Sister Tessa Bishop: 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.