May 21, 2012

Dear Family!

Hello!! :) Whew-- I don't even know where to start! This week has been
an interesting one! :)

I'm not sure if I had already told you this, but Sister Rowe works on
campus. We had been to see her once and had a really good visit with
her. It's always good to see someone that you have come to know and
love. We had only stopped by that once and didn't really think about
it again until this week. Tuesday morning I woke up thinking about her
and her family. All through our exercise and studies I couldn't get
her off of my mind. We had planned on being at U of M, but didn't
really plan on stopping by. As we headed out to work I had the
distinct impression that we needed to go and see her, but once again,
we hadn't planned for that. I was really trying to decide if that was
the spirit telling me to stop by or if it was just Sister Bishop
wanting to stop by and check up on her. Well, the thought wouldn't go
away so finally we I told S Thompson, "I'm not really sure why, but we
have to go stop by Sister Rowe." Her simple reply was so comforting,
"I have been thinking that SAME thing!" :) I love how the spirit works
on us! So of course we went and stopped by. When we walked in Sister
Rowe looked a little shocked to see us, then almost immediately burst
into tears! We stepped out into the hall to talk for a few minutes and
had a really good visit. They have been really struggling with their
marriage, finances, Pat not wanting to go to church any more, etc. And
she was feeling a little down. We didn't say anything profound, but we
were able to listen and comfort her. It was such a testimony to me
that Heavenly Father really does know his children! There are no
coincidences! He uses other people sometimes to answer our prayers and
I was SO thankful that I listened and was able in a small way to help
answer Sister Rowe's prayers. I sure love that family! <3

I feel like I am constantly having to re-evaluate where I am, what I
am doing and how it is fulfilling my purpose. This week has been kind
of an interesting one as I have sought to be more filled with the
spirit-- without the spirit I'm lost. We had some really great
experiences in some lessons that we were really guided like:

When we met with Mackenzie this week we invited her to be baptized! I
was super nervous because she has told us over and over how much she
loves being Catholic. When we did invite her, she told us "No." But
she is still reading the BOM, feeling the spirit and growing in her
faith. It was an interesting experience. I felt like the whole lesson
wasn't at all what we had planned it to be, but Heavenly Father guided
us and it turned out really well.

Another miracle: We are teaching a Hindu guy named Pinaki. He is super
flaky, but we prayed all week that he would be able to make it to his
appointment. He did come but as we started with following up, the
things he was saying made it sound like he was going to drop us. I
started praying like crazy for help and to know what to say to him.
What happened was nothing less than a miracle. Once again our lesson
was NOTHING like we had planned, but all of these question started
flooding my mind-- as I started asking him those questions it made him
stop and think. . . instead of jumping in with all the answers I
LISTENED and it was amazing! (Just like PMG says) He was able to
resolve his own concerns!!

We have had some really great experiences that have helped me see how
the spirit IS guiding us. I'm so thankful for that. Sometimes I feel
like I get caught in doing the same things over and over again each
day and don't rely on the spirit as much as I need to. I feel like I
go through this every couple of weeks and have to RE-learn everything!
Sometimes I just wish I could just be perfect! Ha ha! I wish that I
learned it all the first time and that I could move on, but like it
says in Ether, we don't receive the witness until after the trial of
our faith. In specialized training President Holmes told us, "Routine
is the enemy of revelation." So I have been watching for the routines
I have fallen into and am trying to break free of them. It's hard! A
mission is HARD WORK-- but that is what makes it SO GREAT!

Rachel asked for a list of our investigators that you could pray for!
I think that's a great idea!! Thanks!!

Mackenzie
Pinaki
Tim
Ericka
Sari
Todd
The Rowe Family

There are more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head!
Also, If you could pray that I will continue to find ways to love and
serve S Thompson, I would really appreciate it! :) She is doing really
good, but some days it is really hard! <3

I love you all super mucho!!! :) Hope that everything is going well!!
I pray for you all every day! :)

Love you guys the BEST!

Love,

Sister Bishop