March 19, 2012

Dearest Family!!

Hello! It's Monday and once again i have to say i don't know where the
last week went. . . or the last 6 WEEKS!! I think that time just goes
faster and faster with each transfer! So, here is the big news for the
week: We got the call about transfers late Saturday night like always
and of course we were all nervous and full of anticipation. The funny
thing is that we thought we had it all figured out. For the last week
or two I felt like i was staying in walled lake and that Sister Hoopes
was leaving. Sister Hoopes thought the same thing. SIster Klingler
wouldn't tell us forever what she thought but finally Saturday night
she admitted that she thought Sister Hoopes would be leaving too. We
had everyone convinced, even our neighbor Kim. So when the call came
it was not a surprise, that . . . . (Drum roll please!) I"M
LEAVING!!!! Ha ha, it wasn't a surprise it was like complete shock!!!
We all just sat there and looked at each other for a few minutes, then
started laughing hysterically and screaming. . . none of us could
believe it! Ha ha, it was so funny! So, yes sad but true I am once
again leaving a wonderful area and an awesome ward. I am super nervous
of course, but I just know that this is EXACTLY how it is supposed to
be. It was really neat, President Holmes came to Gabe's baptism Sunday
evening and after he pulled me and Sister Hoopes aside. He told us
that he WAS calling each of us as trainers. He also said, "This is not
normal, but I'm going to step out of character here for a minute and
tell Sister Bishop where she is going! The reason will be obvious, but
PLEASE don't tell any other missionaries! I never tell you where you
are going until transfer meeting, so if they knew i told you, i would
be in big trouble!" So, I will let you guys in on the secret too as
long as the word doesn't get back to the missionaries here! lol. ;)
I'm going to be training a new missionary in Ann Arbor!!! More
specifically on Hill Street!!! SWEET!!! This means that i will be on
campus at MSU and serving in the singles ward!! I think the only
reason he told me was because Sister Hoopes and Sister Klingler both
have served on Hill Street and so they could tell me all of the trade
secrets. It was so funny cause President told us that they were
planning on sending Sister Hoopes back to hill street, but the lord
had different plans. I love that!!! I can totally see how she will be
SO good for this area, and that Hill street will be perfect for me! I
think the next few months will be so awesome!!! They will probably be
a little trying cause Hill Street is a little different than i have
been trained and i will be training, but i can see that i will have a
lot of growth and this is really what the lord wants! Although I am
not perfect and I have so many weaknesses he has a plan for me and
that plan right now is to go to Hill Street!! I'm so SO Super
excited!!! (Didn't you say that Bishop Olsen has relatives in Ann
Arbor? That would be so sweet to look them up while I'm there!)

Whew, so that is the most dramatic, exciting part of our week! :) But
other exciting things: We saw Megan again this week! She is doing so
good! I'm really sad to be leaving her especially with so much
potential and she is so eager to learn, but she is in good hands! And
i think that it will be really good for the new missionary to have
that experience her first transfer. It just amazes me though, how much
you can really come to know and love someone so much in such a short
amount of time! We have met with Megan maybe like 4 times for like an
hour each time. But i feel like I've known her forever! I can honestly
say that I love her SO much!! I'm so happy to be a missionary and to
have these experiences. Nobody else gets to and they are missing out
on one of the greatest experiences of a lifetime! (Seriously! A
mission is the best thing ever! Nobody else gets to get to know, serve
and love people as much as a missionary does! I think that as a
representative of Jesus Christ and doing this 24/7 you can't help but
love the people! I'm so glad that i was blessed enough to grow up with
that knowledge, to have wonderful parents and a great family who have
taught me the gospel and helped me to be the person that i am today so
that i can be HERE, RIGHT NOW, teaching THESE people about how much
God loves THEM! I feel like Nephi, "Having been born of goodly
parents!" (But good parents to the extreme!! I'm so lucky!! Thanks Mom
and Dad! You are the BEST!!!)

Last night we went on splits so that Sister Hoopes could contact a
referral from the Gladys Knight fireside and Sister Klingler and I
went tracting. It's so neat how guided we were!! We prayed and felt
really drawn to a specific building. (This was going to be Sister
Klinger's last time to go tracting so we had to make it good! ;)) We
started knocking doors, talked to one lady that said we could come
back, another lady that wasn't interested and then the miracle
happened! It was the 3rd door we knocked on and the girl opened the
door and said, "I'm so glad you are here!!! (That NEVER happens!) I
was just crying and praying and hoping that someone would come!! (THAT
NEVER happens!!) And I was just talking to my Mom on the phone when i
heard you talk to my neighbor. My mom said that maybe it was a sign
from God and that i should listen to what you have to say cause it
might be something that would really uplift me! (Okay so that never
happens either!! And she said ALL of those things!! Ha ha! We hadn't
even hardly introduced ourselves yet!!!!) We talked to her for a few
minutes, told her a little bit about the Restoration, but mostly we
testified of God's love for her! How He knows her personally, he LOVES
her and he will always be there to help her, no matter what! :) It was
so neat! The spirit was so strong and she was totally golden! Here is
the sad news though: she is moving!! :( But we told her we would get
her address and send her some other missionaries to teach her some
more and she agreed! I'm so glad that we listened and followed the
prompting to tract in that building. The timing was SO perfect, I just
love how God knows all of his children and he puts us right where he
wants us! It's so amazing!!

So, I'm quickly running out of time, but i don't think i will be able
to get a snail mail letter out this week. I will send you my new
address tomorrow though, after i find out what it is! :) One more
quick story: We have been contacting our Gladys Knight referrals this
week. We have practiced and practiced and practiced so we thought that
we were ready for anything!! Ha ha, well the Lord has his own ways of
keeping us humble and showing us that he is in charge! ;) We got about
8 referrals and our goal was to at least contact them by Sunday. We
got in contact and set up some appointments (Which was slightly more
difficult than that sounded, but that's another whole story!) One of
our appointments was an Indian man who didn't let us watch the
Restoration DVD with him, but said he would call us with questions.
(We are still praying for him and trying to get in contact with the
member that invited him.) Another appointment was one we just stopped
by. We didn't recognize the name so we thought it was a potential
investigator. When we knocked a young man answered the door and said
he already knew Sister Klingler! (We were a little shocked and super
confused!) Come to find out, they are members of our ward!!! Oops!!
That's so embarrassing, we totally treated him like an investigator
until Sister Klingler finally caught on! Ha ha, Sister Hoopes and i
were totally clueless! I actually didn't turn out too bad though, I
don't think he really understood what we were saying! (They are a
Korean family that doesn't speak the best English! What a tender
mercy! :) )

Well family!! I love you all SO MUCH!!! Di- I'm glad you got the tape!
Ha ha, i thought i might sound like a chipmunk! Ha ha, good luck with
that one! ;) Thanks for the stories and prayer! You are all the
greatest!! I love you! Have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Bishop