times, God has never let me down! He has always been there! I know, with all the certainty of my heart, that I can always put my trust in the Lord.

One of the greatest miracles I have ever seen happen in my life took place last week. It was only followed up by more incredible miracles after that. Last week my companion and I had a day where we decided that we had some finding time so we went housing (tracting). It was in the middle of a hot day and we were having no success. We were going to door after door and everyone had declined to hear the message of the gospel. Just when we were about to give up and go back to the church we went to one more house. The front door was open with the screen closed and we went up to the door. I called out to see if anyone was home and a very kind old lady came to the front door. We told her who we were and asked if we could share a message with her. She gladly accepted to hear our message. We came inside the front door in the entranceway. She told us to wait for a second and came and brought us some pillows to sit on (because we can't enter her house if only she is there). She explained to us how her husband had passed away some time ago and she felt very lonely at home. My companion and I both instantly felt the spirit tell us that we needed to talk to this lady about eternal families. So we did. We explained how one day she would be able to meet with her husband after this life. When she heard it she was instantly filled with joy. She was so happy. We preceded to tell her about how she could do so. We talked to her about being baptized and showed her a picture of baptism. The spirit then told me that I needed to invite her to baptism. So I asked her if she would be willing to be baptized. She accepted! We talked about being baptized on August 28th and she said she would talk to her family and set it as a goal. My companion and I left her home continually giving thanks to God for such a great miracle.

I learned one thing on that Tuesday last week. I learned that we can never give up! We must continue the fight to the end. Enduring to the end may sometimes be difficult, but it will always be the road that leads to the most joy. More joy than we can ever imagine. This transfer I experienced so many moments of feeling unsuccessful. I can honestly say that I felt as though I wanted to go home at some points. I felt like what I was doing out here was pointless, and it was in those times that I prayed to God with all of my soul. I cried to him for help and for comfort. Not only did God give me comfort in those times of need, but he answered my prayers. He gave me the success that I had so much desire to see. He just wanted me to show forth my faith and keep pushing until the very end. He has put me through the furnace of fire this transfer and it has completely changed me.

Just yesterday I experienced the biggest miracle I have seen in my entire life. The branch President asked me to give a talk in church on Sunday. I chose to talk about obedience and told the story that I emailed a while back about Nephi. He is such a hero to me. I talked about how being obedient brings us so many blessings in our lives. During the time of my talk the spirit was really working upon one of our investigators who came to church. We had a plan to meet with her later that night. We met at the church with her and the Hasegawa couple in the area. We came to the lesson prepared to teach about prayer. We started the lesson with a hymn and then sister Hasegawa gave an opening prayer. We then followed up with how our investigator was doing with her prayers. She said she had been praying about baptism. She felt something tell her this morning that she needed to be baptized on Tuesday this week. Sister Katayama Midori decided that she needs to be baptized on the 12th of July. My heart immediately jumped! When she told me that I could not believe what she had said. I didn't know if I had heard her wrong or she had actually said that she wants to be baptized on Tuesday this week. After all those constant prayers to have her heart opened, God had opened her heart. He poured out his spirit upon her like he had done for Alma and his people (Alma 8:10). She told us as she was thinking in the morning about baptism a strong impression came over her that she needed to be baptized. God is a God of miracles! I have never felt more joy in my entire life! If this is what the celestial kingdom feels like, then I know without a doubt I am going to do whatever it takes to get there with my family and friends.

We continually gave thanks to God for all the miracles he helped us to see. Sometimes we just have to wait for his time. God works in mysterious ways. We just have to continually show our faith to him and never give up. If we do so, he will, in the end, bless us for our efforts. I would just like to share a quote that I found recently that has changed my outlook on life. I was reading from a talk given in a worldwide devotional for young adults. The talk is titled "Becoming the Person you Were Born to Be," by Wendy Watson Nelson. Her talk is about doing what it takes to become the person who God wants you to be. In her talk she says "My dear brothers and sisters, whom I love, the reality is that someday you and I will each have an individual, face-to-face interview with the Savior Himself. When this eventuality becomes real to us, we will be willing to do whatever it takes to be prepared!" When I read this my eyes were opened. I have come to recognize how important it is that we continually make the right choices in this life. We will all one day stand with the Savior face-to-face. How important is it that we are prepared for that time? When this becomes a reality to us in this life, we will be willing to do anything... Anything, to be worthy in the presence of the Savior.

