Eirinn go Brach!!!! (Thats not Chinese hahaha)

HAPPY SAINT PATTYS DAY!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!! IRISH PRIDE!!!!

No one knows this amazing day in Taiwan!! Zao1Gao1 (Well dang!). Haha But it is pronounced (cause I know you are all super curious (Sheng4 Pai4 Cui4 Ke4 Jie2)! It is super funny! My AMAZING family sent us these sweet Irish shirts and Elder E's mom sent us these funny ties that we wore together. Trainer and Trainee matching....so cute haha. But how crazy amazing is my Family! EIRINN GO BRACHHH!!!!!! Yeah! I can feel the Irish blood pumping through me now! (Don't worry Pops there is some German in there too ;)) Can I just take a moment to tell everyone how much I appreciate lucky charms!? I didn't realize how incredibly delicious they really were until recently :) hahahaha :)

Okay so first things first, I wanna give a shout out to my adopted brother Dane!!!!!!! YEAH! You enter the MTC soon right?! [Shannon here: Just a reminder - MTC=Missionary Training Center.] GOOD LUCK!!! You are gonna love it and you are going to carry such a strong spirit with you! You are God’s warrior! So go get it done! Go save some souls!!!! :) I am also going to need your address so however that gets to me is fine :) You can probably just give me the mission address since by the time I send a letter to the MTC you will probably be heading out! Take advantage of it man! Soak it up! LOVE IT! I love you bro! Go get 'em mate ;)

 

So lets get out the funny stories that I know you all look at this for haha. So I am the senior companion this transfer...uhoh...haha. But that means I am in charge of the Phone! Which I gotta say...is SO FUNNY! I love it because people sometimes think that even though we can speak chinese we wont be able to read it (which is sort of true). But I would probably make more sense of the chinese they send me than of the english texts they try to send hahaha. Gosh it is so funny. We can't text back either which means we have to call them and because we don't want to embarrass them we have to guess at the meaning and then try to get it out of them in Chinese so that we can understand haha. Gosh it is soooo funny!

Oh and before I forget, my mom sends me these super amazing postcards ever so often. Have you all seen them? Holy cow they are amazing! If you haven't see if you can get her to show you some! She really should start a business! It is incredible! She is SOOOO artistic and amazing! Ah it blows me away!

Anyways :) (Just had to brag about my awesome mom for a moment :))

So one thing that was super awesome and fun this week is that we went to go feed old people! I don't know if there is a way to get the pics but if there is I will send them. Oh it was so funny. For multiple reasons. 1) All the Ama's (Old Ladies) were trying to get us young american missionaries to feed them haha, 2) The nurses were super funny teasing us about feeding them too haha 3) We sang a song and this old lady started walking in circles around us just clapping after we finished each verse hahaha. And 4) They all are SUPER old so they speak Taiwanese not Chinese...which is actually very different...haha. It was pretty fun and funny! And then after words we all went to go clean this old couples house, what was funny about that was that the bishop took us in his van. Now I had heard rumors about the Bishop having a lead foot...but I didn't fully realize what they meant till we were on a road like Prescott and hittin 100! [Shannon here: Prescott is a very windy, hilly and narrow road near our home in NH.]  I was just sitting there thinking HOLY COW.......It was super fun though. So finally after that we went to go eat together and I discovered that Pig Ear really isn't too bad! Now...its not good...but its not bad haha. Thats how I am about a lot of the food here! I think it is the Lord blessing me to just make it through haha. I always seem to just say..."oh thats not too bad" haha. Except for some of the fruit here that is not in America...wow it is AMAZING! I could live off the fruit here! The one thing that I really don't like about the food is that they are not big into drinking (unless its tea) so they don't really serve water or drinks so you just eat. And on top of that if you DO get something to drink it is the broth from a soup which is not only boiling lava temperature hot, but also pretty dang spicy....and let me tell you...there is nothing like biking around for hours with the Sun literally on top of you all day so that when you walk into the persons house they can basically see through all the white you have on since you are so drenched, then sitting down and having a nice boiling volcano put into your mouth which you have to finish and then drinking a hot spring! :) There is just nothing like it :) haha. Some times we ask for water but you don't want to embarrass the other person and make them feel like they didn't provide for you, so thats only if we REALLY know the person well. Haha, oh Taiwan, I sure love you :)

 

This is just something crazy that I realized this week! I was sitting on my bike calling some investigators and I looked up and saw a ball in the sky, I looked directly at it! It was bright but not bright enough to make me squint or have to look away...then I realized it was the Sun....haha. The pollution was so bad where I was that when I looked up I could look directly at the sun! How crazy is that!? Now that isn't where I live, it was just a place that we happened to be, but still it was crazy to think that that was possible! But it made me think about us...we are all meant to shine like the sun. Just so bright and powerful! But sometimes we make mistakes and sin....which is like pollution and it fogs up the sky. And eventually it gets to the point where we really have lost most of our power and light...BUT!!! That is not the end! If the sky is getting too polluted, do we just give up and say oh well, that place is done for? NO WE DON'T We start doing things to clean it up and eventually the sky will be so clear that we can hardly look up at all because the light from the sun is so strong! That is like baptism and repentance! And it doesn't all happen at once, it is a process, we get to take the sacrament every week and continue through that process! How great is that?! What a wonderful blessing!! This gospel really does give us SO MUCH HOPE! The sacrament is so special...I LOVE church :)

Plus! At church the Man I baptized, C. D., got his baptism record (like certificate haha) and it had my full Chinese name on it! It was crazy to see that...To actually have the physical evidence of the miracle that took place! Oh it was SO amazing to see! You know what else is amazing to see? How willing some people are if we only invite them! I have recently started to be much more bold in my invitations and on some cases will even give a goal to a person to be baptized in 5 weeks and thats from the very first time I ever see them! It is amazing how many people will accept. Of course there are a lot of rejections...But one person accepting makes up for a million rejections! I am so glad that I have had my family to push me to be the best I can. I remember a Letter my Cousin Zach Wrote me (He has taken the role of an older brother for me)  he told me to always do all I can to be the best Chinese speaker on the Island and the hardest working missionary and the best at everything I do. Not at all out of a pride thing, but out of a desire to serve God. And I will tell you what, it is amazing to see the miracles that will happen when you put your full trust in God and then go out and work your very hardest! I am able to communicate so much better than I ever imagined I would be, and every day just gets better and better, it is because of the Lord...100% because of him. I know that there is NO WAY I could do any of the things that I am doing on my own.

