Bringing Christ back into Christmas.

Kia ora Whanua!!

WHAT A WONDEFUL WEEK. Christmas is upon us and with that we bring in the spirit of Christ. Or do we? I now realize more then ever, that we should celebrate the first and greatest gift ever, which is Christ. Rather then focusing on the new toys or new iphone 6?  (that's ridiculous we don't need 6 of the same phone) Those things get old and boring. They bring us what maybe 6 months of joy? Christ can bring us an ETERNITY of joy.. that's a lot longer then 6 months for you mathematicians out there.

To kick off that great spirit we had an awesome mission conference on Bringing Christ back into Christmas. We forget too often of what he did for us. That is what sadly enough gets put out of our sight by new gadgets. We need to remember the things He does for us and share that light. Sometimes the best gift is a smile to someone. REMEMBER WHAT COMES FIRST IN CHIRST-Mas

So The week was awesome! I love being here. I had a great privilege to go on an exchange with an Elder who has been having a hard time keeping his mind on the mission. So in the morning I told him "lets go to the beach for our studies today." He was so down. So we go. Now my Older brother Sam gave me this talk about "burning our boats". What the heck does that mean? Well back in the times of Vikings, when the Vikings went to war, they would burn their boats. They were totally committed to the task that was in front of them. The boat would have been a way to leave. But since it’s burnt they can’t. So I take this Elder and we do just that. We are at the beach, and we burn our boats. (its almost like I planned this or something.) Afterwards, he lights up. His boat has been burnt and he says.. "Elder I feel lighter.. what did you do". That my friend is the Atonement working on you. Tears came as we sat and talked. I have never been so privileged to be a servant of the Lord, to be able to help.

SO I WANT TO MAKE A QUICK SHOUTOUT TO MY MOM. She is turning 31 on Saturday. She is the best person ever. A true angel in these days. Mom I love you like crazy. You have always been there when I have needed you, and always have known what to say. Through funny and through crazy hormonal teenagers, you have been by there for me. I can’t imagine where I would be with out you.

I hope you all have a great week , and a very Happy Christmas..

ofa lahi atu

Elder Gish

No More Words in the Wind

Sorry. This isn't going to be a big long email.

This week was full of the Flu, cough drops and lemon drinks hahaha I got smacked by this flu and it knocked me down. But i decided to be like my dad and get up anyway and work. The week was awesome though! We decided this week to have an "Emergancy Missionary Meeting" with our branch to talk about making this branch a ward. I can tell you that the Lord was playing a huge role because when we came up with numbers that we wanted to accomplish we, all had the same numbers!!

We all have this vision that we want to accomplish, but unless we gave goal and have made plans to accomplish them, then they are just words in the wind!

We can do miracles!! 

So you all need to watch this video!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3897359657001

love you all!

-Elder Gish

Our Attitude Will Determine Our Altitude

WELL HOWDY HOWDY HEY!!! 

I hope that you all are having such an awesome week! I can not believe how crazy quick this week has gone! I am sorry that this will have to be a short email:/ got heaps to do!

SO Let me start by saying that I am so grateful for this Gospel. This Saturday we had such a powerful Baptism for this young girl who is only 9 and is just the sweetest little girl. She has such a great knowledge of the Gospel. Her mother is less-active and the father is not a member of the church. During the baptism the Spirit was so strong it was crazy. The mother came to church the next day and is so keen for coming back to church. Its amazing to see how our actions truly can impact those around us. 

The end of the year is upon us and as a branch we have a goal to get this branch up and running again. We had this big meeting about what we can do. It was awesome to see the goal and plans we have to make this branch better. Then out of the blue the Branch Pres. just says, "And Elder Gish will close us with a few words." WHATTT?! No warning. No subject…kind of a scary moment. I was scared.. i wont lie. But then the words came to my mouth, "Elders this will be the year we become a Ward" …Ummm, that’s not really something you say to a branch that was around when Moses split the red sea. But, then once that was said, the spirit came in and took over, and words just came with ease.. I don’t even remember what I said, but what it must have had the spirit of power with it, because people kept saying that they agree with what i said.

