I can't believe tomorrow is the first of May. what ? Where is the time going ?
We're spending a lot of time driving places, knocking on doors , hoping someone will let us talk to them. Sometimes we get lucky. They open the door , talk to us nicely and send us away. Occasionally we are invited in for a few minutes. we invite them to come back to church. They nod their heads and say:"yes, we've been thinking about coming to church. Maybe this Sunday." But they don't come.
Today we did have some investigators come. One from Greece, one from Egypt, one from Iraq. It's interesting how people from all over the world come to Canada in hope of a better life.
This week we attended the funeral of a 96 year old woman from Indonesia . She was born and raised there but when her two daughters were school age, the family moved to Holland so the missionaries could find them. They were all baptized into the church. At the funeral the daughters gave her life sketch . It was interesting and full of love for this woman who gave up her homeland for her daughters to find the church. It was an awesome funeral. It was 30 minutes start to finish. And so good because it gave us the biography of a wonderful woman who made a difference . The flowers were the most spectacular I've ever seen. Each bouquet had over a hundred flowers in it. They were breath taking. Then today , one of her daughters, Anjka, who is in our ward brought a bouquet to church. She told everyone to take a flower home in honor of her mother. I picked a huge lily with three big blossoms on one stem.
Also today we met the new senior couple who will be living in our apartment. They are from Canada and were just stopping through. They are so delightful, I wish we could serve with them. This will be their third mission. Each one has been for two years. They are so dedicated .
Both our English classes are doing well, the Chinese and the Arabic one.We are really enjoying the opportunity we have to teach. We love our students. On Friday we were able to go to the temple with our old branch in Hope . Lisa, a member we began teaching the temple prep classes to before we were transferred , received her own endowment . We were able to see our old member friends. But we miss seeing our old non-member friends from there. I think we will take a p_day and drive the four hours for a visit.
Our mission president is getting released the first of July. We are in charge of doing an open house for him & his wife. There will be two wards and three branches invited. That is going to be a huge undertaking. I am in charge of the food. We will have a new mission president for our last month here. He is from China, Elder Wong of the seventies.
The mission president gave a couple of new assignments as well. We are to transport the missionaries for three days next week for transfers, old missionaries going home, new missionaries coming in. We stay in a Hotel for two nights with the missionaries. Tuesday for the ones returning and Wednesday for the incoming missionaries. Also on Wednesday we are in charge of cooking a meal for between 30 to 50 people for the incoming missionaries. Too bad it's on a day when we have transporting all hours of the night and have about two hours sleep. But as Nephi said : "I will go and do ", we will as well. Our other new assignment is prepare a meal for 50 people once a month for MLC (missionary leadership council). These will be our added assignments for the coming months. Who ever said going on a mission as seniors is boring, are so wrong. But we love it. We love being missionaries. We love the work, the missionaries and the people we serve, It's all so good.
Have a great week. We love you all so much ! Keep the faith always.
love, Elder & Sister Fisher
Sunday, April 30, 2017
 |
On P-Day we went biking with our friends. |
 |
Sister Torman my friend. |
 |
This is our home in Richmond. |
 |
We bought a new suit for Elder Sarimento from the Philippines .He only had one suit . It had a hole in the back of his jacket. |
 |
How people live in Richmond. |
 |
Another day in English class. |
 |
Vancouver |
 |
We biked around the sea wall in the rain. |
 |
A beautiful sight on our bike trip. |
 |
The sidewalk to our church this morning. |
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Just an interesting day in the mission field. We were up at 5:00 am to drive the AP's to the airport for a zone conference. We came home & went for our two mile walk, then home to study. We made breakfast and took it over to the mission office to eat with the senior couples there .We love them. We made hashbrowns, sausage, vegetable & cheese omelets, blueberry muffins ,apple juice and a fruit plate. After breakfast we hit the road finding and visiting less actives. At one home the lady answered the door, scowled at us and stepped out on the porch. We introduced ourselves. She snapped :"I can read " pointing to our tag. She is a member who quit church because people are onery & mean. She believes in Joseph Smith but that's all. Finally she invited us into her home where her four barking dogs gave us each a headache. We invited her back to church. "That's never going to happen ", she told us. Mostly people don't let us in, but occasionally someone does.
We took a young missionary from the Phillipines & his companion shopping. The president said he only has one suit and it has a big hole in the back of the jacket. So we went to buy him a suit . Stan also gave him a pair of shoes, four ties, a white shirt and belt. His favorite was a red flashlight and a watch, which Stan also gave him. Who knew he had been on a mission a whole year without owning a watch. It was fun to see him so happy.
