Happy New Year  to you all.

Please check back on Tuesday morning for this weeks letter.

This is a wild mountain chicken we were given for Christmas.

It's tastes like Pheasant,

Does anyone know what they are ?

One of our Christmas gifts.

Today is Boxing day. A new Holiday for us. It began in Britain .

On boxing day everyone takes the empty boxes from the gifts they received at Christmas and fills them with food, clothes, toys and deliver to the poor and needy. Great Idea.

Marlene Cooked us a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Turkey with all the trimmings .

The mission president asked us to spend Christmas with someone who was alone.

Merlene's fabulous table setting.

Marlene and Ben

Jack's Christmas gift to us.

A French Canadian traditional pork pie.

Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas delivery.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All !!!

The following pictures are of part of our mission life.
First the three feet of snow we received this week in our rainforest where it Never snows.
The others are of the meal we enjoyed and the Iranian friends we partied with for Yalda celebration.
we're having a great time !!!

       What ????? Another week already ?   It's been a busy one. It was transport week again. We traveled to Richmond to safely help fourteen young missionaries return home in time for Christmas.  I got up early on Tuesday and made fourty homemade cinnamon rolls to take to the mission office. We helped prepare the "last supper " for the departing missionaries.  We enjoyed the meal in a separate room & then did the clean up. It's fun to see some of the missionaries we met when we first came out. One of them, Elder Tan , is from Singapore. He was our Zone leader for a time & came to Hope once a week for awhile. We really like him. When we would send pictures to his Mom, she invited to come & visit them in Singapore. Elder Tan told us he might be able to go to  BYUI; If he does, we will see more of him. Anyway, Tuesday evening we stayed in the hotel with the fourteen departing missionaries. We finally got to bed at midnight and got up a few hours later . At 3:00 am , we took half of the group to the airport . We keep them in a group, see that they are checked in and that their baggage is paid for. After that we went back to the hotel for an hour. At 7:30 am we took the second group to the airport as well. One in this group was our Stake Presidents' granddaughter.  That was fun. The first group had several different airlines & times to get to. The second group were all on the same flight going to Salt Lake City. I could just imagine the excitement and anticipation at the SLC airport that morning. It brings tears to my eyes whenever I remember the feelings of the day our missionaries came home. I look forward to that kind of joyful reunion magnified when I see Matt again. After the missionaries are safely going through security , we go back to the mission office to report & then drive back to Hope. It's a great assignment !!!
      Marlene's car battery died. Stan bought her a new one and did the "out with the old...in with the new "...process. She was so grateful. She came over to ask for milk this week. I feel so sad for her. We do what we can to help.
      We watched an Italian game show with Martin & Amelia. That was a hoot !  Amelia kept telling us to answer the questions.  "What was the question? " I asked.  We had grapefruit juice and frozen Apple something. It was good. She gave us a loaf of her home made bread. Yummy !
        Everyone told us it never snows here. We're in a rainforest. So last Saturday and Sunday it snowed and didn't stop. We had 60 centimeters of snow. That is equal to 26" or  2 feet.  Our branch president came and picked us up for church in his four wheel drive truck. The heat didn't work at the church either.  On Monday Stan shoveled snow most of the day. Luckily by Tuesday we were able to drive the 120 miles for transport.
        We enjoyed a very nice Relief Society activity on Wednesday night. Stan had a duel job, he was our priesthood representative and he played the eight Christmas carols we sang for the program. All  three of us sisters attended.  We all took appetizers to share so we had , bbq smokies, cheese & crackers & chips & salsa.
          On Thursday morning we woke up to frozen water pipes.  Well, the temperature was -17 celus. With a windchill of -24. Anyway our landlord called a plumber and two hours later we were back to the luxury of running water we so often take for granted.
        Tomorrow we are speaking in Sacrament meeting. Stan is teaching priesthood, playing the piano, & I 'm doing sharingtime. We love Sunday's because we can call all our kids each week.  It's so good to be able to talk to each one.
        Tonight we are invited to a "Yalda tradition "  with our Iranian friends, Hussain and
Fatima. I'll tell you all about it next week. We are taking  s'mores  to teach them one of our traditions.
      This Christmas season is the best. As missionaries we are really focused on our Savior, Jesus Christ ;  his life and mission.  It's a wonderful way to celebrate each day all we have because of his selfless love. We hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season. Here I have noticed everyone says : "Merry Christmas " because it's not a political statement right or wrong. It's fun that all our neighbor's in this fishbowl complex have given us a Christmas card. Even the pot smoking , living together apartment gave us a religious card about Jesus Christ. We hope you are all participating in "light the World " initiative from the church. It puts the extra special touch in our Christmas season.
     We love you all, pray for you , and hope your Christmas is Merry and Bright !

