I forgot the camera AGAIN!

Sent from my iPad

On Apr 21, 2014, at 1:13 PM, Jacob Hirschi <jacob.hirschi@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I forgot the camera AGAIN! I have some great pictures, including some of our little April snowstorm and our crazy trip to the church historical sites with Felicia! Nooo! One of these days maybe...

   Anyways this week has truly been crazy. We had a zone meeting on Tuesday, which was about 45 minutes away. It ended with a nice little 1 inch snowstorm...luckily it didn't stick where we live. So that took up a ton of time! Then on Thursday, we went to a place called Palmyra, and saw a bunch of sites with early church significance, including the grove of trees that Joseph Smith knelt in prayer back 194 years ago, asking which church he should join. Sometimes we also feel that way- which church is the right one for me? Even if you've grown up in a church all your life. So having the experience of kneeling in prayer in a sacred spot and talking with your Heavenly Father is quite the experience. And I never would've been able to do it here in NY if my mission call had not been changed to Ribeirao Preto Brazil! So I'm pretty lucky. My companion is also supposed to go to Brazil on his mission, and I was able to share with him my experiences of putting everything towards the place you are now- (lifting where you stand) and eventually truly feeling like this is where the Lord needs you, and not feeling like you're missing out on something. This mission is where I am needed. I know that. I'm ok with staying here for a while longer, and even feel like I'm not necessarily ready to go, because there's more for me to learn here. It took a while to get to this point. And sometimes I get a little down that I might not be able to speak fluent portuguese or have amazing amazon stories to tell after my mission, but the thing is that it's not about me. It's not about me at all. This realization occurred to me fairly recently- that if you love the people you serve, you will want to be wherever you are. Brazil, New York, China- it's all the same. It's the people that make the area, and if you love them, you will be ok with wherever you are. So here I am!

   Saturday we went through the Palmyra New York Temple with a member of the ward who has never been. The temple can seem different to some people who have never been through. There is a lot of symbolism in it, and it's easy to get lost in the symbolism. I have been trying to gain a stronger testimony of the temple every time I go. I think the biggest testimony builder for me recently was seeing this sister go through for the first time. She expressed how much happiness and peace she was feeling. You could see it on her face. When I see people have peace and joy in the temple, with a smile so big, I realize that I can get caught up in figuring it all out- but have been forgetting about the feelings of the Holy Ghost you receive, which is most important. You can logically maneuver your way through different religions, but ultimately you're going to stop and settle down in the one that makes you feel the spirit of peace and happiness the most. I've never been happier than when I was going to church, feasting upon the scriptures, and working on my personal relationship with Heavenly Father. My family has been an intricate part of my conversion, and we've been tightly knit together with the faith that families can live forever. We believe families can be together forever by being sealed in the Lord's temple- a place of binding things on Earth that shall be bound in Heaven. It's a place where families go together and come closer together. I believe anything that helps families focus on the eternities together is of God. Not many places here anymore that do that haha 

  This email is extremely long, so I'll quit now. I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter!

Love,

Elder Hirschi

ps I've realized how often we DONT focus on the true meanings of holidays...Bunnies? Chocolate? Really? haha check out this video for the TRUE reason we celebrate Easter. No really- go to it.

#becauseofhim 

Conference Weekend

April 7, 2014

This week, of course, was conference weekend! As a missionary, it's
one of the only times in your life that you hear the words of our
leaders and apply them directly and immediately and often! I think
that May be why missionaries love conference so much! So if you don't
like watching 10 hours of talks in one weekend, find more ways to
directly apply the talks to your life! That's what we love it so
much....anyways
 This week definitely felt really quick but as I look back, I
remember all e Inge we did, and it seems a lot longer than it feels. I
feel like this week is a little microcosm of my mission overall- seems
really short but in reality was the most action-packed part of 4
minutes anyone could ever imagine;)
 It seems like everywhere we go, older women fall in love with us! No
joke we call bingo for woman with a seeming age unlimit of at least
85... But they literally gave us a standing ovation when we walked in
the door...celebs at heart, always. On Tuesday we asked for directions
from a bunch of people in a bus stop, and little did we know it was a
bus stop full of drunk-yet friendly and talkative- people, who then
proceeded into a 40minute conversation with us...and yes there was an
older lady who again fell in love with us there. But pretty much every
day is an adventure here, and we're experiencing a lot of miracles as
well. Basically right now we're in the process of having faith to find
people who are really ready and seeking the gospel in their life.
There are a lot of people who will let you on the door just because
they're lonely or they are just bored, but sometimes just because you
have a busy schedule doesn't mean you're as effective as you could be
in fulfilling your purpose as a missionary. This area has had a
history of slacking a bit and we're working on revamping:)
 So this week at conference what really stuck out to me was the
emphasis of charity and courage. With the pure love of Christ, all
other necessary attributes required to be happy in this life will flow
naturally as we interact in our daily lives. There are times in our
lives when the natural man wants to react a certain way, whether it be
by snapping back at someone, or by letting our faith slip through the
cracks. But with the pure love of Christ we can constantly keep the
spirit with us and both those natural man's instincts will be avoided.
Conference was really uplifting for me, and I love the testimonies of
the prophets and apostles. Their experiences can be our experiences if
we seek them as they do. I love teaching the gospel and having a
constant desire and obligation to share with people that which I love.
That's pretty much what missionary work is haha not too bad huh?