My Ponderizing scripture for this week was 2 Nephi 10:23. "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves--to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."

Questions:

1. We didn't have zone conference this week or meet with President Welch, but we did have Zone Training Meeting. I did get to see quite a few missionaries there.

2. I think if I am transferred I will miss the beautiful scenery here in Uwajima. Also they have some big festivals that are coming up in Uwajima pretty soon. I will probably miss out on those...

3. Yes, I got both of the packages you sent! Thanks so much! You are the best! 

4. If you are planning on sending stuff for Logan's mission, I think mostly the same stuff you sent me for my mission is great. I wouldn't buy him a coat and I would choose a different bag. However, it will depend mostly on where he goes. Also a pretty big backpack would be good. We have to put groceries in our backpacks every week. If he is going somewhere where it rains a lot maybe a decently water resistant backpack would be good. If he is going to use a car I don't think it would matter. 

5. The Japanese here in Uwajima do swimming in the summer. All of the high schools have swimming pools, which is pretty cool. They are going to have some big festivals going on in the summer that I will probably miss. The kids don't get out of school. It goes year round. They have a few breaks here and there, but not summer like ours. The schools in Japan are way strict.

6. I don't have time to play many games. I have seen the Japanese play shogi, which is Japanese chess. That looks really fun, but I still have no idea how to play. I will have to learn before I go home.

7. I don't read too much else besides the scriptures in Japanese because most books don't have furigana, which is hiragana written above the kanji so that you know how to read the kanji. There is a ton of kanji in Japanese and it is really really hard to read. I don't know hardly any. I try to memorize one a day for my language study, but it is pretty difficult to remember them.

8. My companion likes curry, stew, yakisoba, ramen, gyoza, pasta, pizza, Mexican food, and many others.   

9. Do you think it is harder for the Japanese to learn English or harder for someone that is American to learn Japanese?

That is a very good question. I am not sure. There are hard and easy things about both. Writing and reading in Japanese is way harder to learn than English. However, in English we pronounce a lot of different letters that they do not have in Japanese. Learning to pronounce new letters is way hard for Japanese people. It is pretty easy from English to Japanese because we have most of the letters in our alphabet that they have in theirs.

Everyone have a great week this week please! Look for the miracles that God gives you each and every day. I love you all!

Elder Hirschi
ハーシ長老

47th week in Japan
7/4/2016
証する機会 (The Opportunity to Testify)

こんにちは皆さん！
Dear Family and Friends,

Being a missionary is just such a great opportunity. I know that being a missionary is only a once in a lifetime chance, and that is why I am so grateful that the Lord has called me to his work. One of the greatest things about being a missionary is the constant opportunity that you have to bear testimony. Many people in this world do not know about the truth. Because we have the gospel in our lives we have been given a knowledge of the truth. Being able to bear testimony of that knowledge is truly something special. Not only is it something special, but it is also something that is extremely important to do.

Just yesterday I was given the opportunity to bear my testimony and hear many in fast and testimony meeting. Every time you listen to members bear their testimonies in fast and testimony meeting you can feel the spirit flood the room. I am so grateful for the Uwajima branch. Each one of the members here have such a strong testimony. They have helped me strengthen my testimony to the point where I have completely changed. I have felt the power and truth of their words. These people are so strong and steadfast. They have Christ centered in their lives. The members of Uwajima will forever hold a special spot in my heart.

