Oct 14

Good Day!

So, I am now in Annandale as I had previously commented. The move was fine, and I love the new area. The ward is bumpin' and I have another great new companion. His name is Elder Erickson, he is from Arizona, loves to sing and has one more transfer in the mission than I do. We are both experienced and driven missionaries so I really hope that lots of magic happens here. I know that we will be able to accomplish a lot.

-Some highlights of this week were first meeting this great little kid named Gabriel who was baptized on Saturday. He loves the church in its most basic form and more than anything can truly recognize his relationship with his Heavenly Father. The best part about that is that he got baptized to try and make his relationship better. Next is that is rather less active mother is on her way back because of her little sons example.

-I have come into the ward where everyone seems pumped on missionary work. It is amazing and almost unbelievable. We have received references, members are so down to come out to lessons with us and we even get fed a ton. I am so motivated by their drive and want to serve them the best I can

-At church we just finished a little eventful but overall calm fast and testimony meeting where we meet this guy who had been sitting the couch during the whole sacrament meeting. A member came up and told us, "I have no idea who this is but he said his friend sent him here..." We met him and it turns out he is SWEET. His name is Eoris and he is from the Dominican Republic. He loved church and wants to meet with us on this coming Wednesday. He has a true desire to learn and has real questions. On top of that he has a relaxed sing songy droll of the Caribbean. Which I LOVE. I think I will probably go to the Caribbean to speak some Spanish for a while.

There are so many other great things going on in our area. I feel like I don't even deserve them. IT is crazy to come somewhere where all sorts of things are happening. That has never happened to me in my mission so far and it is so exciting! I think that might be the point though, as I have worked hard for a long time I have finally been blessed with the magic I have faithfully waited for.

I really do love this work. I love work. I love progression and I love seeing people figure out things for themselves.

I want to continue to change and give more and more of myself while I still have time. Can you imagine what could happen If I leave it all on the field while I am supported by God through all these members? I hope to see the results I dream about. That is what I will work for.

Love you lots.
--
-Elder Bigelow

General Conference

General conference was great! I hoped you all loved it too. It was amazing to be connected through a common stream to so many people from so many nations and in so many languages. Conference brings back a lot of memories of times past.  This conference was a little bitter sweet, about half way through I realized it will probably be my last as a missionary. The time for me has gone so darn fast, i am not sure how it has been for you though. I am happy I still have six months left to get some more stuff done. I know it will go by in blink of an eye, I think in retrospect nearly everything looks like that. I am grateful that I have the time to live and serve that I do right now. I really want to kick its butt.

I am really excited for the fast paced working 100% of time drive for my fourth quarter.

-This week was jam packed with meetings. We had to plan a significant amount for 3 of them and then we got to sit back and relax and be taught for some of those. I have become really comfortable in being up in front of many people to teach and train. It was a miracle how well I was able to train in spanish this week too, because all the spanish missionaries got together. My companion said I sounded like an educated Puerto Rican! I have no idea if that is really good or not, but at least it is not "white guy."

-Yesterday while in conference we got a text from a wonderful women named Lesly who has been taught for a long time and is just waiting on divorce papers so she can continue progressing who had an amazing miracle due to conference. She told us..."I now have it confirmed to me that Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God." We said, WOOOOO. She has been working on that for a little while and we are pumped she received that confirmation.

-We knocked into a young man the other week who happens to be a member of a less active family in another ward. He was sort of interested, but he came to conference with a young man in the ward, and now he is pumped on church! He even came to priesthood all dressed up. We love when peoples hearts change.

I loved being able to focus for a moment on personal revelation. I hope that you loved it too. A spiritual extravaganza is usually followed by some sort of call to action. I personally received all sorts of calls to action, to change this and that, to focus more on a particular challenge I have and to think with the future in mind. I hope that you will all join me in a renovation of promise and commitment. It seems that we as human beings need this "renewings" of things we should be doing all the time. But that's okay, that is why we have them, so we actually do what we need to!

I am so grateful for second chances and change. They make my world go round, I would be SOOOO stuck without them.

I hope you love them too.

Lots of Love from Elder Bigelow

 ps. a nice thought from one of my favorite sister missionaries brought about by conference

Science is cool, I guess. I am a fan of rhetoric, logic, philosophy, and intellectual inquiry. But, and thank goodness, my knowledge of truth comes through the Holy Ghost from an all-knowing and all-loving God. --Sister Walker

OOTHHHERRRR PICTURRSREss from my companion

Week of Sep 29

Hello all, I hope things are going great.

