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