Love, Elder & Sister Fisher

At the temple last night.

Jack and his tree.

Our Christmas tree with Rebecca"s origami  stars.

At the side of the road in Hope.

This morning on our walk down the city street.

Today on our walk in the forest.

Along our walk.

In the forest this morning.

Beautiful river on our walk.

Fatima so excited; decorating her new tree.

Fatima's first Christmas tree.

    Put on the brakes...we're going too fast. We love being missionaries. It's hard ; but at the same time such a wonderful experience. So many opportunities and people we would have missed . We are already talking about our next mission. Well, actually truthfully, I am already talking. Stan is a bit more reserved.
      Today we went on our two mile walk through the forest in 6" of beautiful pristine snow. I guess it never snows here in the rainforest so everyone is bundled up in their houses. No one drives on the roads. Anyway, I took my camera so I could capture the most amazing beautiful sights. I will post a couple of pictures.  With all the coats I had on ; once I fell down, I couldn't get up. It was so funny I just lay there laughing. Stan was a little worried and backtracked to help me.  Yesterday it was -20 and today quite warmer at 15. It's a different cold here than Idaho because of the high humidity. Tonight we have Stake Conference at the branch on TV.
      Yesterday was amazing. We traveled to Langly for a seven hour Zone Conference. They are always a spiritual high. We had Elder Nattress from the Seventy come & teach us. Also our beloved Mission President and his wife. I'm good friends with the AP because he & I went tracting one day. He is Tongan & an amazing missionary. We will be taking him to the airport this week. We have transport so the faithful tired missionaries can be home for Christmas. Elder Asi promised he will invite us to his wedding. Awesome awesomeness.
     After the all day Zone meeting, Stan and I went to the temple. Such a great ending to the day. Except we had to drive almost 100 miles home on the Canadian freeway. That is a feat on a regular day. Last night there were cars in the bar pits, tow trucks flashing lights, police cars and a Jack knifed semi truck right in the road. I counted 12 cars off the road. We prayed & the Lord blessed us to arrive home safely.
    I got in the baking mode again and made 40 or so homemade cinnamon rolls. We delivered them to all the non-members we know. Oh, We also went shopping and bought two Christmas trees, ornaments, lights & more. We took one tree to our friend Fatima because she wanted a tree but her husband didn't agree. We had so much fun decorating together. I will post a picture. We took the other tree to Jack. He and I decorated it together. It really cheered him up. I keep saying :" this is a party Jack. Aren't you having a great time.?" he laughed and thanked us many times.
    I've been working with Brother Hara to help do Jack's family history. We were able to prepare 263 ordinances for Jack's family that needs to be done. If we can't baptize in Hope, we'll do the baptisms for those in the spirit world. We have much temple work to do now. I have learned to Love family history. It is a spiritual experience for sure. I am hoping Matt is teaching some of these people we are baptizing.
     I was asked to help with activity days this week. Six eight & nine year old children made homemade candy. Almond bark,  peppermint patties, and pumpkin fudge. It was a free for all. Although the leader had good intentions and we tried to keep their hands clean, it was for not. The leaders idea was to put all these candies in little gift bags to pass out after sacrament meeting the week before Christmas. I suggested she give the kids the candy to share with their family. She was not inclined to agree. So on the way home I gave Stan a "heads up " not to eat what was given to him.
    Stan has been shoveling snow all day for the people who never have snow on their sidewalk. Are you all doing : "Light the World " 25 days of Christmas ?  We are too . So fun ! We received a Christmas card signed by the first presidency too.  We put up a tree for ourselves. Rebecca made us many paper orgami stars, so it looks great.  I'm trying to be busy helping others be happy this Christmas  so I won't get too sad about not being home for Christmas.  But, this is our mission Christmas so we want to make it special too.
  The real reason for the season is our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. We are so thankful to celebrate this time for him.  He did for us what none of us could do for ourselves. How blessed we are !!
    We love you all and hope you are enjoying this Christmas season.

