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