From there we went to an appointment , a new convert from Iraq. We are teaching her English. It fun to teach her because she has such a good attitude and is so willing to learn. She gave up her country, her family and everything she knows to join the church. She was Muslim.
We also taught our Chinese English class. The ward mission leader & his wife prepared a large Easter meal to invite non members. Because our Chinese class are all non members, we took them all to the dinner. They loved everything about it. Stan & I went to the church early to set up tables & chairs. I was in the kitchen helping cut tomatoes for a Greek salad when the mission leaders' son (about six ) came us to me and said :" Give me your knife." I looked at him and said : "Go get your own". Really ? Who tells a 6 year old to go get a butcher knife ???
Today supposed to be Pday so we did our laundry. We only have three hours a week with
Mondays as our assigned day. We share a small laundry room with all those in our building. It costs around $20. to wash & dry two loads.
Spring as arrived. It is so beautiful here in British Columbia. Almost every shrub, bush and hedge are loaded with flowers of every color. There are actually "Rose " trees. Bright colored tulips grow in bunches along the roadways. Between singing "Popcorn popping " white blossoms on trees and the beautiful pink cherry blossoms , it is a Delightful Spring suprise. We are loving it !
This week we went to see our friend Kirsten. She is the lady who had brain cancer when she was twelve. She is very disabled , lives in a care home, never had the opportunity to marry or be a mom. Stan played the piano for her while she and I sang her favorite songs. "There is Sunshine in my Soul", "I Stand all amazed ", and " I am a Child of God ". It 's such a sacred experience to be in her presence. Angels are always there. I love her.
So we went to an extremely upscale restaurant in Vancouver this week with the mission president,
his wife and four senior couples who all work in office assignments. It was wonderful to be together with all the leaders of the mission. But, wouldn't you know it.... First the waiter spilled a glass of ice water on me. Then, as we were eating the pre-dinner fresh bread, I saw a human tooth on my plate.
I thought the cook who made the bread lost a tooth in the dough & I happened to get it .Shortly after that, I discovered I had a big hole in between my teeth. It scared me as I thought: " oh my, if one of my teeth could fall out, maybe all of them will fall out on the table in front of me. " so I started to cry. It was so embarassing.....really, who has their teeth fall out at a fancy dinner party ?
The days are going too fast. There is so much finding to do. So many people to tell the "good news" to. We love love being missionaries. There's nothing like a mission to stretch you physically and spiritually. We have truly been blessed. We are so grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to serve at this time of our lives. We have come to appreciate so many things that we have taken for granted before. We love our dear Savior so much !
We love you all tons ! Keep your light bright and your testimonies strong .
Love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
We took a young missionary from the Phillipines & his companion shopping. The president said he only has one suit and it has a big hole in the back of the jacket. So we went to buy him a suit . Stan also gave him a pair of shoes, four ties, a white shirt and belt. His favorite was a red flashlight and a watch, which Stan also gave him. Who knew he had been on a mission a whole year without owning a watch. It was fun to see him so happy.
From there we went to an appointment , a new convert from Iraq. We are teaching her English. It fun to teach her because she has such a good attitude and is so willing to learn. She gave up her country, her family and everything she knows to join the church. She was Muslim.
We also taught our Chinese English class. The ward mission leader & his wife prepared a large Easter meal to invite non members. Because our Chinese class are all non members, we took them all to the dinner. They loved everything about it. Stan & I went to the church early to set up tables & chairs. I was in the kitchen helping cut tomatoes for a Greek salad when the mission leaders' son (about six ) came us to me and said :" Give me your knife." I looked at him and said : "Go get your own". Really ? Who tells a 6 year old to go get a butcher knife ???
Today supposed to be Pday so we did our laundry. We only have three hours a week with
Mondays as our assigned day. We share a small laundry room with all those in our building. It costs around $20. to wash & dry two loads.
Spring as arrived. It is so beautiful here in British Columbia. Almost every shrub, bush and hedge are loaded with flowers of every color. There are actually "Rose " trees. Bright colored tulips grow in bunches along the roadways. Between singing "Popcorn popping " white blossoms on trees and the beautiful pink cherry blossoms , it is a Delightful Spring suprise. We are loving it !
This week we went to see our friend Kirsten. She is the lady who had brain cancer when she was twelve. She is very disabled , lives in a care home, never had the opportunity to marry or be a mom. Stan played the piano for her while she and I sang her favorite songs. "There is Sunshine in my Soul", "I Stand all amazed ", and " I am a Child of God ". It 's such a sacred experience to be in her presence. Angels are always there. I love her.
