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! :)