As I write this morning, I am at church an hour early. Stan has early meetings now that he is in the branch presidency. So I will write the week's letter while I wait.
Oh, the Love our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ have for us is more than we can comprehend. We have see so many tender mercies, blessings and miracles. This week was an awesome spiritual high. We were only in Hope one day this entire week. Tuesday we traveled to a specialized training with the mission president & his wife. Also the Assistances .It lasted for six hours. We learned amazing things. The spirit filled the room. Wednesday, we traveled to a world wide full time missionary training from the apostles. Wow ! That was a testimony building experience.
Wednesday was also Marlene's 79th birthday so we took her out to dinner. She loved the time we spent listening to her. She ate about two bites of her meal. When the chocolate cake, whipped cream with chocolate syrup and ice cream came , she didn't miss a drop. It was fun. Thursday we traveled to the mission office in Richmond for two days. It's great to be around the office staff and all the young missionaries as we transport them to the airport and back. We also help with the meal preparations and clean-up. The days are long and we return home exhausted but we love every minute of it. Saturday was the Chinese New Year. Because Richmond is 93% Chinese, we wanted to stay there for the huge celebration...but we had to come home. Bummer !!!
Oh on Monday we had family home evening with our young at heart group. Betty made spegetti and served our plates. Everyone got a mountain of spegetti with enough to feed six hungry people. What is the proper thing to do in that situation ? Eat what was on your plate til your busting at the seams or leave 3/4 on your plate and offend the cook ? I was sick all night. Tomorrow is our turn to host 12 adults for dinner in our tiny apartment. That should be fun. One interesting fact here, Canadians think anything made in a casserole dish is "lazy cooking ". I'm making spiral ham, potatoes au-graten and Vegetables other than Brussels sprouts. I'm a lazy cook I guess.
This week will be a little lighter on the travel. We're looking forward to going to the temple with our zone on Tuesday. I love the temple so much. Another zone meeting on Friday and a Senior couples party in Richmond on Saturday. Missions are more fun and more work than I could have imagined. There is so many blessings and opportunities, I just wouldn't want to miss.
I'll share a couple of thoughts from this week.
"Always be in GPS range of your Heavenly Father . Think about your day yesterday. If God wanted to tell you something by the still small voice... Was your day so that you could hear it ?"
We love being on a mission. It's an amazing experience.
We love you all. Stay faithful and endure to the end. The best is yet to come.
Elder & Sister Fisher
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Good morning this cold beautiful Sabbeth day,
We are still serving in Hope British Columbia. We love being missionaries and serving in Lord in whatever we can do. Stan is the first counselor in the branch presidency now. He loves to conduct sacrament meeting. He also loves to play the piano. Today he will be conducting, so he will play the prelude, move to the podium to open the meeting, move back to the piano to accompany the opening hymn and back and forth for the entire meeting. If it's not too irreverent to think...it's quite entertaining. Today both Stan and the branch president are speaking. On the other hand I will only be doing sharing time and the nursery for primary. We only have seven hours at the church today. Missions are wonderful !
As missionaries , we are studying the attributes of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are assigned one attribute per day to study and learn from the Savior how we can have that attribute a part of our life.
It's an amazing experience, you should do that too, for you. One thing I have learned on this mission is the unbelievable love our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have for us. How truly kind they are and how they care about "the one". Elder Bednar recently wrote a song about "the one". It is beautiful. You can look it up on the computer.
On Wednesday of this week we have the special opportunity to travel to a world-wide missionary broadcast from the first presidency only for full-time missionaries. Our president Burt told us "it will be life changing". We are so excited to be a part of that; to see what we can learn at the feet of a true and living prophet of God.
We are so blessed and happy to be serving a mission in this window of time. The weeks fly by. I try not to dwell on family and home. That's not a good idea. I am learning to "live in the moment" and appreciate where we are and the many opportunities before our face.
We love our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. We love the gospel and it's message that "families can be forever". Being away for so long has taught us how important that concept really is. We know the church is true. We know Joesph Smith is the prophet of the restoration and that he did see our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. We know the Book of Mormon is true. We are on our third time on reading it all the way through on our mission. What a great blessing that has been. We love you all so much ! Don't ever give up on keeping the commandments; they will keep you safe. Have a wonderful week.
