May 10,2012

Dearest family, HELLO!!!!! :) How are you all today?? It sounds like
you are all doing great! :) I love that it is officially warm enough
to bring out the water balloons! (Ha ha, warm enough for the Bishop
family anyways! LOL. Honestly, I think that we could justify using
water balloons year round if we really wanted to! ;) Sounds like you
are all having tons of fun!!

So, before I get going I thought I would let you know that we did find
a place to go on Sunday to call you guys! We will be at Bro And Sis
Kirbayahsi's home. ;) (Say that 10 times fast!) Ha ha. They are a
super sweet couple that have been serving as the 2nd councilor in the
Bishopric for the last 5 years. But yesterday Bro K got called to the
high council so we are all thinking that next week we will have a new
2nd councilor. But anyways. . . we will probably be calling about 7:00
our time, which makes it about 5:00 your time. :) I"M SUPER EXCITED!!!
I can hardly wait!!! Hopefully that works for all of you! Sorry about
the delay, it's so different working with a a singles ward. . . but
this week has been so great!!

Alrighty, so I just have to say, I really love how Heavenly Father
works! We have had kind of a long, slowish week. This last week was
the week right after finals had ended and so everybody was gone or
moving home, and summer classes didn't start until today. So we got a
lot of walking in this week and sadly not as much talking as we would
have liked. But I know that this week is really going to pick up! We
set some super awesome goals with our district at district meeting and
we have the faith that we will do our best and heavenly Father will
make up the difference! :) We had to call Pres. Holmes this week for a
couple of things and as we were talking he asked how our week was
going. We explained that it had been kind of slow but we had set high
goals and were doing our best to accomplish them. He told us how he
had been studying the book of Mormon in the last few days and noticed
that Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah asked that "perhaps" God would grant
their desires! It really hit me, I can set my goals high to help me
work hard, and then pray that "perhaps" God will help me to accomplish
them! It was really an eye opener, so this week, that is my focus! I'm
going to work hard, and do my part so that I can recognize all the
miracles that God sends my way!

We did have some really neat experiences this week though! First of
all, remember Danielle? The girl with Leukemia at U of M? We saw her
everyday this week, until she passed away on Friday evening. I have so
much I want to say about that experience, but i will put it on the
tape I'm working on and I can't wait to tell it to you all personally
next week in our phone call! I will just say that I'm not sure why we
got to be a part of her life for the last week of her life, but her
and her family have touched my life! I will never forget them!! Of
course we will miss Danielle, but I KNOW that Heavenly Father was so
happy to welcome home one of this choice daughters! <3 She is finally
free from the pain she has had to endure and she is SO HAPPY!! Her
family is doing pretty good, but still keep them in your prayers! We
are working with the ward mission leader and the missionaries to
coordinate with Her family to get her work done ASAP! (Definitely more
to come here. . . .but later!)

So the other miracle this week was our investigator named Mackenzie!
She was someone that we had contacted into and our first lesson we had
been really focusing on using How to Begin teaching, so we could teach
HER and not just a LESSON. It worked so welll!!! (Ha ha, Amazing how
that works right? You follow what the lord has asked us to do and it
always works out so well!) So, Mackenzie had really opened up to us
about her faith, her trials and struggles and we had set up
expectations so she knew exactly why we were there. We told her that
this would bless her life so much, but that it would take some effort
on her part, that effort would come by reading the BOM, praying about
it, coming to church, etc. She told us, "I'm Catholic. I LOVE being
Catholic, but I guess that i could come at least a few times to check
out your church." :) So after our 2nd meeting on Friday she said she
would come to church with us on Sunday. We explained all of it to her
so she would be comfortable and also explained that it would be
testimony meeting. She was Super excited! So Sunday morning rolled
around and Mackenzie showed up to church! (AND she came all by
herself!! Amazing, Right?!?!) She walked in, and we introduced her to
some people, then the meeting started. Everything was going great, and
the meeting was actually going a bit long when the Bishop started to
stand up and end the meeting and one kid ran to the pulpit to "share a
few quick thoughts before we closed." We all smiled and settled back
to listen. Then Mackenzie leaned over to me and asked, "I know we are
out of time, but can I say something??" A little shocked, I told her
that she was welcome to share her testimony! She walked up and
graciously the Bishop smiled and gave her a nod of encouragement. She
stood there and bore a simple, powerful testimony of our Savior Jesus
Christ, how much he loves all of us and how he is always there to
guide us! She then testified about the BOM!!! She said, "I have only
started reading the BOM, but when I do read it, it takes me to a
peaceful place and gives me feelings of comfort and love!" She shared
a little bit about how we had contacted her, and all that she was
learning and how she could see that God was still continuing to guide
her! The spirit was so strong, it was AMAZING!!! After she sat down,
Bishop Connett shared some thoughts, then he even came and talked to
her for a few minutes after Sacrament. He was able to really relate to
the things that she was experiencing and the entire ward was there to
support, encourage and help her with anything!! :) She also
participated in Sunday School and RS, with lots of good thoughts and
comments. She had a really great experience at church and I'm so
thankful for a Loving Heavenly Father who knows exactly what she
needed to hear, and gave us such a wonderful ward to work with!

To close, kind of where I started, I'm SO grateful for a loving Father
IN Heaven who knows ME!! He knew it had been kind of a rough week with
not as many people to talk to, but he gave us that wonderful miracle
to finish off the week and get us all excited for this week and ALL
the miracles that he has in store for us! :) I really do know that God
lives! He knows Sister Bishop and wants me to be successful and will
help to do hard things! :)

I love you all SUPER DUPER MUCHO!!!! I can't wait to talk to you in a
few days! I think i should have another tape in the mail today. . .
.maybe! We'll see how it goes! :) Lot and lots of love!! Have a
wonderful week!! Choose the RIght!!!

Love

Sister Bishop