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
No comments:
Post a Comment