The worth, of EVERY soul, is GREAT in the eyes of God.

I just want to develop those kinds of eyes so bad!!! I want to be able to look at each person and see the worth that they have to my God and thus to me. It is something I am working on and getting better and better at with sincere prayer and study! I just want nothing more to be THE MOST EFFECTIVE instrument in my Father's hands, I want to be a carrier of that power and that spirit!

OKAY BUDDY!!! YOU KNOW ITS THAT TIME!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are finally a big boy!!!!!!!!!!! :) You better be playin it safe man! I know that al' dem' ladies are gonna try to be all over you but you just gotta say... hey...many are called and few are chosen baby ;) hahahahaha keep safe my main man!!! You are my best friend buddy I love you so much!

Can you believe that the one year mark for me is done!?!?!? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!?!? Where did the time go!? Gosh Dang I gotta, get my game on!! I haven't helped NEARLY enough people!! Oh THANK YOU FOR THE AMAZING PACKAGE MY AMAZING FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS SO WONDERFUL AND THOSE SHIRTS ARE OFF THE HOOOOOKK!!!! Just in case anyone else want's to know...As a missionary in Taiwan...I do love getting letters and packages and if you just happen to have a desire to send one...I guess I would be willing to receive it :) haha.

So my wonderful family...can I tell you that all this week I was thinking about how much I would love right now to be in Florida on a vayy-kayyy-sheeeoon!!!! :)...DEL FUEGO! :) ( I hope you said it atleast in your head when you read that!) :)

So just today and yesterday I had two HILARIOUS moments with Elder Roberts...I was almost crying...hahaha So today's was we went to get some food to eat and something that people out here do a TON is just crack an egg into ramen and let it cook in the soup. It is a little funny looking I guess but really it is just an egg. When Elder Roberts saw it he had no clue what it was and had that face like..."uh oh....oh gosh..." hahaha. So realizing my chance for some good comedy I took a small bite of mine and put on a kinda funny face that made it look like I was struggling to get it down. Then he looked at me and said "what is this??" I said, "it is really good man just eat it." He was so scared and kept saying "no way no way, you eat it." Then I said, no man it is just an egg you eat it. It was funny cause I was telling the truth but he DID NOT believe me haha. Then when he finally put it in his mouth I was like "OHHHH YOU ACTUALLY ATE IT!?!?!?" haha he had a tiny freak out moment and said, "EW IT TASTES LIKE A WEIRD FISH!!!" I just started DYING laughing. After about 5 seconds he realized it was really just an egg...hahha oh gosh...that will be a good  memory. But I think the Other will be one I tell forever haha. It is one of those...chinese jokes haha. So we met with this Less active and we were teaching the First Lesson about the Restoration. In the Middle of it I handed it all over to Elder Roberts to completely take over! He is really a GREAT teacher. It was just super funny because we were using a pamphlet and Elder Roberts wanted to ask our friend to read a part from it and so he wanted to say "你可以幫我唸嗎 (Ni keyi bang wo nian ma?){Can you help me read this part?}" But he accidentally said "你可以幫我尿嗎？(Ni keyi bang wo niao ma?){Can you help me go pee?}" hahahhaha Oh my gosh I almost started crying from laughing so hard! The Less active sure thought it was pretty funny too haha.

So Long story short, I LOVE TRAINING!!! :) hahaha. 

So one thing that has been stuck in my head this week is I remember an experience I had with my awesome cousin Chris Gish a long time ago. He used to take me to Krav Maga classes with him. One day when we were down there he told me about how the radio in his car (EXPENSIVE RADIO) had been stolen. I thought I was some tough kid so I was all about, OH MAN AREN'T YOU SO TICKED!? You shoulda' found that kid! And then Chris Looked at me and said "If he needed it so bad that he was willing to break in and steal it, then he could have asked and I would have given it to him, so it's really okay." That really blew me away. I hope I can develop that kind of Christ-like charity and love for all those around me, even the ones that hurt me.

Okay, now this is for all those amazing missionaries and people out there that feel that they are working hard not not seeing the results that they want or had hoped for! I was thinking about how hard I work out here and how often I am disappointed in the amount of success I see sometimes. Then I got into that dumb..."man I work so hard for nothing" kind of attitude. Then I thought about how much I ACTUALLY work. I started thinking...do I really give my ALL ALL the time? Do I talk to some one at every light? Do I talk to the people on the sides of the road? Do I earnestly and sincerely call all the people that gave me their numbers? So one thing that I want to ask everyone who might be going through one of those moments...are you REALLY giving it your all? I want to be able to tell the lord that I REALLY will give my all to him and that I did ALL I COULD. So make the decision now and go do it!!