Love,
Elder Hirschi

Enviada do meu iPad

St. Paddy's Day Week!!

March 24th, 2014

Ok so this week we didn't celebrate St. Paddy's Day at all, I just needed a title. I think it was last Monday anyways right?

  Anyway, this week was truly spectacular. Ever since I got to this area, I've been craving it to just catch on fire. We haven't really seen this area live up to its true potential in a really long time, and we've decided to be the missionaries to get it there! Or at least to get it on its way there. So this week I think we finally saw some fruits of our labors. It was jam packed almost every day, and we have next week pretty much packed until Thrusday, and it's only Monday! And I don't think it's due to our own efforts. Sometimes it's our job to put forth the willingness and the faith, but ultimately God directs your efforts and turns effort into fruit. We've been able to contact people that haven't been contacted in years, and often it's because we simply caught them in the right place at the right time.    We're teaching a lot of people, and working with a lot of people that haven't been coming to church for a while. Although at times it's really frustrating and depressing to see people not change their lives for the better, and do things you know will help them, you can't help but feel for these people. I'm actually not really ready to go to Brazil or leave this area because there's simply a lot of unfinished business. The potential is there, but it just takes time to get there. Patience is a virtue haha, and I've learned that in a way I probably couldn't ever learn besides being on a mission (or maybe by being married ;) ). 

  So one example of this coincidental (but really not) we really wanted to find the address to a guy who has talked to missionaries before. We called him a thousand times and he never answered. So last week, I made Elder Powers follow me in trying to find this address. I just couldn't give up because we asked too many people for directions not to eventually find the address haha. We seriously asked like 5 people if they knew where this street was, and they all said yes, but somehow we never got to the street haha go figure. As we continue our search, we suddenly showed up at this random building, that looked like a high school in the middle of a bunch of trees, kind of hidden from the rest of the streets we had been searching. Basically, we ended up deciding to just ask one more person in this place if they knew where the street was! Turns out, this was the place where a man lived whose name was mentioned at a dinner we were at, then never mentioned again. No big thing, but for some reason we had randomly shown up at this man's address, at a perfect time, because he was up in his room (the place turned out to be a nursing home haha), and hadn't been visited by missionaries for years. No doubt the Lord put us there for a reason. It wasn't because we would see another perfect baptism from it. It was for this man, who hadn't been visited, and was lonely. We gave him another Book of Mormon, and walked away, knowing the Lord had used us as instruments in His hands to visit a lonely old man, or as He sees him, a lonely Child of God.

  One more quick miracle: We were biking way far away from our house, trying to find a lady, who wasn't actually home (ALWAYS get phone numbers haha it's so much easier!). A little bit discouraged, we biked past a guy who's car was totally stuck in his muddy driveway. Not that we had any really means to pull this car out of the mud, we still asked him. Turns out a bunch of small miracles happened and we ended up getting the car out, then talking to him about all kinds of stuff, including Katy Perry, Iluminati, and Unicycling. And the Book of Mormon and religion haha of course. But he told us he was a professional Unicyclist and toured Europe with a group called the King Charles Unicylcing Troupe. Naturally we didn't really believe him haha but here ya go! Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77MuklU32lQ   

Check it out!

So pretty much all in all, fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Hirschi  

9 months- This week!