So much love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
We are still serving in Hope British Columbia. We love being missionaries and serving in Lord in whatever we can do. Stan is the first counselor in the branch presidency now. He loves to conduct sacrament meeting. He also loves to play the piano. Today he will be conducting, so he will play the prelude, move to the podium to open the meeting, move back to the piano to accompany the opening hymn and back and forth for the entire meeting. If it's not too irreverent to think...it's quite entertaining. Today both Stan and the branch president are speaking. On the other hand I will only be doing sharing time and the nursery for primary. We only have seven hours at the church today. Missions are wonderful !
As missionaries , we are studying the attributes of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are assigned one attribute per day to study and learn from the Savior how we can have that attribute a part of our life.
It's an amazing experience, you should do that too, for you. One thing I have learned on this mission is the unbelievable love our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have for us. How truly kind they are and how they care about "the one". Elder Bednar recently wrote a song about "the one". It is beautiful. You can look it up on the computer.
On Wednesday of this week we have the special opportunity to travel to a world-wide missionary broadcast from the first presidency only for full-time missionaries. Our president Burt told us "it will be life changing". We are so excited to be a part of that; to see what we can learn at the feet of a true and living prophet of God.
We are so blessed and happy to be serving a mission in this window of time. The weeks fly by. I try not to dwell on family and home. That's not a good idea. I am learning to "live in the moment" and appreciate where we are and the many opportunities before our face.
We love our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. We love the gospel and it's message that "families can be forever". Being away for so long has taught us how important that concept really is. We know the church is true. We know Joesph Smith is the prophet of the restoration and that he did see our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. We know the Book of Mormon is true. We are on our third time on reading it all the way through on our mission. What a great blessing that has been. We love you all so much ! Don't ever give up on keeping the commandments; they will keep you safe. Have a wonderful week.
So much love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
Saturday, January 14, 2017
There goes another week for our history book in Canada. Another week of snow and below zero temperatures. We did have the opportunity to enjoy a little sunshine when we drove from our little Hope ,in the shade of the towering mountains , to the big city of Abbotsford. It was actually sixteen degrees warmer there as well. We traveled to Bellingham for Stan a dentist appointment and to buy groceries & gas that was affordable. Gas in Canada is now $1.30 per Liter. That's about $4.70 a gallon. Cheese is $12.47 a pound...we buy it in Bellingham for $3.60 a lb. It's a bit of an ordeal to cross the border back & forth. Our little blue car has our Idaho license plate. When we go through the border gate, they always ask : "where is Home ? Stan answers :" Hope". Then there is a big explanation if we live in Hope why do we have an Idaho plate ? Then we have to explain we are missionaries .All the while the officer is glaring at us, looking in our car, while wearing a gun, badge, bopping stick & handcuffs. So far so good. We haven't been searched yet.
We had a magnificent Zone meeting this week. In Abbotsford again. There's not much in Hope. It's wonderful to be a missionary , to wear a name tag everyday being examples for Jesus Christ. Stan has a hard time remembering to put on his tag so I put a couple of extra ones in the glove compartment (or jockey box if your from Idaho) of the car. Like my glasses; my tag is the first thing I put on in the morning and the last to take off at night. I've been known to sleep with mine.
We took our dear eighty year old friend , Lucy , to Chillwack for the day Thursday. We found her an amazing cane so Stan bought it for her. Lucy doesn't need a cane to walk, she collects them, and uses them when she goes places for "old lady effect". It works, everyone opens doors for her and let's her be first in line. I love her. She is hilarious. She walks along really slow and wobbly as she says :" oh boy...oh boy....oh boy". She collects canes with character, like wood carved or wood hand painted ones. "They are conversation starters " she says. People always stop and talk to her. We took her to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. She's a vegetarian who loves Chinses food. I spilled a little lunch on my white blouse and she announced in a very loud voice :" We can't take you anywhere ". People stared.
We have been helping Jack, an elderly man in our branch , do his family history. He waited fourty years to go to the temple. So now we want to help him with temple work. We set up a Hope Branch baptistry date for Friday. He took sixty names to be baptized and confirmed. We have five youth in our branch , however, only two went to the temple with us. So Stan and I both got baptized. I don't know about Stan, but I haven't done baptisms for the dead since I was a teenager. I don't like water, even a little bit. I made the man baptizing me promise not to leave me under the water. First they asked me to do 22 names. I gasped... and started to cry so they gave me only fifteen. Even though it was a fearful event, it was a joyous occassion. The branch was able to complete all 120 ordinances for Jack's family. He was a witness as he is unable to be proxy. Another sister from the branch had twenty names as well.Two of the names where mine from the Widmer side of our family. It's always awesome to be in the temple.
