June 11,2012

Hola!!!

Transfer Calls are in AND . . . . Sister Thompson is STAYING and
Sister Bishop is STAYING!!! Wow!! I can't believe it! I thought for
sure that there would be some sort of changes. I kind of knew that I
would be staying, but I thought for sure that S Thompson was outta
here! I guess I not really too surprised though, I think next transfer
there will be a lot of changes with all of the sisters! :) The last
few weeks we have been getting a long pretty well though. I think I am
trying to relax a little more I'm really trying to laugh and have more
fun each day. This IS missionary WORK, but my goal is to find JOY in
the journey! :) Every night this week we have taken turns telling each
other bed time stories! Ha ha, we are such dorks, but it is fun! I
feel like we are getting to be better friends- it helps a lot when you
are friends with the person that you are with 24/7! :)

This week was so crazy! We finally met with Mackenzie again this week!
It's been a few weeks because she has been going home to deal with
family issues every weekend. It's been really tough for her cause her
Mom left again, this time for good. What a hard thing- It makes me so
grateful for the gospel and how it strengthens our families and helps
us to stay together forever!!! Mackenzie was really struggling a few
weeks ago, but this time she was SO much better!!! :) She was happy
and talking and laughing, she is still reading the Book of Mormon. I
think the biggest hang up is that she hasn't been praying and can't
come to church. When she does all of those things, I know it won't
take her long to realize that the gospel is exactly what she is
looking for. . . It was her birthday on Saturday, so we called her
and sang her happy birthday- it totally made her day! :) I think that
is one of the greatest blessings about being a missionary! Every day
you have the opportunity to share the gospel- to make people HAPPY-
with so many of God's children! When they accept it and change their
lives, that happiness continues to grow and heal their broken hearts!
It's such a miracle to witness every day!

This week we had a tender mercy. (Well we had many, but this one was
so unexpected!) I wrote you about Hunaid last week- the Indian guy who
is sincerely searching for truth. Yeah- so we called him on Saturday
to invite him to church, but he didn't answer. We left him a message,
but he NEVER calls us back! Even if he does we never get his calls
cause they come in at like 3:00 in the morning and our phone is off
and we are asleep! Any ways, we were out contacting and ran into him!
We invited him to church and he gave us the usual reply, "Yeah! Sure,
no problem!" (With the AWESOME Indian accent! ;)) We arranged a ride
for him, but it was kind of hard cause he didn't want to give us his
address. He said he would meet by a little cafe on campus. Funny thing
is, we couldn't be there cause we had ward council, he had no idea who
was giving him a ride and she had no idea who to look for! Ha ha, it
sounded like a long shot that he would actually make it to church, but
we worked it out as best we could and left the rest of it to Heavenly
Father. Well you can't imagine my surprise when Sunday morning rolled
around and Hunaid actually showed up at church!!!! I just about fell
of my chair! Ha ha! I was SO HAPPY!!! He had a pretty good experience.
. . . he thought that Sacrament was boring (it was high council
Sunday) and didn't care too much for Sunday school, but he LOVED
priesthood! We found him a really good friend to sit with and that
helped a lot! We met with him later that evening and extended a
baptism invitation, now he is on date for July 15!!! Keep Hunaid in
your prayers! He still has a lot to learn, but Heavenly Father has
prepared him! :)

We also met with Erica this week, she is on date to be baptized next
Saturday. She has only been to our ward once, but she has gone to the
Ypsi ward a few times. We are really trying to get her out to
activities and involved with the ward. She is struggling with
recognizing her answer, so we are really praying that her heart will
be softened and she will recognize the spirit this week so that she
can make her baptism date. Any prayers on her behalf would also be
appreciated! :)

I finally got in touch with Bro Anderson this week! (He's the WML that
introduced us to Danielle before she passed away.) They have not had
any contact with Danielle's family and they don't even know where they
live- so NOTHING in being done about getting her temple work done!
AGGHHH!! It's slightly frustrating, but I am going to try and get them
some info this week so hopefully we can get it all taken care of soon!
:)

 I love all of your stories and your testimonies- they
are such an evidence to me that the gospel really is true! Heavenly
Father loves each of us so much!! I didn't get the letters from Dad
and Jake or one from Ben about his talk, but they might be coming this
week?? Maybe I will get them today! :)P

Everything here is going pretty good! I sent you a tape on Thursday,
so you should be getting it soon! There are some good stories on
there!! Ha ha! I hope you enjoy it! Well family- I better get going! I
love you all super mucho!!! Keep choosing the right, being good
examples and all the rest of that good stuff!! :)

Love you guys the BEST!

Love,
Sister Bishop