It Will Be Given in The Very Moment

Kia Ora my Brothers and Sisters!

Man what a week this has been. For starters.... DUN DUN DUN!!! I got transferred! ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING! I am out of Hamilton, and I am now in a place called Gisborne (mom my hat) hahaha. It is awesome here! It was an 8 hour drive to get here... That was fun.. kinda not really.. but its over! I love it here! Its exactly how we picture New Zealand, just forest everywhere! And to make this place even better, we are next to the beach which is a huge blessing seeing how i have not seen the beach since i have been here in New Zealand.

My new Companion is the man! His name is Elder Lolo, he is from Samoa and he ends his mission this transfer. So I have been sent here to make sure he doesn’t get trunky, or lazy. Bringing the hammer down. WELCOME TO EARTH! It was a two day drive down here, so I only just got here on Friday. But man I love it. The people here are so nice. Its a lot of fun starting all over again in a new area! People have no idea who you are! I am one of the only white Elders here that is not from Utah. So when i tell them where i am from, their minds are just blown.

This Sunday was awesome!! I had the privilege to give a talk. The person that was supposed to talk didn’t show up, so right before church started, they said, could you give a 15 minute talk today? Oh yeah sure... I'd love to..  Man I was so scared... So i was scrambling to find something to speak on, but nothing was coming. Then I had the scripture pop into my head, that it be given the very moment, so i stopped. No Joke the minute i got up to the pulpit to speak, i was washed with words.  I spoke for the whole 15 minutes, without a pause. The spirit was so strong. I didn’t think I did that well, but everyone said that they really enjoyed it, and that they love my accent! "What are you talking about?! You all have the accent" but i forget i am the foreigner.

Oh so we met with an investigator, he has been having a hard feeling the spirit, so as soon as we finished talking to him he says " I need to have you over more often, i feel really good when you are here" THATS THE SPIRIT MY MAN! So we invited him to read and to pray to know if the gospel is true, we will see how it goes!!

OH MY GOSH so this Sunday we had dinner with this man named brother Lloyd. This guy is the most knowledgeable person in the scriptures of everyone that I have met. He told us stuff that just blew our minds. But what made the dinner even better.. was there was not a speck of green on the dinner table…all meat. Brother Lloyd would say. "Cows eat veggies. I eat cow, so therefore I eat veggies' MY MAN!! i think i will fit in just fine!

I sure love you all! hope all is well!

I have such a firm testimony of this gospel! I love it so much!!

-Elder Gish

 

PDay (Preparation Day)

From Sister Arohanui, Ngawai of Hamilton NZ

Elder Gish’s mother here:

I have had the blessing of connecting with a family in Hamilton, NZ -- where Chase is serving -- who has lovingly cared for him as he serves there. With her permission, the following photos and words from her Facebook account are posted below. (Thank you heaps and heaps, Sister Rangi. We love your family!)

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Thanks for the memories Elder Gish and Elder Moala. They will be cherished in our family forever.  #PUKANA

“Our family have loved coming to know your wonderful son. He is a true servant of our Saviour Jesus Christ and yes please go ahead and copy what we have on him (I'm only sorry we don’t have more photo's!!) He is a great example for our only son as he too will serve a mission in 3 more years. You must ask Elder Gish when he returns home to teach your family the "no teeth-fruit & vegie" game & also a Maori game called Pukana. He actually bought a whole new meaning to both games!!! He was very funny to watch - he had all my children in hysterics. May our Father in Heaven continue to bless him and your family for the great sacrifice you are all making. “

“I Don't Think I Could Have Gotten Anything Done if You Weren't Here.”

 

Sorry I don't have heaps of time to write! It was an awesome week though. It was hard though. I was praying for an experience to help me get through the week. I got the best answer to my prayer! I have always felt the best relief when serving people, and that's exactly what I got! For some reason heaps of service opportunities arose! Of course we jumped in! Something really touching happened, as we helped a member move, they pulled us aside, and said " thank you so much for helping, I don't think I could have gotten anything done if you weren't here."  I felt those same words come out as I was praying that night. The rest of the week was a spiritual high!

Transfers are this Thursday, and I told our investigator Dana about it. She looked super sad about it. She was the best! I love this work and love these people!

Love you all

- Elder Gish

If you’re waiting for an answer go and do the dishes

HEY everyone,

so I am so sorry I totally SLACKED last week and didn't do a huge letter last week! My bad :p. Last week was awesome! It was your basic missionary week! Just filled with a lot of rain.. haha but I like rain!

I had a pretty cool experience WHILE DOING THE DISHES! I know, I know im doing dishes now. New Zealand is suffering from a drought at the moment ( which is crazy because it rains non-stop here) so we have to conserve water the best we can. So when we do dishes we cant just keep the water running, we have to plug the sink and when we wash our dishes we use the same water for every dish. So basically we are cleaning dirty dishes, with dirty water. Its kind of gross I know but that's what soap is for! ANYWAY, so here is when revelation just decided to slap me in the face. Why would I try to clean my dirtiness(sin) with dirtiness? It makes no sense! Are we continually allowing the fountain of Christ to pour out upon us, and letting the atonement wash away our feelings of guilt. Or are we plugging up his love, and washing our self over and over in the same waters we have always been in? ( I won’t lie, I felt like President Uchtdorf when typing that). Revelation can happen when doing the dishes! So if you’re waiting for an answer go and do the dishes:p

So the work here is moving along well. There has been no one to talk to on the streets lately! Like 0. but we have been trying out best to keep the work moving forward. As long as we are moving forward, we are moving in the right direction.

Well we had a lesson with our Investigator named Dana (who we have been teaching since I first came out). We were teaching the Plan of Salvation again to her, and then I don't know what I said or if it was my companion, but she all of a sudden Goes " OHHH This totally makes sense now"! it was like oh seriously?! The spirit was so strong then, you could see it!

I also had the Honor of the seminary teacher wanting me to go and teach class! Early morning seminary. It reminds me of the good old days. We had to bike there though, in the rain. It was such an amazing experience. It gave me so much respect for my wonderful Seminary teacher Sister Hanson. I have no idea how she made class fun at 6 in the morning! and was enthusiastic that early! And she still managed to end her class knowing we learned something!  but the kids here were awesome! Of course I had to bring treats for them being good. I didn't think I did that good of a job, but the young men came up to me and said, "so when are you coming back" It really touched me! They had heaps of questions for me! what a wonderful week!!

I love you all thank you for your prayers!

this is church is true! I love it with all my heart!!

-Elder Gish