Love,
 Elder & Sister Fisher
   

This week has been so busy we  haven't had time to sneeze. We Love being on a mission. We are so happy we chose to serve the Lord..Every week just seems to get busier than the one before. On Monday  evening we joined about 100 people of the community to do an Avent Walk. I'm not sure if that is the country's tradition or if it's the many Christian demonatations tradition. Anyway, we walked through pouring rain, mud puddles and cold carrying a lantern. We stopped on our two hour walk at six different churches. Once inside the church, we listened to a ten minute sermon by the priest or pastor. Then we sang a couple of songs from their hymnals. So different from anything I've experienced.  They were :  Hope United Church,  Catholic,  Christ Church Anglican,  Hope Pentecostal Assembly,  Hope Harvest Church. We were two Mormons proudly wearing our missionary tags , amoung 100  "saved by grace" believers.  I couldn't feel the spirit in any of them. Our church was not in the event because the community believe Mormons have tails. Well ,we went amoung them to show them who we are & that there are Mormons in Hope.  We came home and had hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.
     We ate Iranian pasta with Hussain & Fatima.  It's  spegetti with chicken pieces, diced fresh tomatoes, limes,  carrots, and a very spicy sauce.  We also had spicy rice with little dark somethings which I couldn't recognize, yogurt, peach jam & goats milk.. But we loved the company. This week we are taking a 6ft Christmas tree and lights with decorations to suprise Fatmia. She really wants a Christmas tree but her husband says "look outside, there are many trees."
     One of our young missionaries had a birthday this week so when we made the dinner for the District meeting, we made him a Birthday cake with candles & a song. It's great to be able to spend sometime with the young faithful Elders. They are amazing.
     On Thursday we made an appointment for me & Jack to get some help at the family History center in Abbotsford which is an hour away each direction. We have set a Hope Brach Baptism day at the temple next Friday. The whole branch will be doing baptisms. I can't remember how long it's been since I've actually got in the water. Should be amazing.
      We had our Branch Christmas party this week. I started out volunteering to cook a 20 pound turkey. I ended up cooking two turkeys, making gravy, and tearing up six loaves of bread to make dressing for 50 people from scratch. We were also assigned to set up the tables & chairs & clean up. Most of the branch came which was only 20 people. One little family was missing. The best part about it was we had 7 non-members who attended. Fabulous.
       Today our non-member friend , Lucy, asked us to cook a Birthday dinner for a lady in our branch. She wanted it to be a suprise party so it was at our house.  We took Lucy to the grocery store as she wanted to pick out & buy the food so I could cook it. Party turned out great. Our plan went well & the birthday lady was very suprised. They have gone home now so Stan is preparing the priesthood lesson for tomorrow and I'm trying to put together a sharing time for the rowdy noisy primary kids.
      Oh, I did have a little fun with Marlene. I invited her to the birthday dinner. She came over early. I had a big roaster full of turkey bones I was cooking down to make "real" stock to freeze for later cooking. She & I were standing in the kitchen. I looked at her seriously and said:" Marlene, I am a witch and Stan is a warlock."  She just stared at me, didn't say a word. I opened the roaster and showed her it was full of bones bubbling. She didn't say a word. "This is what we do with people we don't really like " I said.. The look on her face was so funny, I just had to laugh & tell her I was joking.  I know that wasn't very missionary-like but the opportunity was there & I couldn't resist. I'll repent before I go to bed tonight.
     The new church intivitive "Light the World " is amazing. I hope all of you are participating. It's an amazing missionary tool. Also amazing for our families and personally as well. We are excited for the Christmas season and the real reason we celebrate, which is of course our Lord & Savior , Jesus Christ. We love him and honor him.
Merry Christmas to you all. We love you tons !

Sister Fisher........