So here is an example. One day we were out pretty late trying to save some souls :) and we thought we should hurry back. So we started going. And usually we try to talk to everyone but we were already late to get back on time so we just started going, and every person we passed I was just thinking...dang...they might be the one. Then I saw these too boys and I had a big thought...okay you HAVE to stop. So I did. I started talking to them and they didn't seem interested at all and were about to walk away and I was about to just say "oh well" and go on my way, but again I thought "no no, this person could be it." So I asked them to wait and just give me about 30 sec. Well that thirty seconds turned into 2 min, then 5, then 10. It turns out that a member had given us a referral we were never able to get a hold of and one of those boys was that referral!!!!! HOW AMAZING! We set up and we are planning on getting that man baptized! (He doesn't know it yet....but he will :)) haha. It is just...It is amazing! People that just turn those noses and don't give it a chance really don't know what they are missing...I feel so sad and hurt for them. I can't MAKE them accept this or MAKE them give it a chance, but if I could I would haha. There is NOTHING like this gospel, nothing that will bring more peace of joy or just pure happiness!

We have a few new investigators, one we call gao1fu2shuai4which means tall and handsome haha His name is L.c.y . He is a lady killa, and so funny! I love the people of Taiwan so much! They are all so great and they are all so prepared! They might not know it, but they are prepared or are in the process! It is amazing to see hearts and lives changed! I have too many people that I could name that are just so prepared and so ready! All they need is to be taught and loved. They need to see and feel the love that Christ can offer. And we can be the way they see that, in fact, for some, we might be the ONLY way they can see that! One thing I love talking about is how we are LITERALLY sons and daughters of God! We are meant to shine as children of God would! 

I love you all!

Shine Bright!

Elder Gish

Wow Transfer 1 already over!?!?

WOW! This week I really realized what kind of work I have ahead of me and how I have no time to get what I want done! I realized how every second I spend on bended knee and searching the scriptures really counts. I have just finished my first move call (transfer) which means I am 1/16 of the way done with my experience on Island. When I looked at it that way I though oh well 15/16 is so much and that means I have SO MUCH TIME! But then the math brain that my dad gave me kicked in and I thought well if I do one more transfer (which is the duration of my time training) Then I will have 1/8 left....well that is quite a bit less...Then I thought but 7/8 is still a good amount. Then I thought well if I spend THAT time again (only the time being trained) well then I will be 1/4 done....HOLY COW! 1/4! No matter how you think about it that is a lot! AHH! How am I ever going to be able baptize the 22 million people here?! :) Well you know what I need? My Mom's study habits and my Dad's powerful teaching presence! I sure am lucky to be the son of Harvey and Shannon Gish! :). You know what is also amazing!? I am able to look to my parents for their incredible examples, I am ALSO able to look to my wonderful Brothers! L. S. (for example) I was studying in 1st Nephi 18:2 recently about Nephi building his ship. Then I remembered something Chase had taught our family! For those of you who are not yet aware Chase is a GENIUS! If you don't know you must not have talked to him ;) haha. But he taught us about how we all have our own SHIPS to build. We have our friendSHIPS and our companionSHIPS and so many different SHIPS that we have to build while here on Earth! Well this verse talks about how Nephi built his ship after the manner in which the Lord showed unto him and not by the manner of man. Well this got me thinking about how I am building my "ships?" Am I building all of my "ships" after the manner in which is pleasing to man or am I building them according to how God has instructed us to build our ships. Am I loving like he loved and being an example as he was the perfect example. Am I teaching simply and directly, am I bold enough, am I faithful enough, diligent, humble...am I doing all of these things in the manner in which Man would have me do them or is it according to God's standards and is it for HIS glory. Well Chang hua dian shuo (to make a long story short) I hope and am praying and working hard on building my ships and building myself the way God would have me do it.

I am so glad that I have my amazing family to be examples to me and that have blessed my studies and have blessed this work! I mean even my little 10 year old Ninja Brother Gage has been the BIGGEST blessing out here! He has drawn me a few pictures while I have been out (do you all know that he is a master artist?) and I carry them around with me from time to time and will look at them and read what he writes to me and it will just make me smile so big and laugh and helps me to maintain a positive attitude no matter what (which is SO CRUCIAL to the work!) So thank you family! :)

Okay, fun things or blessings first?...Let's save the best for last, so we will start with the fun!

This week has been pretty fun and funny! Some of the pictures I sent today are from a place called Smoky Joes!  

It is a Mexican food place and is the closest thing I have had to american sit down food in a long time! It was so funny and so amazing! Especially because the waiter was so surprised when we started ordering and talking to him in Chinese haha. I guess a lot of foreigners go there and he said it is so frustrating because they either just can't speak Chinese or their Chinese is terrible haha. My Chinese is still pretty awful so I am lucky I am with a bunch of masters to help make me look good hahaha. But speaking of Chinese I was able to Pass off my Phase one this week! Phase One is all church words and then there is Phase two which is just random words and Phase 3 which is all Characters. I am studying Phase two and three together and it is amazing how you will study words that you think are NEVER going to be used, but then the Lord blesses you with experiences so that you better memorize your words and you will hear the weirdest things! For example I learned BoyScout, tong zi sun (aren't you proud brother Lambert? :)) but there are NO boy scouts here I have never seen one or anything...all the way until I learned the word then BAM!...there was ONE boy scout! And I was able to talk to him! I mean really?! Heavenly Father is just the best blessing you with small things like that!

Oh and as a side note the Smoky Joes theme is indians and cowboys, so that indian....yes....we placed a Book of Mormon in his hand hahahaha. I don't know if it is STILL there but we left it there! How hilarious is that? :) Maybe the manager will find it, take it, read it, then get baptized. Because if someone REALLY reads that book then there will be no way to deny that it was written by prophets of God and translated by a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon will NO DOUBT lead to baptism and true happiness in this life! It reminds me of that hilarious sign that was put up awhile ago that says "Don't read the Book of Mormon, that is how they get you!"...hahaha, well I'll tell you what...they are right, if you read it, you will be hooked and you will have a desire to be baptized. You WILL have a desire to follow Jesus Christ example and grow closer to him.

