Saturday, May 28, 2016

    It's been raining not stop for two weeks here in the rain forest but it doesn't hold back the missionary work in British Columbia.  Ahhh.
    I learned bears smell like skunks so you can tell when they are near. Speaking of bears, we were invited to dinner at the home of the bear & beet soup family. Low & behold, they served bear patties, fake pasta is a scary sauce & a weed salad. They have two dogs but wouldn't you know it,  they locked them in a room while we ate. I was going to feed them while I was there.
    We rented a U-Haul on Monday so we could drive to Chilliwack to pick up a very nice free piano. The Lord blessed us with another piano. Yes, that's two in four months. Our non-member friend in Agassiz wanted to learn to play the piano.  So we had the young Elders help us get the piano in the  U - Haul.  Stan drove it sixty miles to their home. I followed in our little blue car honking & waving as I drove. I couldn't help myself, I never get to drive here. We delivered the piano where they insisted we stay & have lunch. Fetima made a beautiful Iranian feast. I don't care for their food but they were celebrating a family birthday with chocolate cake , yummy.
      Would you believe the police here park their  cars and then stand in the median with a bullet proof vest & a radar gun pointed at the cars. When you get caught they don't chase you; they just wave you over as you spot them with the radar aimed at you. Sigh. They also drive around in unmarked cars the Canadians call "Ghost Cars ".
     This week we learned of some scary news. Our little branch doesn't hold any mutual ; instead they  send all the teenagers to the Baptist church for activities each week. We are in shock !!, we called the Mission President but are waiting to hear what he wants us to do. (They have been doing this for a year). The mission President's mother passed away this week. He has gone to the States so we will have to wait.
    We taught Tanna again this week. She doesn't want to pray or read the Book of Mormon or come to church, but she likes us to visit her.  She is a  published author but can't read. Is that even possible ?
    We had two appointments to teach Cindy but she re-scheduled both of them.
     We went to see Roy who believes God is love & that everyone goes to heaven not matter what we do in this life. Stan committed him to read the Book of Mormon. We are going "Nook-Shook " hunting with him on Wednesday morning.
       I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the Young missionaries & lunch for Distruct meeting. We also took a plate of cinnamon rolls to our investigator Christine for her daughters graduation.
      We visited the Italians, Martin & Amelia. We taught Martin the Apostasy & Restoration. The spirit was strong, he was very attentive. Then Amelia woke up from her nap, came in the room , slugged me in the face and claimed she loved me. "So good to see you my friend "; I love to have you visit " you could have fooled me.  Stan tried to finish the lesson , she kept interrupting, so we concluded our visit with a prayer.
      My friend, our hopefully soon to be investigator Lucy ,gave me one of her grandmothers'  bone china tea cup and saucer from England for my birthday. It's breathtaking & over one hundred and twenty years old. Stan persuaded her to let us give her a lesson.
      We drove the four hour trip to Langly Friday to the temple. We took Betty and also Jack with us. I just love love the temple. I hope to go back to working there when we get home. The pay is out of this world !
       Marlene  is coming to church tomorrow. We are so excited. It will be her second time.
     Oh dear, I was asked to lead the music at District meeting this week. I told the young Elder not only can't I lead the music but I can't keep time either. He smiled and said :"you'll do great ".  Well the song he choose was a six eight time. So I bravely stood up, smiled and waved my arm. It was a bit of a peppy song and I found that leading the music is a lot like writing in the air with sparklers on the 4 th of July.  Before I knew it all the young missionaries had their heads bowed and we're trying to sing amid the laughing. I may  have turned a circle or two & realized I had become a little dramatic with my hand sparkler and so quickly changed to a mere flag wave for the rest of the song. I really shouldn't be asked to lead. Some people are better left to humming along in a crowd.
     Everyday is an adventure on a mission. You never know what to expect. We would have not met these interesting people or had these experiences had we not come. We love our Heavenly Father and our savior Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is true. We have a living prophet. We are so blessed. We love our mission. We love you all.
      Love, Elder & Sister Fisher