March 17, 2014

  So yes, this week I think will be the mark of 9 months out on a mission. 9 months of completely unexpected surprises and completely foreign (hehe not international mind you) experiences. I've loved it, truly. Although a mission is always full of ups and downs, I've come to know that the ups are always more meaningful when you rely on the Savior to pull you through the downs. Getting through difficult situations is so much harder on your own. Sometimes it really is impossible to do it on our own. People get tripped up on the phrase; "God will never give you anything you can't handle." They don't believe it. But the truth is, God will never give you anything you can't handle without the help of His Son. Without Christ, and without the Spirit, we wouldn't be able to handle certain things. But if we seek the support of the Spirit, we can handle these things. With the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can handle these things. I'm saying I'm going through any huge trials at the moment, but people all around us are. Regardless of where we are, in every city there will be people that can benefit from someone just telling them that the Spirit is there to help. Our savior is there, but we have to hold out our hand to find Him. It's cool to talk about these things but it's even better to see these principles play out in real life. That's why we're on missions. To experience what the gospel really is, in real life. I definitely can say that this is what I've been able to experience. And I have 15 more months of "experiencing" to do!

  So a couple fantastic things happened this week. Probably more than that. But for now, I'll tell a couple. On Wednesday we got slammed with a great winter storm- New York went into another state of emergency haha it really wasn't that much snow- just a ton of blowing snow around so as to blind the driver and give everyone frostbite. So everyone was advised to stay inside (police could pull you over and give you a ticket if they wanted to) and avoid all unnecessary travel. Well, we had a couple necessary appointments to go to, so yes, in the words of a confused onlooker, we went "witnessing" during the New York snowstorm, in the worst winter in NY in decades. No biggie. We weren't outside all day, though. We called it quits after late afternoon. DIEHARD WITNESSERS!

The weather is funny here, just as it is everywhere it seems, because a couple days after the storm it was warm at 54 degrees. So all the snow melts, and we end up trying to bike through massive cricks that form in the sidewalks, trying to go really slow so we don't get muddy water all over our white shirts. But most of the time, we fail, and ruin our shirts...actually Elder Powers is the only one that ruins his shirts haha he's destroyed 2 of them and he's only been here 3 weeks! It's great...

  Our ward also had their annual cake auction to raise money for their Scout Camp in the summer. It's a massive spaghetti dinner where people make cakes and bring them, and people sped anywhere from $30-$120+ on any single cake. So naturally we made a cake, and it looked just delectable. Me and Elder Powers spent some precious time baking brownies and drowning them in frosting in between our planning sessions. So our cake was all vamped up to get anywhere from 100-$200 right because it was made by the Elders? The auctioneer seemed like he was saving ours for last, for a final big bang right? Well, no. He began at $15 (most started at $40) and ended up bidding DOWN, but eventually got up to $40! What a rip, but at least we helped slice off the price for one kid's scout camp. 

  As a missionary you're always stressed about your area not living up to its potential. As a trainer, I'm always worried that I'm not being the best I can be, to show my trainee how it's done. Our numbers were not as high as I wanted them. But this week I learned the lesson that it's only about us working as hard as we can, not necessarily getting the best "numbers." It was a  great week on really taking a look at myself and changing things that needed to be changed. Or at least knowing what I need to change. Hard to explain. But I'll end this massive email with a link to one of my new favorite (but really old) talks.

Bruce R. McConkie: Final Testimony

Love, 

Elder Hirschi

   

I'm having a baby!!!

Attn:  "having a baby" in the mission field refers to training a new (baby) missionary!  

Sorry this email has taken so long to get out, but the past few days have been nothing short of CRAZY! On Friday I get a call from President, informing me that I'm going to be a trainer, which means a brand new missionary is coming to the mission, and I'm his new companion, in charge of making sure he does things right! Sort of... but I'm really excited. On Monday we had to go to a meeting and Elder Hales was packing all day, so we didn't have time to email. Today, Tuesday, we've been running around Western New York trying to get my new companion's stuff organized and in order. A couple FYI's:

1) My new companion's name is Elder POWERS! He is also waiting to go to Brazil. He's an absolute stud, and I think he doesn't really need a trainer but it'll be fun anyway. 

2) Usually our set of four missionaries has two cars. We just lost our car, and so now we are on BIKES! I'm excited, but mom can I request one more thing? I know I've cost you a lot of money recently, but could I have my big fat jacket I bought last year for school shipped out to me? No big rush but that coat is seeming really nice right about now. Really nice.

3) My old companion, Elder Hales, got moved to a wonderful place called Nunda. Out in the boonies, where the most faithful friends you make are cows! No, it's great area, just out in the boonies, that's all.

Well, I'm just about to get kicked off the computer, but just thought I'd let you know that I'm safe and sound here in Greece, New York, and that I have a new baby!

