Be 100% responsible

So we had zone conference last week and it was SO good! There is a talk called be 100 percent responsible by Lynn G Robbins, and that's what zone conference was based on. So basically they taught us that we have to be responsible for EVERYTHING in missionary work and just in normal life...even if you're right. So for example... if you are struggling in an area where the members won't help, or the area is dead, or the bishop or ward mission leaders are lame and won't help, or your companion is lazy and doesn't want to go out and work....yeah you're right...it would be better if they did their job, but you are responsible for yourself and you can make a difference. He talks about the anti-responsibility list and it's so awesome! In his talk he has a bunch in the list but we talked about 4. Blame... rationalizing... excuses... and minimizing/trivializing mistakes. He says God does not allow any degree of sin, be 100% responsible for your actions. Eliminate the the anti-responsibility list from your life, even if you are right. You will begin to move forward in the light way more faster. I could go on and on about this zone conference buy I don't want to bore y'all haha but seriously you guys should read that talk! Then sister Sperry and I had to give a training 4 times at zone conference bc they split in groups and we did workshops...so every 10 min they would switch and we would get a new group of missionaries. So our training was on HTBT and setting expectations with investigators and how they need to be 100% responsible for being time efficient and leaving commitments. It was super fun! Also, I forgot that all the departing missionaries have to bare their testimony at the end of zone conferences...and I remember my VERY FIRST zone conference and thinking that would never be me up there baring my testimony bc I wouldn't be going home in forever...and now here I am...at my last zone conference...it was so unreal and I think that was the moment I actually realized that I'm going home soon. Yall it was so trippy. And sad. And accomplishing. 

     Our investigators are doing so good! Andrew and Nicole are awesome and trying so hard to learn the gospel, Sean is praying about a baptism date right now, Jessica is solid and all 7 of her kids want to get baptized, and everyone else is doing SO awesome right now too! Everyday is so crazy...we have so many appointments and meetings...its just crazy, but keeping us busy! 

     Oh my gosh. The funniest thing happened again at someone's door. I seriously couldn't control myself...it was just so funny! Okay so we are stopping by this family's house who we think is less active...and we get there and like slow R&B music is BLASTING and I was like dude...i bet the parents aren't home and some kid is here with his friends being greasy. And so we still ring the door bell anyways, and some ysa bro from the ysa ward that I used to be in answered the door with his shirt off, hanging on his shoulder, and he was kinda dancing to the music, and when he sees it's us he FLIPS out and was like OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY! HOLD ON LET ME WASH MY HANDS! So he shuts the door and runs away, and Sister Sperry and I just start dyinggggg it was SO funny!!! He came back in like 3 min and I was still laughing so hard...good thing sister Sperry can get her crap together...bc we all know that i cant. And he was like omgosh guys, this is so awkward! Sorry! And then we were talking to him and it was just so funny. The funniest things happen on missions yall. 

     Okay this email is wayyyy to long...my b. 

Sister Bischoff

SPERRY!

okay. first of all i have to tell yall about Hiro. he is my favorite person that exists. oh my goshhhhhhh hes just so precious!! okay. so. Hiro is from Japan...and hes living at a YSA bros house....his name is Gunnar, and he served his mission in Japan and he met Hiro there...but Hiro was only like 15 so his parents wouldn't let him get baptized, so a couple of months ago he decided he wanted to come to America before he turns 20, and he ended up living with Gunnar! and good ol Sister Ogawa was here the transfer before me...perfect timing... and was able to teach him in Japanese!!! But she went home and I came in and we got to teach him one more time before he got baptized!!! yall. hands down, the best baptism ever. we got permission to let Sister Ogawa skype in on the baptism!!! i got to hold the phone and ohhhh my gosh i was just crying!!! first of all...i miss sister ogawa SOOO much! when she left last Tuesday i was just crying soooo much! i did NOT want her to leave all the way to Japan! so when she was skyping in i was just a mess bc i knew she wanted to be here SOOO bad, and i just miss her so much and ughhhhhh. And Hiro is soooo sweet! all he cares about is going back home to Japan and sharing how happy he is with his family and friends! and he told us we are his best friends because we helped him! honestly..we didn't do anything..hes just GOLDEN. so is Gunnar! i just love them both! its crazy bc there's kind of a language barrier, but we all can still feel the spirit, and we are just homies bc it doesn't matter where we are from bc we are all Gods children!! i know that was a super basic thing for me to say...but its true hahah!!! then a homie member took us to YC's after!!!!! But anyways..i LOVE HIRO...ive only known him 5 days and he literally changed my life. and Damon..you would LOVE him!!! he is super good at flips and crazy stuff like that!! ill have to send some vids of him! its literally so crazy.

