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

LETTER 6: The one where Tessa knocks three times

Hi friends and family!

Is it already another P-day? The weeks really fly by! Where to begin?

Well I've learned a lot this week...

LESSON ONE

Sometimes, you just really don't want to talk to another person...it's a sad truth. But following little promptings and working hard even when you don't feel like it is how we find people! We had that happen so many times this week. Lots of great people were found, just because we opened our mouths and talked to them. Sounds simple, and it is--but it's still a lot easier said than done haha so I'm constantly improving and having to work on this.

LESSON TWO

So for me, the mission has seemed to bring out allllllll of my flaws and I haven't quite known how to deal with that. I've felt like I've been drowning in things I need to improve on, and every day I feel like I fail at getting better. So yes, it's been discouraging!

BUT

I had a moment of revelation and learned that I need to bravely face my flaws and trust in the Lord. I need to love myself and trust that He loves me no matter what. When my confidence is in God, I will be able to face my flaws and insecurities without feeling worthless. If I don't have faith in Him, I will never be able to change. But I can change, and I will. Because I know God loves me. I can bravely face my flaws because no matter what they are, my God is my support and He thinks I'm the best thing ever! Satan has been making me feel like I can't pray when I've been angry or messed up, but duh, that's when I need to most! I've felt many times undeserving of love or blessings because I'm so flawed, but I do deserve it. God loves me. Satan doesn't. I am not my mistakes. God loves me perfectly with a love I can't comprehend, and that's all I need to know. His love and the atonement will transform me, and I will change.

Needless to say, this lesson has been hard learned and I'm still working on it. But bottom line is, God loves me no matter what. I'm trusting in Him and giving myself over to Him, because I so desperately need His help!

  

STORIES

--I GOT IN A CAR ACCIDENT!!!! Ok, it really wasn't that serious. But a car accident nonetheless. We were in the parking lot and a lady backed into us! It hit right next to Sister Rhoades on the passenger side, and now the passenger door doesn't open. So I get to cheauffer Sister Rhoades around while she's in the back seat haha.

--We went to visit a lady who was found knocking a while ago. As we're walking up to her door, I have a distinct feeling, "knock three times." Uhh what? So we knock once, wait....nothing. Knock again, wait....nothing. Usually we leave about then, so Sister Rhoades starts walking away. But again I think, "knock three times." So I knock again....wait....keep waiting....and finally someone answers! It was her son, Edward. We talk and he's like, "I've always wondered what you guys are always about!" So long story short, we've gone back multiple times and have been teaching him. NEW INVESTIGATOR! He's the best ever too, he has the best questions and really listens to what we have to say. I could teach him all day, I love it so much.
So another cool story! Just the smallest little thing, inspiration to knock three times. If we had left after the second knock, he wouldn't have come to the door, and wouldn't have had a chance to come closer to Christ. WOW.

--We asked Glen all the baptismal interview questions yesterday, and he passed the test with flying colors!! I started tearing up big time. I just can not believe how far he's come, and how much he's grown! He surprises me everytime we talk with him, his faith and growth is astounding! He is truly the biggest miracle, he's so prepared. It makes me completely joyous. His baptism is Sunday! Ahhh! I'm going to be a crying mess haha. Can't wait.

THE LAUGHS

--We got a text from an unknown number saying:
Him: Hey is this Bishop?
Me: Nope it's the missionaries! (:
Him: So it's not Sister Bishop?
Me: Oh wait, yes it is!

Haha it was pretty funny. This last name of mine causes for a lot of jokes and misunderstandings! Proud to be a Bishop though (:

Well a couple of texts later, we found out who it was--a guy we talked to on the street a couple weeks ago. He goes on to ask me on a date to the Dodger's game...
uhh.

No can do! haha

So I tell him sorry, this part of my life is dedicated to the Lord and we don't date, yada yada. He says, "You could just call it a day off!"

Nice try. Haha guess that's what happens when you're really nice and talk to everyone and give out your number!