So we went to an extremely upscale restaurant in Vancouver this week with the mission president,
his wife and four senior couples who all work in office assignments. It was wonderful to be together with all the leaders of the mission. But, wouldn't you know it.... First the waiter spilled a glass of ice water on me. Then, as we were eating the pre-dinner fresh bread, I saw a human tooth on my plate.
I thought the cook who made the bread lost a tooth in the dough & I happened to get it .Shortly after that, I discovered I had a big hole in between my teeth. It scared me as I thought: " oh my, if one of my teeth could fall out, maybe all of them will fall out on the table in front of me. " so I started to cry. It was so embarassing.....really, who has their teeth fall out at a fancy dinner party ?
The days are going too fast. There is so much finding to do. So many people to tell the "good news" to. We love love being missionaries. There's nothing like a mission to stretch you physically and spiritually. We have truly been blessed. We are so grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to serve at this time of our lives. We have come to appreciate so many things that we have taken for granted before. We love our dear Savior so much !
We love you all tons ! Keep your light bright and your testimonies strong .
Love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
Friday, April 14, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Wow!!!!!!!! What a week. I have so much to write I don't know where to start. So... We were invited to dinner at the huge huge 3 million dollar home of a former Chinese Spy. She didn't speak any English so that was interesting. She fed us a meal of Chinese soup which consists of chicken neck skin & bones, little bits of some other kind of meat. (Someone said it was probably dog ), with lots of grease , onions, celery. Also rice to mix with it to soak up some of the grease. She gave us a round white glob. I'll post a picture. It was like a glob of raw dough. I put mine in my purse. Stan ate his.
For a drink, we had a cup of boiling water. The dessert was so yummy, pieces of orange & apple. Her home was massive. She kept talking in Chinese and smiling. I kept waving my hands & smiling.
I think her husband might be part of the Chinese mafia because her husband lives in China. The mafia buy up big million dollar homes in Canada to launder money. She said she only has to live in the house for two years. Crazy.
It's spring here. There is popcorn popping on some of the trees, others have blooming flowers , on the tree. People hang clear lights on the boughs to celebrate spring. There are some "Alice in Wonderland " like trees full of roses. They are beautiful. The gas prices are incredible .....$6.00 a gallon. One thing I love is all the open markets with fresh fruits & vegetables. We don't buy our
produce at the grocery store anymore.
We are now teaching English to a new convert from Egypt. We go to her home once a week to give her one-on-one lessons. She was a Muslim who converted to Christianity & was baptized a Mormon. The mission president had to interview her so she would understand that if she was baptized she could never go home to Egypt again. If a Muslim coverts to Christianity, they are killed.
Even her relatives could come to Canada to find her & kill her. Maesounn is so pretty and has a four year old son, Joseph; they speak Arabic. She is a delight.
This week we had the opportunity to drive the big van full of Chinese non members to Vancouver to attend a convert baptism. That was a crazy ride. Too bad I don't know Chinese. The baptism had 50% non members in attendance. It was a spiritual high.
We met a less active man named Ken. He didn't invite us in but came out on the porch to talk to
us. In his early 50's and in a wheelchair, he was quite a character. He had the big holes in his ear lobes that look like a window you can see the other side of town through. He was covered in tattoos. I was looking at all of them until I discovered they were either snakes or rats so I looked elsewhere. He said he felt guilty about not coming to church. He comes from a very active family except for him. His parents served two missions & his brothers & sisters are all active. Maybe someday he will turn himself around.
One of our friends, Sister Bennicossa, is the mission chef. She is part of a senior missionary couple. One of her assignments is to shop , prepare and feed large groups of missionaries for certain occasions. We go help her prepare, serve and do dishes. She made a deal with me that if I would teach her how to make homemade bread & cinnamon rolls, she would give me a copy of all her recipes. Ta Da... I got them. Good thing, the president ask if I will prepare, shop and serve the big groups of missionaries for two of the on going events as the Bennicossa ' are going home this week.
I love to cook but am worried about the stress of the situation. Eeek !
The days are flying by. We run from the minute we get up til we can finally go to bed exhausted. But it's a good kind of tired. Today we started out early to go "finding" the loss sheep. We made 12 stops and met with four interesting people. Two of them invited us back & seem quite open to returning to church. We meet with the Bishop and others weekly for a missionary coordination meeting. last night the Bishop gave us a new list of people to go find. Tomorrow we will go work more on the list. Tomorrow night we are going to the temple with the other couples in the mission office. I don't know about other missions, but in this one there is no time to sit around watching TV and knitting. Time is a premium and we don't dare waste a minute in the urgent work before us. We are so blessed to be serving a mission, so happy for this opportunity in our life. We are learning so much, experiencing more than we ever anticipated, and love being the Lord's missionaries. We love you all. Keep on the path, there is safety & peace. Don't let Satan creep into your life. I know he is very real & very very evil. Always keep him away by choosing the light.
