We Beat The Jehova Witnesses

Well well well....Ya Bish is back...

It's been an awesome but interesting week.

#Main points#

+ went to the ER again

+ got 2 baptisms

+ went to the temple

So first off, I had to go to the ER again! This was an interesting experience. We were on exchanges with the Portland Elders. The exchange was going great until...Elder Peterson started feeling sick. He was pretty sick to his stomach and he couldn't poop. He reported that it had been three days prior to him coming up that he couldn't poop, so we thought maybe he's just mega constipated, so we went to get him laxatives, lol. We went to the chemist (pharmacy in Australia) to get some laxatives and looked at a certain box and it said it works within 20 minutes. Elder Peterson was like, "The sooner the better!" So we drove back to the flat. I was trying to help a brother out, so I started to read the instructions on the box and I realized that these are not pills...you don't put them in water...you put it in your rectum. As I'm reading the instructions to myself I start laughing my butt off and all the sudden Elder Peterson was like, "What is so funny?" and I told him he has to put this slippery little "pill" up his booty hole. He was like "NOOOO Elder Bishop!! That's GAY!!! Being the helpful brother that I am, I convinced him to do it anyways. So he ended up losing his man card for that one but he manged to sqweek a little turd out. Unfortunatley, he still felt terrible and about an hour later he started screaming his head off and I was very concerned. We called the mission nurse and we ended up taking him to the ER because his pain was so bad. It was so bad while driving! Elder Peterson was in the front seat with me and he was screaming at me to turn into oncoming traffic and begging me to drive faster because he couldn't wait any longer. I've never hated driving so much. In Australia they have a lot of traffic cameras that just randomly give you tickets and you don't even know you've done anything wrong. They are quite expensive too! I have already been the victim of camera tickets here, and I can't afford another one, so I did not speed while driving my friend. Thankfully, he's all good now. He ended up have appendicitis and had to get his appedix out. Poor Elder Peterson.

Here's a cool conversion story. I told you last week about my friend Mark Saunders. He was a self referral from Facebook and he reached out to us while I was laid up with my dumb ankel sprain. We ended up calling him, setting up an appointment for a chapel tour, then that day he ended up canceling on us. That wasn't the best, but we prayed about it and we felt like we should still be persistent with him and keep trying to meet with him. Little bit of background about Mark. He was currently with someone in a different state and he moved here just about a month ago with nothing but a suitcase and the clothes on his back. He was desiring to restart his life, straight from zero. He had been meeting with Jehovah witnesses for about 5 years. He was still meeting with them for 2 weeks when he was meeting with us as well. Now, back to the story. We ended up going to his house on a Saturday night and invited him to church the next day. We almost didn't go to see him, but Elder Siania and I both felt the spirit was very clear about this. He said that he just got out of a meeting with the JW's and had prayed to know what was the best option. His prayer was answered that he should commit to us. He ended up coming to church, but not only church, also the baptism that we had that day and the devotional later that night. He loved it and he wanted to learn more and more about our church and we told them that we could meet with them every day cause he was really available cause he didn't have a job. About a week later we put him on date for baptism and he dropped the JW's and told them it wasn't for him and he was ready. He kept all the commitments and was baptized in 2 weeks. It's like he was meant to be in this ward! He fits in with all the members and loves all of them and loves coming to church and can't wait for his future. Elder Siania ended up doing the baptism and I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. The Ward mission leader confirmed him a member of the church and gave him the Holy Ghost. One thing to notice about this story is that my companion and I were just deliverers of this message. The spirit did the rest. Aways follow the spirit and be worthy to have it with you, always. I'm so grateful we chose to follow that prompting to go back to see him.

Another awesome thing is my friend Paul from my last area in Gulf View Heights got baptized on the same day that Mark did! He was close to baptism when I left and I knew my homies, Elder Nielsen and Elder Tui would finish up what we started and they did! Really cool how that worked out. Paul is awesome and he is truly a very Christ-like individual. He is striving to be a example for his family. I wasn't able to physically be at his baptisim but I was able to give him a call and congratulate him. I'm hoping to see him soon, another time.

We had a mission leadership council meeting and it was awesome, like always, President and Sister Johansson always give the best council. Very inspiring meetings. Because I am part of the MLC they took us all to the temple to see the New updates on the endowment session! It was super cool! It was a little longer, so I was super sleepy and wanted to take a nap at times, but it was a lot easier to understand and just better. So if you haven't been able to go see the new updates to the temple endowment session, then I invite you to go to the temple and feel closer to your Savior and see the new updates. If you don't have a recommend to go, get yourself worthy and ready to attend an endowment session. If you aren't a member of the church, (not sure if there are non members on this email list) but if you aren't a member, get baptized and wait a year to go see the new endowment session! You will be blessed with Heavenly Power that will help you in this troubled world. You will love the savior so much.

Oh! and we had transfer news and I'll tell you all the specifics next email.

Elder Bishop is on the move!

Have a great week and drop me a message! I'd love to hear from any of you!

Love,

Elder Bishop

Pictures:

1.) Paul's baptism with Elder Nelson and Elder Tui

2.) The "not pill" laxatives : )

3.) Elder Siania and I at the beach close to our flat

4.) At the temple with my boi Elder Nelson (MTC companion)

5.) More Adelaide temple pics with the boys

6.) MLC group