Dec. 17,2012 Lisa called last night to talk with Ben

Dearest Family!!!

Hello to ALL!!!! I can't believe how good it was to talk to you all
last night!! Oh my goodness, that 30 minutes went WAY too fast!! :) :)
I loved it though!!! SO, SO MUCH!!! I think that the thing I loved the
most was the fact that we didn't really "say" anything! :) All of the
little stories we shared was all that we needed! I loved how Mom said
for your little family Christmas party that the BEST thing was being
together and spending that time as a family! That really is the
GREATEST!!! Oh man! I love you guys SO, SO much!!! (I told S Evans the
story about Tim in Sunday School and we giggled the rest of the night!
Ha ha!!! :)) I'm sending this e-mail to Ben's missionary address too,
so hopefully it makes it and I guessed right . . . if not, you'll have
to let me know what it is for real. :)

So, here I am in Northville!! S Mecham is GREAT!!! I can't wait for
you guys to see pictures, we really could be twin sisters! :) We are
both the same height, blonde and blue eyes. . . just talking to her
for the little while we've been together, I can tell we are going to
get a long just great! We are SO much alike! :) Ha ha, it's gonna be
good! Northville is a family ward, it's not rural, but it's definitely
not the city either. It's actually a pretty ritzy area. . . so, it's
gonna be great!! :)

I was really sad to leave Ann Arbor, but it actually worked out really
well this way! I feel like instead of just being transferred from Hill
St, they kind of winged me off of it! :) I still got to see people
once in a while and get used to a family ward and get to know and love
the people there, so it really was the BEST of both worlds! I think
one of the hardest things was actually saying goodbye to S Evans! :)
We have got to be such good friends over the last 6 weeks and before
me, she really struggled with her companions, so it was super hard to
say good bye! :) It's so amazing to see how God works! We both needed
that 6 weeks together, I learned so much from her and it was really
incredible!!! I sure do love that girl! :)

So, with all of that good stuff out of the way, we did do some
missionary work this week! :) It was really awesome!! We did exchanges
at the beginning of the week. I stayed in AA and S Butterfield came
there, so S Evans was in Fenton with S Farnsworth. Exchanges are such
a powerful experience to learn from another sister! They are the
BOMB!! So, Tuesday morning S Butterfield and I meet with Jeanette, we
had only taught her like 2 times and we weren't sure if she was really
interested. She had been taught a lot by missionaries before, and
seemed to have a pretty good understanding of the things that we had
shared. We decided to start at the beginning and just do a very
powerful, spirit led lesson according to her needs. As we studied and
practiced, it was amazing to feel the spirit and see how it all came
together so easily! As we taught the lesson it all just flowed, and
even though I had NEVER taught with S Butterfield, we were so
unified!! Man!!! It was such an amazing feeling! At the end of the
lesson, Jeanette told us, "WOW!!! You girls are SO good at this, it
all makes so much sense!!! This is so amazing!!" We invited her to
pray about being baptized and she promised that she would! (It was
really awesome too, cuase we took Tara with us!! She is so awesome!!!!
She was able to just jump right in and help us teach and testify! She
actually spent the morning with us and absolutely LOVED it!! She's
gonna be the best little missionary!!)

We have been working with a Less Active named Rebecca Thornton, she
has been LA for a very long time and has a lot of questions and
different views about the church and our doctrines, etc. But we had
dinner with her and the Bednar's last Sunday. After dinner we read the
"I Feel My Saviors Love" story book to the little girls and talked
about ways that we feel Christ's love for us. We targeted it to the
girls, but Rebecca listened intently the entire time. She even seemed
to get a little emotional. So, yesterday when we went to say good
bye, I brought it up again and shared my testimony of the Savior and
His love for all of us. A sweet spirit filled the room and we all got
a little teary eyed as we were able to partake for that brief moment
of His love! It was really neat! I know she still has a bunch of
questions and doubts, but as long as she remembers that HE really does
love her, I know she will be able to overcome them! :)

Our other miracle was that. . .. WE GOT SEMONE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :)
We had tried calling her several times during the week, but she never
answered or called us back. We were super bummed, but didn't feel good
about just stopping by. When I found out I was being transferred, I
tried calling her again, but still she didn't answer. She didn't have
a voice mail, so I just decided to try texting her. A few hours later
she called and apologized for "putting us off" and asked us to come by
Sunday night. We were still a little nervous, but felt really good
about it, so we stopped by last night and had the most amazing
experience!!! OUR SEMONE IS BACK!!! :) We walked in and she gave us
both a great big hug!!! She again apologized, but explained that she
had had a really crazy week. We chatted for a few minutes and then she
asked us, "Well Sisters, I haven't had a chance to read my Book of
Mormon yet, can we read together??" We of course, obliged! :) We
turned to 3 Nephi and read the account of Christ in the Americas. She
got SO excited as we were taking turns that she just kept reading and
reading. . . as she read her eyes started to water and the spirit
poured into the room. We talked for a few minutes about what it would
be like to have been there and seen/heard all the things that those
people saw and heard. :) Aww!! It was SO good!! She told us that she
wants to continue to meet with us, but she wants to take it slow so
she can really feel it out and pray about it to make sure that this is
really what God wants for her. :)

It was kind of a crazy emotional week with exchanges, being
transferred and calling you guys!!! It's been a good one, but I'm SO
glad it's preparation day and we can take it easy and get everything
organized and settled in. :) I'm really excited to see the miracles
that God has in store for me and S Mecham here in Northville!! I'm
sure it's gonna be great!! :) I hope that you all have a most
wonderful week!! I love you all SO much!!! Choose the right and all of
the important things and REMEMBER WHO LOVES YOU!!!!

Love you the BESTEST!!

Love,
Sister Bishop

Dec. 10, 2012

Hello Family!!

Thanks for the packages this week! I got my vitamins and my shampoo
and all the other goodies! Thank you!!! You guys are the BEST!! I'm so
spoiled! :) So, really fast before I forget . . . This week S Evans
got her Christmas package. When she got it it has already been opened,
so I opened it all the way to make sure that everything was still
there. It looked like it was all still there, but because she is a
foreign missionary, it is super expensive for her family to send her
stuff. Anyways, so I know you guys are always really good, but I was
wondering if you could throw in a couple of extra things for her in my
Christmas package?? :) All she got was a "You are special book",
jewelry, a scarf and some chocolate. It doesn't need to be much, or
anything expensive. . . just a little something, so she has a few
things to open on Christmas! :) I'm pretty sure that you guys would
be sending her something anyways, cause you are just the BEST!!!
Thanks !!! :) (P.S. If anybody in Michigan is reading this on the
blog, THIS IS TOP SECRET!!!)

YAY!! So, this week we have continued to be blessed with so many
miracles!!! :) First I'll tell you about Semone. SEMONE IS AMAZING!!!!
Everybody we teach has a little bit of a bumpy road with some trials
and struggles, especially someone that is as elect as Semone! So, this
week has been no excuse but it's okay because we have really seen
God's hand in it! This week we had an appointment with Semone in
Tuesday. At church on Sunday we had Sister Jibson come up and tell us,
"Sisters! If you need anyone to go teaching with you this week, please
call my daughter Tara. She is almost missionary age, she just broke up
with her boy friend and she has been seriously considering going on a
mission!" Of course we wanted to take this girl out with us and have
an awesome experience so she can see what missionary work is all
about! So, we decided that Semone would be the perfect appointment! :)
We got it all set up and showed up with Tara at Semone's door on
Tuesday. As always, she was SO excited to see us, she gave us all a
great big hug, welcomed us in and eagerly got out her Book of Mormon.
We had an AWESOME lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and actually
put her on baptism date for December 29th!!!!! The spirit was SO
strong, Semone was in tears and the 3 of us just couldn't stop
smiling!!!! Tara got to help teach and share her testimony and the
whole experience was just amazing!!!! After our lesson Tara agreed to
come tracting with us! We had been praying really REALLY hard all
morning that we would be able to have miracles while Tara was with us
and God blessed us so much!!! After Semone, we prayed and tried to
feel out which building we needed to tract. We let Tara be a big part
of the whole process and we all felt REALLY good about this one
building! So, we grabbed our little Books of Mormon, mustered up some
courage, kept a prayer in our hearts for a miracle and started
knocking!!! The THIRD door we knocked on, there was a couple home who
invited us in! :) :) They are a humble, sweet little couple named
Jessica and Tighrees. We ended up teaching them most of the
Restoration and inviting them to be baptized! They both agreed to pray
about it and admitted that Jessica had never been baptized and
Tighrees didn't really count his baptism as something special like he
knew it should be! They are incredible!!!! :) Again, Tara got to be
really involved with the teaching and testifying, by the end of the
appointment she couldn't stop smiling!! The smile on her face was so
big I thought that her face was gonna split in half!! :) Ha ha! I
guess she went home and told her Mom what a great time she had and
that, "We actually got in the door!! I didn't know that EVER
happened!!" They even shared this experience in Relief Society in our
little missionary moment! :) It was so amazing!!!! I was so incredibly
grateful that she was able to witness and be a part of those miracles
and taste of the joy of missionary work! :) What an awesome
experience! :)

So, back to Semone. . . here is the rest of the story with the bumpy
road and trials part of it. . . Semone called us on Friday and left us
a voice mail that said something like, "Hey Sisters! This is Semone, I
just have been so stressed and anxious this week that I need some time
to cool off and see where I'm at." We were both heart broken . . we
didn't know what to do. We had a crazy day, but were finally able to
stop by and visit her on Saturday. When we knocked on the door she
immediately answered and got a HUGE smile on her face. She wouldn't
let us come in or teach her at all, or even set up an appointment, but
she said that we could call her in a few days. . . but before we left
she gave us both a big hug and told us that she loved us. I really,
really feel like she will be okay! I think she talked to her family
and they just weren't very supportive and thought that she was rushing
into things. So, we will try to call and stop by in the next few days.
But she isn't going to get away from us that easily!! :) Just keep
Semone and her family in your prayers!! They need it! :)

