Monday, September 30, 2013

Letter 11: The one where Tessa doesn't have time to say much

Hello hello (:

Today's gonna be a short report...sorry mom. Haha we have a million and one things to get done today!

This past week went really well. We found one new investigator, Josh! He's so great. We found him knocking, and he has been such an example to me. He is 21, has 2 young kids, and has overcome so much in his life! He is really changing his life around, and I'm stoked to be able to help him as he moves forward (: 

As for our other investigators, basically all of our appointments fell through...they got rescheduled for this week! So hopefully this coming week we'll get to teach lots.

We had a training meeting Friday for all of the Zone Leaders, District leaders--but not their companions, Sister Training Leaders........and Sister Rhoades and Sister Bishop. Haha it was so random! I really don't know why we were invited to come to a leadership meeting.....people were teasing me that I'm going to be a 12-week Sister Training Leader. No way! But it was an amazing meeting all about serving and helping our companions or the missionaries we work with. It made me so excited to train soon!


Aaaaand basically that's all I have for this week. Lots happened, but no time to share :/ Still learning tons each week. Loving my area, the people, my zone--it's all so incredible! I'm very blessed and I can't imagine not being here. I love it!! Sorry again for the lack of stories and such. Thanks for everything (:

--Sister Bishop



Me with my new planner cover! Thanks to my talented mom, everybody in my zone is covetous. (:


Monday, September 23, 2013

Letter 10: The one where Tessa builds her calf muscles

Family and friends,

Holy smokes I've been out 2 months! Time needs to slooooow down. For real.

Ok, so it was an awesome week! Ready? Here we go. Also, I swear I try my best to make my weekly-report short...but it always ends up being a novel...sorry

STORIES
--We went to see Edward, one of our investigators, and he's like "Walk to the store with me!" So we walk with him and are talking about the gospel, things are going good. We get to the store and it's a liquor store...uhh..."we'll stay outside!" haha we'll be having a little Word of Wisdom chat soon with him (;

--Our car went into the shop to get fixed, so we were on BIKE for half the week! I also accidentally gave the car shop all of our keys...so we were locked out haha. My bad.
But biking was great! It was a whole new ball game of missionary work. As Sister Rhoades said, "a new form of awkward to embrace!" Amen to that. We were so used to our car! Biking in a skirt was interesting; we got it down after a few days, we had our mechanisms and made it work.
Considering we don't even live in our area, and our whole area is made up of hills, we definitely got a work out! 10 minute bike ride to get into our area, then pure hills all day. Built up some leg muscle! Loved it though.
The side walks here are seriously so bad...they are all torn up and if you aren't paying close attention you'll get thrown off your bike by all the bumps. Haha it's either the rocky sidewalks, or the crazy traffic filled streets...pick your poison!
I got a flat tire day 2 of biking...whoops! On a borrowed bike. Once again, my bad. Our members came to the rescue though and the Granada Hills elders let us use one of their bikes!

--It was Glenn's mom, Virginia's, birthday Thursday! She's the sweetest lady. Sister Rhoades taught her a little handshake including "pounding it" and wiggling your fingers... hahah it was the cutest thing.

--Basically this week, we knocked and knocked and knocked some more, with some street contacting thrown in there too. We're working on building up our area and finding new investigators, and that just takes hard work, no way around it! Knocking can be discouraging, but also very interesting. You just never know what's going to be on the other side of the door! One man we met started talking about how giant humans that lived on the earth, how he has pictures of them and the Bible talks about it....don't know what Bible he's reading! Haha so funny.

--We meet a lot of Spanish speakers...and I try and fail at using my Spanish! Sorry Senor James, I should have paid more attention in class haha. Sister Rhoades accidentally starts speaking Japanese sometimes too, so no one knows what's going on haha it's a good time.

--Out of no where, we got FOUR new investigators!! We worked so hard all week, just kept being diligent though we didn't see much success, and then bam--four investigators. We're so blessed

ILIANA- Sweetest lady from El Salvador. She honestly is so kind and happy, she's an amazing mom and even mothers us (: She always insists "My home is your home!" We love her to death. Our lesson with her was incredible. I invited her to be baptized, and I thought something was going to burst inside of me, the spirit was that strong. She's not quite ready, but wants to work towards it (: Ahh she's the best.
JAMIE and JASON--A brother and sister in their 30's. They're the former investigators from a couple years back, and now they are ready to learn more! Very strong Christians, and amazing people. It's people like these where I honestly think I learn more from them than they learn from me!
PRISCILLA--She's in her 20's, and is truly a truth seeker; she has been searching out different religions and wants to follow God. We are so happy to promise her that she will get answers as she reads and prays about the Book of Mormon and the things we teach her. Love her!

