Dallin H Oaks and Ians baptism

So this week was so freaking fast! I hope I hit all the big points that happened! First we went onto Wichita State campus a few times to find some new investigators and just talk to people! It was a blast! Hahaha people are hilarious  everyone is so unique I love it! So last week we had to give 2 people blessings because they were in the hospital and in rough care! This week we got phone calls from each of them saying that they were out of the hospital in a day or 2 after the blessing! It was so amazing it finally clicked that the power of the priesthood is real and the power we hold is only effective if we have faith and if we are worthy and they must have faith too! It shows agency in all things! Then we found out there is a family in our ward who speaks French so we will be going over there to have them help us with French haha we need some serious help. 

We also went on exchanges this week and it was aight! We met this kid who was trying to teach us par cour it was tight!!!! He also showed us this rock he hits 100 times a day to build strength in his knuckles for his Kai ball haha it was legit! Kai ball is where you get and hold a lot of energy in your hands through meditation hahaha or at least that's what he was  telling us. 
Then on Saturday, we woke up and went to the church for Ians baptism! It was awesome! His dad preformed the ordinance and it was such an awesome experience! He was expressing his want of the priesthood and to go on a mission so much after that! It was legendary! Then we rushed over to a different chapel for Mission Conference it was cool! I got to see the whole MTC krew again! 

Elder Dallin H Oaks was there and took a picture with the mission and then spoke to us! Elder Rassen was there as well as Elder Natress was there too! They're the area 70 and general 70 over us! It was such an awesome experience to hear from them! I learned so much about missionary work from that meeting! Elder Oaks said we need to be more focused on "converting people to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not the church of Jesus Christ. Because if we do that then they will join the church." It doesn't just stop at baptism we need to help EVERYONE get on the right path! He also said "Every generation has challenges. They are just different challenges. The answer is ALWAYS the same though and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The answer to all challenges is prayer and scripture reading."  I wish y'all could've been their it was so powerful! 

Elder Bischoff

2 words...... 🔥(fire emoji)

Hey y'all! 

So this week was 2 words..... (fire emoji). 

So Ians getting baptized this Saturday! He's so excited! His dad is going to baptize him so that will be so awesome! Billy and Jamie are still coming along they have a few obstacles they have to over come but they're making good progress!!! Amie went to a new member fireside last night and she loved it it was a testimony meeting for a bunch of recent converts and Amie loved it! Amie and Steven also sang in the choir in church yesterday it was sooooo freaking rad!!!!! While we were walking to our car this guys out having a smoke break on his patio and he yells over "aye y'all come here." As were walking over there he starts asking what were sellin so we were like nah we just spreading the word and he was like "oh that's wassup righteous dude that's freaking dope" so we went over to his house and we taught him and his kid Cornelius he's 5 but looks 10 lol it's crazy!!!! Oh yea the guys name is Orlando. He's a really cool dude! After everything we teach he says "bruh that's totally righteous!" 

Then at zone conference I got to see a lot of the og squad from the MTC and that was legendary! At zone conference we were told Dallin H Oaks is coming this Saturday and we will get to hear from him! And then Ian is going to the YSA devotional with Dallin H Oaks so we could possibly hear from him twice! And at zone conference we learned that were getting smart phones so that's freaking gnarly! We will be getting those soon! Thank y'all so much for the emails and reaching out it's helped a ton!

Elder Bischoff

This week was.........WOW

So this week was hmmmm wack, rad, gnarley, and weird..... 

Towards the beginning of the week I was over being on a mission and it made me mad to think I was gonna be here for 2 years and that stressed me out a lot! Ever since I've been here I've had totally terrible headaches like a lot of y'all know about. Being on a mission has made my head hurt more, made me feel like I had no testimony of anything I've been taught since birth, made me feel useless and have no point in being here..... but I've learned so much in this past week about myself then I've learned the other 18 years! I am so stubborn y'all like I know y'all told me but you coulda helped me hahaha nah jk! 

I finally realized what y'all were talking about hahaha I am the cookie monster and all I want is things for me! I want cookie now! Elder Bednar gave a talk called "The Character of Christ" we watched it in the MTC and it was incredible! He used the analogy of the cookie monster hahaha but it's so true that's all I was thinking about! 