Have a greaaat week!

Love,

Elder Jake Hirschi

ps mom I got the piano music and I love it thanks so much it will definitely be one of the highlights of my pdays coming up. Thank you!

You're emailing from where??!!

Feb 10, 2014. So there's big news this week in the New York Rochester mission! All
the missionaries officially have IPads! apparently there's only 30 or
so missions worldwide that have them, but usually we use these paper
planner things and now we've said goodbye to the paper and we use
IPads to plan things and schedule things etc etc so I am currently
typing on my own IPad mini...I don't know how I feel about it but for
the time being I have no choice haha
 So this week I don't have much to report on because I've been a
little sick but I'm definitely a lot better now. I'm t the church
right now and a really great family (the Suprenant's) from my last
ward just surprised me by inviting the whole zone to the church for a
little get together including games and cake. They're so great haha
they put together a little video that I'll attempt to send via this
iPad. I'm so iPad illiterate it's not even funny but I'll get there!
 So today has been really great I got all the packages in the mail,
big thank you to Everyone for the packages and cards. I promise the
thank you notes will come more on time than the Christmas cards haha I
also need to send a couple pictures from a recent baptism, but I'll do
that next Pday when I send this weekend's baptism pics. The other
missionaries in my ward are having a baptism and we're way excited for
it!
Thank you so much for making this day special even though I'm away
from home! Love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Jake Hirschi

Enviado via iPad

March Madness

  Sorry this email has taken so long to get out, but the past few days have been nothing short of CRAZY! On Friday I get a call from President, informing me that I'm going to be a trainer, which means a brand new missionary is coming to the mission, and I'm his new companion, in charge of making sure he does things right! Sort of... but I'm really excited. On Monday we had to go to a meeting and Elder Hales was packing all day, so we didn't have time to email. Today, Tuesday, we've been running around Western New York trying to get my new companion's stuff organized and in order. A couple FYI's:

1) My new companion's name is Elder POWERS! He is also waiting to go to Brazil. He's an absolute stud, and I think he doesn't really need a trainer but it'll be fun anyway. 

2) Usually our set of four missionaries has two cars. We just lost our car, and so now we are on BIKES! I'm excited, but mom can I request one more thing? I know I've cost you a lot of money recently, but could I have my big fat jacket I bought last year for school shipped out to me? No big rush but that coat is seeming really nice right about now. Really nice.

3) My old companion, Elder Hales, got moved to a wonderful place called Nunda. Out in the boonies, where the most faithful friends you make are cows! No, it's great area, just out in the boonies, that's all.

Well, I'm just about to get kicked off the computer, but just thought I'd let you know that I'm safe and sound here in Greece, New York, and that I have a new baby!

Have a greaaat week!

Love,

Elder Jake Hirschi

ps mom I got the piano music and I love it thanks so much it will definitely be one of the highlights of my pdays coming up. Thank you!

Fastest week evaaa!!!

