Happy 2 Months!!! - May 26, 2013

Time flies by sooooooooo fast!! Today is my 2 month mark and my 3rd week in the Philippines. What the heck!! 

Me and my companion have been working hard. We invited the C family to be baptized in July. We still have a lot of work for them to be truly converted but I know that a miracle will happen in their life. We have a baptism coming up of Sister A on the 16th of June. I am soo excited. Of course, Sister M could be baptized in August but she is a special case so it might not happen then. She has been changing her life, its cool to see. She is bed ridden and can't give up. I asked it she wanted a blessing and I was able to give her one. So hopefully she will get out of bed and be able to walk for the first time in 3 months.  She hadn't accepted a blessing for 2 months. 

It's really cool when we are just walking and me and my companion feel like we need to pray to find out who to talk to, when we go around the next corner or around the next street there are always people waiting for us. This has happened multiple, multiple times and it just shows how powerful prayer is. We are doing a lot of work with Less Actives and Recent Converts and a few of them are starting to come back to Church and prepare for the temple. 

So on Friday, we had splits and I went with an elder who has only been here for 2 months. I have only been here for 2 or 3 weeks.  I have lost count. It's going by soooo fast. I didnt know how we were going to teach. The lord put words in my mouth during lessons that I had forgotten I knew. I was leading the lesson and gave a great lesson about faith. Through the lord I can do all things. It was amazing to see what me and this other new elder could do. 

But on Saturday, I figured out how close I was to the spirit and when I am not. We started talking about scary stories...( wrong thing to do). It drove away the spirit and we kept feeling like something was missing. All I wanted was the spirit back, I yearned for it. I would have done anything to get it back. I felt lost. We went back to our apartment and gave each other a blessing that we would get the spirit back. Such a cool experience it was like night and day. It felt good to be back. I will never do that again. But I felt like how it was to be an investigator and how if they feel the spirit what they wouldn't do to have that spirit always. I had not realized how close I was to the spirit before that. 

This week has been great !!!!  :) I love you all, Mahal kita!!

Can you find me ;) ? Yes I am in there.

Hardest Week of My Life - May 19, 2013

Well this had to of been the hardest week of my entire life.....but also the best. I miss home, I have to say, I have gotten home sick almost everyday especially during church because I have no idea what they are saying and I have 3 hours to just think and I think about home. I think also because I finally realized that I am actually in the Philippines and I got over the original culture shock. Whatever it is, its been hard. Pero, this week has brought me the most joy ever. I know I keep saying this but I have gone about this whole learning the language and scriptures all wrong. I thought that maybe I could have done it myself that I was going to learn the language and that I was going to get smart in Tagalog. Wrong, I went through the whole MTC thinking I was going to do it. Yes, I prayed for the gift of tongues but what was I doing to show it. Nothing. I went on splits with the District Leader, he changed the way my mission is going because he taught me that. In wrestling it was me that was bettering myself. Even in scouts it was me. Everything was about me and what I could do. I guess I just carried that attitude into my mission. But IT has nothing to do about how smart I am, or nothing about how fast I can learn. But about relying on the Lord for help, relying on him for every single little thing. When I applied that in my language study the last couple days I can tell that the Lord is helping me with it. I also found out that faith has to precede miracles. I just have to open my mouth and the Lord will put words in my mouth. I am nothing without God. 

I also learned something about the atonement. As I was sitting there praying for help, I realized that I was not alone that Christ would help me through all my storms or Baguios. Yep a baguio is a storm, but I also realized that Christ was alone when he performed that suffering in Gethsemene. How could he have done that?!?! It gave me a lot more realization of what he did for me and what he did for all of us. Christ gives us storms in our life to continually blow us in towards that promised land!! 

I have been prepared for this my whole life. When I am feeling homesick I just get to work and I forget everything, its the best solution.

Ok so some cool things.... First I played with a Philippino YoYo. I big beetle that got its legs ripped off that kids tie a rope to and it just flies around. Pretty awesome, I wish I got a picture. Secondly, I had dinuguan( the chicken blood soup ) it wasnt bad. I had my first whole fish just placed in front of me and I ate it so that was good. Lastly, I had my first Balut, it wasn't bad at all!! :) 

So we are doing a lot of work to rescue people which is fine with me. We are rescuing this family, The T Family, they got baptized right before I came and we are just wanting their family to come back to church! We are teaching a family named the Cs, they are an awesome family. We keep inviting them to be baptized and they don't say no but the spirit is sooo strong while we teach. That is the best feeling in the entire world. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be here. I am here to have people become spiritually healed in Christ.

One last thing I promise I will include more about the families we are teaching next time.

My mom, you are the best example to me ever. You have taught me everything I know. 

Mom and Dad you taught me how to work and I am grateful for that. 

My brothers are amazing and I always want to be close to them. 

I am grateful for home cooked meals.

I miss scouts and campou's. 

I just want to be able to be held by my brothers and Mommy and Daddy again. 

I have the bestest family ever. :) 

I love the Lord he is my everything, 

Love Elder Malaki na mababa ;) 

That is my Philippino Name.

