And I think to myself... What a wonderful world!

Hello everyone!

What a wonderful week it has been! It's been so wonderful I can't seem to remember everything that happened haha, but I do know it was a good week - how can it not be good when you spend every day serving God? Also it is sunny and warm and I got to play frisbee today so I feel very blessed. 

This week I felt really loved as members of the wards here went out of their way to wish me a happy birthday and to make sure I felt loved! And so many of you did too - thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes and messages! I am so grateful for you. 

I don't have too much time so I will just share a scripture that I love: "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." (Mosiah 4:9) I love this scripture! It is so simple in its invitation and yet so profound. Believe in God! Believe that He loves you! Believe that He has a plan for you, because He does.

I know my Savior lives! I know God has a plan for me and each of you, and I'm SO lucky and blessed to help people here in Covina find that plan.

God be with you this week!

Love,

Hermana Hirschi

Hermana Sarah Hirschi | Arcadia California Mission

Mailing Address: 

614 W Foothill Blvd

Arcadia, CA 91006

¡Buenos tardes!

¡Hola mis amigos!

This week has been super great! I found out on Saturday that I get to
stay here in Covina for another transfer (6 weeks) and Hermana Hirschi
will be staying here with me! Hooray!! I really love it here and I'm
so grateful for the chance to stay and work and serve here for a
little while longer.

It has been raining SO MUCH here! This morning it even hailed! I love
the rain a lot so it has made me happy. Someone told us this the other
day: "Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet." I LOVE THAT. So
I've been trying to feel the rain instead of just getting wet this
week and it makes it better when we're walking in the rain with wet
feet and cold hands trying and failing to find people to serve and
teach 😊☔️

Something I was studying a little bit about yesterday is the Atonement
of Jesus Christ in Mosiah 3, in the Book of Mormon. The phrase
"through the atonement" or "through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ" or
some other similar phrase appears so many times and as I highlighted
and read each of them, I was struck by how much power the Atonement of
Jesus Christ has. It has all power to forgive sin, all power to change
human nature, all power to heal broken hearts, all power to save us...
Through Jesus Christ, we have all the potential and ability to become
the men and women He knows we can become. And He never gives up on
that potential, even when we do! His love is infinite and everlasting,
as are the effects of His great Sacrifice. As we turn to Him, He will
close the gap and make up the difference so that we can become changed
through Him. I'm so grateful for Him and that we can change and become
better!

I am once again, really grateful for each of you. For your love,
support, prayers, emails, mail.. I appreciate it all so much. I wish I
could express my gratitude more fully!

Con amor,

Hermana Sarah Hirschi

Hermana Sarah Hirschi | Arcadia California Mission
Mailing Address:
614 W Foothill Blvd
Arcadia, CA 91006

Hola🌞

¡Hola mis amigos!

How is everyone this week?

I apologize (once again) for not being able to respond to everyone's
emails this week, and for how short this email will be! Time is
slipping away quicker than I like to see! I've nearly been on my
mission for 4 months! I wish I could pause it every so often, so I
could enjoy moments longer or email everyone back. But I hope you all
know how much I love and appreciate each of you!

This week was, as are all the others, a good one. Every day I wake up
so grateful to be alive and to have a whole new day to testify of
Christ to everyone I see! It's so good to be alive. God is so good. I
reread the talk "You matter to Him" by Dieter F Uchtdorf this week,
and this line from the talk really stuck with me: "This is a paradox
of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to
God." I love that idea. As I realize my own nothingness in comparison
to God, I am humbled to think that He loves me with a love that is as
infinite as it is enormous. His love for me will never end, simply
because I am His daughter. If I were the only human on the earth, He
still would have sent His Son to provide a way for me to return back
to His presence, because He loves me. Really, as a missionary the only
thing I do is help people remember who they are - beloved sons and
daughters of the Most High God! As they rediscover and remember that
divinity, a light changes in their countenance, and they are able to
draw closer and closer to Christ.

The miracle of God's love is that it is always there, for each of us,
in every moment. Nothing we do or don't do, no matter where we are, no
matter what we are doing, it is simply always there because we are
quite literally His sons and daughters. How grateful I am for that
truth.

I love each of you! Have a wonderful week :)

Hermana Hirschi

☔️

Hello everyone! How was the first week of 2017?

I do not have much time today, and so I apologize to everyone who has
not received a reply to an email yet. I promise I read all your emails
and appreciate them more than you know. It is nice to know that I am
not forgotten ❤️

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I know that I say that every week, but it
is so true. Yesterday as I sat in church, I was overwhelmed by a sense
of love for the people I am serving here in Pomona/Covina. They are
truly special to me and even more special to our Heavenly Father. I
feel so privileged to work with them.

This week I was thinking a lot about my testimony. I know that Jesus
Christ lives. I know He loves us personally. And I know He is so proud
of us as we strive to become more like Him. I read this quote this
week that I really like: "[A testimony] generates the conviction that
as the teachings of the Savior are consistently obeyed, life will be
beautiful, the future will be secure, and there will be capacity to
overcome the challenges that cross our path." How beautiful is that? I
am so grateful that I have a strong foundation on which I can rely
during the hard times. Christ is my Rock, and without Him I could not
stand.

I am so grateful to be alive. I have so many blessings I cannot begin
to count them all! I am grateful for each of you and your love and
support on my life.

Lots of love,

Hermana Hirschi

PS- sorry no pictures this week, I didn't take any :( I will be better
next week!


Hermana Sarah Hirschi | Arcadia California Mission
Mailing Address:
614 W Foothill Blvd
Arcadia, CA 91006

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO

Hello everyone! Happy New Year!

I can hardly believe that it is already 2017. This will be such a
great year! I will have the blessing and privilege of spending every
day this year here in the mission field. Could there be a better way
to spend a whole year? (Nope!)

I have been thinking a lot about visions, goals and plans. As a
missionary, we set goals and plans every day, and there is always a
vision that the goals and plans lead towards. My personal vision for
this year is to become more full of pure, Christlike love. All that He
did was motivated by and full of love. While I spend this next year
serving the children of God here, I want to have my actions motivated
by a pure love for each of them. It is a grand vision, and one that
will not be fully realized in this life or without His help, and so I
will be praying and working lots towards this vision. This coming week
I will be setting goals and plans to help me more fully achieve this
vision.

This week I was studying a lot about God's love for us. Here is a
short snippet from my study journal:

"I am trying to comprehend God's love in some small way and I simply
cannot. He loves us. He gave us our agency and a commandment to choose
to follow Him. He weeps when we choose wickedness. He has created us -
we are His, and yet somehow we turn away from Him and He, in His
infinite goodness and love allows us to choose this. He weeps when we
suffer because of those decisions and rejoices with us when they make
us happy. HE LOVES US SO MUCH."

I cannot comprehend the love he has for us. I can only try to emulate
it as I help other people feel that love. And that is my vision for
this year!

I love each of you and hope God will be with each of you this year.

Love,

Hermana Hirschi

Hermana Sarah Hirschi | Arcadia California Mission
Mailing Address:
614 W Foothill Blvd
Arcadia, CA 91006