Jan. 28,2013

Dearest Family!

Hello!!! So, Story of our lives. . . ever since I chanced Ben's e-mail
address to bishop.benjamin@myldsmail.net, I think that he has been
getting my letters, but I haven't been able to get any of his! ;(
Could you help us fit that!?! :) I would really appreciate it!! :)
Thanks! You're the best!!!

So, this week we had interviews, it was SO good!! I can't tell you how
much I LOVE President and Sister Holmes. They are the GREATEST!!! They
are getting to the end of their mission too, (They go home in July) So
it's really neat to share this experience with them and making the
most of the last few months that we all have to serve together as
missionaries. In interviews, Sister Holmes does the instruction and we
all rotate going in to have our interviews with President. We talked
for just a few minutes about the process of becoming a PMG missionary.
She shared some highlights from the talk that Elder Holland gave at
the MTC last week. (Ben I'm so jealous!!! I bet that was such a
powerful talk to be there and hear and feel the spirit!!! We all felt
it very strongly in the small sampling we got from S Holmes.) Anyways,
I loved how Elder Holland talked about how EVERY missionary must come
home with at least ONE convert, and that that one convert should be
YOU! I have definitely seen that throughout my mission. As I've
studied and worked hard I've seen the gospel change and impact me in a
way that nothing else could ever do! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! It inspires
me to love and serve others, to do and become and more Christlike
person!!! I think that missions are definitely hard, but really that's
what makes them SO great! Without hard times, you never know the
strength of your conversion or the power of your faith! S Holmes
talked about how when she gets home she wants to be a better visiting
teacher, a better neighbor and friend and a bunch of other things. . .
I love her example! :) I feel the same way! I only have a few months
left and believe me, I'm gonna work harder and try to do my very best
and love every minute that I can! The future is so bright and full of
endless opportunities! Life is good and truly the Gospel life is the
GOOD LIFE!!

We had the most amazing lesson this week with Nate and Vanessa.
Vanessa is a member, but has been less active on and off for most of
her life. Nate is not a member and they have a beautiful little 6
month old daughter named Isla. Last week we taught them the
Restoration, and that went well, but we couldn't get either one of
them to pray. We left that night and knew that the next time we HAD to
have a lesson on prayer, talk about the importance of it, WHY we pray
and even teach them how to pray. We had studied and planned and even
practiced how we would teach the lesson and invite Nate to say a
kneeling prayer at the end. :) So, that night we went over and had
dinner then as we were getting ready to start the lesson I felt
prompted to start with a Mormon message. I told S Mecham and she
thought it sounded good, so we went with it! :) We watched the MM,
then talked about the importance of really communicating with our
Father in Heaven through prayer. They both opened up to us so much!!
It was amazing!!!! We've been teaching them and building up a
relationship with them for the last month or so, but this last week I
felt that bond so strongly! As we taught and testified, Nate brought
up some concerns about praying the way that we do. He had always used
the Lords Prayer and thought that anything else was a "vain
repetition." As we discussed it, the spirit entered the room in a very
powerful way and we invited him to try praying the way we had taught
him. He agreed to give it a try, but wanted to try it on his own
first. :) We were super bold and the lesson was such a powerful
experience! It was neat to see how his faith is growing as he tries
this "experiment of faith." :) I'm so grateful for the spirit and the
ability it gives us as missionaries to teach people in a way that they
can relate and have spiritual experiences! :) It was one of those
times that I just opened my mouth and it was filled. I knew exactly
what they needed to hear and was able to say it in a powerful way!! It
was such an amazing experience! :)

We have a Less active that we have been working with for a while named
Tia. She absolutely LOVES the missionaries! WE have been struggling to
get through to her the importance of doing the little things every day
like reading the scriptures, praying and going to church on Sunday.
This week as we discussed how we could help her, S Mecham proposed
that we teach her the Restoration! Silly us!! Of course!!! We should
have known all along that this is what she needed! We saw her
yesterday and taught her and some of her children the Restoration and
invited them to join with us in the challenge to read the Book of
Mormon by Easter. She actually got really excited and her and her
daughter said they would race us! We made a deal that whoever finishes
last has to buy the other people ice cream. We are praying and PRAYING
that we have to be the ones to buy them all ice cream! :) The Book of
Mormon is such a powerful tool in conversion that if they read it
every day, they will feel the spirit! At a recent zone meeting one of
the missionaries said, "I have NEVER met a less active member who
reads their scriptures and prays everyday!" We all kind of laughed at
the simplicity of the statement, but it is SO true!!! I hope that this
will be the thing to help her realize all of the things she is missing
in life by not choosing to live the gospel.It was really neat, I LOVE
the message of the Restoration!! What a huge blessing it is to know
that those things really are true!! :)

We are still working hard and praying hard to find our family and they
haven't turned up yet! But we've had some really great experiences
tracting! Making planning a revelatory experience, knowing that is
where you need to be, praying for charity to love the people no matter
what, boldly going and doing and Living in the moment and LOVING it
has made the past week FLY by! :) We are going to the temple this
Thursday (which I am SUPER excited for!!!!) And this week is going to
be great!! :) I'm just going to go forth with faith, live it and LOVE
every mintute!!! :)

I love you all so much!! And hope that you have a very wonderful week!
Remember WHO Loves You!!! :)

Love,
Sister Bishop.

P.S. Ben!! Sister Decker's little brother is at the MTC now too!! He
is learning Spanish, so you should watch for an Elder Decker!!! That
would be sweet if you actually ran into each other!!! Sorry I didn't
write you last week!! Ha ha, I felt a little bad when I got your
letter! :) I'll try to be better! ;) Love you tons and tons!!