I realized that joy on a mission comes from building lasting relationships. When you see people change and see that relationship grow between them and God, that's when you feel joy.

Amsterdam

Hey guys!  Sounds like you had a nice trip in Las Vegas.  Meleese explained to me very clearly that there is a diiference between a vacation and a trip, and as much as she loved having baby Mia there, it was not a vacation, but a trip.  Haha Meleese is so funny.  Sounds like dad is passing up on all the good size deer to try to shoot his dream deer, but still no deer...  If I had that mentality dad, I would be 40 and still single hahaha.  But overall it sounds like you had a great week.  I also had a killer week this week!  We had time to get out and do some work this week!

Last Saturday we got a new senior couple and we helped them get situated and took them out for pannekoeken.  Afterwards, we went with the office elders to go go-karting!  It was a lot of fun haha they didn't care if you bumped into people and stuff like that, so it was pretty intense and a lot of fun.  It was a good P day spent with the office elders.

Sunday was a nice church service.  Elder Toole gave a talk in sacrament meeting and he did a really good job.  The other elders gave a nice lesson in Priesthood and I sat back and enjoyed :)  After church we did some planning and look ups and then we went to the P family's house for dinner.  We go there about every other Sunday for dinner, and we are getting pretty close.  We shared with them some miracles from our missions trying to get the 16 year old boy thinking about serving a mission.  It was a spiritual dinner appointment and we ate good too.

Monday was our day in the office.  We got everything ready for the week and cleaned our car really good. (it needed it haha).  Elder Alston and I couldn't figure out how to start the wash and I had to go in and ask two different times.  The lady thought I was an idiot haha it was pretty funny.  But things went pretty smooth in the office that day and we were out at a decent time.

Tuesday we began our week of exchanges!  I was in Amsterdam with Elder Bitters.  He is a really good friend of mine and we were excited to work in Amsterdam with each other.  We met at a district meeting in Almere and attended the meeting.  Afterwards we drove back to Amsterdam to do some look ups and finding.  We took a tram to West Amsterdam and talked to some people over there.  It started raining and wasn't very productive so we went back home for dinner and got the car for the evening so we could be more efficient.  I cooked Elder Bitters some spaghetti (that is my specialty because I have made it over a hundred times out here haha).  It has become my go-to meal and I have officially mastered it.  We got in the car that evening, and I am SO glad we did.  It got really dark that night and started hailing bad!  we had to drive super slow while looking more investigators up.  We got in contact with a few of them and set up a couple appointments for later that week.  By the end of the night we were on our way home and stopped by the McDonalds to get a Mcflurry.  The Mcdonalds was two stories and we went up to the second level where nobody was and had a nice talk.  A Coldplay song came on that has come out since I have been out, but it must have been pretty popular because I have heard it several times out here.  I think it's called Magic or something like that.  I really like it, but we were just listening to that and this guy walks up the stairs with long, curly hair.  He is middle aged and kinda scary looking.  He is walking towards us and we were getting a little nervous.  He had a mean look on his face as he kept walking toward us.  When he got about 10 feet from us, he stopped and spun around.  Then he totally started dancing for us!  hahaha he was doing these really weird dance moves and we were trying so hard not to laugh cuz we were still a little scared.  The Coldplay song ended and another crazy dance song came on and he started dancing even crazier!  We watched him for about 5 minutes and then we left.  He was still dancing after we left.  Pretty sure he was on some hard drugs...  haha it was pretty funny.  It was a good day overall though.

Wednesday we woke up and met at the office for our second exchange of the week, this time with Rotterdam Zone Leaders.  I went back to Amsterdam, this time with Elder Cooper!  We had a great time together and a great day too.  We first drove to our first appointment of the day.  It was a lunch appointment with Sister L.  She is a great cook and makes SO much food!  All 6 Elders were there and there was still too much food.  She is such a sweet lady though.  At the end of our appointment she explained to us that she had some health issues and was struggling a little bit.  She asked if I would give her a blessing, and I did.  It was a cool appointment with her.  Afterwards we did some more finding and lookups.  We stopped by Central Station, and there was a beautiful grand piano sitting there that said, "Bespeel Mij" or "Play Me".  So I did.  Haha it was pretty cool.  I played my chopin piece and people gathered around to listen.  They applauded and I looked over at Elder Cooper and just pictured us performing A Thousand Miles like we did in the talent show in Alkmaar.  Haha I was too scared though so we left.  We went over to J and Z's house that evening for a dinner appointment and then a teaching appointment for Z.  While eating, J told us how she has been struggling with some health issues and asked for a blessing.  Elder Cooper and I were able to give another blessing that day!  It was really nice and spiritual and it set it up to be a great teaching appointment right after the blessing.  We taught the importance of reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church.  We asked J to explain the difference she has felt since she started doing these again.  She bore a powerful testimony which led perfectly into the next part.  We then explained the difference between the influence of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  We invited Z to be baptized so he could receive that gift and always have the Spirit with him as he does those three things we mentioned earlier.  He was a little surprised at first but thought about it and accepted.  He is working towards being baptized on November 23.  His mom was SO happy she started crying.  She was baptized when she was 12 years old and now her son is 12 and she wants nothing more than for him to be baptized.  It was a really great appointment, and I have grown to love those two.

