July 16, 2012

Hello Family!!! :)

It's so good to hear from all of you!!! I really love Preparation day
just cause I get to e-mail all of you, it's like the highlight of my
week- besides doing missionary work of course! ;) Ha ha! Life is
good!!! It's week 6 of the transfer so that means that transfer calls
will come in on Saturday night! S Thompson is absolutely positive that
she is leaving! :) I am pretty sure that something will happen. . .
we have been here together for like 4 and 1/2 months and there are a
lot of sisters that have also been in their areas for 4-6 months. So
the more we talk about it, the more positive I am that this is going
to be a big transfer meeting for all of the sisters! It's exciting a
little bit stressful and super nerve wracking! I think it's so funny
that Mom in your e-mail today talked about the different challenges
that we have with each of our companions. I was thinking back over the
last 4 months, what I've learned from S Thompson, the struggles we
have had, but mostly the good things that have happened and all of the
miracles that we have seen! It's been a good couple of months! <3 But
I do think that Heavenly Father has some new plans in store for both
of us. . . and whatever that may include we are excited to see what
happens! The best part is, that I really don't have to worry about it!
I know that this is God's work and that he won't give me more than I
can handle! ;) It makes me excited to see the climb ahead and know
that he will be my guide-ALWAYS! <3

This week has been one full of miracles! I love this!!! We are
teaching this sweet little Chinese girl named Yiwen. She is absolutely
adorable!!!! We had a super powerful lesson with her this week about
the life of Christ. We knew she didn't have any religious background
and therefore no knowledge of Christ. So as we pondered on how to
teach her we turned to the resources that are available to us. Our
first thought was to read with her from the BOM, that was good, but
not quite what she needed. Then after struggling for a little while I
remembered all of the DVDs that we have in our closet. I went to see
what was there and found the answer to our prayers: the Finding Faith
in Christ DVD!!! We talked about it and really knew that was exactly
what she needed! We had the Relief Society President (Stephanie) at
the lesson with us and afterwards we read from 3 Nephi when Christ
invites the people to "Come unto Me!" It was so amazing!! The spirit
was so strong- when we asked Yiwen how she was feeling she told us it
felt like she was right there with the people seeing the miracles
happen! :) We were able to really testify of the reality of our Savior
and promise her blessings of peace, joy and direction in life as she
came to experience more of God's love for her! It was so amazing!!! We
wanted to give her a baptism date, but it didn't feel right that time.
We are planning to do it tomorrow though, so pray that she will feel
the spirit and accept!!! It was also really sweet cause yesterday in
church we had a lesson in RS about missionary work and Stephanie
shared a little bit about the experience that she had with us and
encouraged the other sisters to come out with us! :) Our ward is so
wonderful! I really, really love them! <3

We have been struggling a little to teach our Less Actives/ Recent
Converts (LARC'S) but this week we decided we were going to make it
happen. We picked a few people to focus on and set appointments to
meet with them. It was really great- I think that sometimes we forget
that we are here not only to teach investigators but also to
strengthen the members! We have a RC named Ha. She was baptized in
October and has been doing very well! But then she went home to
Vietnam to visit her family for a few months and when she came back
she was really struggling. We met with her this week though and had a
really, really amazing lesson! She totally opened up to us and asked
us if our faith ever wavered?? We talked a lot about faith, how
sometimes God gives us trials and we just don't know how we will ever
make it through, but as we continue to exercise faith by reading the
scriptures, praying for help and guidance and going to church to renew
our covenants- that eventually the clouds lift and we see the path a
little more clearly! She shared how she was struggling because she
wanted her family to accept the gospel so bad, but they aren't. It was
really hard for her, but I felt like (Thanks to the guidance from the
spirit) we were able to share exactly what she needed to hear! What a
beautiful reminder to me of my work as a missionary! And what a great
reminder of how important having the spirit is! :)

Okay- so I have the greatest story ever!!! Ha ha! This is awesome!! We
were out contacting the other day and this guy walked up behind us. He
was walking a little faster than us so pretty soon he was ahead of us.
S Thompson and I both felt like we needed to talk to him, but didn't
know how to do it without chasing him down!! (We try NOT to chase
people down cause then they just think that we are crazy!! LOL) So I
said a little prayer and asked for help to be able to talk to this
guy! Then the miracle happened: HE SNEEZED!!!!! :) Now, this was no
ordinary sneeze! This one would have put Dad to shame! ;) Ha ha! But
when he sneezed we quickly caught up to him and I said, "Bless You!"
He looked and us, and said, "Wow!! Ha ha! Thanks! I think that was
probably the BIGGEST sneeze of my whole life!" Ha ha! So we walked
with him for a few minutes and he started asking US questions. He said
how he had a friend on a mission and how he had heard about the BOM
and always wanted to read it and learn more about it- but had never
had the opportunity! I just started laughing- what a coincidence,
right!?!?! We told him that is EXACTLY what we do! He couldn't believe
it!!! He was so excited!! We set up an appointment for Saturday and
when Saturday rolled around he was there! We had a great lesson with
him and he accepted and As you, will you! He promised to read and pray
and even come to church next Sunday! He was so excited to go call his
friend and tell him everything that he had learned about! It was so
amazing!! God guides us every single day- so, so great!! :)