     sooooooo many funny moments y'all...like seriously...when we are around each other we get sooo crazy! its been so fun tho! we cover 3 family wards and a ysa ward! i have been in a flippin ysa ward for a whole year of my mission...its been crazy. ysa bros are crazzzyyy we share this one with the ZLs so its even more crazy. Honestly i dont even know what to put in this email...the 1st week of transfers are always such a blur lol! but we are teaching a family with 7 kids...WHO ALL WANT TO BE BAPTIZED!! so we are super pumped!!! 

     also...just a shout out to Jaymz because hes baller and 100% a french elder now. I literally brag about him to everyone i meet. literally. and now everyone thinks you're amazing...because you are..so you're welcome. love you dude 

sorry this wasn't a huge update on my life...but ill make sure next weeks is better haha! love yall!!!

       Sister Bischoff

Transfers!!!

What the heck guys. I'm getting transferred MY LAST TRANSFER! my life is so crazy hahaha. BUT.... I already know where I'm going and who I'm getting! We had interviews with president and he just told me everything lol! He's so funny! It might not happen, but this is 99.9% going to happen! So I will still be in the same zone, and I will literally be in the next stake over.....with SISTER SPERRY!!!!!! AHHHH I'M SO EXCITED! And that would mean I would be in the Ferguson's ward!!! Im actually pretty stoked because a couple transfers ago, I was having the roughest time and I was deciding if I would go home early in the January transfer or my normal  February transfer...i was literally done with life so I was leaning towards January (I would be home tomorrow if I decided January.. scary!) But one day I was praying about it to see if that's what I really needed to do and y'all, the way I receive answers to prayers is so funny! I swear it's ALWAYS through music! Literally Stay by Rihanna was stuck in my head right after I prayed....the part where she's like "I want you to sttttttaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy" so I was like uggggghhhhh no why??? And Heavenly Father let me know he wanted me to stay my whole time because my last transfer would be the best transfer I have had and that I would be SO happy and have so much fun! And now i know i will be with sister Sperry and it will be so awesome! The only thing I'm stressing about is that she's an STL, and usually STLs are in companionships...so I'm praying for somehow I won't have to be an STL my last transfer, bc honestly that's too much work for a last transfer!! There's already so much you have to do your last transfer anyways...but God knows what He's doing so I trust him!!!

     Also, shout out to my uncle Greg for taking me and my comp out for dinner! Thank you soooooo much! You're freaking hilarious and we still talk about how fun that was! Greg has literally seen me in the very beginning of my mission, the middle, and the very end of my mission! And he saved my butt and probably took 2 suitcases and a carryon worth of crap back to Vegas so I didn't have to figure out a way to get it there myself hahahaha!!! But seriously thanks for everything Greg!!!

     I swear the funniest things happen to Sister Preston...we were at dinner with a cute fam in our ward...and the girls were kind of crazy, and one of them is getting potty trained right? So shes just running around half naked, but anyways we sit down on the couch and half way through our dinner message I feel sis Preston keep moving around and she's like scooting closer to me and I'm like dude what's going on with ya?? Lol and finally we are done and leave their house and sis Preston is freaking out and is like omgosh dude literally we have to go home right now and I'm like uhhh why? HOMEGIRL SAT IN A HUGE PUDDLE OF PEE ON THE COUCH!!! Hahahahaha I was so weak!!! Her dress was SOAKING wet! And it smelled soooo bad!! 

     Oh. My. Gosh. Saturday was the best day ever. So Jacob our recent covert just kills me. He invited us to go to the temple with him for his first time! It was soooooo awesome! He's just so sweet and he was SO excited!! He's so presh. Then he took us to Hen House Cafe and it was SO fun!!! OH. Then Sunday, we walk into our ysa ward and I see Jacob and Anthony sitting in the front with the peeps that pass the sacrament and I FREAKED out and ran over to them and basically harassed them jk jk but I was so excited for them to pass the sacrament! So they start passing the sacrament and Jacob goes up and passes it to Bishop Lake and Bishop just looks over at me and we both just start crying hahaha! It was so awesome tho, we are just so proud of these boys! And Anthony got his temple recommend so now he's super excited to go too! But I was having a moment at church, watching them pass the sacrament... i was just so flipping emotional. I was thinking of all the crazy hard times of my mission, and not even caring about that because just seeing the happiness of Anthony and Jacob with the Priesthood, and them going to the temple was enough for me. One happy moment like that on a mission makes up for 17 hard months of my mission. That's why you got to just keep going even when things are hard, because something seriously awesome will make up for it. 