I have been really pleased recently with the change that I have seen
in me, in my area, in my ward and in my zone.
I read a quote today by FDR's wife, Eleanor? while in DC that said
something along the lines of," having his illness taught him two
things--endless patience and relentless persistence."
I think those are the things that have made the difference in all of
the areas I mentioned above from everyone involved.
Perseverance is a hard thing but I think it will really bring me
happiness in my life. It is gratifying and filling. It changes me and
others as I continue to work to endure.

In other news, we have been practicing our teaching a lot recently to
try and become better at asking questions. Questions are a powerful
thing. They motivate thought, change hearts and bring the spirit. The
more I focus on every individual I see I the happier I become and the
more successful I feel. The power is in the one! focus on them. I love
how it makes me feel.

I am sorry for the short scattered thoughts today. We rode bikes down
to dc today, it was great. I loved it. We rode all over the mall and
got a tour of the Kennedy Center. Didn't you play there a couple of
times?  I figure if not, then you definitely went to some concerts
there. Enjoy the pictures!


Love//

Elder Bigelow

Week of Sep 22

Another Week Gone By

This week was a good one. I think all my weeks are pretty good ones now. I just like being a missionary. I have grown to love it a lot. It did go rapidly fast though. That has also become a norm. Every week just flies by. I blink and it is over. This week was just like that.

highlights of this wildly fast week were some of the following....

-We had our very last lesson with Elizabeth and Melissa last night. It was amazing to see them as they prepare to go back to a world where no one knows them as Mormons. They talked a lot last night about how they are excited and happy to go and share the gospel with their friends and family that they love. They are SOOOOO different now in so many great ways. I didn't ever know that I would be able to see the difference in someone's face, but you really can. They are bright or shiny or something different. I am excited to keep in contact with them and help them in their efforts to share the gospel in Barcelona.

- We met Juana and her family after a kind of reluctant let in that we really had to persist for we taught an amazing lesson. After prodding and probing for what doubt she had in her head she started asking questions. Then she blew up, asking every doubt it seemed she had had locked away for a long long time. She then asked the question, "wait, so did revelation stop or did it continue? can people receive direction from God today?" --BAM-- then we taught her the restoration. We are going back to answer the q's she will have about the Book of Mormon on Wednesday.

-On Friday while trying to find people to talk to in the morning we saw this guy stumble running towards us from down the street--no shirt on. We said, "he's hammered". He got to us looked us straight in the eyes, and confirmed our suspicions. He proceeded to tell us that he wanted us to come over and hang out, that we really needed to borrow my backpack, that he should really put a shirt on etc. We kinda had to run away. Nice guy though.

I have learned this week a lot about persistence. There is power in persistence, in never giving up. Anything is possible with determination. You may fail over and over and over and over and over again, but one day you will make it. One day, what you have been working for will become yours, and yours to share.

I love all of you! thank you for being so great. I will talk to you soon

Wednesday P-day

Good morning! Today is actually my p day. It has been a little bit of
a wait to get to Wednesday, especially on the food front. We tend to
only last about a week and have to stretch a lot of stuff if we have
to go longer than the normal seven days. Anyway, that is past and we
will do some shopping.

I have been feeling really grateful recently. That definitely has to
do with the excess of blessings we have been receiving recently. I
hope I can keep that same feeling running through my life even through
the trials that will inevitably come. I think gratitude really is the
fountain of never ending happiness. As I continually re-recognize
everything I have been given and love in my life it becomes silly for
me to even think about complaining. Sure, I have trials difficulties
and necessities, but if I am genuinely grateful in my circumstances, I
become happy. So if I ever start complaining about anything pull out
this email and tell me to get over myself and focus on the good.

Some of the particular wonderful things of this week are as follows...
-Elizabeth and Melisa were baptized! It has been a quick intense
journey for us all to get here. That was the most beautiful part about
the service. There really was so much relaxed joy that afternoon, even
though I know how many questions and doubts were deeply complicated
and studied out before they choose to take the step of faith. They are
committed to live he gospel. It is just a good feeling to see that.
Here is a quick pic with them before the baptism with their aunt.

Good Morning

Today is a good day. I have found in the past little while that
focusing on the positive and happy rather than all I have to do and ho
 much I need to accomplish and change while still recognizing those
things and addressing them I am, believe it or not so much more happy
and positive all the time. I love good. I think that is one of the
largest reasons I love the Gospel these days, it makes me feel good.
It is a type of good that keeps on giving, it doesn't just run out. It
is a secure and stable place I can go for answers. Those answers and
that peace always takes work on my part but it is always there.

