One Track Missionaries!

Kia ora everyone!

Man I seriously never thought P-day would come.. this week has been moving at about the speed of smell... literally... this was Anzach day weekend ( our equivalent of memorial day).

So what is going on this week?! Tonagn Feasts... UH OH! we didn't get invited to one THANKFULLY (basically the Tongans will make enough food for the planet, and then somehow think that 14 people could finish it all.) So thankfully we didn't have to experience rolling on our bellies when we finish dinner. And to make life so much better it rained most of this week as well! woo! we learned that New Zealand will get about 5 feet of rain a year.... That's an inch and a half a week! no wonder this country is so flipping green!!! The grass is really greener on the other side! other side of the world that is (man that was cheesy) :)

ANYWAY so the work this week was slow, but that is okay! it just means that the next week will be fast!  But even though things get slow Heavenly Father doesn't make us suffer through it all. Some seriously awesome things have happened this week! First off let me tell you a funny as story.

We are in praying mantis season and they are everywhere! We were having the District Leader and his comp over for studies, and we saw this weird as Prayner, so what do we do? We become the crocodile hunter and go look at it! And to make things even worse I have to move it! Now if you know me, I do not mind bugs, so I was like oh yeah I’m all good! HOLY FLIP THE THING FLIES!!! I don't think I can remake the girlish scream I made when it went towards me, so what do I do run! However there was a wall in the way and I couldn't escape!!! So since I freak out, the rest of the Elders freak out, and so there wewere, four full grown Elders running away from a bug.. It happeed more then once too, but now I know, those bugs can fly.. NO TOUCHY

anyway! off that tangent.

SO many miracles have happened this week. It was a slow as week, but that's okay when we are being pounded my miracles.

One humungous miracle was that I didn't get transferred! I get to stay in this area! I love it so much here. Two was we have so many  investigators who are just so awesome and one is helping his flat mates understand what we are teaching. They are all just so awesome! When we go knock on their doors, they are just like "Elders or Brothers It’s freezing out, come in.” and they just give us milo ( New Zealand Hot coco) and we just talk! It’s such a blessing to be around these people.

But then the most amazing thing happened. The reason why I didn't email yesterday was because we had Zone Conference with one of the Seventy. His name is Elder Pierson.This GA (shannon here: General Authority) was seriously up there right next to Elder Holland on motivation. HE WAS INCREDIBLE!!! The Spirit was sooooo strong, it was almost thick enough to drink. He seriously is a servant of Heavenly Father. He had so much love for all of us, and we could feel it! IMAGINE what Heavenly Father’s love is like, and He knows us better then we do! Elder Pierson seriously made us One track missionaries! An eye single to the glory of God. He talked about our divine nature that is within us and how through Christ’s Gospel we can just get a Glimpse of what we can be. WE ARE DIVINE! It was seriously amazing! We are all children of a God! We have so much potential! It was amazing! I can’t put it into words of how amazing it was!

SO as always, keep being awesome! Remember who you are!! and what you are as well.

- Your kiwi ( who has gained some weight)...

Elder Gish

When it rains we just need to laugh and enjoy:)

Kia Ora everyone,

SO Guess what! we had another cyclone!! YAY!!!! I thought id get that out of the way first... it was actually so amazing. New Zealand has been having a really bad Drought these last few years, and id say that the cyclone cleared it all up! it down poured for at least 2 days. Which is wonderful when you are on Bikes. No seriously its awesome! its always between 70-80 degrees all day and this was a much needed cool down! Miracles in all things!

So this week was a week of miracles. Not only in the work but in our District. SO ill start with the work. First of Thursday was exchanges and the craziest thing happened. As me and Elder Griffen ( The exchange Elder) are biking and he passes these two guys and as I was going by them he says HI ELDERS so I turn around and talk them, one of the guys named Wananga was a less active member, and has been thinking about coming back after a few signs he has had. and seeing us was a the sure sign he needed to go back and started to cry saying thank you! WHAT!!!

The work was really slow this week, but that's to be expected when its raining tigers and wolves. ( that’s bigger cats and dogs) no one was out, or home.. which is odd. But this week something amazing happened.

We have been teaching this young man. he’s skux as. We have been having a really hard time contacting him. He is always busy, so after 7-8 tries of contacting him with no success we were thinking about dropping him. Which is never a good feeling, but as I was praying I had this impression to just try one more time. So we did. AND brought reinforcement. Two skux young men named Ezra and Paris. SO we make the trip to his house and HES THERE!! MIRACLE NUMBER ONE! AND WE HAVE TWO YOUNG MEN! MIRACLE TWO! and so we talk, and we arrange a date to go see him and teach and play a little touch! MIRACLE THREE!! AND IT DIDNT ALL FALL THROUGH!! MIRACLE FOUR!! so we go to the park and Teach him, and he said that he had been reading the Book Of Mormon and praying!! MIRACLE FIVE!! and so we talked about that, and how the church was restored, man the spirit was so strong. You would think that at a park the noise would drown out the Spirit but it didn't! it actually seemed as if Heavenly Father turned down the volume so that the spirit could testify of the truth.

