Dearest Family!
Hello!!! So, Story of our lives. . . ever since I chanced
Ben's e-mail
address to bishop.benjamin@myldsmail.net, I think that he has
been
getting my letters, but I haven't been able to get any of his!
;(
Could you help us fit that!?! :) I would really appreciate it!!
:)
Thanks! You're the best!!!
So, this week we had interviews, it was
SO good!! I can't tell you how
much I LOVE President and Sister Holmes. They
are the GREATEST!!! They
are getting to the end of their mission too, (They
go home in July) So
it's really neat to share this experience with them and
making the
most of the last few months that we all have to serve together
as
missionaries. In interviews, Sister Holmes does the instruction and
we
all rotate going in to have our interviews with President. We
talked
for just a few minutes about the process of becoming a PMG
missionary.
She shared some highlights from the talk that Elder Holland gave
at
the MTC last week. (Ben I'm so jealous!!! I bet that was such
a
powerful talk to be there and hear and feel the spirit!!! We all felt
it
very strongly in the small sampling we got from S Holmes.) Anyways,
I loved
how Elder Holland talked about how EVERY missionary must come
home with at
least ONE convert, and that that one convert should be
YOU! I have definitely
seen that throughout my mission. As I've
studied and worked hard I've seen
the gospel change and impact me in a
way that nothing else could ever do! I
LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! It inspires
me to love and serve others, to do and become
and more Christlike
person!!! I think that missions are definitely hard, but
really that's
what makes them SO great! Without hard times, you never know
the
strength of your conversion or the power of your faith! S
Holmes
talked about how when she gets home she wants to be a better
visiting
teacher, a better neighbor and friend and a bunch of other things. .
.
I love her example! :) I feel the same way! I only have a few
months
left and believe me, I'm gonna work harder and try to do my very
best
and love every minute that I can! The future is so bright and full
of
endless opportunities! Life is good and truly the Gospel life is
the
GOOD LIFE!!
We had the most amazing lesson this week with Nate and
Vanessa.
Vanessa is a member, but has been less active on and off for most
of
her life. Nate is not a member and they have a beautiful little 6
month
old daughter named Isla. Last week we taught them the
Restoration, and that
went well, but we couldn't get either one of
them to pray. We left that night
and knew that the next time we HAD to
have a lesson on prayer, talk about the
importance of it, WHY we pray
and even teach them how to pray. We had studied
and planned and even
practiced how we would teach the lesson and invite Nate
to say a
kneeling prayer at the end. :) So, that night we went over and
had
dinner then as we were getting ready to start the lesson I
felt
prompted to start with a Mormon message. I told S Mecham and
she
thought it sounded good, so we went with it! :) We watched the
MM,
then talked about the importance of really communicating with
our
Father in Heaven through prayer. They both opened up to us so
much!!
It was amazing!!!! We've been teaching them and building up
a
relationship with them for the last month or so, but this last week
I
felt that bond so strongly! As we taught and testified, Nate brought
up
some concerns about praying the way that we do. He had always used
the Lords
Prayer and thought that anything else was a "vain
repetition." As we
discussed it, the spirit entered the room in a very
powerful way and we
invited him to try praying the way we had taught
him. He agreed to give it a
try, but wanted to try it on his own
first. :) We were super bold and the
lesson was such a powerful
experience! It was neat to see how his faith is
growing as he tries
this "experiment of faith." :) I'm so grateful for the
spirit and the
ability it gives us as missionaries to teach people in a way
that they
can relate and have spiritual experiences! :) It was one of
those
times that I just opened my mouth and it was filled. I knew
exactly
what they needed to hear and was able to say it in a powerful way!!
It
was such an amazing experience! :)
We have a Less active that we
have been working with for a while named
Tia. She absolutely LOVES the
missionaries! WE have been struggling to
get through to her the importance of
doing the little things every day
like reading the scriptures, praying and
going to church on Sunday.
This week as we discussed how we could help her, S
Mecham proposed
that we teach her the Restoration! Silly us!! Of course!!! We
should
have known all along that this is what she needed! We saw
her
yesterday and taught her and some of her children the Restoration
and
invited them to join with us in the challenge to read the Book
of
Mormon by Easter. She actually got really excited and her and
her
daughter said they would race us! We made a deal that whoever
finishes
last has to buy the other people ice cream. We are praying and
PRAYING
that we have to be the ones to buy them all ice cream! :) The Book
of
Mormon is such a powerful tool in conversion that if they read it
every
day, they will feel the spirit! At a recent zone meeting one of
the
missionaries said, "I have NEVER met a less active member who
reads their
scriptures and prays everyday!" We all kind of laughed at
the simplicity of
the statement, but it is SO true!!! I hope that this
will be the thing to
help her realize all of the things she is missing
in life by not choosing to
live the gospel.It was really neat, I LOVE
the message of the Restoration!!
What a huge blessing it is to know
that those things really are true!!
:)
We are still working hard and praying hard to find our family and
they
haven't turned up yet! But we've had some really great
experiences
tracting! Making planning a revelatory experience, knowing that
is
where you need to be, praying for charity to love the people no
matter
what, boldly going and doing and Living in the moment and LOVING
it
has made the past week FLY by! :) We are going to the temple
this
Thursday (which I am SUPER excited for!!!!) And this week is going
to
be great!! :) I'm just going to go forth with faith, live it and
LOVE
every mintute!!! :)
I love you all so much!! And hope that you
have a very wonderful week!
Remember WHO Loves You!!!
:)
Love,
Sister Bishop.
P.S. Ben!! Sister Decker's little
brother is at the MTC now too!! He
is learning Spanish, so you should watch
for an Elder Decker!!! That
would be sweet if you actually ran into each
other!!! Sorry I didn't
write you last week!! Ha ha, I felt a little bad when
I got your
letter! :) I'll try to be better! ;) Love you tons and tons!!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Ben 22,2013
Hello Family
there has been a ton of things that have happened this week and it has been so good. so last week after my pday was over and I didn't have time to write we went to a fire side and because there is a new mtc presidency the first presidency sent Elder Holland!!!!!!!! I was so excited he talked about how we need to be our first convert and got after us because there are missionaries who dont go out for the right reason and so they become inactive and he sia there is no excuse for a missionary to be inactive I'll tell you about it in my snail mail. but because of all of the new missionaries we cant shake their hands because there are to many of us. :):):):
any way on wed. we my district made a goal to speak in just Portuguese for that whole day so of course that day was the most eventful of them all. we had just sat down to eat lunch and the fire alarm went off so not knowing what to do we grabbed something to eat and headed out side. into the nice warm weather of 10 deg. and we had left our suitcoats in the classroom so we froze for 5 min till we went to the bookstore and waited for everything. when we were waiting for the all clear we saw a fire truck and 2 abulances pull in and we dont even know what happened just that the alarm went off so we went out. ikd it was vsupper funny though;0;0;0;0
we dont know when it is that we ship out our cards say that we fly out on the 26 of feb. but we think that its actually the 18 of feb. so we will see we should get our travel plans 2 weeks befoe we fly out. However Dad I have some good news for you in the missionary hand book it says that missionaries are to return home at the end of their missions so it will continue to be easy for the church to get visas so you cant come get me I get to fly home. :):):)
So dear Lisa and Rachel I have heard that it was super hard to make phone calls from the airport that the cards are a pain do you have any suggestions as to make it easier to call when the time comes?????? just wondering
mom i was thinking about it and the only thing i think I am going to need will be my bap. pants and letters and pic. I havent got any letter from mark yet and i have asked him a few times what has been going on. and I have one more assignment for mark. i was talking to my district about my mission prep and apparently E anderson went there once recently. when Matt O. was teaching so ask matt if he remember a Garret anderson from Arizona he is 21 right now but he's going on a mission. so that would be super cool.
how long till Hunter gets his call and where is he going. I know there has been a ton of calls in our stake but i havent heard any. so you should tell me about all of that stuff. :):):):)
well as you can tell my typing is not the fastest so thats why my letters are so short but I am working on it but for now i am out of time.
