Really cool experience

Hey everyone! This week was really good. We weren't sure whether Mark would get baptized or not but we made some arrangements to get his baptismal interview and were able to baptize him Saturday. I was then  able to confirm Mark and Onika  Sunday at church. It was a really cool experience and I could truly feel the spirit guiding me as I gave the blessing. Oh and in case you were wondering why my mastercard bill is so high its because i had to pull out $350 US to pay my bike fee but my card wouldn't let me do it all at once. Then we ran out of money this transfer due to all the traveling up the coast we had to do but the area is being split so I shouldn't have to spend as much and they are putting more money into my MSF account. Everything is getting more expensive in Guyana. Anyways love you guys and it was great to talk to you on Christmas!

Elder Fisher

A picture of us and Mark 

Mark and President Coalo and us

then my last picture with all La Grange and Vreed En Hoop Elders. 

Waiting on the Baptism

The baptism was really good yesterday and also kinda stressful. The baptism was scheduled for 4:00 just before the ward Christmas party. We got to the church nice and early and 4:00 comes around and the only people at the church are us and Onika and Anasha and one other priesthood holder who was setting things up for the party. At 4:45 we called the branch pres. and were like where are you? he said he was preparing to come and that we should move the baptism to 6:00 so that more people could be there. At 5:15 people started to show up for the ward Christmas part and the baptism. At 6:00 no one who was running the party was there and a missionary senior couple where just telling Christmas stories and sing Christmas hymns with everyone. We called the branch pres. again and he said he would be there in 10 minutes. So we waited for 10 more minutes, him and everyone else in charge and everyone who was supposed to give talks are still not there So we start the baptism service anyways. 5 minutes later the first speaker shows up and gives there talk but the second speaker and the president are still not there so Sister Fry the senior couple gave a talk at the moment. Just as she finished the branch pres. and everyone else in charge of the party showed up. I then baptized Onika and Elder Paul baptized Anasha. And the Christmas party started at 7:20. The next day not too many people showed up for church because it was raining and they stayed up to late at the party. It was pretty crazy. 

It has been raining lots here. Almost everyday. I also got hit with what the locals call Caribbean thunder (Diarrhea) and am very grateful for medication. 

Here's a picture of Onika and Anasha. I baptized Onika and she is the one standing next to me. 

Heres a picture of a funny looking dog. It also had a big string of green snot hanging out of its nose but it fell out before I could get a picture. 

The last one is a picture of the common backyard in Parika.

I'll try to skype on Christmas around 4:00 Guyana time which is around noon there

Anyways love you guys!

Elder Fisher

7 Investigators

Everything has been good. 

We had an awesome Sunday yesterday. We had 7 investigators to church! Onika and Anasha got their baptismal interviews and then we had to get their parents to sign the forms. They were a little hesitant at first but as we explained a little more about it and resolved some of their concerns they signed. We will be baptizing them Saturday at 4. 

We had zone meeting on Saturday. It was about obedience. Then after we had an interview with president Egbert. He told me he is splitting my area and putting missionaries in Parika. He said he will Either put me there leave elder Paul in Vreed En Hoop or put Elder Paul there and leave me here or put us both there. He hasn't decided yet but we will know on the 24 when the transfer calls happen. 

The alligator man is a guy who catches alligators and snakes and makes wallets and bags and then sells them to people. We go to his house once a week and make orders for the missionaries. He will also give us his alligator meet but he hasn't had any for us when we visit. 

Oh and we did our one handed push ups and I could do more but Elder Paul says its because he has gotten fat since he has been out. Anyways love you guys!

Elder Fisher

A Picture of the alligators the alligator man caught and the snake trying to strangle my arm and Elder Paul walking towards a bus in Parika. I tried to send the first two last week but I'm not sure if they sent with the rest.

Anaconda

(Just a fair warning to Grandma Fisher......content may not be to your liking)

Hey sorry for not sending pictures last week. 

Our email time got cut a little short. 
This week we were teaching one of our investigators Onika, who is a 15 year old girl and a friend started to come to the lessons. Then out of the blue her friend, Anasha said that she would like to be baptised so their baptism dates are set for the 17th. 

Our other investigator with a baptism date is Mark. He is a 12 year old boy and his date is set for the 24th. He was an old investigator we decided to pick back up. He came to church yesterday and bore his testimony and shared about how he has been exploring all the other churches in the area and he feels this one is the true church. All very exciting. 