Mahal ko Kayo.

May 13, 2013

Philippines Mail #1

I just want to say this place is amazing!!! I love it. So this week has been packed full of adventure. On Monday, we left for the Philippines. We had a flight from Salt lake to LA which was an hour and then at LA we had a 6 hour layover. So, me and my companion were teaching to everyone and we met a lot of Philippinos. We then went from LA to Hong Kong which was a 15 hour flight. It was a pretty long flight because I could not watch movies!!! In Hong Kong we had a six hour layover and so I got to have Authentic Chinese food which was really, really cool!! Next we had a 2 hour flight to Manilla! We arrived late so our mission president wanted us to stay the night in Quezon City which was like a 4 hour car ride! We got there and there was all the Philippinos from the Philippine's MTC and I thought they were just random Philipinos but they all were so cool!!!! They helped us with our Tagalog and other things and we helped them with English!! We woke up the next day at 3 in the morning and all got on a bus for another 6 hours. The scenery is soooooo cool!! There are rice fields everywhere and Caribou which is like an ox. The mission home is really, really cool and so we had pictures and we had games and a feast! We stayed the night at a house that the APs stay at and then the next day was Transfer day such a cool time. I am with an American companion who has only been here 5 months and he says my Tagalog is way good for just getting here. I am in the Rosales Zone, Rosales Stake so I will probably be in the Urdaneta Mission. If I wanted to descibe to you the Philippines, I couldn't. This place is sooo amazing!!!! It's super humid and I sweat all the time, all the time 24/7. The houses are concrete and usually have dirt floors and most of them have TV's. There are children here running around naked and its just really, really different. I LOVE IT here though :) I love the people already.

I am sooo lucky though because I have a laundry lady!! So, I don't have to wash my clothes, which is nice! Our apartment is a pretty nice one! I live with 8 elders in 2 apartments. 

I want to tell you about an experience we had yesterday with the M family. She had not been taking the lessons until she got hit by a motorcycle. So, she is bedridden and it changed her attitude. We went to go teach her about repentence, but when we got there here mom B was there so we invited her to join and we taught them about how families can be together forever! In the middle of the lesson one of the members mission presidency came to bring food to them and he brought the other sisters. So, it was their whole family, 3 sisters and the mom. We all bore our testimonies and then Sister M gave the best prayer ever and started crying, then I invited them all to be baptised and they all said yes they wanted to be a family forever!!!! The spirit was super, super strong. The joy that brought me, I have never ever ever been so happy as I was yesterday, The gospel has brought such a great joy in my life. 

The E Family is a less active family and we helped them set a date to go to the temple to be sealed as a family!  We do a lot of work with less actives, helping them come back to church and receive Jesus again! 

Even though I have just been here 3 days, my heart is full to the Lord for his help in all things. The real teacher is the spirit, and I have to be karapat dapat sa espiritu santo!

The Lord's mission that he allowed me to go on means everything to me!! I can tell its going to be an amazing, amazing 2 years! I can not wait to see people come unto the savior and change their lives. It's all about them! He is helping me when I am tired and when my feet are tired and I just want to be in dry socks. He is with me always!! There are not just 2 members of our companionship there are 3, me, my companion, and Jesus! 

May 4, 2013

Last email from the States!

So these past couple days have been really really important to me. I figured out that I have been going about my mission completely wrong. I have been kind of selfish these past couple weeks. I have been worried about what I am going to get out of my mission and what I can become. That is the worst way you can look at it.  Even though I was looking at a mission as a way to come closer to Christ and to become a better Father, which are good things, but its not what a mission is about. It is for bringing people to Christ.  It has nothing, absolutely nothing about me. Nothing. I need to focus on the investigators solely.  Its truly shaped the way I have looked at my mission. Also, if I can be honest, I am scared out of my mind to go to the Philippines.  But I am not going to let that stop me because I can do HARD things. I look back on experiences in my life like HellsGate, West Clear Creek, Wrestling Practices, and all the camp outs I went on to Black River.  Just everything has prepared me for this. That's how ang Ama Salingit answered my prayers.  It was by those thoughts and they brought me great, great comfort. Heavenly Father put me here for a reason and I know there are people going about their everyday business not knowing how much happier the gospel can make their lives. I am the one, through the Lord, that is going to bring it to them. There is a lot of weight on my shoulders, but Jesus knows and is helping me everyday as I pray to him for help. I am not going to let him or myself down. I know that I can NOT do this on my own. Kalinging natin ang Ama Salangit at JesuCristo.  I love everyone in the zone (all of them.) I love my companion and I love the Lord. Through Jesus Crist I am ready to go share the Gospel. I love him. This is my testimony sa pangalan ni JesuCristo, Amen.

Mahal ko Tayo.

Love Elder Bigelow

April 30, 2013

Minamahal na pamilaya :

Kumasta po Tayo !!

I can't for this week to end!!! I leave next Monday!! I get to go from LAX to Hong Kong and then Manilla :) I am soooooooo excited.

This week has just been amazing.  We got a new district this week and they are just wonderful. Me and my companion have still been teaching our investigators and we have them committed to baptism. Which is amazing!! I can pretty much understand the language but I can't speak it for anything.

