CHRISTMAS MIRACLES!!!!

First I want to throw out some shoutouts!!

VASHA BURROWS AND FAM!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR AMAZING PACKAGE!! This girl is awesome at taking care of missionaries!!! YOU ROCK GIRL!!

PEJA!! (林炫良) You are a stinker...but I love ya :) This is my trainers trainers trainers trainers trainer....haha He is a stud :)

Okay story time....strap in:

BAPTISM! BOOM Yup it happened it was a WHITE CHRISTMAS IN TAIPING!!! But you can give all that credit to the Lord since I am a pretty 'eh' missionary haha, but with the Lord all our efforts are sanctified and we (including people around us) are blessed for our faith, obedience, and desires! I love it so much!! :) So 張 got baptized!  His English name is Dobby... yup like from Harry Potter :). He is SO FUNNY! I love him and it was so amazing to see his baptism especially seeing Elder Roberts preform it!! :)

On exchanges this week I was SEVERELY humbled as I was biking around and decided to say a prayer since our efforts weren't working...then the first guy I saw. I went up to talk to him...HE WAS PERFECT! He said " I have been looking to get into a church and find out more about Christ but I didn't know how to start!" I said...well....lucky for you...I am a missionary haha. He then asked "so if I get to the church and just start asking for you can I find you and you can teach me?"...Lets see how I responded to that..."um............YES!" Haha it was amazing to see the Lord lift us up as soon as we put our faith in him! I love it so much!!!

I have gotten to use that boogie board in lessons mom! Thank you so much! The Kid's love it too! :) [Shannon here: The Boogie Board we sent is a small writing tablet, not the mini surf board.)

President came to DTM this week......scary..........But I didn't choke don't worry :) [Shannon: DTM=District Training Meeting.]

I love you all...quick invite...SHINE BRIGHT! Just smile at people this week, maybe give them a wave...make them feel good :) I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

Two best holidays!!!

Wait what?...Two?....yes...TWO! What are they Elder Gish?

Well....Let me tell you. ONE you can guess...CHRISTMAS!!! Which I will save for AFTER I talk about the other...which comes up in the 27th....what is that...SHANNON GISH'S BIRTHDAY!!! I think my wonderful mom is turning 28 or something like that! :) She is so amazing and so wonderful! I wanted to just take a second to send some praise her way and to let 大家(everyone) know about how FLIPPIN INCREDIBLE THAT WOMAN IS!!! She has raised me, supported me and loved me my whole life! I can hardly even think of a mean word that has come out of that guardian angels lips! She is pretty much perfect...just ask anyone in my family. The only reason that she hasn't ben translated (sent straight to heaven) is because God needs her here to watch over and take care of us boys (yes including my pops haha). So Mom, I love you so much and I am so grateful for you in my life. I miss you so much! I hope that I can treat everyone in my life the way you have treated me and love them like you have loved all of us boys. I don't think you will ever know how much you mean to us! But I thank God so much for sending me to someone so wonderful! He must have just thought...Oh Sam Gish eh...hm....well he needs a patient loving mom...a perfect mom...well we only have one...I guess he is going to Shannon McGurrin! :) You are the best and I love you more! RWYAHOTE, WIP, ATILY, SB!!!! :)

I also am so grateful for this amazing Christmas season where miracles are noticed (I won't say seen since we see them everyday...it is just about noticing them ;) And where hearts are opened to think about Christ our Savior I hope everyone can take this opportunity to share the light of Christ with someone! Go out and just make a new friend, that is good enough, make someone feel good :) The Savior and Lord came into this world for OUR happiness.

So this week has been a ton of fun and Elder Roberts is just killin it more and more! I love bein with that kid! His Chinese is so good and his teaching is so good and he just has such a love for the work and such a strong spirit! He is going to be a leader in this mission no doubt and I am just lucky to be his trainer! 

Oh...we opened our presents early....:) haha it is P-day! And we get to talk to our families on Christmas which is like the best gift ever so that will be sweet!