So, with all of this going on, Heavenly Father thought we needed
another miracle. . . His name is Kun. Kun met with missionaries at
Purdue University 10 years ago. Since then he has been very involved
with a Baptist and Presbyterian church. He has grown in faith and
learned about Jesus Christ, but never really felt right about being
baptized. Through all of these experiences his friends have told him,
"You can check out any Christian church, EXCEPT the Mormons! They are
not Christian so stay far away from them!!" He recognized that the
persecutions we have faced were similar to persecutions that Christ
suffered when he was on the earth. He also noticed that people treated
the Book of Mormon similar to how the treated the New Testament in the
early days of the church. . . with all of this evidence he decided to
investigate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a little
more thoroughly. He searched on-line and over the past 10 years and
done a lot of research. He finally decided that this MUST be God's
church. So, this Thursday he walked into the Institute and "Turned
Himself in!" Ha ha!!!! I think that it is any missionaries dream to
have someone like Kun walk up and say, "Hey! I've been researching
your church, I believe that it is true and I want to be baptized!!!"
:) Someone at the institute got in contact with the Hill St Sisters
and they taught him the Restoration. They found out that he was
married and in our area, so they called and referred him to us! We met
with him Saturday night and this man is SO ELECT!!! Just shaking his
hand and looking into his eyes I could see that he had been searching
for the truth and had found it!!! The spirit was so strong in his
presence!!! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and put him on
baptism date for December 29th!!! :) When we asked him what he would
like to study from the Book of Mormon he told us, "Just give me
everything that I need to know to be baptized! Give me the crash
course and put me on the fast track to baptism! I have been waiting SO
long and I really, really need this in my life!" MIRACLES!!!! This is
TOTALLY God's work! :) He came to church yesterday and already has a
TON of friends in the ward! We are teaching him at a members home and
he is just starving for the doctrines of the gospel! :) His family is
kind of struggling with his decisions though . . His wife is also
from China and doesn't really believe in God. She is NOT supportive at
all of him coming to church or meeting with us, which is a big
concern. But when we talked to Kun about it he just said, "I HAVE to
do this. I will pray for my wife! Will you also pray for her??" He
has such great faith!!! He is so prepared!!! Please keep them all in
your prayers! There is so much going on, we are truly seeing the
window's of heaven being opened and the blessings and miracles POURED
out!!!

The Christmas season is the BEST time of the year! It is amazing to be
able to be a missionary now! Oh man, I LOVE this work so much!!! We
have been so blessed and we truly have our Heavenly Father to thank
for all of these blessings!! I love all of you so much!! And hope that
you are doing well! Remember all of the important things!!! Have a
wonderful week!!! (Talk to you on FRIDAY!!!!) :) :) :) :)

Love,
Sister Bishop

Dec 3, 2012

Hello to my very favorite people!!! HAPPY DECEMBER!!! :)

Happy Birthday to my Little Goose! I hope you had a very wonderful
birthday! :) :)

This week has been SO incredible!!! It's been a really good reminder
to me of WHY I'm a missionary! :) So, here is the thing. Being with S
Evans has been GREAT!! She is cute, she's funny, we laugh and talk and
work and have a great time together! But this last week we were
feeling a little stuck in a rut. We have both been missionaries for
several months, we know how to work, how to follow the spirit, and
honestly, we both know HOW to be great missionaries! But for one
reason or another, nothing was working. . . we had seen some progress
with people that we were working with, but still something was
missing. We had a mini- companion inventory one night right before we
went to the Bishop's house for dinner and were really open with each
other. We both admitted that we hadn't been pushing as hard as we
could and admitted that we could do better. We were just being "good"
missionaries when we both knew there were "better" and "Best"
missionaries inside of us! So, we decided that was the end of that! We
promised ourselves and each other not to settle, not to be mediocre
but to push and strive to be the very best that we could!! This week
has been AMAZING!! We have seen so many miracles because of it!

Our first miracle was Semone! We had planned to stop by and visit a
couple of less actives that we have been working with. We tried both
of them and they either wouldn't answer the door or didn't let us in.
So, with that we decided that we should tract around their apartments.
We sat in the car for a few minutes, prayed and really tried to feel
out where Heavenly Father wanted us to be. We both felt really
strongly about this one building, so with that we grabbed our little
Books of Mormon and went to work. We only had like half an hour, but
we knew that we would be blessed. So, we knocked the first few doors
with no real success. . . nobody wanted to talk to us. But then we
walked around the back and knocked on another door. This lady came out
on her balcony and asked who we were and what we were doing. :) We
told her exactly WHO we were and WHY we were there, she smiled and
said, "Well ladies, come right on up!!" :) We went up and there she
was with her boyfriend, daughter and granddaughter! We sat down and
started getting to know her a little and did some of the "How to Begin
Teaching" and she just ate it up! :) :) After that she looked us in
the eye and told us, "Well girls, let me tell you exactly why you are
here! You see, this morning I was in the shower and I was really
praying! I told God that I needed some guidance in my life, that I
needed more truth and direction and asked him to send me a sign. . .
Well, HERE YOU ARE!! What do you have to tell me!???!" We were blown
away! We were so excited, we quickly added our testimony to hers of
how God is aware of her and does hear and answer prayers, then started
teaching her the Restoration. The ENTIRE time we were there she was
just glowing, she agreed with everything we said, she was so happy!!!
At the end we invited her to be baptized and she told us, "Well I have
already been baptized, but it is something I will have to pray about!
I need to know through the Holy Spirit that this is what God wants for
me!" Again we were ecstatic!! We encouraged her to pray about it, to
read the Book of Mormon and set up an appointment to come back. But
that's not the end!!! :) We stopped by Saturday and Semone was really
overwhelmed because her daughter, daughters boyfriend and baby were
all moving in unexpectedly and they were trying to clean and organize
the house and get everything all ready for them. She only had a few
minutes but we shared some of our favorite verses from the Book of
Mormon with her and said a prayer. After the prayer and said, "You
know how there are those times when the spirit just hits you and you
feel it SO strongly!!?!? THIS is one of those times!!! I'm SO GLAD
that you girls are coming by! I really, really need this in my life
right now!" She didn't let us stay long, but when we offered our help
to clean and organize she quickly asked us to come back the next day!
So, Sunday rolled around and we showed up. When we knocked on her door
she just yelled, "Come in!" We opened the door announced who we were
and went up. We found her laying on the couch, looking a little sick.
She said she wasn't feeling well, and after a few minutes of
persuasion she said we could help her clean anyways! We got the living
room, hallway and playroom all whipped into shape and by the time we
were done she seemed to be feeling much better! We finished and she
asked us, "Okay, now are we going to read??" :) We smiled and said,
"You betcha!!!" We opened up the Book of Mormon to 3 Nephi 11 and
started to read about when Christ comes to visit the people in the
Americas. We didn't get very far, because we got talking about the
spirit and how it talks to us. It's neat because the people hear the
voice 3 times before they actually understand what it is saying! She
told us of some experiences that she has had in the past of the spirit
guiding her in her life. The most amazing thing for me though was to
see how the spirit taught her through us. . . we didn't say a whole
lot, but she was FEELING it! :) By the end of the night, she told us,
"WOW!!! This is so amazing! It's so neat how in OUR church the spirit
works so strongly! I HAVE to come to church this Sunday! Can you guys
get me a ride! I won't miss it, I HAVE to be there!!!" :) There are
people who are ready for the gospel!!! They need it so desperately!!!
Each time we stopped by we have been bracing ourselves telling each
other that this was just too good to be true, but then each time we
have a powerful, spirit-filled lesson and the she feels the truth SO
strongly!!! :) It's been such a wonderful reminder and motivation to
go find more people like her!! :)

Our other little tender mercy is a sweet little man named H.B. Deyo.
He is 87 years old and lives in a retirement community. He had just
been a name on our ward directory as a less-active member, but
yesterday we went to visit him. He doesn't hear very well, but as we
visited with him he understood that we were from a church in the area.
He finally asked us what church it was and we told him that we were
Mormons. His eyes lit up a little and he said, "SO AM I!!" "Is there a
Mormon church around here?? I had some Mormon boys coming to visit me
for a while, but then the maintenance man got annoyed with them and
told them I didn't want them to come visit me any more. . . but I DO
want them to come visit!!" It was so touching!!! This sweet little old
man was so lonely and didn't know where to turn. I was so grateful
that we followed the prompting to go visit him yesterday! :) We have
lots of big plans for him!! We are going to get the ward involved and
get him home teachers, but I think we will take him the little
Christmas tree that we found at the Salvation Army, with some lights
and Christmas music! We want him to know that He is not alone and that
there are people who love and care about him!!! :) It was a really
sweet reminder of God's love for ALL of his children, he is aware of
every SINGLE one of them!!

We have some really exciting plans for the coming weeks, going
caroling with families from the ward, visiting less active and part
member families to share a Christmas message and invite them to come
back to church and seeing miracles happen as we work hard and do our
very best! :) We are putting our faith and trust in God that he will
lead us to a bunch more of "Semone's" in this area!!! It really is
going to be a WHITE Christmas!!! :)

I know this is kind of short, but just know that I love you all SO
very much!!! I pray for you each every day and hope that you are all
doing as wonderful as you sound! :) Have a wonderful week, choose the
right and remember all of the important things!!! But most
importantly, REMEMBER WHO LOVES YOU!!!! :)

Love you guys the BESTEST!!!

Love,
Sister Bishop!