Like yall I'm on a mission and I'm thinking about myself let's think about that........

Probably not what my focus should be. I was looking through my notes I took from that talk and I wrote "Jaymz quit thinking about yourself.... your on a mission look to help others and all your problems will go away" and when I read that my mindset went from I'm going home to I'm staying here and I will deal with my headaches here and push past them! Thank you so much to my uncle's and everyone who helped me through this week y'all helped a ton! So that was like most of my week emotionally hahaha. 

But this week has been awesome! Ian is getting baptized on the 26th of August! And he is already talking about goin on a mission as soon as he can! We are teaching Steven and he wants to be baptized here soon! And Billy and amie and Vadia and Lilly and Anna are awesome they are still coming to church all the time! They are such a good family! On Friday we went out to eat with elders Goldsberry and Dally! It was so good to see elder Dally again! I was in the same MTC district as him! That helped me a lot this week too he has been a great person to lean on for support! And on Saturday I had the privilege to baptize one of the sisters investigators! Her name is T`Andre! It was such a cool experience! I also got to confirm her on Sunday it was amazing! Oh yea and an apostle is coming to the mission not this Saturday but how lit is that?!?! I'm fetchin stoked!

Love Y'all

Elder Bischoff

Week 2 in KS

So this week was wack! It was super good and super long at times hahaha.

So on Tuesday we decided to clean out our area book and well haha it was a lot if driving and not a lot of talking with people! But then we met Albert and that guy is hilarious he's an old guy who doesn't remember how old he is. Sometimes he's 109 then he's 105 then 106 then 102 hahaha it's so funny we talked with him for 30ish minutes and he had told us the same story about 5 times. It was great! He wanted a B.O.M and a restoration pamphlet. On Wednesday we did service for the food bank and basically it's where we make these sack lunches for kids who don't get 3 meals a day at home so the food bank gives them these bags for the weekends! It was so cool! Then later that night we had an appointment with a guy named Joe! We were there, his friends from the ward were there, and so was the stake President! It was so cool! They had read from the Book of Mormon and they had a lot of questions so they typed up a document for us with all their concerns and stuff it was awesome! The stake President took control of that it was amazing! It made me realize I'm not even close to knowing what he knows! It was so cool to watch and be apart of! Thursday we went street contacting and to visit some elderly people in the ward and that was cool! Their all so nice! Friday we had interviews with President and they were cool! But then that night we had an appointment with Ian and he was referred to us by his dad! And he already knew who Joseph Smith was and believes everything his dad tells him! He was telling us he could already recognize the spirit and it was so cool to watch him tell us everything we were going to tell him! Freaking Lit! Then Saturday we went and mowed a lady's yard and helped her around the house. Then we went to an elderly couples house again and she was telling us how he friend wants a blessing because her health is acting up. So we went and gave her friend a blessing! Then the Sants had us over for dinner! Then we went over to Billy and Amy's house and they are doin awesome! Then Sunday we had a lot of investigators at church again! It was awesome we had 6 there! Then we had an appointment with a guy named Mark and he's a Jehovahs Wittness and that was well interesting. Especially cuz it was at the kingdom hall. Then the Sants had us over for dinner again!

Elder Bischoff

The French Prince of Bel Aire

Well this week was a million of different emotions..... after we sat in the airport for 17 hours we made it to Kansas and we got to sleep for 4 and a half hours crammed in a 1 bedroom apartment with 5 other elders before we had to get up and shower for the next day. ☠ then we went to the church for some more training... you'd think that'd be over with in the MTC but fyi it never stops  then at transfers I got my comp--- I'm looking down the line to guess who my trainer will be and I was like I hope it's not that dude who looks like a  Sargent in the marines. And he ended up being him... so I have elder Lamont as my trainer and not gonna lie i was nervous as all get out so instantly was like welp maybe I'll serve a 2 month mission right? Close enough? But no actually he's from Reno, super cool, really funny, wants to work and his priorities are solid! 
We are serving in the Bel Aire area! I love that guy he's so funny and a devil at the steering wheel lol 

