We each bought a raw, stinky fish with the tail still attached and onions all over.... LEKKER! IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!

Hey everybody!!!!  It doesn't seem like so long ago that I sent you an email.  It was only 5 days ago, but soooo much has happened since Monday.  It sounds like a lot has happened for you as well.  Dad in the hills again, Mom working around the house, Meleese going to birthing classes, and Ross and Lainey with friends.  It sounds like a good summer and I can't believe how fast it is going!  Like I said though, a lot has happened this week so I better get started...

Apeldoorn District

Monday after emailing we spent the day with the missionaries in Apeldoorn and one of the members who is waiting on his mission call.  We did some shopping and walked around the centrum.  Elder Lee and Sister Jones had never had Haring before, so we went to the Monday market and found a fish stand with raw Haring.  They didn't want to do it, so I told them that I would do it if they did it.  They agreed andhaha I went first.  I grabbed it by the tail and put more then half the fish in my mouth and started chewing.  IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!  I threw it up on the ground haha.  I took a smaller bite after that though and managed to swallow it.  It was stinky and slimy and disgusting!  The other two followed with similar reactions.  M, the member waiting for his call, could not believe it!  He loves haring and thought we were all babies haha. After we finished, sister Frandsen stepped in the Haring that I spit out hahaha it was classic. I got home and washed my hands 4 times and my fingers still stunk for the rest of the day.  That night was family home evening in Deventer.  It was a great turn out with 3 investigators and J, the guy we reactivated.  Holland was playing Chile and a lot of the YSA were watching on their phones.  During the middle of the lesson, Holland scored and everyone started freaking out haha they scored again 10 minutes later and beat Chile 2-0!!!!  We played games afterwards and had a fun night.  

Tuesday was a miracle day.  We had district meeting in Deventer and then had a couple lessons there.  First we taught R and T.  They are two brothers from Tanzania living here in Holland.  They speak Dutch, French, and Swahili, but they really want to learn english, so we are teaching them english.  We also gave them copies of the Book of Mormon and have been teaching them about the Restored Gospel.  They committed to come to church tomorrow, so hopefully they do!  Afterwards, we looked up B.  We have been trying to contact him this whole transfer, but he has never answered the door.  We have a good relationship and I wanted to try one last time since it was my last day in that area.  We knocked and waited for a while and right when we were about to leave, he opened up the door!  We talked to him for a while.  Last time I talked to him, he was considering writing himself out of the church.  We talked with him again, and he is doing SO much better!    He explained to us how he knows the church is true.  He told us that Satan has been hitting him hard lately, but he is working hard to overcome those trials and come back to church.  I told him I go home in December and he promised me that he would be going to church before I go home.  Hopefully the missionaries will still be able to keep contact with him and help him come back to church, because he is such a good man.  That evening we had time to visit one last member before I needed to start packing.  I decided to visit the P's.  He is from Norway and she is dutch.  He is a concert pianist and they are both so nice!  I have always wanted to play the piano with him and visit with both of them, so we decided to go visit them and say goodbye.  We showed up unexpectedly, and they were so happy to see us.  They let us in and we visited for a while.  I wrote them a card and they opened it and read it.  He started crying.  He started to tell us stories of his mission in france and all the great experiences he had.  After we were done visiting, I asked him if he could play me something on the piano.  We walked over to their living room and he sat at his nice big grand piano.  He started playing Clair de Lune!!  That is one of my favorites of all time and he played it SO well.  it was flawless.  It made my night listening to that.  He asked me to play afterwards and we had a lot of fun playing for the next 20 minutes.  We prayed with them afterwards, and they explained to us how we carry a special spirit with us and they felt it in their home and they were so grateful that we came.  I am glad I went over there before I left.

