Nearer My God To Thee

The basement looks fantastic! I am so excited for you to start putting up the movie quotes. And I second what Brandon said! Kill something so you can send me jerky! I din't get a Halloween card... But I got something in the mail from Tanis! It was a big piece of paper with someones body traced on it with their arms stretched out. On their shirt it said, "Do Hugs not drugs." It was weird so I hung it up on the wall in my room. Thank you Fort Macleod Young Women! Thank you for sharing what you learned at priesthood meeting. That is so true! The Holy Ghost is definitely the teacher! We are just instruments in this marvelous work! And that is a reminder I need every day! 

I had a good week this week. After I emailed you guys I went bowling with the other sisters in my zone. a couple of them had birthdays so we were celebrating with them! And then after that we had a cottage meeting. I never heard of one before but I like the idea. A member in a ward hosts family home evening at their home and then missionaries invite recent converts, less actives and investigators to it. It was fun. 

Another highlight this week is we got to visit a member in our ward who is suffering from cancer. She is a really nice lady and was having a really hard day when we saw her so I am glad we got to visit. Me and my companion decided to sing her the hymn "Nearer my God to thee". It was so beautiful and the spirit was so powerful! She was so grateful and so was her husband. That really opened my eyes to what it truly means to serve. To do work in behalf of the Lord and be his angels. She told us that we couldn't have come on a better day. It was truly the Lord working through us, inspiring us to meet her. It was so cool! 

I got to crochet again this week with a less active. She taught us how to make scarfs this time so know you will be a peace to know that I will stay warm this winter haha. Our district decided to crochet a blanket together and give it to the mission home so that is what we will be doing during lunch after our district meetings!

Also one of our investigators ,Tim, just had his baptismal interview last saturday so he will be getting baptized next sunday!! (Nov. 2) We are so excited for him! Today is day 12 for not smoking! and we are so proud of him! It's so cool how the gospel changes peoples lives! It really does bless people! Another investigator named Drew came to church for the first time last sunday! He really enjoyed it! He is really getting a long with one of the members in the ward. member are a huge help in missionary work when they help fellowship! 

I also saw President Morgan and his wife this sunday! He is my mission president. It was a pleasant surprise to see them! They are honestly like celebrities to me. For some reason I find it weird that they know so much about me. But they are fantastic and very loving. I am well looked after I can promise you that. 

Well I also learned something this week, believe it or not. I have known this before but It really came clear to me this week. I learned the importance of exercising your faith. I read this talk that was given by Tad R. Callister and he gave it in the MTC in 2008. But it was about becoming a consecrated missionary. Putting every thing on the sacrificial alter (Like fears, home, romance, pride, everything..) and giving everything you have to serving a mission. A section that really stuck out to me in that talk was putting our fears on the sacrificial alter. It can be scary and awkward to talk to people especially about religion and I have let many opportunities to share the gospel pass by because I was afraid to open my mouth. But then I read this...

"The reason it is so important to open mouths is that every time we do so we exercise faith, and every time we exercise faith we invite the spirit and miracles into our lives. Consecrated missionaries open their mouth with everyone."

I love that so much because it is so true! We can pray for faith and say we have faith, but unless we exercise that faith miracles happen! The spirit works through us! Miracles happen after the trial of our faith! And that is not just for missionary work! That is for everything in our lives! He will strengthen testimonies and let us know if the church is true if we exercise our faith and pray to him or study our scriptures. He will help us over come trials if we exercise our faith and rely on the enabling power of the atonement. We can do anything! Faith is so powerful! Powerful enough to move mountains! If we put our trust in God, He will not forsake us. I can testify of that!

Family, have a fantastic week and never forget that God loves ya! :) 

Love,

Sister Fisher

My new investigator haha ;)

Apples

Oh my goodness dad... your emails kill me. I am suppose to be quiet in the library but I can't help but laugh out loud when I read your "news letters." Happy Birthday Justin and Baxter! I have been thinking about you guys! And congratulations Justin on your race! Sounds like a blast! I will train every morning with you because I have to work out in the mornings anyways! I know you will do great! 

 I will be in this same area until after Christmas. I left a green paper on the fridge that gives details about what you should do when you mail things so read that and decide for yourself. :) 

No we don't have I-pads yet but we might get them in the near future. If we do eventually get them then I would have to pay for it with my own money and then after my mission I would get to keep it! Which is kinda awesome. 

I don't get to watch the news so I haven't heard about any tornadoes... The weather has been really nice recently. The leaves are changing color and the temperature is perfect! Some missionaries think it is getting cold but I think it is beautiful out! It was raining a lot the first couple of days I was here and it was weird because the rain was like a mist. but other than that, it has been very nice in the St. Louis area.

