The Lord is Always Standing By Us

Kia ora whanau!, tena koe e hoa!

I cant beleive its monday again.. I feel like i'm time traveling! the time is just going by so fast.

So it has been quite the week. But ill make this quick because of time:/ 

We had another chance this week to go on an exchange with MTC Elders. It was great to be with the same Elder, Elder T. Just in the week since we have seen him he grew so much! I gave him some advice of how to talk to strangers easier, and then the next time we go on exchanges he'll use it, but work on it in the MTC.  While we were out, man he was on fire! No person was passed without being spoken to. The confidence he had on knocking doors was amazing. Its amazing what we can do when we have the Lord's help. It reminds me that we shouldn't have any fear when we are on the Lord's errand. 

I want to share a bit on some studies I had that go perfectly with that experience. A scripture this week stood out to me heaps. Revelation 3:20

 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

The reason why I like this so much is because of one word " stand". It does not say "stood". The Lord is always standing by us. He always wants to come into our lives, and has never, nor will he ever give up on us and leave us. All we need to do is open our door to Him and allow Him to come into our lives. By doing so, He will change our lives for the better. The Savior loves us on a level that we don't fully understand, but we can know that He will never "leave us comfortless.' He is standing by us but we need to notice Him. I know that things are true.

Love you all!

-Elder Gish

Self Mastery is so Important!

Kia Ora Whanau! Tena A koe E hoa,

HOLY COW, WHAT A WEEK THIS HAS BEEN! 

Let me a start with a funny but awesome story, k? 

We were able to take some missionaries who are in the MTC tracting where we take half the day to let the ESL missionaries experience real missionary work. OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO FUNNY! I had this elder who was from Tahiti, Elder H., who is learning English. We went door knocking and I told him to show me what he had learned about door knocking at this door. So he goes up to the door all confident and then this HUGE Maori guy answers...and this poor elder.. just speechless...so scared that he passes gas hahaha! And he just looks back at me silently saying " help me!" So I go up. The guy at the door was so awesome, so humble and really wanted to learn more! Crazy, aye?

The week has been awesome! I am really loving it in this area. We have seen some pretty cool stuff happen. We went to contact a man Named T. He hasnt been too kind to missionaries in the past, so we were kinda hesitant about going over, but we felt that we should go. We went and this man was just so full of humility, invited us in and we taught him about the gospel. Afterwards he told us that he had been searching for someone to help change his life and he prayed, then we showed up! The Lord prepares his servants when they are willing to listen.

I heard an awesome quote the other day, 

" You can not say i am THY servant, until you can say I am MY master" so it made me think about our own self mastery. That we cant fully help others until we help ourselves. Its like on an airplane when the oxygen masks come down. We are asked to help our self first then help others. What good are we if oxygen masks come down in a spiritual sense and we deny them because we think we are helping others. If we don't put it on we may help one, but then pass out. But we can help more if we put that life support on. And that is true. I cannot fully help others come unto Christ if I am not there myself. It reminds me of a time in 7th grade when we were asked to do a task in PE. We were asked to climb this suspending ladder, with 5 foot gaps between each step.. My team didnt have the means or muscle to pull themselves self up. So I knew thatIi needed to be well supported enough on the step above them to help them up. We made it to the top as a team. I know that self mastery is so important! 

MASTER YOURSELF YOUNG PADAWONS

-Till next time

-obi one ka.. nah jk

Elder Gish 

P.S. these pics were taken by something called a SELFIE STICK!!! HOW FANTASTIC IS THAT? 

Organizing Ourselves

Hey everyone! 

So i am so sorry that i haven't done one of these updates in forever! So i made sure that i didnt miss one more! 

ALRIGHT SO HERES WHATS GOING DOWN. I have left Tauranga! This was probably one the hardest moves i have made so far. Man was that a great area! The people there (if your reading this) have been engraved into my heart. But now my heart is open to a new area! I got moved to Manurewa in South Auckland. Im so excited to be here, mainly because there is heaps of islanders here, and i just love them.. The down side to that is.. THEIR FOOD IS SO GOOD SO Good bye 6 months to sexy haha. 

But really is is such a privilege to be here. 

My new companion is Elder T. he is a Tongan (my 5th) and he has been out for 2 months. So i am follow up training him. He is great. That new missionary fire is contagious! In my new area there are heaps of islanders so usually they have an islander missionary, soo they aren't used to seeing a white guy hahaha. It's funny because i'll speak to them in their language and they are like "aye!! whats this palangi ( white person) doing speaking to us?!"

The other day as i was reading the scriptures, i was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 which says 

"Organize yourselves prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of Prayers, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order,  a house of God" I have read this over and over, until this changed for me. Organize yourselves stuck out to me more. In 1st Corinthians 3:16 we read "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the spirit of God Dwelleth in you" A temple is house of God, and our bodies are house for the Spirit. So when you read Doctrine and Covenants again, think of the house as in your body. And when we organize ourselves in these things, we become the house the Lord requires us to have to house His spirit more abundantly.

Love you all! 

Thanks for reading!

Ka kite ano

-Elder Gish

P.s Sorry no pictures...our house got broken into while we were gone, and someone needed my camara more then me! SORRY