December 29, 2014

Well Happy 2015 :)
This week was amazing :) Even though I have been here only 1 week, I feel like I have been here for a couple years. Even the members ask if I have you grown up here. I just feel at home here. I feel comfortable around the people and the place. Even though its been only one week this is by far one of my favorite areas :) I want to just share a couple stories that happened on Christmas :) First, the Single Adults brought a support basket to a 90 year old women. We caroled and gave her the gifts :) It was so touching, they all had the spirit of Christmas :) Christmas was just amazing :) What we did was brought food to all the members and just shared the love of Christ with them :)
This week at church we had 10 investigators in attendance :) and everyone is progressing :) I am super excited for the next few weeks :) This week we are going to have a baptism :) 
It was nice to talk to my family :) and Grandparents :) on Christmas for them. Thanks for being there for me :)
I love the work and I love the Lord :) I know that Christ lives and that I am here where I am supposed to be :) 
Please do the little things :) Scripture reading, Church and Praying :)
I love you all  :) I'll write next year :)
Love
Elder Bigelow

December 22, 2014

Maligayang Pasko :)
Well I did not think that I was going to transfer but I did. :) This is super confusing but I will try to explain where I am at :) My area is an Island in the city of Dagupan. We live on the main land and are in Calasiao zone :) But yeah :) My new area is super cool :) We get to ride boats to our area everyday:)  They are little canoes :) called Bankas!! Its super cool :) It doesn't have any beaches here though.... The island is named Carmay, Carael Island :) It has one road that goes through the whole island. It is full of fish ponds and oyster fields. One cool thing that we did is went and caught crabs :) We have to walk on bamboo bridges that are super scary when its high tide. I almost fell in the other day :) The houses are built on bamboo stilts so its cool to watch while your teaching. You can look down and see the ocean and fish underneath the house :)   My new companion is  Elder Tomas from Manila :) He just finished his training!
We had a baptism on Saturday :) A part member family, in which the dad and the 2 kids got baptized! We have baptisms planned for every single week in January so I hope they will continue to progress:) I am super excited for what is hopefully to be my last area :)
I just want to share a story about a lady named A. She tried to hide from us when we first got to her home, but as we were teaching she felt this spirit and knew that it was true :) She didn't come to church but her kids came. We visited them again and her kids helped her make up her mind about coming to church:) So, she is going to try to come. I love the spirit :) It's amazing :) With it I can do anything :)
Anyway Merry Christmas everyone :) I know that as we accept Jesus in our lives and give him the gift of our will, we can become better disciples of him :) I love you all :)
Merry Christmas Again :)
Elder Bigelow

December 15, 2014

Hello Everyone :)
Merry Christmas :) I am glad that it's Christmas time :) Last night we watched the Christmas devotional it was amazing :) I love hearing the Apostles :) We also had our Christmas Conference :) President Monahan is amazing :) We watched the Polar Express but I watched it through a missionaries eyes. It wasn't as much for entertainment as it was for spirituality to be honest. I learned a lot from that movie :) I love when the conductor says, "Sometimes seeing is believing but some of the most real things in life are the ones that you can not see." That is true. Jesus is the most important part in our lives but we can not see him :) I love it :) I almost had a baptism in this new area... the papers for their wedding fell through though :)  Merry Christmas :) Sorry this letter is super short :) I also have to say it feels really awkward to communicate in only English. But I love my comp right now :) He is the coolest :)
I just want to leave with this little quote that I found. Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape ;) Yeah that's me right now, I really don't know how long I am going to be in this area or with my comp. However, I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me :) I love you all.: ) Have a great Christmas :)

Love,
Elder Bigelow

December 10, 2014

We found out today that Holden comes home on March 11, 2015 at 3:13 pm. Yeah!

December 8, 2014

Merry Christmas :)
Well this week I started getting out my Christmas decorations. I unwrapped my nativity set, replaced some lights in the house. We made some stars for our little tree. The next day, President calls me.... You are getting transferred... I am a Zone Leader now :) I am now companions with Elder Allman from Georgia :)  He is super cool :) I am moving in today just down the street but am getting transferred again in 2 weeks. I think on the regular transfer day.... These kind of things just make my mission go by so much faster...... Time is flying by.. It's almost Christmas now.

I just want to share a funny story. We were in Priesthood class and started hearing the whooshing sound. A member looks out the window and yells smoke. I thought the church was on fire. But what happened is that a little kid just took a fire extinguisher and let it all out. The white walls are now a nice powdery pink :P It ended our church because of the fog that was still in the church.... So many crazy things seem to happen in this ward.

They say the hurricane is super strong but there is not a cloud in the sky here... Its actually been hot... Its funny because our mission president sent out all these texts to us saying that we are getting a storm. I was getting excited but scared because they said it was super strong... yeah a whole lot of nothing... :P This week has just been full of crazy things, we really didn't get to much work in...

Well I hope everyone is doing good :)
I love you all :)
Elder Bigelow

December 1, 2014

Well I know its late, but they don't have turkey day here. So me and my Zone Leader went to MacDo (the most American thing we could think of here.) :) We each got Cokes, Big Macs and XL fries ;) It was super masarap (delicious) :)
This week I came across a quote that changed my attitude.
"When in life you see that you have more weaknesses than strengths. We tend to think we are getting farther and farther away from Heavenly Father. When in reality you are getting closer." :) Well that was me... I only noticed the weaknesses in our area, our ward and companion. But a thought came to me that this is all training for me to be a better person and closer to my Heavenly Father. :)
Our week was pretty hard though... Just finding LA's and finding new investigators. We met a less active that has been less active for 20 years and she introduced us to her friend. :) It was way cool :)  Sorry, nothing too exciting happened this week with investigators. We have kind of been having a dry spell with investigators progressing. Hopefully that will change  :) I really hope so :)
Sorry this email is pretty boring :)
Elder Bigelow