I have had quite the week and I am definitely learning more and more every day! On tuesday had exchanges so I got to spend 24hrs with my Sister Training Leader and she is from Toronto Canada! She doesn't have a drivers license so I had to drive everywhere. which was interesting. Lets just say I am very grateful for GPSs. But I got to meet some of her investigators and they are some amazing people! I met a guy with an eye patch! He was very nice. And old. He liked fishing though so he really liked my name and told me, "I'm just going to call you fish." I hope I get to see him more. 

On Thursday we had Zone Leader Training which was awesome. I got to officially meet everyone in my zone. We got to learn and do more role playing. Even out of the MTC we do more and more role playing! I am learning to love it though. It really does help. I really learned the importance of studying at this meeting. We listened to a part of a talk from Elder Jeffery R. Holland. He talked about how you wouldn't want an unpracticed heart surgin to do heart surgery on you. It is the same with missionary work. You wouldn't want an unpracticed missionary preaching the word. I know the Spirit is the teacher and brings things to our remembrance, but if you haven't studied then the spirit has nothing to draw from your mind. Another thing that he said is, "Tell me how obedient  you are and I will tell you how the rest of your mission will go." Or something like that. And that is SO true! Our obedience determines the out come of our mission. And even life! Decisions determine our destiny (Thomas S. Monson) So it is important to make good decisions. And you said it from the beginning dad and I am so grateful! Me and my companion made a goal for our time together to be 100% obedient! And it has brought so many blessings! To get up at 6:30 and work out every morning, to have personal and companion study, to stay out of our apartment until 9:00 at night and to have lights out at 10:30. It might be easy to say that we are tired and want to sleep in or go home early, but putting everything I got into this mission really bring blessings! Another rule that our mission president gave us is to only listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir through out the week and then on P-days we can listen to any of the music on lds.org and that is it. That is all I get to listen to for 18 months. (So feel free to send me Mo Tab music for christmas gifts haha) But still by just listening to Mo Tab it really helps me focus on why I am out here and to focus on Jesus Christ. It helps me have the spirit with me always. Not all missions have that rule but I am glad that our mission president is a little more strict. It makes me want to work harder. 

We also got a new investigator this week. He was a referral from these other missionaries. When we first met this guy he seemed almost perfect. He was well studies of our church and searched for missionaries to teach him so he could learn more and eventually become a member. He told us that he feels well in tuned with the spirit and he felt like the mormon church was the way to go. He has been to Nauvoo and Salt Lake City and he has talked with many members and missionaries. He even told us that he knows the church is true. I almost thought that this was too good to be true. I even thought, "This can't be that easy. Does God really put someone this prepared and this ready into missionaries paths to receive the gospel?" We even invited him to church the next day and he said he would come. And he did come! After we met with him the first time he gave us apples and I told my companion, "I almost feel like these apples are poisoned because of how easy that was." Maybe I shouldn't have doubted God...  

Well. Things have changed. Yesterday we went over to teach him the first lesson. God is our loving Heavenly Father. He was good with that. Gospel Blesses Families. He was good with that too. Then we got to God calls prophets in every dispensation. This is where things turned into a debate. And that is how he saw it. He saw that we were the sales people trying to sell him this product. And it was almost like he invited us over just so he could see if we could "win him over". And it got to the point where he was coaching us how to be good salesmen because he worked in the sales business in the past. This guy is so weird! Luckily we had a member over with us too to help us. He just did not understand priesthood authority and that a prophet called of God is the only one who can act in his name and under his authority. He doesn't believe that that authority was ever lost because of people like Martin Luther, Good people who preached of God and brought people closer to Christ and His doctrine. Yes they were good people and followers of Christ and yes many other denominations have a lot of truth to them but one thing that they don't have is that priesthood authority. Someone who can act in his name and authority. Someone who holds that power of God. We have the fullness of the gospel on the earth today. We did our very best to explain that to him but he just kept rambling and trying to talk over us. It exhausting. This guy is really smart. And is well studied in many books and religions. He likes to use big words too. But he is not humble what so ever. It makes me think of the scripture 2 Nephi 9: 28-29. When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God... I hope that we can soften his heart with the spirit. We will see how it goes. But I am still not going to eat that apple. 

One thing I would like to ask you guys is if you could send me good talks on Priesthood Authority. It is a common thing people get caught up on and I think if I had a better knowledge of it I could explain it better to people. Give the spirit something to draw on.