I Love having the companion of the Holy Ghost and having a God that truly does help all people. I dont know if i could do anything important with out The holy Ghost and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ directing my in all i do. With the right attitude we can accomplish great things.. Our attitude will determine our altitude! 

I love you all!!

hope your week is awesome

ofa lahi atu

-Elder Gish  

Always Find Happiness at the End of the Day.

What is up my Whanua!

I hope you  all have had a wonderful week, because I know that I have been so blessed this week!

First off. Taranaki is the flipping promised land. It is beautiful beyond comparison! I’ll be attaching pictures of how beautiful this place is. The culture is awesome! Its very heavily Maori influenced, so we get to have a great taste of original Aotearoa culture.

To begin.. our flat has more fleas then I think should be legal.. and they must be hungry because they pay $9.95 for an Elder Gish feast... and then we have to boil our water to drink it because its not the cleanest, and our shower has two heats: "Mount Mordor hot", or "I'm not hoping in that cold". !! HOW COOL IS THAT!! Talk about feeling rugged! It really is such a blessing to live in an area where we have a roof over our head. And this place is so amazing.

To begin.. our flat has more fleas then I think should be legal.. and they must be hungry because they pay $9.95 for an Elder Gish feast... and then we have to boil our water to drink it because its not the cleanest, and our shower has two heats: "Mount Mordor hot", or "I'm not hoping in that cold". !! HOW COOL IS THAT!! Talk about feeling rugged! It really is such a blessing to live in an area where we have a roof over our head. And this place is so amazing.

So this week was AWESOME!!! This Saturday the 6th we are having a baptism for a young girl we are teaching Rene. She is awesome! So keen on the gospel. And she will be a great addition in this branch. Then this amazing thing happened. We have found 3 young men that are keen az to be learning more about the gospel. Just randomly talking to them and they want to learn more! WHO SAID THAT THIS AREA IS DEAD!! cause it aint... it is kicking like crazy!! Its great to find success in this area! The work can be hard at times, but when things get hard, that means something great will happen soon! That is how God works... we don't stay in misery, we always find happiness at the end of the day. This Gospel is amazing and has blessed my life like crazy!

So a few more cool things!! The 7th of this month the church is doing a "youtube take over" for the entire day the church will be the only advertisements being used. So tell your friends to go onto youtube! It’s a great finding tool to help this work hasten! Please do that!

I love you all !

Have an awesome week!

ofa lahi atu

-Elder Gish

Everyone Can Be Influenced By the Holy Ghost

DUN DUN DUN!!!!! BIG NEWS !!!! ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!!! I was transferred this week!! Gisborne was so awesome! I am really going to miss that place, it was home away from home! But now I am in Taranaki! I have gone coast to coast for the slam dunk! Gisborne was the farthest East in the mission, Taranaki is the farthest South West. Needless to say this week I spent a great amount of time driving.  Taranaki is the promised land! Just in in case --Taranaki is pronounced ( Te-da-nah-key) I swear there is whole different language here! But anywho! this place is awesome! My companion is the bomb! Elder Otto, he is from Vanuatu. He’s so cool and carries the best spirit with him!

…Actually funny story about that. So most of this week was spent sitting and driving, and that’s nothing fun or exciting. Just getting numb legs and then stepping out of the car, and having gravity fight against you, and suddenly you’re on the ground...

Taranaki has a new zone Leader Elder Mitchell, who was my first Zone Leader when i entered the mission field so he and I are really close. So we were about 3 hours into our drive and Elder M's legs go numb so we pulled over to do a little sight seeing. Elder M steps out, and we all know how it feels when our legs go numb we need something to support us -- he uses the car. Little does he know Elder Gish is on the prowl ready to attack! SO I try to jump him. Elder M is about 6'5 so i have to get a good spring to tackle him and so i make my move.. And right as i go to Jump on him.. You can probably guess what happens.. He DUCKS!!! I completely miss him and go take a dirt bath.

ANYWAY!! ONTO THE GOOD STUFF!

