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!!!