Carson enjoyed a week-long youth camp with his good friends. Some friends came from Boise, Idaho, Denver, Colorado and western Kansas. His cousin, Brittany Arvoy, came from Wisconsin. What a wonderful and positive group of teens!!
Brittany Arvoy (Carson's cousin) Ben Bagley
Jacob Forred---Carson--Peter Bagley
Peter---Dylan Bailey--Jacob---Ben---Sara Wheeler---Brittany Arvoy---Carson
Kiki Manning---Kami Wheeler
Carson and Hunter communicated about EFY!! I love seeing the relationship between these 2 boys!!
Carson Bishop wrote this about his experience during EFY:
'Sup Hunter!!!
It's been a while... But I'm back AND in black! Okay that's a lie... I'm gonna get to the point of this email. I went to EFY for the first time last week, and it is FREAKIN' AMAZING!!!
Before i get to the more spiritual part of EFY, I'm gonna talk about the less spiritual stuff so that I don't kill the spirit after talking about the amazingly awesome spiritual experiences I had. First of all, there were the games. Oh so many fun games. You probably know most of them, or at least variations of them, since you went to EFY yourself, so I don't need to spend too much time on those. But they were really fun.
My group leader Rickey went to Ukraine on his mission, and so he made us number off in Ukrainian every time we did a group headcount. Rickey was pretty awesome. He told us some stories from his mission, and one time while he was walking around with his companion they came across a preacher from another church. This preacher started asking them a bunch of useless questions, like did John the Baptist wear a tie. Naturally Rickey and his companion didn't really have any answers to these useless questions that had nothing to do with anything, so eventually they just left because they were obviously wasting their time and they were not going to get anywhere with him. Rickey described it a bit better than I can, but that's because it was his mission, and this is about the best I can describe it.
Moving on. On the first day, we had to come up with our company name. So we had to come up with a slogan of sorts that related to D&C 131, 1-4. It had to be something that reminded us of D&C 131, 1-4 like the slogan "I'm loving it" makes you think McDonald's, and "Just do it" makes you think Nike. So with this in mind we read the aforementioned scripture and then got together in small groups within our company to come up with a company name. You might want to read the scripture before reading what I came up with. So in our small group we were talking among ourselves, and trying to think of a name. After a about 45 seconds, I piped up with the slogan "Marriage: just do it." Naturally, this couldn't actually be the name of the company, but when all the groups game came together and presented our ideas, I shouted out "Marriage: just do it"--- which made everybody laugh. The counselors especially loved it, because they were at the age where they needed to find somebody to marry. Eventually, we decided on Celestial Seekers, but in the shout that we did to present our name, we yelled "Marriage: just do it" before shouting our company name and cheering. So that was cool.
Of course, no one knew that I had come up with our slogan save it were Peter and I, and possibly a few other people, but that just made it even more fun for me. There is so much more that I want to talk about, like the time that I accidentally left to go to the main building without my company, thinking that they had left without me, and I got to meet the guy who basically ran everything, whose name was Jason, as well as two other counselors who ran things. Their names were Jaron and Hannah, I think. When my company did get there, Jason made my counselors- Rickey, Ashley, and Lindsey sing and dance, and then bow to Jason in order to get me back. It was pretty hilarious.
Okay, so now for the thing that I think you will be proud about. I know Micah was. So I know that you know about EFY cows. I was the cow of at least two girls. One of these girls was my cow. Boom. I wooed a woman. And mom thought I wasn't good with the ladies. Which was apparent by all the acne medicine she gave me. Then again, most people who I am directly related to just assume that I'm not good at socializing in general, which is not true at all.
I heard easily THE BEST talk I have ever heard while at EFY, and it was just amazing. Our session director was Brother Matheson, and he talked on Thursday night about Jesus Christ and all he sacrificed for us in order for the atonement to be fulfilled. He described in detail all the pain and all the suffering that Jesus had to go through while atoning for our sins in the garden of Gethsemene and dying for us on the cross. He explained why, in his last moments of life, Jesus cried out in despair " Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" I had never understood that until now. Heavenly Father had to leave Jesus' presence so that he could feel like the rest of mankind when they sin. So Heavenly Father had to go through the pain of knowing that his beloved son was dying, and he couldn't be there to comfort him like in the garden of Gethsemene. And they did all this,went through all that pain and suffering, so that we could return to live with them. For us, imperfect humans who are prone to sin, Jesus went through the ultimate pain that no other being who has ever lived on Earth could survive, all so that we could return to him and our father. This talk was so powerful, that every time I tell anybody about it, I can still feel that same overpowering spirit I felt on the very night Brother Matheson gave his talk. I will never be able to fully repay Heavenly Father for what he has done for me and everyone else, I owe him my very existence, my salvation- I owe him everything! And yet, he asks for nothing in return save it be that I follow his commandments. The amount of love he has for all of us is just unimaginable! And I never realized this, truly realized it, until I went to EFY. Y'know, I bet that that's what Heaven is like. I bet that Heaven and EFY are a lot alike. And if not, it will be a bajillion times better, and I'll also get to meet the friends I made there again.
EFY, all in all, was an experience I will never forget, and I regret not going last year. My testimony grew a ton while at EFY, and I can only imagine the spiritual beast I'd be had I gone last year. But, there's no going back, and one of our lessons was to not dwell on past sins or regrets, so I'm gonna remember this EFY and think of the awesome family reunion I had in place of it last year.
Your favorite younger brother,
Carson
Here is Elder Hunter Bishop's response:
Carson! Good job, brokid! It's good to hear that you had an awesome time at efy! Better yet that you've been able to strengthen your testimony about the great Atonement of our Master and the love of our Father. It's great to hear your firm faith in the noble and great concourses of your youth (or efy, to make it easier). I remember the good times I had there, and I hope you can keep up the good experiences you are having now. Keep up the work in seminary especially! Basically, it helps amazingly well in the whole scheme of your life. The things I learned there about the gospel have stuck with me since, and have helped me a lot on the mission. I think back on all the opportunities I had in seminary to learn about Christ, and I'm very glad that I took advantage of them (even if I was half asleep most of the time). I don't get a vacation on the mission (surprise!), but every second here is a second well spent, because I know I am serving my God. It's quite difficult at times, but that's just proof that God wants me to succeed. Everytime He gives you a test, it's because He knows that you can pass! Just stick with all the good stuff (commandments, book of mormon, etc.), and when difficulties arise, remember that it's because you have room to improve!
Love ya, Carson! See you later!
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