Wednesday morning we woke up at 5:30 because I had to be at the office by 9 am.  I was nervous driving to Utrecht and then catching a train to Leiden.  I walked in right at 9 and right when I got there we started giving a training to the 2 new missionaries.  Luckily they had bullet points and I was able to follow and give the training, but I literally got thrown into it.  The trainers came at 10 and then we gave another training to the trainers.  It wasn't too bad though and we made it through fine.  Both of the Greenies are serving in Amsterdam (One elder and one sister) so I will see them fairly often.  Afterwards, we waited in the office for the 4 Elders to come in who were going home.  During that time, we found out that a guy jumped on the train tracks between Rotterdam and Antwerp, and there were no trains going to Belgium for the rest of the day, but we had 5 missionaries who still needed to get down there.  We got some of the zone leaders to give them rides and got it all figured out.  That is one of our biggest responsibilities as Assistants is to be problem solvers.  It is actually kind of fun though haha.  That evening we drove the 4 departing missionaries to the mission home and hung out with them there.  President and Sister Robinson were in a meeting with President Teixeira from the 70.  it was about the facebook project we are doing in this mission.  We have seen a lot of success from it and President Teixeira interviewed a few missionaries and will be sending the interviews to the Quorum of the 12.  He is pushing to run this project throughout all of west Europe!  The interviews went great and he was very pleased, as was President Robinson.  After their interviews, President and Sister Robinson showed up at the mission home and we had a departing devotional and testimony meeting.  It went really well.  We always send home our best missionaries.  Afterwards, president and sister Robinson went to bed and we watched the Princess Bride haha.  It is a tradition that the missionaries who are leaving  can watch a movie the night before they go, and we are lucky and get to watch it with them.  We stayed up til about 1 am and them had to wake up at 4 am to get them to the airport.  We took them to the airport the next morning and sent them off.  It was a really weird experience to do that and then to go back and get back to missionary work that same day.  We had a lot to do that day though to prepare for the coming transfer.  After a lot of planning, we were able to go to Amsterdam and get to work.  They actually have quite a bit going there right now.  They have 2 positive investigators, a mother and a daughter, who are planning to be baptized on July 27.  We will be working with them to help make that happen.  

Friday we had the day to work in Amsterdam.  It is totally different working there than anywhere else I have worked on my mission.  I have been only in smaller cities with no more than 100,000 people.  Amsterdam is a city with more than 1,000,000.  There is such a cool vibe there though and a ton of people are willing to listen and try out some new things.  it is a lot of fun working there.  We taught some lessons and found 3 new potentials in just a few hours.  We had a lunch appointment with a lady from Ghana.  She made us some african food called red red.  It is mashed up beans with some onions and stuff like that, but africans don't use silverware while eating so we just picked it up with our hands and ate haha it was a lot of fun.  

I have been praying a lot and thinking a lot about what I can do to be an asset to this mission.  I thought about my strengths and weaknesses and what I can bring to the table, because, honestly, I feel pretty inadequate right now.  Elder Eastmond is a killer missionary and great leader.  But I feel like I can do a good job at helping others feel the Love of God by showing them love myself.  I have studied charity and love a lot on my mission and I feel like that is one of the attributes I have developed the most since I have been out here.  I studied Elder Scott's and President Monson's talks they gave in the last General Conference, and I have found some good ideas on how I can do that.  I am excited for this transfer because I am going to learn more than I ever have before.  It will be a lot of fun working witha lot with other missionaries, working with President, and helping this mission see success.

I am so grateful for all of you and I love you so much.  I hope you have a great week and please tell everyone I miss them and love them at the family reunion!  

Veel Lief,

Elder Bishop

"Leeker" or as Elder Bishop describes it, "a raw, stinky fish with the tail still attached and onions all over"

Ready....

Set.....

GO!!!

Wonderful Lessons Learned in Apeldoorn and New Changes on the Horizon for Elder Bishop

Tilted tower in Leeuwarden
(supposedly it leans more than the leaning tower of pisa)

Hey everyone!!!  I can't believe how busy you all are this week!  You are always busy!  I don't know if it happened since I left or if I just didn't realize when I was back home.  It's good to be busy though, and I'm glad everything turned out alright.  This week was busy for us as well.  It wasn't quite as crazy as last week, but not having a car in the biggest zone in the mission is definitely inconvenient, and that made it really busy as well.  But like I said, it's good to be busy.

 