I was asked to help with Activity days this week. My mind said : "Say no ". I didn't listen. It turned out to be a disaster. In this little branch they don't have cub scouts so the 8-11 year old boys are combined with the 8-11 year old girls. I gave myself permission that night before I went to bed , to say "no way " next time.
It was Stan's birthday this week. He still looks and acts like a 30 year old. He chose the menus for his meals all day and I made him a birthday cake. He even survived me singing Happy Birthday to him. He's a good sport. Although it isn't fair; he only has one birthday on our mission and I have two. sigh.
The mission President announced this week who our new mission president will be when he completes his mission in July. It is a member of the Seventy, Elder Chong. That will be great. I think all mission presidents must be great. Ours certainly is. We love him ! We probably won't get to know Elder Chong much because we will complete our mission in August.
We love being missionaries, we love the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love and miss you all. Be faithful every single day; that's happiness.
Love, Elder and Sister Fisher
We had a magnificent Zone meeting this week. In Abbotsford again. There's not much in Hope. It's wonderful to be a missionary , to wear a name tag everyday being examples for Jesus Christ. Stan has a hard time remembering to put on his tag so I put a couple of extra ones in the glove compartment (or jockey box if your from Idaho) of the car. Like my glasses; my tag is the first thing I put on in the morning and the last to take off at night. I've been known to sleep with mine.
We took our dear eighty year old friend , Lucy , to Chillwack for the day Thursday. We found her an amazing cane so Stan bought it for her. Lucy doesn't need a cane to walk, she collects them, and uses them when she goes places for "old lady effect". It works, everyone opens doors for her and let's her be first in line. I love her. She is hilarious. She walks along really slow and wobbly as she says :" oh boy...oh boy....oh boy". She collects canes with character, like wood carved or wood hand painted ones. "They are conversation starters " she says. People always stop and talk to her. We took her to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. She's a vegetarian who loves Chinses food. I spilled a little lunch on my white blouse and she announced in a very loud voice :" We can't take you anywhere ". People stared.
We have been helping Jack, an elderly man in our branch , do his family history. He waited fourty years to go to the temple. So now we want to help him with temple work. We set up a Hope Branch baptistry date for Friday. He took sixty names to be baptized and confirmed. We have five youth in our branch , however, only two went to the temple with us. So Stan and I both got baptized. I don't know about Stan, but I haven't done baptisms for the dead since I was a teenager. I don't like water, even a little bit. I made the man baptizing me promise not to leave me under the water. First they asked me to do 22 names. I gasped... and started to cry so they gave me only fifteen. Even though it was a fearful event, it was a joyous occassion. The branch was able to complete all 120 ordinances for Jack's family. He was a witness as he is unable to be proxy. Another sister from the branch had twenty names as well.Two of the names where mine from the Widmer side of our family. It's always awesome to be in the temple.
I was asked to help with Activity days this week. My mind said : "Say no ". I didn't listen. It turned out to be a disaster. In this little branch they don't have cub scouts so the 8-11 year old boys are combined with the 8-11 year old girls. I gave myself permission that night before I went to bed , to say "no way " next time.
It was Stan's birthday this week. He still looks and acts like a 30 year old. He chose the menus for his meals all day and I made him a birthday cake. He even survived me singing Happy Birthday to him. He's a good sport. Although it isn't fair; he only has one birthday on our mission and I have two. sigh.
The mission President announced this week who our new mission president will be when he completes his mission in July. It is a member of the Seventy, Elder Chong. That will be great. I think all mission presidents must be great. Ours certainly is. We love him ! We probably won't get to know Elder Chong much because we will complete our mission in August.
We love being missionaries, we love the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love and miss you all. Be faithful every single day; that's happiness.
Love, Elder and Sister Fisher
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Good Morning and Happy Sabbeth Day !
We love being missionaries....the days fly by. We are being called to help at the mission office more frequently. We helped with transport last week for three days and were called to go again Thursday & Friday this week. We drive the young missionaries to and from the airport; also to and from the ferry. It's great to be amoung the young army of the Lord. Between the shuttle service ;we are able to help the two senior couples in the office. They are becoming great friends. We also help the senior couple in the kitchen with the meals for the big missionary meals and the cleanup. Stan is an awesome dishwasher.