But oh my goodness guys! The church is SO true! I know it! And nothing that anyone could say could change that! God loves all his children, including you and me! And he blesses us everyday! We just have to open our hearts and minds to notice those everyday tender mercies! I am growing everyday from this missionary experience and I am loving every minute of it! Have a wonderful week and I will hear from you next Monday! 

Love,

Sister Fisher

​Hey!

Sorry I didn't write you yesterday. A lot has happened this week! I left the MTC on October 7th and arrived in St. Louis about1:00pm. Our Mission president and his wife and his assistent were there to pick us up and it was kinda weird to see them in real life! It was like seeing celebrities because I have seen there picture so much and read so much about them. Anyways, they first took us to the St. Louis Temple which was beautiful and we took some pictures! You should be getting a picture and a letter from the mission president sometime soon. Then we went to the Mission Home and that home was so beautiful! Very simple but so nice! We got to stay the night at the mission home and we had a testimony meeting in the living room and each had an interview with the president. I love our Mission President and his wife! They are so loving and his wife is seriously perfect. Like I don't think she has one single flaw. But she is so nice. I loved staying in there home. 

On wednesday we had our transfer meeting and I got a new companion! her name is Sister Hayden and she is from Washington state. She is great :) 

So my first area in the St. Louis mission is..... Webster Groves! I am in the St. Louis South zone so I am in St. Louis! 

Webster Groves is the name of my ward. I am in a family ward. And guess what! There is a guy named George Bailey in my ward! Haha I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that! I am gonna miss watching It's a Wonderful Life with you guys but at least I will get to chill with George Bailey!! Anyways I will probably be in this area until after Christmas. We have been pretty busy with lots of appointments so I haven't gone tracking that much but I kinda enjoy tracking. We have quite a few investigators and two with baptismal dates. One of our investigators has a smoking addiction so we are helping him over come that and we gave him a quit smoking packet. It's just kinda cool because I worked with people with addictions before my mission and I get to continue to help them during my mission. He came to church last sunday so I got to sit with him. Hopefully he will be ready for his baptismal date on November 1st. And Our other investigator bore his testimony at church!! That was awesome!

On Thursday I got to crochet with a less active member so Auntie Deanna will be pleased to know that I am taking up that skill now because we meet with her every other week. It's actually not that hard! Our District is going to make a district blanket and put it in the mission home :) 

Last saturday I also got to help an old lady in our ward move. my shoulders are still a little sore from that. 

I didn't get to write you yesterday because we had a Mission conference!! Every missionary in the mission came to St. Louis and we got to listen to our Mission president and a member of the Quorum of the 70! His name was Elder Satati. He is from Kenya Africa. One of the Questions that Elder Satati asked us is, When you think of your hero... What scripture do you think of? So I want you all to answer that question for me :) I think of Moroni 7:45.

Also at our mission conference we had the opportunity to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. And it was so good! I really really encourage all of you to watch it! It's funny, spiritual, and inspirational! It really shows a nice diversity of different mormon families in the world. I loved it so much!  

That is so awesome to hear about Thanksgiving! Because I was at the Mission conference I met up with most of the Canadians in the mission and we all ate at the same table for lunch and had our own Thanksgiving dinner as we ate our turkey sandwiches haha. It was funny. 

I hope your toe gets better. If I was there I would kiss it better for you :) And I hope Auntie Dawn heals up too. 

You will have to send me some cool shots that you take with your new camera gear! I am glad to hear you guys are having fun!

Also A few things I need to ask from you.

1. I need you to send the mission office my Driving records ASAP! Please please!

2. What is Kaitlyn's Email? 

3. Give Referrals to the poor missionaries in Claresholm. It sucks not having appointments. haha 

Love ya Lots and pray for you guys everyday! 

Sister Fisher

Grandparents!! 

I love you and miss you very much! I am having a wonderful time so far and have been so blessed with spiritual experiences!

Conference really was amazing! And it was cool to watch it in the MTC with 2000 other missionaries in a big Gym! The spirit was incredible! 

But I am now in the Mission field! I left the MTC October 7th at 4:30 in the morning and I took a bus, train and airplane to get here! Bu I am here and safe. 

My first area is in the St. Louis south Zone and I am in the Webster Groves ward.

I am learning so much and growing a little at a time :) 

Yesterday we had a Mission Conference! Every missionary in the mission came to St. Louis and we got to listen to our Mission president and a member of the Quorum of the 70! His name was Elder Satati. He is from Kenya Africa. One of the Questions that Elder Satati asked us is, When you think of your hero... What scripture do you think of? So I want you all to answer that question for me :) I think of Moroni 7:45.

