February 29, 2016

The same old things sound pretty great. I hope things stay busy and fun for you guys.   Well my week has been pretty good but really a terrible ending to the weekend! We had a great week preaching and everything seemed to be going to plan to be honest. Teaching and finding and really working hard to open this area well. We have been finding people it seems in like every corner and the members seem really, really excited to help us work and to get going. My comp is making me a little trunky with all the talk of home but other than that I am doing great jaja Then we got to Sunday...we had stake conference and they were going to transmit it to where I am because we are kind of far away. The transmission never ever got here. We literally sat waiting at a dark computer screen for like 40 min until they just said that there is no signal and those that wanted to travel to the city could but if not well to bad jaja. So that was terrible to be honest.  Other than that things seem to be progressing normal, time is flying by faster and faster every change. We are in the 3rd week of this change and I am not even sure what happened. This change is 7 weeks though so March is going to pass by like nothing at all.  I have been meaning to send something, but to be honest with everything it has been super crazy. I never have time to rest. I think now that I am in Pápantla, I will be able to find a good way to send something. But I cannot really send anything cool because it does get stolen. Make sure when you send packages that you plaster the Virgin and the logo of the church on it hahaha. They think its like Book of Mormon's or something and don't open it and with the virgin they won't mess with it usually.  Love you so much! Elder Bigelow

February 22, 2016

Well, this week was pretty bomb hahaha. We had some pretty crazy experiences to be honest. So, like I said last week we got our transfers and I got assigned to this little town called Agua Dulce. It is a little outside the city and zone of Papantla. It has been closed for almost 2 years and so this was pretty exciting.  So, we have had some pretty awesome success. The rama (branch) has received us really well and has given us a ton of help. We have had a pretty good time finding people. Agua Dulce is like the littlest place I have ever been to though. There are not places to buy food, there are not even oxxos here which are like Circle K's but just for food and drinks. Those things are literally everywhere and they are not here haha. We are about 20 minutes outside of Papantla though so we can go there for food and such.  The roads are not very paved and really I am chilling in a ranch town hahaha. It is pretty sweet though because I love it here a ton. I am finishing the mission of my old zone leader and former assistant, Elder Morales. We work like super well together and it is pretty nice to work with someone that knows how to work not another on of my kids that I am training.  Saturday we went on an adventure hahaha. We got a reference to a a tiny town called Carbon. We went there in the morning from Papantla on Saturday and got there at like 9 in the morning. We taught a lesson and visited and left Carbon at like 1030. Turns out Carbon is in like the mountains jajaja. So, we were going to walk back and they showed us the way to a little town called Por Venir. It was literally hiking in the mountains to get there. We were walking on a mountain top and it was really pretty and you could see Agua Dulce in the distance. We then took a trail down the mountain for about 45 min. It was nuts and my knees were killing me. We taught another lesson in Por Venir and then walked another 30 min back to Agua Dulce. We got back at like 330 which is super late for lunch hahaha. We then worked all afternoon too. Super fun haha. But I took some cool pics hahaha Love you and glad everything is super cool! Elder Bigelow

February 15, 2016

I am finally getting transferred! I am going to open an area in Agua Dulce! It is a little farm town out in the middle of nowhere so that should be super, super fun. This area has not had missionaries in like 2 years so we should be getting a lot of support from the members. I am so freaking excited to be honest. We should be kicking some butt and having lots of success, I hope. From what I heard there are a lot of members that are returned missionaries and should be kick butt in helping out. 

Nothing too excited happened. Well, except for this sweet baptism! E is such a bomb convert, I am so happy to have seen him progress, find his testimony, and be baptized. To be honest it was one of the greatest days of my mission to see him get to that point. 

I am leaving this area after a long time and I feel really content with my work here. I have a feeling that I was supposed to be here for a reason. I love the members here and I met people that are going to have an impact on the rest of my life. 

The mission really has helped me have a better prespective on life. I know what I want and who I am because of the trials God has put me through. I know what I need to be become and what God wants me to be. I am so happy learning about myself through who the Savior is.

Love you guys so much!