P.S. I forgot to tell you!!! The Bishop here in the Ann Arbor 2nd ward
has family in Manti!!! Small world right!?!? His Mom is Josie
Soderborg in the 4th ward. . . I think! And he has an aunt. . . and
possibly more! Ha ha, I can't remember right now!! Cool though,
right!?!? :) The Mormon world is very small and connected in so many
ways! I love it!! :)

Nov.26,2012

 

Monday, November 26, 2012 3:16 PM

Hello family!!! How are you!?!? I'm so glad to hear that you all had a
wonderful Thanksgiving!! The Christmas party also sounded like so much
fun! :) It's so crazy to hear all these names and try to put them to
faces. . . our family is growing so fast i don't know if I will
recognize any of them when I get home! ;) I got your letters this week
with all of the pictures!! WOW!!! You guys have grown up SO fast!!! It
blows my mind!!! :) I can't believe it! :) I loved the letters though
and the pictures! I just sat there and stared at them for like 10
minutes. . . man! Being a missionary has made me really, really
thankful for my family and the awesome relationship that we all have!
Especially out here where there are so many people who don't know
about the gospel and don't know how it blesses their families. . . it
is so sad! I was studying a talk this morning and this line just
jumped off the page at me, it said, "Exaltation is a FAMILY
experience!" Isn't that so great!!?!? No wonder families are central
to the gospel, no wonder our families bring us so much joy!!! It all
makes SO much sense!
Oh!! Before I forget!!! We finally have a real postal address!!!! :)

It is:
Sister Lisa Bishop


This week has been so good! We were invited to have Thanksgiving
dinner with a part member family. I don't remember if I already told
you this story or not. .. but the Mom is less active and works a lot
of Sunday's, the Dad is not a member and there are 2 little girls that
are 11 and 9 that aren't baptized yet. The Dad grew up in Utah as a
non member and has always had a lot of negative feelings to the church
because of some of the things he went through. The miracle of the
story is that he NEVER would talk to missionaries, let alone let them
into his house. A few weeks ago we stopped by to visit the Mom and
while we were there she told us that He wanted to invite us over for
dinner! We of course accepted and were really excited!!! When we got
there on THrusday evening, they were all dressed up fancy and
excitedly waiting for us. Anthony (the dad) had made all of the dinner
with the 2 girls because Vicky had to work. We sat down and ate and
enjoyed a great conversation the whole time! We were a little scared
that he would be kind of standoffish, but he accepted us right from
the start! In between dinner and dessert, the girls and Anthony put on
a little concert for us with the piano and their violins! The whole
time we talked and laughed, it was great! At the end we asked if we
could share a Thanksgiving message and Vicky agreed, but Anthony
decided to take the dog for a walk. :) But the girls stayed and we had
a great lesson with them! Before we left, Vicky told us, "Sisters, I
want you to know that you have seen a miracle in Anthony today!!! He
used to sic his dog on any missionaries that tried to set foot in his
front porch! YOU are the FIRST missionaries that he has ever invited
into his home! It may not seem like much, but his heart is softening
little by little!" :) It was really neat!! We made a thank you card
that we are going to drop off this week and hopefully that heart will
continue to soften and eventually we will be able to teach him and his
little girls! :)

After all that yummy food, we had one more appointment for the night.
We went to May's house, (Han's mom). We had told Han that we were
going to eat before so his mom didn't have to worry about feeding us.
(She ALWAYS cooks food for us!!!) But when we got there that night, we
walked in and she looked at us and said, "Hello Sisters! It's good to
see you!! I hope you haven't had too much food because I have been
saving my Thanksgiving dinner to share it with you! Would you like to
join me??" :) Ha ha! After an invitation like that we couldn't resist,
so we unbuttoned the top buttons of our skirts, said a little prayer,
slapped a smile on our faces and said, "We would love to have some
dinner with you!!! Thank you so much!!" Oh my goodness!! Heavenly
Father sure helped us out there! :) 2 big Thanksgiving dinners within
2 hours of each other and somehow we managed to get it all down! ;) Ha
ha, it was really, really good! But I don't think I've ever been so
full in my life! :)

OH!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BEN (sorry it was yesterday!! I remembered
though!! ;) ) and HAPPY BIRTHDAY this Friday to my little Goose!!!
(You are growing up way too fast!!) Your hair is almost as long as
mine is in those pictures!! You are one beautiful little girl! I love
you both SO much!!!

This week has been kind of crazy. . . we are teaching this woman named
Karen. Her mother passed away about a year ago and she doesn't really
have any religious background. . she has a lot of really good
questions though! This week when we met with her she finally opened up
enough to pray with us! :) I think that first time an investigator
prays is magical!! I love it so much!!! :) She is super sweet but SO
lonely! WE are working on getting her friends in the ward and doing
all that we can to help build her faith! (Mom I was really excited to
hear that you are teaching a lesson on faith! Alma 32 is a really
great chapter. . . I'm sure you've looked it over a few times, but it
has some really great stuff! When we were teaching it this week a
member pointed out in verse 27 (I think) how you have to "make room"
for the seed of faith to grow! I had never really thought about that
before! I have always just assumed that there was plenty of room and
all the seed needed was water and sunshine! But if there is NO ROOM,
then of course the seed won't be able to grow and fully develop.
Especially with the world that we live in and all the fast paced
society and social media, we have become a people obsessed with NOW,
we don't want to wait to learn patience! It's so difficult to learn
patience with spiritual things because everything else is so instant.
Another aspect is that we need to give heed to the still, small voice!
A lot of times the spirit speaks in little ways. . . like a small seed
sprouting, instead of a mega phone blasting in your ear! It's the
SMALL things and the quiet things that really build and strengthen our
faith! )

We had another neat little miracle this week as we stopped by an
investigators home. Her name is Christine and we didn't have an
appointment, we stopped by to try and schedule something later in the
week. At first she let us in, but didn't want to "study." But as we
visited with her she settled down a little and S Evans pulled out a
mormon message. She said she felt very strongly that Christine needed
to see it. It was one about forgiveness and the Atonement. As we
watched it, Christine was amazed and felt the spirit so strongly! :)
By the end of the night instead of us pulling out our planners to see
when we could come back she was TELLING us when to be there! :) Ha ha!
It was amazing to see the difference it makes to invite and feel the
spirit! :)

Sorry this is kind of short this week, it's been a crazy day so I
better get going! But just remember how much I love you!!! :) Choose
the right and all of the important things!!! RWLY!!!!!

Love you guys the BEST!!

Love,
Sister Bishop

P.S. I never did hear from Aunt Dona, but it would probably help if
she had my address!! ;)
P.P.S I am all out of my multi-vitamins and I can't find them any
where out here, can you either send me some or recommend a good type
that I could just buy out here? I am also getting a little low on
shampoo! :) I think I have everything else that I need! Thanks a ton
though! You guys are the BEST!! :)

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Nov.18,2012

Dearest Family!!

Hello All!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! Wow! I can't believe it's that
time of year already, I LOVE this time of the year so much! Especially
as a missionary, there is no better time to be a missionary cause
around this time of the year everybody seems to be a little kinder and
more concerned about the people around them. Even if 2 strange girls
come knocking on their door at 8:00 when they are trying to get kids
in bed and they have never met us before, even if it is freezing cold
and they have to open the door, they all seem a little bit kinder!
It's so nice!! :) For the most part, the weather has been beautiful!!!
The last few days I haven't even had to wear my coat! Hooray!! My
Australian companion on the other hand thinks that she will freeze to
death the moment that she steps out the door, so she bundles up and
puts on layer after layer!!! Ha ha, it's great! I'm sure that we make
quite the sight: A short, little, blonde girl with a light jacket and
a very TALL, red head with an Eskimo coat, boots, mittens, scarf and
everything else you can think of!! Ha ha! We have so much to be
thankful for!!!! :) I just am excited to see what she'll do when it
REALLY starts to get cold! ;)

Any ways, we've had a great week! We had specialized training this
week (2 days of it!) and all of the sisters went on exchanges for 2
days in between training meetings. I love these meetings because I
feel like they are always EXACTLY what I need to hear! As we were in
the training meeting, we had one of the stake presidents come and
instruct us. It was SO good!!! He said a lot of really good things,
mostly he talked about how to help members be more involved with
missionary work by helping them to feel the spirit and TEACHING them
HOW to DO missionary work! I had never thought of that before! I guess
that being a missionary, you just kind of assume that everybody (well,
all of the members any ways) just know what they need to do or say to
share the gospel. Well, a lot of these families are scared because
they don't know how to do it and they don't want to lose any friends.
So, he told us to facilitate the spirit in their home, so they can
really feel it by teaching and testifying of a simple doctrine, then
invite them to be a part of missionary work by inviting someone to
hear the missionary lessons by a specific date and then practicing
with them! WOW!!! What a great idea, right?? As missionaries we
practice all of the time, what a great idea! :) Any ways, so with that
in mind we went out to work. Our first member lesson was with a member
of the Bishopric. We had it all planned out and ready and were SO
excited, but with all of our planning we neglected to leave time for
US to practice.. . . . Well, it didn't go as swell as we wanted it to.
I think he felt a little bit guilty cause he tried to come up with all
sorts of excuses about how they were working with their friends.
HMMMM, Thank goodness for his sweet wife!! :) She piped up and
suggested that they invite friends over in a few weeks to hear a
Christmas message that we share! We quickly agreed! Ha ha, we shared
our testimonies of missionary work, promised them that they would be
blessed and that the Lord would bless them and then had to run. I'm
hoping that they really do follow through on the Christmas message!!
Needless to say, we are still working on that one! We'll get it, but
it is gonna take a little bit more time and practice!