My companion and I haven't had our one handed push up contest but I will report the results when it happens. 

We also visited the Alligator man this week. He didn't have any meat for us but he let me hold an andaconda. 

He is also making me an alligator scripture case. 

Creolese just like jiberish. Its like a mix of english, dutch, and french but its mostly english. When I say I'm sorry I can't understand you they say why not I'm speaking english but it sounds like a  completely different language. I'm picking it up a little more but still am struggling with a lot of people. But there's also other people who are easily understandable and don't speak creoles but everyone here seems to understand each other. Its pretty crazy. any ways thats all I got

Heres a 5000 dollar bill (for those who are wondering that is $32 and a bit Canadian) and me after I had recovered from trying a ghost pepper

Elder Fisher

Splitting the areas

 This week was good. We set 2 baptismal dates, one for the 10th and the other for the 17. 
I'm still having a hard time understanding creolese. We get fed like everyday here. I've eaten a lot of rice. A lady who we are teaching gave us a ghost pepper to try. I only took a small bite but it was really hot. Its a small world we live in. I'll have to challenge Elder Paul to those push ups here soon. Today we have a thanksgiving dinner with all the missionaries in Georgetown and LaGrange and us. After we are going to play some good ol' American Football. 
We have been going to Parika because they plan on combining our branch with LeGrange and splitting our area in half, so we have to find a sacrament building in Parika and also an apartment for missionaries there. Its too expensive for the members to drive to LeGrange which is where we hold our sacrament meeting so we are hoping when we start holding church out there a lot of members will reactivate. Our branch is actually really big but no one is active. Hopefully things will change.

Guyana -- First Area

 Co-operative Republic of Guyana,^[9] is a sovereign state on the northern mainland of South America. It is, however, included in the Caribbean Region due to its strong cultural, historical, and political ties with the Caribbean Community. Guyana is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Suriname to the east and Venezuela to the west. With 215,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi), Guyana is the fourth-smallest country on mainland South America after Uruguay, Suriname and French Guiana. Originally inhabited by several indigenous groups, Guyana was settled by the Dutch before coming under British control in the late 18th century.The legacy of British rule is reflected in the country's diverse population, which includes Indian, African, Amerindian, and multiracial groups.Guyana also has the distinction of being the only South American nation in which English is the official language. The majority of the population, however, speak Guyanese Creole, an English-based creole language with slight Dutch, Arawakan and Caribbean influences.

My first impression of Trinidad as I got off the the plane was that it is going to be awesome.We got to Trinidad and spent too nights there where we met our president and had an orientation of the mission. My mission president seems like a hard working and dedicated man. 
My first area is the Vreed - En-Hoop area. Its the largest area in the mission and basically covers the entire west coast of Guyana.  The area is very nice. Well pretty dirty and the ocean water is brown. Its very hot and humid. Lots of rain. Lots of lizards here and i have seen some alligators too. Everyone here says Guyana is the best part of the mission. So far I am enjoying myself.
My companion is Elder Paul and he is from Alabama. I like him he's pretty cool.
Guyana has lots of small little towns and the ocean. Its very hot today but its the rainy season right now so it hasn't been as hot as it can be. There's a lot more poverty here but everyone is very friendly.
Oh and they did not prepare me for the language down here at all. They do not speak English. They read and right English and understand it but they do not speak  it. They speak cree-a-lese (not sure how to spell it) So yeah I am having a very difficult time understanding everyone. Creealese is the most broken English in the world. It sounds nothing even close to English. Occasionally you can pick out an English word and that's it. I have been praying very hard to be able to understand them. Luckily my companion can understand them pretty well

Love Elder Fisher

Here's some pictures of me getting off the plane, a random cow tied to a pole, and my companion and I hanging out with some boys by the ocean wall

Note from the editor:
About 2 hours after getting Elder Fishers email i received a Facebook message from Corrie (Taylor) Dewsnup (my cousins daughter) who sent me a picture.

It happens that Elder Paul who is Justins companion is Nash and Madelines best friend from Alabama. She told us that Elder Paul is very proud of his ability to cook alligator. "Justin is in good if not entertaining hands."

Thank you Corrie for sending this to us.