This week has had its challenges. My companion tried to help me word this correctly. I love him to death but sometimes he just does not want to work.  That is something that I knew was going to be a problem for me on my mission. A companion who did not want to work and just wanted to have fun. I came onto my mission knowing exactly how I thought things should be done. I had goals that I had before I came and I just want to serve the Lord to the best of my abilities. I had a vision of what companion study should be and how things should be done. What I have come to realize is something which has changed the way I look at things and the way I am going to serve my mission. The Lord put me in a companionship that did not give me exactly what I wanted and He did this on purpose because maybe the Lord wants something different from me.  A successful missionary is measured by a lot of things. It may not be how I wanted my mission to look, but the main thing that a successful missionary is to become who the Lord wants you to be. You do not have to have the best companionship studies to be successful but becoming who the Lord wants you to be is what the whole mission is about and it is becoming more like Christ. That is what I have come to realize. Nothing in the Mission is about me, it's about the Lord and tending to his work. You have got to be humble and just love everyone. I have created a bond with each and every Elder in my zone. I love everyone of them to death. It's all about love. If I had time I would write you about everyone.  I love everyone at home too!!

Mahal ako ninyo. I will write Saturday before I leave!! mabuti ang buhay ko. (My life is good!!)
Elder Bigelow

April 23, 2013

I can not believe how fast my mission is going!! Its already been a month!?! It's good to hear from everyone! 
This week has been kinda of a rough week! But it turned out to be one of the best too. I kind of hit a wall when it came to learning the language and just felt like I was not progressing as fast as I had the past couple weeks with everything. I kept on praying for help to get over this hump so I could just keep on working my hardest and help people. My answer came at a time and place where the answer did not really fit the atmosphere. In priesthood meeting, I was sitting there and a thought of me wrestling popped into my head!! It took me by suprise and I just sat there thinking about that. I came to the realization that it was an answer to my prayers in this way. During my first 3 years of wrestling I went to practice everyday, I did most of the drills I worked hard. But I  progressed slowly those 3 years. It was not until my senior year, until I put all my time, all my effort and all of my heart into the sport that I accomplished something that I did not think was possible. The thought hit me that I did not want my whole mission to be like my first 3 years of wrestling but that I wanted to achieve a lot more and I learn that I can do hard things.  I have to just buckle down and work. It's going to be tough, I know that but when I look back on wrestling it was tough my senior year but it was so worth it. I know what I am aiming for this time is not just a medal but something of far, far, far greater importance.  It is for me to come unto Christ so that I can have eternal life, but then also to see the joy of others as they have this same feeling of joy and happiness and peace that I have. If it wasn't for this comfort this message gave me, I would have just buckled under the pressure and stress I had later that night. It seemed like every companionship had something going wrong that night. I was the only one not fighting or crying. The Lord helped me to work through with all the problems in the Zone as a leader. I have had to have more patience than I ever had before in my life. Being Zone leader is not an easy job, but I was helped beyond my own strength and I am truely grateful for that. The Lord loves each and every one of us. 
Oh how I love my life right now. Our investigators are coming along just fine. Last night we taught a lesson. Me and Elder Masame just froze, we couldn't speak but with what we could speak we felt the spirit, Roy felt it too. The spirit is the one who converts I can testify of that. 
For our devotional we were priviliged to have Elder Richard G. Scott come and speak to us. Just the spirit that he brought. At the end of his talk he gave me an apostolic blessing (well the whole MTC), that We would master the language, that we would become closer to our companions and that we would become close to Christ. 
I just want to leave with my testimony. 
Alam ko po na, that Jesus Christ died for us. That he died for me and YOU.  He did not die for just everyone but YOU personally. He has helped me so much and I turn every little problem over to him. I have faith that if you pray to your Heavenly Father that he will answer you, He is there and loves you. But you have to seek the answers. If you want to talk to God get on your knees but if you want God to Talk to you Open the Scriptures. I can testify of that. Oh how I love the gospel. This next week should be amazing !!!! 
Mahal Kital  
Mahal, 
Elder Bigelow

April 16, 2013

Kumasta everyone!!
Well I am now the zone leader. With it has came lots of extra responsibilities. Which is fine because it brings blessings from the lord. The weather in Utah has been crazy!! I miss Phoenix weather where it is just HOT!!! 
I am starting to get sick of the food but I am proud to say I have not gained any weight!! 
Our investigators have been coming along pretty well, hopefully by the end of next week we will have a baptismal commitment!!
I just want to share one thing that was said in a fireside! That there was a reason why Nephi was commanded to go get the plates before He was commanded to get a wife. And as I am serving this mission i am realizing why I have grown soo much just in 3 weeks. I thought that was very interesting! 
I can not wait to get out in the field even though my Tagalog is not up to par. We met some Filipinos at the temple and they started to talk to us and we were just like WHAT!?! They talked so fast!!! I only have 2 weeks to get the language down! 
Anyway, my companion says hi and we will just keep on working and doing our best to serve the Lord!!! 
With love Elder Bigelow!!