Just remember that I love all of you guys so much !!!!!!!!!!!
i'll try to snail mail you but idk if it will happen
Love Elder Bishop!!!!!!!!!!
there has been a ton of things that have happened this week and it has been so good. so last week after my pday was over and I didn't have time to write we went to a fire side and because there is a new mtc presidency the first presidency sent Elder Holland!!!!!!!! I was so excited he talked about how we need to be our first convert and got after us because there are missionaries who dont go out for the right reason and so they become inactive and he sia there is no excuse for a missionary to be inactive I'll tell you about it in my snail mail. but because of all of the new missionaries we cant shake their hands because there are to many of us. :):):):
any way on wed. we my district made a goal to speak in just Portuguese for that whole day so of course that day was the most eventful of them all. we had just sat down to eat lunch and the fire alarm went off so not knowing what to do we grabbed something to eat and headed out side. into the nice warm weather of 10 deg. and we had left our suitcoats in the classroom so we froze for 5 min till we went to the bookstore and waited for everything. when we were waiting for the all clear we saw a fire truck and 2 abulances pull in and we dont even know what happened just that the alarm went off so we went out. ikd it was vsupper funny though;0;0;0;0
we dont know when it is that we ship out our cards say that we fly out on the 26 of feb. but we think that its actually the 18 of feb. so we will see we should get our travel plans 2 weeks befoe we fly out. However Dad I have some good news for you in the missionary hand book it says that missionaries are to return home at the end of their missions so it will continue to be easy for the church to get visas so you cant come get me I get to fly home. :):):)
So dear Lisa and Rachel I have heard that it was super hard to make phone calls from the airport that the cards are a pain do you have any suggestions as to make it easier to call when the time comes?????? just wondering
mom i was thinking about it and the only thing i think I am going to need will be my bap. pants and letters and pic. I havent got any letter from mark yet and i have asked him a few times what has been going on. and I have one more assignment for mark. i was talking to my district about my mission prep and apparently E anderson went there once recently. when Matt O. was teaching so ask matt if he remember a Garret anderson from Arizona he is 21 right now but he's going on a mission. so that would be super cool.
how long till Hunter gets his call and where is he going. I know there has been a ton of calls in our stake but i havent heard any. so you should tell me about all of that stuff. :):):):)
well as you can tell my typing is not the fastest so thats why my letters are so short but I am working on it but for now i am out of time.
Just remember that I love all of you guys so much !!!!!!!!!!!
i'll try to snail mail you but idk if it will happen
Love Elder Bishop!!!!!!!!!!
Lisa Jan 21,2013
Dearest Family,
Hello!!! :) We are getting to our e-mails a little early today because
we get to go to Detroit for the car show! :) I'm super excited,
supposedly it is all of the brand new up and coming cars that will be
coming out this year! It's a pretty big deal in Michigan- seeing as
this is the car capitol! :) We get to go with S Holmes and S Decker-
so it'll be fun to spend some time with all of them! :)
This past week has flown by!! We had our sisters conference this last
Tuesday, it was something that ALL of the sisters needed! We spent the
whole day together, we are kind of dwindling in numbers- there are
only 13 sisters in the mission now. But it was SO great!!! At lunch we
all sat together at a big table and laughed and talked. . . I don't
think that I've laughed that hard in a LONG time! It's so great that
as have this incredible bond, even though I haven't served with all of
them we are all in this together! We're working hard and seeing
miracles. There is just something about being missionaries at the same
time that really bonds you and brings you closer together!! (I feel
the same way with Ben, even though we are hundreds of miles apart, I
feel like we are closer than we ever have been!) So, the sister's
conference was really great! We practiced being more bold and faithful
on the door step and always finding when you teach, and teaching when
you find. For the practice we invited someone to come to church with
us, right there on their door step, without much of an introduction or
anything! Ha ha! At first I thought it was a little crazy, but
amazingly it really opened people up and gave us the opportunity to
teach the Restoration in a unique way. Even if they told us that they
already has a church that they attended, we were able to testify and
invite them to learn about some of the blessings that they would
experience as they came to church with us, it was so good!!! The other
thing we tried was contacting someone and after a brief intro we
started with a prayer and taught a lesson right then and there. (All
of this was SO good cause S Mecham and I were trying to find ways to
be more bold and this was really an answer to prayers!) I was a little
skeptical to try it, but that night we had planned to go tracting and
we put both of these things into practice. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! The
people were so kind, they could tell we were passionate about what we
were doing and we loved it! We found ourselves walking much faster and
excitedly anticipating what would be beind the next door! AND the best
thing was: IT REALLY WORKED!!! :) We taught a young man right there on
his porch, prayed with him and invited him to learn more. It was was
so good!!! I loved it and was so grateful for the way it helped us to
start off our week!!
We had the most incredible miracle this week!!! :) We are trying to
start an English class for Japanese people in the area. We wanted to
do it as a service opportunity, but also as a finding tool. So, we'll
teach English and then have a gospel discussion afterwards. It's taken
forever to get everything together for it, but this last week we
finally got the flyers written in Japanese and were out putting them
up. We went to a Japanese restaraunt called Wasabi to post it there.
We walked in and asked the cashier at the front door if it would be
alright to post our flyer. She said she would have to have her manager
approve it and we said that would be fine. She walked into the back
room and a minute later an older Japanese gentleman came out. He had
our flyer in his hand and asked us to tell him a little more about it.
We did, as as we did his eyes lit up!! :) He got this big smile on his
face and the first question out of his mouth was, "Wait!! Are you
Christian??" We assured him that we most definitely were and his smile
just widened, "So AM I!!!" "I think that this English class is such a
wonderful idea! But does it have to be at this address??" (We were
going to have it at the chapel in Livonia.) We weren't quite sure what
he was asking, so he tried agian, "Instead of being at this address,
could you come here and teach the English class?? I would like to take
it!!! Also, do we have to wait until Fenruary to start?? What if we
started next Tuesday instead? I will host it here at my restaraunt and
you can teach me and my workers! I have 5 or 6 that I already know
would be very interested!!!" This whole time S Mecham and I were just
kind of in shock!! We smiled excitedly and promised that we would see
what we could put together!! It was so much more than we ever
expected!!!! :) We were telling the ward council about all of this
yesterday and they were all super excited too! Several of them offered
to help and this Bishop was so impressed that he told us, "Wow, I'm
sure you Sisters are going to end up in the Ensign or something!!! You
hear of these things in other places around the world, but NOT here in
Michigan!" Ha ha!! It's probably not Ensign worthy, but we are excited
to get it going!! :)
I got to play the piano in primary yesterday and it was so much fun!!!