--This week, Glen was super sweet and made me and Sister Rhoades a lunch to take home! He's said, "I want you to have a real meal, no more eating a cheese stick with a napkin soaked in milk!" haha what? We still have no idea what he was talking about...just smile and nod...one of those moments.

--While out knocking, we come to one door and this guys answers and tells us enthusiastically, "I'm a modern day Prophet! I'm getting baptised today!" Haha he was the funniest thing ever. We keep talking, one thing leads to another, and he just starts singing us this song, just belting it out for probably three solid minutes. We just stare at him, smiling while he sings his heart out. It made my day! He was quite the character. A memorable door contact for sure.

--We were in an apartment building and saw a guy in the laundry room, so being the creepers missionaries are, we go up and talk to him. We walk in and see he has a parrot on his shoulder! Was definitely easy to find a conversation starter with that one haha. So we mention the parrot and he just looks at us like duh, doesn't everyone do laundry with a parrot? I guess it was a normal thing in his world!

Well that's about it for this week. Loving it here, growing and getting better each day. This gospel is amazing and my appreciation for it has grown so much deeper. I can't even begin to imagine NOT being on a mission, even though it's only been a month and a half! This is definitely where I need to be, and the things I'm learning here are priceless. Most importantly though, I get to bring people to the gospel!! What better thing is there to do? I love you all, thanks for the support. Stay tuned for next week's adventures (:

xoxo

Sister Bishop

Elders parking crazy, blocking us in. Happens every time!

Our poor car...

After a long day and in our PJ's! This is Sister Rhoades "tired face" I guess haha

This guy in our ward rides this bike to church every Sunday! Coolest thing ever:

Letter 5: The one where Tessa eats a whole fish

Another great week, more miracles, and stories! Are you ready? 

Well, a majority of this week has been spent teaching Glen, so I'll just dedicate a little portion to Glen and his progress:

·  On Monday, we set a baptism date!! September first is the day, less than two weeks! How great is that?? When we were talking about the date, and I started asking him the whole official question, "Glen, will you follow Christ and prepare yourself to be bapti--" But he cut me off mid-sentence with an enthusiastic "Yes!!" So great. 

·  We were having a lesson about the fundamentals, CPR: Church, Pray, Read. We do a whole object lesson where you build up cups as your foundation, the investigator is on top, and then you take one cup away and everything falls down. We had him take the cup away, and of course, it all tumbles down. He's like, "Are you threatening me??" Hahah we were laughing so hard.

·  At church Sunday, the gospel principles class was on the Word of Wisdom, which we haven't taught him yet! We were way nervous with how he'd take it, but he's just like "Yeah, makes perfect sense! Our bodies are temples and we gotta take care of them, they are the vehicles for our spirits!" Biiiig sigh of relief. Such a breeze!

·  He called us Sunday night...
Glen: "Hi sisters! So I can't drink coffee anymore?"
Me: "Yeah, sorry Glen! We'll talk about it more on Wednesday when we come over."
Glen: ""Oh no, it's fine. I'll stop drinking it right now, just wanted to double check. Goodnight!"
Uhh...who does that? He called to ask us about a commandment...and then just obeyed, no questions asked. He's golden.

·  He asked for advice on how to plan his days out, so we went to target and bought a 'to-do list' and then wrote Pray and Read Scriptures on the top of every single sheet. Haha we're so sneaky (:

·  We went to teach him and he had Jehovah's Witness flyers on his door...so we just stuffed them in our bags...he doesn't need those right? haha

·  We were talking about how the spirit fills you with light, and he's like, "I can see that! It looks so good on you!" So sweet.

Glen really is the best. Some other note-worthy stories though!

People have been refreshingly kind to us this week...just out of no where! But hey, no complaints (: We taught a less-active member, she hasn't been active since her teen years and now her and her family are strong in another faith. We went over and she had fruit all ready for us, gathered her girls to listen to the restoration, brought out homemade cookies for us, and then as we were leaving, she gave us a pan of lasagna to take home! Say what? They were the most Christ-like people, I might have learned more from them than they learned from us. They are experts on the Bible pretty much so we were way nervous that it would turn to Bible bashing, but they listened to our message, were so kind, and just Christ-like. Such great examples, I was blown away with their kindness. There are many others too where we just knocked on their door and they let us teach them. It's the best!