We also met with Hunaid and Kendall of course! ;) It was such a great
lesson! We decided that we needed to read with him because he hasn't
been reading. But we also needed to teach some of the commandments. We
decided to go with Abinadi- it's a great story AND has the
commandments. When we first started Hunaid told us, "This is so
boring! I want something new! I already know all of these things- WHY
are you making me read this!?!?!" We just kept reading and promised
that he would learn something if he would give it a chance! Well, as
we continued to read and discuss he got more and more quiet. . . the
complaints stopped and when it was his turn to read he didn't try to
get out of it. We were about half way through when we had to stop
because we had to get home for the night, but he had been reading
ahead and finished the chapter!!! When we asked what his thoughts were
he told us, "This is such a GOOD chapter!!! Why haven't we read this
one before? Why didn't you tell me there were good stories in
here!?!?!?" Ha ha! We HAD told him all of those things, but he had to
experience it before he would actually believe us! ;) So, finally I
think we can get him to read on his own and really be able to
experience and love the BOM. He still isn't ready to commit to
baptism, but he's coming! :) Keep him in your prayers! He will be
there faster than he will ever realize!

I have SO many stories to tell you!! But I'm all out of time! I will
try to get a snail mail off today! :) I can't believe Emily Olson is
coming home so soon!! That's super exciting!!! :) And Stephanie Barton
is home too!! WOW!!! :) Those are two of the very best sister
missionaries ever!!! You'll have to give them both a big hug for me
and tell them how amazing I think they are! <3

Di- I must have written down your address wrong! I put apt 3 instead
of 43! Sorry!!! Hopefully those letters will find you! :)

Thanks for the letters and pictures!! The peaches and the rest of the
package all made it safely!! THANKS!!! I made a peach smoothie for Bro
Elms and the Tingey's and they all really enjoyed it!! My other
favorite thing was the Pageant book!!! I could have sat there all day
staring at it and picking out everyone I knew!! I'm pretty sure I
found everybody except Rach, Dad, Jake and Hannah! :) I showed it to
EVERYBODY!!! Ha ha, nobody enjoyed it as much as I did though!!! :)
Thanks again- you guys really are the BEST EVER!!!

BIG FAT HEART!!!

Love you tons!!
Love, Sister Bishop!

July 9,2012

Hello Family!!!

Sorry we are a little late today- we had to go and help E and S Belnap
clean out one of the Elder's apartments cause they closed an area. We
didn't plan on taking so long, but it was in pretty rough shape! We
actually had almost our whole district there cleaning, packing and
cleaning more- IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! I can't believe how much I've
missed cleaning WITH other people! Ha ha, It actually really reminded
me of cleaning the kitchen on a Sunday afternoon- with everybody all
working together in this little tiny space, laughing and talking- all
we were missing was the music!! It was lots of fun though! Then we
were going to go to Subway but E Karinen is slightly obsessed with
famous places to eat so we went to this place called Krazy Joe's
Blimpy burger. The food was super yummy and SUPER GREASY!! Ha ha, but
no worries! Sister Thopmson said she knew where we were going and
dragged us all over campus in the wrong direction before we finally
broke down and asked for directions. So we walked it all off then got
our fast food fix for the week! ;) Ha ha, I love our Elders- they are
really great! On the way back to our cars we had to walk through
campus and show them "the Cube." It is this HUGE cube and it spins. .
. apparently it's like the biggest spinning cube in the country. ..
WHO KNEW!! Ha ha, so we got some sweet pictures. Crazy morning- but it
was super fun!!

So- Brother Elms is back!!!!!!!!! We saw his car and had to stop in
and say hi. IT was so good to see him- I've missed him SO MUCH!! :)
He's pretty great! :) He forgot the package you sent me, but promised
that he would bring it tomorrow! Ha ha, you guys are the best!! I'll
just say thanks in advance! :) <3

This week has been a good one! :) Our BBQ was a hit! It turned out
really well- we had like 30 people show up and like 8 non-members! Our
investigators that came seemed to enjoy themselves and build
friendships with the ward and that was exactly what we were hoping
for! There was plenty of food, lots of laughing and talking, games and
lots of people. Thanks to E and S Tingey- it was defiantly a success!
:)