Thursday morning we woke up early and drove to the airport to meet a senior couple at 6:30.  They were flying back home and we sent them off since President and Sister Robinson were gone.  Luckily, I had done that enough times to know where to go and what to do.  We got back home around 9 and slept for an extra hour before our next exchange for the week.  I was really looking forward to this one because I was going back to Alkmaar to work with Elder Bonney!  We had a great day too.  We went to sister V R's first to do some service for her.  She was surprised to see me and we had a good time catching up.  She loves the piano and I love the piano so we get along really well.  She gave me some Chopin and Debussy pieces to work on when I get home haha it was a great time.  Afterwards we had some time to go finding.  We found someone who agreed for us to come back, so we set up and appointment with him.  It was a pretty good day of finding.  That night we had a dinner appointment planned with the M's!  They are one of my favorite families and it was really good to see them.  We also had a good time catching up and then shared a nice spiritual thought at the end.  It was a really good day overall and it helped me realize something.  I realized that joy on a mission comes from building lasting relationships.  Relationships with each other, but more importantly, relationships with God.  When you see people change and see that relationship grow between them and God, that's when you feel that joy.  It was nice to see some old friends in Alkmaar who I have seen change and become better people.  

Friday Elder Alston and I were back in Amsterdam.  We were super tired and it was a slower day, but we managed to help a member move a ton of pallets to her new house she was moving in to, get in contact with some people to set up appointments, and find dinner out of an empty fridge because it's the end of the week.  You gotta love mission life :)  I have been thinking about some things I am excited to do back home, but then I get a little nervous because the thought comes into my mind.  In a few weeks I will be doing those things and yes, they will be fun, but I will be wishing I was back in Amsterdam preaching the Gospel.  And I won't be able to come back and do this again...  I am gonna miss it a ton.  But I am SUPER excited for my next area and my last transfer.  It will be a great ending for the best two years.  

I love you all a ton and miss you like crazy!  I can't wait to see you and show you around this beautiful part of the world where I have been living the past two years!  I hope you have a great week!

Veel Lief,

Elder Bishop

P day trip Go-Karting!

McFlurry with Elder Bitters

Sister L

They fed us a beautiful 4 course meal, and it was incredible! There was only one thing that was a little too weird for me and that was the pigeon meat they fed us for the main course. It wasn't cooked and it had a really bitter taste. I guess I just wasn't classy enough to enjoy it haha.

 Den Haag Temple

Good Morning family!  I hope you all had a great week either in Vegas or on the Mountain.  I bet the family in Vegas is in love with baby Mia.  I can't believe she is a month and a half old already!  I hope she can grow into her "I heart Holland" outfit soon haha.  But anyways, this week was another crazy week!  Instead of being in the car all week (like last week), we were in the Mission Home all week! We didn't have time to get out and do work, but it still went a lot better because I still had some really nice experiences.  

So Sunday we had our ward conference.  It was a great Sunday and two of our investigators showed up to church!  L, one of our investigators came with her grandma who is a member.  And Z, our most positive investigator, came with his mom who is also a member.  I went with Z to Sunday School for the youth and he really enjoyed it!  He is only 12 years old, but he met some members around his age and I think he really liked it.  The lesson was really good too.  It was focused on my favorite scripture, Moroni 10:32-33.  They talked a lot about change through the Atonement.  That's been one of the biggest lessons I've learned out here on my mission.  I really enjoyed it.  The youth were a little rowdy and didn't pay much attention...  I kinda felt bad for the teacher, and then I felt bad for my sunday school teachers when my class would get rowdy and not pay attention haha teenagers...  We couldn't set up an appointment with Z for the week though because he was out of school all week on vacation and would also be out of town.  We will have one with him this week though.  He will definitely be baptized within the next few months.  He is a solid kid and his mom is so proud of him for taking the lessons and asking questions.  They are reading together and praying together daily, and not only is that good for but that's also good for the mom because she has only been active for a couple of months now.  I believe those two are the reason I came to Amsterdam.  After church we went to visit a newly wed couple in the ward.  He was actually raised in Alkmaar, so I know his parents, and she is from Portugal.  They both studied in Amsterdam and were married a couple months ago.  They are super cool!  We had a good time over there.  After that we did some lookups and then went to a dinner appointment with the P family.  They are that Philippino family who like to have us over on Sundays.  We had a really good appointment with them.  They fed us good and then we shared a thought.  Their two kids were in that lesson I went to with Z during church and so I asked them what they learned from it and what they thought about it.  Haha as I expected, they didn't have much to say, but Elder Alston and I bore testimony of it and it was really short and powerful.  I think they really liked it.  The 16 year old didn't really like it much when we first started to visit but he is doing a lot better now.  We always joke around about how he's gonna serve a mission in the Philippines and love it.  He's not really planning on a mission, but I think he has started thinking about it recently.  We will keep throwing it out there every now and again.  He plays the piano, and so that's how I got in with him.  I played my Chopin piece for him and he thought it was pretty cool.  Elder Alston is really funny and sociable, so we have really built a strong relationship with him.  The mom is holding that family together and she appreciates any help she can get, so she invited us over this Sunday again.

Monday morning we drove down to the office to get numbers together and plan for the coming week with President Robinson.  The mission is doing really well right now and we are seeing between 10-15 baptisms a month for the past 4 months.  That's higher than it's ever been.  We have great missionaries doing a great job, and this new training program the President implemented has been key to our success.  The mission is so unified now and things are running very smoothly.  We met with President and talked more about transfers and then we talked about what we would be presenting in Mission Leader Council.  We got our assignments and got out of our meeting around 3.  The rest of the evening we were busy planning and finalizing temple conference, checking flights for the sisters going home that week, writing a letter to the missionaries in the MTC, and sending out announcements for the week.  That evening we drove to the mission home to stay the night.