Ha ha, of course it was a little bit crazy!! The ONE week that our
investigators decide that they can stay for Sunday school is the day
that we won't be there to referee!! Primary was really refreshing
though and so much fun. And our investigators survived Gospel
Priciples without us! (Thank goodness!!!) :)
I loved the mail I got this week!! Thanks everyone for the letters!! I
promise that one of these days we might have a normal preparation day
and have some time to write you back!! It'll happen!! I promise, but
probably not today! :) Sorry!! But I'll be sure to take lots of fun
pics at the car show to send to you too! :) Oh, by the way: Dad: DID
YOU REALLY SEND ME A REAL SCORPION!?!?!?! Ha ha!! That was so funny!!!
What in the world are you supposed to do with a scorpion sucker?!?!?
:)
Sorry this is a little shorter today . . we are still searching and
praying for our family! We haven't found them yet, so please continue
to pray for us! :) This week is going to be great though!! I'm super
excited for all of the miracles that I know Heavenly Father has in
store for us!! Love you all SO much!! Keep up the good work and always
RWLY!!! :)
Have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Sister Bishop
Hello!!! :) We are getting to our e-mails a little early today because
we get to go to Detroit for the car show! :) I'm super excited,
supposedly it is all of the brand new up and coming cars that will be
coming out this year! It's a pretty big deal in Michigan- seeing as
this is the car capitol! :) We get to go with S Holmes and S Decker-
so it'll be fun to spend some time with all of them! :)
This past week has flown by!! We had our sisters conference this last
Tuesday, it was something that ALL of the sisters needed! We spent the
whole day together, we are kind of dwindling in numbers- there are
only 13 sisters in the mission now. But it was SO great!!! At lunch we
all sat together at a big table and laughed and talked. . . I don't
think that I've laughed that hard in a LONG time! It's so great that
as have this incredible bond, even though I haven't served with all of
them we are all in this together! We're working hard and seeing
miracles. There is just something about being missionaries at the same
time that really bonds you and brings you closer together!! (I feel
the same way with Ben, even though we are hundreds of miles apart, I
feel like we are closer than we ever have been!) So, the sister's
conference was really great! We practiced being more bold and faithful
on the door step and always finding when you teach, and teaching when
you find. For the practice we invited someone to come to church with
us, right there on their door step, without much of an introduction or
anything! Ha ha! At first I thought it was a little crazy, but
amazingly it really opened people up and gave us the opportunity to
teach the Restoration in a unique way. Even if they told us that they
already has a church that they attended, we were able to testify and
invite them to learn about some of the blessings that they would
experience as they came to church with us, it was so good!!! The other
thing we tried was contacting someone and after a brief intro we
started with a prayer and taught a lesson right then and there. (All
of this was SO good cause S Mecham and I were trying to find ways to
be more bold and this was really an answer to prayers!) I was a little
skeptical to try it, but that night we had planned to go tracting and
we put both of these things into practice. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! The
people were so kind, they could tell we were passionate about what we
were doing and we loved it! We found ourselves walking much faster and
excitedly anticipating what would be beind the next door! AND the best
thing was: IT REALLY WORKED!!! :) We taught a young man right there on
his porch, prayed with him and invited him to learn more. It was was
so good!!! I loved it and was so grateful for the way it helped us to
start off our week!!
We had the most incredible miracle this week!!! :) We are trying to
start an English class for Japanese people in the area. We wanted to
do it as a service opportunity, but also as a finding tool. So, we'll
teach English and then have a gospel discussion afterwards. It's taken
forever to get everything together for it, but this last week we
finally got the flyers written in Japanese and were out putting them
up. We went to a Japanese restaraunt called Wasabi to post it there.
We walked in and asked the cashier at the front door if it would be
alright to post our flyer. She said she would have to have her manager
approve it and we said that would be fine. She walked into the back
room and a minute later an older Japanese gentleman came out. He had
our flyer in his hand and asked us to tell him a little more about it.
We did, as as we did his eyes lit up!! :) He got this big smile on his
face and the first question out of his mouth was, "Wait!! Are you
Christian??" We assured him that we most definitely were and his smile
just widened, "So AM I!!!" "I think that this English class is such a
wonderful idea! But does it have to be at this address??" (We were
going to have it at the chapel in Livonia.) We weren't quite sure what
he was asking, so he tried agian, "Instead of being at this address,
could you come here and teach the English class?? I would like to take
it!!! Also, do we have to wait until Fenruary to start?? What if we
started next Tuesday instead? I will host it here at my restaraunt and
you can teach me and my workers! I have 5 or 6 that I already know
would be very interested!!!" This whole time S Mecham and I were just
kind of in shock!! We smiled excitedly and promised that we would see
what we could put together!! It was so much more than we ever
expected!!!! :) We were telling the ward council about all of this
yesterday and they were all super excited too! Several of them offered
to help and this Bishop was so impressed that he told us, "Wow, I'm
sure you Sisters are going to end up in the Ensign or something!!! You
hear of these things in other places around the world, but NOT here in
Michigan!" Ha ha!! It's probably not Ensign worthy, but we are excited
to get it going!! :)
I got to play the piano in primary yesterday and it was so much fun!!!
Ha ha, of course it was a little bit crazy!! The ONE week that our
investigators decide that they can stay for Sunday school is the day
that we won't be there to referee!! Primary was really refreshing
though and so much fun. And our investigators survived Gospel
Priciples without us! (Thank goodness!!!) :)
I loved the mail I got this week!! Thanks everyone for the letters!! I
promise that one of these days we might have a normal preparation day
and have some time to write you back!! It'll happen!! I promise, but
probably not today! :) Sorry!! But I'll be sure to take lots of fun
pics at the car show to send to you too! :) Oh, by the way: Dad: DID
YOU REALLY SEND ME A REAL SCORPION!?!?!?! Ha ha!! That was so funny!!!
What in the world are you supposed to do with a scorpion sucker?!?!?
:)
Sorry this is a little shorter today . . we are still searching and
praying for our family! We haven't found them yet, so please continue
to pray for us! :) This week is going to be great though!! I'm super
excited for all of the miracles that I know Heavenly Father has in
store for us!! Love you all SO much!! Keep up the good work and always
RWLY!!! :)
Have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Sister Bishop
Jan 15,2013
Hello Family
so I did get Lisas letter today and all
of the other letters you guys sent me
so Lisa funny story I may have told you
but at one of the Christmas divotionals I was going up the Stairs and I happened
to see a E Bishop so i made fun of him for a second all of the is your dad a
bishop? us is your first name Arch ect. so then I asked where he was going and
he said Belgum or sme thing then he asked where I was going and I told him and
he was like no way my Grandparents are the Fluckigers so I met E Bishop and I am
going to say hi to his grandparents for him when I get to Portugal so that may
have been one of the E bishops you sent you email to or the E taht you
missionaries saw when they were here.
