Scripture covers that someone made for Hunter!!!

12/8/2014

well, this week my comp and i realized that things just weren't progressing well with our investigators.. so we decided to take our focus off them. which was super hard for me.. but we decided that was best. we asked the ward sec. Hno Felix for a list of less actives and have been visiting them all week with him. and we have seen a lot of success. a few of them came to church yesterday and the majority of them gave us references. we also have been sharing the "El Es La Dádiva" video with the members and helping them realize their part in sharing this with others, and we have been getting a lotta references from that too! miracles happen when you share the gospel.

we all have our agency obviously, but i realized today what it means when people say "God has prepared people for you". God wants everyone to make the right choice when the gospel is introduced into their lives. so he is setting it up perfectly family by family and individual by individual (excuse my ingles) and through the guidance of the spirit is leading the missionaries to them at the perfect time. 

i love being a missionary and taking part in this magnificent work. i am super happy for this Christmas time even though its like 80 degrees out today haha. we listen to a lotta Christmas music in the house now... trying to make it feel as much like Christmas as possible. i am super excited to skype in a couple weeks! and autumn, tenemos que eligir una hora para llamar. yo necesito hablar con me líder de zona para saber cuando son las actividades  pero creo que por la mañana sería lo mejor. pero no lo sé todavía. próximo lunes. jaja. te qiero hemanita. gracias por tu ejemplo y todas :) sea feliz! i will get you all a time for the skyping this next week.. ojala! 

i love you all! be happy! good luck Bishop Bigelow!!! so happy for you and the blessings coming your way. KEEP SINGING CHRISTMAS SONGS :)

"Angels We Have Heard On High"

Elder Bigelow

12/2/2014

Buenas!!

well, to answer questions, no i didn't get changed. and neither did my comp. i didn't think i would get changed so this was totally expected but awesome. and we didn't have the baptism because i really didn't feel like diana was ready, and she didn't show up to her interview, so i was right. just gotta keep praying for her. Hernan and Lina are doing awesome tho! just gotta set the date for their marriage. as far as finding news, that work is super slow in the city. i guess everyone you talk to in the coast becomes an investigator, but here people are stubborn. but all we can do is keep trying :)

as far as this week goes tho, it was super awesome and super fast!!! i don't really remember Tuesday and Wednesday..... BUT THURSDAY! Elder Gibson came to the house (i invited all the other gringos but they didn't come) and i made a thanksgiving feast!!! you guys didn't know i could coo thanksgiving food did ya? haha and we don't have an oven so i made cobbler on the stove for desert!

and then Friday, we went out to the area of the hermanas in guatape  to a dog/pig farm to bathe all the perros and cerdos. it was awesome... but i have never heard pigs scream so loud... it was horrifying. i got videos but idk if they will send... but i got lots of pics too!

and yesterday, i didn't write because we did the district meeting early for an activity in the night.... we took this bus called a "chiva" (which is basically an open bus without windows or doors that's painted all kinds of crazy colors) to go see the Christmas lights down town... it was awesome. we started singing all the Christmas hymns and giving out navidad.mormon.org cards for the Él es la dádiva thing. Él es la Dádiva, or He is the Gift, is a Christmas thing that only 5 countries in the world are doing as missionaries. USA, Mexico, Colombia, Brasil, Argentina, and Chile. idk why its just those 5.. but its a video on youtube we are using to share the Christmas message :)

well, i cant believe its December and that I've been here over 4 months. i am so happy to be here. im so glad you guys are all doing well. remember, that even tho Christ isn't on the earth right now we must still all come unto Him through His gospel that IS here. and its TRUE. remember that the best way to turn towards Christ and come unto Him, is by turning out towards others in love. be Him by doing what He would do. i love my Savior and Brother, Jesus Christ. and muh uthuh bruthuh Kade! haha and all of you guys! Le amo mi hermanita Autumn y su ejemplo para mi y todos de nosotros. tu eres la mejor. gracias por todos! te amo!

"Oh Come All Ye Faithful" (favorite Christmas hymn) :D

Elder Bigelow!

Decorating trees with ties!

Hunter cooked Thanksgiving dinner!!

it looks amazing! who raised that boy :)

his aunt christine would be proud!!

random dog?

A little outing :)

His Mexican colors and Colombian colors!

on the chiva!

Hunter & Gordiano with papa noel

Bathing pigs at the farm!!

With Hernan Lina and Sophia!

Turtle!!