Taranaki is the bomb. Unfortunately, it is still all branches, no wards. So the entire area is a district not a Stake. (and if your wondering what that is, Come to church one day!! :) )  So my new companion was saying how the work out here is pretty hard, and that there’s not much to do.  WHICH IS A LOAD OF JUNK Because a huge miracle happened! WE have a new set baptism set for the 6th of Dec. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!! The spirit was so strong in the lesson. And when the spirit says ask about baptism, I ask, with no questions. After Elder O was just blown away !! He asked how did i do that? I didn’t do anything, the spirit just asks and we do:) As we all should. All of us have that voice in us telling us to do the right, we just have to be willing to act upon those impressions! The scriptures say the Holy Ghost speaks to us in a still small voice! So if we are being drowned by other things we won’t hear it! All of us have that capability! Its not just missionaries! Everyone can be influenced by the Holy Ghost! 

I Love this work it is so awesome:)

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL

ofa lahi' atu!

-Elder Gish

Where our Heart is, is Where our Treasures Lies.

Kia ora Whanua!!! 

WOW WHAT A WEEK THIS HAS BEEN!!! First off let me congrats my big bro Sam for Returning from his mission!! RETURNING WITH HONOR MY BRO!! You’re The man and I love you like crazy. NOW GO GET MARRIED hah jokes:) But seriously... you’re awesome and a skux fella times 20. 

NEXT, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!!! Dad i love you like crazy!!! You’re the reason i still believe in super heroes! I do not know where i would be without my Dad. He has been my best friend through out my life! I was actually telling some members out here what one of my favorite moments are in life and i told them about the Time my Dad came into my room at 6 in the morning on a school break to go shovel off a roof. and how it stunk at first but then we got to sit on the roof and just talk. I wish you the happiest birthday!! You’re not a day past... whatever year Noah built the the ark... hah :) 

The week has been glorious and hott az! I don’t know who felt like turning the heat up here.. but he turned it up way to much..  When your pants stick to your leg becasue of sweat.. either i am super out of shape.. or i need to sweat way to much.. due to being out of shape.

We had another earthquake this week.. Again its not too bad but it does shake some people up, But its all good because no one was hurt!

This week my district and I came up with the goal for between all of us we need to find 23 new people to teach. We all felt good about this number and so we hit the beat.. The end of the week come and we hadn’t reached our goal of 23. But here is what crazy – even though we set this goal and didn’t reach it, i feel that we reached something even better, and that is we all had this burning desire to do our best and serve the Lord, which is what counts at the end of the day which is, where is our heart is at? Where our heart is, is where our treasures lies. This week blessed my life so much! I love this work!! I love you all!

ofa lahi atu!

-ElderGish

Game Changer

Kia ora Whanau!! Thank you all for your birthday wishes!! 

I am so sorry for missing a longer letter last week! Our computers here have been around since the creation of the wheel, so they were getting updated all last week.  SO our computers now are pretty flash... But nothing too high tech... Still can’t put pictures on here! It’s all good though!

SO wow where do I even start... Let me start with last week,

Last week was a game changer. I have two very experienced missionaries in my district which is a bit scary at times but i realize, and they realize, that as a District Leader, I am Just that, their leader. So I love calling on them to help out in meetings! ANYWAY. The entire week i was wondering what the heck will i do a training on! Nothing was coming to me at all…which doesn’t really happen that often! Something was telling me wait, and in the very hour it will be given to you what to do. So just to clarify waiting until the last hour to train in a District Meeting is not something you want to do. I had the feeling to let Elder Brann one of my experienced missionaries do a spiritual thought. Wow! He really brought it in. And while you read this I hope you try this, because honestly it changed my life and it will for you if you just try. 

Elder Brann had us all stand up and hold our arms out like we were holding our cross. And he began to read to us about what Jesus Christ has done for us. And first holding our arms up was easy, thinking that what he was reading to us would only take a few minutes.. It went on for longer, and holding our arms out was starting to hurt. I opened my eyes to see all of my Elders and Sisters with the face of pain. There arms dropping. It finally came to a conclusion we sat down. The spirit says “have a testimony meeting on the atonement.” That’s exactly what we did. As i got up the words formed in my mouth " how many of you felt that cross in your arms, and how many of us when we were going to give up, felt hands hold your arms up?" Tears formed and lives where changed. 

That is the Gospel. Christ suffered for us. He has done so much for us, and i think, for a brief second we as missionaries where placed in his shoes. 