Hannah I loved your story about your
horse ride with bma I thought that you knew how to ride a horse better ha
ha
Diana I was laughing out loud when I read
your story about your "green' drink and how your room mate got into itha ha.
Angela I hope I fixed your email adderss
but I was laughing about Joe puring the coco mix into the gravy ha ha
Dad thanks for your letter I was hoping
you would write me and I loved it yes I am home sick but to hear all of your fun
adventures out in the cold with your truck the generator and the lathe I am glad
that I only walk around for a few min to get to the next building. but keep in
mind when I go on a temple walk I am in my suit coat for warmth and it is still
freezing cold.
so another funny story I was teachng
Elton how to pray and asked him if he would pray agosto or now. and he kinda
looked at me wierd and said Agosto? and I was like yes agosto. then hebroke
charachter for a min. and said what does agosto mean so I ulled out my pocket
dic. and looked it up . . . . Agusto was August what I had meant to say was
agora taht means now. opps but it was so funny!!!!!!!
so the other day I was at dinner and i
saw this really tall E. and was like man that sure looks like . . . Elder
Cluff!!!!!! I looked up and that s who it was I had forgotten we had so many E
comin in and I was super excited to see him!!! Mark you should tell me who else
is getting ready to leave mission prep and come to the mtc and who else got
their call where they are going ect. and by the way I think you owe my some
stories about sr. ball how she asked and how you ans. that would be awesome
well family I need to go sorry this is so
short but I am trying to work on my typeing skills so you can get longer
letters as I improve
I love you all so much ctr
:):):):):):)
love Elder Bishop
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Ben Jan 8,2012
Hello Family
so this week has been awesome and we finally got to go to the temple!!!!!!! I will admit that there are definetely some ups to the movie but I havent decided what I like better yet
Ok first Lisa if you are getting my email then you should check the address you are sending me because I have't got an email from you yet and I miss them. That would be great :)
Hannah and Diana thanks for writins E. Nelson. I think he has got like 5 letters now and he loves it but if he doesn't ever write you back I wouldn't worry about writing him. I told him he should write you but not to really expect more if he does'n write back. oh and Hannah I am so glad you finally get to go on a date with BMA. you should show off your sweet belt buckel jk but what ever. Di it todally made my day when you said you wear yours like everyday:)
Well now we have 2 investigators and for the rest of the time we are here we will be teaching them In portuguese just like progressing investigators even though they are our teachers:) I am super excited to hear that Dee got her call and i'm going to be here in the mtc when she gets here. hey I may even pick her up :) ha ha that would be kinda sad actually, because I would get so homesick seeing them and not you guys. but I would love it!!!!!
so In our districk there are currently 11 elders and we have a blast!!!!! we have been playing pass the curse or a spoon and just put it on some one in our district and they have to pass it of to someone else before a certain time elapses or they have to sing in the cafeteria or something embarrassing but we have all passed it off in the ammount of time it ahs been so great!!!!
Portuguese is slowly coming I am able to say somethings but mostly all I say is "nao se" (IDK) but we are all learning and sometimes it's discouraging and I get homesick and want o come home but so far i'm still here. our DL has been sick so It's kinda been boring without him so if you could please pray for him to get feeling better, Elder Trevor Lamkin.
Well i hope all is going well and dad can get that job at HAB that would be great!!! I have loved all of the mail I get from you guys it's so great!!!
I think I get more mail than most elders but Elder horne has got us all beat on packages he may be up to about 21 so we all give him a hard time:):):) well family I love you all I'm glad to hear that you are getting along so well with Dalton and your being so positive about everything.
mark you shoud write me and tell me about how missionprep is going I fainally have my purpose down in portuguese and I'm working on jsh
I love you all so much but my time is up ctr and know I'm doing really well:):):)
love Elder Benjamin Lynn Bishop :)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Lisa Jan 7, 2013
Dearest Family!!
Hello All!!! I can't believe that it is Monday again already!! But,
here we are! And it's SO nice to actually be able to e-mail you on
preparation day! YAY!! I'm grateful that everybody is back to normal
and on a regular schedule again! :) This week was awesome!!! :) We are
teaching the cutest couple! Their names are Matt and Sarah and they
have the most adorable little boy named Wesley. They were walking
around the Detroit temple about 2 months ago and the Bloomfield
Sisters found them and chatted with them a bit, then referred them to
us! They've been meeting with the missionaries for about 2 months now
and as we were planning and studying for them this week we felt that
we REALLY needed to invite them to be baptized. They come to church
and LOVE it, they are really getting into the Book of Mormon and
understanding/applying it, they are doing so well. The only problem is
that they aren't married. . . the sisters had talked with them before
about getting married and they said they were planning on it! (But not
for 3 YEARS!!) Sarah wants the gift of the Holy Ghost so badly and
Matt loves learning about the gospel, they are both so close!! So this
week we were able to see them. It was a neat experience. We had
studied, planned, practiced and done everything that we could think of
to help this lesson go over well and honestly, it was so amazing!! The
entire time the spirit was SO strong! We taught them about the gospel
and the Atonement and how throughout our lives we live the gospel to
help us be better and BECOME the person that Heavenly Father sees in
us. It was interesting to watch their reactions during the lesson. At
first Sarah was a little distant, but when we talked about baptism she
perked right up. Matt on the other hand was so intrigued, but as soon
as we mentioned baptism and getting married he totally shut down. I'm
not sure exactly what the deeper concern is yet. . . but we've been
praying super hard and are trusting that Heavenly Father will help us
to know what we can do to help them both receive the blessings of the
gospel! :) Please keep them in your prayers! They are AMAZING and I
love them so much!!! :) They will get there, I think that it's going
to take time and lots and lots of faith!
We are also teaching this adorable older couple named Ed and Bobbie. I
LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!! They are the kind of people that are just honest,
hard working GOOD people. They have been Southern Baptist their whole
lives, but the last week or two they have been immersed in the Book of
Mormon and True to the Faith and are starting to realize that there is
something missing in their lives. Last week when we saw them we
invited them to pray and ponder on being baptized. We are going to see
them tonight and we're going to try to get them on date!!! :) I'm
super excited!!! I can't wait! I love them so much!! They call us
their grand kids and just love us so much! We are hosting the new
sister tonight (Oh!!! Ha ha, it's transfers!!! S Mecham and I are
staying in Northville!!!) So we are taking the new sister with us
tonight and thought that would be a great first night in the mission
field! :) We are getting 33 new missionaries in the next 2 transfer!!
That is HUGE!! We are super excited!!! In February we are going to get
Elders in our ward too, so we will have 2 sets of missionaries!
The last week has been so incredible!!! S Mecham and I have been
practicing being more BOLD. :) Ha ha! That sounds super funny, but we
are here for a reason and we want people to know what that reason is
before they shut the door in our faces. It's been so good for us! The
thing that I've noticed the most though, is that as we try to be more
bold our faith has grown exponentially, my desires to not waste a
minute has increased and our teaching together has improved so much.
