Elder Bigelow and Elder Peck!

The picture he took for Makenli!!!!

Bogota!!!

City Tour!

View from his cable car!!

Busy Bogota Street

8/27/14
okay, i know what the subject of my email says.. but i will get to that in a min.. first, lets start with last Wednesday:


we went to the temple in the morning and i was able to understand a lot! i loved it! i got to read my patriarchal blessing in the celestial room. waaaay cool experience... but it gets better... as me and elder peck were walkin out of the celestial room, pres dyer stopped me and said "elder bigelow, i am very impressed with you Spanish. its hard to believe you have no Spanish background at all" SOOOOOO COOL :) made me confident... cause i was down on myself about it :)


then, on Thursday we went proselyting WAAY on the other side of Bogota.... me and alder pecked stopped some guy in the park and started talking to him.. he asked me why the book of mormon is needed and i told him about how Christ came to America and established his church here with the fullness of the gospel and its all recorded in the bom.. he wanted one sooooo bad! and asked us to go to lunch with him but we had already given out book away so we got his info for the missionaries in the field.. super cool :)


i got pretty sunburned while proselyting.. LOVE IT!!


okay, now the best day! so yesterday we went to the temple. and i swear to you guys i understood every word :) i couldn't believe it but i was so happy :) the temple is just an amazing place :) then, after the temple we switched rooms (ill tell you about my new room and comp in a min) and despues, vamos a tour de Bogota!!! soooooo sweeet!!! haha we rode a freaky old tram up a mountain to a castle churchy with a giant statue of christ. then we went to a musem full of lamanite artifacts and nephite armor!!! sooooo sick!! hahaha i was lovin it!!1 then, after wards we went to a store and bought fútbol jerseys! i got two Colombia ones and a Mexico jersey :) I MISS AUTUMN!!!!!! okay... algun veses, yo lloro in la noche.... perro todos es bien. soy muy feliz. yo amo mi mision y mi compañero :) OH thats right! haha companions!!


MY new companion is Elder  Gil from Venezuela! i haven't met him yet! he will be here in a couple hours!! wooo! but it gets cooler! in my room, there is me and elder evens, hes from Utah.. mas our companions who only speak Spanish, they are from Venezuela y Bolivia, AND we have 2 elders from Mozambique who only speak Portuguese!!!! ahhhh! hahahaha so cool but minimal communication hahaha


also, last night a ton of new white elders came in last night... and i convinced them that i only speak Spanish!!! hahaha that also boosted my confidence ;)


alright guys! i love you. i am finishing this email so i can send pics!!


also, try this... i am in 3rd nephi and i started reading while picture each event in my mind as if i was there... and in my head i was a little child, as he knelt with me and all the other nephite children to pray. then blessed us one by one. i listened to his teachings and learned so much. DO NOT DOUBT. and DO Not go a DAY without reading the most true book on this earth. read and learn of our Savior. its all so true and wonderful. i love this work and i love my family and i love this language and i love the book of mormon, and i love my Savior JesuCristo.


Elder Bigelow

8/19/2014
Guys! I'm 3 weeks in and it seriously feels like 3 months haha

not a very eventful week tho. just classes... but we did have the new guys come in last week. the 2 new guys in mine and pecks room are Elder Patton from SC and Elder Mcgee from Springfield Missouri. they are both the coolest guys.. the 4 of us get along really awesome. i am making such good friends at the mtc... to bad none of them are coming to Medellin!!!

so cool news!! Elder Strong (from another distrito) got a package from his mom last week and it on took 2 DAYS to get here! we are pretty sure she overnighted but still haha

ALSO! i got granny and Jeni's letter on the 14 and i got mom and makenlis on the 17th!! thank you guys!! i love getting letters!! everyone write me :D

so do you guys know the old apostle LeGrand Richards?? that's my ccm presidents grandfather! isn't that sweet? i was impressed. i swear pres dyer is gonna be an apostle someday. grandpa baker would LOVE talking to him.

wanna know something weird?? apparently in Colombia it is very presentable for men to paint their nails with a clear gloss. bahahahaha all our guy teachers do it so they brought some for us to try. we were like "in estados unidas, es muy GAY!" haha some of the guys teachers did agree with us but we tried it anyways... got bored i guess... i immediately scratched mine off lol

last night we got super bored and started playing pranks on each other... it ended when we stole a kids bed... but he swore vengeance... so its all begun... ill fill you in next week.... ;)

well, tomorrow we go to the temple, Thursday is proselyting for 4 hours, and Friday is pday. :) fun week ahead.

you guys, i love you all. this work is hard but amazing and i cannot wait to get out in the field. kade, prepare. learn as much as you can and STUDY pmg. its da bayst!! haha

i hope all is well and you guys are having fun! has school started yet?

my scripture is mosiah 4:9-10. thas what its all about. its so simple.
i LOVE the book of mormon and its amazing stories and teachings! read it! I've been reading for on hour every morning since July 31st and im in helaman. its hard to put down hahaha

LOVE YOU GUYS :)

Élder Bigelow

Colombia Baby!!!! He is there!! ...and happy as you can see!!