Elder Bigelow

February 8, 2016

We had a rough week. We had to stop seeing a lot of our investigators because they were not progressing and that made me really sad to be honest. We have such a tiny area that when we find someone that wants to work with us I get so excited jaja. But when they don't do what they need to do to progress it really bums me. So we basically ran out of investigators to be honest and are now on the rebuild part. We are working so hard this week with very little success. We just could not seem to find someone that was interested in the most important thing in their lives.  We finished the week with zero people attending church which was a pretty sad way to end it. But then after church we had a good day and hopefully secured a baptism for this weekend. I am pretty sure I will finally get pulled out of Tuxpan this change. So, it will be nice on Sunday to finish up with a baptism. It gets me excited.  We are just going to get back to work I guess hahaha.  Hopefully we will be having another baptism this week so that should be sweet to leave on! He is like my best convert by far! Super converted and way cool guy named E. Yeah the same guy I was frustrated about last week because I thought that he was never going to get baptized. He couldn't get over Joseph Smith. hahaha. I have seen so many changes in his life since we started teaching him and that is like the coolest thing ever! Love you! Elder Bigelow

February 1, 2016

Finally Ryan is getting married hahaha. Took him long enough! (This is his cousin.) Yeah, I just read Taylor's email and that is bomb! What is weird is that when he enters the field I will have a year...what! That is just nuts. Just like one more transfer to go and suddenly boom! A year! (His friend just received his mission call to serve in the Chicago, Illinois Mission and reports at the end of March.) Well not going to lie, this week was pretty hard for me. One of my baptisms that I have been working on since like October seems to be falling through and I think he is getting a little disseminated to continue. He is so cool though and I really hope that he progresses and gets baptized because his testimony is so there he just has a few doubts about a certain things, mainly Joseph Smith. He read the whole Book of Mormon though and I am not sure how he has not seen that this is true with all of his heart... We also worked so hard with trying to open up a new part of my area and not really having much success. We are trying so hard though. I guess we just keep pushing on and see what the Lord can bless us with! I am getting just slightly bummed that I am still in this area though because I just keep seeing the same people over and over again and no one seems to want to talk to us. Like I feel a little disheartened. But transfers are in like 2 weeks so we will have to see what happens then. Everyone is pretty sure that I will be leaving and becoming a district leader. I feel I am pretty ready for that challenge so bring it on!  My buddies in the mission are kind of convincing me to go to BYU I when I get back because it is so cheap and I have a few buddies that are going there when they get back. I will have to see what happens though. Other than that, I forgot to bring my camera hahaha so no pics this week. I will try to send some tomorrow in district class, if I remember. Love you so much! Elder Bigelow

January 25, 2016

Don't worry about the whole American thing here. Here in Veracruz it is pretty touristy so there ends up being lots of American things anyway. It is kind of a funny thought because the style seems to be right now to wear American flag stuff. It is really funny because we are in Mexico jaja.  Our week was good. Just another week of work I guess. We had a couple of cool things happen though so I guess it was a little different.  First on Tuesday, we had out interviews with President. They always make me feel so good and pumped because he always tells me what I need to improve and how I can get better. He said that he loves me so much because I always make him laugh and he can make fun of me without having to worry about offending me haha. Made me so happy. We also talked about a couple of cool things and I got pretty pumped. I almost have 6 months in this area and like Holden said I am a little area tired. It is hard to be in the same place for like ever and feel like you have already talked to like everyone. But President pumped me up and we are continuing to work really hard.  Then on Wednesday we had a Worldwide Missionary meeting with a few Apostles. It was cool and really gave me some good ideas to improve how I teach, how I contact and how I do these things that are the mission work jaja. Then we had some divisions and I sent my kid to open an area with a mas o menos (more or less) new elder and he did a great job. We found some families and hit them up Saturday. Just work work work work I guess.  I am pretty ready for the changes though. Kinda really want to leave Tuxpan if it is possible.  Love you so much and get better! Elder Bigelow

We found a rose :)

January 18, 2016

Sounds super fun! It is kind of strange that you cannot give me an update of Holden because he like doesn't live there anymore.... weird.

First of all I got your package this week! It had like a month and a half sitting in the offices so woo... oh well hahah late christmas. Freaking loved everything you sent me! The Bionicle hahaha that is like the greatest thing ever. In your next package, you should totally send something from lego star wars, hopefully from the new movie if possible. They are fun to mess around with at night haha. The best candy ever! 

So this was pretty bomb to be honest! We worked like freaking hard. Like we went to town and just worked so hard in like every second. It finally felt so good because with Christmas everything felt so slow and lame, but finally we had such a good week. Found a bunch of news and made some sweet progress in the obra del señor (the Lord's work).

We finished the week super awesome with a baptism. It is a really cool baptism because it was the husband of a little old lady that I baptized about 5 months ago. Finally completed the family. I guess those are the cool little things that can happen when you stay in the same area for like 6 months. I also got in a fight of words and doctrine with a Jehovah's Witness pastor hahaha. It was way fun to be honest because we like burned him hard! 