     Also, I have still been doing the Jesus Christ topical guide challenge! I'm on the Atonement right now...i have learned so much. Seriously, just feeling the love Christ had for us as he bore our sins is amazing. Jesus Christ is this all powerful God, that has power over earth and the heavens and everything plus more. And he submitted Himself to trials of mortality, temptation, hunger, thirst, pain of body, and fatigue even more than man can suffer. He didnt have to go through that because of who He is...but He did, because of who He is. Because He loves us so much, and wanted us to have a way to repent and live with Him and God again, He went through everything no one could imagine. I am just so eternally grateful for the Atonement of Christ. And I'm SO thankful that Christ loved me enough to suffer a moment there for me. So seriously, everyone that reads this should do the Jesus Christ topical guide challenge because I can promise that you will learn how to draw the power of Christ more into your life!!! 

     Sister Bischoff

 

My favorite peeps

Hey y'all! Life is so good. I have been learning a lot about obedience lol...for all of you that know me...im not much of a strict rule follower, I kinda just do my thing. I obviously know what's wrong and right..but I'm learning that at least in the mission field, there are rules and guidelines for a reason. Sister Preston and I have been trying to be more exactly obedient, because we know that obedience brings blessings, but EXACT obedience brings miracles. So just little things like starting studies at exactly 9 and get out the house at 10 and all the other little things like that. So the day we decided to be better, we saw straight miracles. I'll share a few with ya! So we were out biking around talking to everyone, and we felt prompted to go to this potentials house, so we go and we were like hey uhh, is this a good time to share a message with you? And he was like Yeah! And we were like oh!....awesome...uhhh... lol it was SO funny, we had no idea what to do when someone actually says yes hahaha so we go in and sit down and talk with him, finds out he's RLDS and knows all of the lds history and is super chill and nice and he turned into our new investigator and wants to learn more! Then like 5 min after his lesson we get a text saying there is a lady who wants to be baptized that has 9 yr old twin boys who want to be baptized too! And so many other miracles happened that day! It was awesome! So that was a testimony builder for me about obedience!! 

     Okay. So the other day we were on exchanges and Sister Sperry came with me in my area, and we met this guy Branden! He's 21 so he's a ysa bro, but he's super chill and has SO MANY QUESTIONS! It's pretty awesome. But he said we could come back, so sister Preston and I went last night and we caught him at the perfect timing, and ended up talking to him for like 2 hours I feel like! He's a funny one, and he's pretty good looking so that made it more fun...but ANYWAYS...he wouldn't take a Book of Mormon the first time I met him, but after a while of talking with him, we asked again...and he was like okay, on one condition...you have to pick a number between 1 and 10...and if you pick the right number, I'll take it... So we were like oh sweet mercy, you're one of those people!? And he was like yep! It's fate for me to take this book if you get the number right! So im praying (literally) to get this right and im thinking 7 and Sister Preston is thinking 8, so we decided 7 and IT WAS RIGHT! We were so scared but Heavenly Father had our backs haha I always pick 7..its my lucky number Ü  but he said he would read and pray about it and we are SO excited!

     GUYS! Anthony is doing SO good! I swear I love that kid! Yesterday he recieved the Priesthood! And everyone in this ysa is so good and nice to him and he's making good friends and I'm just so happy for him! And he just looks so good too! If y'all could see a before and after picture of him you would die!!! The gospel really does help people and uplift them. It's so amazing. And seriously, Anthony is one of those people that I know 100% that I needed to meet him on my mission and teach him. I just have so much love for that kid AND this kid has sleeping issues...he would maybe get 7 hours of sleep a week...like. that's terrible. So we had Elder Hatch give him a blessing and yesterday we asked him if he got any sleep, and he said the other day he got 12 HOURS OF SLEEP! That is soooo good for Anthony Hahaha! So that was good for him to see the power of the Priesthood! 

