Dear Everyone, Only two weeks left! I'm so excited! Our district should be getting our travel plans today, but because because two of our hermanas, Elder Mills, and I are going stateside, we're not sure if we will get them today as well. Those going out of the country usually leave on a Monday and those going stateside usually don't end up leaving til Wednesday so we are a little sad about that. It'll be weird going from a district of 11 to a district of 4. Don't worry Mom, I haven't been suffering from the "big H" as you would say, just yet (No offense. I still love and miss you all), but I really am doing fine out here and loving to learn the gospel and the language. I do love getting letters from home though. They're a good reprieve and then help me get back to work with new enthusiasm. So, thank you. I'm glad to hear Grandma Hair is doing OK. That's crazy that she had to have a stent put in, but I guess it's better now then later when she might actually have a heart attack. Let Grandma Bishop know that I'm impressed she downed 3 of those enchiladas of yours Mom. (I'm sure they were delicious though so there's no surprise Grandma would eat all of that) :) Mom, I hope that you get to teach at Heritage again next year. You sound the happiest about school than I've ever heard before. Tell Aunt Shirley I love her too and that if someone (or her) wants to send me a letter with her address on it then I willl definitely write her. I'm gonna try to send the SD card home today. I sent Bryce a letter about it already, but yes Mom, I will need to send it in more than just an envelope with a few rolls of paper around it...:) The weather up here is amazing and I love seeing the colors change. Whenever we have our temple walks on Sunday I just lay in the grass on the hill above the temple with my district and look at all the leaves changing colors. I took some pictures so that you too can know what it's like to not only see leaves, but see leaves that are yellow and red. :) When I heard about the table you were making for our cabin with Bro. Merkley, Dad, it sounded really cool. You'll have to send a picture of it to me when you're finished with it. Ben told me to buy a whole bunch of materials I'll need for the mission while here in the MTC. I'd been planning on it, but I still have no idea how I'm gonna fit all my new mission materials in my suitcase when it was already so full from before. I'll figure it out though. I'm still waiting on our family photo. I have pictures of lot's of us but it would be nice to have one of the whole family, especially for when I hit the field. We're encouraged to show our investigators our families so they know we aren't just robots constructed in the MTC to preach the gospel. Everything here is going fantastic. We taught the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom to a man in the TRC on Tuesday. It went really great. We hadn't planned on teaching the Word of Wisdom until closer to the end of the lesson, but when Elder Mills brought up how the commandments can bless us, he wanted to know what kind of commandments there were. We had already gave him an overview of what we would be teaching on a previous visit so he had a lot of questions about the Word of Wisdom and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to finish teaching the Plan of Salvation. However, after explaining about the importance of the Word of Wisdom and that it really was a commandment from God, we were able to tie it back in. It was really good that we were able to as well, because for the teaching record the man's brother had died and so it was really important what we had to teach him about the Plan of Salvation, especially where we are going...he just didn't know how important it was for him until we taught it. Anyway, it went great and the Spirit was there. I really love teaching and I can't wait to get to Mississippi. We didn't get any new districts this week so we were all a little disappointed about that. The district members right above us are all leaving on Monday so then we'll be down to 3 districts in our zone until Wednesday. I love you all so much. Take care! Su Hijo y Hermano, Elder Bradley Bishop

Dear Everyone, I can't believe it's already time to write you again. Time here flies by so fast. Speaking of which...I'm leaving next week! We received our travel plans last Friday. All the Elders and one Hermana in our district who are going to Paraguay are leaving on Monday morning, then the other two of our Hermanas who are going to California are leaving Tuesday morning, and then...Elder Mills and I split up and head our different ways early Wednesday morning. He reports to the travel office at 3 am and I report at 4 am. My flight leaves Salt Lake at 7 am and lands in Atlanta at 12:41 pm. Then I have about an hour lay over and fly over to Jackson arriving at 1:49 pm. I don't know why I fly all the way to Atlanta only to fly back to Jackson, but I guess it's fine. I don't know if you really even care about all this info, but we were told to make sure we send the information home anyway. I'm flying Delta 1586 to Atlanta and then Delta 5410 to Jackson. I'm sure everything will go fine. Tell the Sister Valentino that I checked with my companion and that no, he isn't related to any Mills that live in California. Sorry. However, the story about the Humphrey's talking with the First Presidency at their grandson's sealing is really cool! Speaking of which, for our devotional this Tuesday Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us. It was really good and everyone was really excited. Usually we get to hear an Apostle every 3 or 4 weeks, but we hadn't had one since Elder Holland spoke to us my second week here. I figure it was probably because of General Conference. Well, things are going good here. This whole week is pretty much wrapping up our stay at the MTC. Instead of our instructors teaching us all the time, now we teach them. Basically everything that was our designated "class time" before is now spent teaching our instructors as investigators, teaching other teachers