Because some chicas were getting irritable...

I have recieved a few angry words from my "fans" about not posting Elder Bishop's letters so here they are. enjoy

Thu, Oct 15, 2009
Dear Everyone,
Hopefully I won't have any trouble getting my email off to you this week. There isn't
nearly as much to say this week so I don't think there should be any problem. It sounds
like everyone is having a great time going to Disneyland and to Texas. That's really
cool that Will was able to get you 3 tickets for Disneyland from his friend. It's like
almost $100 per person now isn't it? Still, I'm glad that Ben and Macey were able to go
on some good rides and that Kiley is a Teacups fan.
Thanks for talking to Tyler about dropping off that extra suit. I too have seen the
secret drop-off point. It's a favorite on the Black Market for missionaries who call in
a pizza or maybe a Sonic Blizzard. It's alright though. There were some one-suit Elders
in one of our new Districts who were asking about how to get their suits cleaned while
Elder Mills and I were taking them around the MTC. We told them we'd talk to President
Estes (the zone's Branch President) as soon as we got the chance. He was sick for a
couple days so we didn't get to talk to him for a while. His counselors were a little
stressed with all the things they had to do since it was supposed to be his Sunday to
teach everything. Actually, the second counselor is completely new to the MTC too so
really it was just the first counselor, Brother Cameron, who was taking care of
everything. He asked Elder Mills and I to help him out with Priesthood meeting at the
last minute so we got a lesson together really fast about the Holy Ghost.
Anyway, we finally talked to President Estes and he said that since there was no other
way, we would just have to do one day wearing our white shirts. One-suit Elders get
their stuff cleaned by the next day if you turn it in on certain days so as long as I
don't need to get anything repaired on my suit before I leave I should be fine.
A couple days ago, one of district leaders for our zone had to go to the E.R. and get his
appendix removed. He and one of his companions (he's in a trio companionship) got up in
the middle of the Tuesday night devotional and walked out. The third companion was
sitting in the choir with us so he didn't know what was going on and it was already 9:30
that night when he called the front desk and found out his companions were at the
hospital. We still didn't know what was wrong, but our whole zone was praying for him
that night. The Elder should be back here in a day or two and is still scheduled to
leave in a week and a half with the rest of his district.
I'm glad that I finally got a letter from you Bryce even if your whole letter did sound
like you were talking to me on Gmail chat or facebook. Still, it was good to hear from
you and I hope you had a great time in Texas. Aren't Brooklyn, Davin, and Brennen so
awesome? Anyway, be careful when you're going up against those 900 lb Polynesians. I
was playing futbol one day here and one of the Tongan Elders here was playing tackle
football on the field instead of futbol. I was taking the ball off the line and crossing
it towards the goal and right after I punted it in, I got laid flat by this one Elder.
It was really fun.
The Spanish here is going great and so is everything else. We're teaching all our
lessons in Spanish for both the TRC and the TE and we are up to 3 days a week of SYL for
our district goal. Elder Mills and I also decided to do another day of only SYL as a
companionship. I think I've decided that next week I'm gonna go for all SYL for the
remainder of my time here in the MTC. Obviously I still have to speak English during
interviews with the Branch Presidencies or when orienting the new districts that come in,
but other than that I'm really gonna try to just speak Spanish.
I forgot to tell you last time to tell the Carrolls thank you for bringing that package
for me. I was sad to hear that Brother Hansen is moving to Utah. He was an awesome YM
leader and I learned a ton from him.
There was something else I was going to tell/ask you, but I can't remember it right now.
If I remember later, I'll send it in my letter to Bryce or Ben. Speaking of which, did
Ben never receive my letter to him? It sounds like Bryce got his, but I sent one to Ben
as well. I'll send another one this week though.
Thanks for all your support and love. It helps a lot to get letters from you.
(Especially if they're spaced out between days.)
Su Hijo and Hermano Amoroso,
Elder Bradley Bishop

Thu, Oct 08, 2009
Dear Everyone,
So I just spent a half hour writing to you about all the amazing things that have been
happening here. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and it kicked me off before I could
send it because the mouse was freezing. So...I basically lost all that I had written to
you. One of the other Elders had a couple minutes left on his email time so I'm logged
in on his account. I'll write you a regular letter home, with everything in it but I
just wanted to let you know I'm doing great and that I received your package mom. I hope
you're all doing well! Tengan un buen dia!
-Elder Bradley Bishop