This week was kind of a slower week- a lot of our investigators were
out of town for the holiday so we spent a pretty good amount of time
contacting out in the heat! I think this week it got up to like 103
plus the humidity- it was killer! We got some otter pops though and
put them in the freezer at the institute and that's how we survived!!
:) Hunaid was on date to be baptized this coming Sunday and to help
him be more prepared and comfortable we took him to a baptism that the
Saline sisters had. He was SO intimidated!!! He is super shy and lots
of people make him nervous so when we pulled into the parking lot and
he saw all of the cars I think that he just about had a heart attack!
We talked to a bunch of the people though and did really well so we
were really proud of him. We had an appointment with him the next day
and that whole evening S Thompson and I were both a little hesitant to
baptize him on the 15th. We just didn't really feel like he was ready!
Especially after going to the other baptism he kept saying how, "I'm
not really religious!" We were both like, "Wait a second!!! You are
supposed to be getting baptized in a week and you are not really
religious- there is something wrong with this picture!!" So then when
we met with him and talked it over he was so relieved! he told us,
"This is an answer to my prayers!" Ha ha, he is so funny! I'm really
glad that we listened on this one cause he really was NOT ready! But
we are going to keep working with him and hopefully he will make it in
the next few weeks! :)

We had the greatest lesson with Clara this week! It was amazing! The
spirit was so strong!!!! MAN!! SO, we felt like we needed to watch the
Restoration DVD and talk about prayer. We did and she totally related
to Joseph Smith and his search for truth. She said that she had been
on a similar journey and was very sympathetic. We had Patrick there
(our new EQP who is totally awesome!!!) and he had some great insights
and was very helpful as well. When we asked Clara this time if she had
been praying she told us, "Yes, I have been praying and I feel like
God has answered me! I feel like he said, 'If you want to be a Mormon,
then be a Mormon, that's just fine!' That really surprised me- I
didn't expect that! But I still have no strong desire to be baptized!"
AHGHHH!! It was SO close and yet SO far! We did invite her to be
baptized though and again she rejected. Her biggest obstacle is the
prophet- and some issues she has with gender roles and homosexuality.
Those are BIG obstacles especially in our day, it's so hard because
she feels the spirit and LOVES to meet with us, but won't humble
herself enough to recognize those answers. Just keep praying for her
and we will keep loving her and hope that she will come around! <3

We had a really neat experience this week with David. We have taught
him like 3 times and he has always been a little skeptical. He had
been through a lot of religions and is still searching for truth. When
we first taught him he told us he would only meet one more time and
ever since then it's always been just one more time!! Well we got him
to church last week and even though we were slightly crazy trying to
keep tract of our other investigators he had a good fellow shipper
that stuck by his side. When we met with him this week he told us that
he would like to "take all of the lessons so I can really understand
this!" He LOVED church and that made him want to learn more! IT was so
refreshing- most of our investigators complain that it's too long and
so boring so it was wonderful to have someone that really enjoyed it
and was receptive to feel the spirit and learn!

So I'm running out of time- But I do want to tell Tim and Miriam:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! :) I'm blowing Tim the biggest, wettest most
slobbery kiss ever and and big bear hug for Yumyum!!! :) I love you
both super mucho and hope that you have a fantastic birthday!!! :)

I love you all so much- thanks for your prayers and thoughts and love!
You guys are the greatest!! :)

Love,

Sister Bishop

July 2, 2012

Dearest Family, HELLO!!!!!

Oh man! You guys are the greatest!! I feel like every exclamation
point I use in my letters represents a big hug that I'm sending your
way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha ha, I have been so blessed with such an amazing family! :)

This week has been so incredible, I feel like I've learned a lot of
valuable lessons. First of all we did exchanges a week ago. I went to
Saline with S Jones and that left S Thompson here with S Evans. I was
so excited and it turned out to be SO GOOD! It amazes me every time
how little coincidences work out and we are able to learn so much from
those little things- it's truly a testimony to me that this is God's
work! S Jones is training S Evans, but because of some complications
they have to do a 12 week training program in 6 weeks. She had just
barely finished her own training so i think she was a little stressed
out. Of course there were other factors, but I really felt that I
needed to be in Saline to just build her up a little, to reassure her
that she's doing what she needs to be doing and give her a little
boost in her confidence. Her trainer HATED tracting and so they NEVER
did it! :) So now SHE is training and trying to teach a new missionary
how to do all these things without any practice or experience for
herself. Yeah, we went tracting!! I can't even tell you how much fun
it was!!! I never thought that I would say it, but I've missed
tracting- I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!! It was neat to see S Jones catch on so
quickly too. . . she kind of stepped back and I took the lead as we
were tracting but she didn't slack off or back down at all. It was so
great! After that she was much more excited and really felt like she
could do it too! I was so glad that I was able to help her out, just
in those little ways! :) Being with S Jones for the day helped me to
remember what it feels like to be the junior comp. I found myself
sitting back in the lessons and not trying as hard to receive
revelation or guidance for the people we were teaching- it was a rude
awakening- a call to repentance! What I learned is the importance of
team teaching! I have to allow and expect my comp to jump in and help
me teach, I think I just kind of take over because I'm the trainer and
the Senior comp, but after that experience I've REALLY done my best to
help S Thompson be more involved. We've had some really great,
powerful lessons this week as a result! I really love exchanges-- it's
amazing how quickly you can come to know and LOVE others! I feel like
S Jones and I are now friends for life! She knows she can trust me and
ask me any questions and that I will do my best to help/answer those
questions. What a blessing it is for be a missionary!! <3

In our District Meeting this week we went over the highlights from the
mission tour. It was a great reminder- I feel like sometimes I forget
so quickly, but Elder Karinen (Our district leader) was really
prepared. As he gave his instruction he shared more about how we
should be "ALWAYS" missionaries. We always invite people to be
baptized in the first lesson, we always invite the head of the
household to offer a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson, etc.
There are a lot of things that we should ALWAYS be doing as
missionaries but for one reason or another it doesn't happen. Weather
it is lack of faith or desire or just running out of time he
challenged us to ALWAYS be ALWAYS missionaries. He promised that we
would see success. I loved his little saying:
Acknowledge the
Lords
Way
And
Succeed!