in the TE who act as investigators, or teaching other companionships. Elder Mills and I committed one of our progressing investigators in the TE that we've been working with for a couple weeks to baptism two days ago. It was really awesome and we still want to teach him more, but you have to schedule appointments for the TE and it's tough to find spots. Over the past two weeks we only were able to teach him 4 times. Sorry Ben, I tried getting your "placa" but they said you can only buy them out in your mission unless you've lost yours here. I'll get you one once I'm out there though. As far as the family picture goes Mom, the black and white family picture we took last Christmas would be fine! Also, if you could, please send me some more Coldeeze. I've only had one cold here at the beginning of my stay, but I've taken some on mornings where I felt like I might be getting one. It's no fun to get sick here in the MTC and it spreads really fast. Congratulations Dad on getting released from the Bishopric. I've always been impressed on how faithfully you've served these 5 years and you've been an inspiration for me in diligence and hard work my entire life. Elder Mills and I were released as Zone Leaders this Sunday (I don't know if you would say released or not since we were only asked to do it...our Branch President likes to remind us that those asked to be District or Zone Leaders are never "called." As missionaries we only have one calling and so we are asked to fulfill assignments instead). Anyway, it was a good experience and Elder Mills and I learned a lot. President Estes was really kind to release us when he did because this week we're teaching so much and have to do so many things to get ready to leave that it would've been kinda hectic to do everything else as well. I don't have much time left, but know that I love you all. I always love getting your letters and hearing about home. Mom, everytime you say you and dad are going up to Forest Lakes for the night and abbreviate it with a FL, I always have to pause and remember that it's Forest Lakes you're probably going to...not Florida. Take care and the next letter you'll get from me will be in Mississippi! Tu hijo y hermano, Elder Bradley Bishop P.S. Mom, thanks for your confidence that I can outrun a tsunami.

Dear Everyone, So, I'm finally here in Mississippi! Normally our P-days will be on Wednesdays, but since its transfers they moved it to today. The flight over here went well. Elder Mills left at 3 Wednesday morning and I left at 4, but we both got up at 2 anyway to finish all of our packing. Elder Mills was an awesome companion and I'm gonna miss him a lot. On the flight over here I was with 7 other Elders who were coming here to the Jackson mission, but I was the only Spanish Elder. I found out later that the spanish mission here is actually really new and I'm only the 8th spanish missionary to be here. Two of the Spanish Elders have gone home so we have 6 Elders here out of the 100+ who speak spanish. Actually, one of the Assistants is a spanish Elder and is from Gilbert. His name is Elder Lyman and we got to talk a lot about home and about the mission since the mission here is kinda different for the spanish Elders. We met President and Sister Tucker at the airport with the office Elders and they're amazing. After we all drove back to the mission home, we took our pictures out in front of the house and did a whole bunch of other orientation things. We spent the night in the mission home, so we had dinner and then breakfast this morning at the home. The food here is SO good! Some of the office Elders said the average weight gain on the mission is about 25-30 pounds. Still...not gonna happen to me! :) Last night we had a little testimony meeting and then afterwards received our area and companion assignments. For the Spanish Elders there are really only two areas that are open right now with other areas that open up depending on the time of year. I'm serving in Texarkana and my companion will be Elder Wilson. In the mission home, they really made all the trainers sound like awesome Elders, but even today when I was talking with other Elders and they asked who my trainer was, they would all say how great Elder Wilson is. I'm really excited, but since my area is on the other side of the mission, I don't leave until this afternoon and then I stop in Shreveport for the night. I guess I'll meet up with my companion tomorrow. It's been weird saying everything in English. I'm so used to doing everything in Spanish now, that I feel like I'm missing something when other people are talking. How's everything back home? Thanks for the package Mom. The cookies were great and I was excited to get our family picture. I didn't realize you were sending me such a big one though. It's great! We spent the P-day in one of the ward buildings here since the transfer van is going down south before heading west. A couple of us went late with one of the office Elders down to a Wendys after everyone had come back from lunch. One of the other new Elders and I went up to the counter to order and the woman taking our orders started talking to us and we could barely understand a word she was saying. It was the most heavy black, deep-south accent that I've ever heard in my life. Anyway, we finally got everything taken care of and I decided that maybe I will be learning two languages here after all. Anyway, the transfer van is here, so I need to go get changed and pack everything in there. Sorry I didn't write much this time. I didn't even realize the ward had a library with 8 computers in it. I'll write you next Wednesday though and let you know how everything is when I actually have some exciting things to talk about! I love you all and thanks for your prayers. I pray for you every day too. I hope all is well and that Bryce is feeling better by now. Talk to you next week! Su hijo y hermano, Elder Bradley Bishop

Oh and by the way, you can send me emails now. I don't have unlimited time but I have more than 30 minutes so I have time to read your letters. Love you!

