April 9, 2012

Hello Dear Family!! It is Monday morning once again and I was so glad
to get all of your e-mails!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!! (Seriously, I feel
like I say that every time, but I hope you know how much i really mean
it! I LOVE you all so super much!! You are all the reason that I am
the person that i am today, and I'm so grateful for that! I just
couldn't ask for a better Family then the one that i have been blessed
with! :))

This week has been good. . . I feel like I am finally finding ways to
be a better trainer and help Sister Thompson be more involved. It's
interesting the transformation that i have seen in myself the last 3
weeks. I knew that i could teach, and I would actively participate in
each of our teaching opportunities, but probably not as fully as I
could have. But going from that to now having to be the leader and set
the example I felt like all this weight was on my shoulders! But in
the last week i feel like i have learned how to share that
responsibility more with my companion, rely on the spirit and guess
what!?!? This week went WAY BETTER! :) I think that me trying to do
everything was way too stressful and actually selfish of me. I wasn't
letting Sister Thompson learn and gain experience too. I read and
studied the Talk, "Jesus the Perfect leader" and it was really
helpful. I realized that my examples is the way that Sister Thompson
is going to see, but her experiences will be the true teacher. As we
were studying this week we came across a couple verses in D&C 33,
talking about how we MUST "Open our mouths!" We realized that we
weren't talking to everybody that we could and because of that we were
missing out on some of the blessings that Heavenly Father had waiting
for us. We made it a new goal to really talk to everyone!!! It was
amazing!! :) 2 quick stories will show just a few of the miracles that
we have been blessed with.
1- This week as we were out contacting at EMU, we stopped a girl and
were talking to her for a few minutes, she had a lot of questions so
we spent probably about 15 minutes talking and answering her
questions. As we were testifying of Christ and his love for us an guy
walked by. (Just so you know, NONE of us had ever met this guys
before, he was a complete stranger!) He must have heard us talking
cause he walked a few steps, stopped, turned around and came back to
where we were talking. He interrupted our conversation and asked,
"Wait, are you guys talking about Jesus!?!?" We must have looked
really surprised but quickly recovered. :) We explained that we WERE
talking about Jesus! He was interested so while Sister Thompson talked
to the girl, I turned my attention to him. His name is Matthew and he
is really religious, he LOVES JESUS!! (Ha ha, what a coincidence, he
talked to the RIGHT GIRLS! ;) ) We exchanged contact info and set an
appointment to meet with him this week! It was so amazing! People
hardly ever talk to us, but he totally interrupted a conversation
between 3 girls that he had never met! :) :) Miracles!!

2- So we had an appointment this week with a potential investigator.
We had made the appointment, and got his number but when we called to
confirm the appointment, we found out he gave us the wrong number. We
were kind of disappointed, but decided that we would show up, just in
case he had accidentally given us the wrong number. This was kind of
absurd because EMU campus was completely shut down for Easter weekend,
all the buildings were closed and locked, and everybody was going home
for the weekend. But for some reason I really felt like we needed to
be there. It was interesting trying to coordinate our day, but somehow
everything just worked out perfectly. As we got the the place we were
going to meet, our potential was not there, just a lonely looking guy
smoking a cigarette. I was disappointed for a minute, but then decided
we might as well talk to this kid, he was here and so were we, so why
not!! As we introduced ourselves and told him a little about the Book
of Mormon, he assured us that he was NOT interested. But then, we just
kept talking (I honestly can't even remember what we said!) and he
kept asking us questions. When we gave him answers it was like feeding
a teenage boy! ;) He just couldn't get enough and kept asking for more
and more! We talked to him for a good 45 minutes, answered questions
and set up an appointment to see him this week too! It's amazing how
my perception changed when i was willing to talk to this guy; instead
of being a lost, lonely smoking boy, he turned into a child of God,
who desperately needs the gospel! I am so grateful that we follow the
promptings of the spirit and talked to him! What an incredible
experience!

Whew! So, we have been really blessed this week! :) It was really
funny though, we went to HASH BASH!!! (Just in case you don;t know
what that is, i will tell you! No worries, I didn't know either! It is
a campaign to legalize marijuana.) Ha ha, Yup! We showed up at U of M
on Saturday to go contacting and there were SO many people! I finally
just asked what was going on and then we decided that it would
probably be better to spend our time in another place. :) So after
that, we got to spend the day contacting at North Campus. It was kind
of a slow weekend between EMU being completely shut down, everybody
going home for Easter and the Hash Bash, it was interesting! :)

Well, family! I think that i might have a few minutes today to
actually write a few letters! Before I go though, I just wanted to say
how grateful I am for Easter! I spent the last few mornings studying
the Atonement and Resurrection. I am SO grateful for a loving Heavenly
Father who gave us this life to prove ourselves, and for a merciful
Savior who enables me to do and become a much better person. I have
truly felt of my Saviors love for me this week! I KNOW that he lives!
I know that this is his church that has been restored upon the earth
and I am so honored to be the messenger to share that with so many of
his children that have not had the opportunity to hear it yet! I love
my Savior! :) I love being a missionary and representing him! It's
awesome! :)

I Love you all so much!! Hope that you all had a wonderful Easter and
that you are all doing great! :) Have a wonderful week!

Lots of love!!!

Sister Bishop