On Monday we attended the funeral of our Branch President's son. He was an outdoor, extreme sportsman. One time he was climbing a huge mountain near us in the winter. He was climbing a waterfall when the ice broke away. He fell 80 feet and crushed every bone in both his ankles. He crawled seven miles in the snow with two crushed ankles to get help. He had strength and stamina beyond belief. So four years ago he got cancer. He fought the hard battle as he did anything in life. In July the Doctor said he would die any day. He refused to give up. He willed himself to live. His family started a bedside vigil at his hospital bed. He was under hospice. But he set a personal goal to live until his next birthday. He passed away on December 28th which was his 43 birthday.
On Wednesday we had a most inspiring district meeting. The district leader invited two recently baptized members . They gave great ideas and told us of their conversation story. The Lord prepares people to accept the gospel. His timing is always right. We need to have faith in that timing. Being a missionary is a great blessing. To study everyday, pray continually, listen to the spirit and grow in so many ways is reason to be grateful for the opportunity to be here.
We love and miss you all...we are happy to be missionaries at this time. What a learning experience.
Have a wonderful faith filled week and remember to laugh everyday !
Love, Elder & Sister Fisher
We love being missionaries....the days fly by. We are being called to help at the mission office more frequently. We helped with transport last week for three days and were called to go again Thursday & Friday this week. We drive the young missionaries to and from the airport; also to and from the ferry. It's great to be amoung the young army of the Lord. Between the shuttle service ;we are able to help the two senior couples in the office. They are becoming great friends. We also help the senior couple in the kitchen with the meals for the big missionary meals and the cleanup. Stan is an awesome dishwasher.
On Monday we attended the funeral of our Branch President's son. He was an outdoor, extreme sportsman. One time he was climbing a huge mountain near us in the winter. He was climbing a waterfall when the ice broke away. He fell 80 feet and crushed every bone in both his ankles. He crawled seven miles in the snow with two crushed ankles to get help. He had strength and stamina beyond belief. So four years ago he got cancer. He fought the hard battle as he did anything in life. In July the Doctor said he would die any day. He refused to give up. He willed himself to live. His family started a bedside vigil at his hospital bed. He was under hospice. But he set a personal goal to live until his next birthday. He passed away on December 28th which was his 43 birthday.
On Wednesday we had a most inspiring district meeting. The district leader invited two recently baptized members . They gave great ideas and told us of their conversation story. The Lord prepares people to accept the gospel. His timing is always right. We need to have faith in that timing. Being a missionary is a great blessing. To study everyday, pray continually, listen to the spirit and grow in so many ways is reason to be grateful for the opportunity to be here.
We love and miss you all...we are happy to be missionaries at this time. What a learning experience.
Have a wonderful faith filled week and remember to laugh everyday !
Love, Elder & Sister Fisher
Monday, January 2, 2017
Whew...what a week. Happy New Year to everyone. We can't believe it's January already. We have almost been on our mission for a year. Time goes so fast in some ways. This week flew by. We drove to Rchmond to help with the missionaries transports. We were there for three days. Two of the three were sixteen hour days, from 6:00 am til 11:00 pm. We loved every minute. We drove through the concrete jungle from the mission office to the airport to send off departing missionaries and other trips were to pick up the arrivals. We also drove back & forth to the ferry. One run they asked Stan to drive the mission van while I was to take Sister missionaries in our car. I don't drive in Salt Lake because I get lost. I didn't want to drive in that kind of traffic (which is ten times worse than SLC ) but I couldn't say no. Stan promised to take care of me so I followed him back & forth. They don't have curb & gutter here so at one point I was driving on the sidewalk. One of the Sister missionaries with me suggested it might be better if I drove on the road.
On one of our trips we were transporting one Elder and three Sisters from a pick up at the airport to the mission office. The sisters told us that the Elder with us is an accomplished vocalist. So he sang all the way from the airport to the mission office. He had the most smooth perfect pitch accupella voice. He sang : Come Thou Font Of a Every Blessing.
How Great Thou art
Be Still My Soul.
I Stand All Amazed.
Nearer My God To Thee.
Lead Kindly Light.
I can't described the feelings I had, the way I felt in my heart, or the tears that fell. It was a treasured experience. Such a beautiful blessing , peacefully unassuming, unexpected, truly loved.
On the lightest day of the driving we were asked to help the office couples with meals. The office has two senior couples. One of them is a dear friend I knew from the pre-existance( she told me so ). She also is the cousin of Marie Osmond. The other couple, the husband sang in the Tabernacle Choir for twenty years & his wife has served on the Primary General board. They are both such a blessing to be around.