So this week while teaching at a place we often go to teach, the She jiao guan (culture learning center...it is just a nice place where it is easy to sit with investigators), there was an anime festival! Oh my gosh it was CRAZY! It was PACKED!!!! People out here LOOOOOVEEEEEE their anime! Everyone was all dressed up like crazy! It was AMAZING to see some of the outfits and effort people put into this. They even decorated their cars and scooters! I think it was pretty funny to see how as I looked around I was actually able to recognize some of the outfits hahaha. And when I say some I mean like one or two...Anime out here is like....I don't even know what to compare it to back in the USA...but there is SO MUCH anime and so many different shows and crazy stuff! It was wild haha. I wished so bad it was a Monday so that I could have taken pictures to show you all because it really was so crazy! But alas...it was a Thursday so Meibanfa (no possible way) Oh well, I am sure it will happen again some other time haha.

One thing that happened this week that really wasn't a super crazy funny thing or anything like that, but that I still wanted to write about because it made me smile, is that a family that we love (the H.J) has this son that is about 10 but can't function quite like a ten year old. Anyways, we were at their house and like in most Asian cultures we take our shoes off when we enter a house. The young boy walked over and slipped his feet into my shoes and started Clomping all around the house! It was pretty funny actually to hear him and watch him. But it reminded me of how when I was younger I would slip on Mom or Dad's shoes (yes....sometimes it WAS Moms...not my proudest moments haha) and would clomp around. Now I think about how if I put my feet into my Dad's shoes they would fit pretty nicely, in fact I used to borrow his shoes., and If I tried to do Mom's...well first off they might brake my foot and second I don't know why I would put on Moms shoes....haha. But anyway, I thought about how Mom and Dad must have looked at me back then and how they look at me now and how I still feel like I have Big shoes to fill! I looked at that sweet little boy and thought about who he would be when he was 20, the kind of life he would live and experiences he would have. How he will now have a chance to grow up with a righteous mother and a priesthood holder for a father. How someday he may have the chance to receive the Holy Ghost. Yes, that is them getting baptized in the pics! The poor boy tried 3 times but all three times it wasn't complete because he is scared about going under water. They even had the dad in the font with him to try to help but every time the boy flailed just enough to keep something out of the water...It was hard to watch, but I was so proud of him for trying! And I hope that as he grows he will get another chance and will be able to truly be baptized! They are an amazing family! (IF you haven't noticed I have slowly moved into Blessings haha). You should have seen the Dad, he just got baptized and he bore his testimony, in his testimony he quoted hymns and talked about the numerous blessings of God! He is going to be a church leader no doubt!

AND ANOTHER MIRACLE IS ON THE SAME DAY WE BAPTIZED ANOTHER AMAZING MAN! C. D.! He truly was a miracle. On a rush home Elder Erickson basically just stopped long enough at a red light to give a guy this slip that says where the church is and told him that on Sunday we had an amazing meeting....well of course we think nothing of it then BAM he comes to church! He has been smooth sailing ever since and is now baptized and will also be an amazing leader!

It is amazing to see how the Lord Blesses and sanctifies your efforts no matter how small they may seem!

I know that this gospel is true. I hope that everyone who reads this can feel how much I truly mean that. I KNOW IT. This has become a part of who I am.

My invite for this week is to write a copy of your testimony whatever it may be! Then share it with someone, maybe even give a copy to the missionaries to use! I know that EVERYONE who reads this has a testimony. It might be a super power crazy power packed testimony like my amazing mom's, or it could be as small as a "I believe God exists" or "Truth does exist in this world." No matter what it is, it is important! So share it!!!!!!!!

I Love you all so much!

Shine Bright!

Elder Gish!

Quick Video Link of Elder Gish

Shannon here: Last week, a wonderful video was sent from the Taiwan, Taichung Mission President to a few parents. With permission, it is posted below. It highlights the first teaching experience of Elder Gish and other missionaries who arrived with him to Taiwan as well as the Mission President and his wife. It will only feature Elder Gish and the other missionaries he arrived with until March 7th. After that, the newer missionaries, who are arriving this month, will be featured.

You will find Elder Gish at around minute 5:15, though the entire eleven minute video is worth watching.

Dan Jones Experience in Taiwan

A week of Miracles!

Shout out to Grammie! :Got them Grammie :) haha

Okay are you all ready to hear about this week full of miracles!?!? So lets start with LAST Monday (the 25th! :)) So I guess we will start with the hai hao news and move on to the blessings! So can you guess what came in on my birthday?...duh duh duh duh!...The infamous DearJohn haha. Rats! So I feel that I would usually keep that more on the down low but there have been so many blessings that have been connected to it! My testimony of the Savior has grown so much because of that letter! The Savior has helped me to "let go of my nets," because I was not willing to on my own. [Shannon here: referencing New Testament disciples who “left their fishing nets” to follow Christ.] I thank Him so much for helping me to just let go of EVERYTHING else and have a mind and heart 100% focused on the work! He has also comforted me more than I can express and has helped and blessed my attitude. I know that it is ALL about attitude. I can see 100% how a letter like that could ruin someone’s mission, but for that to happen they have to LET that happen, and OF COURSE I AM NOT GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN! I am on the Lord's side. There is a war going on between my God and Lucifer and nothing is going to keep me from fighting for my Lord! In fact I have just chosen to use what Satan has tried to use against me, against him. I have been very open with people about the letter and such and have actually used it in teaching once and it brought the spirit so strong! To have people hear about what we choose to let go and give up to come out here and talk to them personally about is a very good method for helping people to realize how important this message is! And trust me...it is SO IMPORTANT! There is nothing more important than this message! I will shout that at the top of my lungs for as long as I live. This message literally is everything!