I need to call together the prayers of all of you so that I can make a HUGE SPIRIT BOMB and totally dominate satan here (that is right...lowercase S). We have a man named Brother Liu. He needs the prayers of everyone here so that he can quit smoking, get baptized and in a year be sealed with his family! He tried before and gave up...now we are not going to give up on him but we need your help!

We have found TONS of new investigators and so going through all of them would take awhile...I am so lucky that I have an AMAZING companion like Elder Roberts to stick up with my weaknesses (which I have found out recently are a TON), and to work so hard with me! We are killing our selves out here! I feel bad for him working so flippin hard! We hardly ever get home at 9:00 because we just don't stop working! His Chinese is also getting really good. I expect that he will be one of the best if he keeps pushing himself like this!! :)

Ready for theeeee INVITE OF THE WEEK!?!?!? WOOOO!!!! Okay boy's and girl's, ladies and gentleman!! This week I want to invite everyone to pick a special person and pray for them in EVERY prayer that you say this week :) Pray that they will feel the saviors love.

I  want to take a moment to share my love and compassion with the Nadeau Family. I wish I knew what I possibly say that would bring consolation or relief of any kind. [Shannon here: A very dear family to us lost their son, Nick Nadeau, this past week in a car accident. Our hearts our broken over it.] The thing is that I know that I can't...but I know someone that Can. And that is the Savior Jesus Christ. He will bear our grief and our pains. Nick is an AMAZING man. I loved him and looked up to him. Ever since coming off his mission I loved being with him, joking together in Young Adults or playing Ping Pong together at Robs. He is such an example to me of humility and charity. I really look up to him and I am SO grateful for the knowledge that I have that the Plan or Happiness is true! I know that my good friend, your Son or Brother is in a place where he can  "rest from all [his] troubles and sorrows." I know that this may not bring the mortal and physical consolation that many of us long for, but it can bring an eternal and spiritual peace to our souls. Because of the Savior, he still lives and is working hard on the other side. I love you all so much and as a full time servant for the Lord you are all in my prayers, so is Nick. I love you all and I hope I can hear from you. If there is ANYTHING I can do, feel free to call upon me for anything at all.

I love you all and this work!!!

Shine bright and just jump in!!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new liiifffee! :)

Shout out to Grammy!! You are remembered all the way out here in beautiful Taiwan :):)

OKAY NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS LETTER!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are so amazing my brother!!!! I bet you are pretty close to Bigger than Chase now eh? And knowing that you are a super saiyin...you are probably stronger too right!? :)

Oh man! First off, I am sorry that I didn't email on Monday, it was a huge surprise to us too when we got the call on Sunday night saying...hey there is no P-day on Monday so go and do your work, we will be....GOING TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY!!

Ofcourse my first reaction was YEAH THE TEMPLE!!! I HAVEN'T BEEN IN ABOUT A WHOLE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!! But then the reality set in.....no P-day....and a full day of NOTHING scheduled since we thought it would be a P-day!? Thank goodness for the amazing humility of my amazing companion! We hopped right on our knees and asked God for help and then got right up on the phones and called everyone we new!!! After about 30 min of INTENSE quick calls, we had most of a day set up. Can you say miracle story?! I think soo! We we calm and ready for the next day! I am so glad elder Roberts is so willing to help and to serve and to just Jump in...Infact I made that my new catch phrase.."JUMP IN" I have started saying it all the time. Sometimes we really do just gotta jump in and not be afraid and not turn back!

So anyways the TEMPLE WAS AMAZING!!! About a whole year that I haven't been to that building...let me tell you...it was INCREDIBLE! I can't wait to go back again! I did the whole thing in Chinese which was even cooler! We could choose to do the Chinese or the English. Me and ONE OTHER missionary went Chinese. I was actually really happy to see that I was able to understand and actually participate as well!! It was so much fun! I love this language and this people!! I feel like I am really apart of this people! I can really participate in the culture! It is so amazing and I really am just giving my all to the Lord! :)

Alright I want to do a quick run through of the week. ( I don't have much time since the Temple literally took ALL of our time...) So here it is:

I am going through training with Elder Roberts and I pulled out my old Training book to help him see what I did and stuff...then I realized that I had that book out when I was being trained...I saw where I am now and my heart literally hurt for a second...I don't want to go home...(I mean I do want to be with my family again obviously) But I love it out here...I love being a missionary...I love helping and serving and loving people, inviting them to Christ! I don't want to ever leave this!