So there are two big lessons I learned this transfer, and I will share them through my experiences this week.  Monday was a killer day.  First off, it was Pday, and I love Pdays. But afterwards, we went to family home evening in Deventer, and we invited J  (He is the guy from Sierra Leone who came to church for the first time in 4 years last week.)  There weren't a lot of people at FHE, but it was still so good.  Elder Bourne and I gave the lesson about trials, and how God will support us through our trials if we stay faithful.  We went around the room and asked everyone to share an experience where they saw the hand of God help them through a hard time.  J was the last one to go and he shared such a  great experience.  He told us a story of his family.  He was married back in Sierra Leone with a young boy.  He was SO proud of his son.  He told everyone how he is gonna have the smartest son and the strongest son and he was going to be a lawyer.  He was a typical 25 year old dad with a 2 or 3 year old son, so proud of him.  One night his wife and son were driving back to see him.  It was late at night when he received a call from his mother-in-law.  She told him that his wife and son got in a bad car accident.  The wife was fine, but the son was in critical condition.  A few hours later the son died.  J explained how sad he was.  He got on his knees and prayed.  He told the Lord that everything that happens is for a reason, and he trusted Him even though he didn't know the reason.  A few years later he fled from Sierra Leone and lost contact with the church, he ended up in Holland and has been living here for the past 2 years, still no contact with the church.  He said it was a very hard time for him.  He felt so alone with no son and a wife in a different country.  Then he explained in his own words, pointing at Elder Bourne and myself, "But then my brothers found me.  They brought me back to church, and I feel at home now.  My wife will be joining me next month here in Holland.  The Lord has blessed me with miracles through my trials." the Spirit was so strong after he shared his experience.  Everyone was in tears.  My experience with J sums up the first big lesson I learned this transfer, and that is, as we are diligent and obedient to the Lord's commandments, He will bless us.  Elder Bourne and I have been focusing on diligence and obedience this transfer, and the Lord blessed us with miracles such as J.  He literally walked in front of us and stopped us.  The same goes for J.  He has been faithful and obedient, trusting in the Lord, and we were able to be an answer to his prayers.  That was the biggest miracle this transfer and one of the biggest miracles on my mission.

 

Tuesday began our journey without a car.  We went up to Groningen to attend their district meeting, and that takes a couple of hours to get there and a couple of hours to get back.  It took up most of our day, but we were able to get back for a dinner appointment with the Bishop in Apeldoorn.  He is a great guy with a great family, and we were able to correlate with him to help get the members more involved with missionary work with the new stake plan, that is digital missionary work.  It was a long day on the trains, but still good.

 

Wednesday we traveled back up north to spend the next two days on splits with Elders there.  Wednesday we were with the Heerenveen Elders.  I worked with Elder Rudolph who played football at SUU, so we talked about Cedar City a lot.  That day Holland played Australia in the World Cup.  It is a mission rule that we are not allowed to knock doors during the games.  If we don't have appointments, we need to be inside.  Luckily, Elder Rudolph and I had an appointment.  We got in there and they had the game going on anyways.  It is a bad idea to ask them to turn it off, because it is such a big deal here.  The game was almost over anyways so we just watched the last 20 minutes with them.  It was closer than I wanted it to be, but Holland came out on top 3-2 against Australia!!  Everyone was going crazy afterwards!!!  haha it was pretty fun to see and walk through the city afterwards.  The appointment was good though and we were able to give some priesthood blessings which they really enjoyed.

 

Thursday we were in Groningen.  I worked with Elder Hulet again.  We had a big service project that day with all the missionaries in Groningen and Elder Bourne and me, so there were 8 there.  It was a lot of fun and they cooked dinner for us afterwards.  I was able to play their piano after dinner as well, and they loved it.  It was a good day.

 

Friday we were on exchanges with Zwolle.  I brought Elder Ames back to Apeldoorn with me and we had a couple of good appointments in the morning.  Afterwards we got a call from the office saying that they had an extra car for us that we could pick up that day!!  Miracle. so we spent the afternoon going to the office and driving back.    That evening we had institute, and it was a great lesson.  That's where the second big lesson I learned comes in.  The institute lesson was about hope and faith.  We defined both words.  Hope is something we are looking forward to.  It is an expectation.  Faith is acting on that hope, doing everything we can to make that expectation happen.  I never really thought of it that way, but then I realized that my faith grew this transfer because of that concept.  At the beginning of the transfer, Elder Bourne and I set goals.  We hoped and expected that we could reach those goals, and every goal we set, we either reached it or exceeded it.  It took a lot of hard work, but faith is hard work.  We acted.  We did something about it, and those expectations became a reality.  And because of that, my faith has increased.  That is the second big lesson I learned this transfer.

 

Saturday was pretty easy going.  We had a big lunch as missionaries.  Elder Lee cooked us some sweet and sour chicken which was incredible.  We got back to Apeldoorn and did some work there then had a dinner appointment with Sister Stomps.  She is an old short lady from Austria and she is so funny.  It was a lot of fun.

