How short Can This Email Get?

October 29, 2019

გამარჯობათ.

Lots happened, but more happened today, so this is short. There was a zone conference, Indian Festival, and baptism. Wow. What a time! Well. Bye-bye. 

Here are some pictures. Anyway

Can you believe food is made by real cooks?

"Dr. Shmoctor!" Am I right?   An actual definition example in the dictionary I use.

A little Hindu setup for Dawali.  One of our Hindu Indian friends invited us to a Diwali celebration.

Elder Hunt and I eating some great Indian cuisine.

Sisters Heydorn and Mercer and I at Diwali.

Elder Hunt making ice cream.

Elder Hunt trying on my glasses.

A great Georgia Zone Conference with President and Sister Picard.

(I look weird because Elder Crapo was tickling me.)

The Results Are In…I’m STD FREE!

October 21, 2019

The Results Are In…I’m STD FREE!

მეგობრებო!

Well, this week was very different. I really don't remember much that we did, but Wednesday night really changed. Long story short, I thought I had a kidney stone for a series of reasons. We called the missionary doctor, and he said it was probably an infection. To me, that made more sense. We then went to the doctor and did some tests. Then I went back in and he was CERTAIN that it was an STD. I tried to convince him that that is impossible, but he was firm in his belief. We went back today, and as it turns out, I only have a bladder infection. So, that makes sense.

Because of this medical problem, I was less than able to fulfill missionary work to the fullest. I was extremely fatigued and achy all week, so we did what we could outside, but my body just couldn't handle it, plus finding a bathroom THAT frequently isn't super easy.

In the meantime, I read and rested. My testimony of some doctrines grew quite a bit as I pondered more and more. A fair amount of people here tend to believe that organized religion isn't always the best. That may be true if they are organized by Man. But Christ's church is not organized by Man. It is organized by deity. The doctrines are from God. So yes, the churches that are more visibly corrupt aren't always the best. I won't name any, but some Georgians might. Anyway. I was thinking about our purpose here as well. We are called here to preach repentance. Sometimes people here take it pretty well and ashamedly say, "I know". Others do not. But I am you all to repent of anything. Maybe it wasn't a sin. Maybe you could've just done a better job at something. This life is about improvement, so improve in something. Anyways.

--უხუცესი ფიშერი 

Missionaries on a marshutka (minibus)

Some great Jazz graffiti we saw

Me dressing in the Armor of God at a Family Home Evening with an American family

A great view from a corpus (soviet era apartments)

A Georgian (and Russian and Arabic and Farsi and English) General Conference

October 14, 2019

A Georgian (and Russian and Arabic and Farsi and English) General Conference

Hello to all! This week was pretty different. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have a conference twice a year called General Conference during which our Church leaders speak and give teachings applicable to the days we live in. This happens the first weekend in both April and October, but it is different in Georgia. We have one of the members here translate the conference and then have the video dubbed over for members here to watch. Because of this, we watch it a week later in Georgia and Armenia. As missionaries, we watched by ourselves Tuesday and Wednesday. It really was very edifying. If you want to watch any of the speakers you can find them at churchofjesuschrist.org. I highly recommend the ones entitled "Trust in the Lord" and "Our Great Adventure". They truly were all quite good and are all worth a listen or read. And if you prefer to read or listen in another language we got you. We had it available in several languages here in Georgia (see subject line), but you can find it in pretty much any language. I mean it's in Georgian for goodness sake. 

Thank you to everyone that sent me birthday wishes, packages, emails, etc. If you didn't know it was my birthday last week, now you have a clue as to what day it could be.(If you know the Great Sean Swalling, it is the same day as his half-birthday, so please send him your love as well.) I actually had a surprisingly great birthday. Elder Hunt told everyone that it was my birthday, so we got some really great Khachapuri made for us. We even had a little party with some people down the street that we talk to every day. Georgians are just the best people. 

A pancake in the shape of an 'F' for my birthday. (Thanks Elder Hunt)

In other news, all the taxis are white now. I guess there won't be very much political news for a while. Too bad. 

Let me close with a testimony that I know that God speaks to us today through living prophets. President Russell M. Nelson is God's Prophet and leads Christ's Church today. I believe and know this to be true, and I hope all others can come to know this and many other truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Here are photos for the week:

Some root beer to make those who are/were serving in Eastern Europe just a little jealous

Sister Gehring looking like a teacher and also teaching English

Elder Hunt diligently changing the water filters

A great sunset

A dog we saw that we tried to rescue from the lollipop stuck to its fur

Elder Hunt with oatmeal

Barev Dzez Gaumarjos!