Other than that we just kinda worked and had fun messing around. Yesterday was more or less a relaxed day but this week is going to be crazy because we have interviews with Pres. and those always scare me to death hahaha. I always feel like he is just going to planch me... and we have a Worldwide Conference of Missionaries on Wednesday with a few Apostles so that should be so bomb. 

I am doing so good! We are really focused right now and trying so hard!

Elder Bigelow

Also in your next package i want more flower ties. And a tie with pineapples on it. And socks with pineapples. And more cool funny socks.

January 11, 2016

(During church today there was a talk given that he gave his testimony saying that the Book of Mormon has been battled tested because he took it to battle with him and he never felt alone.) I like that phrase haha battle tested. It is so true, no matter how many years and how many people try to prove that book wrong, it just cannot be done because really it is so true. Scientifically, it is a wonder and the facts around it are outstanding. But really it is from the spirit that we can really know the truth. For Christmas our president gave us a little booklet of talks and stories about the restoration. I have been loving reading it, especially when it talks about the Book of Mormon. There are some crazy facts and stories about it that have really enlightened my mind. But I have really enjoyed getting to know the book really closely. I have been reading slowly and carefully, trying to understand what each verse means to me. I would like to bear a quick testimony that I know that the book is true, because well it has been battle tested by every single fiery dart the devil has to offer but just does not burn. This week has been pretty awesome to be honest. A little strange but exciting. We went to Xalapa on Wed and Thurs for my third meeting of the news haha. It was the same as the other 2 but always inspires me to be better and to work a little harder. Got to see some good friends and talk about how the missions are going. It is always fun and we eat super well.  Then we finally got back to work Friday and had a good day. Sunday was my favorite day of the week, we changed our church schedule to 8 in the morning so now we finally have time to work on Sundays. We went with a member and visited inactives that live in these little pueblos outside of the city. It was really fun and I felt we did some good work. There was also a ton of sweet orange fields and that reminded me of home! I took some fun pics haha.  I feel way more energized after the holiday season to really get to work and do what the mission promises we can do, baptize every single week. It is so hard and everything but I feel we can do it. I feel so good right now to be honest because we are working well together my comp and I.  I should get your package Wednesday when the zone leaders come back from Xalapa. I tried to get it on Thursday before we left Xalapa but the office elder was not being nice and didn't want to look through them all for mine... oh well hahaha. Miss you guys a ton, and keep being a mom because you are an awesome mom! Love you! Elder Bigelow

January 4, 2016

We had a good week to be honest, yeah things are a little slow but we are doing fine. We actually just got our transfers yesterday and I am a bit disappointed about them but still happy haha. I am staying in Tuxpan again with my hijo (son) still, which is good because I have a ton of fun with him and I like the area. However, I was kind of looking forward to seeing another city in the mission. I have been here in Tuxpan for 8 months now and it looks like I will be sitting at 10 before I leave here, who knows maybe I will complete my year here.  The work is good though. We have a few progressing investigators and are working with a few members to reactivate them. It has been fun to be with some members during Christmas and New Years and this week we also have another fiesta de el dia de reyes (or day of the Kings/Wiseman). They make some kind of bread or something and party and eat the special bread. Cool I guess. Thought it was interesting to see that they had a day special for the wiseman too.  Today we went to the buffet again and ate. It was pretty expensive with the time of year and everything but oh so worth it haha. There is a member in my branch named Hermana S, she and her family are just like the coolest people ever and always help us so much with food and washing and just about everything else. She was kind of really sad this past week because she was for sure that I was going to leave, she like loves me to death and is like a 3rd grandma haha. When we got the changes that I was staying another change, she about had a party haha.  Also my dad will be coming to our zone as our new zone leader so it will be fun to see him again and show him about 8 months of working and learning and everything. Bet it will be so freakin different for him haha. Should be a fun change, just it got like super super cold here. Like it was sitting at I think 30 yesterday. Kind of crazy to be honest. I have been gifted a few sweaters and stuff to keep the poor Arizona boy from freezing. Everyone says that I am like the biggest nena or girl, when it comes to the cold here haha. And it is oh so true! I am dying a bit, but when we get moving and working it fades fast.  I will keep you and gma in my prayers for sure. Hope everything turns out fine.  Love, Elder Bigelow Hopefully I will get your package in the next week or so!