See- ALWAYS!! So this week have been striving to be always
missionaries. So- here are some examples of the miracles we have seen:

It had been like 3 weeks since we had met with Mackenzie and as we
prepared to see her this week the thought of inviting her to be
baptized kept coming to my mind. (I'm not gonna lie, I was super
nervous!) The last time we talked about baptism she flat out told us
"No!" We have a really good relationship and we didn't want her to
feel pressured to make that decision. As I was studying and preparing
to see her that morning I thought of being an always missionary and
really putting my trust in the Lord and letting him take care of it. I
was led to find some really great quotes and scriptures that just
jumped out to me! Our lesson was AMAZING!!!! We started out testifying
of God's love for his children and how we are all His Daughters- the
gospel it not about being "Catholic" or "Mormon" but it is about
coming home to our Heavenly Father. There is a quote in PMG that talks
about how we preach and teach to open the doors of the Celestial
kingdom to the sons and daughters of God because we are the ONLY ones
that have the authority to do that! Just saying that really softened
her heart and helped her to really be able to LISTEN to the spirit,
learn and feel of God's love for her. We simply and boldly laid out
all the steps in the gospel teaching and testifying and at the end
invited her to pray about it. We also extended and "As You, Will You,"
she promised to pray about it!! I think that her biggest concern is
that she is afraid of change- it is hard to change, but she already
has such a testimony of these things as long as she continues to read,
pray and come to church Heavenly Father will help her to overcome
those fears! :) So, keep Mackenzie in your prayers!! Pray that she
will recognize the answers that she is receiving and have the faith to
conquer her fears! <3

This week we had 4 investigators at church!!! Then we also had a few
members bring family/ friends that were nonmembers. Our gospel
principles class was the biggest we've EVER seen!! I really know that
is a direct result of being ALWAYS missionaries. We focused on the
basic commitments and invited people and they kept the commitments! It
was SO busy, it was great!! It was also a really great thing for the
ward to see that we are serious about doing missionary work, that we
ARE finding people and teaching them, but that we need their help! The
most miraculous things happened because of that too, we just got a new
EQP and yesterday after church he asked to talk to us for a few
minutes. He told us how they are really trying to focus on missionary
work with their new presidency and asked for ways that they could
help. We talked it over and came up with some really great things to
implement and try. He even asked for a list of our progressing
investigators so that they could try and assign home teachers!!!! I
could have jumped and shouted for joy!!! This is what we have been
trying for, this is going to be SO great for our ward and for our
area!!!! We also are working on rewriting the ward mission plan and
are really focusing on helping each person to write and follow a
personal mission plan. We have permission to do a lesson the 5th
Sunday to help people DO it and be more excited and involved in
missionary work. The ward is really stepping it up, it is an answer to
prayers and I'm SO grateful!!!

We are still working with Hunaid and trying to help him be prepared
for his baptism on July 15. We had a great lesson with him last night,
he has been fighting us about Tea being agianst the WOW. We've
explained it to him several times and last night we told him it's all
about obedience and faith. This isn't about our diet, it's a test of
our faith in a prophet of God and our commitment to follow that
prophet and be obedient to the commandments of God. (We had our member
there to back us up too which of course ALWAYS makes the difference!)
After that discussion Hunaid just kind of looked at us and asked,
"Can't you just leave God out of it!??!?! I can't even argue with you
when you bring him into this!!" Ha ha! We just smiled- that's exactly
why we ask him to pray about it! :) ;) :) He committed to try it for a
week, we are going to try and stay in contact daily to help him keep
that commitment and I think this will be the real test to see if he is
willing to be committed and make his date. I know he can, and I know
that God will help him- I just hope and pray that HE will honestly
give it a try! :)

This week has been so miraculous and faith building. We are excited to
continue to work hard and be ALWAYS missionaries, so that we can
continue to see the blessings and miracles that God has promised us!
:) Happy 4th of July!!!! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! I love
you all SO much!!! :)

Love,

Sister Bishop (The Fav!) ;)

June 26, 2012

Hello Family!!!