Dear Everyone, So apparently the computers in the church library that we are using are kinda temperamental so mine just shut off as I was about half-way through my letter to you. There isn't any way to save your drafts on this email either. Oh well. I guess I'll just give up and not write you this week. Just kidding, please tell Kaytie and Ryan thank you for the CD's they're the only ones whose email I can't remember so if you also want to send me their address in the next letter that'd be great. Like I said in the last letter, Elder Wilson is going to be my trainer. He's from Burns, Oregon and worked on a ranch before he came out here so he's a big time cowboy. He goes home in two transfers so I'll probably be here in Texarkana with him until the end of his mission. After he goes home, I'll be getting a follow-up trainer and will probably stay here an additional transfer. The area is great. We share an apartment with two other Elders. They have the Arkansas side of Texarkana and we we have the Texas side. We actually both get cars, but we have a limited amount of miles each month. The other Elders get 1100 a month and we get 800. We go visit people out in the boondocks sometimes so its good we have a car. So far, we've only spent one day on the bikes, but we put a lot of miles on that day so by the end, my bike seat definitely was not feeling to good. Our apartment is supposedly one of the nicest in the mission. Everything is stained and beat-up or broken, but we have a working refrigerator and we even have our own washer and dryer. We also have a dishwasher, but we do everything by hand since it's easier. There's some excercise equipment in there that was left by some previous missionaries so all in all we got pretty lucky. I just heard earlier this morning about some Elders that are living in an apartment that has rats and holes in the floor. Sounds like fun. From what it sounds like, my situation is pretty similar to Tysons. The Spanish Elders have only been in Texarkana for about 7 months and that was only because one Hispanic sister was begging for us. There's quite a few Hispanics here, but theyre all spread out and so it's hard to find them. Because of that we end up spending most of our days tracting, meeting with members of the ward, or trying to contact less-actives or part-member families. We have 3 Hispanic investigator families right now, but none of them are really progressing. It's not really that they don't want to, but every time we go over to try to visit with them no one is home. I've actually only met one of the Hispanic investigators so far. My first day here in Texarkana we went to go check out a referral we had received from a sister in the ward. They ended up not being home so we decided to do a little tracting. Elder Wilson had the first door and received a pretty polite refusal. Then it was my turn and nobody came to the first couple doors we knocked. Finally, a man answered the door. He was holding a dog in his arm and he had his kids behind him. He took one look at us, looked down at our badges and said, "Not interested" as he slammed the door shut. Good first experience. :) I love tracting though and we've had a lot of success from it since then. We just had return appointment last night with one family that we tracted on Sunday. It was awesome. They attend a non-denominational church, but they're really into looking at all religions to see what they're about. Two of their kids were there last night and actually had some friends come over too that are in the same church youth group. Unfortunately, the dad wasn't there so we didn't want to teach too much without him, but we answered a lot of their questions about the Book of Mormon and its origin. It was really cool and we set up a return appointment for next Tuesday that we're really excited for. There's also a member in our ward by the name of Bob Taylor. He's a cool old man that lives alone and so we've gone and visited him a couple times. Turns out he's really into geneaolgy and has like a world record with 2 1/2 million names. Anyway, he looked up my name and told me some things about it which was really cool so I told him that the next time we go over there I'd bring him our Family Tree charts that we were told to bring with us so that he can look stuff up. He was really excited to do that. :) I hope everything is going well back home. Congratulations on taking 7th in State Bryce. I'm still waiting on that letter that you keep promising to send me... I can't believe that Sterling is already 1! That's crazy! Speaking of which, you'll need to send me some photos of him and Kiley. I have some of Brooklyn, Davin, and Brennen but I need some of my other favorite niece and nephew. :) As always, thank you for your prayers. I love you all. -Tu hijo y hermano Elder Bradley Bishop