Until next week....
Our love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
I think her husband might be part of the Chinese mafia because her husband lives in China. The mafia buy up big million dollar homes in Canada to launder money. She said she only has to live in the house for two years. Crazy.
It's spring here. There is popcorn popping on some of the trees, others have blooming flowers , on the tree. People hang clear lights on the boughs to celebrate spring. There are some "Alice in Wonderland " like trees full of roses. They are beautiful. The gas prices are incredible .....$6.00 a gallon. One thing I love is all the open markets with fresh fruits & vegetables. We don't buy our
produce at the grocery store anymore.
We are now teaching English to a new convert from Egypt. We go to her home once a week to give her one-on-one lessons. She was a Muslim who converted to Christianity & was baptized a Mormon. The mission president had to interview her so she would understand that if she was baptized she could never go home to Egypt again. If a Muslim coverts to Christianity, they are killed.
Even her relatives could come to Canada to find her & kill her. Maesounn is so pretty and has a four year old son, Joseph; they speak Arabic. She is a delight.
This week we had the opportunity to drive the big van full of Chinese non members to Vancouver to attend a convert baptism. That was a crazy ride. Too bad I don't know Chinese. The baptism had 50% non members in attendance. It was a spiritual high.
We met a less active man named Ken. He didn't invite us in but came out on the porch to talk to
us. In his early 50's and in a wheelchair, he was quite a character. He had the big holes in his ear lobes that look like a window you can see the other side of town through. He was covered in tattoos. I was looking at all of them until I discovered they were either snakes or rats so I looked elsewhere. He said he felt guilty about not coming to church. He comes from a very active family except for him. His parents served two missions & his brothers & sisters are all active. Maybe someday he will turn himself around.
One of our friends, Sister Bennicossa, is the mission chef. She is part of a senior missionary couple. One of her assignments is to shop , prepare and feed large groups of missionaries for certain occasions. We go help her prepare, serve and do dishes. She made a deal with me that if I would teach her how to make homemade bread & cinnamon rolls, she would give me a copy of all her recipes. Ta Da... I got them. Good thing, the president ask if I will prepare, shop and serve the big groups of missionaries for two of the on going events as the Bennicossa ' are going home this week.
I love to cook but am worried about the stress of the situation. Eeek !
The days are flying by. We run from the minute we get up til we can finally go to bed exhausted. But it's a good kind of tired. Today we started out early to go "finding" the loss sheep. We made 12 stops and met with four interesting people. Two of them invited us back & seem quite open to returning to church. We meet with the Bishop and others weekly for a missionary coordination meeting. last night the Bishop gave us a new list of people to go find. Tomorrow we will go work more on the list. Tomorrow night we are going to the temple with the other couples in the mission office. I don't know about other missions, but in this one there is no time to sit around watching TV and knitting. Time is a premium and we don't dare waste a minute in the urgent work before us. We are so blessed to be serving a mission, so happy for this opportunity in our life. We are learning so much, experiencing more than we ever anticipated, and love being the Lord's missionaries. We love you all. Keep on the path, there is safety & peace. Don't let Satan creep into your life. I know he is very real & very very evil. Always keep him away by choosing the light.
Until next week....
Our love,
Elder & Sister Fisher
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
I didn't think a mission could be so hard.......yet, I often have found myself crying in bed at the end of the day for the joys, miracles, and blessings I have felt in one day on our mission. This mission is amazing , a once in a lifetime experience. Let me tell you about a couple of miracles. Thursday we set a goal to find 15 less actives in one day. We were able to stop by 15 places. We met with 7 people and saw two miracles. One was Andy. We have been by his home several times with no answer. This time as we rang the bell, I Prayed out loud :" please let someone open the door ".! Andy did. We had a great visit, stayed an hour, and invited him back to church.
As we were following our list, we had the impression to go to a certain door. The woman answered with a face of grief and tears. Her x-husband & father of her only daughter ; had just been taken to the hospital. She is blind , her daughter a teenager. They were getting ready to catch a bus to transfer to another bus to get to the hospital. We drove them there quickly. She is a less active lady who hasn't been to church for 30 years. The next day, she called to tell us how lucky it was that we came when we did. We saved them so much time & trouble. Her husband died that day. We said :" It wasn't luck. Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ love you. They sent us here to let you know of that love from them ."