It's so GOOD to hear from all of you, man you guys are the BEST!!! :)
I have so much to tell you today. . . .. So here goes! First of all,
Di- I got your tape! Ha ha, I am glad that you are SO happy! Here is
the thing though- there is a MAJOR case of jealousy going on right
now. . . . but I'm only slightly bitter about it! ;) Mom I really
loved the Blog posts that you shared! You are such an inspiration! You
should print them off for me and snail mail them so i actually have
time to read them instead of just skimming over them! Hannah- I'm
hearing ya! Let's stick together on this one! ;) P.S. I basically
LOVED your new embarrassing moment, BA HA HA!! You are so stinking
funny! Rach- this boy sounds like fun! Brownie points are always good
so keep it up! ;) If he tries anything though, I expect to hear all
about it on the tape, just like Di! <3 Last week we had more time to
write letters but I'm not sure how much time we will have this week-
we'll have to see how it goes! :) Oh yeah- I'm SO glad that you got to
meet Bro Elms!!! Isn't he great!?!?!? ( I have more to write about
that but I think I will send that in the snail mail home!:) )

So, this week has been so good!!! We are doing exchanges tonight with
the Saline sisters. I'm going to Saline and S Thompson is staying
here. She will be the senior comp so she gets to drive, lead out and
all of that good stuff!!! I'm not gonna lie- I'm a little nervous, but
I'm sure that she will be great! :) (After all, She learned from the
best right!?!? LOL, JK!!!!!) Any ways, I feel like we are finally
starting to be able to teach better in unity! We had some really great
lessons this week and I feel like we were BOTH able to teach instead
of S Bishop talking the whole time and S Thompson volunteering to say
the prayer. We have been studying boldness and trying to incorporate
that more in our teaching- it's been helpful for the most part, but
then I feel like it's hard for us to draw the line between BOLD and
ARGUMENTATIVE. Ahh, Ha ha! I don't know! I guess I will just keep
praying and I know Heavenly Father will help us to figure it out!

Sad story of the week: WE LOST OUR PHONE!!! :( Ha ha, we must have
accidentally left it on one of the benches at the Diag and didn't
realize that we didn't have it until we got home. . .. yeah that was a
lovely conversation with President Holmes! Ha ha, He was super nice
and we were able to get a new phone the next day so it wasn't too big
of a deal- we just lost ALL of our contacts and had to start again
from scratch! But, I'm not bitter! ;) 

We had the MOST amazing experience. We contacted into this kid named
Trevor. He was interested, but had to study for a final the next day.
But agreed to meet with us the next evening. The next day as we met
him and taught him about the Restoration, the spirit was SO strong!!!
As we talked the spirit confirmed the truth of what we were teaching
and the WHOLE lesson he had this HUGE smile on his face! At the end we
asked him how he was feeling and he was like, "I don't know why i
haven't ever heard any of this before!!! It makes SO much sense! I am
so excited to read this book for myself! My family is all really
religious and I'm sure they would love to hear this too!" I think that
was possibly one of the BEST lessons that S Thompson and I have ever
taught. It was the most amazing feeling!!! Here is the thing: He just
finished up the spring semester so he was leaving the next day to go
home for the summer!! BUMMER, right?!?!? But we found the address for
the church in Traverse City and we are going to try and have the
missionaries up there continue to teach him and hopefully his family!
:)

Another sweet miracle: We have seen this guy all over campus doing
Par-Cor. It's the most interesting thing I've ever seen! He describes
it as "Seeing an obstacle and using your body to be able to overcome
it." We stopped him the other day and told him about how the gospel
does that SAME thing for us- it helps us to overcome obstacles. But
that the best thing was that God had restored the fulness of his
gospel through a living prophet on the earth today to teach us exactly
what we need to do to have his help in overcoming those obstacles, he
just kind of stared at us and was like, "REALLY!?!? Why haven't I
heard of this??" We fixed that real quick!! Ha ha! His name is Ivan
and he is from Russia. He has had a really hard life, but it's amazing
to see how God has prepared him and put him in our path so that we can
teach him more about the gospel! He is so golden! We are super excited
to continue teaching him!

Okay- so one more miracle and then I better get going! We were out
contacting on Saturday and we ran into this girl named Anny. We have
talked to her before and she said she wanted to come to church with
us. We gave her our card with the address to the church and our
address. But then on Saturday when we ran into her again, she said she
hadn't been able to find the church. We offered her a ride and she
said she would love to come!!! It was so amazing! We had NEVER taught
her before, she doesn't speak very good English, had no idea what to
expect at church and got a ride from a complete stranger, BUT despite
all of those obstacles- Sunday afternoon rolled around and Anny made
it to church!!!! Ha ha!! IT was great!! In the meet the Bishopric
meeting AND in Relief society she expressed how happy she was, how
much she loved church and how she was, "Going to be here EVERY
Sunday!" :)

This week has been such a testimony to me of how this is God's work-
he has truly been guiding us and helping us to find his children that
are ready to hear and accept his plan of happiness!!! It's the BEST!!!

I love you all SO much!!! Keep up the good work!! My prayers are with
you that you will all survive the last few days of Pageant! :) Just
know how much I love you!!! You guys are the BEST!!

Love,

Sister Bishop

June 19,2012

Hello Family!!

