Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe we are actually full time missionaries. It's a dream we have had for many years. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to give back a little of what we have been so blessed with. How does the hymn go ? " Because we have been given much, we too must give." It is hard to be away from our family and the comforts of home. Who would have guessed that at our age we can still learn and grow & grow & grow, (both spiritually and physically). The work is wonderful; to be here to help and serve others and to forget about ourselves. That has been a bit of a transition but we're getting much better at it.
    Whew!! what a week.  I have so much to write I don't know where to begin. As I wrote last week, we have been called to bring the community together, to get the name of the church to be known among the citizens of Hope and to provide for the food bank. Our emphasis is on the food drive for the next two months. We met with the Grace Baptist minister this week. He has the biggest following of members out of the thirteen churches in our town. Our job was to get a meeting with him, become friends, and get him to have his congregation work along side our church members to benefit the community. So far so good.  We also have three other churches on board as well. We met with the town printer and asked him to donate the  printing the 3,000 flyers we need to hang on the people's doors. He agreed . Bam ! We have been to the city offices to acquire a map so we can plan out the individual routes for 7,000 people. Next up we need to attend the Hope city council meeting and present our plan. Onward, ever onward.
      It was a fun day on Thursday as we ground wheat and made five loaves of homemade bread. We delivered it hot to five non-members we are aquatinted with. Fun!!!
      For our District meeting this week we cooked a mexican themed meal and made a birthday cake for an Elder who is far from his home in Tonga. We all sang and he blew out the candles , it was a five minute party.
     Our non-member friends from Iran have a very nice dishwasher that doesn't work. They called the company who gave them the run-around & said they lived too far away to send a repair man. So we drove  to Aggissiz where I called the company and told them to send a repair man immediately. The warranty is out in two weeks. Fetima & Hussein have been unable to get help for several months. I think it's probably because they only speak broken English. The company is sending out someone next week. You can be sure we will be there to communicate with the repairman & make sure he fixes the problem.
        We engaged in another epic episode of which involved a dog, an 80 year old non-member, a bully, spies, a friend and the RCMP . That's the Royal Canadian mounted police. So the bully with threat, intimidation and brute force extorted and abused the elderly woman. He took her dog who is her sweet companion since her husband passed away. He wrote up a fabricated paper saying she gave the dog to him & threatened to turn her in for anminal cruelty if she didn't sign the paper. He took the dog, his toys, bed , food and all the vet paperwork and drove away. When we went to visit Marlene, our friend, she told us the story between sobs and uncontrollable tears. He told her: " you'll never see this dog again." So knowing our friend Betty is a detective incognito and understands the law here, we enlisted her help in retrieving the dog. She called the RCMP and reported the incident. They sent a policeman out to get the story from Marlene who could barley tell her side of the story because of the dept if her loss.  Three spies who work in conjunction with the bully live in the adjoining apartments in our fishbowl. They were peeking through curtains, typing out texts and whispering as the police came & went. Of course I was at Marlene's side during the interrogation interview and could see the spy activity as it was going down. The little cute dog named Ben was taken on Wednesday. The police, spy connection was Friday night late. By Saturday at 5:00 Ben is still missing and Marlene is talking incoherent and white as a ghost. The RCMP was going to find the bully, arrest him for elderly abuse and return Ben to Marlene. I'm afraid the spies tipped the bully off last night and he escaped with the dog leaving  Marlene inconsolable in his wake. We are praying for Ben's return, Marlene is praying for death of the bully.
       Sunday Stan is the sacrament meeting speaker along with the first counselor if the stake presidency. He is also playing the piano and I am doing sharing time and teaching a primary class. We love our little struggling branch. We can feel a wonderful spirit in our meetings each week. Last week the temple president and matron spoke. Durning the end of the temple president 's talk Marlene ,who was a church with us, said out loud " does he think he is a travel guide ?  Talk, talk, talk, ". Then she said :" if I was married to him, I'd get a divorce."  Non-members can be embarrassing. But we love her.
       We love our Heavenly Father, We love our dear Savior. The church is true. Always hold to the iron rod. Keep the faith and follow our beloved prophet to keep safe. We love you all.
        Much love,
         Elder & Sister Fisher