Elder Roberts doesn't even have to say a single word to get people to write down their information on cards...

I forgot Halloween was a thing....

I read an amazing article called "marriage is not for you" by Seth Adams...read it! :)

We sang "I stand all amazed" In Comp study and I remembered Mom singing me to sleep with hymns and what an impact that made in my life..MOM YOU ARE THE BEST!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

And Yes dad...OFCOURSE I remember the Dragon stories with me and Tomak and Chase and Balarr....Why do you think I am so manly now ;) haha.

We had interviews last week and it was AMAZING to see Elder Wang again and so incredible to sit down with President again! That man is so busy but also still so full of wisdom! :) I love it!

Can I just say that one of my favorite things about being in Taiwan is making my companion try weird Drinks and foods? :) The best is when I give him something or tell him something and his face drops (but there is still that smile like...are you kidding me...) hahha....oh Taiwan...how I love you.

Shout out to Everyone in 高雄 and one in 桃園!! I love you all!! :)

Okay here is your Invite for the week everyone! Watch the Movie.."Joseph Smith and the Restoration"...I watched it again for the first time in a long time today on the bud ride up to the temple!...IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! I Can not and will never deny that I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God! And that because of him we have the Church of Jesus Christ back on the Earth today!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

 

The Padawan has returned!

That is right!!  I have received another Padawan to enter into my Jedi Training network. He will soon be known as Jedi Knight Roberts trained by the hand of Jedi Master Gish! Some may say...Elder...are you really a Jedi Master? The answer would be...yes...that would be due to the metachlorians handed down to me by my Father and Mother. For those of you that don't understand...please go watch StarWars again :) haha.

So I realized yesterday that my chinese really is taking over...I looked at my companion yesterday and said, "I want with you right now to set goals, is that alright?" My grammar is all messed up...hopefully it still all works out haha.

Okay, well I just went through a lot of my friends emails that they sent me (one's on missions) And you know what the most common phase I saw was "Can I say....miracles!?!?" haha SO AWESOME!!!  THIS WORK BRINGS SO MANY MIRACLES! It is seriously so so true! I love it. How can someone NOT see what we are saying is true....LOOK AT ALL THE MIRACLES!! AHHH! :)

So I know what you are all thinking now...HOW IS THE TRAINEE?! Well Elder Roberts the great rocks!!! He is a super stud and super 帥!! He is also really funny, I kinda forgot what it was like when I first got here but now the memories are slowly coming back! :) haha. But the best is that he is doing is best and has a sincere desire to do what the lord asks of him!! I love it!!! One funny thing is that we were talking to someone about our families and all this stuff and somehow we started talking about someone that he knows that is a chef or something and when he said it me and the other investigator were takin back because he said "Go DIE!" hahahhahaha. The words are exactly the same with different tones hahah. SO FUN! :) I love chinese! :)

So this week really in all was so amazing! I got to see my Old MTC companion Elder Green. That stud seems to be doing amazing out in his area! It was awesome to see him and I was able to meet a LOT of new missionaries and make a lot of new friends! I seriously LOVE my mission...I don't think I will ever be able to express in words how much I LOVE it here...I have seen a lot of friends go home and I know that when that time comes for me I am going to be soooo sad....:( I hate thinking about that time coming so lets change topics :) haha.

Some small miracle from this week is the personal strengthening of my testimony and love for this work! This week one of the sisters in my district was havin a tough time a guess and I was privileged and honored to have her come to me and ask for a blessing! I gave her that blessing and felt so edified! The rest of the day and week I felt so good! Especially after she let me know how good it made her feel! I just felt so strengthened! It was awesome! Being worthy of the Lord's direction is...well...THE BEST! And knowing that at anytime anyone can come to you and ask for that...I LOVE IT! It really helps me to understand about how much the lord loves and cares for each of us individually!

Last bit of stuff...The move call came! A TON of the district is leaving...it is so sad...but like a phoenix we will rise from the ashes and again bless the lives of the people of 太平!