So ready to move on to bigger and better things!? So Monday was super fun (This whole week was super fun!). My awesome companion got all the Elders together in our zone and had us all meet at a Chidaobao (which means to eat until you are full). It was AMAZING! The food was so great and it was so much fun! There were two tables full of Elders (maybe dangerous...but so fun :)). We had a blast and some elders taught the waitresses and waiters the English version of happy birthday which they all sang to me haha. There is nothing that will cheer you up more than about 10 Taiwanese people singing happy birthday to you in incredibly broken English haha. They actually don't say your name here for two reasons, one they don't know how to say it....and two they don't know where it goes haha. So instead of "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear...'' They say " happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday toooo..yoouuuuuu..." Haha, it is super funny to hear that awkward pause :). So after that we went back to work.I love this work! So I have to admit, Monday was kinda a tough day, but I wanted so bad to stay focused and serve! So I said a prayer and I poured my heart out to the Lord and asked for his help. I had been rejected (dearjohn status haha) and then I was getting rejected all day by other people! RAWR! It was tough. But you will never believe what happened the second I ended my prayer! I looked up and some guy was just looking at me, just starring. I said "Ni hao.......(long wait)....Ni hao ma?" It was gangga (awkward) for a second but then he just pulled his scooter off to the side of the street and started talking to me in kind of understandable English! He told me that he saw me and was interested and wants to know more about Jesus Christ because he heard that Jesus will bring him happiness! Can you say Golden? We haven't had a chance to meet with him yet but hopefully we will soon!

So another thing that is kind of blehhhh is that I have been pretty dang sick for over a week now...a couple weeks actually. Lets just say that everything that classifies a person as sick I have haha. I feel that I am finally on the uphill which is good. But the reason I say that is because of another amazing miracle! So everyday I have been super sick, but every day I tell the Lord I want to go out and work, so I exercise my faith and start to get ready and head out the door just like any other day! And as soon as I walk out the door I feel that I am totally fine and able to work 100% There is of course still some ick feelings but nothing bad at all! And then when I get back again I feel really sick again! I wish I could just be out working 24/7 so that I would have no time to feel sick ;) haha. I really think it is amazing how the Lord blesses me with the strength that I need to do what he has asked of me! (And Mom DO NOT WORRY, they really are taking care of me I promise haha and I really really am okay! :))

So one thing that I really love about Taiwan is how much the people here love Americans haha. For a few examples, we were biking past this school and a bunch of elementary school aged kids ran up to the fence and I stopped to talk to them and give them all high fives and fun stuff! We talked about our favorite superheros for a second and then we left to our lesson. It was sooo cute. Then we were English proselyting (trying to get people to come to our english class) and these girls asked for our number and wanted to go out to get coffee. We referred them to the sisters haha. It is no wonder since Elder E. is the Shuai-ist guy in Taiwan (Handsom...est?) It is actually super funny, I heard a story about this one investigator that was afraid to shake Elder E’s hand because he was so Shuai (Handsome) haha. So it is really fun biking around with him :)

The best part of this week was probably the Assistant Exchanges where one of the assistants come down to stay with us for a day and teach with us. [Shannon here: “Assistants” are other missionaries who work directly with (are assistants to) the Mission President and his wife. They typically are good leaders, hard workers and have demonstrated a level of spiritual and cultural maturity. They travel the mission to serve, help and train other missionaries.] It was suuuuper fun. The Assistant we got to be with is named Elder H. and he is hilarious! He is also an amazing teacher. He is really all about keeping the teaching super simple and getting to know the investigators. It was really cool to see him teach. So there are 3 things that happened that made Assistant exchanges so fun (besides learning from a master haha) First is that Elder H. is really into singing to people to invite the Spirit. So one time we pulled up to this old couple on the street and Elder H. asked if we could gei tamen ting (basically let us sing to them) and of course they agreed. The older people here love us young Americans that can speak Chinese! But as we were singing they just turned away and started talking to us and I don't remember which song Elder H. picked but for some reason none of us could hit any of the notes and it was just awful. And of course that made us start laughing in the middle of our singing which made it even worse! It was SO funny. Just imagine 3 white guys struggling to not laugh (still laughing super hard I think Elder E. only sang about 5 words total haha) and singing SUPER off key while in the middle of the street and these old people are just ignoring them and everyone is just watching thinking "what that heck?" haha. It was so so funny. So after that we were heading off to dinner and contacting on the way. I saw this guy and zoned in, I made a B-line for him and tried to start a conversation. I don't think he realized I was trying to talk to him until I was right next to him haha. He looked at me and his eyes got really wide and he turned and sprinted away. I was left in the dust haha. I turned around just to see Elder H. and E. cracking up and just telling me to get used to it. Gosh I love it here :). So the third thing...gosh this is SO FUNNY! So since I am feeling sick I have been eating really really simple meals. We went to a 7/11 (A really really popular eating spot here) and I got a simple sandwich and banana-milk (so good its like liquid banana cream pie), but Elder E. and Elder H. decided to get a 2 liter bottle of Soda each (It is this not super great but not bad apple soda they have here). And they decided to see who was manlier and could drink it faster. For about 45 mins they were going at it! It is a thicker foamier soda so it must have been tough. They both got really low but both didn't look like they were going to finish it. But BOTH wanted to be manlier so if one would drink the other would drink and it was just so funny watching them watch each other and checking out the soda levels on each bottle. Then all the sudden it happened. Elder H. took his last sip and BAM he puked all over the floor and back into his bottle and such! Elder E. and I felt bad but we were just watching and cracking up! It was soooo funny! I love this mission! It is so fun and I can already tell that two years from now all my stories are gonna start "when I was on my mission" haha. (Just like Dad ;))

Another small miracle that was kinda a slap in the face actually was that about two or three nights ago we were biking back from our last appointment and there were people we were passing and we felt bad but we had to get back to the apartment! So we pulled up to the red light and stopped. There was a guy on the corner I totally could have talked to by I just thought to myself that I better not cause it could go too long and we could miss the light. SO when the light tuned green I put my foot on the peddle and it slipped off which caused me to fall straight down onto the middle bar....yes....ouch....I just leaned over barely able to breathe! But Elder E. being the amazing missionary that he is took the opportunity to talk to the guy while I took a second to gather myself together and catch my breath. Haha, It reminded my of when all my stuff fell out of my pockets and my bike chain fell off! Except that now God is getting more serious, he is saying "okay Sam...really? I am putting people in your path, talk to them!" haha. It was just something that I thought was a pretty funny miracle.