Funny story!!! So, for exchanges this last week, the sisters called us
and they told me I would be leaving. I was just a little bummed cause
I had JUST BARELY unpacked all of my suitcases and got every thing
organized, but they they told me I would be going to. . . .. HILL
STREET!!!! Ha ha!!! YAY!!!!! I was SO excited!!!! :) I teased them all
day that I had been on exchanges for the last week and now they were
just sending me home! ;) It was so good!!! I was there with S Hoopes,
and it was (again) exactly what I needed! The first day after
specialized training, we taught Van. S Hoopes had never met him before
and I told him I was being transferred, the look on his face was
priceless!!! It's been a while since we had been able to see Van, and
we went there straight after our meeting so we had like 3 minutes to
plan. . .. Heavenly Father blessed us SO much! In our training
meeting we also spent a lot of time talking about the power of the
Book of Mormon. So, we put that to use! We read a little with him,
then talked about prayer. It was so amazing! It was one of those times
when you can feel the spirit so strongly and you feel like it's not
you talking. .. Yeah!! I was saying all sorts of things and promising
blessings that I knew I couldn't provide, I KNEW that the spirit was
guiding that lesson! The last few days I have really studied the
Atonement and it amazes me how EVERYTHING relates to the Atonement. My
insight in Van's lesson was that, as we pray we are able to
communicate with God, through that communication he sends his spirit
to help us recognize the answers and as we recognize those answers we
are able to make changes in our lives to draw even closer to our
Loving Heavenly Father. THAT"S THE ATONEMENT!!! That's what it is all
about!! It's all about helping us to change, to be better people, to
come closer to God and feel more of his spirit and his love for us and
to become the Children that He sees in us! It's made me evaluate my
prayers, my studies and everything that I do. .. 'Is this going to
invite the spirit and help me to access grace??" If so, then I keep it
up, if not that's a good indication of an area that I can improve! :)
The next day we were busy all day and had an amazing, crazy, spirit
filled day! I am SO thankful for the time we were able to be together.
I LOVE S Hoopes, so much!!! I really appreciate her love of the
gospel, her desire to share it and her testimony that drives her to
keep going! She's such a great example!

Wow!! This letter is getting long, I better get going soon, but I have
one more story that I waned to share! We are teaching Han's mom, May.
She is super, super sweet and really loves meeting with us, but she is
also very busy and obviously doesn't recognize (or associate) the
feelings of having us around with feeling the spirit. We went to see
her this week and decided to apply the things we learned at
specialized training. We came up with a lesson plan that we felt met
her needs and covered what she needed to know, feel and do, we
practiced it and felt good. Then as we were sitting there in the
lesson we were running out of time. We knew we didn't have enough time
to do EVERYTHING, so we went another route. We were still able to do
the: know, feel, do pattern and it actually turned out much better
than we even planned!! We taught her about prayer, the importance of
it, why we do it and even How to pray! (Thank you President Devree's!)
At the end we asked her if she would say the closing prayer. She was
very nervous and tried to get Han to say it, but even he felt it and
KNEW that she needed to pray. She finally did pray!!!! Han had to go
first and give her an example and I think her prayer was almost
exactly the same thing he said, but it didn't matter! For the first
time in years and years, May took the invitation and spoke out loud to
her Heavenly Father! The feeling in the room was absolutely
incredible!!! Now we know that she can do it, and hopefully she will
keep her promise and pray throughout the week this week!!

Well family! I guess I had better get going! I still don't have a
mailing address. . . you can send anything to the Hill St address and
they'll get it to me. Next week for sure I will have one though!!!!
(Hopefully!!) All we are waiting on now is for the Post office to
bring us the key! I will let you know as soon as I have a real
address! :) It will be nice to be able to get mail for real, again! ;)
I love you all so much!!! Thank you for being who you are, thanks for
choosing the right, thanks for being such great examples in all that
you do and for living the gospel!!! :) The Gospel life is TRULY the
GOOD life!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Love you all the BEST!

Love,

Sister Bishop

Nov 11,2012

Dear Family,

Hello!! :) Can you believe that it is almost Thanksgiving!??! I can't,
it's SO crazy how fast the last couple of months have gone!!!
Christmas is right around the corner and time is just going to keep
speeding away from me, I think! :) This week has been a good one,
interesting, but good! :) With moving and the new ward, new comp, etc,
it's been BUSY!!! But we have had some pretty amazing miracles!! (And
some pretty funny things. . . Oh the life of a missionary!!) ha ha!

So, we have this adorable little family that we are teaching, the Mom
is a member but has been less active for a very long time. She has 6
kids!!! (Yay for BIG families!!! It's SUPER crazy at her house, but I
love it SO much!!!!) There is a 16 year old boy who is also a member,
but less active, a 14 year old girl, a 9 year old boy,a twin boy and
girl that are 8, and a 5 year old little boy. (Oh, and another child
that is adopted that we have never met, so we don't know if it is a
boy or girl, or how old it is!) Any ways, 4 of the kids are eligible
to be baptized, so we have been teaching them. Let me tell ya, they
are a HANDFUL!!! I have NEVER seen so many chillens with SO much
energy!!!! Plus, as a single mother, the kids are not very well
disciplined. They know nothing about church, religion or God and like
I said, they all have ADD (Seriously!) So, Sister Evans tried to
warn/prepare me, but there wasn't anything that she could do! :) The
first time I met them we decided to bring S Evans guitar and teach
them "I am a Child of God." WOW!! What an experience that was!!! :) We
walked in and were immeadiately celebreties, they were screaming and
laughing and jumping all over us, I didn't know that children could
make so much noise!!! Ha ha, especially after teaching college
students for the last 8 months it was a bit of a shock to the system!
:) Somehow me managed to semi- keep them under control and they
actually did learn the first verse and the chorus! It was one of those
things that you walk out of the house utterly exhausted, but
completely satisfied and happy! It was so precious to see hear those
kids singing, they melted my heart. . . I'm in love! :) We stopped by
another time this week and the kids were so crazy that only one of
them would sit down with us and let us teach him. So we got the Mom
(Rosalinda) and the little 9 year old (Tino) and taught them about
faith, courage and prayer. We taught Tino how to pray and he said his
first prayer!!! Once again, we walked out of the house completely
exhausted, but exteremely satisfied! :) There is just something
beautiful about the simple faith and innate goodness of a child, even
a child that doesn't yet know or understand that He is a Child of God.
But, they will learn, we will be there for them!! I'm so excited to
help this cute little family to see how the gospel can change and
bless their lives! :) Visiting with the Fernandez family makes me ever
more grateful for all of you!!!! YOU GUYS ARE INCREDIBLE!!!! I hope
that you know that! <3 We have been SO blessed to grow up in a home
with the gospel and parents who love us and teach us about God and all
of the things that really matter in life! What a blessing it is to
KNOW that we can live together for all eternity!!!! Wow, I have truly
been blessed with the BEST family ever!! I sure do love you guys!! :)

Other cool story, we got to meet Elder Oaks!!! YUP!! It was pretty
fantastic!! He came to do a stake conference for the westland stake
and asked to have the opportunity to meet with all of the
missionaries. It was incredible!! He took a few minutes and shook all
of our hands then talked for a little while about our purpose as
missionries. . . it was so good!! (Ben I'm thinking of you as I'm
writing this. . .) He shared a story about a young man from one of the
previous stakes he had lived in that he had sent on a mission. This
young man had a stutter that was really bad. He couldn't speak very
well at all, but when this Elder came home and gave his report to the
high council, the stake president asked him how many people he had
baptized. In his stuttering voice he said, "Onnnnnne,
Hunnnnnndrrrrrrrreeeeedd and ttttthhhhhhhhirrrrrtttty
fffffffffooooooouuuuurrrrrrr!!!!" The insight that Elder Oaks shared
was that, "Even though this young man could barely speak, let alone
teach a lesson, the Lord had been able to work through him to reach
many of his children! We all have weaknesses, none of us is perfect,
but if we allow Him, God will work through us to accomplish his work,
despite our weaknesses!" I loved that! It made me reflect on some of
the weaknesses I can see in myself and set goals of how to exercise
more faith to hand them over to the Lord and let him work through me
more effectively! :)

So, with those 2 miracles S Evans and I have stayed pretty busy!!! S
Evans is really great!! I love her! It's been interesting trying to
get used to teaching together though! :) For the last 8 months I have
been with missionaries that I have trained, and teaching with them was
another whole ball game. It's really amazing though to be unified
enough to have the spirit guide us in our lessons. We've had some
really great lessons this week and some others that weren't so great.
. . . but thankfully the spirit was there anyways! :) We are working
on practicing more in comp study so I'm sure that will help! :) Funny
fact though, hearing your comp speaking in an accent 24/7 makes me
think in an Austrailian accent! Ha HA!!! When we do our recitations in
the morning, I have even catch myself mimicking her Austrialian
accent! :) It's pretty great!

Any ways, other super funny story of the week!!!! Ha ha, are you
ready, this is a good one!?!?! So, it's a fact that michigan pulmbing
is NOT the greatest. . . but this toilet in our new apartment is
something else entirely!! It's so pathetic!!!! Ha ha!! So, it got
clogged on Friday, but since we just moved in, we didn't have a
plunger!!! OOPS!! So, Saturday right before we went home for the night
we ran to wal-mart and got a plunger. . . then is when the fun really
started!!!!! Ha ha, Thankfully S Evans is a film major so she caught
it ALL on video! You see, I was plunging, she was video-ing and I
flushed the toilet and it literally EXPLODED on us!!!! It wouldn't
stop over flowing either!! I was plunging like a mad woman and it
wasn't doing a darn thing!!! Finally I got the brillian idea to turn
off the water, but by this time the floor was completely covered and
we had to wade in there a midst all of the . . . . poop. . . . and
turn of off!!!! Meanwhile we are both screaming our little heads off,
and grabbing any spare towels that we could get our hands on, but to
no avail. It was a disaster area!! So here we are, 10:22 p.m., two
super tired sister missionaries who need to pee but can't because the
toilet wouldn't work. . . it was a pretty dire situation!! We finally
got a hold of the maintenance crew and some guy came over and fixed it
(at like 11:15) we cleaned it up and best we could and finally crawled
into bed!!!! The best part of this whole story was that we just
laughed and laughed the whole time!!! There really wasn't anything
else that we could do . . . except maybe cry, but that wouldn't have
solved anything either! Morale of the story here, just call the
maintenance guy!!! (oh, and always have a plunger handy when you are
in Michigan!!) ;) Good times!!!