The phone home

Hey I get to email today because I fly to Trinidad tomorrow. President Pratt also gave us permission to call home for 10 minutes so I should be calling soon. 
We drove to Halifax last night and went to church here and knocked on some doors. This week we did a lot of contacting and looking for someone to teach. There are lots of people who just want to talk to us but that's about it. 
I don't know when I will be emailing next. I'm going to miss my companions but it will be good. I'm pretty excited! Anyways love you guys!

Elder Fisher

The phone call:

Justin did phone and it was fun to talk with him. Thanks Pres. Pratt for allowing this special call. He's at Dartmouth at the mission home right now.

Elder Fisher said he is definitely going to miss Halifax, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia all areas where he has been working. He is just starting to get use to the cold again so he is looking forward to someplace warm for the winter.  "You wouldn't believe how many people i have met in these places who are from Trinidad. Even today as i have been here at the mission home I met one other person who have family in Trinidad."

So he leaves tomorrow, fly's to Newark NJ, then to Huston and then to Trinidad. He stays at the mission home for a day and then fly's to Gyanna on the 16th. He is getting to be quite the traveler as he will have visited many airports - Calgary, Seattle, New York, Dominican, Boston, New York, Halifax airports so far and will be hitting Newark, Huston, Trinidad and Gyanna airports all 11 airports within  a couple of months.

Says he's not getting homesick as he is keeping to busy with all the work.

Christmas

Hey All. 
Things have been slower this week. We have done lots of knocking and finding. I think we have found some pretty solid people to teach but you never really know if they're just being friendly or actually interested. We have lots of follow up to do. 
We have decided we need to do more work in Sackville, New Brunswick. Thats where most of our success has come from this week so we are going to follow up tomorrow on all the people who showed some interest. We got one new investigator this week and her name is Emily. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she took it really well. She works a lot but we plan on teaching her another lesson this week. 
We also had a zone conference. It was pretty good.  We have tried visiting the less active with cancer a couple of times but its really hit or miss with her. She seems to be not home very often. 
To answer your question on prayer, How often we pray really depends on how many lessons or streets we knock. Before every street and lesson we pray and at the end of every day after planning. And Our bedtime and morning prayers of course. 
The weather has been around 5 degrees all week and cloudy.
Also to answer your question about Christmas. You don't have to send me anything fancy for Christmas. I won't complain no matter what you send me. Maybe just some Canadian stuff or something. 

Love you guys lots,

Elder Fisher

Note from the editor:

Christmas packages- the Mission has said this about packages.

If your family ships a package via a private courier, they will need the mission office telephone number.

Small packages of nominal value may be sent through regular mail. Packages sent to other countries within the mission often do not reach their intended destination. When they do arrive, they are subject to customs duties (taxes) that the missionary must pay from his own personal funds. This amount may be equal to or greater than the cost of the items being sent. 

When sending a small Christmas package send it. 

If you wish to send a Christmas package send it to the  mission home address:

Trinidad Port of Spain Mission

1 Morequito Ave

Valpark Shopping Mall Plaza Bldg #10

Valsayn

Trinidad

Trinidad and Tobago

Cape Jourimain

Its good too hear how everything is going. Not a whole lot has happened since Wednesday but we did have our baptism on Saturday! It was awesome! 

We knocked on a number of doors and met some really good people! We are hoping they will turn into progressing investigators here soon. Its been kinda rainy here. A lot of mist. We have to be in our apartments by 5 tonight and we are not allowed to leave because its halloween. 

Oh and here's some pictures of cape Jourimain.  Its just in our area and is just before the PEI bridge. We went there for P day a couple weeks ago.

Oh and yes I'm pretty sure the other two got their visas as well!

Big News

BIG NEWS!!!! I got my visa and I'm flying to Trinidad on Nov. 16th. Then to Guyana so I'm assuming I'm starting my mission there!
Everything is good here! Its starting to get a little cooler here. No dreams or anything but there is a member of the branch presidency here in Amherst and he has a gift. Apparently he can read your past and tell you about your future. He reads all of the missionaries before they leave and apparently he is deadly accurate! After he does your reading apparently he is really exhausted. I'm kinda nervous and excited to here what he has to say about me.
There is a less active sister here with cancer and we visited her and it turns out her family is all from Trinidad! That's about all she had to tell me about Trinidad. 
Benny's baptism is Saturday and we are all really excited! He is a really awesome guy! I'll be sure to send pictures. 
We went to Parasboro and saw the bay of Fundy and did some proselyting there. Its in our area and very Beautiful. We haven't had to much success but to we are visiting a potential who promised to read the  Book of Mormon in a week so we'll see how he did. Oh and here's a picture of a full rainbow in Amherst!
Oh and my area and companions all stayed the same

I kinda like it here

Hey Dad everything has been going great! I lied last week Benny's baptism is on the 29! We are all supper excited for him! He has invited his brother to come and is really progressing well. 