On Feb 3, 2014, at 3:52 PM, Jacob Hirschi wrote: This week truly has been the fastest week ever. It was jam packed with STUFF. I think it was this week we had a snow day (cold day) on Tuesday. I couldn't even tell you if it was this week or last, it all just runs together. But one of these days it was -25 with windchill... Satan really has his hand in the temperature this week... Anyway this week on Sunday night we heard some good news- there's a mom, and her two sons who live in the ward. The boys were going to get baptized (ages 8 and 10) but the Dad, who moved, wouldn't allow it. This was about a month and a half ago. But apparently before I got here, the mom needed help moving, and it turned into the hardest move anyone had ever done, which included moving everything really short notice, and finally ending at 1 am. The dad was really touched by this, and he ended up having a softened heart enough to start learning from the missionaries. On Sunday, we got a call that the Dad would be coming in town on Wednesday, and wanted to get baptized that weekend (Saturday). So we had to seriously scram, and I can't even explain how much difficulty we had trying to get everything ready for it. But after a week of really not knowing if everything would work out, Saturday night we had the baptism of....... It was such a perfect experience, especially because it was the first time I had the opportunity to actually baptize someone myself. I baptized little S, who is in the attached picture. Then, on Sunday, I was able to lay my hands on his head and confirm him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and give him the Holy Ghost. Such a cute little family, with a deep understanding of the gospel, and more faith than most. So that was definitely a highlight of not only my week, but of the mission overall. Perhaps the greatest miracle I've witnessed on my mission happened YESTERDAY! Tune in! So in my last area, we were teaching a recently baptized member of the church, and everything was going downhill for her. She had lost her job and couldn't find another one. She had tragedies in her family. She was butting heads with the landlord, who ultimately took her to court and evicted her. She was to be out of the house by TODAY. This woman caused more stress and distress in my life than anyone else so far haha because she was starting to have shaken faith and started testing God, making her faith conditional. Each time she presented more bad news she got angry, and you couldn't help but have part of your heart wrenched because of her poor circumstances! This is fairly abnormal for me, as my family can attest :) So the day before I was sent to this area she got news from the landlord that she needed to get out, and she was hurting and struggling and just didn't know what to do. And I couldn't do anything about it or even see her anymore because I was leaving! It was tough. BUT hear this: yesterday I get a call from her, and she explains a story. She was going to the courthouse when they said she couldn't avoid the eviction because she didn't apply or "serve" properly. And she was having trouble getting any welfare because you need a signed paper from your landlord, and her landlord wasn't having it. So basically she was on her way to a homeless shelter, thinking "God had let everything run out for her." BUT! walking "home", she got a call from one of the apartments she had checked on earlier. They had an opening, and it was half the price of her current place. She hung up, thanking God. THEN, she got another call from a job she had applied for earlier, saying her application had gone through and she might have it. I couldn't believe it was true, that such a dramatic miracle had taken place in her life. God will never fail us nor forsake us, and what a fantastic lesson I learned yesterday. It's one of those moments I'll literally remember for the rest of my life. Plus the baptism on Saturday. So yeah, pretty great week! Love, Elder Jake Hirschi ps poor Broncos I thought they'd take the cake:(

Can you see anything???

Sent from my iPad On Jan 27, 2014, at 11:48 AM, Jacob Hirschi wrote: This week was a pretty crazy week. Not as crazy as living on a tourist hotspot, but nonetheless, it was a great week. First, to try to explain the subject of the email. So my comp, Elder H, is from Utah, but was never one to get out and do a road trip or anything like that, where he would have to drive long distances on his own. Or drive on the highway......so yes, he just started to drive consistently on the highway about two weeks ago. So combine the lack of experience and the crazy whipping blizzard that's going on at the same time. I was a bit scared for my life at one point, but we made it out alive. Ok so I wasn't scared for my life, but there was a blizzard. We couldn't see anything, and it came out of nowhere! I still laugh at the thought of me thinking to myself about 6 months ago- I can't wait not to be cold for two years. Didn't exactly go according to plan, but do good times ever really go according to plan? Last night, I had the opportunity of going back to the 4th ward to see a 9 year old named J get baptized. The baptism was packed, and it was a bittersweet moment to see everyone I used to be around all the time! But I enjoyed it, and I have a picture or two but I forgot my camera, so I'll have to post it next week. After the baptism, we were teaching a Liberian family, and they also said they want to get baptized too! They have a father who's coming from out of state in order to get baptized with them, and it's going to be this Saturday! So it's coming up quick, but it's great to see a family come together through the gospel and begin their journey together through baptism. Can't wait for it. So to answer the question about Aunt Sara's package, I'm REALLY sorry I ever said I never got it because I definitely did! I just forgot about it, but I for sure have it and a thank you card should be on the way soon! Speaking of which, yall got my package/fat card right? Just want to make sure it didn't get lost...Also can I have the Moseley's address? I need to send my Christmas cards... Also regarding the cold- I'm totally warm. I have clothes, but some people's hearts need a sweater or two! Just kidding, I love these people haha I probably wouldn't listen to a message if it was snowing and freezing outside either...let me know if you need anything else! Love you all! Love, Elder Jake Hirschi