I just barely went and got the package you sent- you guys are the
greatest!!! :) I loved the "Fishy crackers" and swedish fish, I
haven't looked at the pictures yet or read the letters (Except for the
one of Di and Spense- He he that was a GOOD one! ;) ) But thanks so
much! I really do have the BEST family ever!! :) I am really excited
to go home today and read all your letters and listen to the tape!!!!
:) :) :)

So, this week has been really good! It is finals week again so we have
struggled a little with a lot of our investigators leaving, but we
didn't let that slow us down at all. We had some really great
experiences:

First we have been teaching an Asian girl named Kate. She is super
sweet and genuinely interested in learning about the gospel but we
have had a hard time getting her to open up to us. She is so quiet and
shy and so when we ask her questions her answers are very basic and
don't really give us anything to go on! We have been really praying
about how to help her and this week we were able to find the perfect
fellow shipper for her! :) I LOVE it when that happens! We asked
Elizabeth Downie to come with us- She is super great and a RM. She
went to Texas I think. . . any ways so she really knows how to teach
and is really good to just jump right in and testify to help us teach.
We had planned to teach Kate the Gospel, but as we were following up
we found some concerns about prayer. We ended up reading a little from
the Book of Mormon, and then really testifying to her of our Saviors
love for her. The whole lesson was amazing! We were able to teach her
about how much God loves her and will answer her prayers. The most
beautiful thing happened- I felt prompted to open to Alma 7:11-12 and
really testify that Christ knows how to succor each of us. As I did
that, she spoke up about another part of those verses. She said, "Wow!
I really like how it says here that He overcame death! I had a very
good friend of mine die in a car accident recently and this is very
comforting." With just those 2 little sentences we were able to really
teach Kate about God's love instead of teaching a lesson on the
gospel! Teaching people, not lessons is so awesome!!!! It still amazes
me how God prepares these people and helps me to love them. That was
the whole focus of that lesson- and it was such a neat, powerful
experience! :)

Next miracle: We were able to get Clara at church yesterday!!!! YAY!!
Clara is a PhD student at U of M. She is SUPER duper smart and very
devoted to her Episcopalian religion. She wanted a copy of the Book of
Mormon to read and study so that is how we started teaching her. We
have had to learn how to be really bold with her and just say it how
it is- straight forward and plain. It's been such a learning
experience for me. She is intimidating, but it had strengthened my
confidence in the power of my calling and the promise that the spirit
will be given us in the VERY MOMENT what to say! :) That seems to
happen quite frequently during our visits for which I am very
grateful! She has been wanting to come to church for a while now and
finally this week her schedule allowed her to be there. It was such a
miracle cause it was pouring rain and Sacrament had already started,
and she wasn't there! I felt like we needed to go out to the foyer so
that's exactly what we did. As i watched out the front windows this
little green car pulled up and out jumped Clara- soaking wet and a
little frazzled cause she was running late, but she made it!! :) I
cannot even describe the feeling of relief when I saw that little car
pull up and know that she MADE IT!!! Such Joy!! :) She really seemed
to enjoy sacrament and the Bishop talked with her for a few minutes
afterward so I felt like it was a good experience for her. It was
really neat too cause the Bishop offered to come and teach her with us
after we told him some of her concerns! What a great experience!!!

Alrighty- so next miracle!! We have had a great week with finding
fellow shippers for our investigators. We were teaching Hunaid last
night and we asked Kendall to come with us. We thought they would
really be able to connect and Kendall is always willing and helpful.
So we started the lesson and Kendall jumped right in to help us teach.
Every time after Kendall would say something Hunaid would look at
Sister Thompson and I and say, "Wow, He is GOOD!" Ha ha, that happened
the whole night, until eventually instead of asking US his questions
he would say, "Wait, can I ask a question?" . . . . Then he would
TURN, LOOK straight at Kendall and ask his question! Ha ha! It was
really powerful though. I felt like we were able to really identify
some of his concerns and help him see how living the gospel is so
important! It was really great!

We have really been trying to work with the ward more- we are redoing
the ward mission plan so that the mission committee, and all the other
auxiliaries can work together more effectively and efficiently. And I
feel like getting members more involved in the teaching and fellow
shipping of our investigators is definitely a step in the right
direction.

We have our Mission Tour tomorrow! We are really excited! I don't have
to play the piano this time either- ha ha! Maybe after the last
experience at Zone Conference they decided to let someone else try and
share their talents! ;) In the mean time I will keep practicing on our
little key board at our apartment and try to let my light so shine
that way! :)

Brother Elms should be in Utah now!! He is supposed to call you and
try to meet sometime in the next few weeks or so. He's great! You'll
love him and his family! <3 Also, did you ever get the package from
Rachel Suggs?? :) Thanks for taking care of my account Mom! :) You're
the best!!!

Di- I still don't know what to think of this BOY!?!?!? Ha ha- he
better be SO good! (And Hannah- you and I will keep praying, okay?!?!
;) ) LOL, JK!!!