Thu, Oct 01, 2009
Dear Everyone,
Thank you so much for your letters this week. I really enjoyed reading them! It sounds
like everything in Mesa is going well. I can't believe that you put Satellite up at our
cabin. But then again, I'm kinda anti-T.V./Movies right now anyway so I'm sure that I'll
be fine with it up there when I get back in two years. :) Bryce, I'm so jealous of you
getting to play rugby! That would have been such a fun thing to do in high school. I
hope your hand gets better soon.
I don't know if you got my letter about sending me a spanish hymnbook or not, but don't
worry about it anymore. They finally received a shipment of them today after not having
them for 5 months and so my companion and I ran down there to buy some. As for your idea
about sending the two SD cards back and forth, I had already heard other missionaries
doing it here and I was going to buy another one as soon as I got out into the field.
However, if you want to send me another one now that would be great too. You have to
send the SD cards in a special package every time, but I still think that that would be
better than printing up pictures for you and sending them to you all the time. Yes, I'd
still like a music player if you have the chance to get me one so that Ryan can load his
church songs on there when Dad and Bryce go to Texas. I can't use it here in the MTC,
because the Mission President asked us not to do so, but I'll most likely be able to do
so in Mississippi. I'm glad to hear your classes are going well Mom and from the letters
I received from Ben and Macey, it sounds like Kiley is enjoying her classes a lot as
well. Oh, and Macey, congratulations on taking that Spanish class! Tell Grandma I'm
grateful for her letter dictated to you through "Dear Elder." I told some of
my district members that my 92 year-old Grandma had written me on Dear Elder and one of
them couldn't believe that she could type!
Anyway, we don't get to go to any BYU firesides or devotionals, but we always have great
speakers of our own on Sundays and Tuesdays. This last Sunday, we had Mission Conferance
(which we have on Fast Sundays) and we had the whole Mission Presidency and their wives
speak to us. They are all inspired! I love taking notes and then referring back to them
during my personal study time. Yesterday, they instituted the "no touching
rule" for all the missionaries due to the flu season. So, we can't shake hands or
anything anymore. We are allowed to bump knees though when we want to congratulate each
other so I guess that'll have to do. :) Unfortunately, we aren't singing in General
Conference, but I and my whole district have been attending Choir practice every time and
we sing at every Tuesday night devotional.
I saw Elder Barney from the Lyn Rae ward when he arrived yesterday. Him, Elder Merkley,
and I all got to talk for a bit during dinner before we had to go our seperate ways.
Elder Webb is coming up here next week as well so Elder Merkley and I are excited to see
him again since we all hung out a lot before we left.
Elder Mills and I have been teaching lessons to other missionaries in Spanish this week
and we have to teach the full first lesson in spanish for the first time at the TRC this
Tuesday. It will be hard, but I know we'll do fine because we've been studying hard and
practicing with the lesson already. Also, Elder Mills and I were called to be zone
leaders this last Sunday. Right before Sacrament meeting started, one of the Branch
Presidency members pulled us outside and asked us if we would do it. The previous zone
leaders were leaving the next day so we didn't get much time to ask them questions before
they left. So right now we are just doing our best and relying on the Spirit.
Currently, we have 4 districts in our zone that we are responsible for and we most likely
will be getting another one next Wednesday. Our duties aren't too great, but we
definitely lose a portion of our study time each day getting everything done. So far
we've been able to solve any problems within the zone and hopefully we'll be able to
continue doing a good job. I know you're already praying for me, but please pray for
Elder Mills and I to be able to fulfill our duties as zone leaders as well as our
responsibilities as missionaries preparing for the field.
I love you all so much, and I'm so grateful to be out here serving. The time here is
going by so quickly and I can't wait to go to Mississippi!
Love,
Elder Bradley Bishop