Tuesday morning we woke up and got to the temple by 8 am.  There were two sessions that day.  I went to the first session and then Elder Alston went to the second.  We had to make sure that everybody was where they needed to be and that we were moving through at a good pace, because after the temple we had to get everybody to the Zoetermeer Church, eat lunch, and have a two hour training from the Zone Leaders.  It was really nice to be in the temple though.  Up until the time I entered the session and right from the time I got out, my mind was going a hundred miles and hour, but during, I had no worries in the world.  I has happy and peaceful, and I got a lot of confirmations.  It was SO nice to be there.  As I have been coming down to the close of my mission I have done a lot of reflecting, and I would always question if I had a successful mission.  Because I definitely haven't had the most baptisms, and I am not the most skilled.  But while in the temple I realized that I don't need to see all the fruits of my labors in order to realize I have been successful.  I realized that that's kind of a selfish desire, to see all the fruits of my labors.  I'm not in it for myself, but I'm doing it because I love the Lord and I want to be a humble servant for him.  A successful missionary is who you are, not what you do.  However, what you do reflects who you are.  I feel like I have done good things, and I have changed a lot and improved.  I got a strong feeling of accomplishment while in the temple, and that helped me out a lot.  We got out of the temple, and got the pictures and sent them to the church.  The trainings were nice, but Elder Alston and I were interrupted with a problem so we had to miss the last 30 minutes, but it was still good and we got done and a decent time.  Afterwards, we went back to the mission home for dinner and to sleep.

We woke up the next day to do it all over again.  It went even better the next day and I really enjoyed being in there again.  The trainings were nice afterwards and it all went smoothly.  I was pretty happy that it was over and it went well.  Right when it was over, we were on to the next item of business.  4 sisters were going home on Thursday, so we had to get them ready Wednesday night.  We drove to the Mission Office after the temple training's to get their bags weighed and have their final interviews with President.  Afterwards we went to dinner in Leiden.  We went to this really nice buffet called the Luxor.  It is a nice Chinese buffet and it was delicious!  I'm sorry to say it was even better than the chinese buffet on Main street in Cedar ;)  They had awesome desserts too, and it was just a lot of fun to be there.  We don't get that too often on a mission haha.  After that we went back to the mission home for the departing devotional.

Thursday morning we woke up at 5 to go to the airport and send them off.  It was really busy in the airport at the 8:00 hour, but we finally got them all off.  We got back to the mission home around noon, and we were all beat.  We all took a nap and woke up a couple hours later.  We were still dead tired, but we remembered that we were giving a 30 minute presentation each at Mission Leader Council the next day and we were totally not prepared.  Haha so we went to the office and got it all ready.  I had to present on becoming master finders.  Haha it was super tough to prepare because I am NOT a master finder.  Of course I can find people to teach, but so can everybody else I was presenting to!  I took a different approach to it though and finally got it all finalized.  We got back to the mission home that night, both feeling a little unsure about our presentations.  When we got there we talked with President and Sister Robinson before going to bed and they said the same exact thing haha.  We were all a bit nervous, but figured we just had to go for it.

Friday morning we got everything set up for Mission Leader Council and it started at 10.  We all gave our presentations and they all went sooo well!  The approach I took was not necessarily how to find, but how to find effectively.  I did some research the day before and totaled how many baptisms we have had as a mission this year and how all of them were found.  We have had 105 baptisms this year, and 58 of them were referrals!  37 were proselyting, and 10 were from the Area Book.  Of the 58 referrals, 31 of those were member referrals.  That means 1 out of every 3 baptisms in this mission are from member referrals.  So I talked a lot about how to get member referrals.  I also talked about planning days out to proselyte and not just writing in big capital letters across your planner "FINDING" haha.  I also talked about being obedient, faithful, and diligent, and when you do that, and are outside, you will see miracles happen.  That was my whole 6 months in Brugge.  I bet I talked to half the people in that city and I hardly found anyone by doing that.  But we were outside doing the work and pressing on and we saw the Lord's hand while doing the work.  He led people to us.  People walked into church, we got Head Quarter referrals, people stopped us on the street.  It was incredible!  I just went on to talk about how this is the Lord's work, not ours, and if we do it His way then we will see miracles and always have people to teach.  I've seen it everywhere I go, and it helps me realize that I don't do hardly anything in this work, I just do what the Lord expects of me and he will make things happen.  I feel like it was one of the best presentations I have ever given.  Elder Alston did a great job too.  He is a killer speaker and everybody loved it.  President and Sister Robinson also did a great job.  The council afterwards was effective and on topic.  It was a great Mission Leader Council, probably the best I have been to.  President and Sister Robinson were very pleased as well.  We were exhausted after that though.  We chatted with President and Sister Robinson for a while, first about the mission and then more about them and their family.  I have come to realize how great those two really are.  I have learned SO much from them.  They are humble and mind their own business.  They don't strive for positions, but do what they're asked and do it well.  I have really enjoyed being around them and learning from them.  They have been so good to me out here.  Elder and Sister Winmill, the office couple, showed up at 6 that night because they will be going home next week.  We took them out to dinner in Leidschendam.  it was right downtown along the canal at this restaurant called De Oude Melkhandel.  That was the nicest restaurant I have ever been to in my life!  haha we sat down and they came up to us and told us what the menu was for the evening.  They fed us a beautiful 4 course meal, and it was incredible!  There was only one thing that was a little too weird for me and that was the pigeon meat they fed us for the main course.  It wasn't cooked and it had a really bitter taste.  I guess I just wasn't classy enough to enjoy it haha.  It was really nice though.  We got back late that night and stayed in the mission home again, for the 5th night in a row!  No, we were not in Amsterdam once this week.  We woke up this morning and packed up.  We drove to the office where I am at now typing this email.  We will probably go back to Amsterdam after this and spend the rest of our P day there.  The new Office Couple got here this morning and they are getting everything organized right now.