As I focus on those things my life become exponentially better.

Some of the highlights of this week include the following:

-All of our hard work is finally starting to pay off. The first fruits
are Melissa and Elizabeth. They are two girls from Spain visiting
their family. They are so great and have learned so much. It has been
a little bit of a rocky road but they are ready to be baptized. They
will be baptized on this coming saturday. We are so excited! I will
send you pictures of us next week. The most interesting part is they
are goign back to Spain on August 22nd, right after they are baptized
so we are going to do all sorts of coordinating to make sure they find
their Bishop.

-I got a new Colombian companion! His name is Elder Sepulveda, and I
tell people he is from Provo, Hawaii, Colombia. He has lived in all
those place for a decent amount of time. He is a stellar missioanry
and we are both so excited to work so hard!

-We met a guy by insisting that we were going to help him take in his
huge Costco trip. He was reluctant at first but then told us that we
could come in to talk to him for a moment. We taught him about the
Book of Mormon and what it could add to his life. He actually has
friends who are members and loves to read and loves god. He has even
spoken with missionaries before, but he said they never offered him
any material or tried to teach him, just talked to him so he wasn't
interested. But now, he is. Woo!

I feel that I still have so much to do and so much to grow. I want so
badly o influence more peoples lives for good, in bigger ways. That
effects me greatly now and for the rest of my life. mMany of my goals
and desires have morphed and developed into better things, and more my
own.

Something that very recently has been powerful to me the classic
"through small and simple things are great things brought to pass." It
is okay if I am a little small and simple. With consistency,
diligence, desire, passion direction I can accomplish great things. I
will be keeping that it mind, especially over the next few months.

Thank you for all the love. SO MANY PICTURES, and so many good ones.

I love you all!

Love//

Elder Bigelow

 Here is my new Colombian Companion

Red, White and Blue

I am going to D.C. Today and will try to get some good pictures for
you guys. It should be a good time. It is going to be PACKED.

This past week was great though. Here are some of the highlights that
keep me pumped.

-We in our companionship have seen many miracles this past week
including finding an amazing American military family with 3 kids who
let us in and we had a beautiful impromptu lesson. We are going back
to give them to the Arlington English Sisters on Tuesday. I really
feel in my bones that they will be baptized. And when we invited them
they said they would be if they feel they develop a relationship as
they learn more and read the Book of Mormon. How cool is that! Really,
if that were all that I caused on my mission I think it would be worth
it. Now our goal is make a "story worth telling" happen every day. I
just want to see miracles and be able to remember them forever.

-I got to wear a luchador mask. It is straight out of Mexico and I
look. GOOD. pictures are included below

-I have found happiness in my diligence. Hard work brings me
satisfaction. I am just waiting for that clause of, "how much greater
will be your joy if ye bring many souls into me!"

-This week I had pollo a la brasa (Peruvian rotisserie chicken) three
days in a row. That is less of a highlight and more of an overload
because the flavor is so strong i have grown a little tired of it. My
abundance has caused me to become picky. I still, however, am always
enormously grateful for when members feed us.

I have felt this week my confidence in God and his will, whatever it
is, has grown greatly. I don't know exactly why, but I have a greater
sense of security. Maybe it comes from my continual experience, great
knowledge and understanding or something different all together--we
had a conversation with a guy named Chris last night that really made
me think about that. He was a previous Christian and had explored
deeply in all sorts of religions. He did this truly, genuinely,
sincerely searching for the origins of truth. Or at least that is what
I got from what he told us. The interesting part is that through this
process he has become a very "spiritual person" but still really has
no ground to stand on in security; even though he is so well studied
and has spent so much time thinking. He still believes in a great
creator and engineer of this world and some sort of messiah figure.
After thinking, I think his lack of security comes from a
lack of spiritual answers. All he wanted from us was, "proof, proof
where is your proof?" Of course there are things that I feel
indicate the veracity of living prophets and the Book of Mormon.
Really though, the thing I have learned to hold on to and continually
search for is spiritual guidance and feelings. I just feel secure as I
go through the steps of the gospel of Christ and I enjoy life so much
more on so many levels when I live the commandments and bust my behind
to become a better person. I will continue in my journey for further
knowledge and understanding. I have changed a lot in the past year and
a half and need to continue that process as well. I feel I can say now
that I know God lives and directs and loves us. Much of that direction
can be found through the living prophets and leaders of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But there is still so much I don't
know nor comprehend, and that is okay. I am here to learn.

Thank you so much for all your love. I love you all! Please spread It
where it needs to go

Love//

Elder Bigelow