A new letter

Dear Family,
It was good to get your letters. I think I said this in my last letter, but I wasn't able to write until last Thursday so I'm sorry if I left you wondering what had become of me. I actually didn't get most of your letters until I had already sent mine off so let me reply to some of your questions. Yes, there is a choir here and my entire district has been going to the practices. We sing at every Sunday fireside and Tuesday devotional and those always fill up very quickly, but if you're in the choir then you are pretty much guaranteed a saved seat. I feel great about my Spanish. I really have been blessed with the language so far. I learn more and more every day and I've already had a couple SYL's (speak your language) during lunch that I just committed to personally. By next Friday, our instructors have challenged us to have an SYL and everyone promised to do it, even though a few were reluctant. I'm glad that you had a great trip to Oregon and it sounds like Dad had some great hikes lined up. What's the deal with Bryce doing rugby now? I've had a couple letters from you mentioning that, but who is he doing it with? Anyway, I'm doing awesome here. The time has just been flying by and lot's of days you wake up realizing that things you thought weren't for a couple days are right then. The temple here is amazing! We did a session last P-day and I loved it so much. The temple is the one place while you're here at the MTC where you can actually just sit and ponder about all the amazing blessings you have. We also have had some incredible firesides. Among the speakers we've had are, Richard G. Hinckley, a coordinating director for the MTC, Brother Heaton, and then just this Tuesday we had Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak to us. It was so incredible! I thought that I was able to get a bunch of thoughts from talks before and that they could all apply to me in some way, but out here, when the speakers are actually talking to 2400 missionaries and are teaching messages specifically designed to help us, then you can feel the Spirit testifying to you so strong and as Elder Holland shared with us, receive "a fire burning in the marrow of your bones to teach the word of God." I wish that I could have recorded all the things that Elder Holland and all our other speakers have shared. It really does put a fire in you to go out and preach! One thing that I want to share with you Bryce and any other prospective missionaries who read this is this. Study Preach My Gospel! The lessons and discussions we learn to teach as missionaries are designed to bring people to Christ and be baptized. But PMG was, as Elder Holland put it, "born to convert the missionary." No matter where you go or how many you teach on your mission, you can know that by studying PMG and by working your very hardest, being obedient to the letter and enduring to the end, YOU at least will be fully converted to the Lord and that is something to marvel at. I love you all!
Elder Bradley Bishop

Brad's MTC E-mail

Hey everyone, this is Brad's first e-mail. He's doing grand and would love to hear from you all!

Dear family,
Sorry it took me so long to get a letter out to you. The rules about writing home
changed around the time that I got here and our zone leaders weren't sure what they were
so we didn't get to write home on the day we got here like we normally would. My p-days
are on Thursdays and I get 30 minutes to write an email, but everything else has to be
handwritten. So, if you want to send this on to everyone that would be great. Well, I
don't really know where to get started. I really love it here! My companion's name is
Elder James Mills from Washington. He's a really great guy and we get a long fine. In
fact, we just have a really great district all together. We have 8 Elders in my district
and 4 "Hermanas." We are all really close and do almost everything here
together. If there's one thing I can say about the MTC it's that there's no wasted time.
You study, eat, study, eat, study, eat, study, and then go to sleep. You get 50 minutes
somewhere in the day to go to the gym, but other than that you're either in meetings, the
classroom or the cafeteria. I never thought the day would come that I wouldn't be
hungry, but sitting in classes all day definitely doesn't build up your appetite. They
have good food at every meal though so I always eat a lot still. No wonder they say
missionaries gain so much weight in the MTC. The language is going great for me! I
can't believe how much the Spirit brings to your remembrance from just the two years of
Spanish I took. The concentration here is not to learn the language, but to learn how to
serve your purpose as a missionary...in your language. We practice the language all the
time and go contacting other missionaries in Spanish. So far, I know how to pray, meet
someone, get to know someone, and testify in Spanish. Yesterday, I also memorized The
First Vision in Spanish which was one of my goals for this week. Elder Mills and I have
also already taught the First Discussion (in English), after we met the investigator and
testified to them in Spanish. There are some great teaching programs here like the TRC
where we taught our "investigator", the TE, and the Refferal Center. All of
them are designed to prepare you so you can come out of the MTC already teaching the
lessons effectively in your language. I've met 3 people from home so far here in the
MTC. Elders Ryan Merkley, Scott Guthrie, and I just saw one of the Stuart twins who
arrived here yesterday (I forget which one was coming in this month). Also, I don't know
if you've heard of it, but there is a program called Dear Elder on the internet, which
allows you to write an email to me for free, which they then print out and get to me
either that day or the following day. I think you just need to know my name, departure
date, and mission to get it to me. You don't have to use it if you don't want to, but if
you want to write me a letter other than on the email so I can spend the full 30 minutes
writing to you, then that's how you do it. So, far we've had some great devotionals and
firesides from the MTC mission president, other MTC coordinators, and on tuesday we had a
devotional from Richard G. Hinckley and his wife which was awesome! I hope everyone is
doing well and I'll try to write you another letter today in the old-fashioned way:)
We've been asked to only write letters whether, email or not, on our p-days so I'll try
to get more to you. I love you all so much, but know that I'm learning a lot and that I
can't wait to get out to Mississippi.
Love,
Elder Bradley Bishop

