Hello from Roc City-
I've been in Rahhhchester for about a week now. I've loved everything about, and I think I'm really going to miss this area when I eventually leave it. So I've turned a new page, washed an old rag, made a new bed whatever you want to call it here in Rochester New York! I said so long to Buff City and was sad to see it go. But I still have all the memories and things I learned there with me always. My new companion is Elder Bird. He's a stud, really. So missionaries go on missions for two years, right? That's 24 months (right?;)) and Elder Bird has 1.5 months left!!! I'm going to send him home, and that will be a sad day. He's super relaxed and we really connect well. There is one problem, though. We're both broken! Not really, my knee is actually  quite good even though I haven't quite seen a doctor haha but he's had some back problems for years. This week he started experiencing shooting pains, and he'll see a chiropractor this week. Our mission president is a chiropractor himself, but unfortunately according to mission rules, he's not allowed to operate on missionaries. There's also another missionary in our area who also threw out his back this week. Us kids are getting too old for some of this stuff...anyway, yes in answer to literally everyone's universal question: it is getting cold here in NY. But just so everyone knows, I bought a coat. It's a ski jacket, and yes it will keep me warm. Plus, we found a jacket in the closet of the apartment (which is a way nice apartment haha) so I'm all set! Thanks for the concern though.
So something cool happened this week. I'm supposed to go to Brazil, right? Well we were eating dinner with some members of the local congregation and we started talking about Brazil. Guess who lives next door to them? A Brazilian family! It was crazy so we went over and talked to the family-they love talking Portuguese grammar so I'll be over there quite a bit. This week was filled with lots of little miracles like that one. There are many people in the world though, that know that if they turn to the gospel, they will be comforted. They are just unwilling to change. We as mortals are naturally hesitant to change. But if we make the effort to wake up to get to church, or sit down with our family and read the scriptures, or talk about religion in general, then we see the blessings. I know it's hard and sometimes just not on our schedule, but keep Heavenly Father on the schedule! I'm not lecturing you, I'm just acting as if you are people we teach haha!
Have a fantastic week!
Love ya,
Elder Jake Hirschi