My last miracle for this week is how many people we had at church this week! Elder E. and I have been working our tails off to help to rescue less actives and to invite new people to come to church! [Shannon here: “Less Active” is LDS-eese for people who have been baptized, but don’t attend church services. Not a negative connotation, just a phrase used in helping identify how to bless and serve church members.] So the XiaoGang ward usually has about 60 or so people there. But this week we had 87! In fact, in the Gospel Principles class I had to stand up because there was not enough seats or room in the room we teach in to fit everyone! [Shannon here: Gospel Principles class is a Sunday School class.] It was a miracle and so amazing to see the Lord consecrating our efforts and answering our prayers! I know that as I pray and fast, the Lord will answer and will sanctify my efforts, like the stones from the brother of Jared. I am just a rock, but through the finger of Christ I can be made to Shine. Like Ammon in Alma 26, I know that I am weak and to myself am nothing, but through God I have the power to do all things!

So this little bit is for anyone preparing to go on a mission (CHASE AND DANE!...speaking of which....why haven't my bigger than me but still little brothers not written me! haha :)) Or any who are thinking about whether or not they should go on a mission. I was doing some study about it this week because I know there are some elders who struggle with their mission...but this is what I found to give them that renewed fire to work! So on Pg. 9 of Preach my Gospel it talks about how there is "no one else that can do this." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church with the authority of God here on the Earth, the only church with the proper authority to teach and baptize in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, the only one that can confer the Holy Ghost on people and give them a true remission of their sins. That is why we go out! WE ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT CAN DO THIS!! How selfish would we be to not go out and spread the gospel!? We are holding the keys to unlock the gate to Eternal life, we MUST share it with others! And if you do not, have not or will not have the opportunity to serve a full-time mission for one reason or another, this is still your call too! Every Member is a missionary :). My Parents and My Grandparents, even my brothers are SUCH amazing examples to me of how to be a member missionary! Not only through their example but through how willing they are to go out and open their mouth and talk to others and invite them! We need to be inviting people! By inviting someone to act, we give them the chance to use their agency and develop their faith! For those of us who are able to serve (especially as young men) we MUST go out and serve. It is tough no doubt, but there is nothing more worth it! On a mission you will see miracles everyday and take part in miracles everyday! There is nothing that will be more worth it. Elder Holland constantly says that his mission changed him and made him who he is today (An Apostle for Jesus Christ!). The mission will be the deciding factor and possibly the biggest turning point for good in our lives! He also says that everything good that has happened to him in his life is because of his mission. You and your families, now and future, will be blessed forever because of your service! One scripture that really pounded this point in for me was in 3Nephi 13:31-33. Don't worry about anything, just go out and serve the Lord, that is what he has asked of you. Don't reason within yourself that this is not for you, Satan knows how important you will be and are, he will try and stop you. Just choose to go out and serve! Seek first the kingdom of God. Take no thought for anything else! But also know WHY you are serving, serve for the Kingdom of God, serve FOR GOD. Do not serve for yourself. I could take this mission and say, I will come out knowing a new culture and Chinese and that will help me in life....but what will help me more...knowing those things? Or having the constant guidance and blessings of God? Yeah....God haha. Brigham Young Said, "If you go on a mission to preach the Gospel with lightness and frivolity in your hearts, looking for this and that, and to learn what is in the world,...you will go and return in vain...Let your minds be centered on your missions.'' I know that this is true. So lets go out and serve!!! :)

I love this work and I love you all! I hope you have an amazing week! You are all in my prayers! Oh one last thing! Speaking of prayers! One thing I have started doing (that lots of you probably already do) is keeping a prayer journal! So after I finish my prayers at night I record the thoughts or impressions that I have. It is mostly for the nightly prayers but can obviously be used at any time! If you don't already do this I would invite you to just give it a shot and try it :)  I love it! I really feel so much more like I am having a conversation with God and am able to receive so much more revelation! It is just something that I have found is an amazing blessing and that I want to share :).

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Ge Zhang Lao

[Shannon here: All web links in Elder Gish’s email have been added by me. If you are receiving this by email, feel free to visit Elder Gish’s actual blog to get mailing address information and other tid-bits about his mission. Much love and gratitude for the support and prayers he receives from each of you.]

Finally out of the Teens!

WOOO!!!! Finally not a Teeny-Bopper any more! haha. And how cool that it is on a P-Day?! So awesome! 

 

We were planning on going up to monkey mountain and getting to make some little Hou(3)zi (monkey) friends! But I don't think that is really going to work out today...:( But we will see! It all depends on what we are able to get done in the next 2 or 3 hours! Gotta keep busy on P-Days :)

Oh so something that is SO awesome that happened this week was I met this group of Indonesians and they were SO funny. They can't speak English or Chinese so we were all talking really slow with each other and we all had no idea what was going on. But somehow they were able to understand when I was talking with them about prayer! It was super great! They also all took a ton of pictures with me and thought it was so great to be with a white guy that could talk Chinese (even though they all knew a few words) haha. And they were all 'missionary-appropriate' pictures so don't worry mom!

Oh by the way, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES! It is so great that on my birthday I was actually able to get on and see all the wishes! You are all so awesome! It really is needed haha. This week has had the Biggest up of my whole mission and probably the biggest down. So I am so glad that the Lord's hand is in everything and he will not let you just live in the 'down' he will always give you an 'up'. Our job is to just focus on the up! So let's talk about the up! WOOHOO!

So here it is, HUGE MIRACLE! We have been teaching this family, the H. J family. And they are so awesome! He is totally golden and has been reading about the church and is so ready to be baptized, he agreed to keep the law of tithing cause he read about it in the Liahona and we haven't even taught it yet haha. But anyways, it is his wife that has been having a lot of trouble with the church. She just didn't know if God existed and has been having a really hard time deciding to be baptized. But she has been doing everything she needs to, obeying the commandments, reading, praying, everything. And we, of course, have been pouring our heart out to God for her! But anyways, we went over this last week and we were talking to him about arranging his baptism date, and we were going to turn to her but he stopped us and looked at his wife and said "ni yao gen wo jieshou xili ma?" (Do you want to get baptized with me?) And of course we were stunned and there was a moment of silence, maybe only 2 or 3 seconds but you know how long it feels. Then she looked at us and said yes!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! She went on to explain how she was reading in the Book of Mormon with her Husband and they were reading in Mosiah 18:21 about "one baptism," then it just hit her like a ton of bricks, she needs to be baptized with her husband. How amazing is that?! They have a son who has mental issues so he can't be baptized, but I know that they are going to be able to press forward and go to the temple together, ( I might even still be here for that!) And they are going to be able to be a family for time and all eternity! How great is that!?!? AHH!! I felt super embarrassed because I was in the lesson and when she said that I couldn't hold back the tears ( I got my dads genes ;)). I started think about my amazing family and about our future and about the amazing blessing this family has just received! I am so grateful to our Lord and Master for giving us the chance to live for eternity as a family and to experience a fullness of joy! There is nothing that I could ever hope more for than that!

