Bringing Christ back into Christmas.

Kia ora Whanua!!

WHAT A WONDEFUL WEEK. Christmas is upon us and with that we bring in the spirit of Christ. Or do we? I now realize more then ever, that we should celebrate the first and greatest gift ever, which is Christ. Rather then focusing on the new toys or new iphone 6?  (that's ridiculous we don't need 6 of the same phone) Those things get old and boring. They bring us what maybe 6 months of joy? Christ can bring us an ETERNITY of joy.. that's a lot longer then 6 months for you mathematicians out there.

To kick off that great spirit we had an awesome mission conference on Bringing Christ back into Christmas. We forget too often of what he did for us. That is what sadly enough gets put out of our sight by new gadgets. We need to remember the things He does for us and share that light. Sometimes the best gift is a smile to someone. REMEMBER WHAT COMES FIRST IN CHIRST-Mas

So The week was awesome! I love being here. I had a great privilege to go on an exchange with an Elder who has been having a hard time keeping his mind on the mission. So in the morning I told him "lets go to the beach for our studies today." He was so down. So we go. Now my Older brother Sam gave me this talk about "burning our boats". What the heck does that mean? Well back in the times of Vikings, when the Vikings went to war, they would burn their boats. They were totally committed to the task that was in front of them. The boat would have been a way to leave. But since it’s burnt they can’t. So I take this Elder and we do just that. We are at the beach, and we burn our boats. (its almost like I planned this or something.) Afterwards, he lights up. His boat has been burnt and he says.. "Elder I feel lighter.. what did you do". That my friend is the Atonement working on you. Tears came as we sat and talked. I have never been so privileged to be a servant of the Lord, to be able to help.

SO I WANT TO MAKE A QUICK SHOUTOUT TO MY MOM. She is turning 31 on Saturday. She is the best person ever. A true angel in these days. Mom I love you like crazy. You have always been there when I have needed you, and always have known what to say. Through funny and through crazy hormonal teenagers, you have been by there for me. I can’t imagine where I would be with out you.

I hope you all have a great week , and a very Happy Christmas..

ofa lahi atu

Elder Gish

No More Words in the Wind

Sorry. This isn't going to be a big long email.

This week was full of the Flu, cough drops and lemon drinks hahaha I got smacked by this flu and it knocked me down. But i decided to be like my dad and get up anyway and work. The week was awesome though! We decided this week to have an "Emergancy Missionary Meeting" with our branch to talk about making this branch a ward. I can tell you that the Lord was playing a huge role because when we came up with numbers that we wanted to accomplish we, all had the same numbers!!

We all have this vision that we want to accomplish, but unless we gave goal and have made plans to accomplish them, then they are just words in the wind!

We can do miracles!! 

So you all need to watch this video!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3897359657001

love you all!

-Elder Gish

Our Attitude Will Determine Our Altitude

WELL HOWDY HOWDY HEY!!! 

I hope that you all are having such an awesome week! I can not believe how crazy quick this week has gone! I am sorry that this will have to be a short email:/ got heaps to do!

SO Let me start by saying that I am so grateful for this Gospel. This Saturday we had such a powerful Baptism for this young girl who is only 9 and is just the sweetest little girl. She has such a great knowledge of the Gospel. Her mother is less-active and the father is not a member of the church. During the baptism the Spirit was so strong it was crazy. The mother came to church the next day and is so keen for coming back to church. Its amazing to see how our actions truly can impact those around us. 

The end of the year is upon us and as a branch we have a goal to get this branch up and running again. We had this big meeting about what we can do. It was awesome to see the goal and plans we have to make this branch better. Then out of the blue the Branch Pres. just says, "And Elder Gish will close us with a few words." WHATTT?! No warning. No subject…kind of a scary moment. I was scared.. i wont lie. But then the words came to my mouth, "Elders this will be the year we become a Ward" …Ummm, that’s not really something you say to a branch that was around when Moses split the red sea. But, then once that was said, the spirit came in and took over, and words just came with ease.. I don’t even remember what I said, but what it must have had the spirit of power with it, because people kept saying that they agree with what i said.

I Love having the companion of the Holy Ghost and having a God that truly does help all people. I dont know if i could do anything important with out The holy Ghost and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ directing my in all i do. With the right attitude we can accomplish great things.. Our attitude will determine our altitude! 

I love you all!!

hope your week is awesome

ofa lahi atu

-Elder Gish  

Always Find Happiness at the End of the Day.

What is up my Whanua!

I hope you  all have had a wonderful week, because I know that I have been so blessed this week!