On the way back to Hope after our work there , we met with the Stake President. He called Stan to be the first counselor in the Hope branch presidency. He was sustained and set apart on New Year's Day. This is his third time of being in the Bishopbric. He's a good man.
We were invited to Lucy's for a traditional English New Year dinner on Sunday. We enjoyed Prime Rib, roasted potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, Yorkshire pudding ( which isn't pudding at all ) beets, fake champagne, and Tuxedo for dessert. There was China, Crystal, and candlelight. Everything was British prim and proper. After dessert I taught everyone how to play "what is it " and we sang in our Crystal champagne glasses for pretend microphones. I guess I'm not that prim & proper. We all laughed and had a wonderful time.
Today was sad. We drove to Chilliwack to attend the funeral of our Branch president 's son. He was 43 and just passed away from cancer. A beautiful twelve year old girl with the voice of an angel sang : " Going Home ". Both Stan & I cried like babies thinking of our own Matthew who has gone home. In Canada everyone brings fruit, small sandwiches, Squares and raw vegetables. Everyone who attends th funeral goes in the gym to eat and mingle. The first time I thought it was weird, but now it's comfortable and makes good sense as the family can walk around to talk with everyone.
We had a very special Mission Christmas. Sometime maybe we can share it with you. It's wonderful to be on a mission. We are so happy. I was so excited to go on a mission and now I understand why.
We just finished reading the Book of Mormon as a mission. So today we started at the beginning to read it again. What a blessing the Book of Mormon is. - we love our Heavenly Father. We love our Savior, Jesus Christ. We love being part of his army if missionaries. What a huge blessing and opportunity it is for us. Always keep the faith & endure to the end. It's so worth it. We love you all. Have a great week.
Love, Elder & Sister Fisher
On one of our trips we were transporting one Elder and three Sisters from a pick up at the airport to the mission office. The sisters told us that the Elder with us is an accomplished vocalist. So he sang all the way from the airport to the mission office. He had the most smooth perfect pitch accupella voice. He sang : Come Thou Font Of a Every Blessing.
How Great Thou art
Be Still My Soul.
I Stand All Amazed.
Nearer My God To Thee.
Lead Kindly Light.
I can't described the feelings I had, the way I felt in my heart, or the tears that fell. It was a treasured experience. Such a beautiful blessing , peacefully unassuming, unexpected, truly loved.
On the lightest day of the driving we were asked to help the office couples with meals. The office has two senior couples. One of them is a dear friend I knew from the pre-existance( she told me so ). She also is the cousin of Marie Osmond. The other couple, the husband sang in the Tabernacle Choir for twenty years & his wife has served on the Primary General board. They are both such a blessing to be around.
On the way back to Hope after our work there , we met with the Stake President. He called Stan to be the first counselor in the Hope branch presidency. He was sustained and set apart on New Year's Day. This is his third time of being in the Bishopbric. He's a good man.
We were invited to Lucy's for a traditional English New Year dinner on Sunday. We enjoyed Prime Rib, roasted potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, Yorkshire pudding ( which isn't pudding at all ) beets, fake champagne, and Tuxedo for dessert. There was China, Crystal, and candlelight. Everything was British prim and proper. After dessert I taught everyone how to play "what is it " and we sang in our Crystal champagne glasses for pretend microphones. I guess I'm not that prim & proper. We all laughed and had a wonderful time.
Today was sad. We drove to Chilliwack to attend the funeral of our Branch president 's son. He was 43 and just passed away from cancer. A beautiful twelve year old girl with the voice of an angel sang : " Going Home ". Both Stan & I cried like babies thinking of our own Matthew who has gone home. In Canada everyone brings fruit, small sandwiches, Squares and raw vegetables. Everyone who attends th funeral goes in the gym to eat and mingle. The first time I thought it was weird, but now it's comfortable and makes good sense as the family can walk around to talk with everyone.
We had a very special Mission Christmas. Sometime maybe we can share it with you. It's wonderful to be on a mission. We are so happy. I was so excited to go on a mission and now I understand why.
We just finished reading the Book of Mormon as a mission. So today we started at the beginning to read it again. What a blessing the Book of Mormon is. - we love our Heavenly Father. We love our Savior, Jesus Christ. We love being part of his army if missionaries. What a huge blessing and opportunity it is for us. Always keep the faith & endure to the end. It's so worth it. We love you all. Have a great week.
Love, Elder & Sister Fisher
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