Joshua 3:5

 August 31, 2020

ჩემო ძვირფასო მეგობრებო,

I've got some wonderful language news. We have a private Georgian tutor now! We meet every day except for Sundays (and possibly Mondays) and it's been great. We've been meeting every day for just about a week. I wasn't sure I would enjoy it very much, but he does a great job. There is a noticeable improvement in my language abilities in just this past week. He doesn't go hard on explaining principles because that is not what we need. We need practice and correction. He comes up with creative ways to teach us phrases and words. His kids have joined us to do some kindergarten level worksheets and telling jokes/riddles in Georgian. Oh how fun it is to see the tiniest children surpass us four in Georgian. Our assignment each night is to watch an episode of a show called შუა ქალაქში or Middle of the City. It is literally Georgian Friends. I have never actually watched a full episode of Friends, but the font for the credits is the same, the scene changes are similar, the logo is the same, and the music is similar. It's also very family-friendly other than some fairly heavy drinking.  It's Georgian so it still counts as family-friendly. It is a great way to wind down each night without too much winding down because it still takes effort to listen. 

A couple weeks ago, President Picard asked us to liken a particular scripture to our lives. Joshua 3:5 says "...Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Naturally, we hung that verse up in Georgian all around the apartment so that we can internalize it and memorize it. The wonders are present when we put in the work to consecrate ourselves. One day, in particular, stands out. Thursday is always a busy day since we have weekly planning and the zone call. Because the call was 5 hours long, we were fully expecting to have little time to do much "real missionary work". After the call, we met with our friend Lado and taught him about the priesthood. Afterward, we went to eat dinner with him. While we went up the escalator, Elder Herr noticed an elderly woman with three heavy bags and offered to help. We took the bags to her home and as we walked and talked we discovered that she used to learn with the sister missionaries a number of years ago. 

Later that night, after our language study with our tutor, we took a bus to the metro and Elder Springer had a wonderful conversation with one of the workers. She knew we were members of the Church and seemed very knowledgeable of the Bible. The first words in the Church's name in Georgian is "The Latter-days'", so that part sticks out to Georgians and they are more than willing to talk about it. Unfortunately, we completely neglected to get her number, but we're sure that we will run into her again if we continue studying with the tutor at a consistent time. 

The third wonder was right after we dropped Sister Mafi off at her apartment. We stopped by a little bakeshop to get a chada (a dense, dry baked good from Armenia). The ladies working there asked why we were dressed so nicely and how we knew Georgian so well. We explained that we are missionaries, how long we've been here, and all the usual things. They said they'd be interested in joining our in-person English group when it starts up and gave us two free chadas (best chada I've ever had; neither dense nor dry). These three things may not be extremely incredible as I described them, but to us, they together represent the fulfillment of a promise given by our loving God. 

This week we had a wonderful second meeting with our good friend Merab.  He is a referral from Nukri, the first counselor in the Avlabari Branch presidency. As we planned to teach him this week, it seemed very apparent to us all that we need to extend a baptismal date to him. Both he and Nukri have very clearly voiced his desire to become a member of the church and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he did not disagree with anything. He takes the Book of Mormon to be scripture and knows the Bible better than anyone that any of us have met. To him, it was a given that he would be baptized, and he accepted a date for November 1st.  He is a genuine follower of Christ. He knows the Bible to be the word of God and loves what he has read in the Book of Mormon. With his spiritual capacity, we think he will receive a clear answer to his inquiring prayers on the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith. Even with our knowledge that Merab would likely accept the invitation to be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we still view it as a wonder and a mercy.

Lastly, we received some great news this week! Elder Bednar of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles will be holding a devotional for the missionaries of the Europe East area. When I heard about it, I broke into a huge smile because I have come to appreciate Elder Bednar's teaching style over the last 14 months. I'm very excited to hear an Apostle of the Lord address us. This is an incredible opportunity to learn and ask questions, two skills that are absolutely essential in this life.

Learn and ask. And look out for the miracles. The wonders are there because God is a God of miracles.

--უხუცესი ფიშერი 

Elder Springer and Elder Herr sick in the elevator

Me with a dead hedgehog

The three of us trying to see if we left our keys in the backyard of the church.

One Year in Georgia

 

August 17, 2020

გამარჯობა კარგებო

As of today, I have been living in Georgia for a full year. That's absolutely crazy because it does not feel like that could be the case. The week has been good. We are largely done moving everything out of the Rustavi apartment. We still need to clean some things up, so we'll likely go back down in a week or two. I've only ever driven through Rustavi when going on an out-of-town trip. Rustavi is spoken of so highly by everyone that serves there, so I'm glad I've finally spent some time there. Elder Springer was really in his element. He may have only spent 6 weeks there, but Rustavi is his place. It was cute to watch. 