First off. Taranaki is the flipping promised land. It is beautiful beyond comparison! I’ll be attaching pictures of how beautiful this place is. The culture is awesome! Its very heavily Maori influenced, so we get to have a great taste of original Aotearoa culture.

To begin.. our flat has more fleas then I think should be legal.. and they must be hungry because they pay $9.95 for an Elder Gish feast... and then we have to boil our water to drink it because its not the cleanest, and our shower has two heats: "Mount Mordor hot", or "I'm not hoping in that cold". !! HOW COOL IS THAT!! Talk about feeling rugged! It really is such a blessing to live in an area where we have a roof over our head. And this place is so amazing.

To begin.. our flat has more fleas then I think should be legal.. and they must be hungry because they pay $9.95 for an Elder Gish feast... and then we have to boil our water to drink it because its not the cleanest, and our shower has two heats: "Mount Mordor hot", or "I'm not hoping in that cold". !! HOW COOL IS THAT!! Talk about feeling rugged! It really is such a blessing to live in an area where we have a roof over our head. And this place is so amazing.

So this week was AWESOME!!! This Saturday the 6th we are having a baptism for a young girl we are teaching Rene. She is awesome! So keen on the gospel. And she will be a great addition in this branch. Then this amazing thing happened. We have found 3 young men that are keen az to be learning more about the gospel. Just randomly talking to them and they want to learn more! WHO SAID THAT THIS AREA IS DEAD!! cause it aint... it is kicking like crazy!! Its great to find success in this area! The work can be hard at times, but when things get hard, that means something great will happen soon! That is how God works... we don't stay in misery, we always find happiness at the end of the day. This Gospel is amazing and has blessed my life like crazy!

So a few more cool things!! The 7th of this month the church is doing a "youtube take over" for the entire day the church will be the only advertisements being used. So tell your friends to go onto youtube! It’s a great finding tool to help this work hasten! Please do that!

I love you all !

Have an awesome week!

ofa lahi atu

-Elder Gish

Everyone Can Be Influenced By the Holy Ghost

DUN DUN DUN!!!!! BIG NEWS !!!! ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!!! I was transferred this week!! Gisborne was so awesome! I am really going to miss that place, it was home away from home! But now I am in Taranaki! I have gone coast to coast for the slam dunk! Gisborne was the farthest East in the mission, Taranaki is the farthest South West. Needless to say this week I spent a great amount of time driving.  Taranaki is the promised land! Just in in case --Taranaki is pronounced ( Te-da-nah-key) I swear there is whole different language here! But anywho! this place is awesome! My companion is the bomb! Elder Otto, he is from Vanuatu. He’s so cool and carries the best spirit with him!

…Actually funny story about that. So most of this week was spent sitting and driving, and that’s nothing fun or exciting. Just getting numb legs and then stepping out of the car, and having gravity fight against you, and suddenly you’re on the ground...

Taranaki has a new zone Leader Elder Mitchell, who was my first Zone Leader when i entered the mission field so he and I are really close. So we were about 3 hours into our drive and Elder M's legs go numb so we pulled over to do a little sight seeing. Elder M steps out, and we all know how it feels when our legs go numb we need something to support us -- he uses the car. Little does he know Elder Gish is on the prowl ready to attack! SO I try to jump him. Elder M is about 6'5 so i have to get a good spring to tackle him and so i make my move.. And right as i go to Jump on him.. You can probably guess what happens.. He DUCKS!!! I completely miss him and go take a dirt bath.

ANYWAY!! ONTO THE GOOD STUFF!

Taranaki is the bomb. Unfortunately, it is still all branches, no wards. So the entire area is a district not a Stake. (and if your wondering what that is, Come to church one day!! :) )  So my new companion was saying how the work out here is pretty hard, and that there’s not much to do.  WHICH IS A LOAD OF JUNK Because a huge miracle happened! WE have a new set baptism set for the 6th of Dec. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!! The spirit was so strong in the lesson. And when the spirit says ask about baptism, I ask, with no questions. After Elder O was just blown away !! He asked how did i do that? I didn’t do anything, the spirit just asks and we do:) As we all should. All of us have that voice in us telling us to do the right, we just have to be willing to act upon those impressions! The scriptures say the Holy Ghost speaks to us in a still small voice! So if we are being drowned by other things we won’t hear it! All of us have that capability! Its not just missionaries! Everyone can be influenced by the Holy Ghost! 

I Love this work it is so awesome:)

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL

ofa lahi' atu!

-Elder Gish