Well family, I guess I better get going!! I hope you are all doing
Super good!! I Love you all SO MUCH!!! Have a great week and remember
all of the important things!!! :)

Love,
Sister Bishop.

P.S. Ben I can't believe how fast time is going!!! Enjoy it while you
can!!! You are going to be such an incredible missionary!!! I'm so
excited to have you out in the field the same time as me. . . it's
gonna be the bomb!!!

Hannah, that pie was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Like one of the little boys told me
this week, "Well, BLOW ME OVER!!!" Ha ha, I'm SO proud! <3

Di I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT MISSION PAPERS!!!!
YOU LITTLE POOP!!! (ha ha, that word has been a favorite since our
experience from saturday night!!!) WOW!!! That's super crazy!! I know
you will be great, just keep praying about what you need to do and
Heavenly Father will help you to know what's best! (But, I'll just
tell you, a mission is the GREATEST thing!! I love it SO much!!!! . .
. . Just Sayin' ;) ) Any ways, the end!

Love you all the BESTEST!!

Unexpected transfers!

Hey Family!!! How are you all doing???

:) Life in Ann Arbor is going great! But I have some BIG NEWS!!!!!
This last week has been pretty crazy with out trio and covering 2
wards, time seems to have flown by. We giggled, we told stories, we
worked hard, taught some powerful lessons, went on splits like crazy
and really had a great week. It was SO fun to have those few days to
be back in a family ward!! I honestly kind of forgot what it was like
to have a family!!! To have a Mom and a Dad and a whole table full of
chillens for dinner time, and all of the NOISE!!! Oh my goodness! I
couldn't believe how noisy all those adorable little kids were. But i
loved it so much!!! All week I kept thinking, "oh man! What would it
be like to be back in a family ward?? What would I do if I got to
teach FAMILIES and KIDS again?? Could I do that?" Well. . . . . we're
gonna find out real soon cause. . . . I'M BEING TRANSFERRED!!!!!!
President Holmes called us Thursday morning and said, "Hello Sisters!!
I just wanted to call and let you know what the plan is for Monday."
We didn't think anything of it, we knew we had to get another sister,
so we thought we would be prepared for what he was going to say next.
I definitely wasn't! "Sister Bishop. . . YOU ARE BEING TRANSFERRED!!!
You are going to Ann Arbor 2nd with S Evans!!!! And S Decker, your new
companion will be S Hoopes!!!" I couldn't believe it!!! I just kind of
sat there in shock for a few minutes while he explained the rest of
the details. Then finally he asked, "Alright, so Sister Bishop, Are
you okay??" Of course then I knew that he was really serious and that
I was leaving and i just burst into tears!! I managed in between my
tears to get out a, "Yeah, I'm okay." He talked to me for another
minute but then had to go. I hung up the phone and then the tears
really started!!! Ha ha, I have really come to LOVE the Hill St ward,
so much!! I love the people, the city, the campuses, my investigators,
our leaders. . ..  I just love it ALL!!! I thought that I would be
leaving a few weeks ago, and i was prepared for that then, but this
was so unexpected and sudden, it really caught me off guard. So, here
is the really amazing part of this whole dramatic story! :) Right
before President Holmes called us, we were doing our comp study and we
had just finished reading our white hand book where it talked about
respecting leaders and how they are called of God. We each talked a
little bit about how much we love President Holmes, how we could trust
anything that he tells us and how if he asked us to do anything (no
matter what it was or how hard it might be) we would get a spiritual
confirmation ourselves and then go to work to get it done!! Right as
we all agreed on that, the phone started ringing . . .when we all saw
it was President Holmes, we all just looked at each other and giggled
thinking "what a coincidence!!" Oh man, good timing President Holmes!!
;) The other really amazing thing about this was that we went to the
temple on Thursday, which happened right after we received that phone
call. What a better place to receive a spiritual confirmation than the
temple, right?!?!? As I was there, I felt such peace and comfort, I
knew that this is what needed to happen. Even though I would be
leaving the people that I love so much, I know that this is where I
need to be! It's funny though, we will still be close (I mean, we are
STILL in Ann Arbor!) So, we'll teach people at the institute every
once in a while, we go to Friday Forums, so I'll still get to see a
bunch of the people even if I'm not attending church with them. So
really, I get the BEST of both worlds! :) So, yes!! I am in a new
area!! I get to teach families and be around little kids again and
although I will really miss my old area, I am SO excited for this new
journey!!! It's amazing to see how God guides us in His work! This
week has definitely been a confirmation of that! :) I don't have a
mailing address yet. . . the office is still working on that! :) So,
for now you can keep sending stuff to the Hill St address and they
will bring it to the institute for me! Hopefully by next week, I will
have a real address to give you! So, I finally get to have this
Australian comp that I've dreamed of!! ;) S Evans is great!!! I just
know that we are going to have such an awesome time!! We are going to
be such a great team!

It was hard to say goodbye to some of the people that we are working
with though. Hunaid and Mike actually handled it pretty well. I think
the hardest person was Efren. (He is the less active guy that helps us
teach Bonifacio that I told you about last week. The one who said that
he doesn't believe in God anymore.) I think he was the hardest to say
goodbye to because I feel like I can really relate with him . . which
is weird, I've never been through the things that he described. But,
as we've met with him the last few weeks, I've had such powerful
spiritual experiences where I've felt the spirit working through me.
I've been able to say things, that I NEVER would have known on my own
and really listen and be able to discern his needs. It's been
incredible!! This last week we asked him to say the closing prayer and
for a while he refused, nothing we said would convince him. We finally
all just bowed our heads and told him that we would just wait for him.
..  he finally tapped my arm and asked, "Sister, PLEASE will you just
pray for me??" I looked him in the eye, not really knowing what to say
and when I opened my mouth the words that came were just, "I already
AM!!" He looked at me for a minute, kind of nodded his head and began
to pray. It was one of the most sincere prayers that I have ever
heard. It was amazing!!!! Efren still has a lot of doubts and
questions, but he is going to be okay! As long as he continues to read
his scriptures and pray, he will find the answers that he is searching
for! He text-ed us on Sunday and told us that he has been reading, and
praying and that he feels like it is helping! I kills me that he KNOWS
all of this! I think he even still has a testimony, he is just letting
his pride get in the way of his faith. But, that's okay! He has some
really great guides to help him find his way back to the real joy and
knowledge of the gospel.

This week has been pretty crazy, but I have loved seeing God's hand in
all of it! Sister Hoopes will be so wonderful for S Decker, they are
going to make the greatest team!!!! :) I just know that Hill St will
be so blessed with the two of them! Nothing is going to be able to
stop them!!! :) S Evans and I are super stoked for all the potential
in our ward also! Especially with the Holidays coming up, people are
kinder and happier, so I just know that God has so many miracles in
store for us!

Well family, it's getting to be late and we still have a TON of stuff
to do!! (You should have seen me packing up my apartment!!! Oh man!!
That's a story all on it's own! I'll see if i have time to work on a
tape. . .. ) I'm sure I won't have time to do any snail mail though,
sorry!!! Just know that I love you all SO much!!! Thanks for your
letters, your thoughts and all the prayers for my "missionary
strength!" ;) I need all of the help I can get!!! :) Have a WONDERFUL
week!!!

Love you guys THE BEST!!
Love,
Sister Bishop

Oct 29,2012

Hello Family!!! :) Hope all is well in little ol' Utah!! :) Things in
Michigan are going pretty great!!! This week has been an interesting
one! :) I feel like the life of a missionary is like a roller coaster,
up and down and up and down and then some more ups and downs, but at
the end of the day (or the roller coaster) everything slows down for a
few minutes and you jump up and yell, "YEAH!!!! That was awesome!!
Let's do it AGAIN!!" :) Ha ha! This week that roller coaster has been
super crazy, but like always Heavenly Father has blessed me with the
faith and desire to jump up and and yell, "Alright!!! That was FUN!!
Let's do it again!" :) So, here is our week, so that you can
understand!