As I have said before I have many heroes from the Book of Mormon, and the testimony of Nephi (3rd Nephi, Nephi) is what makes him another one of my greatest heroes. In chapter 7 of 3rd Nephi, many of the people have turned their hearts from the Lord. They were in a wicked state. Nephi knew of their wickedness, but he had a great love for the people. You can tell that Nephi really cares about the salvation of their souls. In 3 Nephi 7:16 Nephi says that he is grieved for the hardness of the hearts of the people. He recognizes that they have so much more potential as sons and daughters of Heavenly Father. So he gets up to testify and it says that "he began to testify, boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ." Then in verse 18 it gives the result of his testimony. "And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily." His testimony was so powerful to the people that it was impossible for the people to disbelieve his words. Even though we may not be able to hear Nephi talking to us in person as we read the scriptures, you can truly feel the power of the testimony that he had.

Something that I have been thinking about lately is one of my favorite scriptures in D and C. D and C 18:10-16. Yesterday I read this as part of my testimony that I gave in a missionary fireside that we had after church. I read these verses and bore my testimony of the truthfulness of this scripture. I truly believe that every soul is precious in God's eyes. You can know that is true simply through prayer. Think about it. God has 7 billion children on the Earth today. Even with all of the children that he has, he is willing to listen to your prayers individually. God loves each one of us. He wants us all to be able to return to him again someday. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ we have been given the opportunity to do so. It is truly up to us. We have the choice. All we have to do is do what God asks us to. (2 Nephi 10:23-25) Jesus Christ's atonement is real. I know it. I know it because I have experienced it so many times in my life. This church is true. Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. He was called to restore the church and translate the Book of Mormon for us. The Book of Mormon is truly God's word. I know that through reading it daily we can one day be guided back to our Heavenly Father. I know these things are true and I say them in the sacred name of the Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

The Ponderizing scripture that I chose for last week was 2 Nephi 1:15. "But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love."

Questions:

1. I have not taken my companion to the Uwajima castle yet, but we will have to go at least once before the transfer ends. I have not gotten the package yet, but I will be getting it on the 8th at Zone Training Meeting. They called about it.

2. My companion does play a little bit of piano. He is pretty good. I haven't been able to practice the hymn book much. I do want to play after my mission, but I don't really have that much time to play right now. Every once in a while during ping pong I try to play a hymn or two. There are a few people in our ward who can play the piano and some can sing pretty well, but not too many.

3. The next transfers are on the 14th of July. Next Thursday. I think the district will change a bit because there are 2 other missionaries in the district that have been here for 4 transfers along with me.

4. Yesterday we got to go housing and meet some really cool people that I am excited to go back and teach the restored gospel to. One of the families we didn't catch their names, but they seemed really open to talking. We also met someone named Miyazaki San who is really cool and younger (which is rare in Uwajima). He seemed open to talking as well. We actually sing, us four missionaries, every Sunday before sacrament meeting starts. My companion gave a talk in church the second week here. It was really good. Yes the Hasegawa couple stay in Uwajima their entire mission. Sister Hasegawa's mom was not a member before they got here and they participated in her conversion so that is the main reason they moved here. They have also really helped out this branch a lot!

5. Everything is holding up well. One of my pairs of shoes I use just for the rain so they are pretty beat up, but no worries about getting new ones. I am going to keep using them in the rain. Japanese people really like movies and music from America. I don't really know of anything specific that you could bring, but if I find something out then I will let you know.

6. We have ZTM on Friday next week. I feel like I have gotten better at the language, but I still have a long long ways to go. A lot of room for improvement. Of course there always will be. I still feel like I can't express myself very well. I'll keep trying though and the Lord always makes up the rest.

7. The apartment is great. We keep it clean always. Anderson Choro likes to keep it clean. We are probably going to replace the floorboards because they are really squeaky. We are also going to throw out an old cabinet and our vacuum for new ones. I'll take some after pictures and send them next week.

8. The Sisters in Matsuyama are awesome. The sisters are always better than the elders. They ride different types of bikes sometimes. They ride mamacharis which are bikes with baskets and they are built a lot different. I really don't like mamacharis, but sometimes they are better for sisters. They are more suited to women I think. We don't do much with them except I do follow ups on the phone with them every week. We also have district meetings on Fridays.

Thank you everyone for reading my long emails. I love you all. Have a great week and don't forget to testify always!

Elder Hirschi
ハーシ長老

Elder Anderson's birthday

First time trying a Kimono

There was a tree growing on someone's back porch

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