Pageant starts this week- sounds like lots of good times! I love you
all super mucho and hope that you all have a wonderful week!!! :)

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO DAD!!! YOU'RE THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WIDE
WORLD- I LOVE YOU THE BESTEST!!!!

Lots and lots of love,

Sister Bishop

June 11,2012

Hola!!!

Transfer Calls are in AND . . . . Sister Thompson is STAYING and
Sister Bishop is STAYING!!! Wow!! I can't believe it! I thought for
sure that there would be some sort of changes. I kind of knew that I
would be staying, but I thought for sure that S Thompson was outta
here! I guess I not really too surprised though, I think next transfer
there will be a lot of changes with all of the sisters! :) The last
few weeks we have been getting a long pretty well though. I think I am
trying to relax a little more I'm really trying to laugh and have more
fun each day. This IS missionary WORK, but my goal is to find JOY in
the journey! :) Every night this week we have taken turns telling each
other bed time stories! Ha ha, we are such dorks, but it is fun! I
feel like we are getting to be better friends- it helps a lot when you
are friends with the person that you are with 24/7! :)

This week was so crazy! We finally met with Mackenzie again this week!
It's been a few weeks because she has been going home to deal with
family issues every weekend. It's been really tough for her cause her
Mom left again, this time for good. What a hard thing- It makes me so
grateful for the gospel and how it strengthens our families and helps
us to stay together forever!!! Mackenzie was really struggling a few
weeks ago, but this time she was SO much better!!! :) She was happy
and talking and laughing, she is still reading the Book of Mormon. I
think the biggest hang up is that she hasn't been praying and can't
come to church. When she does all of those things, I know it won't
take her long to realize that the gospel is exactly what she is
looking for. . . It was her birthday on Saturday, so we called her
and sang her happy birthday- it totally made her day! :) I think that
is one of the greatest blessings about being a missionary! Every day
you have the opportunity to share the gospel- to make people HAPPY-
with so many of God's children! When they accept it and change their
lives, that happiness continues to grow and heal their broken hearts!
It's such a miracle to witness every day!

This week we had a tender mercy. (Well we had many, but this one was
so unexpected!) I wrote you about Hunaid last week- the Indian guy who
is sincerely searching for truth. Yeah- so we called him on Saturday
to invite him to church, but he didn't answer. We left him a message,
but he NEVER calls us back! Even if he does we never get his calls
cause they come in at like 3:00 in the morning and our phone is off
and we are asleep! Any ways, we were out contacting and ran into him!
We invited him to church and he gave us the usual reply, "Yeah! Sure,
no problem!" (With the AWESOME Indian accent! ;)) We arranged a ride
for him, but it was kind of hard cause he didn't want to give us his
address. He said he would meet by a little cafe on campus. Funny thing
is, we couldn't be there cause we had ward council, he had no idea who
was giving him a ride and she had no idea who to look for! Ha ha, it
sounded like a long shot that he would actually make it to church, but
we worked it out as best we could and left the rest of it to Heavenly
Father. Well you can't imagine my surprise when Sunday morning rolled
around and Hunaid actually showed up at church!!!! I just about fell
of my chair! Ha ha! I was SO HAPPY!!! He had a pretty good experience.
. . . he thought that Sacrament was boring (it was high council
Sunday) and didn't care too much for Sunday school, but he LOVED
priesthood! We found him a really good friend to sit with and that
helped a lot! We met with him later that evening and extended a
baptism invitation, now he is on date for July 15!!! Keep Hunaid in
your prayers! He still has a lot to learn, but Heavenly Father has
prepared him! :)

We also met with Erica this week, she is on date to be baptized next
Saturday. She has only been to our ward once, but she has gone to the
Ypsi ward a few times. We are really trying to get her out to
activities and involved with the ward. She is struggling with
recognizing her answer, so we are really praying that her heart will
be softened and she will recognize the spirit this week so that she
can make her baptism date. Any prayers on her behalf would also be
appreciated! :)

I finally got in touch with Bro Anderson this week! (He's the WML that
introduced us to Danielle before she passed away.) They have not had
any contact with Danielle's family and they don't even know where they
live- so NOTHING in being done about getting her temple work done!
AGGHHH!! It's slightly frustrating, but I am going to try and get them
some info this week so hopefully we can get it all taken care of soon!
:)

 I love all of your stories and your testimonies- they
are such an evidence to me that the gospel really is true! Heavenly
Father loves each of us so much!! I didn't get the letters from Dad
and Jake or one from Ben about his talk, but they might be coming this
week?? Maybe I will get them today! :)P

Everything here is going pretty good! I sent you a tape on Thursday,
so you should be getting it soon! There are some good stories on
there!! Ha ha! I hope you enjoy it! Well family- I better get going! I
love you all super mucho!!! Keep choosing the right, being good
examples and all the rest of that good stuff!! :)

Love you guys the BEST!

