July 5
Kia ora whanau!! Tena koe friends,
Well let me tell you something, this has been quite an awesome week!
SO first and for most I sent heaps of pictures in, so I guess I will need to explain them.
The first bunch of us at the church. THAT'S D's ENTIRE FAMILY! MOM DAD HIM AND HIS SON AND PARTNER!
The second bunch is at the church again. That is after district meeting. The islanders wanted me to jump in with them, so I thought a horsey back ride would be perfect. Then I'm holding Elder Koi...the biggest missionary in our mission.. 6'6..270lbs... big Elder.
Then The wood chopping one was a service. Everyone here runs off wood burning stoves and many of the members here don't have the funds to get wood, so the Elder's Quorum went out and chopped some wood. There is a picture there of two guys in highlight jackets. THATS D. AND HIS DAD they came!!
Then the last bunch was of an exchange. Elder K. is the Elder I am with on the beach. YES WE CAN GO TO THE BEACH. President Rudd (our mission president) said "we live on the most beautiful island, enjoy the beach you just can go past your knee line." Then the last picture of the beach is at 5:00 am. New Zealand is the first place the sun hit in the world so you have to wake up early to catch a sun rise.
The pictures are worth 1000 words. D. and his entire family came to church this Sunday. It was AMAZING to see them there! They are doing so well. In fact D. and his Dad helped us with service so that they could get closer to the ward! I think the pictures explain enough!
Love you all!
-Elder Gish
August 23
Kia ora whanau, tena koe e hoa!,
Well my family its been another crazy week! Sorry I have been pretty slack on my emails!
Nothing super spectacular happened this week.. a lot of appts. fell through which is hard when its so flipping hot here right now. I swear I'm on the verge of heat stroke.
Thursday was an eventful day. My companion and I were having a very hard day knocking on doors. When we went to knock on one door, we had to open up a gate and out of no where a pitbull comes after us and my companion hides behind me.... a flipping Tongan! That's like a bear hiding behind a rabbit. NOW before we go on you must know that my patience fuse and been used up and my side back wasn't on my shoulder, I was carrying it. So when the dog looked like it was going to bite, in comes Babe Ruth with a home run swing...knocked this
dog out. Luckily the person that lived there wasn't home to see this White guy knocking his dog out...probably not the best first impression! But the dog is okay!
But on to more spiritual sides to the mission! D. is doing great. It was stake conference this weekend, and he really wanted to come. Which was exactly what he needed. The main focus was on the importance of families, and the Restoration! He loved it and it reproved me a bit. As a missionary we want people to take to us, so we share usually The Plan of Salvation first...answering the questions of the soul like, Why are we here? Where are we going? Was I somewhere before? It talks about how families can be together forever which everyone wants to hear! But The reason why we are different, the reason I am where I am, is because of the restoration. God has once again called Prophets to the Earth, and along with it came Scripture, and Authority. It took a new spin for me and D. and so it was exactly what we needed to hear at the time.
He and is family are great. His parents moved out and want us to bless their home because, they were there when we blessed D's. and they said they loved how the house felt, and they want that!
Well that's all for now!
Arohanui!
-Elder Gish
