11/18

Dear Everyone,
There's too many emails to write now to all the family! For those of you I may have
missed this week, I apologize and I'll either try to get you a written letter to you or
I'll send you an email next week.
It's great hearing about everything happening back home. That is awesome that Chris is
going back out. I'm excited for him. I can't remember if I already told you this or not
Bryce, but since I got a letter from you about it today, I'll say it again: Congrats on
your diving! That would be so cool if you could get a diving scholarship. Like I said
before I left, I'll have to keep learning how to dive when I get back and maybe we can do
synchronized diving together in the Olympics in a few years. :)
Everything is great out here! Like I said in my previous letter, we don't get to teach
many lessons in Spanish in this area since all the Hispanics are spread out which makes
them hard to find. I'm still trying to improve my Spanish as much as I can while I'm
here though so when I get transferred to an area like Biloxi or Gulf Port I'll be able to
be speaking fluently. Still, we have the privilege of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ
with people whether it is in Spanish or in English and that's the greatest blessing there
is.
There's all kinds of people here. One guy we taught the other day was baptized when he
was about 15, but hasn't been back to church for a couple years and is now in his early
20's. We knocked his door and he came out with a bleached mohawk, gauges in his ears,
and smoking like a chimney. Still, he was an awesome guy and though it may take some
time, he was very friendly with the church and we may get him back to church one of these
weeks.
Another man we were teaching last night with a member. We had tracted into him the day
before and he invited us to come back the next day. His name is Johnny Deaton. He's
retired and has a tube coming out of his chest from where he had a double-bypass surgery
back in April. He's Baptist and had a lot of questions that he said he wanted to ask the
next time we came, but the Spirit was there very strongly while we taught and he showed a
genuine interest in what we had to say.
Another family that I talked about last week were the Hudsbets. We had an appointment
with them last night as well that fell through because something came up for two of their
children. That was a bit of a disappointment because we'd been looking forward to
teaching them all week. They're such an amazing family and really open to hearing about
the church.
I love it out here! Rarely do we have success. People say they either already have a
religion or that they don't need one. Many try to prove to us that we are wrong or that
their Jesus is a different Jesus than that of the Mormon Church. However, after all of
these failures and disappointments it is so amazing to be able to learn and teach with an
honest seeker of truth. The few experiences I've had already since I've been out here
have been some of the sweetest of my life. The Lord lives and he loves us. He prepares
the way for us every day to find the people we need to teach. We found that man Johnny
Deaton because our car battery had died at 8:45 at night and so we decided to do a little
tracting while we were waiting for someone to come give us a jump. Miracles happen every
day and I love having the opportunity to go through the hardships in order to find those
miracles. Thank you for your prayers. I pray for all of you each day as well.
Tu hijo y hermano para siempre,
Elder Bradley Bishop