Saturday, May 21, 2016

      
 my friend at the library.
                                           I'm getting the laundry done for Stan.
                                           Our Invitation board on the front window of our
                                          branch for the open house.
                                           At the Open House. Betty our Relief Society President far left.
                                         Shirley, our YW President looking at the blackboard.
                                             Our Branch President, Pres Moller.
                                              At the Open House.
                                    Sister Moller, the Branch President wife from Sweden &
                                        our Primary President.
                            we held a open house at our Branch. Two days of being there waiting
                             for someone to come. On Saturday afternoon, a family of four came.
                             That's all.
Singing in the rain......we're singing in the rain....we live in a beautiful rain forest. I will try to post some pictures. Breathtaking.
       What a week !  We found out there is a witch that lives in our town. A real bonified practicing witch. Our friends told us about her, showed us where she lives, and told us not to knock on her door. She lives in a little green house with a white picket fence. It has creepy trees in the yard with brown vines that crawl up the sidewalk onto the porch. My friend, Betty, says she has a shack in the back yard . Betty went back there once. The room was filled with errey potions in jars and a pentagram painted on the floor.  Yesterday when we drove down her street I saw a white haired warlock.This town has everything.
        We had several teaching appointments this week.We met with our Italians, Martin & Amelia. We showed them the Vincenzo Di Francesca  movie about the Book of Mormon. Martin cried & wiped his eyes as he listened to the bells ringing in his home town of Sicily Italy. Amelia kept time with the music & sang to herself in Italian. The spirit was so stong, I wanted to reach out and touch it. They loved the movie so we gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon in Italian to read. Amelia always kisses me when we go there. This time it was more times than ever.
         We also went to teach Tanna but she only talked to us on the porch. She's supposed to be reading the Book of Mormon too
         We met a new investigator, Cindy Young. She is a widow, a weight trainer, a physical therapist, an aucupuncturist, a horse racer and has her 17 year old grandson living with her. She asked us a couple of interesting questions. "Tell me more about this young boy, Joseph Smith."  Also,  she has begun reading the Book of Mormon and so asked...." Where did Nephi get the steel to build the boat if it was before the industrial revolution ?" We have another appointment in a couple of days to teach her again.
         It was my birthday this week. Yea !  Fun day, many cards, well wishes, talked to all my kids and the branch Relief Society gave me a surprise birthday party. Stan took me out to dinner, sang to me & took me to my favorite store to shop. It was while shopping that I got the best missionary birthday gift ever !!!! A tall black man walked up to me & said : "I have seen you here several times. Today I have the courage to talk to you. " I smiled. "You know Jesus don't you ? Will you take me to your church this Sunday "?  I said "absolutely ".  I found out he is from Shrilainka living in Canada. He just converted to a Christian & wants to learn about my church. I was so excited, took his contact information & told him I would send two young missionaries in suits to teach him & take him to church. He is in Chilliwack not Hope so we can't teach him .  His name is Ronson Wijesekera. What  a great birthday present !
         Today we stopped at a garage sale where I bought 13 pairs of sunglasses. Why ? Well, we have this very irreverent primary. I've been teaching them how to be reverent in church & why. So I am going to have Stan remove the dark lenses from the glasses. Tomorrow I will tell the kids when they are reverent they earn a pair of reverent glasses to wear all during primary.  If they disrupt they loose the glasses. Ha. Great idea I think. We'll see how it goes.
          We love being missionaries...we love serving the Lord. Everyday is a new experience.
Oh,,, I have to tell you about a miracle. So Marlene (our non-member friend), told us she walked in the library the other day.She never goes to the library because we have a fun fun bookstore in Hope that sells books for $2. each. So she goes there. For some reason she went to the library that day. While standing by a shelf a book fell off. She picked it up & looked at it, checked it out and took it home. She read it in one day. It was "Heaven Is Here " by Stephanie Nelson a wonderful LDS mom. Marlene said she loved the book and it helped her believe in what we had been telling her about life after death.  Her husband died 3 years ago so she wants what we have. What a miracle. She doesn't have any faith so it will take time, fasting and prayers.
  We love our Heavenly Father, his son Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon and being missionaries. We love all of you too !
           Elder and Sister Fisher