:) It's been an act of faith to be more bold, but I can see how we are
much more in tune with the spirit and have the faith and courage that
we need to act on the revelation that we receive. :) I think that is
at least one of the reasons that our lessons with Matt and Sarah and
Ed and Bobbie went so well this week. :) We have been really focusing
on baptism and making that the focus of all that we do each day. We
know that we have been promised that we can baptize every month and
we are doing all that we can to make that possible! Please, if you
would, pray that we will be able to reach that goal!! That "perhaps"
we will have the wonderful opportunity to help our brothers and
sisters to make that first sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father!!
:)
We have had so many wonderful miracles this week!!! It's been so
good!! Hopefully you guys were got the pictures that I sent home last
week! :) S Mecham and I look a lot alike huh?? Funny story!! We had to
use the bathroom and we were out tracting so we just jumped in the car
and went to the closest gas station. We used the bathroom and grabbed
a snack. As we were checking out the cashier gave us a funny look and
asked, "Are you two sisters??" Sister Mecham quickly answered, "Why,
YES!! Yes we are!!!" :) Ha ha!!! I must have given her a pretty funny
look cause as soon as we walked out, she started laughing so hard! :)
Next time we decided that we would say, 'Yes! We are sisters!! And how
are you doing today, Brother!?!?" ha ha! Okay, so lame missionary
jokes, but we get that question all of the time! We are really hoping
the new sister that is coming out with us tonight is short and blonde
too! We could really have some crazy looks then! ;)
Well family!! I have to run, but it's so good to hear from you!! I
love you all so much!!! :) keep smiling, keep up the good work and
always remember WHO LOVES YOU!!! :)
Love,
Sister Bishop!!
Hello All!!! I can't believe that it is Monday again already!! But,
here we are! And it's SO nice to actually be able to e-mail you on
preparation day! YAY!! I'm grateful that everybody is back to normal
and on a regular schedule again! :) This week was awesome!!! :) We are
teaching the cutest couple! Their names are Matt and Sarah and they
have the most adorable little boy named Wesley. They were walking
around the Detroit temple about 2 months ago and the Bloomfield
Sisters found them and chatted with them a bit, then referred them to
us! They've been meeting with the missionaries for about 2 months now
and as we were planning and studying for them this week we felt that
we REALLY needed to invite them to be baptized. They come to church
and LOVE it, they are really getting into the Book of Mormon and
understanding/applying it, they are doing so well. The only problem is
that they aren't married. . . the sisters had talked with them before
about getting married and they said they were planning on it! (But not
for 3 YEARS!!) Sarah wants the gift of the Holy Ghost so badly and
Matt loves learning about the gospel, they are both so close!! So this
week we were able to see them. It was a neat experience. We had
studied, planned, practiced and done everything that we could think of
to help this lesson go over well and honestly, it was so amazing!! The
entire time the spirit was SO strong! We taught them about the gospel
and the Atonement and how throughout our lives we live the gospel to
help us be better and BECOME the person that Heavenly Father sees in
us. It was interesting to watch their reactions during the lesson. At
first Sarah was a little distant, but when we talked about baptism she
perked right up. Matt on the other hand was so intrigued, but as soon
as we mentioned baptism and getting married he totally shut down. I'm
not sure exactly what the deeper concern is yet. . . but we've been
praying super hard and are trusting that Heavenly Father will help us
to know what we can do to help them both receive the blessings of the
gospel! :) Please keep them in your prayers! They are AMAZING and I
love them so much!!! :) They will get there, I think that it's going
to take time and lots and lots of faith!
We are also teaching this adorable older couple named Ed and Bobbie. I
LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!! They are the kind of people that are just honest,
hard working GOOD people. They have been Southern Baptist their whole
lives, but the last week or two they have been immersed in the Book of
Mormon and True to the Faith and are starting to realize that there is
something missing in their lives. Last week when we saw them we
invited them to pray and ponder on being baptized. We are going to see
them tonight and we're going to try to get them on date!!! :) I'm
super excited!!! I can't wait! I love them so much!! They call us
their grand kids and just love us so much! We are hosting the new
sister tonight (Oh!!! Ha ha, it's transfers!!! S Mecham and I are
staying in Northville!!!) So we are taking the new sister with us
tonight and thought that would be a great first night in the mission
field! :) We are getting 33 new missionaries in the next 2 transfer!!
That is HUGE!! We are super excited!!! In February we are going to get
Elders in our ward too, so we will have 2 sets of missionaries!
The last week has been so incredible!!! S Mecham and I have been
practicing being more BOLD. :) Ha ha! That sounds super funny, but we
are here for a reason and we want people to know what that reason is
before they shut the door in our faces. It's been so good for us! The
thing that I've noticed the most though, is that as we try to be more
bold our faith has grown exponentially, my desires to not waste a
minute has increased and our teaching together has improved so much.
:) It's been an act of faith to be more bold, but I can see how we are
much more in tune with the spirit and have the faith and courage that
we need to act on the revelation that we receive. :) I think that is
at least one of the reasons that our lessons with Matt and Sarah and
Ed and Bobbie went so well this week. :) We have been really focusing
on baptism and making that the focus of all that we do each day. We
know that we have been promised that we can baptize every month and
we are doing all that we can to make that possible! Please, if you
would, pray that we will be able to reach that goal!! That "perhaps"
we will have the wonderful opportunity to help our brothers and
sisters to make that first sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father!!
:)
We have had so many wonderful miracles this week!!! It's been so
good!! Hopefully you guys were got the pictures that I sent home last
week! :) S Mecham and I look a lot alike huh?? Funny story!! We had to
use the bathroom and we were out tracting so we just jumped in the car
and went to the closest gas station. We used the bathroom and grabbed
a snack. As we were checking out the cashier gave us a funny look and
asked, "Are you two sisters??" Sister Mecham quickly answered, "Why,
YES!! Yes we are!!!" :) Ha ha!!! I must have given her a pretty funny
look cause as soon as we walked out, she started laughing so hard! :)
Next time we decided that we would say, 'Yes! We are sisters!! And how
are you doing today, Brother!?!?" ha ha! Okay, so lame missionary
jokes, but we get that question all of the time! We are really hoping
the new sister that is coming out with us tonight is short and blonde
too! We could really have some crazy looks then! ;)
Well family!! I have to run, but it's so good to hear from you!! I
love you all so much!!! :) keep smiling, keep up the good work and
always remember WHO LOVES YOU!!! :)
Love,
Sister Bishop!!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Lisa 1.2.13
Hello Family!!!
Happy New Year!!! Hope you all had a wonderful week. We sure did!!! I
always love the holidays as a missionary, but I am also always
grateful when the holidays are over and everybody gets back a on
regular schedule so that we can meet with them agian! Last week I was
talking about how this week was going to be full of miracles. . . Well
guess what! It was!! :) I've learned a lot about recognizing the
miracles that God sends instead of expecting miracles the way that I
want them! ha ha! Oh, the joys of the virtue of patience! :) Lol, let
me explain: About 6 weeks ago I was transferred to Ann Arbor 2nd ward.
