Wow..Wow,...We have moved to our new area. We are still unpacking . It's hard to do because we are always out & about. When we do get home we fall into bed. But Oh, we love being missionaries.
Our new assignments for this area are :
We are part of the mission office staff. So we are on call day & night for what the Mission President needs.
We still do the transports of driving a big 15 passenger van, taking the missionaries to & from the airport & ferries. We take them for Transfers and also for MLC meetings.
We help the office people with the preparation, serving, and cleaning up of the certain meals they serve for the special events for our young missionaries.
We also work with a set of young Elders and a set of Young Sisters. We can go on splits with them or help with teaching appointments as they need.
We teach an English class to the Chinese people twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.
We have a scripture study on Tuesday morning with the awesome office staff.
We are assigned to the Richmond 1st ward. It's geography is the same size as the Gilbert Arizona Mission. There are 400 people in the ward list. Around 60-100 come to church on Sundays. Our calling is to go out and find the lost sheep and bring them home. So when we're not doing one of our other assignments we are to be out finding. We have had some amazing experiences with that. Last week we found a sweet older Chinese woman who hasn't been to church for many years . She has a real rabbit who runs around her house. "Boho" chews everything like a little mouse. He is not potty trained and doesn't talk so I don' think he's a very good pet. Sister Fan is hiding him out as her apartment doesn't allow pets. She was very interesting . She has about 1,000 books arranged around her living room, ; each has colorful Chinese writing . They are very decorative. She gave us a drink of boiling water and some weird kind of cracker. When I told her we were going to teach an English class and We didn't know Chinese she offered to come help us teach. She also said she will teach me Chinese. The one phrase she taught us was : "Judy Food". That's how to remember it but not how to pronounce it. It means :"I wish you luck ". She also promised she will start coming back to church. And she gave me a gift of a real crystal hand-tied bead necklace that is purple and means love & wisdom. It has a wee hand crocheted flower on it. Beautiful.
Another family we met was from Tonga & Fuiji. There are 10 people in the home. There is a 94 year old great grandma, a grandma, her two daughters. One daughter is married to a non member and they have two boys, 3 and 2. The other daughter is divorced and has three children.The mother & two daughters are less active members. They said they would come to church when we invited them.
We'll see. We had great visits with both of them. This is finding I love it. It's so fun !
Elder Fisher & I have concocted a secret code for our transfers. Actually a couple of young Elders helped me think it up. So when we do transfers, Stan drives around in the big van so he doesn't have to park. Parking is crazy. It costs $13.00 for every 5-15 minutes. And finding the level you parked on is a nightmare. Vancouver is a gigantic airport. So I go in the airport with my phone and Stan keeps moving. I call him if the flight has been delayed and when I see the Elders or Sisters we are to pick up. Then he can time it so he drives up to the door just when they have picked up their baggage. So the fun code is: "operation young cargo."
"two in the sights"
"four coming down the barrel ." It's so fun now.
We attended a Zone Conference. What a spiritual high . It's a long meeting, 6 hours but when it ends everyone just sits there because we don't want to walk away from the wonderful spirit that is there.
We must get out the door. Missions are an indescribable experience. We love you all.
Have a great week,.Share the joy of the gospel with someone.
Elder and Sister Fisher
Monday, February 27, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
What a week !!!!!!! We so love our mission. This week we received a mission transfer from Hope where we've been for a year to Richmond BC. We moved from the mountain forest where bears & Cougars run free in town to Richmond a huge concrete city of skyscrapers, millions of people and mostly Chinese writing on all the stores & buildings. We are so excited for our new assignment from the mission president. Our assignment is:
Be part of the office staff...on call all days & nights.
Help with young missionaries meals for MLC and comings & goings (new &old).
Still transport the missionaries comings & goings from ferry to airport and back. Staying in a hotel the night new missionaries arrive , also the night old missionaries return home.
We are also assigned to a ward. The boundaries are the size of the Gilbert Arizona mission. It's huge. Most of the ward members are inactive. So we are to find the loss sheep and lovingly bring them back to the fold. Last night we had dinner with our mission president and his wife. It's so wonderful.
Leaving our dear friends in Hope was so hard. It's been home to us for a year. Many tears were shed. We tried to box & pack for the same three days we trained the new couple taking our place in Hope. They expected us to cook all their meals too. We are exhausted. ( I feel old ).
I have so much more to say but we're at the church using their wifi and we need to leave. We have been off the grid for five days. That is really hard. We have had some really neat experiences to share and also all about our new apartment. Later I guess.
We love you all, we love the gospel, we love our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ who is our Savior.
Please stay tuned... More to come...
Our Bishop in Idaho said our homecoming talks will be on Sunday August 13 th ...so please put that on your calendar. Time is going too fast !!!!
Elder & Sister Fisher
Be part of the office staff...on call all days & nights.
Help with young missionaries meals for MLC and comings & goings (new &old).