CCM (MTC) Companion Elder Peck!!!

My Missionary Stuff!!

8/12/2014

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY PADRE!!!
43 is my favorite number!! woohooo hahaha


so today we got new rooms and new districts! me and elder peck got a huge room with 4 other elders! pretty exciting :) on of them apparently speaks no English.. but i cant hold a pretty good conversation now :)


alright so today has been the best day so far. we were giving a book of Mormon 2 liahona magazines and got let out of the gates. that's right. my first proslitismo as a missionary for JesuCristo :) it was soooooo awesome!!! we taught this guy named Hugo, i swear he was 194. but he loved us!!! he looves his savior and said he has always wanted to learn more since he lives near the ccm and has read the entire biblia. he took our bom with a HUGO smile on his face :) it made me so happy i could at least somewhat talk with these people. :) altogether we got 6 contacts just from walking the streets!!! it was such a reassurance of how the spirit is with us because theses guys wanted to hear what we had to say even through our broken Spanish. I LOVED IT!!!!!


these last few days I've been stuffy and had a cold and am in need of some cough drops :) please haha they don't have any here :(


so EVERYODY here wants to talk about Alaska. and how cold it is. and how big my igloo is and how many eskimo girls I've rubbed noses with haha... its sometimes annoying but i like being the cool Alaskan elder hahaha


AUTUMN!!! I LOVE YOU!!! guess what!!! haha this is crazy!! entonses, i flew here with a guy named elder florence from cali. and the other day we were showing each other pics from home and he had this pic of him and some girl when the were like 7. and i totally recognized the girl!! i asked, who is that?? and he said "ruby matisen, the girl i have known forever and have been writing since she left on her mission to mexico in jan"...... i was like, uhhhhhh.... oaxaca?? and he was like how did you know?? hahaha HERMANA MATISEN WAS MY SISTERS MTC COMP lol haha it was kind of cool :) also.. i cannot wait to get your tag:) is it coming here?? y ahalo todos es bien con su rodias :(


guys. the Lord has ALWAYS been here for us. and always will be. i am so grateful for todos mis bendiciones. my mission has been soooo awesome so far and i have grown so much. i am getting an idea of the person i want to be and what i want to do for the rest of my life. Hermanos y hermanas, mi familia. THIS is the truth. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph was His prophet. And Missionary work means EVERYTHING to me.


I LOVE YOU ALL!! write me letters k? :)


Elder Bigelow

8/7/2014
guys!! so much to talk about!! ha


so my compañeros nombre es élder peck. he is from kamas Utah and is going to the Bolivia santa cruz mision. do you remember my friend hannah peck from Utah? its her cousin haha. anyways, we get along super well and he helps me out a ton with Spanish. he took 2 years in high school so he is a little ahead of the game hahaha.


so last Friday we went to the temple and did the whole thing in Spanish it was pretty cool and the temple is huge. while i was in there i was praying really hard for some things. and right there, immediately after my amen i opened my eyes and opened my scriptures to where i had stuck a book mark. i read DyC 38:14-16. and that was EXACTLY what i needed it made me so happy. i love the temple. there is a distribution centre right next to it and so i got to buy my Spanish scriptures. they were only 38 bucks. everything is super cheap here. garments are only a dollar!! so I'm gonna buy more and not open them til i get home.


so this is kinda cool, there is only one other elder at the ccm that is going to Medellin with me in September. his name is elder smith. so on the night of the 8th they are going to drive our bags to Medellin and we will fly out in the morning and get there at the same tine as our bags haha.


so on the first day me and elder smith had to go to immigration like elder toronto and it took 4 hours!! haha ridiculous. we had to take a taxi and it was suuuuper sketchy haha. everybody here drives like they hate everybody on the road. i thought we were going to DIE. ha Bogota is kind of disgusting. i hope Medellin is prettier. but i really haven't seen much of Bogota. we are locked up 24-7. literally. there's a HUGE gate and security guards haha. its like prison with the spirit and no security guards....


i bet you are wondering why i am on right now haha well its because there are 96 missionaries here at the ccm right now and that's the most they have ever had. so there wont be enough time on p day for everyone to email.


it has been sooo awesome here guys. we got to hear from the area 70, the temple pres, elder holland and elder bednar!!!!! i have the most AMAZING quotes and notes :)


i have to admit there are hard days tho. sometimes the language frustrates me. like when we have to teach fake investigator that don't know English... haha sometimes it sucks not being able to say what you want. but the Spanish is coming fast. haha NONE of the teachers speak English well. only the ccm pres, pres dyer. hes from San Diego and he is the SMARTEST man i know. haha seriously. like the next apostle.


well guys i love you all. i wrote letters and will mail them tomorrow.


my release date is July 13th 2016


my escripture that gives me fortaleza es Alma 56:46-48


i love you mom and dad. and kade and jeni and makenli and dawson :)


Elder Bigelow