 

Sunday was a good church service.  Afterwards we were able to teach two lessons, both to two different families.  The first lesson was to a religious Dutch family, active Protestants.  They were very nice, but felt weird about the Book of Mormon.  They didn't want to read it, so we told them to just see it as a history book full of stories, and read it with that perspective.  The reason we did that is because once they see that the Book talks about Christ and His teachings then they won't have such weird feelings about it.  Hopefully it works.  The second family was a lot more positive.  The mom is from Thailand and the Dad is dutch.  The kids have a Buddhist background but are very interested in the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ.  We committed them to read it and pray about it and we will follow up with them next week.  It was a great lesson.  That night was transfer calls, and I got a call from president.  I am being transferred out of Apeldoorn and will be serving in Amsterdam as an Assistant to President Robinson!  I am sad to be leaving Apeldoorn and Elder Bourne, because I had such a good transfer here, but I am very excited to be going to Amsterdam.  I am definitely a little nervous, but I think everything will be alright.  I will be in the office every Monday so my Pdays will now be on Saturday, so you will have to send me an email before Saturday so I can get them.  I will be leaving Apeldoornon Wednesday morning.  My new address is...

 

Vogelkersoord 15

1112 ED Diemen

Netherlands

 

Diemen is a suburb of Amsterdam.

 

I love you all so much and hope you have another great week!

 

Groetjes,

Elder Bishop

Deventer Skyline

Me, xiao bo, Sissi, Elder Bourne, Anne, Elder Tjong Ayong, Sister and Elder Kleijn, and Elder Lee.

 

The World Cup game, Holland vs. Spain...nobody was expecting a 5-1 victory against the defending world champions! We didn't need a TV, we could clearly tell every-time Holland scored

Hey everybody!  Once again, it sounds like a busy week serving others, in the mountains, and with friends back home.  I'm glad everybody had a great week and that everybody is safe and happy.  I got the package this week and I loved it so much!  The family history stories are great and I am really starting to gain a lot of respect and appreciation for my ancestors and the road they paved for me at this time.  I have been reading the biography of John William Dutson and am amazed at the experiences he went through.  Reading from his biography I have noticed some similarities that we have with each other.  For instince, he was musically talented and played his violin to lift people's spirits and entertain them in hard times.  Monday evening we went to an older couple's home.  She is an active member, but her husband lost his testimony years ago.  He is still really nice though and they both love having us over.  They had a nice piano sitting in their living room, and after dinner I asked if I could play them something.  I played the Chopin piece and they absolutely LOVED it!  They couldn't believe I had it memorized.  They went on and on, and told me that I am welcome anytime to come by and play them something haha.  That's not the first time something like that has happened either.  I am grateful for that talent I have that John William Dutson had, to lift people's spirits through music.

 

Tuesday was a miraculous day.  We were on exchanges with the Chinese elders in Deventer.  I was with Elder Lee.  He is from Singapore and he is a great missionary.  We had a lot of fun.  He cooked for us that night and so we had to stop by an asian store to get some ingredients.  While we were there, he convinced me to buy some really spicey peppers.  I did, and yes, they are spicey!!!  haha I love spicey food though.  That day we were driving around to little towns outside of Apeldoorn to look up some inactives.  We have seen a lot of success getting appointments with part member families that way.  While driving through a town between Deventer and Apeldoorn, we saw one of Deventer's recent converts walking on the street!  We pulled over ASAP and chased him down.  It was probably a funny sight for those driving by to see two guys in white shirts and ties running after a chinese guy.  Haha. We caught up to him and they talked for a while.  He doesn't speak any English or Dutch, so I was silent, and they went off in Chinese.  We went with him to his home/restaurant (he lives above a chinese restaurant) and they continued to talk.  I felt like I was in China for a little bit being in that restaurant with only chinese people speaking chinese.  After about an hour of sitting there, we left.  Elder Lee filled me in on everything.  He told me that he couldn't get his legality to stay here and he needs to go back to China next month.  he is really sad and struggling right now.  Elder Lee told me it was a huge miracle to run into him because it has been hard to contact him with all this happening to him.  They will be working on getting him information to the church back in China where he will be living.  Elder Lee made some chinese food that night and a chinese breakfast the next morning.  it was SOO good!  it was a good exchange as well.

 

Wednesday was pretty uneventful.  We had a lot of planning to do, and we did a few look-ups that evening with not a lot of success, but Thursday was a good day.  We woke up early that morning and drove to the mission home right outside of the Hague.  We had our monthly mission leader council.  it was really good.  They focused a lot on working with sisters in the church.  They told us everything done in the church is through councils, and there will be women in all of the councils we attend throughout our lives, so we need to learn how to work with them.  I learned some good things that will be helpful after my mission as well.  We didn't get back until later that evening because we hit bad traffic... I hate traffic.