So I was reading today in the D&C and I came across a scripture that applies to all of us (since we are all missionaries) and I just wanted to share it because it was so amazing! ( I might even share it later when I come across it in future studies haha) But it is D&C 100: 3-8. It is amazing how the Lord will take care of us! I know that more than anything, he WILL take care of us, no matter if we are in the down of downs or the up of ups. He is there, He loves you, He cares about you, and He will take care of you.

I am sorry I am kinda short on time today because of going through all of those birthday wishes (THANK YOU SO MUCH)! And I have to do all the senior companion duties from now on (My trainer thinks the best way to get me ready is to make me do it haha So I am senior companion from now on...even though I depend on him for SO much haha) But I want to take a second to talk about families since that is what has been hitting me big time this week. Treasure the family time that you have now. The Family Home Evening, the Family Scripture time, the Family Prayers. Treasure it, it is so precious and will bring so many blessings! Those are sacred times. There is nothing that I could miss more right now than to kneel at the bed side with my brothers (Gage on my back and Chase and I having a mini poking war until Dad makes us stop :)) And then with my wonderful parents all together saying a prayer to close our day and to report to our Heavenly Father and to prepare us for the night and next day. Or to all sit on the couch and have Dad get up and start doing the chicken dance as we sing songs and laugh and can feel the spirit through the joy that our family has together! I love my family so much and I hope that they know that! They are so wonderful and by far the biggest, brightest, and happiest part of my life! I don't know where I would be without them. I love them more than anything in the whole wide world.

Love,

Elder Gish (Ge(3) Zhang(3) Lao(3))

P.S. The pictures are from the beginning of today. Hopefully there will still be more to come! :) And that is my birthday Breakfast! And the Mexican food we went to go eat LAST P-Day....(such a relief to get real food like that :) hahaha) 

20 Kuai daole! (almost 20 :))

Wow!!! THIS WEEK HAS BEEN FILLED WITH SO MANY MIRACLES! WHERE DO I START!?!? Oh I know, let me get to the million questions Mom sent in the last letter that I don't know if I have answered or not! If I have just skim over this or whatever! :) Here we go!

Okay so I am actually not in Taizhong I am in Gaosheng (I don't konw how to spell it in English but it is something like kaoshueng). And it is AMAZING! It is incredibly...INCREDIBLY HOT! Do not worry about me getting cold at all! I am sweating like crazy here...it is CRAZY hot haha. I am getting this funny tan on my fingers because the top is getting hit by the sun but the part that wraps around the bike handle is still white haha. It is super funny. But Taizhong is something like Denver! Except everything is in Chinese haha. Oh and to be more specific if you want to see the city I live in it is called XiaoGang (shiaogong or something like that) and it is super fun! I love it here! It kinda reminds me of maybe some of the more run-down parts of Florida! The weather is actually JUST like Florida, and they have those pretty trees and everything! It is amazing! It is really hard to describe...I guess you will just have to come to Taiwan some day :) The best part is all the fruits...oh my gosh...they have AMAZING fruits! And yes they take a lot of getting used to, but now....holy cow they are AMAZING! So in our area we are in a city but there are these little villages around we can visit with the Taiwan aborigines! They are super cool and they almost all believe in Jesus Christ! Oh and don't worry, I sleep on a bed haha. It is a...well...its a bed haha.

So every Pday is on Monday and we have until 6 to do what we want. [Shannon here: Pday is short for Preparation Day] They typical day involves us on our bikes, pulling up to cars or people at a stop light and trying to get a few moments to chat! We hardly ever do tracting but we DO do it. We also have lately been getting a LOT more lessons than usual which is awesome! We have been working our tails off and of course the Savior is directing us and helping us to find 'those who will hear' us! Ahhh I have not gotten a chance to go exploring yet but the next few Pdays we should be going to monkey mountain (YES!) and the Beach probably too! So we can only explore on Pday obviously and we haven't gotten a chance yet. But you can expect some pretty pictures in the upcoming weeks!

So I am over the jet lag but I am still out of energy haha. I am so so so tired all the time but that is the life of the missionary! Plus if I go to bed not tired then it means I didn't work hard enough that day so I really enjoy it. I am glad I get to work hard and put my whole heart and soul into this work, into the work of Jesus Christ. The bike is really good! It has a few bumps and such but it is able to get my from place to place and that's all I really need :) so it is TOTALLY perfect.

My companion...HE IS THE MAN! Oh gosh Elder E. rocks! He is so smart and such a spiritual power house! Plus his Chinese is amazing! He has been out for about....15months? But only in Taiwan for about 12. He is so great and we have so much fun! We are literally ALWAYS laughing. It is super great. He does like to joke with me though and I can probably only believe.....12% of what he tells me the first time? Haha, but that just makes so many funny memories!

The one thing that is like GRRRR is that my shower is either SCOLDING HOT or FREEZING COLD, it is almost never in between. So I usually will let it be cold, get wet then step back so the water isn't hitting me. Soap up and wash my hair, then jump in for little 5 second bursts will I am washed off haha. It is sometimes really good and on those days I take SERIOUS advantage of the shower haha. And as for my heart and mind. I do REALLY miss my family, but I love it out here and I am so happy and...TAIWAN IS JUST SO GREAT! So everything is so good, you have nothing to worry about at all mom :).

So yes I chose your names since not very many names actually directly translate. [Shannon here: In a snail mail, Elder Gish gave Harvey, Chase, Gage and I Chinese names.] But I chose them because I think the show your characteristics and such! :) I might re-pick names for Chase and Gage sometime unless they really like them! Let me know what you all think of the names, I want them to be something special. The names are supposed to have similar sounds as your real names.