Saturday, May 14, 2016

                                                 Our Branch President said this is a meals
                                                                    on wheels sign.
                                         Our favorite waterfall only 5 minutes from our apartment.
          Ninety degrees in May.  Beautiful flowers of every color you can imagine .  $167.00 ticket if you don't wear your seat belt.  $543.00 ticket if you get caught with a phone in your hand while driving . That's not even talking on it. $888.00 ticket if you get caught a second time. Your only allowed to drive in the fast lane if your passing someone. $167.00 if you run a yellow light & if you run a red light they shoot you ! Welcome to Canada!
          This week we found out why it takes so long for us to get our mail packages. They open every package at the border & then tape it up.  Unless they like it. Ha.. Really, every thing we have ordered or that you have sent to us in a package has been opened.
           I can wave at people walking on the sidewalk ; they look at me & turn their heads. Everyone here walks and long distances too. Elderly people ride in little motored scooters with a canopy on the top when it rains. People have garage sales with usually a whopping 5 to 10 items. My friend Betty likes to go. Actually this morning I got a cute lap quilt for early morning study & a little leather camel for my friend Marlene. She collects authentic items from Africa.
           Today I read the best article about "light ".  It 's called The Light Of The Perfect Day by Elder Larry R. Lawrence. March 2016.  He says..." When it comes time for each of us to be resurrected  if we have accumulated enough celestial light in our spirits, we will be resurrected with celestial bodies. "  Then he tells us how we can accumulate light in this life. Very very good.
            Interesting week. We went to Marico & Severia's home and gave a family home evening. They have a 7 year old boy & a 4 year old girl. They loved the lesson. We 've been to their home three times but have yet to teach them. They said they want to stay Baptist because they have friends at church.
            We saw Lucy and taught her the plan of salvation again. She cried with me when I told her about Matt and bore my testimony of how I have peace and hope because I know I will see & talk with him again. We 're working with her trying to teach her there is a God.
            We taught Tanna another lesson. It was uncomfortable. She was'nt wearing much. Her kids were home from school. One who was watching TV kept turning the volume up as we read verses in the Book of Mormon. The other one played loudly a computer game. As we were sitting at the kitchen table, the third child came by me & dumped something red and slimy ,soft ,squishy thing out by me. I shouldn't have looked...but I did &  promptly started gagging. It was raw liver or cow brains.  I held my breath...thought of lilacs and looked away. The setting wasn't ideal but Tanna did listen.
          Everyday is something new. Never boring, just an adventure always.
  We also met with Amelia and Martin, the Italians. We were able to get an Italian Book of Mormon for them. This week we are going to show them "How Rare A Possession. "
           When we went to see Roy this week we tried to teach him the plan of Salvation. He keeps saying "In my opinion " . He said organized religion teaches with fear. I disagreed and said we teach by faith.  He is an interestering man but has no faith; believes in God but no Savior, believes there is no hell. We all end up in heaven. Pretty lame thinking in my opinion.
           We love love love being missionaries. It's a growing experience in many ways. I have come to love my Heavenly Father and my Savior differently. I have learned to study the scriptures better & to pray more fervently. We have learned to spend 24 hours a day together. I appreciate the beautiful world the Lord has made for us because we are surrounded by breathtaking nature very day. We are so blessed. We love you all.
              Love, Elder & Sister Fisher



P.S.   We took Jack 2/half hour each way to get his patriarchal blessing. We had a zone meeting where Stan got to play the piano and I embarrassed myself. Stan hung a hummingbird feeder by the window where I study so I can enjoy the little wing whipping birds. It's all good.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

                                         Pictures of our beautiful Iranian feast Fetima made for
                                        for us & Laya when we took her to visit. She was very home-
                                        sick for her home in Iran.
                                          All of these pictures are of our Iranian meal.


                                         Fetima prepared us an Iranian meal. the next few pictures
                                         are that meal.
                                          Beautiful Laya. she met me in a store, came up to me and said:
                                      " You know Jesus Christ. Are you an angel ?(those of you who know
                                        me are laughing ?
                                                 My friends from Iran....Fetima & Laya.
                                                My "NookShook".   The First Nation people who settled Canada
                                        many many moons ago made NookShook people to direct the people
                                        coming behind them the way they should go.
                 