This week we got ditched a ton and it really put a hurt on our work...we got pretty frustrated...but how did we handle that? We went out and served! Nothing brings happiness back like service (that is what my Dad taught me!) We served EVERYONE! Our members, investigators, district members! And it is EASY to see the blessings that it brings! We were still able to hit most of the mission standards even with a LOT of missed lessons and the district was still so happy and as a district we had done really well! I LOVE THIS DISTRICT! I am really sad to see it split up but excited for the miracles that are coming!

In my studies this week I read about Teancum. Now I know what you are thinking...Elder Gish...Don't you go rouge on me. Don't worry I would much rather be a Moroni than a Teancum haha. But I was still just impressed with his diligence! I made choice this week, I would give my life for this work! I love it so much and I want to give it my all! With Alma and Amulek (Elder Roberts and Gish) There is nothing we can't do under the power of the Lord!!

Alrighty everyone!! HERE COMES MY FAVORITE PART AND YOUR FAVORITE PART!!! THE INVITE FOR THE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you ready? Get in contact with an old friend and just chat 關心他們一下. :) It is a good way to show love for the lord and show THEM the lord's love for them! :)

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

 

Another Week in 太平

So this week...I might have just 100% forgotten to write anything down that happened this week...thus... my missionary fried brain is drawing blanks...grrr

One thing that was awesome was I was able to see a video of my amazing Brother opening his mission call! Nothing has made me happier so far than to see that!!!!!!!!! I was nervous for him even though I already knew where he was going!! =) I will probably be watching that video a lot :) 

this week we did the stake conference and it was AMAZING!! I love seeing how the missionaries and the Wards are starting to really get along and see the work progress like this! See this for me must have been what it was like for my dad to see people move from having to catch and ride dinosaurs into sitting in nice cars!! :) hahaha. JUST KIDDIN POPS!!! :) But really, this is an amazing work and I as so happy to be able to see it move along like this!!!!!!

This week...not to boast about my amazing Elder's and Sister's surrounding me...but THEY ROCK! Our Zone right now is leading our mission and the Taiping District is leading the Zone!! :) PRAYERS, FASTING, and DILIGENCE BRING MIRACLES!!!!!!!! It just got me all stoked to hear that! :)

Right now I am calling for all prayers for two amazing men, one is a Brother Yeh and the other is a Brother....zeng. They are amazing! :)

This week I decided to be a little more random in my studies and I came upon Mosiah 26.3 and made a connection to the story of the Rich man with the lord! I know it is a weird connection...but it all seemed to come together as I thought about giving up all I had and being humble...just serving the Lord 100% I will not give up and I will not back down. It is in my blood from my wonderful mom and dad! :)

I took some time to teach my district this week about the blessings of finding ourselves and discovering our potential! I have a firm belief that as we develop ourselves and take the gospel and from our lives with it, we will be so blessed and see so much more than we ever did before how much God means to us in our lives and how much our savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement mean to us....it is EVERYTHING. So I have taken some time to just try to figure out who I want to be, who I REALLY want to be. A good Man, Father, Husband, Priesthood Holder, Friend, Brother, Son. It will take a lot of work...especially from where I am starting haha, but I will get there!

I want to invite everyone this week to just random flip open a book of scripture and randomly point to a verse, read it, and think about how it can apply to the problems or anything that you or a friend is facing. I would encourage the use of the Book of Mormon since EVERY ANSWER is IN THE BOOK! If you don't try it you won't know...that book is the key.

I love you all so much and I will try to write things down better this week! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH and I really enjoy the letters and all! Sorry if I am slow on getting back to you...I WILL get back! :)

I would like to be able to hear from more of you! Snail mail makes my world go round ;) haha

Love

Elder Samuel The Irishman Gish

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

 

The pictures below are from the Official Taichung Mission Blog

HES BACKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have a shout out real quick for someone very special in my life! My wonderful and loving Grandfather James Ross McGurrin.  It is his birthday! He has always been such an amazing example to me of how to live my life and how to love those around me!

Okay so here we go with the weekly update! I am going to do this first since last week was super bad!!! Sorry everyone!! 

So this week was SWEET!!!!!!!! I know it probably seems sudden right now since I didn't email you this last week but we had an amazing BAPTISM!!!!!!!!! It was so so so fun! And probably one of the best testimonies I have ever heard came out of Yang Dixiong's mouth after he was baptized! IT WAS AMAZING!!! I love knowing that I am over here doing the Lord's work and helping so many people coming unto Christ and really just improving their lives!!

