Week 58

Hello Friends! 

This week has been pretty crazy! It has felt really long between transfers and moving into a new apartment! (We haven't gotten our mail key, so you can keep sending mail to the address on the blog, and I will get you my new address next week!)

Wednesday was transfer day! It was so hard to say goodbye to Sister Zitting! I love that girl so much! Sister Martin is amazing though! She is so sweet, fun, and an amazing teacher. All around an incredible missionary! This transfer is going to be great!

Sunday was amazing! In gospel principles, we discussed charity! A sister in the ward was sharing a quote from a conference talk. She was saying that in spanish, charity translates to "the love that never ceases to be." and in Micronesia, love translates to "the power to change lives." I just think it is so powerful. No one will change unless they are invited to do so, and I think I would add that many won't change unless they feel love from the person that invites them. 

We also need to make sure that our intents are always charitable. I love the teachings of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13! This chapter is all about charity. In verse three he says;

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

We can serve people all day long, but if we are doing it for the wrong reasons, if we are doing it for personal gain, it will profit us nothing. 

Thomas S Monson said it best. “Let us ask ourselves the questions: ‘Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?' What a formula for happiness! What a prescription for contentment, for inner peace—to have inspired gratitude in another human being.Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved”

My question to you is the same. Have you done any good in the world today? 

I love you all and hope you each reach out to serve someone this week!

Sister Gish

Sister Gish and Sister Martin twinning!

Sister Gish and Sister Martin at the temple!

Sister Gish, Sister Chadwick, Sister Lewis, Sister Martin, and Sister Taylor cleaning an apartment that the elders left disgusting for Sister Taylor and Sister Fisher

Sister Gish, Sister Zitting, and Jerri!

Week 57: Sister Gish Hit Her 13 Month Mark and She's Staying in Greeley!

Hello friends! This week was very bittersweet! The biggest news is that transfers are tomorrow, so we got transfer information on Saturday! To my surprise, I will be staying in Greeley and Sister Zitting is being transferred to Casper! It will be so sad to say goodbye to her! Our companionship has been a dream! Sister Zitting is funny and kind and just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside! I will miss her tons, but I know she will do amazing things in Casper! I was really excited to be staying. There must be another person in Greeley that I am meant to cross paths with! My new companion will be Sister Martin! She's adorable, and her close family friend was companions with my mom on their missions! Such a small world! 

Chris and Ellen got married on Saturday! Yay! They are so cute and I can't wait for the day they are sealed in the temple! 

On Friday we got a call from a lady, Jen, who lives in Loveland! She said that the missionaries in her ward had invited her to invite someone to church, so she did! Lucky for us, it was someone in our ward! Her name is Shakira, and boy oh boy, she is a miracle! Shakira is 18 and she was born blind. That's how Jen knows her! They have spent many hours in the car driving Shakira to her school in Colorado Springs. Just another wonderful example of how miraculous and effective member missionary work is! Despite all of the hard challenges life has dealt Shakira, I have never met a girl so positive about anything and everything that comes her way! She leaned over to Sister Zitting during sacrament meeting and said "I want to be a member of your church! How do I do that?" Sister Zitting explained that she would have to come to church two more times and that we teach her. When her mom picked her up and asked how she liked church, Shakira replied "I loved it! I want to go two more times so I can go forever!" then yesterday we got a text from her saying "Can you teach me right this second?" We Skyped her and taught her the Restoration! She knew all about prophets and Jesus Christ! She is simply brilliant and I can't wait to continue teaching her.

One of my favorite things I read in the Book of Mormon this week was in Mosiah 2:21-24. 

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

  22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

 23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

 24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

I have been in the mission field for 13 months! I have been priveleged to wear Christ's name for almost 400 days! The harder I work and the more I give, the more He blesses me. Even though I may be an unprofitable servant, I know I have a Savior who works through the weak and simple. What a pleasure it has been to be an instrument in His hand to save souls. 

We will be moving to a new apartment but in the meantime, you can keep sending mail to my current address!

I love you all! 

Sister Gish

Sister Gish hit her 13 month mark!

Sister Gish and Sister Zitting

Sister Gish's district

Happy Birthday to Sister Walker! They got to celebrate her big day at Dutch Bros

Chris and Ellen got married!

Sister Gish, Sister Zitting, Brena, Ben, and Nando

Week 56

Hello Friends! 

This week was a little different than most. Poor Sister Zitting has been sick, so we haven't been able to get out very much! 

Last Tuesday, we had district preparation day! We went to a park with our district and we played games and ate food! It was fun! I feel very fortunate to rub shoulders with so many great missionaries! Each person in my district has taught me so much!

September 5th marked one year since I entered the field. Words can't even describe how much my mission has meant to me. I was so blessed to have a wonderful trainer, Sister Warren, who really helped set the tone for the kind of missionary I wanted to be! I have had a string of amazing companions since. Each one has influenced me for the better and I love them all. I am also grateful for a wonderful mission president and his wife! The McMurrays are truly angels! 

Cassidy was baptized on Saturday! Her story is one of a kind. I've talked about her in past letters, but basically her curiosity was sparked by negative comments about Jesus Christ's church. She read the Book of Mormon to see what was so bad about it, but because of her sincere heart, she found nothing but light and truth. Her story reminds me of Joseph Smith's prophetic statement. 

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; … the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

I am so blessed to be apart of this magnificent work. There is no better feeling than helping people find the peace and happiness that the gospel brings! 

I hope you all have a great week filled with tons of missionary experiences! I love you all!

I literally have one picture this week, but it's a baptism picture, so I'm not mad! 

Sister Gish

Cassidy's Baptism!

Week 55

Hello! This week was seriously so amazing!  

On Wednesday, we had interviews with President McMurray! He is seriously my fave person! I always feel so inspired and motivated whenever I meet with him! I felt my Father in Heaven's love for me through President McMurray as he discerned my thoughts and feelings and gave me wise counsel. He also gave me a much needed blessing of comfort which has been bearing me up ever since! 

Thursday was amazing because we got to spend some time with one of my favorite people, Sister Hanson! She is such an inspiration to me of having a positive attitude! When she was in high school, she was in an accident that injured her spinal cord leaving her paralyzed from the waist down! Her world was completely changed upside down and she had every reason to be angry at life, yet she embraced her trial! She has used it as a tool for good and has helped many kids that have similar disabilities! She reminds me that I have no reason to complain. 

We had MLC on Friday! This is by far one of my favorite meetings to go to! I just love seeing the vision of our mission and planning how we can help Heavenly Father's children grow closer to Him and our Savior! 

Yesterday I went on exchanges with Sister Barlow! She received her visa and will be heading out for Jamaica at the end of the transfer! She is a great example to me of blooming where you are planted! She knows that she is visa waiting in our mission for a reason and she has worked her tail off since she's been here! I love her! We also got to clean the temple! I have no words to describe the spirit I felt, even just being in there cleaning. I know that Jesus Christ walks the halls of the temples. You can feel His presence in every room! 

I love you all! 

Sister Gish

"New phone, who dis?"

Milkshakes!

Sister Gish reunited with Sister Stapelman

Pics from Missionary Leadership Conference