I hadn't seen it coming, but took the change and ran with it. The
first couple of weeks were a little rough, but then we had miracles
just happening and prepared people begging us to baptize them! It was
incredible!!! Then, agian, unexpectedly, I was transferred. And I feel
like we are going through the same thing all over again! We are
working hard, praying hard and have been blessed in ways that we never
would have guessed! :) This last week with the holidays everybody has
been gone and we've had a lot of time to find new people to teach.
Tracting isn't always my favorite thing to do and I knew that it was
going to be an incredibly long week if I didn't change my attitude.
So, I prayed that Heavenly Father would help us know where we needed
to be and that my attitude about tracting would improve. :) I have
NEVER tracted so much in my whole life, but I have NEVER LOVED it as
much as I did this week! Every door we knocked on the people were kind
and repsectful (even those that weren't interested.) I've never had
such nice people!! It was such a blessing!!! Saturday night rolled
around and we had already been tracting for almost 5 hours that day,
we knew after dinner that we had another good 3 hours a head of us.
(keep in mind that this if after we had knocked on doors all week
long!) But, we had felt REALLY good about this one street. We layered
up (It's getting PRETTY cold these days!) and headed out. The first
hour or so, we didn't have any success, nobody wanted to listen or
even let us come back. .. I was praying SO hard that Heavenly Father
would help us to find the reason that we were there. We walked up to
this one door and it was my turn. We could tell from all of the cars
out front that there was probably a lot of people here and that they
all seemed pretty busy. I just remember praying to love these people
and let them know how important this message is!! (Important enough
for young men and women to leave family and friends, home and
everything for 2 years to share it with others!! Even on a dark, cold
night in Michigan!) The man opened the door and I shared my tesimony
of the Savior and the Book of mormon. He got a BIG smile on his face
and said, "Hey, I know a Mormon!! His name is Mark Ostraff!!" I was so
shocked!! He actually wants to talk with us!?!? We smiled and chatted
for a few minutes and made some connections. (Mark Ostraff is our
Bishop.) But then he seemed to remember that he had company over and
needed to get back to them. He told us, "Listen guys, I would really
love to visit with you, but I have company over right now! Will you
come by another day??" We assured him that we would, and he wished us
a Happy New year and we moved on to the next house. :) The last week
or so, we have been praying really hard to find a family and we are
hoping that this Man and his family could be the answer to that
prayer!!! If not, I know that Heavenly Father will help us to find
them, I know that they are out there!! :) The other cool part to that
story is that we texted Bishop Ostraff to tell him about this guy and
Bishop told us, "Yeah! I remember him!! He always did show some
interest, but then he moved away! I'm so glad that you guys found
him!!!"
I think (besides the story I just shared!) that the biggest miracle
I've seen this week is my faith has grown so much and my attitude,
especially towards tracting, has improved so much! I'm excited to
start a new year and focus on being the very best ME that I can!! It's
so comforting to know that I have the Savior on my side. He is ALWAYS
there for me!!! I've made it a goal to go completely and thoroughly
through Preach My Gospel again before May. As I've studied it the last
few days, it's been so amazing!!!! This book really does have all the
keys to success, I love how the entire book is based on building and
strenghtening MY faith. It's been amazing to study and see how I can
learn and grow and how I can help my investigators in the process!
It's going to be a great year!!!
One more quick story: We have an investigator who we hadn't seen in
almost 2 weeks, he was in and out of town a lot and we could never
nail down a time to actually meet with him over Christmas break. So,
yesterday we went and heart attacked his door! It was SO fun!!! ha Ha!
We wrote a bunch of our favorite Book of Mormon scriptures on heart
shaped sticky notes and plastered them all over his door. He wasn't
home, so we didn't have to be sneaky, but we drove by last night and
noticed that they were all gone and his truck was in the drive way! We
won't see him until next week, but I hope in the mean time he reads
the scriptures and likes it!! I love being with S Mecham because we
are always giggling and doing something fun. It was nice to break the
norm and do something a little different though!! :)
I hope that you are all doing well and recovering from the Holidays!!
:) Sounds like lots of fun!! That's super exciting that Dee got her
mission call!!! Tell her congrats from me and that I will keep her in
my prayers!! She's going to be a FANTASTIC missionary!!! We are so
blessed to have so many missionaries out in our family!! You are the
BEST!!! I love you all SO much!!! CTR and all the important things!!!
RWLY!
Love you!!
Sister Bishop
Happy New Year!!! Hope you all had a wonderful week. We sure did!!! I
always love the holidays as a missionary, but I am also always
grateful when the holidays are over and everybody gets back a on
regular schedule so that we can meet with them agian! Last week I was
talking about how this week was going to be full of miracles. . . Well
guess what! It was!! :) I've learned a lot about recognizing the
miracles that God sends instead of expecting miracles the way that I
want them! ha ha! Oh, the joys of the virtue of patience! :) Lol, let
me explain: About 6 weeks ago I was transferred to Ann Arbor 2nd ward.
I hadn't seen it coming, but took the change and ran with it. The
first couple of weeks were a little rough, but then we had miracles
just happening and prepared people begging us to baptize them! It was
incredible!!! Then, agian, unexpectedly, I was transferred. And I feel
like we are going through the same thing all over again! We are
working hard, praying hard and have been blessed in ways that we never
would have guessed! :) This last week with the holidays everybody has
been gone and we've had a lot of time to find new people to teach.
Tracting isn't always my favorite thing to do and I knew that it was
going to be an incredibly long week if I didn't change my attitude.
So, I prayed that Heavenly Father would help us know where we needed
to be and that my attitude about tracting would improve. :) I have
NEVER tracted so much in my whole life, but I have NEVER LOVED it as
much as I did this week! Every door we knocked on the people were kind
and repsectful (even those that weren't interested.) I've never had
such nice people!! It was such a blessing!!! Saturday night rolled
around and we had already been tracting for almost 5 hours that day,
we knew after dinner that we had another good 3 hours a head of us.
(keep in mind that this if after we had knocked on doors all week
long!) But, we had felt REALLY good about this one street. We layered
up (It's getting PRETTY cold these days!) and headed out. The first
hour or so, we didn't have any success, nobody wanted to listen or
even let us come back. .. I was praying SO hard that Heavenly Father
would help us to find the reason that we were there. We walked up to
this one door and it was my turn. We could tell from all of the cars
out front that there was probably a lot of people here and that they
all seemed pretty busy. I just remember praying to love these people
and let them know how important this message is!! (Important enough
for young men and women to leave family and friends, home and
everything for 2 years to share it with others!! Even on a dark, cold
night in Michigan!) The man opened the door and I shared my tesimony
of the Savior and the Book of mormon. He got a BIG smile on his face
and said, "Hey, I know a Mormon!! His name is Mark Ostraff!!" I was so
shocked!! He actually wants to talk with us!?!? We smiled and chatted
for a few minutes and made some connections. (Mark Ostraff is our
Bishop.) But then he seemed to remember that he had company over and
needed to get back to them. He told us, "Listen guys, I would really
love to visit with you, but I have company over right now! Will you
come by another day??" We assured him that we would, and he wished us
a Happy New year and we moved on to the next house. :) The last week
or so, we have been praying really hard to find a family and we are
hoping that this Man and his family could be the answer to that
prayer!!! If not, I know that Heavenly Father will help us to find
them, I know that they are out there!! :) The other cool part to that
story is that we texted Bishop Ostraff to tell him about this guy and
Bishop told us, "Yeah! I remember him!! He always did show some
interest, but then he moved away! I'm so glad that you guys found
him!!!"