Next week should be a really good week though.  We have a lot of time to work and will be on 3 exchanges this week.  I will get to work with Elder Cooper and go back to Alkmaar this week, and I am really looking forward to both of those!  The week after is transfer week and I will be off to my new city!  I am really looking forward to getting out of the car and being back on bike.  Even though I am really looking forward to that, I will still miss my time as an assistant.  It has been great being so close to President and learning so much from him.  I have grown a lot with the opportunities I have been given, and now I am excited to apply those for my last transfer and then after my mission as well.  I gotta get going though, but I love you guys so much and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Bishop

Krebs and Cooper

Moomey and Bitters

Bosco and Bourne

Pouwer and Bonney

Cockbain and Corsini

Cook and Rudolph

Driving, Driving and MORE Driving!

Elder Bishop in Amsterdam

Hey Everybody!  I'm glad you all had a great week despite being sick and losing your volleyball games.  Haha poor Lainey, but you gotta learn to lose in life because that's just how life goes.  Get bitter or get better.  It also sounds like Meleese is adjusting to Motherhood and loving it, even the poopy diapers.  Overall, it sounds like life is just keeping on with the Bishop family.  Things have been pretty hectic here on the mission.  I just want to apologize up front that this might not be the best email ever.  We didn't teach much because we were busy driving around the mission and setting things up for the rest of the transfer.  But here it goes...

Saturday was a nice P day.  We went to the city center in Amsterdam and walked around.  It's too bad all the prettiest areas are filled with red lights and coffee shops aka weed shops.  We don't go to those areas even in the day time, but that whole city is beautiful and there are plenty of areas that we could go to that were really pretty.  It was nice just to be out and enjoy a nice day in Amsterdam.  That evening we watched the Saturday morning session of General Conference.  It was soooo good and got me excited for the next day.  

Sunday we were back at the church at 11 for the Priesthood session.  Afterwards, we taught a recent convert, G.  She is a cool YSA girl who loves the Gospel.  We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she remembered it really well from the first time she was taught that lesson.  It was a nice review though and a spiritual lesson.  After the lesson, we ate a sandwich really quick and then watched the Saturday afternoon session at 2:00.  After that we ran home and I cooked for 6 Elders (All the Elders in Amsterdam).  We cooked some rice and chicken with a nice asian sauce over it.  It was pretty good if I do say so myself haha.  My specialty is spaghetti though.  Elder Alston and I can make some pretty mean pasta with the right ingredients.  I will have to make some for you when I get home :).  Anyways, we got back to the church just in time for the SundayMorning session that started at 6:00.  I LOVED General Conference!  It was really good for me.  Self improvement is something that I am big on, and I learned a lot about self improvement through General Conference.  They talked a lot about goal setting, personal responsibility, accountability, and improvement.  It was good for me as I come close to the end of my mission.  One of my big questions was how I can keep this rate of progression after my mission.  I got a lot of different insights and answers.  I really enjoyed Elder Eyring's talk about confirming revelation.  It was a great conference and I look forward to watching the Sunday Afternoon session, eventually.

Monday was our office day.  We were in there FOREVER!!!  We had a really long meeting with President.  They are pretty concerned about making sure we leave the new mission president with a good mission.  That means we do a lot of planning.  A lot.  We planned out the idea of what will be happening in the mission for the next year.  It was really confusing, and after 4 hours we were all exhausted.  It has been pretty cool to work with President and help him implement this new training plan that mission now follows, and help prepare the mission for the new president and make sure it is a smooth adjustment.  After our meeting we had to organize a lot of other events going on.  The biggest one was Temple Conference coming up next week.  it was a late night in the office, but we got a lot done.

Tuesday we drove down to Antwerp for their district meeting.  Afterwards, I drove back to Amsterdam with Elder Bosco for an exchange.  We got caught up in some traffic and had little to no time to work.  It was too bad, but that's how it goes.  We rolled with the punches and made the best of it.  We had some really great conversations in the car ride, and if nothing else came from the exchange, at least we became good friends.  I really like Elder Bosco.  He is a great missionary and we have similar personalities, so we can connect on a lot of different levels.

Wednesday we drove back to Antwerpen to exchange back and then Elder Alston and I drove to Gent to do splits with them.  We got to Gent around noon and actually had a nice missionary day.  I worked with Elder Hills.  He has been out about a year and he is a great missionary.  He is from Ogden area and likes sports and classical music!  haha We talked a lot about both throughout the exchange.  We had a lunch appointment with a member and then an investigator came to the members house and we taught him a lesson.  He is pretty interested, but his wife is of another christian faith and holding him back a little bit.  We had a nice lesson about "The Gospel blesses families" and how he can be a good example for his wife, and as he lives the Gospel we teach, his wife will notice a difference.  He really enjoyed the lesson though.  Afterwards, we went to a little town called Laarne.  It is a cool town with a really big, old castle right outside of it.  We looked up a recent convert and referral there.  The referral wasn't there, but the recent convert was.  We had a really good talk with him and got to know him better.  He has a strong testimony and told us his story.  His family was against him joining the church.  He joined anyways and they disowned him.  They don't talk to him anymore and he is on his own.  He is about 30 years old and decided to move to Utah to meet new people and start up his business there.  He loves the elders, and I think it's a good option.  I just hope it works out alright.  He is a nice guy though and they set another appointment with him to eat dinner.  After that, Elder Alston and Elder Goff picked us up in the car and we went to a dinner appointment.  It was a really fun dinner appointment.  The mom is from Nigeria and the dad is Belgian.  They are a funny couple and we had a lot of fun.  They loved elder Alston when he served there before (he started his mission in Gent), so it was cool for him to be back.  We had a fun night that night and then left early the next morning.

Thursday was a crazy day that was unexpected.  We left Gent that morning planning on just going back to Amsterdam and working in our own city for the day, but on our way back we got a call.  A sister in Apeldoorn needed a transportation card to get around with trains, trams, and buses.  Her's didn't work and they needed it asap.  We changed our plans to drive to the office then drop it off to them.  We got stuck in traffic between Gent and Antwerpen, and that took forever! But we finally made it back to the office, four hours later, to get the transportation card for the Apeldoorn sisters and then we drove to Apeldoorn.  We got them the card and made it back to Amsterdam that evening after a total of 7 hours driving.  We had a nice dinner appointment with an american family who lives here for their work.