October 7, 2019

Barev Dzez and Gaumarjos!

ძვირფასებო! 

What an eventful week this was! We had two long time friends of the Church attend church for both hours this week, which was a very happy thing to see.

Visiting Davit Gareji on Monday with the Elders was also a wonderful experience. As Elder Crapo and I were walking around, we talked about how amazing it is that the Georgians turned all the amazing nature around them into places of worship. How often in Western culture did they say, "let's build a church out of this mountain." Never, as far as I know. They've done it here and it's truly beautiful. Our little cut through Azerbaijan was also very nice. 

 On our drive, we saw something that looked like a nuclear power plant.  Maybe it was one.

Going to Davit Gareji requires taking a road that dips into the border of Azerbaijan a bit, so we had to get out and snap a picture.

Davit Gareji -- church built into a mountain

Old Georgian writing at Davit Gareji

The meeting in Armenia was wonderful. It was a beautiful drive there and back. I got some very effective Gospel study in during the travel time. Of course the highlight was seeing all the missionaries in Armenia again. I think it was very good to get all the trainees together to compare notes. I feel that's is always good to check-in with one's peers to see what each other can improve upon. In this aspect, it was a very positive experience. This is a brand new thing that President Picard has started doing, so a few of the Georgian missionaries were bitter that I got to go to Armenia already. It's a very weird experience to go into a country where I knew slightly more of the language than my companion, yet neither of us could understand what people said nor read any signs. And not having a usable phone and currency was also wired. Not that we needed it, but you just feel more stranded than normal. Ya know?

Elder Hunt and I at Armenia monuments and rocks

Elder Hunt, our driver, Sister Wall, Sister Chisolm, Elder Fisher

It was great to see the missionaries I had spent 9 weeks with in the MTC

We had a great meeting with our mission president.

Now for some political news. Since nobody in the world knows what Georgia is, politics here usually don't play a big role on the world stage. As a result, sometimes the major issues sound like something out of a satire. For example, this week we were at our friend's TV station(we were translating some scripts for him because its good service and good language study). One of his editors, one of his journalists, and his lawyer were discussing news in Georgian. I kept hearing the word shmaksi. I could not figure out what was going on. As it turns out they were discussing this new law that is trying to get passed. This law would require all taxi drivers (services similar to Uber or Lyft included) to paint their cars white. As a result, a new service called Shmaxi (შმaxi) has popped up with one of the political parties backing them. I love this country more every day. 

There was a baptism this weekend, which was a truly wonderful experience. The man that was baptized has been learning about the church for about 3 years now. He has known it's all true for a while but has been waiting for his family to be a little more okay with it. They still aren't super supportive, but he decided that it is best for him because it's true. There were several speakers but no English translator, so I was finally able to try and determine what was being said. I really love hearing the testimonies of members here that truly believe and know that this church is true and that the doctrines we teach are pure. It's also great to see fruits of previous missionaries' labors be harvested. All in all, the week was a joyous one.

One last photo of a great meal I had with Elder Hunt. Khachapuri, (probably chicken) hearts, Ostri (a type of stew meat with an awesome sauce), Kababs wrapped in lavash, and the classic cucumber and tomato salad. 

Georgia, Azerbaijan, then Armenia

September 30, 2019

Georgia, Azerbaijan, then Armenia

ჩემო ძვირფასებო!

The big news for the week is that Elder Hunt and I and going to Armenia tomorrow to meet with President Picard and the other trainers/trainees. We'll leave after our district meeting, stay the night and have our meeting the next day. We're very excited for the six-hour drive to read and talk about some great doctrine. The Doctrine of Jesus Christ of course. We also went to დავით გარაჯე(it was spelled many ways there so it may not be correct). This is another old church built in the middle of nowhere. This time on the side of a mountain. It was very neat. It is right on the border of Azerbaijan and apparently, there is a bit of a conflict there right now. I don't know how true that is, but there you go. Pictures to come next week. 

Other than that, not much has happened. Our friend Rick who is an American that teaches English online in China. He travels all over because he can. He's not a member of the Church and he's very skeptical of all religion, but he's very complimentary of The Church. We have very good conversations with him and the other friends of The Church. 