11/24/2014

its so weird that its p day again.... its also pretty weird that I'm on a mission.... i still get that weird feeling when i wake up some mornings like, "holy cow! I'm on my mission" or "oh my goodness, I'm in a different country" or "i don't really wanna have to wake up" haha but that ones just normal. Really though, Ive had a lot of time to think this week (and i will explain why later) about how much Dad talks about his mission, or how much my uncles talk about their missions, or my cousins, or people in my ward, or really anybody who has served a mission and loved their mission. And actually that's the key part, is to love the mission. and for those of you who haven't, its not that you don't know, its that you think you do. but for those of you who have served or are serving, know that the mission is hard. harder than was expected. and for lots of reasons. rules are one, and its not that its hard not to go break some big rule like going to the crazy Colombian parties every night, or anything stupid like that. its the exact obedience. like waking up on time or going to bed on time and things like that. i think as missionaries we put ourselves down so much when we don't do the little things. but that's where the love part comes in. in my many hours of thinking time i realized what made all those missions of my friends and family so great... it wasn't that they turned their lights off every night at 10:30, or that they taught 20 lessons in 1 week, it wasn't that they paid attention to every detail and played exactly by the rule books (don't get me wrong, i absolutely know the importance of obedience) and it definitely wasn't that they tried to be a better missionary than every other missionary that was with them in the field. it was love.

just as in the everyday life of a member of the church, as a missionary, God wants YOU to be the best missionary YOU can be. because God loves us so much, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to this Earth to atone for our sins, so that while we are here, we just gotta do our best and try to do the things that Jesus would do, because if we do that, and repent, God will make up for the rest so we can return to live with Him. While in the mission, you gotta be your best self and do your part to be a good missionary it has to be realized that just as Jesus wasn't sent to earth only to be perfect and then return to live with God, you weren't sent on a mission to follow a bunch of rules and then go home (again not saying they aren't important). Just as Christ, us, as members and missionaries alike, need to not focus so much on all the little things we think are so important that we forget to stop and show the love of God that we have felt in our lives. that is a simple truth that when completely understood will without a doubt, bring you the most happiness you have ever felt. so in the mission, if you are too focused on rules and numbers that you forget to fall in love with the place you are in and the people you are with, sure you'll have success, but will you have those experiences that you will be able to share forever? i don't think so. guys, do your best, be your best, be obedient, be helpful, and be LOVING. Love is the essence of the gospel.

well, this week, on Tuesday morning, we had lunch with Hermano Mario and his wife. they gave us normal Colombian food (rice, soup, pasta, salad, platanos, and meat) but the meat this time was chicken... we don't normally get chicken a lot so i was kind of excited. not excited like when she handed me the plate i was a chubby 5 year old at a birthday party with chocolate cake kind of excited.. but some kind of different food made me happy. and, when i ate the chicken, it just didn't  taste right... but, like a good missionary, i finished my plate. almost immediately after lunch i didn't feel right. i asked my comp if we could go back home so i could lay down and take some advil , and when we got there i fell asleep.. for 6 hours. when i woke up, i felt like i needed to use the restroom, and was in there for at least an hour. when i left the bathroom i thought it was all over... but the next day we had to go to the mission office because my comp had an interview. i still wasn't feeling to good but i figured id be fine. as the day went on i started feeling worse and worse.. when we finally made it home, after stopping to buy medicine, i crashed. i slept from 9pm until around 1pm on Thursday. and (without going into the horrifying detail) for the rest of the day i spent 30 minute intervals between my bed and the bathroom. (THIS IS WHEN I GOT ALL THAT THINKING TIME) haha... but by Friday i was alright enough to leave the apartment. and yesterday i was finally well enough to eat again. today I'm doing good.. i still don't feel like eating a whole lot. but at least I'm not half dead anymore.

i realized, through all the pain i had in my stomach, that Christ suffered for more than just our sins. i prayed and prayed and prayed just to be able to feel normal again. and was able to get over everything fairly quickly. ad despite all of that we did have success this week. our investigators came to church, hernan and lina decided to get married, and we received 7 references so we can start working with new investigators! :) we want to finish this last week of the transfer strong and as long as all goes well, we will finish with Dianas baptism this Saturday!!

i love you guys. i am grateful for each and every one of you. i am grateful to be a missionary. i am grateful for the knowledge i have. i am grateful for the prophets who give us inspired words. i am grateful for the hymns that influence our thoughts and actions. i am thankful for my investigators and how they are strengthening my testimony. i am thankful for Joseph Smith and the amazing man and teacher he was. i am grateful for my savior, Jesus Christ, and the unfailing love He has shown me in my life. and how He has helped me through all my hardest times. i am grateful that He will always be there. and the we have Him and His atoning sacrifice to lean on at all times. i am grateful for my scriptures and the guidance they give me. and i am grateful for my sister missionary in Oaxaca. Te quiero mi hermanita. no tenemos que celebrar el día que damos gracias por estar agradecidos. tenemos muchas bendiciones, y muchas prometas cuando somos fieles. vos eres la mejor! te cuida! sea feliz!