--After a long day of finding, we were walking around a strip mall trying and failing at street contacting. Then we see a guy sitting in his car, and we go talk to him--and he is AMAZING. So prepared!! Definitely a miracle. Can hardly wait to see where things go with him. His name is Adrian! As we're walking away, Sister Rhoades is like, "Moses just parted the Red Sea." AKA--miracle! Haha so now that's our joke. "Code Red-Sea! Code Red-Sea!" anytime we see a miracle (which seriously is like, daily).


QUOTES
--"Watch out for Beavers."
Ok, Elder Smith says this every time someone leaves... "Have a good night, watch out for beavers!" hahah no one knows why. But it's hilarious. The first time he said it to us, we're like "what? Did he just say beaver?" haha I love it

--After riding our bikes on the sidewalk, Sister Rhoades says, "Now we know why ET made their bike fly!! It all makes sense!!!" hahah

--Magda, our cute 77 year old investigator: "Tell me your first names or you're never getting out of here!!" So funny. She was threatening us so bad and pounding her fist on the table, she's a feisty one! So yes, we told her our first names, and then she forgot the next day. (:

--We cleared up another of Magda's concerns about baptism, so now she's all set to go! She's like, "Oh no...now I have to think of another excuse..." haha but she knows she's going to get baptized (: Hoping for mid-October!!

--"Are you guys nuns?" Says everyone and their dog. Do I look like a nun to you? haha (;


LESSONS
Alright, each week I swear this section gets bigger and bigger. Which is amazing! Keep it that way!

--When we were out knocking, we had a pretty bad door experience and I was a little bummed. So we walk away, and I look down and see a branch on the ground in a circle, and it looked exactly like a crown of thorns, I kid you not. This honestly hit me so hard...I was just slapped with the spirit. How could I forget that I was out working for Jesus Christ, and he suffered way more than I could ever experience? John 16:33--"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 

Honestly, that is the reason I'm here. It doesn't matter what happens to me, not at all! I am here as a representative of Jesus Christ. I'm not here to make friends (even though I do--that's a cherry on top (: ) I'm here to proclaim the truth, lift others, and change lives! Make people happy!! Give them the gospel!!
The gospel seriously is incredible. It's not some fairy-tale thing, this is REAL and it's TRUE. People desperately need the message that we have to share with them. So who cares if I get some doors slammed in my face? Jesus Christ is by my side every step of the way, and he's been through it ALL. No one said it would be easy, they just said it'd be worth it. (: I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!

--Luke 14:27 "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."
Matthew 16:24 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Matthew 10:38-39 "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
I'm bearing the cross. I'm following Jesus Christ. I'm consecrating myself, and losing my life for him. Ahh I just love it. I challenge you all to do the same! Lose yourself for Jesus Christ!

Thanks for all your support. I'm happy and doing so well! Moving forward with faith, always anchored by hope. I'm learning so much it's incredible, if you're thinking about going on a mission, just DO IT. Love you all!!

xoxo
Sister Bishop


Biking!!


Our legs seriously looked awful every night. Haha between tire marks and scratches from the pedals...it wasn't pretty


Watch out for beavers!


I totally have a tan line from my watch! It's faint...but I swear it's there. (:


Had a birthday party for Sister Redner!


Birthday Sister and I...sorry for the poor quality and my helmet hair haha. In other news, a new skirt showed up on my doorstep and I was so happy! I love polka dots (:


I spoiled myself and got SUSHI! (: happy day.


Our zone leaders brought us Nutella and marshmallow crème...add that in with bananas and peanut butter and you've got yourself a sinfully delicious sandwich.





Monday, September 16, 2013

Letter 9: The one where Tessa tightropes across Manhattan

This week was so blessed. Absolutely loved it. A great turn around from last week, but such is the life!

I'm happy for the ups and the downs though. There are parts of not only missionary work, but life in general that are completely joyous, and you feel like you could tightrope across Manhattan! Other days, you're knocked to your knees and feel like you can barely brush your teeth. But it's the parts that make up the whole, and consequently--make us whole! The not-so-good weeks helps us grow and make you appreciate the great times that much more. Trials are an incredible blessing. How lucky are we to be pulled and stretched and have our faith tested, always knowing that God is patient with us and we will come out stronger and wiser and closer to Him.