Still transport the missionaries comings & goings from ferry to airport and back. Staying in a hotel the night new missionaries arrive , also the night old missionaries return home.
We are also assigned to a ward. The boundaries are the size of the Gilbert Arizona mission. It's huge. Most of the ward members are inactive. So we are to find the loss sheep and lovingly bring them back to the fold. Last night we had dinner with our mission president and his wife. It's so wonderful.
Leaving our dear friends in Hope was so hard. It's been home to us for a year. Many tears were shed. We tried to box & pack for the same three days we trained the new couple taking our place in Hope. They expected us to cook all their meals too. We are exhausted. ( I feel old ).
I have so much more to say but we're at the church using their wifi and we need to leave. We have been off the grid for five days. That is really hard. We have had some really neat experiences to share and also all about our new apartment. Later I guess.
We love you all, we love the gospel, we love our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ who is our Savior.
Please stay tuned... More to come...
Our Bishop in Idaho said our homecoming talks will be on Sunday August 13 th ...so please put that on your calendar. Time is going too fast !!!!
Elder & Sister Fisher
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Elder Melua is a missionary from Koko Polan, a small island out in the ocean near the Phillipines.We had the great blessing of spending a few hours with him during our transport week. He was going home after completing two honorable years in the Vancouver Canada mission. At the age of 16 he left home to take care of himself. He is a hunter and fisher by trade. He hunts wild pigs by chasing them, throwing them on the ground, they tying theirs legs together like a cattleman ropes a calf. He then sells them at the street market. He goes fishing at midnight with a spear and a flashlight. He fishes out in the ocean to catch, eels, octopus, small sharks, and blow fish. When he sees one with his flashlight he spears them. I asked him about sharks. If he sees a big one , he swims away as fast as he can. After a night of fishing he cleans the fish and takes them to the market by 5:00 am so people can buy fresh fish for breakfast. He rents a little house and lives alone. One day the missionaries knocked on his door. They did'nt know his language. He said he couldn't understand anything they said but the Holy Ghost as with him and taught him. He was baptized two weeks later and a missionary in a suit & white shirt one year later. Just amazing.
This week was transport week so we were in Richmond Monday through Friday working hard with only two to three hours of sleep a night. Whew ! We also received a transfer from the mission president. We will be leaving our little Hope where we have spent a year to go to Richmond, the headquarters of the mission. Our assignment will be to work in a ward where 80% of the members are in in-active. We will find them and bring them back to the fold. We will also still be doing transports every two weeks. It will be like starting a new mission. Hope and Richmond are opposites.
Today we are meeting the new couple that will take our place in Hope. We are feeding them dinner and then we will have them with us Monday through Thursday. The president wants us to keep them busy every minute . My question is : how will we pack and clean so we can move on Thursday?
I'm adding a few pictures of even more snow and freezing rain that appeared this week.
We enjoyed so many beautiful spiritual experiences this week. Unbelievable. What a great opportunity to serve a mission. It's more than I could have dreamed. Please share the happiness of the gospel with everyone you know.
Lots of love,
Elder & SisteR Fisher
This week was transport week so we were in Richmond Monday through Friday working hard with only two to three hours of sleep a night. Whew ! We also received a transfer from the mission president. We will be leaving our little Hope where we have spent a year to go to Richmond, the headquarters of the mission. Our assignment will be to work in a ward where 80% of the members are in in-active. We will find them and bring them back to the fold. We will also still be doing transports every two weeks. It will be like starting a new mission. Hope and Richmond are opposites.
Today we are meeting the new couple that will take our place in Hope. We are feeding them dinner and then we will have them with us Monday through Thursday. The president wants us to keep them busy every minute . My question is : how will we pack and clean so we can move on Thursday?
I'm adding a few pictures of even more snow and freezing rain that appeared this week.
We enjoyed so many beautiful spiritual experiences this week. Unbelievable. What a great opportunity to serve a mission. It's more than I could have dreamed. Please share the happiness of the gospel with everyone you know.
Lots of love,
Elder & SisteR Fisher
Sunday, February 5, 2017
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Relief Society Latin Night. |
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Olaf |
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Driving on the dangerous freeway.We saw five ambulances, several rollovers and watched a pickup hit a small compact car as they both fell down the embankment.We prayed all the way home. |
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This morning outside our front door. |
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Today out the back door. |
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More snow here in the rainforest where it does't snow. |
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Our car is in there somewhere. |
Good Sabbeth morning. Our church was canceled today. We have three feet of "new "snow. Our little blue car just can't plow through that much snow. The branch president said it's too unsafe for anyone to drive to church today. Yesterday Stan spent all day shoveling snow for many people. He is healthy as a horse so he can shovel circles around the people in our branch and our non member friends. Looks like he'll be out shoveling again today as well.
We are assigned to travel to Richmond on Monday morning and will stay in a hotel there for three nights and drive back to Hope late Thursday evening. It will be a great week if we can maneuver through the snow. I don't drive in the snow anymore. I had too many experiences of knocking over stop signs, hitting park cars, landing in ditches ; not to mention doing 180's on the freeway.