We also did a district blitz on Saturday which was Near. Blitzes are where we try to get as many new contacts as possible in a certain area. Unfortunately, it was cut a bit short because SOMEONE did not lock one of the doors of the Church resulting in the alarm going off and the police showing up. Anyway. After that, we visited a member, მერაბი, with an amazing collection of books and records. Immediately after he met me, he wanted me to come over and listen to one of his Edwin Fisher records. It was great to hear him talk about his love for music. He also has quality condition copies of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt. Peeper's Lonely Hearts Club. I was pretty impressed to see them along with his things.

Cool cool cool everybody. Nothing much more to say other than The Book of Mormon is a great book and worth a read. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I love it and that's why I'm here in this country. Anyways.

--უხუცესი ფიშერი 

Two meals we made that remind me of home.

  

Picture of corpuses -- giant soviet era apartments

A great trio. (The glass is not full of whiskey it was a gift from one of the people we are teaching)  

From our friend's collection.

I'm Actually a Missionary Now

September 23, 2019

"I'm Actually a Missionary Now

მეგობრები!

       This week went by super fast! Going to ყაზბეგი was incredible! The drive was incredible! My pictures cannot describe it well, especially the ones that I took. They really are terrible in comparison. But, we had a great time. It took about three hours to drive up. We stopped at two places on the way. Gudauri and the Russian border. Both were pretty cool, but nothing compared to ყაზბეგი. To get to the temple that is on top of the mountain, you have to either hike or take a taxi. It was rainy and cold, so of course, we ran, ignoring any trails and scaling the steep hills that stood in our way. It was really fun. It was also great to drive up with all the missionaries and a couple of our friends that are learning about the church.

Running up the hill

Elder Hunt taking a picture of the temple/church.

      
 The rest of the week was good. Elder Hunt and I recommitted to SYL (speak your language, aka only speaking Georgian). On Tuesday and Wednesday, we went the whole day. It was very taxing on the brain, but very cool. During our district meeting, Elder Hunt (as District leader) asked everyone to do better with their SYL. We report our percentage of SYL each week and there is room for improvement from everyone. I honestly think the main reason Elder Hunt wanted us to go 100% for at least a few days was to show the other companionships that if the missionary who is the worst at the language (me) can go without English, they can too. Granted, Elder Hunt is probably the second best missionary at the language, but a chain is only as strong as the weakest link (again, me).

       We went on another split this week. This time it was Elder Hunt and Christensen while I was again with Elder Layton. This was a great day because it felt like the first day I was doing missionary work. I knew before I came here it would be hard to find people eager and willing to listen to our Gospel message, but it's been very difficult. As a result I see everything we do as important missionary work although it's not always what you hear about from the Ensign magazine or from General Conference. Nevertheless, I love the work we do. Anyway, onto the split. We met with one of our friends that owns a café. Next door is a man who owns a dentist office. He comes in and we carry on a short conversation in Georgian and when he says, "they don't be taxes in Alaska, right?" I have no idea what he has said. So he begins speaking in perfect English. He asks about what we are doing here in Georgia and we tell about that our purpose is to help others to come unto Christ. We tell him a bit about our church, clearing up some misinformation he had. We may end up meeting him again. Probably will. He seemed to enjoy our mission and the fact that we know some Georgian.

       After, we went to clean the church building and we met with and taught several people. Now, it is uncommon for us to actually have a sit-down lesson where we say, "today we are going to talk about...", but this day, we did that three times. It was awesome. One of those meetings, was with a Turkish fellow. He understands some English, but we skyped two missionaries in Bulgaria that translated for us. It was a neat experience. 

During the week we ate some amazing Iranian food.

We also ate at a very good restaurant.  We had salad, Georgian barbequed chicken, and Georgian Dumplings.  Each nub is one dumpling.  We ate 40 between the three of us.

A great ad we saw for Poofs.  The 'f' sound is just a soft 'p' sound in Georgian so, poofebi sounds a bit different.

Tuesday night we watched the BYU devotional by President Nelson live on Facebook. We were very excited to see what the prophet had to say. He gave a very simple message about 5 truths that are important for all to know. It was a very good talk and worth a listen. You can find it at churchofjesuschrist.org or at byuspeeches.org. It's worth a listen.