Letter Nine

Hello there! What a week!! It's like I almost don't even want to start telling you guys about the amazing week I have had because there is not enough time to do it justice! But I guess just know that the Lord is incredible and is watching over me and this area. I owe it all to Him and I will continue to put my faith and trust in Him!

I wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH mom for the packages! I will thank you again in my personal email, but I wanted to do it here too because I want to thank Troy and Vanessa's family for the awesome letters and pictures! Shake and Bake are growing up so fast! And thank you so much to the Pedersons, those cookies were wonderful! I was surprised they made it here alive. But I am sure glad they did :) Thank you so much!

Well, first things first, I did not end up getting another companion! She had visa problems and is stuck in Taiwan...I hate it when that happens ;) So, I am still with Sister Nuttall. But she goes home in 2 weeks so when she leaves I will be going to help train the new sister in Penticton, until the next transfer in the middle of April where I will be getting a new missionary to train here in Oliver. Lots going on! But I am so glad I have the opportunity to finish Sister Nuttall's mission with her. She is incredible and I learn from her everyday!

Well we spent most of the week in Richmond. We drove to Kelowna on Wednesday (2.5 hours away) and then we took a bus to Abbottsford (4 hours away) and then we drove to Richmond Vancouver area (2 hours away). If you know me, you know I hate traveling and driving around like that...so you can imagine how much fun I was having ;) But it was great! I was able to read a lot from the Book of Mormon. On the bus ride over, a drunk man sat in front of us and began talking to us. We then were able to talk about the Bible, and introduced the Book of Mormon to him. Although he was hesitant, he took the Book and told us he would read it and give us a call with any questions. What a great experience! It is so fascinating how Heavenly Father just places people in our paths to share the Gospel with. It makes me think how many people He brought to me and I have missed?? I repented, and promised myself that I would talk to everybody possible. :)

The training at the transfer meeting was just incredible. I wanted to share some thoughts and things that I learned from it. We had the opportunity to be taught by President and Sister Tilleman, and then by the Assistants. I learned so much, I almost filled up 5 pages in my notebook. I love it! A quote from President Tilleman that I liked was "The Lord's way was not meant to be a vacation." How true that is! People expect life to be so easy if they are doing what is right. Well, although it will be EASIER than if you weren't, it does not exempt us from trials and tribulations. Life is hard. All the more reason to hold fast to the truths of the Gospel!

Sister Tilleman's talk was also wonderful. She is the grandaughter of President Benson and she always tells amazing stories about him. Well, this one really hit home for me, especially being on a mission. She said when President Benson was young, he was the youngest of 7 (at the time), and his mom was pregnant with another. (They ended up with 11 children). At this crazy time in their lives his father was called to serve a mission. Well, as hesitant as he was,  he put his trust in the Lord and told his wife he was going to go. So he left his family and devoted his life to the Lord. He showed his children how important it was to put the Lord first and to always trust in Him. He served a faithful mission and came back to an amazing family. Later, having 11 children, he was still teaching them the ways of the Lord. Long story short, ALL 11 of his children served full-time missions. How incredible is that! He said he did it for his posterity, and for his future children. What an incredible example that is to me. While serving I must remember how many people I have the opportunity to affect. I get to decided if I am going to take advantage of that or not! She also told us something that President Benson would always say to them. "The key to missionary work is WORK". I Could not agree more! There is so much work here in the field. But because of that work, we have the opportunity to see great miracles!!

A couple people have asked about my mission President. I don't think there are words to describe him. What a faithful man who has been the witness of SO many miracles here in Vancouver, one of them being his own life was saved...literally. That is a story for another time. But I guess the best way I can describe him is the last two verses of Words of Mormon. If you read those, you will have a better understanding of who President Tilleman is.

A final thought that Sister Tilleman had was that we are not here on our missions to make people good. We are here to bring them home to their Heavenly Father. I think of how homesick I get sometimes, and then I just turn my thoughts to how homesick these people's spirits must be. How desperately they need the Gospel!!
I could go on and on about the things I learned there. Such a great experience to be taught by the leaders of this mission. They are certainly called here for a purpose and I have truly gained a testimony of that. The Lord does not make mistakes.

Well, we taught Noreen again today. What an incredible experience that was. We spent so much time this morning planning her lesson and going through the scriptures preparing to teach her the Restoration in greater detail. Well, we got there and neither of us felt that that is what we were going to teach as soon as Noreen began talking. I am so grateful for the Spirit to help us understand the needs of our investigators! He knows exactly what they need. We taught her about prayer and about receiving answers to hers prayers, especially in regards to the Book of Mormon. She was feeling the Spirit so strongly. Her eyes softened and we could tell this was exactly what she needed to hear at this time. It just goes to show how important it is to prepare lessons. Although we did not teach her one things that we prepared, we still showed the Lord that we were willing to put in the time to prepare and pray for her. And because of that, He blessed us with the Spirit and the gift of discernment in order to better understand her needs in the moment.

Well, I could go on and on. I am a witness to so many miracles each day. These miracles do not come because of anything I do, however. They come because we put our complete trust in the Lord. If I were out here relying solely on my convincing skills, there would be a great lack of miracles. but because what we are teaching is true, the Lord is with us and He helps those we come in contact with to see the truthfulness of it. How grateful I am to be a part of this amazing work!!

The challenge this week is a strange one, but I cannot express how excited I am to see how you do! The challenge is to go at least 24 hours without television. I know for some of you this will be super easy, others maybe not so easy. But just think. If you have time to watch television, you have time to go study the scriptures, help you neighbor in the yard, talk with your family, or simply ponder and let the Spirit teach you. Think of all the opportunities we could have as we show the Lord that we are willing to devote our time to Him. I promie you that if you seek for opportunities to serve others or to come closer together as a family, that the Lord will bless you for those efforts.

I love you all so much. I cannot say how grateful I am to each of you for the examples you are to me. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. It is Christ's church here on the earth. I don't think this, I have come to KNOW it. I challenge each of you to strive to come to the same knowledge. I love you, and take care!

Love,

Sister Biggs