Week 105: What is this Joy?

Well… here we are, folks!

The final email of the fifth Elder Bishop. Pretty weird feeling!

This week has been pretty casual. It’s rained almost every day, and the trees are coming back in full force. The mountains are looking lush! Birds are relentlessly singing, frogs are roaring incessantly, and the deer are diligently trying to be obliterated by every car they see. We haven’t reached the smell-of-roadkill stage yet – still in the fresh air phase – but it’s just around the corner!

The work this past week has been mostly slow. For some reason, we got bible-bashed quite a lot this week. It gets really boring because – I’ll be honest – most people don’t even know their own religion. There was one guy who ended up taking a Book of Mormon and saying that maybe this was God trying to wake him up. Then there was a lady whose husband goes out on the street to convert “Mormons.” She was fired up – it was great. She agreed with us on most things, then would catch herself agreeing and either accuse us of lying or say, “Actually, I don’t believe that.” The most egregious offense, though, was she was wearing a Beatles T-shirt (with a British flag on it) and DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THEY WERE BRITISH!? Bruh.

Anyway, a member cut my hair and gave me a bowl cut, so that’s gonna get fixed today. Wish me luck. I may have to return to my buzz cut era… 👀

I’ve been reminiscing a lot… I’m not sure why…

My mission has been the greatest thing I’ve ever done. What a blessing it’s been for me.
“If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor.” – James (Sit Down)
It has been a refiner’s fire. A humbling experience. But humility is the mother of all virtues. This is what I needed to do so the Lord could make something out of me. This is what I needed to do so that the gospel could bless the lives of those I met. I was here at this specific time so that the Lord’s will could be done.
“Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls.” (D&C 100:4)

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. The Lord heard them and answered them.

I’m not sure who all reads this. I’m sure there’s a diversity of backgrounds, circumstances, and even faiths; whoever you are, God and Jesus Christ love YOU. Your worth is great to Them. Christ paid everything for YOU. With His stripes YOU are healed. He nailed YOUR pains, YOUR burdens, and YOUR sins to His cross, and it is there they hang. You do not have to carry the load alone. Let Him help you.

I love West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky. They will forever have my heart. The people I’ve met have expanded my soul. They’ve helped me grow. They’ve taught me far too much to explain. I have not always been happy. But I have almost always had joy.

WHAT IS THIS JOY?
It is to know Christ suffered, died, and rose again for me.
It is to know that God the Father has a perfect plan for me.
It is to know that the fulness of the everlasting gospel has been restored.
It is to know that, through priesthood authority, families can be together for eternity.
“…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)

I love you.
See you soon (I fly home at 11 a.m. Friday and arrive in good old Blighty around 6 a.m. Saturday).

Elder Bishop