Something that I thought about this week was the context of my mission. Obviously, I didn't expect anything that has happened in the last five months to happen. To be honest, the same goes for much of the seven months before that. The interesting thing is that none of them has felt extremely out of place. Even at the moment, much of it seems like it was meant to happen this way, which is of course was. The crazy landmarks (everybody leaving in March, the first night with only us and Sister Mafi, etc.) are exceptions to be sure. Those moments were too strange to feel that they were meant to be. They were, but the heat-of-the-moment feelings do not confirm that fact. 

As I'm sure I've said before in these emails, I've been over the Saburtalo Area for my entire mission. There are two metro lines in the city. The mainline and the Saburtalo line. Tbilisi is pretty much two straight lines of land, and Saburtalo is a perpendicular strip of land that is about half the length of the first one.  I've spent so much time on the Saburtalo line during my first seven months here and I haven't been back for the past five. I'm writing today's email from Lisi Lake which is just north of Saburtalo. It's good to be back. The weather is just fantastic! August is typically the hottest month and about 90-100°F, but right now it's about 60. Absolutely wonderful.

As long as I'm telling you about unimportant details of the day, I'll tell you all that I got a haircut. Some of you may know that my first haircut ever not done by my mother was in the MTC. No, not at college. In the MTC. The first haircut I paid for, cost 5 lari (which is about $2 US dollars). Every subsequent haircut has been the same. Over the past five months, I've had two haircuts both by Elder Crapo.  There's your useless story for the week.

Okey dokey. That's the week. Anyway. Goodbye. 

სიყვარულით, 

უხუცესი ფიშერი

missionaries on apartment balcony

dinner in Rustavi

Time for a Real Email

 August 10, 2020

ოკ, გამარჯობა კარგებო.

So, first off, I'm sorry. I really haven't given a quality email in a long time. Hopefully, I can put some real quality into this one. The four of us here are having a grand old time together. It's tough because we all have a lot of work. We are going to be closing down two more apartments in Tbilisi as well as the one in Rustavi. We got that news, and it made us all a little sad because, to us, that's a sign that we won't be getting new missionaries for a good while. We found out an answer to the question. We will not be getting any new missionaries until President Picard has access to the country.  So when the Armenia/Georgia border opens up, hopefully, we'll get some people returning. Nobody thinks that'll be until the new year, so that's unlucky. 

There are three stages that we have to go through before we get back to full scale, regular missionary work. As of Sunday, we are officially in stage 2 (Armenia is still in stage 0), so now we can use public transportation.  Oh, how I love riding the metro! We can start meeting with people in their homes too. The American families invited us over for dinner and that was amazing. They're so sweet. 

Next Saturday we'll be going down to Rustavi to start moving all the stuff from the church building. We also have some great news. We extended a baptismal date to one of our friends. His name is Lado. He's been learning for a while, but he has a few reasons why he doesn't want to get baptized soon. He set the date for May 17th...so we'll try to get it moved up. He may think he needs more time, but as far as we can tell he doesn't need that much time. He knows a lot because of all he's read, but he doesn't quite realize how much more there is to learn about the gospel. 

As I have begun reading the Old Testament from the beginning, the condemnation of idolatry pops up again and again. Idolatry is so terrible that the Lord commanded the complete destruction of the Canaanites so that their idolatrous traditions would not find themselves among the Israelites. The real question is what forms of idolatry do we find among the children of God today? The first two of the Ten Commandments are against idolatry and false gods, but we can add a third if we take Paul's words in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5. Covetousness is idolatry. Why is that? When we covet, we put trust and care toward something that is not the one true God. Caring too much for the things of this world is, in part, a rejection of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is also, in part, the worship of a false god. Something that may provide temporary security in some things pertaining to this world, but not a sure defense against all of the fiery darts of the Adversary. We must be sure to put God the Father as our focal point of worship. We all must humble ourselves and see the false gods that are developing in our lives. They may not be physical things. Maybe titles, degrees, dreams for the future, affection from a certain individual. Obviously, these are wonderful things that we should work for, but all things in moderation. We must all go boldly before the throne of God and acknowledge Him and ask for forgiveness for not having our eyes single to Him. 

Anyway. I'll leave you all with that. Have a wonderful week because it's a wonderful life. 

--უხუცესი ფიშერი 

Dinner with American Families

 August 7, 2020

We are now able to meet in people's homes (Phase 2 of getting back to regular missionary work.)  The Holmgren family invited the missionaries to their house for dinner as well as the Dunson family.  It was great to spend time with the American families.

Mtskheta

August 3, 2020

Today was a visit to Mtskheta which is one of the oldest cities in Georgia and the former capital of Kartli.

It is about 12 miles from Tbilisi.  Mtshkheta was declared "Holy City" by the Georgian Orthodox Church in 2014.  Legend is that the church has buried in it the foot of apostle Andrew and the robe of Christ.