Also at our mission conference we had the opportunity to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. And it was so good! I really really encourage all of you to watch it! I think it should be playing at the Movie Mill right now... It's funny, spiritual, and inspirational! It really shows a nice diversity of different mormon families in the world and what mormons believe in. I loved it so much! 

I hope all is well! 

Love

Sister Fisher

My view for General Conference!

​Me and the Mission President and ​his wife at the St. Louis Temple.

​The group that traveled to Missouri together and The Mission President

​My First companion and trainer... Sister Hayden!!

back at the airport

These are the pictures from the last post that we have available now. Proof that we were up at 4:00 and Tianny saying goodby at 4:00am. then sending her off at the airport.

A Long Day Tomorrow

Another week at the MTC has gone and I can't believe how fast it has gone! I will be leaving for St. Louis Missouri Tomorrow morning at 4:35am so it will be a long day Tomorrow! But first let me tell you about my week! 

On wednesday and Friday mornings we do service assignment and clean bathrooms and what not in different buildings at6:15am! That is all I got to say about that. It is good for us I guess. 

So this week we finished off teaching Shawn (Our teacher as an investigator) and we got him to commit to baptism!! haha I don't know if he was going easy on us but it was so exciting! Our last day we taught him was on Friday and I feel like I really improved since the first day we taught him. On our last day of teaching shawn, Brother Gigena (Our teacher) talked to us and evaluated on how we were doing and he told me that sometimes I ask questions on top of questions making the question more complicated.For example I might ask, How does this make you feel? How do you think God shows his love for you? And so on and so on. I needed to be more direct with my questions. So having this in mind I went into our last lesson. We were teaching about faith. I shared James 1:5-6 and I gave an analogy of a our lives being a boat and how winds and waves of trials and temptation might try and tip our boat and blow it away but if we have a strong faith as our anchor that we won't be blown away and off the path of righteousness and enduring to the end and what not. So then after that I asked shawn, "Shawn, How do you think you can strengthen your faith?" Brother Gigena then smiled at me and said, "That is a very good question!" It made me feel so good! It made me believe that I can actually do this!! But there has also been times where role playing has not ended up so good. I was role playing with this one Elder and he was suppose to be an investigator who wanted to back out of being baptized and I was suppose to regain his courage to get baptized. And when I asked him to be baptized again he was suppose to say no. His issue was that he had a hard time repenting and that he didn't think he could overcome temptations and he was afraid that he would just continue sinning and not be ready for his baptismal date. I remembered a scripture mastery talking about how God won't give us any temptation that we can't bare but I couldn't remember where it was! That discussion just ended really bad and I couldn't think of anything to tell him but keep on trying! Don't give up! You can do it! But that didn't convince him. The scripture I was looking for is in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Now in my spare time I like to study my scripture masteries. Not memorize them but just know where to find them because they are VERY useful in lessons! So Justin, learn your scripture masteries WHILE you are in seminary!!

Thursday was field Orientation day and it was like a 7 hour workshop preparing us for the field! haha It was awesome! It helped me better understand what to do when I get out to the mission field. They had a funny play that we got to watch to show us what it would be like to work with members. I laughed out loud. It was hilarious!

We also got a new investigator this week named Kitty! I don't know if she is actually a member or not but her story is that she came to go to school at BYU and she is from China. And she knows nothing about God. we were planning on teacher her the first lesson but we stayed on the topic of God the whole time! She was really confused and had a hard time accepting the concept of God. Her background religion is Buddhist. I really enjoyed teaching her though because that was the first time I ever talked to someone who didn't know anything about God! We committed her to come to church next sunday so that was nice! We really connected with her. My companion is really good at playing the piano so we even got to sing a hymn to her! It was cool! She was the sweetest little Asian I have ever met!! I will miss her!

Conference was awesome. It was cool to watch it in the MTC because they cancel everything and your schedule is just conference sessions! It was funny because on Saturday when Henry B. Eyring announced that Elder Uchtdorf was speaking next, everyone in the Gym was like, "Yes!" haha It was funny :) I also really like how a lot of general authorities gave there talk in their native tongue! That was really cool and I hope they continue doing that. My favorite conference talk was on Saturday by Jorg something or other of the 70. haha He talked about how we could strengthen our spiritual confidence and I felt like I could really connect with that talk. 

Anyways Gotta go! Love you all and pray for you every day! Lots of love! 

Sister Fisher

This is me and My companions in front of the Provo temple!

Sister Adams, Sister Madsen and me!