 

Friday was the most eventful day this week and possibly this month.  It started off killer and then turned around into something terrible and then finished off incredible again!  Let me explain...  Friday morning we had a great lesson with J.  He is the member we ran into a couple weeks ago.  We talked to him more and got to know him a little better and where he is at exactly spiritually.  He has had a crazy past.  Growing up in Sierra Leon, Africa in the 90's would be crazy.  That was in the middle of their big civil war.  His town was invaded when he was 12 years old and he was shot in the leg twice.  He has a wife and had a small baby, but his baby passed away in a car accident a few years ago.  He is waitng right now for his wife to get her visa and come live with him in Holland.  Despite all his trials, he has remained faithful.  We watched the restoration DVD and asked him about his feelings towards Joseph Smith and the Restored Church.  The Spirit was so strong when he was testifying and at the end he told us, "It feels so nice to be reconnected with the Spirit again." It was a great lesson and we were so excited afterwards.  On our way back we were driving on the freeway when just about every light on the dashboard lit up.  Elder Bourne kept telling me that it smelled like pretzels.  I started getting nervous and told him that it wasn't pretzels, but our car!  We were almost in Apeldoorn when the car started making crazy sounds.  We were FREAKING OUT!  Elder Bourne said a prayer for us.  We got off the freeway at the first exit in Apeldoorn.  We were stopped at an intersection and our car died.  We were screaming and freaking out like little girls haha!  Car's started piling up behind us because it was such a busy intersection, but we were stalled at the light.  After 3 times of trying to start it back up, it finally started.  The engine was shaking and we pulled in the the closest parking lot (McDonald's) and turned the car off.  It was a miracle we made it to that parking lot.  We called for assistance and they came an hour later just to look at our car and tell us that the engine was over heated and the car was totalled...  We got it to the closest shop, informed the office, and the guy gave us a ride home.  We had a zone conference the next morning in Rotterdam and planned to just drive there that morning, but since we didn't have a car, we had to take a train and leave that night.  We got to The Hague that night at 9 and stayed with the Elders there.  The World Cup game, Holland vs. Spain started that night at 9.  We didn't need a tv, we could clearly tell every-time Holland scored, which was 5 times!!!  We would go out on the balcony everytime they scored and cheer with everybody else.  It was SO much fun.  People would jump in the canals every-time Holland would score.  it was CRAZY!!!  Nobody was expecting a 5-1 victory against the defending world champions.  It was a great way to end such an eventful day.

 

Saturday was our zone conference.  We had a member of the 70 there, Elder Boom.  He is Dutch and spoke a lot about life experiences and goal setting.  It was great and I learned a lot.  Half the mission was there and it was fun to see all the missionaries.  There are a lot of new ones who I never met before.  We grabbed some Burger king at the train station for dinenr afterwards and then headed back east to Apeldoorn.

 

Sunday was a great day to finish off the week.  J came to church!  He traveled witht he Senior Couple in Deventer, and we saw him there.  He wore a nice white shirt and tie, and he fit right in.  He made friends instantly.  I sat next to him in priesthood and he whispered to me, "I feel so relieved to be back.  I feel home."  He LOVED it and the members loved having him there.  we are meeting with him tonight and taking him to FHE to meet some more of the YSA.  It was a nice Father's day service.  The young women sang a beautiful rendition of I Know that My Redeemer Lives.  The Spirit was very strong.  After church we had a lot of paper work to do for the zone and we had a correlation meeting with the Sister Training Leader where we reviewed the transfer and made some adjustments and goals for next transfer. 

 

My week was also a 5-1 victory.  We had one crazy experience this week which made the score, Car-1, Elder Bishop-0.  But then we came back with five unanswered...

 

Elder Bishop 

1. gained friendship with nice older couple

2. ran into a recent convert who needed us at that moment

3. great councils and conferences where I learned a lot and was built up

4. Spiritual lessons and 2 new investigators

5. Brought someone to church who hadn't been in over 4 years, and he loved it and will be coming next week

 

 This transfer flew by!  Next week I will know whether I stay in Apeldoorn or go somewhere else for next transfer, so I will let you guys know!!  I would love to stay here in Apeldoorn though.  We are seeing so many miracles and getting along great.  I LOVE my mission and can't believe I have less than 6 months left.  I better make them the best 6 months because I will never get another opportunity like this in this life.  I love you all so much and I am so grateful for the testimony that we share that Jesus is the Chirst.  He is central to God's plan and central to our family.  I know God lives, and I know he is a God of miracles.  I have seen so many.  I know that Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son.  He is our anchor of hope.  Ik wens jullie nog een héél fijne week met overvloedig geluk en plezier. 