The meeting continued and not an eye was dry. It was a game changer. Never before have i seen my District work so hard. They have been touched by the love of Christ as have i.

From then on the weeks were flawless. Nothing was stopping us. 

Then we continue on to this week. This week was awesome. My Zone Leaders challenged me to talk to 100 people on the streets this week. I love talking to people! but im not even sure if there are 100 people in this town.. But we moved forward. It was such a blessing to see so many people on the streets because it was Guy Fox (british version of fourth of july) so talking to people began to sky rocket. My companion is still not confident in his english so this was going to be fun. I loved talking to someone, then pausing…which in the missionary world, is a signal for "its your time to speak" so it really pushed him! and he did so well! we fell short of our challenge and achieved 86, which was still awesome! What a great blessing the Lord gave to us!

I love this Gospel!

I hope you all have a great week:) LOVE you all!
Ofa lahi atu!

-Elder Gish

Happy Birthday to Roo!

{Shannon here: Chase had very little time on the computer this week, so this is all we got. Short, but so sweet.}

Hey mom! When you can, will you please wish Gage a happy birthday for me!! I wish i could be there! I really have no time to email. our computers are getting updated at our chapel so i had to come to the library where we get internet for free for ten minutes. But please please wish Roo the best of birthdays for me please!

{Shannon here: For what it’s worth; Roo is our nick name for Gage. It comes from Gageroo.}

I Am Convinced That Angels Are Around Us Everywhere.

Maori maori!

So what’s crazy is Maori is the name of the culture I am in love with, but when put together “Maori Maori” is “Hello” in Kiribati. ( its is pronounced like Kitabiss.) [Shannon here” Kiribati is a small nation in the Pacific.]

What a week this has been!! This week we had some crazy experiences. Mostly they happen when there is food involved, which you know is okay by me. But its probably the reason I have gone from 75kgs to 90kgs. For all my American friends, that’s 160lbs to 196... BUT THIS ISNT ABOUT HOW FAT I’M GETTING!! 

So at the moment I have a Tongan companion Elder Fisi'italia. If you know anything about Tongan people.. they eat a lot.. so shopping doesn’t really help when our food gets eaten in like 2 days.

The Other day Elder Fisi and I were walking home from an appointment at around 8:00. He and I hadnt eaten that whole day…and its getting hot here because summer is approaching. SO WE WERE HUNGRY AZ! We were walking home with some noises in our stomach that somewhat resembled that of a Whale calling its young. All of the sudden this white car pulls up next to us. This women who we don’t know stops and says " Elders you two look hungry, do want something to eat?" Of course trying to act like we are okay we say no with a thank you. And she gives us this look…it reminded me of the look my Mom gave me when I didn’t do my homework.  She just says " No! Here take this" and hands us this thing of Fish and chips. She then says "I'll be back with KFC okay?" This women stops by with the food. Of course we are just humbled by this act.. We asked what her name was…and she just smiles and leaves.

I am convinced that angels are around us everywhere. It may not be the kind that we see in movies but the way we act, and act to others can be seen as angelic.

THEN to make this week even better! I got a call Sunday to teach Gospel principles, which I love! Then while we were finishing up, our bishop says can you take the next class? So another Elder and I tag teamed a lesson about, preaching the gospel... It was such an awesome lesson.. you could drink the spirit through a straw it was so thick.  At the end  high councilmen who sat in, told us that it was one of the best lessons he had heard from missionaries in awhile.
SUCH AN AWESOME WEEK:)
Well I hope you all are doing well

Ofa lahi atu [Shannon here: translation –> “Love you so much.”]

-Elder Gish

One Yes Outweighs 1000 Nos.

Kia Ora whanua!

Kua tenei wiki, kua whakamataku! E mohio ana ahua kei te miharo aha koutou! Mongamonga we our pou! To tatou rangatira rohe Elder Christy, e ahau i runga i nga whakawhitinga i tenei wiki. I hanga e matou mahere ki te tiki e rua anake i te feia imi hou i taua ra. I roto i te haora i kitea e matou i tekau i te feia imi hou, ka kite i tenei hapu nui o tekau! ksu tapu e he wehingia!

Now i bet you are all wondering.. What the heck is that. That’s the language of Maori. 

What I just said is how awesome my week has been! 