Me and my companions are getting along really well! We have had lots of service projects over here stacking wood. Lots of people here have wood furnaces so we are packing their basements full of wood before the weather gets bad. 

We are getting fed really well here! And Brother Wee Len, the guy from Trinidad said he has a whole list of names ready and prepared for me when I leave. 

I got a card reader so I should be able to transfer you lots of pictures! 

One of my companions gave me a suit that was too small for them and I bought some sweaters. Our mission president said I don't have to wear a suit but I do have to wear a sweater. 

We had stake conference here yesterday. It was really good. We do a lot of meetings through skype especially since Elder LeRoy is a district leader. and our area is really big so we do a lot of driving. Anyways thats about all that has happened!

Just some pictures of Dominican MTC.

I hope I get my visa soon, although I kinda like it here too. 

Because transfers are next week I will be emailing on Wednesday instead of Monday next week 

Love you Lots!

Elder Fisher

Superstitious Voodoo

Hey Dad everything has been going really well. My mission president is President Pratt from Florida. 

I am serving right now in a small town called Amherst Nova Scotia but its right on the New Brunswick border. We just had a thanks giving Dinner in Moncton New Brunswick with other missionaries in our district and are staying the night here. There is a zone meeting here tomorrow and president Pratt gave us permission to go shopping tomorrow for sweaters and anything else we need. Its really pretty here and we have had really good weather. One of my companions sent me some pictures of us so I will send you them. 

We are in a Trio. Its myself Elder Ipson from Utah and Elder LeRoy from Belgium! I really like them! there funny guys. There is about 40 people in our branch and we did a service project the other day for the Lee Wen family. Brother Lee Wen was really surprised to here I was going to Trinidad because that is were he was born and where his family is all from. He then told me how superstitious Trini people are himself included and that voodoo is huge over there. He told me how they are a very spiritual people especially his family and that he had a dream the a day before I came of a man in a white suit which symbolizes death. He says he thinks I'm connected some how and that he is going to call his Dad and get a list of names of all his relatives in Trinidad for me. 

There was so much rain in Dominican that you could barely see on our way to the air port. There were fallen over trees and a few car accidents. Some parts of the road where covered in half a foot of water. When driving close to the ocean the waves would crash up against the shore splashing water onto the road. We were in a dinky little diesel taxi and our driver would yell HURRICANE!!!! He didn't speak much English but he got us to the airport on time. It was pretty crazy. 

I love hearing about Baxter I hope he is doing good. 

We are teaching a less active and his brother and they are taking it really well. His baptismal date is on the 19th I think but I'll try to double check on that. The way things are going I am sure he will have no problem being baptized then! Its really exciting! And I do have a printer here and yes my p days are on Mondays! Anyways I love you all Lots!

Elder Fisher

Driving Through the Hurricane

 I'm at the mission home in Halifax right now. Getting here was a little crazy because of the hurricane we had to drive through to get to the airport. Our flight got delayed an hour because of it. 
While we were there, there was a lady asking us what we were so we told we were missionaries and we just finished our training. She asked a lot of questions and then asked if we could practice giving her a lesson. So we gave her a quick lesson on the restoration. All of our other flights after that were also delayed. On our flight from Boston to Halifax Elder Correia was sitting next to an older lady and they started talking a lot. Next thing you know he pulls out a plan of salvation pamphlet. Long story short he got her name and number and she lives 3 hours away from Halifax! Anyways Got to go! 

Halifax

Things are good here! Lots of classes and still lots of heat. Some big news regarding the visa! Myself as well as the two other Canadian missionaries are going to Halifax for at least 6 weeks. We leave on Tuesday. The American Missionaries that are going to Trinidad Mission are visa waiting in Houstin Texas. 

Thank you for all the tips that you send me! I got the pictures of the elk and of Great Grandpa Fisher of him in his mission in Tonga. I'll try to do a re-enactment of great grandpa Fisher once I get to Trinidad. I do have some pictures of the MTC and the temple here, however i don't have a cord for my camera to put them on right now. 