Sunday morning we stopped by Kirsten's house to pick her up for church. She is very disabled in a wheelchair. The sun was shinning, first time in three weeks. We walked in & commented on the sunny day. She started singing "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today". We sang it together all the way to the car. She keep singing it as we drove to the church a couple of miles away. As we rolled her wheelchair into the chapel, the conference prelude was playing :" There is Sunshine in my Soul....". She commented, "Can you believe that ?" Then durning the conference, Elder Holland's entire talk was about that song. It was such a lift for her. I told her :" See, God knows you, is aware of your needs, & loves you. "
Our Chinese English class is so fun. At the end of Friday's class, the students begged us to make the class an hour and a half instead of one hour. So on Monday we taught from 4:00 to 5:30. At the end of class , they asked if we will make the class for two hours ? We said "no". Stan plays an opening song and I sing. Yes, you read that right. Unbelievable....me with little musical talent. But after about a month of classes, all the students sing with me. I think they sing more to cover my voice than really wanting to sing. Hey, whatever works. They are all non-members and we always sing opening & closing songs and have prayers so they can feel the spirit. We also teach them how to pray so they can take turns. This week we defined all the difficult words in "The Lord is my Shepherd ".
We did transfers again this week for the mission. It was Mission Leadership Council so we were doing airport & ferry runs for two days. Being part of the office gives a chance to be with the mission president and his wife often. They are amazing leaders. As are the two office couples we work with. Sister Smith is a past General Authority so it was fun to sit by her in conference as she knew all the General authorties.
Conference was outstanding. Our days of watching it in our pj's is over though. We dress and go to the church for all six meetings. Interestingly enough, only the full time missionaries attend with an investigator occasionally. It was an incredible conference. We were so excited to hear about the Pocatello temple. Those people have prayed for years to have one there.
We have an appointment in a few minutes. Keep the faith always. We are blessed to have the truth.
We love you all.
Elder & Sister Fisher.
As we were following our list, we had the impression to go to a certain door. The woman answered with a face of grief and tears. Her x-husband & father of her only daughter ; had just been taken to the hospital. She is blind , her daughter a teenager. They were getting ready to catch a bus to transfer to another bus to get to the hospital. We drove them there quickly. She is a less active lady who hasn't been to church for 30 years. The next day, she called to tell us how lucky it was that we came when we did. We saved them so much time & trouble. Her husband died that day. We said :" It wasn't luck. Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ love you. They sent us here to let you know of that love from them ."
Sunday morning we stopped by Kirsten's house to pick her up for church. She is very disabled in a wheelchair. The sun was shinning, first time in three weeks. We walked in & commented on the sunny day. She started singing "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today". We sang it together all the way to the car. She keep singing it as we drove to the church a couple of miles away. As we rolled her wheelchair into the chapel, the conference prelude was playing :" There is Sunshine in my Soul....". She commented, "Can you believe that ?" Then durning the conference, Elder Holland's entire talk was about that song. It was such a lift for her. I told her :" See, God knows you, is aware of your needs, & loves you. "
Our Chinese English class is so fun. At the end of Friday's class, the students begged us to make the class an hour and a half instead of one hour. So on Monday we taught from 4:00 to 5:30. At the end of class , they asked if we will make the class for two hours ? We said "no". Stan plays an opening song and I sing. Yes, you read that right. Unbelievable....me with little musical talent. But after about a month of classes, all the students sing with me. I think they sing more to cover my voice than really wanting to sing. Hey, whatever works. They are all non-members and we always sing opening & closing songs and have prayers so they can feel the spirit. We also teach them how to pray so they can take turns. This week we defined all the difficult words in "The Lord is my Shepherd ".
We did transfers again this week for the mission. It was Mission Leadership Council so we were doing airport & ferry runs for two days. Being part of the office gives a chance to be with the mission president and his wife often. They are amazing leaders. As are the two office couples we work with. Sister Smith is a past General Authority so it was fun to sit by her in conference as she knew all the General authorties.
Conference was outstanding. Our days of watching it in our pj's is over though. We dress and go to the church for all six meetings. Interestingly enough, only the full time missionaries attend with an investigator occasionally. It was an incredible conference. We were so excited to hear about the Pocatello temple. Those people have prayed for years to have one there.
We have an appointment in a few minutes. Keep the faith always. We are blessed to have the truth.
We love you all.
Elder & Sister Fisher.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)