So this week was exchanges. Our Zone Leader Elder Christy came into my area. We made it a plan to just blow through our area and just get done everything. We did that and a little more. Before we went out we made it a plan to find two new investigators and man we were determined to find two New Investigators. [Shannon here: An investigator is missionary lingo for someone who has accepted the invitation to ‘investigate’ the gospel of Jesus Christ.]

We were out all day just talking to as many people as we could. So here is what is crazy. By the end of the day we walked back to our flat dead. We had been in the sun all day and being in black pants isn’t exactly the best air conditioning. ANYWAY by the end of the day we had found 10 new investigators... TEN!!! and a family of ten! What an answer to prayers. We both walked back to the flat and collapsed. We had given everything we could, and then found a little more to give, because we wanted to help these people more than anything. 

Looking back I can see how God was testing us. We had multiple times where we were rejected, but we didn’t get discouraged because for every ten "no's" there is one yes and that one yes out weighs 1000 no's.  We were out for a higher purpose that day. That purpose was finally realized when we put everything into this work.

So again i need to keep it short:( I love you all!! 

-Elder Gish

Weekly Letter in a Rap

OKAY OKAY everyone gather round

let me tell you a story that will break every sound.

Let me start with the top,

we had an earthquake this week that made our chalkboard drop.

pretty scary stuff to see,

but i guess it was meant to be.

Exchanges filled this week, 

gotta go to work in other areas but just for a sneak peak.

The missionaries here are the bomb,

they make everyone proud, especially their mom.

The week gets better and better as it continues on.

We have a set baptism for this week so it will be awesome to get him that fon(t) .

But to make it better, he comes church,

it was fast Sunday so we got to hear others words,

our investigator gets up and speaks like a beautiful bird.

His testimony was so strong,

that it could go on and on.

It was a great blessing to have him speak,

because now he can find and seek. 

Anyway.. obviously i wont be the next Eminem or anything, but this week was truly amazing. Our investigator who is being baptized seriously is amazing. He bore his testimony and man it was so powerful! Everyone felt the spirit. It was a blessing beyond compare!

We did have an earthquake but we are okay nothing tragic, just a few wet pants and a knocked over white board. 

So this is something that i have been working on a lot with myself and our district. It’s have a Christ-centered attitude instead of an ego-centered attitude. I won’t go into much detail because I want you to find out how you will use that phrase:) and i want you to email me about it:)

i love you all:) 

-Elder Gish

When Family is Involved the Spirit will Always be There!

Well hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful week! I know that my week has been pretty flipping amazing! There were so many miracles that happened this week! But first let me start with something funny:) because funny stories are the BOMB!

So we were doing a service this week with some members, and they needed to get their yard all nice and orderly. There was heaps of gardening to get done, but of course the sisters jumped on that first.. so the Elders got stuck with cleaning out this pond that basically got turned into a cesspool! It was pretty awesome.. not.. SO of course my Companion Elder Fisi ( my tongan companion) just jumps in there like he was taking a mud bath and he starts clearing out the nasty junk that was in there.

So he is in there for like 30 minutes just having fun.. almost…when we get done we see this spot of mud moving.. THERE WAS A FLIPPING EEL in here! i don’t think i have ever seen a tongan scream and move so most! it was a crack up! This big tongan moving scared! Super funny:)

Anyway! so why was this week so awesome! well let me tell you:) first off we have a new mean az investigator! She is way keene! We had a lesson with her and she is a pretty staunch 7th day adv. She loved the message that we share. But something she said hit me. She said " Its amazing how you two can use so many scriptures to make your point. There are very few men like that!" Which hit me pretty hard!  How impactful the scriptures are, and how they can change lives when taught correctly!

Then to make this week even better we had a lesson with an investigator named Nick( he is our main one we see) we had a pretty average lesson, but in the lesson he says. "I really enjoy having you MEN ( now that we’re men!) here. I don’t know what it is but when you come the feeling in my house changes". Well my friend that’s the spirit. 

