Lisa's letter Feb. 11,2013

Dearest Family!!!!

Hello to all and Happy Monday Morning! :) I don't know if you follow
the weather in Michigan at all, but it is the craziest thing ever! And
I thought that Utah weather was bad! It can't decide if it's gonna be
freezing cold, or warm up and rain and wash away all of the snow. . .
but I'm not complaining- I am well prepared for both!! :) A few weeks
ago after wading through like 5 inches of watery slush on the
sidewalks S Mecham and I broke down and went and bought rain boots! :)
They are super classy! The best part is, all that wal-mart had was
dark blue so, YES! We have matching dark blue rain boots- super
classy, right!?! :) It's great though, and life if so good!! :)

This week we went on exchanges, I stayed in Northville and S Evans and
S Farnsworth came here with me, then S Mecham went to Ann Arbor with S
Hoopes. She got to spend the day on campus contacting and she LOVED it
so much!!! It was really fun because they are teaching Van, (a guy
that S Thompson and I found and he is on date for March 2.) So, while
she was there she got to meet and teach Van too!! It's so great to
hear that they are teaching people that I worked with and he is
preparing for baptism!! When I heard that, it totally made my day!!!
Any ways, so I was here with S Evans and S Farnsworth and as we talked
about goals we wanted to focus on for the exchange we all decided that
we wanted to have more faith in finding. It's something I think that
we were all kind of struggling with but we knew that with the three
of us, and God on our side we could do anything!! That day of course
all of our teaching appointments fell through so we spent the majority
of our time together tracting, which made it really great to
accomplish our goals. :) We had planned the night before and picked
out some streets that we all felt good about and then that morning we
went to work! The FIRST house that someone answered the door it was my
turn to do the door approach and I was praying so hard I don't even
remember what I said, but before I knew what was happening, the guy
invited us in!!! I was in such shock that I just kind of stood there
for a minute,but quickly regrouped and sent a prayer of thanks
heavenward! We taught him the Restoration, extended an AYWY and had an
amazing spirit filled lesson the entire time! (One tender mercy I've
seen when we go on exchanges is that we are able to teach together and
be unified so fast!!) After that, we were so excited we went like 2
more houses and then again, the guy let us in!!! (Another blessing of
exchanges and having a trio is that we could just walk right in and
not have to worry about having a 3rd woman.) Again we taught the
Restoration, and invited him to be baptized. He didn't accept the
invitation right then, but said that he would let us know! He
committed to come to church and was so excited and grateful that we
stopped by. At the end of the day I was SO thankful for the miracles
that we had been able to see that day and for the reminder that
finding really is a principle of faith. :) If we have faith and do all
that we can to find these people, Heavenly Father will bring prepared
people to prepared missionaries. This work is all about faith. . .
it's something that I'm working on improving, but recognize that it
comes, line upon line and precept on precept.

This week we are going to have Specialized training and in preparation
for that we read Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by Elder Pearson.
(Mom it's really good!! And might have some good stuff for the lesson
you are working on!!) But, the thing that really stood out to us as we
studied was the important connection between faith and obedience. As
missionaries we have another whole set of rules that we get to follow.
Now, I feel like S Mecham and I are pretty good at being MOSTLY
obedient. But there are so many blessings that come from EXACT
obedience. Even the tiniest little details of the rules. So, in a
quest to help our faith grow we went through the White Handbook and
PMG to see what we needed to do to be more obedient. We found most of
the things we could improve on in the schedule. We are good at getting
up on time (we even get up early so we have enough time to get ready.)
We exercise, but not necessarily for the full 30 mins that is
recommended.. . . just lots of little things like that. SO, we are
repenting!! ha ha! We made a list of everything we need to do and set
goals to do them all. It's taken some work and even some sacrifice,
but we have been SO blessed the last few days!! I have loved it!!!
Blessings come from being obedient, but miracles come from being
exactly obedient!!

Our days all seem to kind of run together, time goes so fast! But this
week our Wednesday was SO crazy busy! It was one of those days that
you literally fall into bed so exhausted but extremely happy!! We
worked hard all day, but mostly I felt like it was spiritually
exhausting. We taught several lessons and each of them seemed to be
exactly what that person needed to hear. I'm SO grateful for the
guidance and help of the spirit, I couldn't do this alone!!! :)

Angela!! I forgot last week to tell you HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Sorry it's
late! But I really do hope it was GREAT!! :) I love you so much!!

Other exciting news this week: We are getting THIRTEEN new sisters in
the next 2 transfers!!! YAY!!!! I am SUPER excited!!! Here is the
crazy part though: we only have 13 sisters now and 2 of them are
leaving in a week!!! Ha ha! So EVERY single sister will be training!!!
And some of them will have to do 2 at a time! :) :) :) I'm not sure
how President is going to work it all out, but we are all STOKED!!!!
:) :) :)

Well family! Know that this is kind of short, but this computer has
been kind of silly and won't let me type like it should! I still have
to write President, so I better go. But I LOVE you all so dearly!!
Choose the right and all of the other important things!!! RWLY!!!!


Love you all bunches and bunches!!

Love,
Sister Bishop