     So yesterday in our Lakeview ward, Bo (our fav little kid ever) is sitting behind us, and I see him kind of walk up like he's going to bare his testimony and he looks at me with big eyes and I'm like yeah you can do it!! And he's so loud btw, and he's like but I'm so scared!!! And I'm like you got this! And he's like I need you to go up with me!! And everyone is just lookin at us so I'm awh crap I have to go up there lol so he grabs my hand and we walk on up there and he biffs it like 3 times on the way up there, then I had to play the mom roll and whisper everything in his ear, haha it was actually super cute, but then bc I was up there I kinda had to bare my testimony, but its all good! As I'm up there talking I see him biff it again hahaha so funny! Then I sit back down in my seat and he comes out of no where and faceplants right by my chair and I'm like dude Bo, and he gets up with the biggest smile and gives me the loudest highfive and sits back down hahaha what even is my life? Idk.. but it's hilarious. Btw, Bo is the kid i sent the videos of! 

Ughhhh I just love mission life...im so sad it's ending soon it's allllllll good tho, life might be decent when I get home????

sister Bischoff

I have problems...

So we aren't in this random trio anymore! Sister Cordon got an new comp on Friday so it's been a little bit easier now that we aren't covering 6 wards lol...that was too much for me to handle.

     K yall, honestly...i just have problems, idk what's wrong with me. When something is funny, it's funny and I just gotta laugh. My fam knows what I'm talking about, it's ridiculous. So sis Preston and I were tracting because we were trying to find peeps to teach, and we were just tired and I'm super sick right now, so I'm just not in my right mind right? So we knock on this door, and this tall Asian dude answered and were doing our basic oym (open your mouth) approach or whatever and the dude barely speaks English okay? So his go to communication is just to mumble and maybe throw in a couple English words, and y'all, it was the funniest thing ever, like we were having full on convos with him of just mumbling, and finally I just couldn't handle it...i tried to ask him a question as I'm trying not to laugh, but half way through I just lose it. I just started laughing SO hard. I was literally cryingggg, he was just being so funny!!! And if y'all know sis Preston...shes the same as me when it comes to funny stuff, so she starts laughing! Literally both of us are just at this random dudes front door, just laughing at him! What the heck we are so dumb! So sister Preston is a baller, and got her crap together and she just keeps on sharing the gospel with him while I'm hunched over laughing so hard I could barely breath...so finally I just turn around while she talks to him Hahaha! I struggle y'all, but omgosh it was the funniest thing of my life. But at the end, sis Preston asks if he's interested and in the clearest voice with no mumbling,  he says nope, and that was even funnier bc that was the clearest thing he said that whole 5 min, so I just die again!!! I was trying so hard to control myself, but that just didn't happen. But that's the story of my life...not really surprised that happened. He was a really nice dude tho, just a funny one. Good ol Sister Preston and I are always laughing during the wronnnnnng time. We are so bad that way hahah. All we have to do is just look at each other and we know exactly what we are thinking and just can't control ourselves. Like throw back to dev dogg when we were laughing throughout his whole lesson lololol he's so funny and doesn't even know it! Like one time we taught him the plan of salvation and at the end we had him pray to know if it's true and homeboy kept saying the planet of salvation hahaha so funny! We just think stupid crap like that is funny. No bueno.

     So we had to give talks in our ysa ward. Ysa wards seriously give the most random topics...literally I gave a talk on the topical guide....what the heck. But anyways, Jacob our recent covert was there, and at the end of sacrament meeting, people from different committees go up and say announcements, and someone from the welcome crew has the new or visiting peeps stand up and introduce themselves, and she had them also share what their fav Christmas gift was, so Jacob stands up and says he just got baptized and the best Christmas gift he could have asked for was the gift of the Holy Ghost and everyone's heart was just melting!!! Everyone was like AWHHHHHHHH!!!! hahaha it was SO cute! Sister Preston and I are proud mommas. Literally tho we think we are his mom's lolol after the 1st hour he had to go to the bathroom,  so we showed him where it was and we were like okay we have to go to, so when you're done just stay right here and we will meet you right here, then we can go to class together okay? And he said "it's like y'all are my mom's or something!" Hahaha so funny! We just love him so much!!!! 

     I just love everyone we are teaching, they are just funny and I know that I was sent to Gilbert AZ so that I could be blessed enough to know them. Like honestly, I have met so many people here that I know I'm supposed to know, it's so awesome! I'm sad I have to leave them soon but good thing I'll only be like 5 hours away lol

     Sister Bischoff