Friday was our zone leader interviews, so you know what that means?  MORE DRIVING!!!  Elder Alston and I both hate driving and we do so much of it.  We drove to Utrecht then to Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Antwerp, Leiden, and then back home to Amsterdam.  That filled our whole day, but it was actually very productive.  We got a lot of insights of where the mission is at and where the problems are and how we can fix them.

Today was our P day, but something came up and we ended up not getting a P day haha that's why I'm emailing so late.  It all started last night while driving home, we remembered that there was gonna be a sisters conference the next day in the mission home.  All 42 of the sister missionaries were gonna meet there and have a conference.  We realized that would take a lot of setting up for just president and sister Robinson to do, so we called him last night and asked if we could help set up that morning before it started.  He gladly accepted, so we showed up at 9 this morning.  We got everything set up and ran to the store to pick up something Sister Robinson forgot.  We got back about 5 minutes before the conference began and there were so many sisters there!!!  It gave me a headache being there for just a couple minutes haha.  President wasn't expecting it to be so crazy either, so he asked us to stay and help.  So there we were, in the crowded living room in the mission home at 10 am on our P day, President and Sister Robinson, 42 sisters, and me and Elder Alston.  We were in the back corner listening for the first while, and then we got lunch prepared, fed the sisters, then cleaned it all up afterwards.  We felt pretty out of place the whole time haha. It was a long conference and we didn't get out of there until about 4:30.  President and Sister Robinson really appreciated it though.  It was their first Sister Conference and I don't think they knew what they were getting themselves into haha.  I also don't think they could have done it alone.  After we got done, President came up to us and told us it was inspired that we called the night before.  They really appreciated it and we were glad to help.  Our logic was, we would rather be good assistants than have a good 

P day haha.  So ya, that capped off the crazy week!  Not gonna lie, I miss the weeks filled with biking and finding and teaching in one area.  I love my responsibilities now and I have learned so much from the opportunities I have been given, but I am glad I don't have to end my mission like this.  Only 2 more weeks and I will be off to my last city for my last 6 weeks.  I am so excited!  

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

Love,

Elder Bishop

I am continuing to learn and grow even now more than ever before!

Muiderslot Castle

Hey Family!  It sounds like you all had a great week and are busy with a lot of different things.  I had a great week as well.  I got a cold for a couple of days, but I am over it now, and it didn't have too big of an effect on my week anyways.

But last week Saturday we had an awesome P day!  We went to this old castle in a small town right outside of Amsterdam Called Muiden.  The Castle is called the Muiderslot and it was built in the 1200's.  It was destroyed then but built again in the 1300's.  It was a lot of fun, and I got a lot of pictures.  That evening we tried getting in contact with some investigators, but none of them were home.  I don't really blame them for not being home on a Saturday night haha but I hope they aren't being too crazy in Amsterdam!  

Sunday I woke up not feeling good, but I got ready in my suit and went to church.  I had a pretty bad cold and church seemed long that day, but it was still nice to be there.  We got back home and I took it easy for a couple hours.  Earlier on in my mission I got pretty sick and tried working through it.  I was miserable and wasn't getting better.  I was riding my bike in Brugge in the cold rain and the thought came to me, "This is the stupidest thing I could be doing right now"  haha I figured that it was better to rest for a day or two and get better than to be miserable and not effective for a week.  The lessons I learn on my mission....

Monday I was even more sick but I had to go to the office to get the work done.  It was a long day in the office, but I survived ok.  There is a lot going on in the mission right now which is keeping us busy, but busy is good right?  We got home that night and went straight to bed.

I woke up the next morning still feeling pretty sick.  We took it easy that morning and then did some work in the afternoon and evening, but it was pretty slow.  We got some good things done though as far as organizing things for upcoming events in the mission, but it was pretty boring haha.  

Wednesday morning I was feeling better.  We went to Apeldoorn for exchanges with the Zone Leaders there.  I stayed in Apeldoorn with Elder Cockbain.  He is the one from South Africa, and he is a big rugby fan.  He was hating on New Zealand but I had your back dad and I stuck up for them haha.  We had a good exchange though.  We visited a member who loves the missionaries and talks a lot.  He is a really nice guy and doesn't have a lot of friends in the church so he loves when the missionaries visit him.  

Thursday we drove to Eindhoven and were on splits with the zone leaders there.  I worked with Elder Cook and that was my first time working with him, but he is a really cool guy and we had a good day.  We got let in to this house and the lady was really cool.  She was fascinated by what we do and what we believe and why we believe.  We established expectations and she agreed to make an appointment so we could teach her the fisrt lesson.  It was a pretty cool miracle how much she opened up within the 20 minutes we were talking with her.  That evening the Zone Leaders had a meeting in Antwerp and so we went back to Amsterdam to teach a lesson, and that was probably the highlight of my week.  We taught Z , his mom is the one who is reactivated.  I think that those two are the main reason I came to Amsterdam.  They are so cool and they are really opening up to us.  J, the mom, has been coming to church for the past 4 weeks now, and she has brought a different friend every single week!  Her son is not a member, but is interested and really nice.  We taught him the third lesson, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He had some good questions and he understood it really well.  It was very spiritual.  We are teaching him, but we involve the mom a lot and I think she learns quite a bit too because she has been inactive for so long.  He said the opening prayer and she said the closing.  Both of their prayers are getting better and I think they pray together every night.  They also read together from the Book of Mormon.  It is a perfect situation where they are both learning and growing a lot.  They are excited for General Conference tomorrow.  Elder Alston and I were so happy after the lesson.  We have developed such a love for those two.  I think when you help people accept the Gospel you develop that Christlike love for them because that's how Christ expressed His love.  That's another big lesson I have learned out here, what love is and how to express it.