We had a pretty great start, lots of contacting and finding new
people, teaching lessons. . . it was great! Everything was going good!
Well, then on Thursday night we went to the mission fireside and
actually found out that one of the sisters was going home early. She
was assigned to the Ann Arbor 2nd ward and we have seen quite a bit of
her and her comp at the institute, etc. We were super shocked and a
little sad at the news. The next day as we were talking about it, we
realized what this would mean for us. . . you see, we have another
sister who is leaving on Monday. (She is scheduled to go home.) So
with Sister Rogers leaving early we have an odd amount of sisters
until Sister Vanisi leaves. Since we are so close to AA 2nd, we were
guessing that we would be in a trio with S Evans until S Vanisi goes
home! Well, we didn't have to wait long until our guesses were
confirmed!!!! So, we are now in a trio!!! :) Me, S Decker and S Evans!
At first we were a little bit nervous, especially because we will be
covering 2 wards for a week and with all of our different
personalities we knew it would stretch us a little! But you know us,
we are always up for a challenge! So, the sisters talked to us Friday
afternoon and then president called and confirmed the plans that we
had already made. All within about 3 days we got the news, dropped off
S Rogers and moved S Evans in with us. It was some pretty crazy days!
;) These days were especially "roller-coaster-ey." Saturday morning we
dropped S Rogers off at the mission home, moved S Evans in and
immediately headed out to our appointments. We were so blessed! Those
lessons were truly a tender mercy! Without much preparation, the three
of us were able to be amazingly unified and be able to teach and
testify!! What a miracle!! Yet another evidence that this is God's
work! :) We had three lessons right in a row, the first 2 went good
and we made progress with those 2 individuals, but the 3rd one was
AMAZING!!! :) It was with Yang, our Chinese investigator that we have
taught for a long time!! We have tried to give him a baptism date
several times without any success. He always tells us that he "Just
can't!" Last week he came to a baptism service with us and was really
touched. This week as we met with him and talked about how he felt, we
talked a lot about how baptism is like signing a contract with God, so
then God can help you to continue to live the gospel. Yang told us, "I
know that that is what it is, I understand the importance of it too,
but with my situation, I just cannot sign the contract right now. I
am going to live my life and do my best, but just do all that I can on
my own." As we continued to talk to him, we felt impressed to ask what
his situation was (we have tried before but he has never opened up.)
This time however, he finally did!!! :) He brought up some very valid
concerns about his family and that he is a member of the communist
party in China and as a member of the party, cannot have any religious
affiliations. He told us, "Right now I have to stay in the Party
because that is where i want to work when I finish getting my
education. So, right now that is very important to me! Maybe in a few
years, it won't be as important and then I WILL be baptized! I just
cannot do it right now." It was so good that he finally opened up to
us, now that we know what his concerns are we will be able to focus on
those! I'm not really sure what we can do. . . but that's okay because
God does! :) After all of that, we invited Yang to fast and pray with
us about this decision this coming weekend. He agreed to give it a
try!! :) I love this guy so much!! He has such incredible faith, I
know that he will get there someday, and when he does finally take
that step it's going to be the most incredible thing!!! We are hoping
and praying that as he fasts this week, his heart will be softened.

So, after those 3 lessons we were all feeling pretty great! Even
though we had kind of a rough morning, we were having a great day!
Here is the next plunge on that roller coaster though. . . one of our
members, his name is Efren, told us that he had a secret that he
needed to tell us. Efren is one of our fellow shippers/translators for
Bonifacio. He always does really great. But we have been a little
concerned because he hasn't been to church in a few weeks and when we
ask him about it he always makes up some lame excuse. After our 3
lessons we agreed to meet up with him so that he could tell us this
secret. As we headed to his lesson, I felt a little nervous about the
things I thought he might say. As we sat down with him, my fears were
confirmed. "Sisters, I am NOT going to church anymore, I just don't
believe any of this anymore!" Efren is a returned missionary (and he
was a GOOD missionary!) He was a branch president, he taught
institute, he has so much knowledge. . . we were so shocked! As we
talked with him, he told us that he has always had his doubts and that
recently he had come to the decision that the things he had learned
all of his life were "maybe true and maybe not." He told us that he
doesn't even know if there is a God anymore. We were all heart broken,
we talked with him for a while and did everything that we could to
help him feel the spirit to rekindle that faith but when we left he
was still very doubtful and sad. We are the only ones that he has
told. .. the Bishop doesn't know or the Elders quorum president, his
family probably doesn't even know yet. It was so sad, the pain in his
eyes was so obvious. It's so awful that he would let doubt or
questions and cloud out his faith. He agreed to meet with us again and
you can bet that we will do everything that we can to help him!! He is
all that I've thought about for the last 3 days, wondering how/why he
let this happen. I guess the one comforting thing about all of this is
that he hasn't completely given up. He is asking us questions, he
still prays. . . it's not enough, but at least it is a start.

After that, Heavenly Father knew that we all needed a pick me up, so
off we headed to the Ann Arbor Halloween party!! :) It was so fun! We
didn't get to stay long, but we saw all the cute little families
dressed up in their costumes and had some dinner. It was a good break
and a wonderful reminder of how living the gospel brings us peace, joy
and happiness. We finished off our roller coaster day with a quick
lesson with Mike and Hunaid (both are recent converts who are doing so
good!! For right now at least! ;) )

Sunday was also a tender mercy, we went to church and after went with
S Evans to visit a few families from the AA ward. The Bean family was
absolutely adorable!! They have a 2 year old little girl named Lizzy.
We ate dinner and the whole time Lizzy showed me her books and toys. .
. by the end of the night, we were BFF's! :) It was so cute though, as
we got our our scriptures so share a message, Lizzy insisted on
getting her Book of Mormon too. Then she had to show us all of the
pictures. When she opened the Book of Mormon and saw Jesus she
squealed and yelled, "LOOK!!!! IT"S MY JESUS!!! I SURE DO LOVE MY
JESUS!!!!!" :) She then named ALL of the people in the pictures. . . .
we were all very impressed!! :) It made me so excited to have a family
of my own someday, to teach my little kids all about Jesus, how he
loves them and help them to love him too! :) It makes so so thankful
for the opportunities I've had as a missionary to teach and share the
gospel, so that when I'm a Mom, I've already learned the BEST way to
teach it! :)

Of course, our lives were still a roller coaster, and the next family
we visited was a part member family. They are an older couple with 3
grown children. The wife is a member and the husband is not. She has
been praying for a long time and finally asked if he would meet with
us, he agreed and she invited us over. We knew from ward members that
he was kind of a hard nut to crack but didn't understand until we
actually met him. It was tough!!! That morning we had practiced and
felt prepared, but it didn't go like we had planned at all. When we
asked him a question, he would never give us a straight answer, he
never said more than 5 words at a time and didn't volunteer any
information. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in my life!!! We
asked questions, we testified, we shared scriptures, but still nothing
worked. It was really, really hard!!! At the end of the night, we knew
we had done our best, we had tried to listen to the spirit and
everything that we knew but he still didn't budge. Yuck!!! He agreed
to talk to his wife a little more and to call us if he wanted to
pursue it anymore. The hardest thing was that his wife wanted it SO
bad, and he was only meeting with us because she wanted him too. So,
we'll keep praying for him and hope that his heart also softens!!!

Ha ha, looking back over this letter it looks a little glum. But it
really was a great week! I can honestly say, "I rode that roller
coaster, I laughed, I cried, I screamed and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE of
it!!!" I have been so blessed! I have wonderful companions, I have God
on my side, I have the Savior's Atonement, I have the BEST family
backing me up, so bring it on!!! The roller coaster might just get
bigger and scarier, but that's okay too! All the more fun! :) :) I'll
just keep smiling, working hard and doing my best and every day at the
end of the day, I can get up off that roller coaster and say, "That
was Fun!! I enjoyed it, let's do it again tomorrow!!!" :)

We are going to switch the rest of our preparation day to Thursday so
that we can go to the temple this week, so I probably won't have time
to write! Hopefully you got the tapes I sent last week! If not, they
should be there soon! :) Well family!! I love you dearly!!! Please
choose the right and remember all of the important things!! Don't EVER
EVER forget who loves you!!! :)

Love you bunches and bunches!!

Love,
Sister Bishop

Oh!!! I did meet Pres. Holmes Mom!!! :) Ha ha, She found me at the
fireside and when she saw my name tag, her eyes lit up and she said,
"Sister Bishop! I've been watching for you!!! I met your Aunt and your
Grandma and they BOTH sent you a GREAT BIG HUG, so come here!!!" ha
he, she then wrapped me up in the biggest bear hug that she could
manage! :) It was so cute!! She's adorable!! :) Glad that Ben and Di
had fun sky diving!! Have a great week! Love you!!

Lisa

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Oct 21,2012

Hello again to my very favorite people!! :) I hope you are all doing
fantastic!!

Can you believe that it is already October, and MID October!!! Time
goes so fast!! I can't believe it! :) So, it really is fall in Ann
Arbor! All of the leaves are changing and today is the first time all
week we haven't had to wear tights!! So, funny story of the week! Last
week we went leaf jumping with April! It was basically the GREATEST!!!
We went up to the "Arb" and they had just barely finished raking most
of the leaves, so we kept walking and walking until we found a place
that there were some leaves on the ground! We raked them up with our
hands as good as we could and got a pretty decent pile, then took
turns jumping in it! :) As we were playing we were taking pictures,
giggling and running around and this random guy walked up with a super
nice camera and was like, "Hi! My name is Patrick! I am a
photographer, do you want me to take some pictures of you!?!" Ha HA!!
We were all like, "Umm. . . . . SURE!!!" Ba ha ha!!! So, he took a
bunch of pictures of us playing in the leaves and then gave us a card
so he could e-mail them to us! :) They actually turned out pretty good
from what we could see on the camera so we are super excited! :) April
is going to e-mail him and print off some of the good ones for us! The
funny thing is that as we were talking to him we were like, "So, are
you a photography student here?? What's your major? Etc." He got this
funny look on his face and was like, "Nope!! I'm an Engineer! I just
do this for fun!!!" Ha ha!! The reason that was so funny is cause
students here are SO dedicated to their major that they usually don't
have time for ANYTHING else! Especially engineers!!! :) It was pretty
great! Patrick made our day! :)

Other funny story really fast!! The Tingey's have started doing a date
night every month. They have been on the guys in our ward to be more
proactive about dating and to help them they are doing the date night.
Anyways, so the date night was this Friday. There were a couple of
girls that didn't get asked and REALLY wanted to go! One is named
Cyndi. SO, on Wednesday we were reading with Hunaid at the Institute!
Then we had to leave and he stayed to play ping pong with S Tingey.
Then next morning we walked in and S Tingey had this HUGE smile on her
face!! She came running (that's no small feat for S Tingey! ;) )came
running up to us and was so excited!! She told us, "Sisters!!! You
will never guess what happened last night!!!! She then told us how
Cyndi was also at the Institute the night before and when she saw
Hunaid decided to just ask him to date night! She did and HUNAID
AGREED TO GO WITH HER!!!!! :) :) Ha ha!! This is our shy little Indian
man that has ever only been on ONE date, ever in his life!!! :) Ha
ha!!! Sister Tingey about had a heart attack, but it totally made her
day!!! For date night they played Clue and everybody seemed to have a
really good time! Even Hunaid really enjoyed it! :) He has changed SO
much in the last few months! It is absolutely amazing!!! Yesterday at
church he passed the Sacrament for the first time! :) It was one of
the precious moments! He did great! I know he was super nervous, but
of course Kendall was right there to help him out so it all worked out
great! :)