 

Veel Lief,

Elder Bishop

I love teaching the restoration lesson, because every time I do, my own personal testimony is strengthened

Prepping for the World Cup

Hey everybody!!! It was nice to hear that you all had a great week with lots of sun.  The pictures of the yard look incredible!!  I forgot how big an American yard is haha here in Holland you are lucky if you have a yard and your yard is considered big if it has grass! It looks great.  The weather here has also picked up this week.  It has still been pretty rainy but the last few days have been really warm and sunny.  I've busted out the short sleeves this week haha.  This week was full of miracles in Apeldoorn, starting literally five minutes after sending my email last week.  We were walking back to the car when a man stopped us on the side of the road saying, "elders!  I've been looking for you for so long!"  He went on to explain that he is a member of the church and has lived in the Netherlands for a year and a half not knowing where the church is!  He was sooo happy to see us and told us it was a miracle he finally found us.  We got his number and address and set up an appointment for later that week.  We were stoked!  And it got us really excited to see what was in store for the rest of the week.

Tuesday I was on exchanges with Elder Davis.  We worked in Apeldoorn and had some good appointments.  We taught our investigator and one of his friends was there.  We ended up teaching both of them and giving his friend a Book of Mormon.  We set up another appointment with both of them.  Afterwards we gave a card to a member in the ward who has been fighting cancer for the past year.  She has been very sick and won't be here much longer.  We shared a nice scripture with her and I think she really enjoyed it.  It is sad to see people in that condition, but it would be so much worse if we didn't have the knowledge of God's  plan for us.  After visiting her, we had a dinner appointment with one of my favorite families, the V's  They are an older couple and soooo nice.  They are people who are "filled with charity" and you can see it and feel it when you are around them.  They are great examples to me and I hope I can be filled with that much love one day.  It was a good exchange with elder Davis and it was cool to teach F and his new friend.

Wednesday I was with elder carter in Enschede.  Elder carter is so funny! We laughed a lot.  He is a hard worker as well and we talked to a lot of people that day and got a cool new potential.  While talking to people I finally contacted a kiwi from New Zealand!  I have contacted people from all over the world but that was the first time I contacted somebody from New Zealand.  It made me think of dad on his mission.  We also had an appointment with J and D!  It was fun seeing them again.  They are so nice and great members.  They are probably the biggest miracle of my mission and it was a miracle that I was able to see them again.  Later that night we had a dinner appointment and found out that one of the Hengelo elders was sick so we bought him some cold medicine and dropped by and visited for a little.  There are really good missionaries in Hengelo and Enschede where I started my mission and one of them is one of my greenies elder Goates.  I am proud of him.  

Thursday we were on exchanges with the assistants.  I was with elder Sumter in Apeldoorn.  He is dutch and is actually from Hengelo.  I know his family really well and it was weird to think that he was working in Apeldoorn which is only an hour drive from where he lives.  We had a great day though.  We visited the K's for a little bit.  They are one of the best families I have seen on my mission.  They are so nice and strong in the gospel.  They are also missionary minded which makes us like them even more.  We found a new investigator, he is from Mozambique Africa and really nice.  He is a student in Apeldoorn and let us in.  We introduced the Book of Mormon and talked to him about religion.  He is a strong catholic, but really nice and open to learn more.  We scheduled another appointment with him later that week.  That evening we had a dinner appointment with the M's.  They are an awesome family and the dad reminded me of my dad so much!  He showed me a picture on his phone of him skinning a rabbit haha.  He also showed me his bow.  He loves the outdoors and is also the young men's president.  He reminded me of dad so much it scared me a little bit! Haha it was cool though.

Friday Elder Bourne and I were finally working together again.  We had an appointment with J (the guy who had been looking for the elders) that day and had an awesome talk with him.  He was baptized in 1994 in Sierra Leon Africa.  He wanted to serve a mission in 1999 but couldn't because the war was too bad in his country.  He has a nephew on a mission right now in Ghana! I don't know which mission exactly, but layne should keep an eye out for elder Williams from Sierra Leon.  He is awesome and wants to start going to church again.  We are going to meet him again and help him so he can start going regularly.  He kept saying how big of a miracle it was that we found him.  He was so grateful and so nice.  It was a big miracle to run into a member who was looking for us for two years!  That doesn't happen much here in holland haha

Saturday was a busy day planning, but we found time that afternoon to get outside and do some more work.  We stopped by our ward mission leaders house to give him a card.  He has been struggling finding a job and his wedding is coming up and he is kind of in a fight with the other young adults in Apeldoorn (high school drama haha too long to explain), but basically he is struggling right now.  He really really appreciated the card.  He said he needed that big time.  It was perfect timing, and another miracle.  That evening was stake conference.  They introduced the digital mission plan here in Apeldoorn and explained all the success we have seen.  It will be nice to start working with the members on Mormon.org and Facebook.  After conference we stopped by McDonald's and got the new World Cup burger.  The bun was even snapped like a soccer ball.  Haha they don't mess around here in Europe.  I will send some pictures to prove my point.  