STORIES
--This last Tuesday, 2 planes of missionaries landed in Burbank. FIFTY missionaries. Holy smokes. The work is hastening! We have quite a few new missionaries in our zone. Our two Granada Hills Elders are Elders Hyde and Miller who were in my MTC district! Love it! So they're basically training each other haha. We have 4 missionaries in our ward, 3 of which have been out for one transfer....our Mama Rhoades keeps us in line (: Giving up half of our area was surprisingly difficult...it felt like giving up a child! I wrote about 5 pages of notes for them, things to remember and what to do with each person we were working with...I mean business.

--Sister Redner is in my zone, one of my good friends from before the mission! Or should I say cyber-friend...thank you Facebook! We found each other online and talked a whole bunch and have been writing each other, and now she's in my zone, woo! Real-life friends now haha. Also, Elder Smith just arrived to our district from Draper, Utah! Happy to have someone who knows what the 'whisper dome' is, silly as that sounds. Feels like I have a piece of home here now (:

--We got TWO new investigators this week. Rosie is amazing, she is about 30, married, and has a Catholic background. She is super in-tune with the spirit, she felt it during our first lesson with her. She's happy and smart and really wants to follow God's will. Such a promising investigator! Love her tons already.

Investigator number two is named Myra! She's 19 and muslim. We taught her the restoration, and she was hanging on the edge of her seat wondering what we'd say next (: She just marvels how there's a modern-day prophet (can't blame her!) and wants to learn more. She is also super happy and loving. 

--We were knocking one day and a man answered who told us He just moved here 2 weeks ago from Syria! We ordered an Arabic Book of Mormon for him and took it by his house a couple days later. He wasn't home, but his daughter answered and let us inside. The whole family gathered, brought out cupcakes and drinks for us, and were SO excited about the Book of Mormon. Luckily his daughter spoke English, so she translated for us as we taught the Restoration! We had no idea half of what was going on haha with all the Arabic flying around, but their excitement was so genuine. It was incredible! 

--Driving by a park, we saw a man and woman sitting with their dog. So we stop, walk the 200 feet straight to them while they stare at us (awkward), and talk to them about the Book of Mormon. Turns out they were Jewish, his mom was here from Israel for the week. He was so funny, telling us "I can't touch anything that's not Jewish! See, I can touch my mom, she's Jewish. I can touch this newspaper, it's Hebrew. I can touch..." He just kept going on and on haha. I have loved meeting soo many cultures here though! It truly is a melting pot.

--Basically, if you couldn't tell by now...we've been going CRAZY with the Book of Mormon. I could go on and on with stories of the people we met and the experiences we've had using it in finding. We found TONS of incredible people last week! Which means this week, we will get to follow up and teach them...yay! 
Unfortunately...our mission is now in a "Book of Mormon Drought." haha the whole mission has run out of them! We only have 7 left for each companionship for the whole month...yikes! We hand out that many in one day. This will be interesting!

--Glenn was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints yesterday in Sacrament meeting. Oh, happy day! I don't have the words to express my joy and love for him. Hearing him get a blessing from the Lord was incredible as well, God loves him soo much and so do I (:

FUNNIES
--We had told Magda we wouldn't be in her area anymore and that the elders would be teaching her, and she was super bummed. But then we found out we actually would be teaching her, so we call her:
"Magda, we are in your area!"
"Oh my goodness!! Prayers really work!!!"
hahah yes, yes they do (:

--Rosie during our lesson: "I love talking with you guys because if I say 'I got goosebumps from the Holy Spirit,' you won't think I'm crazy!!"

--We had our 6-week follow up meeting this week, and while talking about Companionship Inventory, President Hall asked for definitions of what comp inventory is. One Elder raises his hand and says it's, "petting all of the elephants in the room." haha true that! All the 'elephants' in the room that you don't acknowledge, you go 'pet' and talk about each of them with your companion. It was pretty funny, and true.

--Also at the follow up training, one elder says, "When we're angry at our companion, we can serve them and it will make us love them. Service is like a sick irony!" haha true that.