"Because I Have Been Given Much"

Elder Bigelow

The Elders he lives with!!

Cool old church they found!

Random chubby statues??

11/17/2014

hola mi familia, y amigos, y primos, y abuela, y tias!

 this week wasnt really as fast as the other weeks have been lately, but it was a good one none the less.

i have been using English less and less even with the other American missionaries so i have to translate in my head a little bit haha but that's COOL! 

this week was great! gotta do exchanges with Elder Kristensen AGAIN! hes an awesome guy and its been awesome to have him in my zone, but hes done with his mission! gets to go home at transfers in 2 weeks... CRAZY!! so does my zone leader, elder gallagher. i don't think i told you guys about my zone leader yet, but he s awesome. hes bee nothing but a help to me since i got here, especially when i had to deal with all the crazy stuff my trainer did (bytheway, i found out my trainer is going home early) but yeah, elder gallagher is sweet!!this week he told me he is going to write the president and tell him he thinks i am ready to be a district leader and trainer. i thought that was awesome that he thinks so much of me.. but i ain't ready for that yet!! haha

we had an awesome family home evening with hernan and lina and some members this week about temples and marriage and families. it was amazing. i shared the experience of being sealed to jeni when i was just 5, and how wonderful it is to have a knowledge of a never ending family and a never ending love. that lesson may have strengthened my testimony more than anyone else's.... it really wouldn't make sense for us to grow and learn and gain love knowledge and talents in this life and then for it too all end. this is forever you guys. that is absolutely amazing to know feel and have. there is no end. just stay close to God. do what you're supposed to. keep your covenants  and keep the commandments. that's all we gotts do :) and it gets easier the more we do it.

i love you all. i love hearing from you too! i got like 10 letters this week! thank you to everyone who wrote me :)

my scripture this week is the hymn, If You Could Hie To Kolob

(because hymns are scriptures) :)

Elder Bigelow

11/10/2014

this is getting ridiculous! haha the weeks are like days out here!!

this week went soooo great!!! until yesterday.....

well, i don't remember what day it was cause i was all the same, but we committed Hernan and Lina to be baptized!!! 13th of December!! that's in the next transfer, but I'm pretty sure i will be here until January. we also committed a lady named diana to be baptized on the 29th and shes pretty much ready. she was so happy to receive us and loved the lessons, she always talks about how much she wants to change her life, and she know that this is what shes been looking for. we also had some awesome lessons for preparing Maribel for her baptism. she told me she knows the book of mormon is true, and she loves when we help her understand what it all means and read with her. i just felt so much like miracles were starting to happen.....

then we got to church...... and not a single one of our investigators came. it was so frustrating. they all are progressing so well. and then this... 

so we and visited them after church. maribels boss made her work that morning... so we had to postpone her baptism a week. kinda stinks, but we just got more time to prepare her i guess. we aren't sure what happened to dianna..... but hernan got super sick i guess... so we went to there house with the other 2 missionaries and had a little party for elder bishops birthday.. so in the end all was okay i guess.... i just kinda was feeling bummed about maribel..

but as we were walking home last night, this really old friendly man who reminds me of joe lentz came up behind us and starting quoting scriptures about sharing the gospel with all the world. so we stopped and talked with him for a while and set up an appointment with him for this week... i love when things like that happen. there are people out there who are prepared to hear the gospel guys. but like dad said in his email, we gotta do our part to find em and have those experiences.

loving the mission guys. Spanish is coming along really well. my comp and i get along really well too so that's awesome. I've kinda lost track of time.. not sure how many weeks this is... but who cares :) haha... AUTUMN! i cant believe you have been in the coast for a whole transfer! jaja espero que todo este bien. y creo que tu eres la mejor. mantengas tu sonrisa :) no hay un razòn por a ser triste en la misiòn. te extraño mucho. oro para ti cada dia. sea feliz. te amo mi hermanita :)

i miss an love you all like crazy. don't change too much peoples. haha i know it'll happen but still.

just stay close to God. he always wants to hear from you, and help you. its the most amazing thing just to even have a knowledge that He is there :)

ELDER BIGELOW

ps. mom, i did meet elder toronto a few weeks ago, i just kept forgetting to tell you haha