Sunday was stake conference again and it was a big broadcast from Switzerland.  President Uchtdorf was there with elder Anderson.  It was a nice broadcast, but to be honest, I fell asleep hahaha.  I was soooo tired by the end if the week!  It was nice though ;) we also taught F again and had a really spiritual lesson with him.  He recognized it and loved it.  He said he felt so good and he couldn't even explain why.  We told him it was the spirit working with him and he could feel that again even stronger at church.  He wants to come, so hopefully he does!!!  We also taught S again and his mom was there.  We taught the restoration and the spirit was also strong.  I love teaching that lesson, because every time I do, my own personal testimony is strengthened.  We have another appointment next week.  Another miracle.

The work is moving so fast here in Apeldoorn.  Elder Bourne and I got 4 new investigators!  I believe that it is coming because we are focusing so much on consecrating our works.  We are working more diligently and obediently with more faith, expecting success and we are being so blessed because of it!  The zone is kinda in a slump right now though, so we are going to really focus on helping them while on exchanges.  But I am running out of time and I gotta get going.  I love you so much though and I know that giving of your time, talents, and efforts, you WILL be blessed!!!  Have a great week!!!

World Cup is Coming 

Love, 

Elder bishop

The Lord was refining me when I got yelled at and rejected and when I woke up sick, but He promises us, "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love." I feel God's love, and it makes everything worth it.

Hey guys!  I can't believe June is here, the kids are out of school, and you're getting the AC going!  They don't believe in air conditioning here, otherwise we would have it going as well because it is warming up here too!  It sounds like you all had a busy week with church callings and activities.  That is AWESOME!!  Zion Pondarosa is a really nice area and it sounds like you all had a lot of fun.  This week was also a very busy week for me, but a lot of satisfaction came from it, and my testimony has been strengthened.

Brother "G" and  Elder Bishop

Tuesday I was on exchanges with elder Reynolds in Enschede.  He is a great younger missionary and we had a great day looking up some familiar faces.  We visited G.  he is a Nigerian who I worked with a year ago.  He is less active due to heart problems, so we stopped by to study the Book of Mormon with him.  He recognized me and was so happy to see me!  We talked for a while and read a little bit.  It was a lot of fun seeing him again, and he looked so much better than he did a year ago!  I asked him if I could get a picture with him before I left and he told me to wait just a second.  He went in his room for a minute and came back out wearing a nice shirt and suit coat.  haha He explained how he is a child of God and he needs to look his best!  it was really fun seeing him again.  later that night we also visited Sister S and her daughter  who isn't a member.  Sister S is inactive, and I worked with both of them a year ago.  We stopped by and she told us that she was going through a hard time.  Her mom had just passed away back in Indonesia, and she was feeling very lonely.  We shared some verses out of John 14 with her and testified of God's love and the hope we receive through Christ that we can be with our families forever.  The Spirit was so strong and it was silent.  She was really happy we came and it was good seeing her again and being able to comfort her at that time.

Elder Hulet (from Cedar City) Elder Bishop

Wednesday we were on splits with Groningen.  I got to work with Elder Hulet from Cedar City!!  I have never really been around Elder Hulet on my mission until now, and it was cool working with him and getting to know him better.  We had a good day as well even though a few unexpected things happened that delayed us a little bit.  We were on a train going up to Groningen when our train stopped right before pulling up to the station.  They explained to us over the speakers that someone jumped off an overpass onto the tracks.  It actually happens quite a bit here, and it's really sad, but we were stuck on the train for an extra 45 minutes.  When we finally got off the train, we met the Elders at the station and they told us we were going to a last minute service project.  Elder Bourne and I didn't bring any service clothes, so we spent the next couple of hours scraping off wallpaper in our missionary clothes!  It wasn't too bad though and we didn't really get dirty.  After that though, Elder Hulet and I were able to do some old school missionary work.  We biked a lot and taught a lesson.  It was a lot of fun getting to know him better.  We know a lot of the same people.  he is a GREAT missionary though and I really enjoyed working with him.

Thursday we were in Heerenveen for the day.  I was with Elder Pugh, and it was a crazy day! Thursday was Hemelvaartsdag, or ascension day, and the dutch people party SO hard!  Busses weren't running that day and we had to walk everywhere.  So many people were drunk and it smelled like weed everywhere.  Haha it was pretty crazy, but it was still a good day working with Elder Pugh and getting to know him better. 