THEN to make the week even better! We had two investigators get baptized ( from another area) so as a District Leader i give them an interview to make sure they know what they are doing! There was a young girl who had been through a lot. She felt as though that she was too bad to be forgiven. That why would God love me when I did everything against what we taught. The spirit came rushing in like a strong wind. Words just came out telling her she was forgiven and that Heavenly Father still loves you. Now here is the crazy part, there were two seats, one on each side of her. I sensed that they weren’t empty, but she and I were the only ones in the room. It was amazing to feel of the love our Heavenly Father had for this young girl. I only got a glimpse of what it felt like. It was absolutely over whelming. I can’t imagine what His full love for us feels like!

THEN to make the week even better!!! on my way to church on sunday. i got a calll saying Elder Gish would you teach the class today?  Which if everyone knows i love teaching! When i got up to teach, a less active member who has been there when i taught before, says "oh you’re teaching? Thank goodness" COMPLIMENT EXPLOSION. The lesson was awesome! We talked about of Heavenly FAMILY. When family is involved the spirit will always be there! and it was.. It was there so strong!

It was just such an awesome week!!

Love you all !

-Elder Gish

Holy Powerful Words

Kia Ora Whanau! 

It has been quite the week. Like usual I need to start with something funny!

SO we were on exchanges this week, and I thought it would be nice and do my (Tongan) companion’s laundry. Something my mom taught me was to smell the clothes before you wash them, just in case they are clean. I didn't want to do that but I figured my mom and dad have been right more then once so they are probably right on this one. SOOOO terror was just waiting. I get to his socks. I gave it a nice sniff! No joke I about passed out. So I yell to Elder Wilcken (the elder I was on exchanges with) and say “Man, we have the best smelling laundry soap!” and throw it at him. He believes me and gives it the biggest sniff i have experienced. He almost passed out too. SO lesson here!? Never sniff a Tongan’s socks, it works better then chlorophorm. That is a true fact.  

Anyway so we had an awesome chance to go to House of the Lord, The Temple, on Thursday. Which means we left early Wednesday and got there Thursday and didn’t get home till late Friday. It was the best experience though. I love the spirit that you can feel in the temple. It was the best way to start off my week!

Then a huge miracle moment. This week was our stake conference, and just to make it more nerve -racking our Mission President came down. Our President is the man by the way. So he comes to Stake conference, then right after he walks in our investigator walks in. We didn’t think he would have been here but it was a good thing. Here is why, this Thursday we wanted to invite him to be baptized, but our PRESIDENT beat us to it. Our President ON THE PULPIT says " If any of you here are not baptized into this true church I and the Lord invite you to do so." WHAT THE HOLY POWERFUL WORDS!!  After the session ends I walked up to our investigator and just asked him what he thought of the session. He says "I may have to take up the invite your President asked" WHAT?! It was amazing to see how the Lord Prepared Nick enough to receive that invite!

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEK!!!! Well that’s all for now. I love you all!
-Elder Gish

A Stationary Stone Rolling

Kia Ora my Whano!

ATTENTION KARMA PRANK: So this week we had a pretty awesome rain storm. It rains all the time here and doesn’t stop. And because it rains heaps sometimes the drains get plugged creating huge puddles of water. So the other day me and my companion are walking down the street, and we come right up to this huge puddle, and a big 18 wheeler is coming. So of course i think “Oh perfect chance to get him. When the truck comes by, I’ll push him and he will get soaked.” Sounds wonderful. SO the truck comes by, and I gave my companion a nice shove right as the truck hit the water. Water goes flying! But thanks to my shove he didn’t get hit... at all... and the water came and got me… DIRECT HIT. I don’t think a drop of water didn’t hit me... Just goes to show that we shouldn’t be pushing our companions into puddles… 

NOW THAT I GOT YOUR ATTENTION what a great week this has been. Nothing like super wonderful and spectacular but it was just a week of good hard work. The last few months this area has had a bit of struggling getting this area back booming with missionary work. SO this week has been a week of getting a stationary stone rolling! And its been pretty tough. So why is it hard to get a stationary rock rolling? Well you wouldn’t want to move the rock if you didn’t need something beyond it. A rock is only hard to move if its big. But the hardest part is the first push. That’s where all your effort will come in, and once you get it rolling it’s just about being behind it and never stopping your feet from moving forward.That’s what this work needs. It needs consistency. We either put our all into it or we go home. No half way. In the wise words of Yoda “Do or do no there is no try.”