Global Warming

January 8, 2014 Sooo global warming may not be just warming, but I'm beginning to believe in it more and more each day. Everyone says California is way hotter than usual, and New York is way colder and snowier than usual, so I'm starting to see some patterns... but anyway. Luckily it's not too bad here. We had quite the snow storm last week, and New York acatually went into a statewide state of emergency where it was basically illegal to be outside-oops. It was mainly for the plows to catch up and save the roads. Which worked really well. The roads are really good, and today it's actually reaching the 30's which sounds a lot better than back home (-20 windchill??). So the storm was fun. And everyone we talked to actually thought it was a joke that NY made it a state emergency. It was bad for the past few years, but we haven't seen anything yet. Usually kids get baptized in our church at age 8 (we call it the age of accountability), and a couple kids in our congregation are 9 and haven't been baptized yet. So we talked to them and they're both getting baptized within a month! It should be fun. Cutest little guys ever. They're both living in lower income families. When we asked one of them what he got for Christmas, they said they didn't get anything. But his brother said- "I just wanted to spend time and be with my family on Christmas, and that's what I got." The other boy lives in really impoverished conditions- we feel like we're going to fall through his porch when we step on it haha but every time we go over there the family is together, as well as cousins. Even among people that have nothing, most everybody here has a family, which is a huge blessing. It's one of the common factors between us and the people we're teaching that they can latch onto and understand the gospel better through. When you learn about Jesus Christ and God's plan for us in terms of you and your family, there is so much more purpose and meaning. It's great. This week I gained a greater appreciation for my ability to just live and breathe and think like a normal person. We talked to a guy who told us his life story, and I was literally depressed afterwards, because he had a long history of psychosis and depression. I wanted to do something to help him, but felt as if anything I said wouldn't be good enough. I did however walk out of his door feeling really good. I had two feet to walk on, so many friends and family to lean on, and a perfect ability to think and breathe on my own. Sometimes that's all you need in this world. When all else fails, look to the basic things that you enjoy, and know that someone ALWAYS has it worse. We are so blessed as fairly new missionaries to have a totally booked schedule basically every day. We barely have time to relax, but I like it better that way! Happy New Year, and to answer a few questions-no we didn't even make it past 10:30 haha Love, Elder Jake Hirschi

The big update!

As Elder Hirschi's mom, I am soooo sorry I have neglected to update this blog in months!  He is doing well in the New York Rochester Mission, where he is still serving as he awaits his visa to Brazil.  Yes, it's been a loooong time.  That has been the nature of the beast with missionaries getting visas to Brazil.  The New York Rochester mission has been wonderful, and all us well!  I will post several letters to catch up, then will do better posting each week!

December 2, 2013

This week is probably the most eventful week of my mission so far. First of all, in our district we have:

Elder B, Elders V and M, and Sisters J and S, plus me. The names come in to play later:)

This week, on Thanksgiving, we started the day by cleaning the house of one of the coolest members in the world. They were out of town, and we love them so much we decided to clean their house. We began, and getting about 6 hours into it, the boys were lost, having no idea what to do next. Not because it was almost finished, but because it was so messy haha. The girls kept us in check, and after a few trips over a couple of days, we were able to finish cleaning. There's a picture attached that shows one section of our efforts.

I had surgery on Friday. It all went well! Elder B had to wait 6 hours at the hospital from start to finish, but for me it felt like less than an hour. I felt GREAT! When I was in the process of "coming to," I translated some Portuguese with Elder B, solved math problems that he quized me on, said hello to every doctor that passed by, and asked some really random q's about the Gobi desert to the nurse tending to me. I still can't figure out all the weird looks I was getting...so once again I am crutches-bound. But my district is my new family right now, and they for sure treat me like family. I am well looked after every day. We were worried Elder Bird would be bored on Friday after my surgery because I was couch-bound, so we had a BBQ with the district Friday night. We got a gift card for $35 from a member, and me and Elder Bird bought $35 worth of steak for the BBQ with everyone. It was fantastic, until it came back up in the bathroom haha. 

So on Sunday Sister J wasn't feeling well, so we went to the  sister's apartment to give her a blessing of comfort. We talked for a while and it was time to take my pain pills. Before I knew it, I was out for the count! In the meantime, Sister J was getting worse. She's gluten intolerant, and she thinks she ate some gluten over Thanksgiving. We were trying to get her to go to the hospital, and she wouldn't go. She's a total stud. But she should've gone anyway. Because this morning she had to be ambulanced over to the hospital! We went and visited her with the other elders to make sure she was ok. She's doing better and just got the go ahead to leave. 

The point of the story is that even though we're away from our families are far away, sometimes across seas, we still have families here with the people we form friendships with. On a mission, you can't just learn to like the people you're around. You have to learn to take care of them, mourn with them that mourn, walk with those who are discomforted, and be a family when they don't have one. I'm so grateful for the people I teach with and get to know here on a mission. Elder B leaves in 2 and a half weeks, so we're getting another elder named Elder H. He's going to Brazil also! It will be so hard to see Elder B go. He's like a big brother to me, and I'm glad I could meet him and see a great example of a big brother. Well, we have to go pick the Sisters up from the hospital, so I can't respond to any more emails, but love you all!

Love,

Elder Jake Hirschi