April 16, 2013

I cannot believe another week went by already. What happened? Where did it go?? All well. I guess I better enjoy the days while they last ;) This week has been absolutely amazing. I feel so unworthy of the blessings that our Father in Heaven continues to give us. I will forever be an unprofitable servant, and yet to Him I mean the world. How does that work?? However it works, I am so grateful for it, and for His love.

Sister Okano finally got her visa so she will be going to the MTC next week. I will be getting a new companion, Sister Hate who has been out a transfer. I cannot believe the Lord is trusting me to train again, maybe He just has a plan to compel me to be humble or something? Who knows. Whatever it is, I know I will put my faith in Him and help Sister Hate to become the missionary that the Lord needs her to become at this time. Although I am so sad to be losing yet another companion, I cannot wait to begin learning from a new one! I am so looking forward to it. Sister Okano is SO much like Megan it is scary sometimes. She does a lot of the same things and talks like her. She is hilarious. So it helps with my homesickness quite a bit :)

We unfortunately had to drop Noreen this past week. The Lord told us very strongly that we just needed to give her some time to reflect. Sister OKano and I were pretty nervous about dropping so many investigators, but by putting our faith in the Lord we were able to find 3 new investigators last week!! What a blessing. Another similar miracle happened this morning. We had an appointment with Shellian, one of our investigators we have been meeting with for a while. We walked in and she sat down and told us she could not meet with us anymore because there was just not enough time in her life right now. She was very sweet about it and hopes that in a few months we will get back in contact with her. We sure will! So we started the day by losing one of our favorite investigators. However, we then had an appointment with Pam. And immediately, God blessed us with a new investigator. How great! He knows what He is doing in this area!! She is so solid and loved what we taught. She agreed lightly to baptism and is coming to church on Sunday. I am very excited for her. I cannot believe that I ever doubt my Heavenly Father even for a second. He has never failed me before, so why would He now? He won't! He is in charge of this work and He knows what He is doing with His children.

This past week we had such great opportunities to learn from President and Sister Tilleman. Thursday night we had a Stake Relief Society Fireside where they spoke and gave us INCREDIBLE counsel regarding being sisters in this church. Then the next morning we had Zone Conference where we were taught by both of them about principles that I had never thought about before. One of the things they spoke about was exact obedience. So many people think of exact obedience as something for missionaries (that is what I always thought!). Well, he spoke about how we must be exactly obedient every day of our lives, whether or not we are missionaires! Then he spoke about how we CAN Have perfect days. He said so often we get caught up in thinking that we CANNOT be perfect in this life. But he said that if we lose ourself in the work ALL DAY, we are on purpose 100 percent of the time, and we do not ignore any prompting of the Spirit, then that IS a perfect day in the eyes of the Lord. Obviously we cannot have perfect days according to our standards, but that is what the Atonement is all about! Through Him we can be made perfect, and we can see perfection in degrees throughout our lives.

So, that is my challeneg for this week - strive to be exactly obedient in all you do. You CAN read scriptures everyday. You CAN pray daily. You CAN go to church and partake of the Sacrament. And through all these things you CAN be found perfect as the Atonement fills in the cracks! What a blessing!!

This past Sunday we had Stake Conference. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive both ways. Yikes. But we got to hear from Elder Christensen of the Seventy. What a great speaker he is!! He told a cool story about how when he was in President Monson's office.  He had a carving and President Monson asked him to look at the carving and tell him which rock of all the rocks was the real one. After great contemplation, Elder Christensen chose, and was inevitably wrong. President Monson then picked up a rock and said "This one". He told Elder Christensen that he could look at the carving all day long, but he would NEVER be able to tell which one was real unless he picked it up. The Gospel is the same way. We do not find out that the Church is true so that we can enter the waters of baptism. We enter the waters of baptism through faith so that we can then KNOW the church is true. We must pick up the rock of the Word of Wisdom or pick up the Rock of Tithing. We must live the commandments to then know that they are true. Not the other way around. I cannot wait to use this story with my investigators. This is how we find truth!

I also loved hearing President Tilleman talk about how this is not my time here in the mission, it is the Lord's time. Sometimes I think I forget that. How selfish! But I am no longer "Ashlyn" for the next 15 months. I am Sister Biggs, set apart to serve the Lord full time. I do not get to choose to obey or not. When I accepted my call, I promised the Lord I would obey and serve Him with all my strength and time. And that is exactly what I will do. I will not waste another moment here in the field. This is His work, and He will watch over me as I devote all my efforts toward what He wants me to do.

I love this work. I love being able to serve!!! I cannot wait for another transfer to come and for me to learn from new missionaries in different capacities. This church is true. Pick up the rock, and find out for yourselves!!! I love you all, and thank you so much for all the support I get from back home. Have a great week, and keep the faith!

Love,

Sister Biggs