I think (besides the story I just shared!) that the biggest miracle
I've seen this week is my faith has grown so much and my attitude,
especially towards tracting, has improved so much! I'm excited to
start a new year and focus on being the very best ME that I can!! It's
so comforting to know that I have the Savior on my side. He is ALWAYS
there for me!!! I've made it a goal to go completely and thoroughly
through Preach My Gospel again before May. As I've studied it the last
few days, it's been so amazing!!!! This book really does have all the
keys to success, I love how the entire book is based on building and
strenghtening MY faith. It's been amazing to study and see how I can
learn and grow and how I can help my investigators in the process!
It's going to be a great year!!!
One more quick story: We have an investigator who we hadn't seen in
almost 2 weeks, he was in and out of town a lot and we could never
nail down a time to actually meet with him over Christmas break. So,
yesterday we went and heart attacked his door! It was SO fun!!! ha Ha!
We wrote a bunch of our favorite Book of Mormon scriptures on heart
shaped sticky notes and plastered them all over his door. He wasn't
home, so we didn't have to be sneaky, but we drove by last night and
noticed that they were all gone and his truck was in the drive way! We
won't see him until next week, but I hope in the mean time he reads
the scriptures and likes it!! I love being with S Mecham because we
are always giggling and doing something fun. It was nice to break the
norm and do something a little different though!! :)
I hope that you are all doing well and recovering from the Holidays!!
:) Sounds like lots of fun!! That's super exciting that Dee got her
mission call!!! Tell her congrats from me and that I will keep her in
my prayers!! She's going to be a FANTASTIC missionary!!! We are so
blessed to have so many missionaries out in our family!! You are the
BEST!!! I love you all SO much!!! CTR and all the important things!!!
RWLY!
Love you!!
Sister Bishop
Ben 12.25.12
hey everyone i hope you are having an awesome letter christmas with a call from
lisa and all thoes old people over for dinner. but we had our christmas
devotinal and the speaker was Elder Russell m. nelson it was so good i'll write
you about it more in the snail mail. but thanks for all of the Christmas
presents. I loved them all so much Lisa I am trying to get pic attatached but i
may have to be in the laundry room to do it but I loveed everything I got
especially the pic of the my future eternal comp. Then all of the christmas pic.
that I got I love tham all so much. tell grandma thanks for the cookies I'm so
excited for them. i got some pic. of my comp and some random others so hope i
can get some sent. in my district we got a few guns and we have been having tons
of fun with them all day shooting eachother and getting some dumb pic.but I love
it here Today I havent even been homesick but I 'm so excited to get some pic
from home about christmas and everythinglet me know but my times about up I'll
try to get them uploaded;. Love you all so much ttyl.
Just kidding so I have a few minutes left
and pic wont work here so I want to just to say that Iknow that this is the
restored gosple. That the church is true. I know that thhis mission is the best
sthing I can do no matter how hard it is. and I can do it I know that the Lord
will be my strenght and Ican do hard thing. I know that the Savior died for you
and me so that we could be together forever. the church is true I love all of
you so much ctr and keep praying for the missionaries strength I think I will
need them. love you hope to hear from you before next week.
Love Elder Benjamin Lynn BIshop
ps in portuguese there is no letter k,y,
or q I think love you all love your missionaries.
Lisa 12.26.12
Hello Friends!!! :)
Oh my goodness it was SO SO good to talk to you all last night, (Minus
Ben) But it was so fun to hear your voices!! :) One of the sisters
here last year told me that the stretch from December to May always
flies by, but then the stretch from May to December feels like
forever!!! Well, I kind of agree! It felt like it had been FOREVER
since we had been able to chat, even though I feel like the last few
months have definately flown by. Talking to all of you was definately
the highlight of my Christmas! :) It's so fun to have you all writing
to both me and Ben!! I <3 it!! Oh and Ben, those pictures were
AWESOME!!!! Bahaha!!! You really are a REAL missionary!!!! AHHHH My
little brother is not so little any more! :) I'm glad the pj's fit. .
. ha ha! Oh man!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!! I just love you so much!!!
Any ways, this week has been good! The Northville ward is very
welcoming and super supportive so that has been a huge blessing!!! I
feel like there is this adjustment time that I go through with a new
area and new comp and everything.. . . ugh, I really don't like it!
But, here is the good news: After our phone call last night I felt
recahrged, rededicated and refocused!! Thanks for that, family! :) I
hate to sound down, cause I'm really not!! But being a missionary is
really hard sometimes. You get moved around, you don't know the people
and you do things that are completely out of your comfort zone on a
regular basis, yup! It's HARD to be a missionary, but that's okay
cause: I CAN DO HARD THINGS!!! Especially with my Heavenly Father, My
Savior-Jesus Christ and the spirit on my side, not to mention all of
the love and support from my amazing family and friends- with all of
that backing me up I feel like I am on top of the world and nothing
can ever stop me! :) I just have to remember that, all day every
day!!! :) It's good though. We are kind of getting down to crunch time
and I'm still have SO much to learn and do and become!! I don't have
any time to waste!! So, with that attitude I am repenting! It was
really fun to be able to spend Christmas with so many loving, happy
families. It reminded me a lot of home, but it also reminded me WHY
this work is so important!! Without missionaries, half (or more) of
these people would be here. . there are so many families out here that
are first generation mormons. It's incredible to witness the strength
and peace that emanates from their homes and families!!! That's why
I'm here!!! These people need this SO desparately! We were out
tracting last week and ran into this sweet lady named Cora. We only
had a few minutes, but shared a quick Restoration and gave her a
pamphlet to read over. We stopped by her again just a few days ago and
had a really great experience. Her dogs were going crazy, so she came
out on the porch in the freezing cold weather to talk to us. She
didn't even have shoes on and wasn't planning on chatting with us for
very long, but as we followed up with the things she had been reading
and studying she had all sorts of questions. She started with, "What
makes you guys different from everybody else?" We explained the Book
of Mormon and how it was evidence of the Restoration and of a living
prophet on the earth today. She then said, "well that sounds a lot
like the Catholic story!" Ooops!!! Obviously she was missing the
importance of the apostacy, so we quickly reviewed that and again hit
on how the Book of Mormon was evidence that she could read and find
out for herself if all of this really was true. It finally was all
coming together. After all of that she started to get really excited
and opened up a little more. She confessed that her and her husband
had been searching for a church, especially one that they could raise
their family with. She expressed concerns about previous churches they
had visited and pro's and con's. But then without missing a beat, we
invited her to come check out our church!! And BONUS: WE TEACH PEOPLE
about our basic doctrines and answer any questions that they have!! :)
We also were able to testify of how the gospel has blessed our
families. What had started out as a quick stop by and conversation on
the porch, turned into a church invitation AND an invitation for us to
come back and teach her WHOLE family!! :) She was really excited and
of course, so were we! The other amazing thing is that she had been
reseraching stuff online and we were able to point her to mormon.org.