Friday was also a nice day.  We spent the whole day in Amsterdam, and that doesn't happen very often.  We had a lunch appointment with a philippino member and she fed us sooo much food!  It was really good though.  That evening we had a dinner appointment with the N's.  They are an older couple from Ghana, Africa.  They are such nice people!  In this mission we collect old missionary clothes and give them to this couple.  They wash all the clothes and send them to members in Ghana.  They are such nice people and so charitable.  They fed us this really weird meal though.  It was this plantain and yams that we dipped into this oily sauce of ground spinach and fish...  haha I wasn't the biggest fan but by the grace of God I managed to get it down.  Africans are so funny though.  One of the sisters at the dinner appointment couldn't eat all of her food.  She felt bad and politely told them that she simply could not finish.  They smiled politely back at her and replied, "try :)"  hahaha it was sooo funny!  We all started laughing.  It was a really fun dinner appointment even though the food was weird.  

So even though I wasn't feeling well this week, we still made it a good week.  That lesson with Z was incredible.  And I forgot to mention that in church on Sunday, the member who referred that cool young couple to us came up to us and told us how much the young couple loved our lesson!  They thought we were really nice and they understood it really well.  We will continue to teach them and hopefully have a lesson this week.  it was a big relief because we always feel pressure teaching a member referral since the member is showing so much trust in the missionaries.  We are glad we didn't let her down and hopefully she will give us even more in the future.  Anyways, the work is going great here.  I love preaching the Gospel in this beautiful city, no matter how much sin is around us.  That makes it even more fun.  I am continuing to learn and grow even now more than ever before.  I hope you all have a great week and enjoy conference!  I love you!!!!!!!

Elder Bishop

the two lessons we taught this last week made me want to stay out here forever and keep teaching people about the Gospel. I love it so much!

Hey guys!  Another week has come and gone and it sounds like things are going well in good ol' Cedar City.  Dad and Ross are the mountain men who always help people shoot big bucks but can never shoot any for themselves haha ;).  Mom is busy being a mom and a grandma now.  Meleese and Kevin have been parents for about a month now.  Lainey's volleyball team still sucks haha but it's okay Lainey.  My senior year of football we lost our first 4 games and went on to make it to the semi finals, so there is still hope!  Don't give up!  And yes, I am still here haha but I had a killer week that I am excited to tell you all about.

So Saturday we went to the Amsterdam Museum.  We learned a lot about the history of Amsterdam.  It was a cool museum and a relaxing day.  That evening we looked a lot of people up but no success.  That's the hardest thing about keeping the work going in our own city, is keeping the investigators progressing.  We are gone so much that when appointments fall through and people aren't home, we can't schedule another appointment for another week or week and a half.  We are trying to fix that by finding loyal investigators who always keep their appointments, and we have been able to do that this week, luckily.  But I will explain more later.

Sunday was a pretty easy going day.  We had a nice church service and J, an inactive who is just being reactivated showed up, but the best part was that she showed up with her son, who we are teaching, her nephew, and a friend she brought with!!  It was awesome, and they all really enjoyed it.  We set up an appointment with her and her son for later in the week.  We stayed after church for a while talking to members and setting up appointments with them.  We are trying to get to know them better.  After church was a lot like the previous day.  A lot of lookups and not a lot of people home...  We were both too excited about the appointment we set with J and her son to get down though.

Monday was our office day.  It all went smoothly, but we were still there until late scheduling some stuff.  We have a lot of members here who all at the same time want to serve mini missions.  That's just like a two or three week mission working with a companionship in this mission.  Elder Alston and I organize those, and we spent a lot of time getting contact with those people and assigning them to different areas.  We are happy they are doing it though because they are usually big assets to the mission, and it will be a great experience for them.  We also got everything ready for the Zone Trainings we would be attending that week.  And those trainings took up the biggest chunk of our week.  And it got off to a pretty crazy start haha.

Tuesday we woke up in the mission home and left early to drive to Sint-Niklaas, Belgium for the first zone training in the Antwerp Zone.  We drove through Rotterdam in the morning, and that was a rookie mistake.  Everybody knows that there is terrible traffic there in the mornings!  I guess we forgot, and that resulted in us sitting in traffic for 1 1/2 hours getting through that city.  We hit a little bit more traffic through Antwerp and got to the Zone Training an hour late...  whoops haha.  It was a great zone training though.  Elder Bourne and Elder Bosco are the Zone leaders there and they did a great job.  Elder Bourne has been one of my favorite companions on my mission, and he did a great job.  We got done with the Zone Training and drove back to Amsterdam.  We hit more traffic getting through Antwerp mainly because the roads there are terrible and the whole layout is a joke.  There was a point when 4 lanes merged down to 1 lane in the span of about 10 meters.  it cause a huge traffic jam and a lot of impatient Belgians honking.  And then you have two poor american kids, dressed funny in the middle of it all.  We managed to get through and we made it back to the mission home later that evening.

Wednesday we only had to drive 15 minutes to Zoetermeer for the Den Haag Zone Training.  That was really nice and really well done too.  I saw some old friends and ate pulled pork sandwiches from the crock pot for lunch.  Super american and I LOVED it.  We left  for Amsterdam for our appointment with J, the less active, and her son who isn't baptized.  Her son is 12 years old and a skater kid.  We got pretty tight with him at church and it was fun talking with him again.  The mom wants him to get baptized soooo bad.  We taught him the second lesson, the Plan of Salvation, and it was probably the best second lesson I have given on my mission!  I have never taught a 12 year old before, but I love it, because I love teaching simply and that's exactly what we do with him.  We taught a simple, powerful Plan of Salvation lesson, and he opened right up and had a lot of great questions.  We were able to answer them all and he LOVED it.  The mom had some questions too because she has been inactive for about 20 years now and she forgot a lot of things.  The Spirit was so strong.  And the mom was in tears when she saw her son so engaged in the lesson.  It was really cool to be a part of, and I feel like they are getting closer as a family as we teach them, read from the Book of Mormon with them, pray with them, and as they come to church together.  We will be teaching them weekly.  They are the loyal investigators we have been looking for!  We drove back to the mission home that night to stay the night.

