Last night we had a ward International dinner at the church. Each family brought a potluck item to share from their country. The table was a feast. There were people from forty-eight different countries. It was amazing to see the array of foods and the many people from all over the world in one ward. Many of the foods were interesting, many I couldn't recognize what they were so I didn't choose them. After the meal a man said someone brought cooked snake. Eek!  when we had to wait almost 30 minutes for our table's turn for the food, I decided to use my paper plate as a frisbee  so we could entertain ourselves and others to make the waiting seem shorter. Then Stan came up with a great magic trick using the paper napkin after my trick fizzled. He saved the day. It was a wonderful night for us as we had seven non-members at our table ; five who are investigators. At our table alone we had Iran, China, Iraq, Africa, Japan, Turkey,  Canada and the United States. Scotland & Denmark stopped by. What an experience this mission is meeting different people and learning their cultures. We feel like we've traveled the world.
    We took our P-Day this week and traveled the four hours to our first mission area of Hope. We visited all of our non-member  friends and  had a most delightful day. Stan was able to help our friend Martin plant peppers in his garden & cleaned his chicken coop. We were invited to eat with friends at each visit. There is no such a thing as dieting on a mission. The scenery was magnificent ! Being in the huge concrete city with towering high rises, freeways crossing every which way and traffic as far as the eye can see, I had forgotten about the lush green forests, winding rivers and beautiful waterfalls around every corner. It was nice to be home again.
    We are excited about our work with the less activities in the ward. One lady, Jennifer , came to relief society with me on Thursday night. And Tess, came to church today and stayed all three hours. Last Sunday we had three others attend. We feel like the work is progressing and we are doing our part to gather the lost sheep. Today one of songs in sacrament meeting was "Dear to the heart of the shepherd ". As we sang that song the spirit told me ....we are helping gather those who are more dear to our Heavenly Father & the Savior than gold. What a great work we are blessed to be a part of.
   Leandra, our investigator from Africa , is reading the Book of Mormon. This week when we meet with her we will give her a baptismal date.  It's so exciting.  Majid, from our English class also has a baptismal date. Woohoo! He is from Iran. Tonight we have an appointment with Toby and his daughter Oy from China. We are looking forward to teaching them as well. The Lord is really blessing us. We are often very tired, but it is the best kind of tired there is. We love being missionaries. We love the people and the work we have here.
  An interesting story was this week we drove Maessoun and her son,Joesph to a doctor appointment in Vancouver. With traffic it took us three hours for a 10 minute appointment. The best part was  the lady I met in the waiting room. Her name was Zeint. She was a young mother with a husband, two children, a seven year old girl and a four year old boy. She was a muslim from Turkey but the family had fled to Ethiopia when Turkey became too scary. Her husband was a principal and she was a teacher at a school there. They had bought a house, a car, and had many friends there. One day the turkish government sent them a letter saying the seven year old's passport was to expire and they would not renew it so the family needed to return to Turkey.  So...when the school in Africa planned a trip to the United States; the father bought tickets for his little family . As the trip was to end in the States and everyone boarded the plane to Africa, this little family ran away. They were able to cross the border into Canada before the little girls" passport expired. They left everything they had worked for and only brought what they could carry in backpacks. When we met them they were at the immigration office trying to get a place to stay the night. I gave her a pass a long card with our names  and phone number. I shared with her my testimony of Jesus Christ.  I told her that God is aware of her and her family and that He loves them very much.  I told her when they get settled to call us because we would like to tell them about the "Plan of Happiness". She looked me in my eyes and said:" I know you know God because you have His light in you ". What a compliment ! It was unique what I felt talking with her.  I felt like I knew her from before; As if we were friends in the pre-existence . I like to think I made a promise to find her here and tell her about the gospel. I will post picture of her & her little family. I pray for her everyday.
   It has been a wonderful week in the mission field.  What a blessing and opportunity it is to be a missionary.  We are building relationships for eternity.  I can't think of anything better.   love you all. May the Lord bless you all.
Elder & Sister Fisher