So we have been seeing this investigator who is stationary rock. We asked him if he knows the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. He pauses and says.. " I do, I’ve been trying for years to disprove it but I cant. I did the same thing to the Bible and I cant disprove it" WHAT!?!?? are you serious!? He is so cool like that.. Just little things he says and you’re just sitting there thinking.. did we have to do anything?

That’s what i love about this gospel. It touches lives of people in the smallest way!

i love you all heaps!!
-Elder Gish

I Need You More

(From Sept 1, 2014)

Howdy Howdy Everyone:) I felt like being a cowboy today, so you’ll have to roll with me:)

WELL holy cow its a new transfer! I got my new companion! His name is Elder Fisi'italia. He is from Tonga. He speaks almost no english. Its the best:) not in a mean way but when he speaks BAMMMM the Spirit is right there because you can see he is trying his best to say what he wants. Its so humbling. It shows me that we do not need to be great speakers, in order to get a point through. All we need is the desire, and the desire to have the Spirit and the Lord takes care of the rest!

It was a pretty awesome week! I got a call on Tuesday from our President’s Assistants saying "Elder Gish, President Rudd has called you to be District Leader" WHATTTTT!!! ME?!  It is the greatest thing ever!! I get calls, and texts seriously every 30 minutes. I have to hinder some of my work so I can help the other missionaries with their problems. It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders but i don't think i have ever felt the enabling power of the atonement in my life more then i am now. One night while praying saying "why me? I’m the youngest in my District there are much more able persons then me.”  Clear as day i heard :"Because i need you more".  I have seen the Lord’s hand in everything I have been doing! its crazy how much the Lord trusts us. I’m the youngest missionary in my District meaning everyone has been out longer then me. Its been so humbling to see that the Lord qualifies us in everything that we do! It has made me want to work harder then I have ever wanted! No regrets! Even when i don’t feel comfortable with what i am asked to do. It’s what makes me feel happy. I took a lot of time to myself so i can figure out what the Lord wants me to do. I know that without a doubt that the Lord loves us, and needs us in this great work! He has done so much for us, so we need to give back just a little. 

One awesome Miracle is that the YSA [Shannon here: YSA=Young Single Adults] in our ward are really wanting to get into Missionary work. So the rep, his name is Paora, set up a night when all the YSA come out with us to go and teach! Its huge miracle! This ward is seriously the bomb. I love it here so much and these people are just a testimony of how God blesses us through other’s actions!

I love you all! yall are awesome!

ofa atu!

-Elder Gish

P.s. i Just got everyones mail so letters are coming!!!

TRANSFER WEEK!!!

DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUUU!!!!! Holy cow its been another month and a half... Im not liking how much time is flying right now!!. almost 7 Months I've been gone!! BAHHHHH!!!! But anyway! It has been quite the eventful week though!  My companion died (which is a term we use to say that he finished his two years) he’s not actually dead. So at the moment I have no companion. (Shannon here: he is serving in a trio, with two other missionaries.) It was pretty hard to see him go, but he served an honorable full time mission! Which is in my book as something that deserves my utmost respect! 

So the crazy things that happened this week:

On Sunday at like 8 oclock ( 2 hours before church starts) Our teacher called and asked if we could teach our class. So Elder Lolo and i did a rock paper scissors to find out who teaches, I lost. But gratefully so. Teaching is a huge honor. I was way nervous but as I got to go teach I felt so peacefully. Apparently the class went well to what the people said! so thats a huge relief! Then the craziest thing happened. Right before we were going to leave I saw a young man that is so awesome, sitting by himself. I had the feeling to go talk to him and see if everything is okay. RIght as i asked that he broke in tears,and explained some things that brought those feelings. We had a nice talk, and he said " Elder I really needed that" and gave m a hug! 

I know for sure that the Lord is watching over all of us. He cares for us individually. he wants us to be happy, and sometimes through the actions of others that we can be blessed, and its our job to be that blessing as we are with others. 

By the way BIG SHOUT OUT TO MY FRIEND STEPHANIE SLOAN ON GETTING HER MISSION CALL TO POLAND! I know that she will be such an awesome missionary!

I love you all very much!!!

- Elder Gish