Monday, July 23, 2012

July 23, 2012

Dearest Family!!! Hello!!!!

Big fat heart and lots and lots of love!!!! :) I miss you guys so
mucho!!! But, that's okay cause there are some really exiting things
happening in Michigan! So, first things first!!! Transfer calls are in
and. . . . . (Drum roll please!) Ha ha! I am STAYING!!!! And Sister
Thompson is being transferred!!!! AHHH!!! Craziness, right!?!?
Actually that was all kind of what I expected, and honestly so was the
next bit of news: I'M TRAINING AGAIN!!!! Ha ha!! After transfer calls
we were sitting there chatting and Sister Tingey called us. She wanted
to know who the sister would be that is coming to Hill st. When we
told her we would find out on Tuesday, she was all disappointed but
then she was like, "Well Sister Bishop, maybe you could be the one to
train the new missionary! You did such a wonderful job with Sister
Thompson, it wouldn't surprise us at all if President called you to be
the trainer." ha ha, I just kind of laughed it off, but then the
spirit kind of whispered, "Wait until morning and we'll see who is
laughing then!" Ha ha! (President Holmes calls everybody Sunday
morning for leadership callings like trainers and district leaders,
etc.) The other funny thing was that all day we had some questions we
needed to ask President, but I just kept thinking, "don't worry about
it, He's going to be calling YOU!" Ha ha, Isn't it great how Heavenly
Father works with us and prepares us to be successful! I'm super
nervous right now!!! (Actually scared out of my mind!) But I know that
with Heavenly Father is going to be right there to help me be
successful and to help Sister DECKER! Be successful too!!! :) <3 It's
nice this time to stay in my area where I already know the ward and we
have our awesome investigators- so we are already at an advantage! ;)
It's going to be great! I'm super duper excited to have a new
missionary and see all the miracles and faith that accompany this
special calling to be a trainer! It's humbling and comforting to know
that Heavenly Father and President Holmes both trust me enough to let
me do this! Whew- no stress, right!?!? All weekend the verse in Psalms
46 keeps running through my mind, "Be still and know that I am God!"
For me the being still means to work hard and do my very best so that
I can trust in the promises that God has made- that's one thing I can
ALWAYS count on! God will always take care of me! <3

So, other exciting news: we had a FANTASTIC week this week! S Thompson
and I made it our goal to make our last week together the VERY BEST,
and it was! :) Things didn't always go as we had planned, but we did
our very best and worked our very hardest and there were SO many
miracles! :)

First was Hunaid- It's amazing to see the changes he has made-or that
the gospel has made in his life! I remember the very first time we met
him, out contacting! It was stormy and late and we had like 3 minutes
before we had to head back to the car to be home on time. We decided
that we could do one more quick walk around the diag and see if there
was anyone to talk to. (It was stormy, so there weren't very many
people out!) But as we started walking, this guy came around the
corner. We stopped and talked to him, he was interested in learning
more, so we got in contact info and set an appt. Well, he didn't make
it to his appt, but Heavenly Father knows who is ready to accept our
message and so we ran into Hunaid a few days later- still he was a
no-show! But then the 3rd time is the charm! We ran into him and this
time instead of setting up an appointment, we sat down right then and
there and taught him the restoration! That lesson was interesting! He
was so skeptical, but agreed to read the BOM and meet with us again.
The next meeting was much better and we retaught the restoration, this
time he just sat and listened and didn't try to argue. That week he
made it to church and even though he said it was totally boring, he
kept coming! Through the weeks we've met and taught him, helped him
build friendships in the ward and this "Change of heart" is becoming
very apparent! We usually have to call him to remind him to get up on
time for church, but this week his phone was out of minutes, but still
he was there, this time for the 2nd week in a row! He told us when we
met with him last night how "I'm a good person now! I've been to
church 2 weeks in a row, I'm reading my Book of Mormon between our
lessons, I pray everyday AND I'm keeping the commandments!" It was
potentially one of the happiest moments of my life!!! :) We invited
him to be baptized and he accepted, he said, "Now I am really ready!"
And now I really believe him! :) So, he is praying about what day- I
think he might choose next Sunday, so we might have a baptism this
weekend with my new sister! <3 What a great way to start our your
mission! If not this week, it will be soon! :)

We also had a really neat experience with Nick this week. He is the
one that was baptized when he was like 11, but didn't feel that those
covenants were valid for lots of different reasons. We talked to
President about it and after checking it out himself he informed us
that re baptism wasn't necessary. Nick text-ed us and wanted to know
what we had found out, and we knew that we had to be completely up
front and honest with him. We were just a little nervous because we
knew how badly he wanted to be re-baptized. We told him exactly what
we had found out, and then he never text-ed or called us back. I was
SO nervous! He had come SO far and I didn't want that to be something
that would push him away. Thank goodness for the spirit!! :) We felt
like it would be okay and not to worry about it, until the next
morning I really felt like we needed to call him and check on him. So
of course we did and he sounded great! He was reading his BOM, getting
ready for church and excited to see that that night! (That in itself
was an answer to several prayers- both his and mine!) It was such a
relief! So he came to church, everything was a perfect set up for our
lesson that evening and we had our EQP, Patrick there with us. As we
talked about the gospel and explained all of the steps necessary to
return to live with God agian, there was such a peaceful feeling that
entered the room. We explained the purpose of the Sacrament and how
through that ordinance we can be cleansed, sanctified and renew our
baptismal covenants- no matter how long it has been since we made
them! :) It was amazing! I was SO grateful to have Patrick there. Nick
was really touched and excited to have this "baptism of fire" every
Sunday and through out the week as he continued to repent and exercise
his faith to invite the spirit more into his life! Once again it was a
testimony to me of how the gospel changes people! It makes bad people,
good and good people, BETTER! Nick loves beer and works in a brewery,
but since he has started to come back, he hasn't had a single drink!
(That's just one of the little things!) There are SO many blessings
that come from living the gospel!

Wow- this is getting really long and of course I am running out of
time! But I will try to get a snail mail off today- i should have
plenty of time while S Thompson is packing!! Ha ha! ;) But my address
will be the same, so you can ALL write me a letter this week and use
the same address in Hill St! ;) Love you all SUPER MUCHOS!!!

Love,

Sister Bishop!

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