This week was phonominal . So many wonderful experiences. On Monday it was our turn to host Family Home Evening for the elderly. We packed twelve adults into our tiny apartment. We served Ham, funeral potatoes, corn, fresh green beans, rolls, green salad and cinnamon cake for dessert. Stan taught a wonderful lesson. After that we talked and laughed. It was a great evening. Tuesday we traveled the six hours to go to the temple with our zone missionaries. I love the temple so much . I really hope to go back to serving in Idaho Falls when we get home. Wednesday again we did the six hour trip . This time we took our friend Jack. We were able to accomplish 30 sealings for his family so he took us to lunch. They have the real "fish n chips " from England. Really yummy. We went to Agazzi to visit our Iraian friends, Fatmia and Hossian. We love them so much.
We had dinner with Lisa Tates and her family on Thursday. I learned to make some gluten free recipes to share with them We are teaching Lisa the temple preparedness classes and trying to activate her husband Mike. Both are doing well. Mike even came to church last Sunday and stayed all three hours. Yippee!!!
On Friday we drove to Abbotsford to attend a three 1/2 hour zone meeting. It was one of those meetings where the spirit was so strong that after the closing prayer everyone just sat there. No one wanted to leave. It is amazing to see the strength, the leadership, the solid testimonies of these young missionaries. I am in awe. No worries for the future with these kind of young people at the helm. Two of the elders sang : "Lead Kindly Light " in the most beautiful harmony I have ever heard. I tried so hard not to cry that I gave myself a headache. I finally gave up and sobbed using all the Kleenex I keep in my boot so I don't have to use the end of my skirt to blow my nose. I love those kind of meetings...the peace, the joy, the testimony just elevate us to a higher plain. It's a feeling we would love to feel forever. I guess that's what Heaven truly is.
We love love our mission. We are so excited to be here. We love the work, the young missionaries, our non members friends, the gospel and most of all our Savior , Jesus Christ. He is the reason we are here. We love him and want to show him how much by serving a full time mission. Oh, what a blessing it has been. I have learned so much ! Tons of experiences, blessings, miracles, new people,
It's awesome awesomeness for sure. We teach repentance, practice repentance, testify of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and the wonderful plan of happiness. How blessed we truly are.
Lots of love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
Vancouver Canada Mission
We are assigned to travel to Richmond on Monday morning and will stay in a hotel there for three nights and drive back to Hope late Thursday evening. It will be a great week if we can maneuver through the snow. I don't drive in the snow anymore. I had too many experiences of knocking over stop signs, hitting park cars, landing in ditches ; not to mention doing 180's on the freeway.
This week was phonominal . So many wonderful experiences. On Monday it was our turn to host Family Home Evening for the elderly. We packed twelve adults into our tiny apartment. We served Ham, funeral potatoes, corn, fresh green beans, rolls, green salad and cinnamon cake for dessert. Stan taught a wonderful lesson. After that we talked and laughed. It was a great evening. Tuesday we traveled the six hours to go to the temple with our zone missionaries. I love the temple so much . I really hope to go back to serving in Idaho Falls when we get home. Wednesday again we did the six hour trip . This time we took our friend Jack. We were able to accomplish 30 sealings for his family so he took us to lunch. They have the real "fish n chips " from England. Really yummy. We went to Agazzi to visit our Iraian friends, Fatmia and Hossian. We love them so much.
We had dinner with Lisa Tates and her family on Thursday. I learned to make some gluten free recipes to share with them We are teaching Lisa the temple preparedness classes and trying to activate her husband Mike. Both are doing well. Mike even came to church last Sunday and stayed all three hours. Yippee!!!
On Friday we drove to Abbotsford to attend a three 1/2 hour zone meeting. It was one of those meetings where the spirit was so strong that after the closing prayer everyone just sat there. No one wanted to leave. It is amazing to see the strength, the leadership, the solid testimonies of these young missionaries. I am in awe. No worries for the future with these kind of young people at the helm. Two of the elders sang : "Lead Kindly Light " in the most beautiful harmony I have ever heard. I tried so hard not to cry that I gave myself a headache. I finally gave up and sobbed using all the Kleenex I keep in my boot so I don't have to use the end of my skirt to blow my nose. I love those kind of meetings...the peace, the joy, the testimony just elevate us to a higher plain. It's a feeling we would love to feel forever. I guess that's what Heaven truly is.
We love love our mission. We are so excited to be here. We love the work, the young missionaries, our non members friends, the gospel and most of all our Savior , Jesus Christ. He is the reason we are here. We love him and want to show him how much by serving a full time mission. Oh, what a blessing it has been. I have learned so much ! Tons of experiences, blessings, miracles, new people,
It's awesome awesomeness for sure. We teach repentance, practice repentance, testify of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and the wonderful plan of happiness. How blessed we truly are.
Lots of love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
Vancouver Canada Mission
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