--Elder Smith introducing himself, "I'm from Draper, Utah, and I brought the fanny-pack back." hahah he's the greatest


LESSONS
--The 6-week follow up meeting on Thursday was awe-inspiring. President and Sister Hall are truly the best. Sister Hall posed a question that I have really taken to heart. She asked, "what is the conversation you're having in your head?" It's all about bridling our negative thoughts. When we control our negative thinking and instead, always be thinking about blessings, God, the good in others, the work, loving ourselves, etc.--everything changes! Our words and deeds are more positive. We are happier. It seriously all starts with the conversation you're having in your head. Easier said than done, but I'm working on it (:

--I read a talk by Marvin J. Ashton called, "The Tongue Can be a Sharp Sword." It was all about charity and loving others. A prime quote from it: "The best and most clear indicator that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people." Such a great talk, read it! (:


ADVICE FROM A (sister) BISHOP
--If you are a future missionary, you must do this. 
Gather a bunch of amazing quotes from general authorities and write them in a little book. Quotes that apply to anyone and everyone, such as this one:
"I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a God who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged--never to give up or flee our allotted field of service--but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying."
Then, write the quotes on post-it notes and put them in your Preach My Gospel. When meeting with people, you have a pool of good quotes to choose from, and I PROMISE you will find a quote that will touch their hearts. You give them the post-it note to keep, and then you can go home and re-write the quote later. A little tedious, and yes I go through a packs of post-it notes, but it is SO worth it. I have had incredible success with this. People love it. Do it, and you'll thank me. (;


I love you all! Pray for missionary opportunities. Don't be afraid to open your mouth and share the gospel--just DO IT. Make time to read your scriptures, make time to have heartfelt conversations with God, and you'll reap the blessings. Life's hard, but it's easier with Christ in it. This gospel is amazing!!


xoxo
Sister Bishop



Our penguin friend:


Caught chocolate-handed! Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with Nutella on top...sinfully delicious:


Finally got to see Sister Reese again at the training. Love her (: :


The beautiful sky...get's me every night. I love it!:


I really really really <3 LA. (: :


p-day picture with Glenn's baptismal record!:


One last picture! With the San Fernando Mission street sign (: Happy p-day to all, and to all a good night! 

Monday, September 9, 2013

Letter 8: The one where Tessa takes up stalking

I'm officially ONE TRANSFER THROUGH! Wow! 6 weeks flew by. We got transfer calls, and every single companionship in our zone is getting changed....except for me and Sister Rhoades. Haha so at least another 6 weeks with Sister Rhoades in Granada Hills, woo!

STORIES
--Our area is officially getting split!! The Elders' housing contract went through, so we've been scrambling to get it all ready for them, split our area book, break the news to people who won't be in our area anymore, and the list goes on! We will not be on bike, which is good and bad...I have mixed feelings about it. There's benefits for biking, but I do like having air conditioning (: so the car and the hill area is ours!

--We got to have lunch with Denny this week! Remember that guy I found my second day here? Yeah, that Denny! We haven't seen him in AGES because he's not in our area...but he took us out to lunch in our area which is allowed (: Loved seeing him again, he's the best.

--Over the past two weeks, multiple times we've invited members to come to lessons with us, and then we show up at the appointment and it turns out the member knows the person we're teaching! Miracle! And inspired. God's hand is in the work (:

--We got a new investigator named Latasha, had an AMAZING lesson with her and just love her so much!! Then....she called us last night and dropped us ): It was really disappointing. Try as we might to convince her to see us one more time, it was a no-go. Broke my heart a little bit. I just want this gospel so bad for people!! 

--Our mission has been really hitting the Book of Mormon hard, using it in finding, using it as our main tool for teaching, etc. It is AMAZING! President Hall always talks about how "Every valley shall be exalted!" as it says in Isaiah. To exalt the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, we're flooding them with missionaries and the Book of Mormon! This week, we've had a Book of Mormon basically glued in our hands at all times. We hand out so many! It's led to a lot of miracles, people letting us in their homes, wanting to learn more, it's great! Best book in the world.

--After leaving a less-active's home, we handed a pass-along card to a girl walking on the sidewalk. One thing led to another, and she tells us she was baptized a few years ago, but things happened and she fell away from the Church! She just barely moved here. We gave her our number and told her to call us if she ever needed anything...and then we walked away. 
Bad missionaries! 
Haha so we were driving, then I just knew we needed to go back and get her number. So we stalked her hard core. Followed her and waited outside of the store she went into, and talked to her when she came out (: Luckily she had a sense of humor about it and we laughed, and we got her number! Woo! Stay tuned to see where things go with her. (:


LAUGHS
--Talking to Glenn about Latasha (when she was still an investigator...), we told him how we taught her the first lesson, and he asks 
"So she's getting baptized, right?" 
"haha we'll see Glenn! Keep her in your prayers!" 
"Well if you two have anything to do with it, she's basically already wet!" (: We love Glenn. He's so sweet and always tells us we are God's strongest and best servants (: He's a ray of sunshine!