So! It's been a great week! Lots of fun stuff going on and lots of
miracles too!! We met a new guy this week named Kwesi. (This story is
so exciting, but kind of a sad ending unfortunately!) We met him last
Sunday evening as we were out contacting on a pretty empty campus. (It
was fall break last week, so it was a pretty quiet weekend.) As we
talked to him, he was really excited to learn more! He told us, "Wow!!
Of COURSE I would want to know and find out if there was a prophet on
the earth today!" The night of his appointment came and we were at the
diag right on time! We sat and waited and waited, we made some phone
calls and tried to call him with no answer! So we finished our phone
calls and right as we were packing up to head out, he came running up
to us! :) We were so happy he made it!! We went to the institute and
had one of the most amazing, powerful lessons we've ever had!! The
spirit was SO strong and he was completely blown away! As we told him
the first vision, he just sat back in his chair and said, "Oh my
GOODNESS!!! Oh my goodness!!!" Then "Wow! I believe this!!!" S Decker
and I were smiling SO big we thought our faces might crack! It was
incredible!!! We invited him for a baptism commitment and he said he
would, but he would have to clear it with his parents first. This was
seriously one of the most amazing feelings! It was incredible!! After
he left we felt prompted to text him and warn him about any Anti
literature. Now, here is the sad part! After all of that, we text-ed
him Saturday to invite him to church. He text-ed us back that night
and told us that, "I will not be attending church tomorrow or our
meeting on Thursday. This is not a path I want to pursue. But thank
you for all of the information!" We were heart broken! He was so
golden!! He must have found/heard some pretty hard core anti. It was
super sad! The comforting thing though, is that he felt the spirit so
strongly!!! He will remember that and he told us that he has never
been baptized, so every time someone brings that up, he will remember
our lesson!!!! Hopefully over time his heart will be softened and he
will be able to find the truth! :)

Our other huge miracle this week was amazing how it all came
together!! We meet with Yang, our Chinese investigator every Saturday.
As we studied for him and discussed his needs/concerns in comp study
we felt very strongly that he needed to see a baptism! We felt that if
he saw it, felt the spirit and was able to have that experience that
he would not be as hesitant to set a date for his baptism. So, we
text-ed the zone leaders to see if there was a baptism in our zone
soon. Well, answer to our prayers: There was a baptism!!! AND it was
THAT evening IN Ann Arbor!!! The church building where it would be
held was like 10 mins from campus! :) :) We quickly contacted Yang and
he agreed to meet later in the evening and come to the baptism. The
other challenge though was finding him a ride! We can't give anyone a
ride in our car, so we stared calling people frantically! For one
reason or anther it seemed like EVERYONE was busy!! I think we went
through the contacts on our phone like 5 times, trying and retrying to
find someone to give Yang a ride. Finally, we had done all that we
could so we turned it over to Heavenly Father. We prayed and said "We
felt like this is something that would be very beneficial for Yang to
experience and it would address some of his needs and concerns. We
have done all that we can! Please help us!!" (We should have done that
WAY before we did, but we learned!) We decided to go through our
contacts one more time! By this time it was like 5:30 and the baptism
was at 6:30, our ultimate back up plan was to ride the bus as close as
we could get with Yang and then hike the rest of the way! :) As we
went through our contacts this time we found someone that we hadn't
tried yet! We quickly gave him a call and he told us, "Yeah, I can
help out with that!! Thanks sisters for letting me serve!!!" Oh my
goodness!!! PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!!! :) We gave him the address and
Yang was able to make it to the baptism!!! :) It was so incredible!!
The spirit was SUPER strong and he left with a smile on his face,
really glad that he had been able to make it! Yang is so amazing!! He
is so prepared and he is SO close!!! This Saturday we are planning on
seeing him and hopefully after the experience he had at the baptism he
will have the faith and courage to set a baptism date for himself!
Keep him in your prayers!!! :) He will be the most incredible member,
all he has to do is take that leap of faith. It's scary, but I know
he'll be great!

This weekend we were at U of M (of course!) But, as you all know, it
is football season. The game days are always a little crazy with so
much alcohol, and so much of the world. It is always a rude awakening
to the "real world" that we live in. But this weekend they had a
rivalry game so it was 10 times worse! I have never seen so many
people under the influence of alcohol, not even in control of
themselves, their bodies, their minds or their language. The feeling
on campus was the most disgusting, awful thing. Bro Elms saw us pull
up to the institute and told us that we shouldn't even be there. We
had to be because we had appointments, but we were SO happy to leave
and go to the baptism that evening. Ugh!!! It's so sad to see people
lose themselves so much just for "fun" or because of peer pressure. It
made me especially grateful for the home and community that I grew up
in and for the standards that I have! It also makes me VERY grateful
for the gospel that keeps me grounded and helps me to have real joy!
:)

Well, family! I better get going!! We have SO much to do! Ha ha, like
always! But I hope that you are all doing well!! I love you all SO
much!!! :) :) :)

Choose the right, RWLY and all of the other important things! :)

Love you guys the BEST!!

Love,
Sister Bishop

Oct. 15,2012 she isn't transferred!!

Dearest Family,

Hello All!!! As always it is great to hear from all of you! It's so
cute to hear all of your guesses about transfers!! I love it
especially cause NONE of you have EVER been to Michigan, you don't
know the people I talk about at all, and yet still every day you pray
for us, every week you watch for my letters and read, reply and keep
praying!! ha ha, you guys are the greatest!!! :) So, I've had this
line of scripture running through my head all weekend! "And there was
much rejoicing!" I've been so blessed in the last week, it's been
incredible! :) Are you ready for this?!?!?! Sister Decker is: STAYING
IN HILL STREET!!! And Sister Bishop is STAYING WITH SISTER
DECKER!!!!!! :) :) :) AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO HAPPY!!! I get
at least one more transfer here in Ann Arbor! That means by the end of
this transfer I will have spent 6 transfers (9 months!!!) So, half of
my mission in this one area!!! Can you believe it!?!? I couldn't! I
made Elder Barfuss promise that he wasn't lying to me at least 3 times
cause I thought for sure that I was out of here! I think we have a
tradition here, I train my new little missionary, and get 3 transfers
with her before I send her off into the big, wide world! I'm so
thankful we have this time!! The next 6 weeks are gonna be great! :)

So, with that exciting news, I will tell you about the rest of our
amazing week!!! :) We have an investigator, Tom, who is preparing for
baptism on Oct. 27. We met with him this week and had kind of felt
that we would need to read with him and help him to understand/apply
the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon to his life. We picked 3
Nephi 11 and were going to really focus on verse 15 (I believe) The
one where Christ invites everyone to come and feel his hands and feet
for themselves! We loved how it says "And they came one by one until
they had all come. . ." This process of following the invitation of
Christ to come one by one implies that each of us is on our own
journey of faith. We each have different trials and struggles, but
they are put there because HE knows that is what we would need! We
wanted to help Tom see that even though his journey is unique, the
Gospel will enrich that journey so much! In fact, that's what the
gospel is all about! We gave him a little introduction to the chapter
and started to read and discuss. He was really into it and as we read
about when Christ appears and comes down from heaven, he whispered,
"Wow!! It's JESUS!!!!" Ha ha, it was so adorable!!! We asked him what
he was thinking about or how he was feeling and he was like, "That
would be so GREAT to be these people right now!!! I want to be able to
see Jesus face to face!!" It was perfect!!! We talked about how
Christ's invitation is still open for each of us today! There are many
ways that we can "Come unto Him!" Some of those ways included reading
the Book of Mormon and praying daily! Meeting with us and then
continuing to pray and prepare for Baptism. It all came together so
great, thanks to the spirit! He committed to read and pray daily and
is still super excited for the 27th! He had a ton of homework this
week, but still was able to make it to church (which actually was
stake conference!) He is doing incredibly well! What a special
experience! :)

A few weeks ago after numerous attempts to contact and no luck we
finally decided to drop some of our investigators that seemed to have
dropped off the planet. It was almost heart breaking because it was
Mackenzie, Clara and Van- all of the ones we had been working with and
had been so close. . . . but we decided to have the faith to drop them
and trust that God would provide! Well, this week we have experienced
the blessings of that decision!! ALL 3 OF THEM EITHER CALLED US OR
RANDOMLY SHOWED UP AT THE INSTITUTE!!!!! All of them!!! Ha ha! It was
amazing!!!!! We met with them, had really amazing, spirit filled
lessons and they asked if we could continue to teach them!!! I don't
think I will ever forget the feeling of walking into Friday Forum not
expecting any investigators and having Clara pop out of nowhere!!! She
ran up and gave me a great big hug!! Such an amazing feeling! (P.S.
Her Mom is dying of cancer, so please remember her and her family in
your prayers! They surely need it!) You come to love these people so
much, it's incredible!!! My other favorite thing was when we taught
Van, we felt very strongly about teaching him the plan. As we laid it
all out, the spirit filled the room and then as we talked about the
Celestial kingdom he started to get a little emotional!!!! This is
VAN! 4 months ago he was an Atheist!!! But now, hearing the truths of
the gospel, his heart is being softened and his faith is growing so
much! :) :)

