Lisa's esciting news Feb 18,2012

Dearest Family!!

Hello to all!!! I can't believe all of the crazy things happening. . .
Ben, Hollie, and Dee all leaving!! Where did time go!?!? :) That's so
great though!!! I'm excited for all of them to be out in the world
again and putting all of their faith and excitement to work! I know
you'll all be great!! So, I know Ben is flying out today and that he
get's to call. . . or maybe he already had? If not, you should record
it though!! I would love to hear his voice!! :) Ben, thanks SO much
for the package!!! I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!! We are going to have our
closets all full of coordinating clothing! ;) Ha ha! It'll be great!!
And I'll proudly wear my Portugal shirt every opportunity that I can
get!! I will try to try to get your package off today! :) Good luck
though!!!! You probably won';t even read this letter until you get to
there, but sleep as much as you can on the plane! It's a LONG flight!
Chew bubble gum and that seems to help with the air pressure, and just
enjoy the journey!!! You'll be fantastic!!! :) I love you so SO
much!!! AND I will get to see the Missionary that you ran into at the
MTC TODAY when we go to take out the new sister! SO, I'll be sure that
he passes on the message!! :) Just know my thoughts and prayers are
with you, now and always!!!

So, fun fact: Ben and I are on the same transfer schedule! WE just
finished up week 6 and so that means we got transfer calls on
Saturday!!! First off I have to explain a little back ground info. . .
Our mission got 2 sisters from temple square for about 2 transfers.
President told us that we would be hosting one of them for about a
week until transfer meeting. We were SUPER excited of course!!! So, we
got Sister Hee on Wednesday. She is absolutely fantastic!! The past
week has flown by!! We were having so much fun that we told President
he could just forget about Northville for transfers so that we could
all stay together and we would be very happy little campers! :) But,
unfortunately that didn't happen. . . Sister Hee and Sister Mecham are
both being transferred and I GET TO TRAIN AGAIN!!!!!
AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!! HA HA!!!!! I'm sad to
see both of these great sisters leaving me, but to train a new
missionary is so fun! I love it!! Of course I am nervous and a little
scared, but the faith and excitement of a new missionary is so
incredible! The fire and love that they bring to the work cannot be
matched!!! We get to meet her tonight and take her out with us and I
can't wait to meet her!! As I've been praying for her yesterday and
today the only impression that I've got is to just love her! And
honestly, I already do!!! :) The next 12 weeks are going to be the
BEST ever! :) It's so exciting and maybe even a little more tender to
my heart thinking of Ben, Hollie and Dee all meeting their trainers
and hoping and praying for the best! I guess if I had any advice for
you, it would probably be the same thing I've been feeling. . . JUST
LOVE THEM!!! They are just as scared as you are! :) They aren't
perfect missionaries, and they WILL make mistakes, but just love them
and do all you can to be the BEST companion and BEST new missionary
ever!!! The relationship that you have with your trainer will
(hopefully) be a very treasured relationship and have a special place
in your heart! :) :) <3 You'll be great though!!! (Oh plus!! This
transfer is only a 5 week transfer, at least here in Michigan! We are
shortening it so that we will be on track with the MTC, so it's going
to go super fast!) And with 10 sisters coming in next transfer, just
about all of the other sisters will be training! The Lord is truly
hastening his work!! It's so exciting to be a part of that! :)

Any ways, this week has been so much fun! We were kind of crazy
getting everything ready for the Elders coming. . . so we will now
have 2 sets of missionaries in our ward! The ward is super excited and
have already started praying for our elders and have people for them
to see. It'll be a busy, but great week ahead of them! But on top of
that we had Sister Hee in our companionship as well! She is such an
incredible missionary!!! It was really amazing to see Heavenly Father
bless us this week in so many different ways. We had time to do some
tracting in our area and in the Elder's to help them to get off to a
better start, and found so many prepared people! In our lessons we
were so unified, and we hadn't had time to practice like we needed to
but still the lessons just kind of seemed to flow all together. Our
lesson especially with Sharon this week was really incredible. Martin
and Sharon are great!! Martin has been less active forever and we just
started teaching Sharon about a month (maybe a month and a half ago.)
As we were studying, Sister Mecham and I both felt very strongly that
we needed to invite Sharon to be baptized!! So of course we worked
that into our lesson plan. Right before our appointment, the spirit
prompted us to change what we had planned on teaching her. It was a
little scary cause we weren't sure exactly what it was that we needed!
We had their home teacher, Brother Youngs coming to their lessons and
this week we asked him to share his conversion story. He did and the
spirit filled the room so strong!! He started crying and so did
Sharon!! He described the peace and joy that has come with his
conversion and membership in the church and Sharon said that is
something that she has been searching for and craving. We promised her
that as she continued to learn about the gospel she would find those
things for herself!!! The spirit in the room was so strong! We were
getting to the end of the lesson and still hadn't extended a baptism
invitation. Right before we were about to close and leave, the spirit
wouldn't let me NOT extend the invitation. It was a little harder
cause the conversation had drifted to other things, but I knew it had
to happen!!! I prayed and asked for help and then just opened my
mouth. . . . I extended the invitation and after addressing some of
her concerns she accepted and said she would gladly be baptized!!! We
weren't able to give her a specific date, but I was so thankful for
the spirit in giving me the courage to open my mouth and for giving me
the words to say! :) Martin was so happy, he was practically dancing
around the living room and is convinced that he is going to baptize
her! :) It'll be great!!! We'll baptize Sharon and reactive Martin!!
:)

There were so many other good things happening this week , but I'm out
of time!! I'll try to get snail mail out today. . but you know how
that goes! :) I love you all SO, SO much!!! Thanks Ben and Rach and Di
for the packages!! You are the greatest!!! I love you all and keep you
in my prayers every day!!! Choose the right and all of the important
things!!! But always remember WHO loves you!!!!

Keep me and my new missionary in your prayers too!!! We need to find
and baptize a family!! :) Love you all!!
Love,

Sister Bishop