                                        This is Stan's "NookShook"  the Chinese (who actually is Japanese )
                                       man named Roy made for us.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

        I think each week has three Friday's at least. Every time I turn around it 's Friday & time to write. It's ok with me if no one reads our blog , it 's my mission journal . I will make a book of it when we return home.
         An interesting week for sure.
        We met a Chinese man named Roy.    He is seventy years old, sits Indaian style on the floor, and looks like Ghandi. He said his plants talk to him,.He believes in God but not in the Devil. He said God is great & would never make someone evil like Satan. When he first invited us into his home he gave us a Lindt chocolate truffle which was wonderful. I thanked him & told him I love chocolate so he gave me a bag of truffles to take home. Later in our conversation he told me how bad those truffles were for me, that he never eats them, and I would get diabetes . Needless to say I left them on the table as we were going out the door. When I told my friend Betty about them she said I should have brought them for her. Actually after a very discouraging couple of days I wished I had them myself !  
Roy said there is no hell. We live upon the earth then we all die & everyone goes to heaven. So I asked "What is our purpose on earth then ? " He just looked at me. He is an origami artist . His house is filled with beautiful folded items of all sorts, , birds,  octagons in numerous colors & sizes , flowers & one that looked like a flying saucer. He gave me a tiny set of orange balls with big loops attached. They were very tiny folded pieces of paper, very delicate. I told him I was going to loop them over my ears & wear them to church on Sunday &  so maybe he should come to church with us to see them. He declined. He makes people out of rocks and gave Stan & Me each one to take home. A funny thing he told us....he said I am flexible & Stan is not ! He has heard the Joseph Smith story & was given a Book of Mormon to read by other missionaries. Sigh....
        We had  a couple of appointments which fell through. We knocked doors and no one let us in. Tanna ,the author ,has 3 children & has never been married. When we went to teach her on Tuesday she was not feeling well.She was happy as she announced she was pregnant with #4.
         We saw Marcio & his family again. He didn't let us in this time. We were going to teach them what family home evening was. I had a  lesson prepared about honesty & obedience with these cute little spider people. We will try again this coming week.
         For Relief Society we hiked up to a beautiful waterfall. Afterwards we went to the Relief Society presidents home & roasted hot dogs over a campfire & laughed ourselves silly. Of course Stan comes to all these activities , I think he was memorizing poetry . I keep thinking I will loose weight on this mission but we are always eating with members & non-members , branch activities and truffles. Hmmmm.
             We were able to travel to the Vancouver temple again this week. So nice to be there. I love the temple so much. It's very small . They have probably 10 officiators in the entire temple. I believe we had 150 workers for each shift in Idaho Falls. They only have two sessions in the morning and one in the evening with nothing in between. Very different.
         We just found out in Canada you can get a ticket for running a yellow light.  Idaho Falls needs to adopt that rule.ha.
          I have found as we study each day a whole new world opens to us. The spirit can really teach when we are consistent & prayerful in our studies . I have learned many things, my testimony has been stretched and strengthened. We have been greatly blessed. Last week we went to Bellingham to get gas & groceries & to visit our investigator from Iran, Laya. When we went to the bank Stan left his credit card in the little vacuume tube and we drove away. We went to a store where I left my blue purse in the buggy as we walked out. Later down the road Stan missed his credit card. In a panic we drove back to the bank & inquired about it. The person right behind us in the drive thru saw it & turned it in. Relief & praise to the Lord. That would have been a lot of trouble for us. After that I realized I left my blue purse in the store buggy. We raced back to the store ( that's how we know about yellow lights ) to see if someone turned it in. Now mind you, we are not in Idaho any more. We're in the real world. However , the clerk saw my purse & put it under the counter for when I came back. BLESSINGS !!!
    We love serving a mission. We love the work. Our testimonies of the gospel are stronger than ever as we serve each day. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for the eight miracles that allowed me to serve a mission with my very own Honey. The experiences we are having each day couldn't be replaced. I miss our children & grandchildren but we know they are praying for us and that helps a lot. We love you all.  Hold tight to the Iron rod and don't ever let go. This is a scary world but we have all the help we need to make it through. Always always have faith & be unshakeable in your testimony of Jesus Christ.
     

Monday, May 2, 2016




                                      This beautiful scenery is 30 minutes from your apartment.



                                          This is White Rock B.C.  named after this rock.
 
                                         We ate a lunch of Fish & chips  at a place called Moby Dick.
                                          We walked along the boardwalk & out to the pier.

                                                A blue heron on our visit to the ocean.



                                      At the Vancouver Temple with our friend Jack. We taught
                                      him the temple prep classes & then took him to the temple
                                      for his own endowment. He was thrilled. It took him 50 yrs.
                                 




                                             Tulip Festival in Abbotsford. So breathtaking.
                                         Abbotsford Tulip Festival. There were acres of tulips.
                                          Elder Fisher sharing the gospel with sponge bob.