Our investigators are doing well and we are really focusing on finding this week and so we could really use everyone's prayers.....and letters since they boost our spirits :):) haha

We are SUPER busy today and this week because of mini-move call and Christmas and such. So I am super sorry this email is so short but I hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :)

P.S. I am a Mormon....ask me why ;) haha

LOVE YOU ALL!!

I will always be a missionary :) Catch the wave y'all...cause it's sweet! :)

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

[Shannon Here] From the Official Taichung Taiwan Mission Blog

Missionaries, Taichung Stake choir members, and National Taichung University of Education students
join in singing praises to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

I will go...AND DO

This week as I was doing my studies I came across a section in the Preach My Gospel about....can you guess??...Humility!....yup...my favorite :) haha. And one of the things I read was about submitting to the will of the Father..as in our all knowing all loving HEAVENLY Father....first off...who WOULDN'T want to follow Him and do all He asks!

But anyways I had only writtin' above that sentence "I will go!" And for some reason it just looked weird to me...I was thinking about it and I figured out that it was weird to me because it was not accompanied by a AND DO...I was sitting there thinking about all the things I am willing to Go to...but how many things am I will to DO....I can Go to a service activity, I can Go to church, I can GO on a mission...But does that mean that I will be DOING what I should be while I am there? I want to say that GOING is just not enough...we have to DO. Nephi said that we will GO AND DO for a reason.  It got me so pumped to just GO AND DO! It reminded me also of a story/ joke my Pops tells....that guy is just so funny ;) haha. It is where he talks about 3 birds on a dock and 2 decided to leave...how many are left??....................THINK ABOUT IT...........................All 3 are still there..WHAT WHY HOW???? Just because they decided to leave doesn't mean that they actually left! We have to GO AND DO our part :)

Well this week...i'm not going to lie...has probably been the most stressed I have ever been in my life...I feel like I am just a problem fixer...running from person to person, ward to ward, missionary to missionary just fixing problems and trying to help people bear their burdens...at first my prideful self was getting pretty frustrated with people and just angry and...it wasn't very good. But then as I humbled my self and went to the Lord in prayer I realized how much of a blessing that all was and I saw the growth that I could gain from such experiences! That is something that I think is just amazing about this gospel! It may not take our problems away but it gives us the PERFECT way to deal with the problems. It isn't just taking the problems and finding out how to deal with it, but rather taking the problem and making it into a blessing! How amazing is that!? Who would not want to partake of this amazing gospel!?!?

I was told the District meeting topic THE DAY that I was supposed to hold the meeting...so I am SUPER grateful for want my mom and dad taught me about following the spirit and being about to just get up and say what comes into our minds and into our hearts!

I also had an AMAZING experience with Elder Vandiford this week...it was straight out of Ammons life from the Book of Mormon! It was awesome!! :) So we were contacting and while we were talking to this guy he kinda looked at us like...oh gosh...here we go. And he seemed at first to not have any interest and then Elder Vandiford said "so what makes you believe that a god exists" And looking to argue..the man replied, "well what god do you believe in, are you talking about that god?" And then Elder Vandiford said this..."I believe in your and my Heavenly Father, the creator of the world and of you and me." The man had NO RESPONSE and then he agreed to meet with us!! It was SO SWEET! Haha, it was like a spirit arrow...kinda like the ones, Legolas shoots, except it had spirit fire and was carried by the spirit past any armor and right to the heart! GODS TEAM: 1 / SATAN: 0!! :) haha

So needless to say the week was...one of those weeks :) But we are setting REALLY high goals for next month and going to start working HARD to hit them so if you could add Elder Roberts and I to your general prayers that would be nice since prayer is like the number one best source for any power! :)

Keep the Christmas spirit and Go out to make people smile and laugh! This week as you prepare for Christmas go out and try to help all those around you..just be willing to support them in their burdens and feel of the blessings that come from that!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

JUMP IN AND SHINE BRIGHT!!!!