My mission blog

I'm leaving tomorrow for the MTC! I am now converting my old rarely-used blog into my mission blog. I hereby turn all control over to my surviving heir...my brother Bryce. Hopefully he will be posting any letters or pictures I send home. If he doesn't do it on here, then you can always check to see if he did anything on my Facebook account. I now bid you a fond farewell and may "Para siempre Dios este con vos!"

Pride Rock!

Ok so these pics were actually taken on January 3rd when me and my good buddy Aaron Webb hiked in the Superstitions. I would have posted them a lot sooner but I had already done some big blog stuff recently and I didn't feel like overwhelming whoever reads these blog things with too much information. Keeping that in mind these pictures won't come with too much commentary. After all pictures are supposedly worth a thousand words!

The Superstitions- our destination

Flat Iron (aka Pride Rock)

Base of Mountain

Flat Iron (aka Pride Rock)...We made it!

I think the wind was trying to push me off the mountain.

Look! Flat Iron is really flat!

Four Peaks!

Well that's all of it. Sorry about the terrible pictures but I was taking fast pictures so I could put my hands back in my pockets as soon as possible. Early morning cold + blow-you-off-the-mountainside-winds + me stupidly forgetting a jacket = Really cold hands. Despite the cold, this was one of the best hikes I've ever been on! Anyone who can should totally try it some time!

Happy 2009!

Ok so I know I posted like 2 days ago, but here's what happened on New Years Eve and New Years Day.New Years Eve/B-day party at the Johnson's house. Happy Birthday to Calli, Katie, Juliet, and Josh! This was the only pic I got of the party. I guess no one could decide whether to be goofy, smile, or frown, in this picture. Nice poses by Kelson and Josh in the back too. :) The party was way fun and it was great watching Calli try to chug down a whole Martinelli's once it hit midnight.
Then the next day we drove down to Tucson with my sister and her kids to spend the day with my brother's family. We played games all day and even made a trip down to the park to play. Here are my nieces and one of my nephews at the end of the day:

Maybe it's just me but I think that they could all be future PJ models. This last one's of my bestest, fantabulous, most amazing sister ever who revealed to us for Christmas that she is having yet another fun baby in August! With luck I'll be able to see him/her before I leave for my mission. I can't wait!

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

So its not midnight yet, but here's all the great stuff that happened to me this year that I haven't posted about yet. First of all Winter formal! I had the privilege of attending the dance with the amazing Ariell Bratton. We had almost all of our classes together last year and it was so much fun to hang out with her again.I'm so glad that she asked me! Since then we've also done our day activity where we made breakfast for dinner, played games, and gave out awards to houses for having something special in their use of christmas lights (including mine; my mom was so proud).

Then, I skipped the last day of school and spent the weekend up at our newly built cabin with my whole family including all my nieces and nephews. All us guys had to shovel a path into our cabin. It was the first time I'd ever had to shovel snow and it was great!

While we were up there we:

Made snow angels

Had snowball fights
Looked at weird snow formations

And did tons of other fun stuff like sledding and playing games. I could have spent forever up there with my family!

Next big thing was Christmas. Even though we had to wait until 12 for eveyone to come over from their other houses, it was still one of the best Christmases ever cuz everyone was there. Later we tried getting a big family shot by ourselves and it took a lot of effort, but we finally pulled it off!

Hurray for 2008 and all the good memories! I can't wait for next year!