--Glenn called us and we didn't answer, so he left us a message acting like he was calling the police... "Hi, this is Glenn Brich. My mother and I are out in our yard, a package was left on our doorstep that looks like a bomb. Hopefully we'll still be alive when you call back!" Haha he does the funniest little things to tease us. He's officially comfortable with us! (:


LESSONS
--I've learned a lot this week, mostly from a couple in our ward, the Marlows! They are the best and SUCH an inspiration. Filled with the spirit and just incredible. We talked with them at dinner, and Brother Marlow started talking about how pride is always known as the root sin, but he talks about how he thinks most of the time, pride actually stems from fear. AMEN. I've been trying to put this into words and have been noticing this very thing in my life. I use pride sometimes to mask my fears, to hide my insecurities. So I came up with this. It's
          Fear                 Faith
            &         v.          &
         Pride               Humility
I'm working so hard to change to have faith and humility rather than fear and pride. It's an adjustment! Takes work, but I'm getting there. One baby step at a time (:

--Also talking with the Marlows, they mentioned something I've never thought of before. A lot of the time, we see the Celestial Kingdom as the smallest circle, the least amount of people getting in. Then Terrestrial is a little bigger, then the Telestial kingdom is the biggest. 
BUT 
God's whole work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. If the degrees of heaven were really like that, in a 'snowman shape' so to say, God would have failed. But we know that God will not fail. The Celestial Kingdom will have the most people in it. I've never thought of that before! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us perfectly and are so merciful. Yes, we go where we deserve--but they love us and we all have a chance to accept Them and live with Them forever. It's beautiful (:

--I read a talk by Spencer W. Kimball called "Tragedy or Destiny." It was incredible. Please read it!! Basically addresses the question, "why do bad things happen to good people?" It was great. (Ed.: Here's a link: http://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-spencer-w-kimball/chapter-2?lang=eng)

Well, that's about it for this week...sorry it's not too exciting! It was a very trying week. We had basically all of our lessons fall through everyday, Latasha dropped us, and a recent convert just barely told us he's taking a break from church. ): Things are hard, but I'm learning and growing. Please send prayers this way! Thank you soo much, love you all <3


Sister Bishop



Having my very first mango! Sister Rhoades wanted to thoroughly document the moment. Haha changed my life though, suuuper yum. 




Our sweet Magda, she's been investigating for over a year now...working towards baptism slowly but surely (:


Flowers! It's gorgeous here.




Up on the hills, looking over our valley!


Getting frozen yogurt with our Sister Training Leaders after spending hours on the new elders' place!

Our Relief Society President took us shoe shopping, woo! New black flats (:

Baking our mini peach cobblers (tasted yummier than they look (: )

A deer in headlights! Get it?


I looked out the window and what did I see... view from my apartment (:

Monday, September 2, 2013

Letter 7: The one where Glen gets baptized!!

So much to tell, so little time! Another amazing week though, let's get started (:

STORIES:
--A couple weeks ago, we had gotten a referral through the mission office for a man named Victor. We went over and found out he only spoke Russian, so after a couple weeks of trying, we got a Russian Book of Mormon for him and had a guy who lives in another stake write his testimony in Russian. We took both over to Victor's house, and his daughter let us in and translated for us as we talked to him! Turns out he said he has been interested in our church for a looong time and has been waiting for a Book of Mormon! He has been wanting this desperately and was very excited. We are going to have the man from the other Stake come teach him (: It was way exciting!

--We had interviews this week with President Hall. Hands down he is the BEST mission president ever. I just love and respect him so much. He knows exactly what to say and is just filled with the spirit. I'm so lucky!!

--We found a girl a week or so ago named Candace, and unfortunately were only able to teach her once before we had to transfer her over to the Young Single Adult ward missionaries. 
Buuuut 
we see her around everywhere, and she is like my best friend now! I love her to pieces, she is the most spiritually uplifting person ever. Every time we talk, I feel like she teaches me ten times more than I teach her. I love her to death! She fed us dinner on Saturday at the chapel. Who does that? She's just an investigator! But holy smokes she's the best person ever.