The next morning we drove to Zwolle for the Apeldoorn Zone training.  That was the last one we would be attending for the week.  It was also really good.  These past few transfers, President has really been stressing following his training plan.  We have created a program for the missionaries to do so, and it is really working.  His training plan item that the mission is focusing this transfer is Preach My Gospel Chapter 2, and all of the Zone Trainings were based off that chapter.  It was really nice to see that the whole mission is unified, and we are seeing more success from that too.  chapter 2 is all about planning and studying and that is something that our mission could definitely improve on.  Elder Alston and I focused on it this week as well, and we made two really good lesson plans for our appointments and they were some of the best lessons I have taught on my mission.  The first one was that Plan of Salvation lesson, and the second one was later that night after the Zone training.  We drove back to Amsterdam and taught this young couple.  They are member referrals from this great member in Amsterdam.  She brought them to church once and I talked to them afterwards.  I tried setting up and appointment and they told me that they would just call if they wanted us to come over.  That's just a nice way to reject us, and it happens all the time and they never call back.  I didn't want to be pushy, so I pulled out a mormon.org card and wrote our number on it.  I also referred them to that website if they had any questions, because coming across anti material happens way too much here.  And then I left.  But on Monday they called!  So we had our appointment on Thursday night, and it went so well!  They are a cool young dutch couple.  They both work and have a really nice apartment in a beautiful part of Amsterdam, and they are both interrested!  That doesn't happen very often! haha we taught them the first lesson and they understood it so well.  We stressed dispensations and apostasy, and after we taught about the great apostasy we asked the question, "If there was only one church when Christ was on the Earth, then why are there so many christian churches on the Earth today?" They thought for a long time and she gave a killer answer.  She told us that the churches all have a piece of the puzzle, but they don't have the full puzzle.  We asked what we needed to get the full puzzle and she didn't know.  She looked at him and he thought for a second and then said, "We need a prophet!"  It was awesome.  We then told them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  She loved it all.  She told us that it is like she had heard this before and it makes perfect sense.  We told her that was the Holy Ghost communicating with her through her thoughts and feelings.  She had been raised more religious and was more interested and open for it than he was, but he was still open for it.  We are excited to continue to teach them.  They are our other loyal investigators that we have been looking for! 

Yesterday was even more driving.  We had our interviews with the Zone Leaders and drove the whole mission.  We met with them and had some good talks.  Things are going really well in the mission right now and we are all unified.  Elder Alston is really funny and he makes the long car rides enjoyable.  We are doing great here, and I am loving it so much.  Honestly, I am getting pretty excited to come home.  I am going home to great things and I feel ready to start that next step in my life.  But those two lessons we taught this last week made me want to stay out here forever and keep teaching people about the Gospel.  I love it so much! 

I love you!

Elder Bishop

Elder Alston

Driving off into the suns

"As long as we are fulfilling our responsibilities, whatever they may be, and working diligently, then the Lord will bless us."

Amsterdam

Hey guys!  It was nice to hear from you all and it sounds like things are going great back home!  Meleese is busy with the baby, Dad is busy at work and then on the mountain with Ross on the weekends.  Lainey is enjoying being a freshman and playing volleyball, and mom is doing a million things at once, and I still don't get how she does it!  I am getting a better idea though, because I have never been so busy in my life!  This week was transfer week, and I want to apologize for this email right now because you could probably go back 6 emails and they will be almost identical.  But I will still give you a run down of the week.

So Saturday for P day we went to the Rembrant House.  It was a really nice house on the canal with a lot of historical items and paintings.  It was actually pretty cool to see his art studio in the upstairs and all his collections.  I just can't believe how much history is in this city.  It was a fun P day on Saturday, and that evening we did a lot of preparing for Sunday and I will explain why.

Sunday was a busy busy day!  We had church that morning and Elder Alston gave the Priesthood lesson about family history work.  He did a great job by the way.  Elder Alston is great at presenting, and he has helped me with my presentations.  The second hour we both gave the Gospel Principals lesson.  it was about family relationships, and we had no idea where to go with that topic.  There were only a few in that class who have families.  But we came up with the idea to split them up and put them into family units and discuss it on their own.  We got back together, did a really funny role play and then had a big discussion. It was a really fun lesson in the end, and a ton of people commented on it afterwards.  We were really happy afterwards, mainly because it was over haha.  And then for Sacrament Meeting, I gave a talk and Elder Alston translated.  It was crazy, but it all went well.  After church we hurried to the mission home to have dinner with President and Sister Robinson.  Sister Robinson is a great cook, so I look forward to that every time we eat with them.  We all drove to the mission office after that and finished up everything with transfers.  After the transfer board was set, we called the missionaries and told them.  It's always fun calling them and telling them, because they are all freaking out!  Some are excited and some are sad, and some are a little awkward haha but it's still fun.  We went back and stayed in the mission home that night.