One other quick little miracle! Ernest is someone that has been around
for a few months. He is the one that comes to Friday Forum every week,
he is kind of loud and very passionate about everything that he is
learning. (He's super funny!!! We love Ernest!) Any ways, Elder Bednar
came and did a fireside for the YSA/Single Adults this weekend. Ernest
was SO excited to go and hear, "One of the Chosen 12. . ." come and
speak. But with his busy schedule he wasn't sure if he could make it.
Long story short, he showed up at the institute for a ride but didn't
let anyone know he would be there, so he didn't make it to the
fireside. But as we were heading home for the night we ran into him on
campus. He likes to talk a lot and usually we have to just jump in if
we want to say anything, but last night he started talking about how
he loves the things he is learning, how he is so much happier, how he
feels the spirit when he's around us and on and on. . . finally he
said something like, "I know that a lot of people say conversion takes
a long time, but I just wish it would be happening to me!!" I think my
jaw dropped then and I immediately interrupted him, "But Ernest, that
is EXACTLY what is happening!!! Those feelings you keep getting are
the spirit testifying to you that these things are true! You just
described so many of the fruits of the spirit! God is talking to you
Ernest! He's telling you that these things are true!! Are you going to
listen to what he is telling you??" With that Ernest got a little
quiet, "Really?? Do you really think so?" "YES!!! Ernest I know that
is what is happening!!" Then he had to go, but he left pondering on
the things we said. His eyes were opened a little more and I think he
had a lot to think about! :) He's totally golden! He'll be baptized as
soon as he agrees to meet with the sisters and come to church! :)

Well, family! My time is just about up! Thank Ang for the package the
the cute hat!! It's adorable! I LOVED all the flowers to put with it!
It's going to be great cause it's getting so cold!! :) Give My little
Chubs and Pork Chop a BIG hug from me! Thanks for teaching Chubs how
to pray for me!! That totally made my day! :) Thanks Mom for the
package too!!! The pictures were my favorite!! I can't believe how
fast everyone is growing up!!! And my goodness, I NEVER realized what
a beautiful family we have!!! Ha ha, not to be prideful or anything,
but YOU GUYS LOOK GOOD!!!! ;) Thanks for keeping us in your prayers
and for being the BEST!!! I sure do love you guys!! :)

Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Bishop

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October 8, 2012 If you want it inorder read the previous post first!!!

Dear Family,

HELLO MY FAVES!!!! :)

This week has been SO incredible!!! We've had a lot of miracles! Can I
just tell you how thankful I am especially this week for the power of
prayer!??! Especially for all the prayers you guys said for us this
weekend, they were definitely felt and most appreciated!! So, like I
said, lots of miracles, but we will start out with the greatest first:
DAN AND MELODY PERRY AGREED TO LET US DO DANIELLE'S
WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!! Ha ha, that is an answer to one of my prayers that I have had
since May!! :) So, here is the story! Monday night after preparation
day was over we took a few minutes to do phone calls and confirm
appointments for the next day. As we made the phone calls I couldn't
get the Perry family off of my mind! As I prayed about it and tried to
feel it out, I knew that i HAD to call them and I even knew exactly
what i needed to say! :) I told S Decker and she instantly replied, "I
felt it too! Let's call them!" We said a little prayer and I dialed
the number. Dan was the one who answered and He immediately recognized
who I was. With out much of anything else, I just opened my mouth and
these words came out, "Dan, as missionaries we get moved around a lot.
It is getting to be the time when I could be moved from Ann Arbor and
I really, REALLY would love to come and visit you and your family
before I leave. Can we please come and see you??" He paused for a
minute and replied, "just a minute, let me ask Melody. . . " It was
like 30 seconds later when he came back on the phone and told us,
"Yeah! WE would like to see you before you leave, but we would have to
meet at a park. Would that be okay??" At this point it was all I could
do to hold back the tears and the squeals of excitement, but we agreed
on a time (Saturday at 2:00) and he gave us directions to a little
park in town where we would meet. As soon as I hung up, S Decker and I
looked at each other and just screamed!!! Ha ha! We were SO excited!!!
:) SO, with that we called and told Pres. Holmes and got permission to
go, called April (our BFF in the ward) and got a ride and we were set!
:) All week long we studied and prayed and Friday we even fasted,
hoping that everything would work out for the best!!! :) As we
prepared there were so many things that we thought of teaching or
telling them, but it all came together so well. We had an awesome
lesson plan, scriptures, pictures of temples, quotes and everything!!
We were prepared for ANYTHING!!! :) Well, Saturday rolled around and
we were still UBER excited! We met April and listened to the first
session of conference on the way and before we knew it we had found
the little park and were waiting for them to show up! Honestly I think
that last hour of the first session I didn't hear anything!! i was
just praying my little heart out! :) We only waited like 10 minutes
and sure enough, there they were!!! They were SO happy to see us!
Melody gave me a GREAT big hug and Dan had the biggest smile on his
face!! Phew! That was a relief! With that, I was very calm, collected
and knew exactly what needed to be said and done! :) We visited for a
few minutes, they showed us some pictures and we really reconnected.
Then I just opened my mouth and again, the words just came! :) I said
an opening prayer and started teaching and testifying. . . I honestly
don't remember exactly what I said,but the feeling there and the
spirit was incredible!! We didn't follow our lesson plan at all! All
of those things were unnecessary. (Not that the preparation was
unnecessary, but that just wasn't what they needed to hear.) I think
the "lesson" lasted all of 15 minutes, but by the end Melody was just
beaming and Dan was so excited that we cared enough about Danielle and
about them to drive all of the way up there and get their permission
to so this work. The whole time they were nodding their heads and
agreed with everything we said. When we asked for permission they
simply said, "Yes! We think that Danielle would like that very much!
Thank you!" :) And that was it! SIMPLE, BEAUTIFUL, AND SPIRIT
GUIDED!!!! We will be able to submit the paper work and to the work
this May, so right before I come home!!! What a blessing!! It all
worked out so well!! I love this family so much!!! They are amazing!!!
What a special blessing it is for me to be a part of this! :) <3 After
such a great success, we were anxious to break our fast and to thank
our Heavenly Father for all of the blessings that he had poured out on
us! :) This whole experience has been one of learning to trust in
God's timetable! He knew where to put Danielle and the missionaries
that needed to be a part of her life, even if only for a few days! He
knew we needed to meet her family and connect so well with them, he
knew all of the times when they needed a simple phone call and he knew
exactly what they needed to hear as we met with them this weekend!
What a testimony of God's love for ALL of his children! He know us SO
WELL!!! He has a wonderful plan for us and as we follow it there are
SO many blessings! I love being able to play a small role in people's
lives as I teach them about this wonderful plan! It truly changes
lives, it brings hope and peace to a world where that is hard to find.
It make the impossible very possible and he takes the weak things of
the earth and molds them into something beautiful and great! Sometimes
that refiners fire hurts, sometimes we may think that it is
unbearable, but as we see his face in our countenance it makes it all
worth it! :) What blessing it is to have to restored gospel as part
of our lives! How grateful I am to know, love and serve My Savior!!! I
am SO grateful for his example, his love, his peace and his guidance
in every part of my life!! :)


YAY for miracles!! So, our other miracle this week was Tom! :) He is a
student at EMU and someone that we met out contacting! :) We set an
appointment with him and this week as we met and taught him the
restoration he was floored! :) The lesson was super powerful at the
end because we invited him to say the prayer, which he accepted. As he
prayed he said, "God, I thank you for helping me to meet these
wonderful ladies and for the message that they shared with me today
because I ALREADY know that all of it is true!!!" Ha ha! After that, I
couldn't NOT invite him to be baptized!! He accepted and is now
preparing to be baptized on the 27th of Oct!!!! :) He even came to
conference this weekend and really seemed to enjoy it! :) It was
epic!!!

I really really enjoyed conference this weekend! It was SO good to
hear the Prophet and all of the General Authorities speak! When they
announced that missionaries could go out at a younger age S Decker and
I just stared at each other and started screaming!!!! HA ha!! Then of
course the Elders were texting us and we were all having a little
party!! That is so awesome!! These new missionaries are going to be
INCREDIBLE!! It was just a little scary to think of 18 year old boys
and 19 year old girls doing missionary work and converting so many
souls, but then as I thought about it, it made perfect sense!!! This
is God's work!!! He can use anybody that is willing to do it! It's
pretty simple, as we are obedient and do all that we can, God provides
the miracles! Such has been my experience any ways! :)

Oh man! I think all week of so many little stories and funny things I
want to tell you guys, but then Monday rolls around and my mind goes
blank!! Man! I hate that!! i guess i will have to start writing it
down! :) :) Well, transfer calls are this Saturday!!! We are both
getting a little nervous!!!! I would absolutely LOVE to stay here and
if i do, that would be HALF of my mission in Hill st!!! S Decker and I
are both hoping for at least one more transfer. . . . but I really
don't know!!! We only have 1 sister coming in this time, so maybe!!!
:) I think that is one thing that I hate about being a missionary! You
love and serve these people and then you just pack up and move on! I
guess the comforting thing though is that there are only more people
out there to get to know, love and serve! So, I will keep that as a
positive attitude, look forward with faith, keep a smile on my face,
work hard, love the work and EXPECT MIRACLES!!! :) It's gonna be
great!! :)

Well family! I love you SO MUCH!!!! Thanks for all of the prayers! I
felt really close to all of you this weekend! The power of prayer is
REAL!!! It really does work!! :) I'm not sure if I will get a chance
to do snail mail today, but know that I love you all super duper
mucho!!!

Happy Birthdayto Tootie on Friday!!! Hope you
both have a WONDERFUL day!!! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to
YOU!!! Happy Birthday to TOOTIE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! :)

Love you lots and lots!!

Sister Bishop

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