This week was general conference!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! SO INCREDIBLE!!!!! One line that I love (I know that everyone who saw this must have loved it) is By President Uchtdorf, he siad "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." I heard that and I instantly was like AHH!H!!! That was so awesome! It is was too easy to just doubt your faith and doubt what you know is right! We know this is right and he have known it for awhile. It reminds me of a scripture that a good friend (Sister Soucy) shared in a talk a long time ago that I have used ever since because it touched me so much. It was D&C 6:26 (I think it was that, I have it all marked in my scriptures). It talks about how we already got our answer and that no answer is strong than that that comes from the Lord.

I love this work so much and I love TAIWAN!!!

CONGRATS TO MY AWESOME BROTHER CHASE ON GOING TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is SOOO him! AHHH SO GREAT!!!!!

And Congrats to Gageroo on becoming Batman ;)

Love you all!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

 

oops...

I have no time!! I am so sorry! How does this always happen! I got caught up hearing about my awesome brother and preparing for his mission!! GO CHASE!!!!!!!!!

SHOUT OUTS!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY GRAMMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST EXAMPLE OF A MISSIONARY! YOU ROCK!

DANE! MY BROTHER! YOU Are a killer man, lady and gospel slayer :) Keep up the hard work and Happy 13th Birthday ;) haha

MOM AND DAD! Happy Anniversary! YOU two are my examples to follow. Awhile ago someone asked me what I wanted to be like when I grew up and what I wanted my life to be like and so I just explained what the two of you were like! Even down to Dad's Mike and Ikes :)

The pictures are of us at a bat cave and an interesting hair cut this lady wanted to give me...I had it fixed haha.

I am so sorry about how short this is!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

THe work is moving forward nicely! Working hard brings blessings, as does obedience. That is all. LOVE THE LORD!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

 

The Empire Strikes Back

 

image from Taiwan, Taichung Mission blog

(Shannon here: Elder Gish is in the 2nd row, 3rd from the left. For those of you who know Sister Rachel Basko from the Sanford Ward here in the Exeter Stake, she is serving in the same mission and her first district happens to be the same as Elder Gishs. She is in the front row, 5th from the right – cute short brown hair with the brown blazer.)

 

Why would I start the title to a missionary email with a line from starwars?...Well besides the fact that my companion and I are HUGE nerds together...and the fact that we are both studying in the ways of the force....;) haha. Besides all that (and the lightsaber training...) We are striking back super hard this week! We are gathering our forces and bringing the fight to Satan! We aren't scared and we aren't going to run! We stand firm in the faith and we are fighting to the end! :) I really like thinking about the mission as a battle, it just makes me try so much harder in everything that I do! I think it is because my Dad trained me in the way of the Jedi since I was young...for those of you that don't know...My Dad is the Master Jedi over all the universe!!

Well lets move from the Universe to my little area Taiping on my little island Taiwan :) It is AMAZING!!! I really do love it here so much! and I love my district! Speaking of them, the District is doing well. I am so glad to serve her and help these missionaries grow! I have been thinking recently about how I can make a difference as a district leader and have this influence spread and effect the whole zone and the whole mission as a whole. I have been thinking about the effect of ONE person on a society. I want to help my district grow personally because if we don't progress how can our investigators. We tell people that the gospel can make today better than yesterday and tomorrow even better and so on. I wan't to truly help people recognize that that is true! I have found recently that all those old Chinese movie quotes are true...where the old blind master with the long beard holds out one grain of rice and says 'one grain of rice can tip the scale of balance between victory and defeat' haha. It really is so true!! The difference of just one person is incredible. Whether you know it or not, I am so sure that every single person that reads this has made a great influence in someones life! What we have to do now is just make sure that we know how and why we are doing what we are doing! :) 

I wish I had more time for these emails but my time is almost up today. And we are going to be going to a bat cave today! I will try to get some sweet pics for that!

We have an amazing investigator that needs help giving up smoking, he will be getting baptized on the 12th! We need your prayers!!! :) THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!

I love you all so much!

I also love letters :) haha

If you can read chinese: 真的可以看得懂的話你應該已經把這個翻譯了到中文!! 我真的指導我們傳教士所分享的都是真實的!!我想要你們都可以一直記得我們的救主耶穌基督的贖罪我們真的可以每天進步. 我也愛你們. 那記得你可以隨時打給我們傳教士.我們都非常的樂意服務啦!!最後要記得最簡單的方法 接近神,那就是禱告看經文和教會喔. 我愛你們!!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老