--We discovered a big stack of old teaching records of former investigators in our apartment this week.... Aka, a GOLDMINE! We have plenty of people to go visit now, and it's been years since they've had contact with missionaries. Every former investigator we go see is so happy to see us and now we have scheduled a bunch of return appointments! I love it (:

--And of course, the story you've all been waiting for....

GLEN'S BAPTISM!!!

Yesterday, Glen was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (: Walking in to the church building and seeing him in his white jumpsuit was the best sight I ever did see. And yes, I teared up a little. He's such a gem! Anyone who talks to him can tell how amazing he is, he's the most genuine and kind person you'll ever meet. 
He was so happy and the baptism went great! Although I must admit, as he was entering the baptismal font, I kept thinking in my head "I baptize you!" in the Nacho Libre voice...if you know what I'm talking about, you'll know it's funny. 
In all seriousness though, I could not be more happy, proud, or blessed to have played a roll in Glen's conversion. Oh, happy day!!! 

--Speaking of Glen, he remembered to fast yesterday all on his own. We spaced on reminding him Saturday night, but he's just amazing and did it all by himself, and even had fast offerings ready to go! He amazes me. 


FUNNIES:
--I've been teaching the Restoration in my sleep, according to Sister Rhoades. hahah you really do eat, sleep, and breathe missionary work!!

--We taught Glen how to "pound it." It was the funniest thing ever. 

--Our fire alarm went off randomly around midnight, and anyone who knows me knows I do NOT wake up well. Haha so I shoot up out of bed and hear "beep beep FIRE beep beep FIRE" over and over again. I'm just running around so confused and trying to wake Sister Rhoades up. Luckily, Sister Rhoades had her act together, the alarm turned off, and we discovered there was no fire. We spent the next morning figuring out what we would do if there was a fire haha. We now have a pretty intense escape route planned, involving jumping out the 2nd story window onto the terrace.

--While walking down the street, Sister Rhoades just casually points at my leg, "oh look!" I look down and there's a huuuge praying mantis on my calf! She's all nonchalant about it, and I freak out and am trying to smack it off, but it kept dodging my hand and running around my leg. I caused quite the scene hahah it was great.

--We got locked out of our apartment! So we had an adventure breaking in through the window

--Glen calls us every day without fail, and we love it! He's started addressing himself as "Brother Glen," it's the best.


LESSONS LEARNED:
--I've worked hard this week on being teachable. "We need to be the best students, so we can be the best teachers!" as Sister Hall has said. Being teachable requires a lot of humility for sure. Another quote for ya, "when our desire to learn, grow, and change is greater than our our desire to remain comfortable staying where we are, we become teachable." So that's a work in progress!

--Still working on placing my confidence and trust in God. My cousin serving in Taiwan, Elder Kevin Bishop, said some things in a letter that I loved. So I'm just going to share what he said (: "We don't stop at the first no. When invitations are rejected, or when commitments aren't made, that's when we get started. That's where the real work is. There can be no shying away from that! There is no timidity in the boldness of the Restoration. It's true! Again, another question, do we even know what we have? Even I don't know sometimes! Don't you see? This message is important! It's the most important thing on the planet! If you haven't thought about it, START THINKING ABOUT IT! If you're not reading the scriptures and praying everyday, don't think about whether or not you want to, just trust the Lord and DO IT. If you're not sharing the Gospel, don't think about how hard it is, JUST DO IT! I promise the fruits will bring you happiness and joy."
So basically, he says it perfectly. This is something I'm working on. Just being bold and DOING IT (:


Well, that's about it! Life's just going along though, missionary work is the greatest. I'm loving it. I learn more and more about myself everyday and am learning to put my faith in God. I feel so blessed to be representing Christ and His church. I looove this gospel and I looove being a missionary, I'm so very blessed. Thank you for all the love and support, keep the prayers and letters coming. (: Have a lovely week!


xoxo
Sister Bishop

Don't know what to say about the ones of me and sister rhoades...its just us haha.


Then the california palm trees (: love 'em.





Candace!


At glen's baptism! Hate that we can't touch arms or anything...haha just standing awkwardly.


With Glen and Bro. Wyatt, the producer of Napolean Dynamite and the man who baptized him!


With the baptismal program...we spelled his name wrong in 2 different places...whoops! Haha lesson learned.

We almost forgot to take our weekly p-day picture. But we remembered! So we took two.


One is how we love jesus haha. Sister Rhoades is making a heart of some sort with her hands