Friday Elder Bourne and I got back to Apeldoorn and had to run a few errands and help the new senior couple, Elder and Sister Kleijn, with a few things that morning.  That afternoon we spent a lot of time knocking doors and talking to people.  We got destroyed that afternoon haha.  NOBODY wanted to talk to us.  I don't know if it was just the area we were in or if everyone was hung over from the Holiday the day before, but it was rough.  This one guy yelled at us so bad.  It was one of the worst reactions I've gotten since I've knocked a door on my mission.  He stepped out of his door and got up in our faces and started pointing at us and yelling crazy things.  After about a minute of yelling he pointed toward the street and told us to get off his porch.  We made our way to the next door and he is just sitting outside staring us down.  We knock on the next door and got rejected again.  After that we had enough and went to a different street while that guy continued to stare us down!  haha it was SOO bad!!!  That was even worse than the time in Alkmaar when a bird pooped on me while knocking doors!  It was a rough day, but it ended on a good note.  We went to institute that night and had a great lesson, and the Deventer elders brought 4 Chinese investigators!!  It was a lot of fun and made the day a little bit better.

Saturday I woke up with a cold...  It wasn't too bad though, and I was still able to work that day.  it was a really good day as well.  We had a lesson with one of our investigators.  He used to be on drugs for a number of years.  He quit doing drugs but still suffers from some long term mental consequences.  Basically, he is just a little bit slow, but he is really nice and very religious.  He talks a LOT and that makes it hard to teach him sometimes, but this lesson was different.  We explained to him what our purpose is with him and how we want to help him.  We gave him the proof that it does help and bore strong testimony of the power of prayer, scriptures, and coming to church.  The Spirit was VERY strong during that lesson, and he was silent.  He told us he felt something, and we explained to him that it was the Holy Ghost.  One of my favorite parts of missionary work is helping people recognize the Holy Ghost.  He LOVED it!  We then went on to explain the gift of the Holy Ghost and how he can be our constant companion after baptism.  We told him that as he reads, prays, and goes to church, then he will be ready for baptism and he can receive that gift.  We set a date with him for July 26 and will be helping him work towards that date.  It was a great lesson and the Spirit was so strong!  I love lessons like that.

Sunday I was still pretty sick, but it was another great day.  We went to church and Elder Bourne and I are focusing on strengthening our relationship with the ward.  The ward really likes the sisters (of course), and forgets about the elders.  We want to change that and so we talked to a lot of different members after church.  We are also spending time writing up thank you cards and delivering them to certain members in the ward.  After church we prayed to see which members needed thank you cards at that time.  While praying Elder Bourne and I both thought of a member whom is  from Eastern Europe but has been living here for over 20 years.  He is a nice guy and has a strong testimony.  We wrote him a nice card thanking him for his testimony that he shares and the Spirit he carries.  That evening we went to deliver him the card.  We showed up unexpected, and he was SO happy to see us!  He let us in and talked and talked and talked and talked!  haha he is really lonely and loves talking, so we did a lot of listening.  He started telling us how he had a strong impression to move to Apeldoorn a few years ago, so he did.  He does not like living here though.  He has rough neighbors and not a lot of friends.  He told us that he doesn't know why he moved to Apeldoorn and he was even a little mad at God that he did.  He said he didn't understand why he felt like he needed to move here.  A little later he asked us if there was a reason we stopped by.  I pulled out the card and gave it to him.  I thanked him for the strong Spirit he brings with him and his testimony that he shares, and I explained to him that that was probably one of the reasons he moved here, because he helps the missionaries a lot, and he helps the members a lot.  He builds people up.  He read the card and started tearing up.  He told us that the card and our visit was an answer to his prayers.  He didn't know this, but he was also an answer to my prayers.  The first part of my week was pretty tough.  The Lord was refining me when I got yelled at and rejected and when I woke up sick.  I prayed for help and he blessed me with spiritual lessons and a spiritual boost from this member.  I have such a strong testimony of the promise that Alma gave to his son Helaman,   "... for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." I am being refined out here on my mission, but, just like the Lord promised Oliver Cowdery, He promises us, "...Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love."

I feel God's love, and it makes everything worth it.  I love you all so much and I want to reassure you that I LOVE MY MISSION!!!  I am doing so good out here and I am learning so much.  These last 6 months will go fast, but I have a feeling they will be the best six months of my life.

Baby Swans  hahaha

Hartelijke Groeten,

Elder Bishop