Oh so something really cool, I met a member today (PS Ward is AWESOME! But really small...maybe 50-70?) and he pulled out his Iphone and looked up our house! So I was able to see our house again! I couldn't see the new walk though...or the dog! haha. I want to see it all so bad! And I want to see my family! I want just some of you now and some of just us before! I take the calander around and show people but the pics are a little small. [Shannon Here: We made Elder Gish a 24 month mission calendar for Christmas with pictures of family in it.] Is there a way I could get like a mini book with printed pics? And maybe some extra space for the pics you will send later in the mission? :) haha. Oh I love my family so much! I am so happy I will get to live forever with all of you! That is the greatest blessing! Last night we were teaching this family and I was almost brought to tears testifying of the importance of family. I was just so touched by how blessed I have been with my amazing family and how grateful I am for a father who is a worthy priesthood hold and a loving and caring mother! Not to mention I have two studly and AMAZING brothers! How great is that!? You are all the B.E.S.T. BEST!

One thing I love about Taiwan is that no one will accept compliments but as a missionary you also don't want to reject compliments so you will just compliment the person back and sometimes it turns into complimenting battles like, no you are better looking, well you have great hair, but you are so strong. haha It is so funny and so fun! It is kinda like a game for us to see who can find better things about the other person haha, the Taiwanese people are so funny. Plus people think that Elder Erickson and I are in our 30's, and it is true...around here that is what we look like. All the guys look SO YOUNG. I finally learned to add like 10 years when I guys some guys age (unless they are clearly old, then you shoot for like 20's to make them smile :))

One thing that is hard though is to distinguish tones and to make sure you are saying them right, for example...gosh this is embarrassing....so when we were going to go running, we were talking about what we were going to do. I wanted to say that I was going to run stairs so I said it and my companion started CRACKING UP. Gosh...so I don't know what is going on. But apparently the word for stairs and and the word for naked is only one tone difference....hahha. So instead of saying I am going to run stairs I said I am going to run naked! hahahaha oh gosh...So funny!..oh jeeze Chinese haha.

So how blessed am I that my birthday will be on Pday next week! That is so cool! I am excited, we probably won't do anything out of the norm or anything, but it will be cool to just have that Pday on my birthday haha, I dunno, I thought it was a cool blessing haha. ANYWAYS. Ready to hear some Miracles!?!?

We had a Baptism this last week! It was amazing to see the change this man has had in his life. He had soooo many addictions and we was able to triumph over them all! "Every baptism is a miracle" -President Hinckley. I loved being able to watch that man walk into the freezing cold font water and make a covenant to obey his father in Heaven and to receive the priceless and innumerable blessings that will be promised him! He is an amazing man and I was so happy to have the opportunity to teach him.

 

One investigator I am really excited for is an old man named W. who has been taking the lessons for a LONG time and has pretty much just been stuck on the Very beginning of the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. But when we went in and talked to him (the second time I met him) he said that he had a sign from god. The first time I met him I had been on island only 5 days. And he said that all the missionaries he had ever talked to have never understood his concerns and ideas and philosophy. But he said that I was able to understand him totally and help him connect dots and move forward even though I had only been on island for only 5 days and my Chinese should be AWFUL. He said that he thinks I am an angel sent from God to tell him this is right and to move him forward! So I say all this for one amazing reason...that is that my Chinese is TERRIBLE and I have NO IDEA what he needs or his concerns and I don't understand his philosophy in the slightest...but do you know who does? Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And by some amazing miracle I guess that somehow they were able to work through me...someone who needs a LOT of work...and touch this old precious soul. I don't know what I said or did, but they Holy Ghost was able to testify to this man that what was being taught is true, and that is the miracle!

Another cool thing is that yesterday we had POWER BOOK OF MORMON DAY! We were asked to take out 15 copies of the Book of Mormon and go out and give them out and set up follow up lessons and commit to be baptized at some later date (in the first contact!!!!)! And we did it! That was something I thought would be impossible! People here always just say "bu yong" (no need). Which basically means don't bother talking to me and leave haha but with the help of Heavenly Father we were able to set up with 15 people and get them to commit to taking the first step to eternal life!! We did have to work harder than we had this whole time and really put our all into it, but we did it! :) I am so grateful to God for helping us to do that! Oh that reminds me, did I ever tell you about my first day on island how a brand new missionary and I (Elder Ng) decided to take a Book of Mormon and give it out at the train station? We were both scared out of our minds but we took that step of faith and just went for it and we were able to do it together! I love how the Lord will show you how silly it is to be scared, the uncomfortable feeling is ALWAYS Satan trying to stop you because he knows how important it is for you to do what you are about to do. And once we push Satan aside and chose to show our faith and just take that step the Savior will show us who is really in control, and that is him, and he has prepared someone for ALL OF US to help. No matter who we are, there is someone out there (maybe its ourselves) who is ready to discover the amazing joy and happiness and peace that comes from the Lord and Master Jesus Christ! So take that step!

Oh so as to the missionaries who may be feeling discouraged...that is tough. There is a lot that is way to easy for Satan to use against you, language, success, your personal testimonies strength. The one thing I think I would tell an elder who is having those thoughts is to make sure they are being 100% obedient. If they are then the doctrine they learn will lift them up, and they will be blessed beyond belief. There really is not a whole lot that I think that I could say to a missionary to lift them up that much, but I know that the savior has that ability. And he will if the elder is sincerely seeking it. Also make sure he knows of the prayers and the support he has all around him, not just from home but from other missionaries and from the Lord! That is a tough one...make sure that the elder is leaning to the Lord for his strength and not to himself. Be like Ammon and boast of God and of nothing else and to Glory in the Lord. Recognize that all of our power is from God.

And the Agency thing. MOM THAT IS SO COOL!!!! HOW ARE YOU SO SMART!?!?!? That is so amazing! I don't really have time to do studying like that (even though I want to so bad haha) But all my studies are focused on the needs of investigators. All I can say is that I am a firm believer in agency being the amazing gift we have been given to have the ability to chose the right! And to thus be blessed for that choice! :)

I will leave with a thought about something that has blessed me so far (and it hasn't even been THAT long :)). That is the power of numbers when we set goals! If we set goals for everything, then track it over a period of time we can find patterns and really fix problems and grow so much! Tracking numbers for anything (church attendance, diet, stats in a game, ect.) will make that thing so much more effective! 

Well thats my thoughts for the week! Next email should be on Monday again so less to say but it will come quicker so...yay! :) haha.