Monday morning we left for the office to get everything done there.  We got all the numbers totaled and had our meeting with President.  We got some more things organized and planned, and we were there pretty much the whole day.  Even though we were in the office all day Monday, we still saw a miracle.  That afternoon before dinner, we got a phone call from an unknown number.  I answered and it was a lady who was in church a few weeks ago.  She was a friend of a member, and the member invited her to to church.  She went and she really liked it.  After church that day, I told her what we do as missionaries and tried making an appointment.  She told me that she would study more online and call us if she had any questions.  Basically she gave me a nice rejection, but I gave her a mormon.org card and told her everything she wants to know about the church is found on this website.  I just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to the wrong sources online.  We left church that day and I didn't expect anything to happen from then on, but here I was, three weeks later talking on the phone with her, and she told me she is curious and wants to hear more!  We set up an appointment for this week!  It was a nice miracle that helped me get through the long day in the office.  Like I mentioned last week, I saw it again this week, that as long as we are fulfilling our responsibilities, whatever they may be, and working diligently, then the Lord will bless us.  We got home late that night (when I refer to home I mean the mission home, because that's where we stayed all week).

We woke up the next morning and went to the airport to pick up the new missionaries!  There were 11 who flew in.  5 Elders and 6 Sisters.  There were too many to stay in the mission home, so we had a hotel right at the airport called the Sheraton.  It was a nice Hotel.  We took them straight there and got some legality and financial things organized, and they had interviews with President.  After that, they went to Den Haag to pick up their residency permits.  While they did that with the office elders, we met with president and assigned them to their trainers.  They came back and napped until dinner.  Dinner was probably my favorite part though.  We went to this restaurant in the hotel that fed us real american hamburgers!  They were really good and I remembered how good hamburgers can be haha.  After dinner we had a devotional and they opened up their letters for their first area and trainer.  They were all SO excited and we pumped them up even more haha.  Elder Alston and I got to stay in the hotel that night since we were giving some trainings early the next morning.

Wednesday morning we woke up and went to the breakfast buffet.  It was probably the best breakfast buffet I have ever been to haha.  and then we got started with the trainings.  We gave the first one to just the greenies and got them caught up with what's going on in the mission right now and the mission culture.  That was an hour long and then the trainers came in.  They met their trainers for the first time and it was fun to watch haha.  We then gave a training to the trainers and then we made our way to the mission office and the greenies left with their trainers.  Seeing them made me reflect back on my mission and think a lot about all the things I have experienced and learned out here.  I remember my first night very vividly and meeting Elder Harvey for the first time, and I realize how long ago that really was!  That was in the beginning of 2013!  A LOT has happened since then.   We were back at the mission office though and we ran a few errands for sister Robinson.  We had to drive to Gouda and pick up some plates for the departing missionaries and help them get there bags weighed and everything, and then we drove to the mission home to have their departing devotional and everything.  It was weird this time because the 5 sisters going home came in after me.  Let's just say I'm glad I get 2 years haha.  It was a nice meeting that night though.  Three of the sisters'parents came that evening.  I saw them see each other for the first time since they left, and it was crazy!  I just thought about seeing my family in the airport in Amsterdam in just 12 weeks.  Not gonna lie, it made me a little bit trunky haha.  I am just excited to see you guys.  We had a nice devotional that night though and then went to bed.

We woke up the next morning at 3:30 am!!!  It was awful, but we needed to get the missionaries on their flights.  We got to the airport and sent them off, and we were back at the office by 8ish.  We went back to the mission home and took a nap, because we simply couldn't function by that point.  We woke up a few hours later and realized we had a lot of things to plan for for the coming transfer.  We went to the mission office to do that.  We updated some things and made our schedule for the transfer (it's gonna be another busy one).  And we also realized that we were giving a mission leader council the next day!  We did a lot of planning and preparing for that.  We each had a 30 minute presentation that we needed to give.  It was a little overwhelming, but we finally got it all done.  We made it back to the Mission home late again.  President stayed up for us and made us french toast and bacon for dinner that night haha it was really nice of him.

The next morning was the mission leader council.  It went really well!  All of our presentations were good and I think the zone leaders and sister training leaders learned a lot.  I always feel inadequate presenting at mission leader councils, because there are such good missionaries there who could give just as good, if not, better presentations.  But I talked about the Holy Ghost and how we can use the gift of the Holy Ghost most effectively in our missionary work.  I talked about living worthy and developing a relationship with him.  I talked about the big question, "is it the Holy Ghost or is it just me?"  I answered it through D&C 58:27-28.  I explained how it is important that we are agents unto ourselves and we make our own choices.  We need to use our own intellect and abilities to their fullest extent.  That's how we come closer to Christ.  If the Spirit makes all our choices and does everything for us, we will not develop.  I then explained how the Holy Ghost is a catalyst to our progression.  He will help us with the decisions we need help with.  He will make up the difference between our abilities and the abilities we need to make the right choices.  So as we have this relationship with the Spirit, and we know that he is always with us in all our decisions, then it won't matter whether it's us or him!  We trust that he will help us with what we need help with.  After that I mentioned how we receive that help from the Holy Ghost and how we can recognize it.  After we receive that revelation, we need to act on it.  That is when the Holy Ghost becomes that catalyst in our lives and accelerates our progression here on Earth, is when we receive that revelation and act on it.  That was my 30 minute presentation summarized into a paragraph haha so I hope it makes somewhat sense, but I was pleased with how it went, and if nobody else learned anything, at least I learned a lot while preparing for it and giving it.  After the Mission Leader Council, President took us out for icecream haha.  It was another busy, but fun day.

We woke up this morning, and we are both really tired, but what missionary isn't haha I guess it's just part of the job.  This week was really fun, even though we didn't get the chance to teach any lessons.  I still learned a lot and had a lot of fun.  It's fun working with President and Sister Robinson so much.  They are great people, and they teach me a lot.  But anyways, I gotta get going.  I apologize again for the letter.  it is just a lot of information that you probably don't even care about haha but that's my life right now, and I am absolutely loving it!  I hope you all have a great week!  I love you and miss you more than you know.

Love,

Elder Bishop