Elder Samuel Gish:

THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!!! That is the subject for this email! :)

I hope everyone is doing well!! I really miss the outside world...Chipotle especially...haha. No really everything is amazing here and there is no place i'd rather be! The spirit here is just incredible! But what’s so amazing is that everyone can feel this spirit all the time if they will just let it happen! Go out and just share the gospel with someone, anyone, it will just brighten up your life so much! Will you all commit!?!? Nimen yuanyi ma? :) I am a missionary...I have to leave a commitment! I am going to assume everyone says yes! I will check on the progress next week ;).

So here are some fun little facts about the MTC. I am in the choir! I know....you are probably thinking...Elder Gish...really? You....why would you ruin such a wonderful choir! Haha, but my companion is an AMAZING singer and so I go for him and a few people have actually complimented my voice! (They may have just been being nice and taking pity on the Elder with the awful singing voice haha) But it is amazing and I love the choir! And now my companion and I sound pretty good just singing as we walk or do service! It is really awesome to praise God through singing! It is amazing to hear the hundreds of Missionaries brought together in the attitude of singing and praising their God :). I feel like I am in a chorus of angels when I sing there...It is really powerful!

So last week was Thanksgiving! WOO!!! And Elder Holland came to speak! One of the sisters in my district is his niece so she told us before that he was coming. We are the only ones that knew and it was sweet! Except GU zhanglao (Elder Green) and I woke up at 6:00 and did quick showers and dressing so that we could be waiting in line by 6:15 to save spots for our whole district so that we could be up front when he came to speak. I Loved his talk to. I feel like a warrior for the Lord, we are all his warriors and we CAN NOT lose this fight, this last great battle! I am going to spend every second I can, especially on this mission, in 100% dedication to my lord and savior! That night another elder in my district Lei zhonglao (Elder Lotulelei) got to stand up and bear his testimony and speak on the power and importance of our mission. He was converted last year and is now on his mission! HOW COOL IS THAT! He is a really great guy! He and his companion Elder Crowell are super cool. We always hang out and do our missionary.....stuff :).

So want to hear about the work? You do?! GREAT! So we did this thing called TRC where we meet with real members who volunteer (so they could be really active, inactive and seeking for more, or investigators who want to learn), and we teach them in Chinese. It is off the cuff, nothing prepared and it is AMAZING! The Lord really blesses us by taking away the language barrier while we are teaching for and on behalf of Him. “Where there are two or more gathered in my name, there am I also.” I have such faith that He is there with me teaching. Otherwise there is no way that I could say or understand the things that I say and understand in those teaching moments. How cool is it that when we are gathered like that, that there is an actual member of the Godhead with us and helping us! Someone who is the perfect teacher and who knows exactly what is needed!!! AHHH we are so blessed to be loved so much by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

So I am sure that most of you have heard it, but I never got to and I love it! It is the 2012 Mutual Theme Song. It's called “Arise!” It is 1) such an amazing song! and 2) has such a powerful message! We need to just rise up, to become who we were meant to become and to shine forth! After I heard that I decided to just be bold in all my teaching and so I challenged Dai to be baptized on our first meeting and guess what? She committed! We are going to set a hard date tomorrow probably but it was so cool!! I love God's children, especially the one's that He allows my to teach! I love how the Spirit is able to help me to get my message out there. Even if I can't say the words, the Spirit will fill in where I lack....which is in a LOT of places! THANK GOODNESS for the Spirit!

OH!!! And give everyone in Primary and all the youth my love!!! That letter and those pictures were AMAZING! All of the missionaries were so jealous! We went through each picture one by one and every time the elders got more and more jealous of my AWESOME primary friends! You all are such amazing artists! I am seriously impressed! :) Especially you Gageroo! You just get better and better everyday! And Chase....I saw you write your little tiny sentence saying you will write me later....I am gonna hold you to that! ;) I love you both!

Okay so Mom...Dad...I have something to tell you....it might be tough to hear....but I have recently discovered that I am....well...I am full-blood Tongan! Elder Lotulelei introduced me to the Tongan Elders and we got along so great! We sang together and laughed together and they call me their Toko (pronounced Doko) which means brother. I think it is my hair that got me in, they said it was Tongan hair! haha. So I am picking up some Tongan sayings and phrases too which is awesome! :)

So before I leave I want to leave everyone with a really cool thought I had recently as I was reading and studying the scriptures and PMG. So I was studying in Preach My Gospel and I was studying the Christ-like attributes because I want so badly to become as much like Christ as I can. So I was reading under virtue and it talks about QUICKLY repenting. And I was thinking about how if you are like me then you need to repent every day...haha. But I was thinking about how I just kneel down at night and I ask for forgiveness and I repent every night. But then I feel like I don't change what ever it was that I repented for cause I just forget! :(. And when I read about quickly repenting I thought...THATS IT! The second I do something that is contrary to the will of God I just say a quick prayer in my heart to ask for forgiveness and to repent. Then I go through the day with that prayer in my heart and It becomes a habit to do what was right! :) It was just a thought! Also make sure to fill any bad with good cause Satan will just press and press and press.....just kick him out! Like Moses did! Just tell him to get out! I know you all know this but it is always good to get a quick reminder!

Well I have less than a minute so I better wrap up! AHH!!

You are all so amazing! Thanks for all the Support! You all or SO GREAT!!!!! ESPECIALLY YOU PRIMARY!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Off to save souls!

Elder Gish

Shannon Here: Here is a link to hear the song that Sam mentioned: Arise!

Below are photos from Elder Gish’s last few days just before entering the MTC and officially beginning his mission. Captions for the pictures are below.