Love,
Sister Bishop

June 3,2012

Dearest Family!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Reading your letters, it's so good to hear that you
are all still alive and . . . . okay?!?!? Ha ha, I guess okay is a
good word- after the description of the tractor experience it sounds
like Tootie and Goose's guardian angels are working over time! Thank
goodness that we DO have guardian angels!! <3 So, we are w-mailing
late again today cause we switched our p-day to go to a baseball game.
. . well then all of the elders ditched the idea and switched their
p-day back to Monday last minute! LAME!!! (Ha ha, not that i was all
that excited about the baseball game any ways though. .. it was just
another chance to go to the city! ;) ) But of course by then, we had
already scheduled appointments for today so we are sticking with
Thursday!

So, this week has been a really good one! With all of our new
investigators, there were some that dropped us- we kind of expected
that, but it's still kind of a bummer! We had some really cool
experiences though. WE are teaching this Asain named Yunxuan. He is
SUPER fun to teach!!! He is really really smart and it doesn't take
him very long to process things. (There are some stories about him on
the tape that I'm working on. . . SO FUNNY!!) Any ways, he was a
miracle in the first place because HE CALLED US!! We had contacted
into him but he said he just got a new phone and couldn't remember his
number. . . good excuse right?!!?? That's what we thought. But we set
up an appointment any ways and had faith that he would show up. Well
Saturday afternoon rolled around and it was POURING rain! Ha ha, we
were drenched!!! So, the phone started ringing and it was a random
number that we didn't have saved. I answered the phone and it was
Yunxuan!!! He was calling to make sure that we would still be on
campus even though it was raining like crazy!!! We assured him that we
would be there, said a quick prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father
and met up with him about an hour later. Usually with Asian's we teach
the Plan first, it seems to make more sense to them that way. Like I
said, he is super smart and as we teach him he asks us questions then
restates everything we say! It's so wonderful!! ha ha, He is like the
ideal investigator! So, we met with him again this week and taught the
Restoration, by the end he was just kind of in awe and said, "This is
so AMAZING!! When did you say church was again? Can I come and check
it out?" :) He had other commitments and couldn't make it on Sunday,
but he promised to be there this week! :) He is so golden- I am so
excited to continue to teach him!

Another miracle this week was with an investigator named Hunaid. (With
all these funny names you can kind of get a taste of how diverse it is
here in Ann Arbor! Today we figured it out, we are pretty sure that we
have talked to at least 1 person from each of the continents. . .
except Antarctica!!! Ha ha, we are still looking for that one! :)) So
Hunaid is sincerely looking for truth and has been looking for his
whole life. The first time we met with him, he was so full of
questions that we spent the whole time addressing those! But this
time, we got to actually teach him the WHOLE restoration! As we got
into in and shared our testimonies he got really quiet and really
intent on everything we said. At the end i asked him what his thoughts
were. He said, "I feel so relieved, that this could actually be true!"
We invited him to be baptized after he had gained that knowledge for
himself, i loved his reply! All he said was, "Of course! I would have
to!" :)

So some quick little funny stories: We were out contacting and one of
our approaches we say: "We are representatives of Jesus Christ and we
are sharing a message today about. . . . ." So I stopped this guy, he
looked at my name tag and said, "I guess since you are a
representative of Jesus Christ, I can give you a few minutes!" Ha ha,
it totally threw me off for a minute- I wanted to be like, "Hey!!! You
stole MY line!" :)

It was sad to hear about Jessica- I would love to write her a letter
for encouragement, if you could send me her address, I could at least
give it a try! :) Oh yeah!! So you guys totally HAVE to call Rachel
Suggs!!! :) She is back in Utah now at BYU. Her number is
916-290-2937. She is really great!! I LOVE this girl! You should call
and invite her to the Pageant! (And she has a little package for Di!
;) It's nothing big, so don't get jealous, but i hope you like it
friendly!! He he he!)

Speaking of Pageant, it sounds like you guys got ALL of the parts! Ha
ha, that's gonna be fun trying to figure out everyone's schedules! :)
Sounds like fun- sounds like pageant every year! ;)

Oh, I wanted to ask you to continue to pray for ALL of the
investigators that i have written about lately! I will try to get this
tape done and sent off soon, but I'm not making any promises how soon!
Also please pray that I will be able to get in contact with Danielle's
family and be able to get her temple work done! I feel like I'm stuck
between a rock and a hard place with that one, and I'm not sure how to
figure it out. .. . but prayers are always helpful! :)

Transfers will be next week- so this Saturday we find out if either of
us will be leaving. I really feel like I'm going to stay and S
Thompson will be leaving. . . but of course I'm ALWAYS wrong! :) But
at zone conference I had the impression that I might be serving with S
Vanisi! That would be sweet!!! But i really don't want to leave Hill
Street!! I love it here!! We have 3 people on date to be baptized this
month: Ericka, Aaron and Tim! I will tell you about them on the tape!
:) But good things are happening- I love it here! :)

Well family! I really have to go! I love you all SO VERY MUCH!!! I
think about you all the time and pray for each of you every day! :) I
have been so blessed to have you all in my life- you really are the
GREATEST family ever!!!! :)

Love you all Bunches and bunches!!

Love,
Sister Bishop.