Hello there my wonderful friends and family!! I hope
this letter finds you well.
I know I say this every week...but what an incredible
week of miracles this has been here in Oliver and Osoyoos!! Seriously though. I
just hope to remain worthy of the MANY blessings Heavenly Father has bestowed
upon us and this area. I am thoroughly convinced that the Lord knows exactly
where we need to be and when we need to be there.
I hope everybody had a great Easter!! What an incredible
time to reflect on the Savior's sacrifice and resurrection. Only through Him are
we able to overcome physical and spiritual death. We are eternally indebted to
Him! How blessed we are to have an older brother like Him!! Easter was great
here. My companion and I sang in Sacrament meeting "I Know that My Redeemer
Lives". This branch hardly ever gets musical numbers, so it was quite a treat
for them. The Spirit was felt really strongly, especially after the incredible
talks that were given. President and Sister Fields invited us over for dinner
again. We eat there every Sunday, but we did not expect them to have us for
Easter! They said we are part of the family though, and that they would be hurt
if we did not go. How blessed we are to be in this branch with these incredible
people. We went and ate with them and their family, and it was wonderful. They
even included us in their family Easter tradition of giving out chocolate
bunnies and different things. They treated us like one of their own. This was
another testimony builder to me of how much the Lord knows us and where we need
to be. I will be completely honest - when I first came to this tiny area I was a
little nervous. I did not know anybody and I did not understand how not having
a ward of a few hundred people could ever be great?? How wrong I was. As most of
you know, when I first got here I had quite a bit of homesickness. It was very
difficult for me to not think of home and long to be there. However, I can
honestly say that the homesickness has not been felt in weeks! The Fields have
been a great aspect of this happening. They are like my family here in Osoyoos.
Their love for me is felt in ALL that they do and say. I am so blessed to have
them. How can I be homesick, when part of my family is right here?? I would have
never guessed that I could feel this way. But oh how the Lord strengthens us in
our weaknesses!!
So, there was a former in our area book named Mary who
we called last week to set up an appointment with. We had never talked to her
before. She hesitantly set up an appointment and then told us that we were
wasting our time. She is Catholic and "Never going to change that". Well, we
boldly set the appointment and told her we did not mind! How grateful I am that
the Lord directed us to do that!! We went there and she invited us in, still
with the same mindset. But within 10 minutes, the atmosphere began to change.
She was feeling the Spirit as we taught her about the Book of Mormon. She began
shifting in her chair and looking at us intently as we spoke. The Spirit was
almost overwhleming as we spoke. After we paused she said, "you girls are so
young. How do you know these things?" Well, that was simple to answer! Then, she
immediately asked if we could set up another appointment because she wanted to
invite her 2 granddaughters and her sister-in-law over to listen to us. Look at
what the Spirit and the truthfulness of the Gospel can do to people!! Within ten
minutes she was already inviting everybody she knew to hear our message. This
message of the Restoration of the Gospel is TRUE. I would not spend 18 months of
my life preaching something that wasn't. And watching Mary experience that same
truth for herself helped build my testimony!! We are meeting with her on
Thursday and we cannot wait to teach her about the Plan of Salvation, as that is
what she has questions about. I have great hope for our lessons with
her.
Quick side note - does anybody who served missions or
has experience with being exhausted have any tips about staying wide awake in
studies or having more energy throguhout the day? If so, please send them my way
:) We are just so non-stop every second of eevry day that I am so exhausted! I
have certainly seen the Lord give me strength to do things that I did not think
I could do myself. But any little tips would be great :) Currently I am doing
jumping jacks every 10 minutes in study. But I am up for anything
:)
A man in our ward is a dentist, so he offered to clean
my teeth for free because I was complaining about them haha. How sweet was he!!
So this past Saturday we went and got my teeth cleaned by him. It was so funny
because his 2 little girls were there because his wife had to be there. So the
whole time they were like right up in my mouth and poking me and talking to me.
Talk about an exciting dentist experience...but how blessed we are to be in this
area with these amazing people who look for opportunities to serve in all
capacities!!
We are still teaching Noreen a couple times a week. We
are actually going to teach her right after emailing today. She is having a
really hard time coming to church, but we are really hoping to be able to get
her to General Conference at the church next week! How lucky and blessed we are
to be able to hear from a prophet of God twice a year in this manner!! I cannot
imagine why anything else is played on the internet or on tv??? People...a
Prophet is speaking!! Drop EVERYTHING and listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok. Sorry I just
had to get that out. I want to climb to the top of a mountain here and shout
that. But that might be frowned upon in this establishment. All well. This will
do :)
Another great experience yesterday with some Spanish!!
We were personal contacting on Easter and we ran into a man that only spoke
Spanish. Well, here we go! I opened my mouth and the words just flowed! I don't
even really remember what I said haha. But the Lrod was speaking to him through
me and we are meeting with him again this week! Luckily I have some Spanish
Books of Mormon. I hear there are quite a few Mexicans here in the summer. I
know now why I was sent to this area at this time!!
Hooray!!!
I could go on forever about the incredible miracles that
the Lord is blessing us with here. But unfortunately time is limited. (It is
probably best, because I would have you reading an email for like 2 hours if I
could!). Haha. I love serving the Lord in this capacity. I love training Sister
Okano and learning with her as we are both new to this!! I love relying on the
Lord in situations when I have absolutely NO idea what to do or say. And
finally, I love being able to study the scriptures for 2 hours every single day.
This is time that I wish I had for the rest of my life. But I can promise each
of you that as you study and really put your mind to listening to the Spirit,
that the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessing upon
you. So much that you will not be able to receive!! So that is my challenge to
you this week. Set aside at least 30 minutes a day to study the scriptures. If
we cannot devote 30 minutes a day to the Lord and His word, we may need to
reevaluate our priorities. This was me before my mission for sure. But how
grateful I am that I now have this opportunity to see the importance of studying
daily!!
I hope that each of you know how much I love and care
abut you. The Lord is watching over your girl here in Canada in more ways than
one. I pray that He will guide each of you to a knowledge of this truthfulness
if He has not already done so. May the Lord be with you in all
things.
Love,
Sister Biggs
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