That night we went and met our progressing investigators a family of 6 all wanting to be baptized and Kay she's an old widow all of them are amazing. Then the next day I get a call from the AP`s (assistant to mission President) and they wanna go on splits with me and I was like awe fetch what did I do wrong! So we went and did a lot of street contacting and tracting! It was so fun I was with Elder Simònton from Gilbert Az!!!!  Hes so funny and really cool. Then the next day we went and met up again with all the people we met the day before while I was on splits. But no one wanted to answer so we did some more street contacting! Then Saturday morning we got a call from President extending to us that we will be speaking French! So now we have to learn that too! All day Saturday we ran back and forth between appointments and trying to find rides for people to get to church Sunday! And Sunday we ended up having 6 investigators make it to church it was awesome! They seem to like church a lot! And all day Sunday we tried to find more people to teach and talk to so we went to some referrals houses and we sat with a guy named Carey Huggins for about an hour talking about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and it was so powerful even though he's smoking a cig and drinking a 40 while we're talking with him hahaha! I love my area and my mission so far! 

Elder Bischoff

week 3 and leaving to Kansas!

Can you believe that I'm out of the MTC already???? Went hekka quick! I love the people I met there and I love my district! But this week was super fun! We taught our TRC`s (fake investigators) for the last time ....that was super sad haha   kai was progressing so good! We finally got him to pray and it was amazing! The rest of this week was cramming in all the stuff they didn't teach us so we had in-field orientation and that was a 9 hour class...... i was awake for 2 hours of it  it was miserable. But its super fun to be a missionary right now! I love it and wouldn't change it for anything. (Except maybe a red bull)..  nah jk I wouldn't even trade it for that and that says a lot. 

I feel so out of place here and like I'm really close with my district but now that all the people going to Kansas are together some are very self righteous (probably the 3 hours of sleep we all had though) and it's a struggle to keep my mouth shut. But theres probably a good  reason for this trial! haha.     But yah so we're at the airport right now and we woke up at 1 am to leave the MTC and the flight was supposed to leave at 6 but it got cancelled so now we don't leave till 1:50 ish so I'm here for like 10 hours and it sucks! I would not recommend sleeping in a suit sitting straight up right. Trust me it's terrible. But 5 of the 26 people had to go back to the mtc to wait for a flight tomorrow and they have to be up at 1 am agian haha poor kids.

 That's basically the extent of this week. Oh yeah we sang in church on Sunday. We sang "I'll find you my friend" it's such a good song! Look it up and the meaning! I love you guys so much! 

Elder Bischoff

Week 2

So this week went by in a blink! I feel a lot more comfortable with the whole schedule too! Oh yea we also found out we have to be out the mtc at  2:30 AM on the 25th to get to the airport for our flight!  But this week we "taught" Kai and Don and Nick! 

Kai is a legend he can only take a little bit of info at a time lol but he's so funny! And we committed Don and Nick to baptism! I love my district were all so funny and get along really well!!!! We haven't done too much this week but classes and trc's (that's those fake investigators we have) 
I have learned so much while being here and I love being a missionary at this time like forreal forreal it's so dope! There's just about 3000 missionaries here and the spirit is so strong everywhere you go! I have seen so many missionaries I know! But sad news elder Christensen went home on Wednesday and that broke my heart but he was so happy to leave and that made me happy to know he;d be happy. But it's all good were still super close! 

I got to teach priesthood this Sunday with elder Morby (my comp) we did awesome! We taught about recognizing the spirit and played heads up 7 up so everyone had fun lol I know that being a missionary is what I NEED to be doing because I have learned to look through God's eyes and I have grown to love everyone I come into contact with! We had a meet the Mormons marathon on Sunday haha we watched 1 and 2 and the first part of the 2nd movie it talks about Vegas and shows lake mead and I got super homesick but it didn't last but 5 min haha I'm doing really good about kinda forgetting about home! 

Sister white (her husband is the 1st counselor in our branch presidency) is so funny she started out like a savage and making fun of everybody and it was so scary we thought she was so mean but not she is like our favorite human being ever hahaha we took so many pics with her hahaha it's amazing but yah, this week was a blur so sorry there's not much to write about.   Oh yah we got pretty close with the district that just left so that was sad so now it's kinda just our district cuz the other districts don't like us and think they run the place so it's really lame.... But I talked to them last night and kinda went room to room introducing myself and tried to get to know them so hopefully that works. 

Love 
Elder Bischoff