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

The Phoenix

Who is the Phoenix?...Elder Roberts!! As the superstar Elder Erickson leaves for the promised land, Elder Roberts is prepared to rise from his ashes and be the greatest missionary this mission has ever seen! :)

Today we got to go see Elder Erickson, Limponostrong (spelling...), and others for their last time on the Island as a missionary! Whoa....crazy....that is scary. It seems like just yesterday I was being dragged around by Elder Erickson from place to place and I didn't know a single thing I was doing! And  now I am here with the Phoenix in Taiping flying through the streets carried on the wings of angels! :)

This week has been a pretty amazing week! You know...this world really is getting bad and harder and harder to find purpose in. Things are getting...chaotic. And as missionaries I feel that we see some of the darkest of the dark....all we do 24/7 is talk to everyone...but the thing is that as missionaries we also see the lightest of the light! Do you know why? Because all we do....24/7 is talk to people! :) I can say without a doubt that I know that this gospel is true. It changes all who will let it into their lives...it has changed me and it CAN change you. I am continually changing and everyday becoming better! I have changed...I have turned and I am not going back :) I have seen this gospel, the light that Christ shares take the person on the street that is thinking about suicide and has had 20 years of cigarette and drug addiction coupled with heavy alcoholism become a church leader and a man worthy to enter the temple!!

This week we had a sweet party...CHRISTMAS PARTY!!! WHOOHOO!!!! We took people caroling...I was amazed by the number of people that said...NO DO NOT SING TO US...but with the push of some younger kids that desperately wanted to sing...most people would give in and let us sing to them :) So much fun!!

Other than that we have had a pretty average week! Now the average work for hard working worthy missionaries is FILLED with miracles :)...also filled with rejection...but we can brush that off right? :)

The man whose wife was baptized awhile ago came to church and seems to be doing good...he is still having trouble smoking...but hopefully we can see another miracle and he will lose that desire! :) I know it can happen...

A lot of people moved away today! But this next move-call is going to be a lot of fun! We are going to work until we can't work any more and we are going to help out EVERYONE!!!!!! :)

[Shannon here: We asked Elder Gish to send us some pictures of the food he typically eats and then tell us what it is.]

That is chicken heart with other various meats...such as fish that has the eggs still in the belly...yummy....:)

Thank you so much for all of your support...Especially for those letters that I know you are all writing!! :) haha.

Shine Bright! (JUST LIKE WE ARE MEANT TO!)

P.S. if anyone has any other questions or things they want to see...feel free to write and let me know! (No this is not a creative way for me to ask for letters ;)) haha

-

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

 

Uhoh...

I litterally have about 10min....I thought that I would have more time but we only have one computer where we are and so the place that I am at is makin it tough....I am so sorry! P-Day ends soon. Sorry....I love you all though. Here we go with a quick update!!

Elder Funk came!....it was sweeeeeet!! Spiritually uplifting! I loved it! I want some more of it.

This week was tough on my companion and I as far as numbers go. I got SUPER sick this week and it made it a little tough. But don't worry mom I am all good! :) I got an AMAZING blessing from my wonderful companion...THANK YOU ROBERTS FAMILY FOR RAISING AN AMAZING YOUNG MAN!!!! And for one full day I was honestly scared and worried and the next I was almost 100% fine.

Could some people just send pics of home and stuff. I miss seeing everyone's faces back home!! Especially Gish Clan!!! :)

I totally forgot Thanksgiving was a thing....how embarrassing is that....but the turkey that we got on that day was AMAZING!! :)

Back up plans-when set with God WORK OUT! :)

The simplest doctrines are often the ones that hit me in the most profound way! :) I love it so much!! :) SO I INVITE EVERYONE. Just to go and study a simple doctrine and it is this. That Heavenly Father is our FATHER and he loves us, he sent his son Jesus Christ to help us get through this rough life. That is the best and happiest message I have ever heard! Who doesn't want to hear that message!?!?!.....Sadly a lot of people....haha but if you listen I promise you will know it is true! If nothing else I would tell people of the truth of God, but even BETTER THAN that is that HE GAVE US HIS TRUE DOCTRINE AND HIS TRUE CHURCH!!!! :)

That is all the time I have...love you sorry!

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Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

Photos courtesy of the official Taichung Taiwan Mission