A little more on my visa we are not supposed to call or email any consultants regarding the visa because it might actually slow it down just so you know. Anyways Halifax should be cool. I hope we don't have to buy to much winter stuff. Anyways Love yeah!

Elder Fisher 

MTC (Missionary Training Center)

 Good to hear from you! 
Its nice to hear how things are going there! The MTC is right next to the temple. It is smaller then the Cardston temple but still very beautiful.We went to the temple this morning and did a session. it was pretty sweet. they had it in English for us. Everyone here either speaks Spanish or is learning how to speak Spanish except for my district so everything has to be translated. So many people try to talk to me in Spanish and I just say Hola or gracious and walk away. Luckily I'm not the only English speaking missionary. Our day mostly consists of classes. there's about 40 of us in the MTC. 

I haven't gotten heat stroke but its very hot and humid. It rains quite a bit too and then it gets really hot again.. Luckily the MTC is very well air conditioned. there's Garbage everywhere and yesterday we all spent an hour picking up garbage in the area outside of the MTC/temple grounds. it was soooo hot! but then it rained and cooled of towards the end. 

The other elders are all really good. Elder Corrayia is one of my favorites. He's one of my roommates and is Brother Smith's nephew. I haven't really seen any wildlife here. we have to stay on the MTC/Temple grounds here unless we get permission otherwise. No weird bugs yet thankfully. I found that i have just about everything I needed, so I packed well at home. Just wish I brought more t shirts. 

I haven't heard anything about the visa yet. I haven't heard if my MTC president is related to Mitt Romney or not. They are from Texas and have a big family. We've mostly just been inside in classes but we usually get outside for a game of basketball. Its pretty fun here.

President Brent Romney

 Greetings from the Dominican Republic MTC! 
It is a delight to have your missionary here.
The P-day for the missionaries in the MTC is on Thursday, which begins one week after they arrive. They write their emails in the afternoon. That is when you can expect their first email. 
Our experience has shown that packages from the US take up to 4 weeks or more to arrive and often arrive after a missionary has left for the field. We recommend that all packages be sent to where your missionary will be laboring. That way the package will be awaiting him or her when they enter their mission. It is difficult for us to forward packages to missionaries serving outside the city of  Santo Domingo. Also for your information each time a missionary receives a package in the Deminican Republic, they will have to pay a custom fee, and it is about $2.50 a pound. 

Dominican Republic MTC

Hi, I made it to the Dominican Republic MTC. I met some awesome people like the Kimbel's on my way here! When they saw me in Calgary and found out I was going to my mission they offered to buy me dinner in Seattle and were great company while I waited for my next flight. It is very hot and humid here. Luckily the building is well air conditioned. My first P day is Thursday and are on every Thursday. So don't expect me to respond Tomorrow. Everyone seems very friendly so far. One of my roommates is Bro. Smith's nephew and my companion is Elder Gibson from Idaho. Anyways got to go. Talk to you in a week.

Departure

We left for the airport with great anticipation and it wasn't far outside of Claresholm that we ran into road construction and we were down to 80 km/h. Then around Nanton and then High River. The anticipation for Justin turned to anxiety and fear that we would be late and the plain would fly without him. Turns out even with all the delays we were 15 minutes behind our original estimated time of arrival. This calmed Justin once again. 
We saw Justin off after our hugs and watched him disappear behind the doors of the customs. He's gone.

After getting home, Alysa and I were sitting, discussing a number of things, one of which was Justin. "We didn't feed him supper", "They wont be feeding him on the plain", "I hope he gets something at one of his layovers", "He should make his next flight I hope". these and a few other thoughts. It wasn't but 5 or 10 minutes went by and i got an email from someone i did not know and wow what a blessing as it cleared up all our concerns.

We found your son at the airport and were on the same flight into Seattle with him we had the pleasure of feeding him and visiting with him. We wanted to let you know the first leg of his trip is done and he is now waiting at the gate for his flight to New York. From one missionary mom to another what a great young man he is and what a great missionary he is going to make. We are grateful for the time we were able to spend with him. We still have an hour before our plane leaves and will continue to visit with your son until we have to depart.  We have learned a little about your family and would love to follow his mission if you are willing to share. Janice Kimball