Hello friends and family!
Holy smokes I have so much to tell you, where to begin?
Well my lovely companion, Sister Reese, is THE BEST. I just love her, and we are like the same person--same style (we match on accident like every day!), same strengths, same weaknesses, same sense of humor...we are best friends. I love it. We grow closer every day, and work really well together teaching and everything. Such a testiment that companions are not random! They are meant to be. One thing I love is how heartfelt and amazing her prayers are. She's helped me grow in that aspect. On Thursday night, the Elders gave each of us blessings, and it was incredible! Priesthood blessings are amazing, it bonded our district so much.
Friday was a hard day for Sister Reese and I...and the other 2 sisters in our district as well actually! The Elders are so funny, they could tell we were bummed out and Elder Hyde says, "Oh no! If the Sisters aren't doing well, we're all done for!" Haha.I think it finally just sank in and caught up to me and Sister Reese how exhausted we were and how dissappointing it can be sometimes. Our expectations for ourselves were way too high. It kind of bummed us out big time, and then our brains felt like mush in class and we didn't have the will power or desire to go on! If that makes any sense at all. It's just hard. But we worked through it, and made plans for how to avoid that next time. Basically we both just need more patience, with ourselves and with the Lord. Emotions are definitely amplified on the mish! Highs are really high, lows are really low. BUT do not fear, all is well and only went up from there!
Saturday was easier than Friday, still hard. Heavenly Father just needed to humble me (: It's an adjustment coming here, but a great one! And it's SO true what I heard a million times--make it to Sunday and you're golden! We had a break from studying and went to the bookstore to buy Sister Reese her first shade shirt ever! She put it on and was FREAKING OUT. She was ecstatic. So funny! So all you Utah people, appreciate your shade shirts.
Sunday was incredible, as to be expected. We finally got out of the classroom a bit, and had some great experiences. I loved walking to the temple! There were protestors out, which I thought was odd, but we just ignored them. It was cool to see the swarm of missionaries everwhere! Loved it. The best was at night, we watched a video of a devotional Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a while back. It was on how to know if it's a prompting from the Holy Ghost, or just your own thoughts. He basically said don't worry about it! Just be a good girl or boy, keep your covenants, be obedient, and get up and GO. Get on your feet, open your mouths, do what you believe to be best, and we cannot fail! Heavenly Father doesn't need to 'slap us with the Holy Ghost' to be able to trust us. We won't know a lot of the times if it's a prompting or not, but for all we know we could be performing a miracle! I was furiously scribbling down notes the whole time haha so I can remember it all! I'm not exaggerating when I say this talk changed my life, and definitely turned around my experience at the MTC. After the talk we got more blessings of comfort from the Elders, and the spirit was so incredibly strong. Our district is so close, love them all.
Oh, almost forgot! I'm sister training leader!!! Ahhh I was so happy when they pulled me aside to ask if I would do it (: Uhh YES! So for those of you who don't know, Sister Training Leader is the equivelant of being the zone leader. I'm the only one for our district of 30. I get to help out all the sisters, and specifically the new group of sister missionaries in our district that came in yesterday! It's a lot of work on top of the amount of work I already have, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Plus, it's only a week long calling haha so I'm making the most of it!
Teaching has only gotten better and better. The MTC prepares you so well! I really feel the spirit when I'm teaching and it's getting SO much easier to be able to simplify the gospel, really testify to people, and relate it to their lives. Makes me so pumped to get out in San Fernando! Even though I know I still have so much to learn (: Me and Sister Reese have been teaching our progressing investigator, Ebony, a whole bunch. She is incredible! After 2 lessons, we invited her to be baptised, and she said yes, yay! We feel the spirit so strong teaching her. And seeing the teaching paying off makes it so worth it. She just has to start living the law of chastity now (: Every time we teach her is the highlight of our day.
Elder Hyde always does funny things, like dancing to "wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle with it." Or his catch phrase that he repeats alllll the time, "Just keep calm and ask the Sisters!" Haha the Elders in my district are great, sometimes it feels like we are their moms cause we're all older than them haha but we love them. The rules at the MTC are an adjustment as well! Mainly just calling everyone 'elders and sisters' not 'guys' or something. Then in gym I've high-fived guys a couple times--not allowed! Whoops! Better than almost hugging though, right? I'm getting better (; Speaking of gym time, Sister Reese has gotten me to run with her. That's a miracle in and of itself, I hate running! haha it's getting easier. In return, I make her play volleyball with me. All about compromise (:
Did I mention who my teachers were? They're Brother Green and Sister Grenfell. They are incredible! Seriously I'm so blessed, I learn SO much from them. It almost seems impossible how much I've learned and grown in 8 short days. One time in class before role-plaing, I found out I'd be the one teaching, so I said, "Holla! I get to preach the gospel!" and I turn around and Brother Green is behind me just chuckling and giving me a look. So I'm like, "uhh...I didn't mean that! No slang words!" haha things are 10 times funnier when you're sitting in a classroom all day. Man I sound like I'm just breaking the rules all the time because I've shared the 5 times I've slipped up. Haha I promise I'm a good little obedient sister missionary!
I've seen a ton of friends here at the MTC! Everywhere I go it seems like there is a friendly face from highschool or BYU. What a blessing! Everyone teases me, "point out someone you DON'T know" haha.
Any ways, I SO appreciate all the letters. It honestly has gotten me through a lot. I love hearing about your lives and basically just anything!! Keep it up, and I'll try my best to write you all back individually! (: To those of you who wrote me the funniest letters ever, thank you!! My roomies thought I was crazy just giggling away up on my bunk haha. I shared some of the letters with them though so they could have a good laugh too (: And my cute family hiding notes and pictures in my things--ah! So nice! Made me tear up a couple times, mostly happy tears though because I love you all. I leave early Monday morning (crazy!) so if you want to write me on Dearelder.com, do it before then!
Sorry this is like a GINORMOUS email!! There is so much to tell! I hope you didn't fall asleep half way when you were reading it. Moral of the story: THE MTC IS AMAZING! I love it so much, and more importantly I love this gospel. It is incredible and it is true. I've adjusted well and every day is just lovely, so don't worry about me (: Just keep praying and writing me! Love you all. And I can't figure out how to upload pictures...I think I have to switch computers...uhhh haha I'll work on that cause I've got a bunch of course, I love pictures! Stay tuned!
xoxo
xoxo
Sister Bishop
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