She told us, "Wow!! What a great tool! It's nice to know that I can
check out a website and know that it is a legitimate source!" We just
smiled, nodded and added our testimonies!!!
I really, really do love being a missionary!! This is truly one of the
greatest works in the whole wide world!! Despite the challenges, I
know that it is all worth it!! All of the good, happy, spiritual
experiences by far out weigh the sad ones!! I am really excited to be
here in Northville with S Mecham. I know that the Lord had BIG plans
for us in this area! I;m grateful for the Chrstmas season, the time to
reflect on the birth and life of the Savior, and the phone call home!!
It's been a defining moment for me in my mission. I can see exactly
where I am at and exactly where I want to be! I have a lot of work to
do to get there, but I'll just take it one day at a time! :) Life is
so good!!! I LOVE being a missionary!!!
Sorry that this is so short today, but I'm running out of time!
There's gonna be lots of miracles happenin' this week though, so brace
yourselves for next week! ;) Ha ha! I love you all SO much!!! RWLY!!
Love,
Sister Bishop
P.S. PLEASE make sure that Dad and Jake get to talk on/listen to the
tapes!!! ;) They need a turn too! :)
Oh my goodness it was SO SO good to talk to you all last night, (Minus
Ben) But it was so fun to hear your voices!! :) One of the sisters
here last year told me that the stretch from December to May always
flies by, but then the stretch from May to December feels like
forever!!! Well, I kind of agree! It felt like it had been FOREVER
since we had been able to chat, even though I feel like the last few
months have definately flown by. Talking to all of you was definately
the highlight of my Christmas! :) It's so fun to have you all writing
to both me and Ben!! I <3 it!! Oh and Ben, those pictures were
AWESOME!!!! Bahaha!!! You really are a REAL missionary!!!! AHHHH My
little brother is not so little any more! :) I'm glad the pj's fit. .
. ha ha! Oh man!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!! I just love you so much!!!
Any ways, this week has been good! The Northville ward is very
welcoming and super supportive so that has been a huge blessing!!! I
feel like there is this adjustment time that I go through with a new
area and new comp and everything.. . . ugh, I really don't like it!
But, here is the good news: After our phone call last night I felt
recahrged, rededicated and refocused!! Thanks for that, family! :) I
hate to sound down, cause I'm really not!! But being a missionary is
really hard sometimes. You get moved around, you don't know the people
and you do things that are completely out of your comfort zone on a
regular basis, yup! It's HARD to be a missionary, but that's okay
cause: I CAN DO HARD THINGS!!! Especially with my Heavenly Father, My
Savior-Jesus Christ and the spirit on my side, not to mention all of
the love and support from my amazing family and friends- with all of
that backing me up I feel like I am on top of the world and nothing
can ever stop me! :) I just have to remember that, all day every
day!!! :) It's good though. We are kind of getting down to crunch time
and I'm still have SO much to learn and do and become!! I don't have
any time to waste!! So, with that attitude I am repenting! It was
really fun to be able to spend Christmas with so many loving, happy
families. It reminded me a lot of home, but it also reminded me WHY
this work is so important!! Without missionaries, half (or more) of
these people would be here. . there are so many families out here that
are first generation mormons. It's incredible to witness the strength
and peace that emanates from their homes and families!!! That's why
I'm here!!! These people need this SO desparately! We were out
tracting last week and ran into this sweet lady named Cora. We only
had a few minutes, but shared a quick Restoration and gave her a
pamphlet to read over. We stopped by her again just a few days ago and
had a really great experience. Her dogs were going crazy, so she came
out on the porch in the freezing cold weather to talk to us. She
didn't even have shoes on and wasn't planning on chatting with us for
very long, but as we followed up with the things she had been reading
and studying she had all sorts of questions. She started with, "What
makes you guys different from everybody else?" We explained the Book
of Mormon and how it was evidence of the Restoration and of a living
prophet on the earth today. She then said, "well that sounds a lot
like the Catholic story!" Ooops!!! Obviously she was missing the
importance of the apostacy, so we quickly reviewed that and again hit
on how the Book of Mormon was evidence that she could read and find
out for herself if all of this really was true. It finally was all
coming together. After all of that she started to get really excited
and opened up a little more. She confessed that her and her husband
had been searching for a church, especially one that they could raise
their family with. She expressed concerns about previous churches they
had visited and pro's and con's. But then without missing a beat, we
invited her to come check out our church!! And BONUS: WE TEACH PEOPLE
about our basic doctrines and answer any questions that they have!! :)
We also were able to testify of how the gospel has blessed our
families. What had started out as a quick stop by and conversation on
the porch, turned into a church invitation AND an invitation for us to
come back and teach her WHOLE family!! :) She was really excited and
of course, so were we! The other amazing thing is that she had been
reseraching stuff online and we were able to point her to mormon.org.
She told us, "Wow!! What a great tool! It's nice to know that I can
check out a website and know that it is a legitimate source!" We just
smiled, nodded and added our testimonies!!!
I really, really do love being a missionary!! This is truly one of the
greatest works in the whole wide world!! Despite the challenges, I
know that it is all worth it!! All of the good, happy, spiritual
experiences by far out weigh the sad ones!! I am really excited to be
here in Northville with S Mecham. I know that the Lord had BIG plans
for us in this area! I;m grateful for the Chrstmas season, the time to
reflect on the birth and life of the Savior, and the phone call home!!
It's been a defining moment for me in my mission. I can see exactly
where I am at and exactly where I want to be! I have a lot of work to
do to get there, but I'll just take it one day at a time! :) Life is
so good!!! I LOVE being a missionary!!!
Sorry that this is so short today, but I'm running out of time!
There's gonna be lots of miracles happenin' this week though, so brace
yourselves for next week! ;) Ha ha! I love you all SO much!!! RWLY!!
Love,
Sister Bishop
P.S. PLEASE make sure that Dad and Jake get to talk on/listen to the
tapes!!! ;) They need a turn too! :)
Ben 12.24.12
So dear FAmily I am super rushed and cant stop for punctuation but i miss you
guys soo much already especialy around Christmas time. and I cant spell. Lisa
thanks for the package I cant wait to open to it along with everything I got
from home . I'm trying to save some time for tomorrow so I cant write long today
but if you guys will send me some more email addresses I can't remember them all
right now but then i can send the email to you all tomorrow that would be so
good. I'm tring to write you guys a snail mail hopefully you guys can read it
but um Dad either me or mom put in the wrong garments because I have one of you
garment bottoms taht are so long but oh well. um i dont know if they are in my
christmas package but if you could send me that collapsable laundry basket that
would be great.
I'll try to write you tomorrow I love you Feliz Natal!!!! Merry Christmas
I'll try to write you tomorrow I love you Feliz Natal!!!! Merry Christmas
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