After we taught, he pauses and basically says he feels that he should be BAPTISED!! MIRACLE KABOOOM!!!!!!! so he is set for baptism next month! like holy flipping awesome! What we realize is that when Heavenly Father wants the Spirit to be there He does everything possible so it will be. But we first have to be worthy to have it there with us, other wise we can’t do anything. So that was Friday- Saturday. Sunday another storm came and we had to bike to church, in the rain... in suits. and as we were getting poured on, we just start busting out laughing! like hysterically, almost to the point of falling off our bikes.. and what was funny was at the point where we started to actually enjoy the rain, and are grateful for what it does. The rain wasn't a problem!! What was a problem was having our suit pants stuck to our legs all of church.

This week tested my attitude of Gratitude. I’m so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to serve the Lord. And be around these wonderful people. When it rains we just need to laugh and enjoy:)

You are all amazing!!

- your favourite kiwi!

-Elder Gish

The Lord Will Not Leave Us Comfortless. I Know That is True!

EVERYONE!!

hi:) this week was seriously the BEST EVER!! I feel like I can move a mountain!

We had a Temple trip on Friday! GUESS WHO THE TEMPLE PRESIDENT IS!! SIDNEY GOING!! hes the rugby player that Elder Anderson talks about in a conference talk! HIM !!!! I Was in star struck mode! like " DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE" and he said "ELDER GISH HOW ARE YOU?" oh man I know how it feels when girls meet Justin Timberlake now.. I was like bam!

anyway.. :) then Saturday and Sunday was General Conference, and holy cow! so powerful! I could say so much about it but the main thing I got out of it was this. " You have been called to serve, not called to OBserve". In PMG there is a secret to successful work. Ready? here it is.... that we get to work. nothing gets done until we work. but not only work, but work with faith. Sometimes on a mission we don't understand why were aren't getting any blessings, but WE push forward, The Lord WILL NOT leave us comfortless. I know that is true! When my Journal runs out ill be sending it home for the next church auction, so everyone can read about how amazing a mission is :) haha  im  just kidding. But really this was amazing!

SO the work this week was way awesome! We had a temple trip on fri, General Conference Saturday and Sunday. That doesn't get you motivated to work nothing will.. But a crazy thing happened. On Thursday we had exchanges, we went to go see an investigator and the mom told us off.... so my companion and I prayed to ask where we would go next, we had this feeling to go see an investigator that didn't want us around, but we had the feeling to go there. but as we got there the spirit LITERALLY stopped me. and told me not to go in. I was so confused!!! like why the heck did I bike 15 miles to be stopped! but we have to be humble, obviously the spirit wouldn't waste our time. so my companion and I walked and I had this feeling to go to a house with its lights on ( oh btw it gets dark here at 6:30pm and it was 8:00pm). we go there and and lo and behold we get a new investigator out of this house, the guy’s name was Paul and had just moved to Rotorua 2 months ago! it was a testimony to me that there are no accidents, I thought I knew where I was. I was in the right area, just the wrong spot. CRAZY!!!

That was my week! what I find is that I receive blessings when im not looking for them. Let that simmer in your minds for the week:)

This work is amazing:) I love you all!
your kiwi -Elder Gish

I Want to be a Blessing in the House.

Hello everyone!

Seriously, this week went by way to fast. The days just flew right by us! we would be out talking to people and then be like AH! we need to get home! anyway, this week was awesome!

Like any person we are faced with challenges and then we have moments where we are like ahh snap that was awesome. This week was awesome!

We are really trying to connect better with the members of the ward, so we were allowed to go to a sports night, to our big surprise we only played VOLLYBALL, we were so taken back.. ( Elder Harmon and I love volleyball) so of course it was on! but as I was getting all competitive, I thought I was a making the people feel comfortable around me. Would they want me in their house. Earlier I was reading the scriptures and I was reading about Alma, who was an awesome prophet in the Book of Mormon, he goes to an unknown man and the man feeds him, because the man Knows that Alma will be a blessing to have in his house, and I thought, I want to be a blessing in the house, and as I cooled down my competitive genes, people were so open to talk to us! One of The PMG Christ like Attributes his humility, and as we humbled down , we were blessed. (Shannon here: PMG – Preach My Gospel. It’s a study guide for anyone who wants to learn and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.)

On the topic of General Conference,  I HAVE NOT SEEN IT, since I am almost a day a head, we decided to watch it the following week so no spoiling! thank you!,

We have seen so many miracles this week, our Investigator Dana, seriously is the coolest, we got to help him rebuild a fence that was knocked over and bush had grown over it. It was a lot of work, and Dana had a fellowshipping problem, so we made the service, and ward service project and SO MANY PEOPLE CAME! it was such a huge blessing for us! It was exactly what he needed!

I was reading the Ensign this week, and I came upon a story called, "just beyond the bubble gum machine" it was awesome. it helped me realize how Heavenly Father sometimes blesses us! It pushed me through the week.

ON A SUPER AWESOME NOTE! I never realized this, BUT I AM THE THIRD MISSIONARY EVER TO SERVE IN THIS WARD!! I am part of the original legacy of the missionaries! man did it motivate me to WORK! it’s amazing how the Lord knows where to put us that will make us grow! And also a scripture that blew my mind. D&C 88:119. It talks about the house that we need to dedicate to the lord, But have we dedicated our personal houses ( YOUR BODY) read it! then your mind will be blown! I promise!

Love you all! work hard be good!

kia kaha!

-Elder Gish

P.S I GOT EVERYONE’S LETTERS THIS WEEK!!! I WILL BE GETTING TO YOU ALL SOON!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!