One time we got locked in to someone's house...hahah a lot of people up in the hills (the richer area) have gates on their driveways. Someone let us in their gate and we talked to him at his door, but then the gate closed behind us and we were locked in. We knocked on his door a whole bunch and he wouldn't answer! "We know you're in there! Open the gate!" haha it was the weirdest thing. So we were locked into his front yard for 5-10 minutes. That's a first!

Thursday we celebrated Sister Rhoades' and Sister Scrivner's one year mark! We made s'mores and it was lovely. Also, Saturday was my one month mark! Not as monumental, but it is to me (: Can hardly believe that a month has gone by, 1 down 17 to go! 

Each Friday down the street from us, around 20 food trucks park up and down the street. They come from alllll over, and so do the people! It's quite the event. So we went to go street contact, but it was wayyy crowded and no one wanted to stop and listen to us. So we went home discouraged around 8:30, but we decided to go outside our apartment and street contact for the last 25 minutes of the night. We went out and talked to the first guy we came in contact with, and he really opened up to us! He was so interested in learning more. It was really incredible, because we were so discouraged from the food trucks, but decided to keep trying even though we easily could've just stayed in our apartment and called it a night. But the Lord blessed us for our obedience and persistence, and now we have a potential new investigator. Way cool!

While talking to someone in his front yard: "You guys are so happy and bubbly, I'd give you drugs or alcohol if I had some!"
Uhhh....still not sure what he meant by that hahah but no thanks!

Saturday we did a service project with a member, her husband has to be put in a wheel chair, so we helped clean up her house and rearrange things so a wheel chair could fit through places. Well her husband was with LA PD for 30 years, so we went through boxes and just found tons and tons of cool things from his police days! I loved it. Except for when we had to go shred pictures...he worked in the child abuse department, so there were a lot of sad pictures ): Cool experience though hearing his stories and helping them out. That night we had dinner with a member, and we had fish...but like, a whole fish--head, tail, eyes, and all! I've never eaten a fish like that. So we skinned them, pulled out all the bones...it grossed me out at first, but then I thought it was really cool. And yummy (:

Sunday we had church and it was amazing! In all honesty though, church is really stressful when you're bringing investigators...I'm so nervous about what the speakers/teachers will say next, if they'll mention things the investigators don't know about yet, if it's too confusing for them...yeah. It's a little stressful. 

Fun fact, the gospel doctrine teacher is the director of Napolean Dynamite. Cool huh? And the actor who played Napolean Dynamite is in one of the wards in my mission. Some missionaries in my district have been in that area and can say that Napolean Dynamite passed them the sacrament haha. What do I have to do to get transferred there? (;

This week I've been working on being spiritually present at lessons. I feel pretty capable when it comes to teaching, but that's not what matters most. What matters is listening to the investigator, and using the spirit to discern their needs. Focusing on the spirit the whole time and on the investigator makes all the difference! When I'm focused on what I'm going to say next, I'm not teaching the person, I'm teaching a lesson and just getting the information out there. When you're teaching a person, you are helping them from where they're at on their journey. You address their needs, their concerns, their spirit. It's so much better that way!!

Again, I'm learning to be happy through adversity. Missions are hard and Heavenly Father knows how to push all your buttons. Haha but it really is for my good, it's making me better. I love this gospel so much. If you're thinking about going on a mission, GO. It is so amazing and worth it in every aspect.

Thanks for reading my novel about my week, things are going well! Missionary work is the best. Thank you again for all the love, support, and prayers! Keep writing me (:

xoxo
Sister Bishop

The whole fish:

The street where the bike flying scene in ET was filmed:

The sisters in the street where the bike flying scene of ET was filmed.