I love you all!

Elder Gish!

P.S. Tell me about the dog!!!! :) SOOOOOO JEALOUS!

P.S.S. Missionaries love snail mail :) hint hint ;) haha I don't know how long it takes to get mail exactly but I think it is something more like 2 weeks. Thank you so much for all those who have taken the time to send letters! You don't know how much that really lifts spirits and can turn a day around so quick and re-motivate! (unless you were a missionary, then you do know haha) so thank you so much!

Guonian Kuaile! (happy new year!!)

 

Happy Chinese New year!!! It is the year of the Snake! It is a pretty crazy time...Lots of fireworks lots of really nice people and a LOOOOOTTTT of food. Which is good AND bad haha. Before I really get into everything let me go through and answer a ton of Mom's questions! :) I will probably have to answer some next week too because this week we don't have as long to email! :( It is because it is New Year and we have to do a POWER CLEANING of the apartment this week which means the whole day is dedicated to cleaning that roach filled apartment and we get a break to eat and to do shortened emails! I am so glad Mom and Dad made me do my chores haha, otherwise this would be TORTURE, but it actually isn't so bad, and when you finish a job you just feel so satisfied and proud of yourself haha. But anways here are some answers.

The flight over here was LONG it was something along the lines of 34 hours of travel. I got to sit with some good friends and play some chess and talk our nerves out which was really great. Also on the flight over to Taiwan I was across from a family and was able to talk to them about the church! They were on a plane...in assigned seats...they were trapped! There was no escaping talking to me about the gospel! :) It really was a lot of fun and was an amazing experience! Although...it was also very humbling to see how different native Chinese speakers and white missionaries speak haha. Taizhong is an AMAZING place! It is so full of life! There is a lot of pollution here but after a little you don't really notice it anymore. The thing I haven't gotten used to still, and don't know if I ever will is the smells...especially stinky tofu....It smells like...well I guess it smells like wet dog but it is so strong and you will smell it from so far away! Plus the combination of all the other wild smells...its a little crazy. Somethings smell really good, but not mixed together. Elder E. has lived here for almost a year so this is his first New Year too. He has been on his mission for almost 15 months, but only only island for about 12. The food....well let me tell you...haha. Guonian (the new year) is filled with such celebration and so much food and EVERYONE wants to feed you. So first off I won't be surprised if I finally put on some weight :)...but also I won't be surprised if I lose a ton from not eating/throwing up haha. No....i'll eat...I have too haha. It is really rude to not finish and people will just sit there and talk to you until you finish what is on your plate so you have to take small portions at a time that you KNOW you can finish. And they want you to try EVERYTHING and they will watch you eat it....there is no getting around it...haha. So some of the weirdest things that I have eaten THIS week is octopus (really not bad), fish eggs (it looks like a hotdog sliced long ways but no...its a huge diced fish egg...so nasty), and a black chicken. The chicken meat is actually 100% black. It is a little weird, but tastes almost exactly like chicken so its okay. The thing that is weird is that they don't just find meat for you. they cook the WHOLE thing. So I was able to partake of some delicious chicken lung, which means I grabbed the chicken breast and ate that, then went behind and had to tear off the lung (yes you have to eat every part or its rude...) That wasn't really that bad either, its just that you have to get over knowing you are eating a lung.

So some funny and cool things that happened this week are, I went on my first exchanges! So neat! The Zone leaders are studs and I got to go stay up with one of them at their apartment. Which, by the way, is SO much nicer than ours! It was pretty funny to see actually haha. Also sometimes people just sell stuff and don't really put it in the right boxes and stuff haha. So this week I went to buy a clicker to keep track of the number of people I contacted and the box had a black clicker on it, so I bought it. But no...I opened it up...inside was a pink...bright pink, clicker. so embarrassing, haha but I am using it anyways. I think it will become a fun little thing that I can give to someone I train and have it passed on :). I also teach the advanced English class on Wednesdays which is really fun! All the students are really like students and really consider me like a teacher haha they even do little things to suck up haha like this one girl walked in and gave me a little gift haha. It was so funny and super nice. It is really acceptable though because during guonian everyone is just OVERLY nice so I don't think it was REALLY sucking up :). haha. 

One thing I SUPER encourage the young-men to do is to REALLY practice that "give the first lesson in 30sec" type thing. It is so interesting to see that now I will pull up to a red light and see that we have 40sec left (they have things to count down) and I will think, WOW 40sec! PERFECT! I can get in a few principles, discern a need or two, set up a time, ask about baptism, and extend a commitment! Sometimes we only have about 5-10 seconds to say something powerful enough to get someone to agree to meet with us again so we can really teach them. I am still learning but Elder E. is awsome at it! I am so glad I have him as my trainer! Something else that was super funny happened and as we were biking to an appointment we passed this HUGE BEAUTIFUL building. I looked in and I saw all this fruit, I mean tons and tons of beuatiful and big fruit. So I asked Elder E. why they had such huge and nice fruit stands...he just started laughing so hard and I didn't know why until he explained that it was a temple and those were offerings to their ancestors! haha. gosh...the life of a new missionary :). I would say the hardest part is all the tricks that get pulled on me! They are almost all food tricks like..."oh yeah thats chocolate!"...(Pigs blood frozen into a jello type thing). "No those are frogs eyes" (seeds they put in drinks with a weird cytoplasm around them). But that is what makes it fun :)

Well. I am running super low on time! I want everyone to know that there are miracles EVERYDAY! We have started to record our miracles and it is amazing to see how many we have each day! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are such a big part of your life, their hands are in every part of your life whether you know it or not. Like yesterday, We were biking to a dinner appointment and on the way there we ran into a past investigator that has no phone! We talked to him and set up a time to meet that night. We commited him to baptism and set amazing goals for him to give up smoking and drinking tea! The drugs and smoking is the hardest thing to deal with here...especially binglong (its like chew in america except it stains the asphalt red....so nasty). But with the Lords help I know that ANYTHING is possible.

I know that this church is true and I know that Jesus Christ lives, he suffered so that each of us could live again. He loves you and he believes in you. Lean on him and believe in him. There is no other way but by and through Jesus the Christ.

I love you all and have a happy new year! Find someone new to share the gospel with! (Maybe you just share it by your example! But build the church at all times and in all places! :))

Elder Gish