May 21, 2013

Hello to my wonderful family and friends! What a blessing you all are in my life. You have no idea how much I appreciate the support and prayers through my time on my mission. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Well, first things first - next week is transfers. President Tilleman is hinting very strongly that I will be getting transfered, but you never know. It is all by the Lord. So just in case I am, any letters sent from now on should probably be sent to the mission home until further notice. It is okay if you already sent some recently, all mail will eventually get to me. But just thought I would let you know to send it to the mission office until I let you know where to send it :) Mom, could you maybe attach the address on here? I don't have it right on hand :) It is the one in Richmond. Thank you!

Well, a quick update on Robin. I have learned something very seriously this week. If we are not willing to obey the commandements of the Father, there will be consequences. It is as simple as that. Robon witnessed that this past week. He has been having the hardest time quitting smoking, and I almost felt hopeless. But I knew that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can overcome all things. This was so proven. He told us that he quit smoking last week when we went to see him. Well, then the next day we went to visit him, they told us he was in the hospital again. We went to the hospital and found out what happened. Apparently, he went to the drug store to buy more cigarrettes. Bought them, and the second he got out of the store, he collapsed in his scooter onto the ground. They had to call the ambulance and rush him to the hopspital. They don't know exactly what is wrong with him still, but they do know he has this "super bug" they call it, that is taking over his body and is life threatening. Well, why does this matter? Because he is bed ridden. He cannot leave his room, and there is no smoking allowed in the hospital. See what I am getting at? He is forced to quit smoking! I have never been so excited in my life. He has not either. He has been having some serious withdrawals, obviously. Especially after 30 years of smoking. However, he asked the hospital for a patch to make things easier, and he says he has never been happier. The Lord knew that he could not do this on his own. So he gave Robin the incredible blessing of being put in the hospital where he can be taken care of and quit smoking at the same time. What an incredible blessing. He is so excited to continue to prepare for his baptism. Unfortunately, it won't be this weekend anymore because he will still be in the hospital. But it will be soon! The best way I know how to describe Robion is through a scripture - Mosiah 4:20. Read it, and you will know what we experience with Robin. I have never met somebody so willing to give up their sins, but having such a difficult time doing it. I love that man. More updates to come next week.

President Tilleman came last Wednesday to do a zone conference in West Bank for our zone. Oh what a wonderful experience that was. His son just got off of his mission in Argentina a week ago, so he came along with him as his companion. They both taught powerfully. What a blessing it was to be in the presence of such spiritual giants. I wish each of you could have been present and felt the incredible Spirit that resided in that chapel. I hope to live up to the wonderful words that he spoke toward us. Sister Haight and I have been working diligently with the members, trying to keep them involved in the missionary work. It is certainly not easy, but when we acheive our goals, it is so worth it!! Anyway, we ended up having 10 member present lessons last week. That is the most this area has ever had since it has been opened. President Tilleman was so excited, as were we. As we know that this is a sign that the Lord is harvesting the work here in little Oliver.

This past week has been an interesting one. Quite a bit of persecution that we endured. It makes me think of how incredible Joseph Smith was, or our Savior Jesus Christ, or any of the incredible latter-day Saints who have been persecuted for what they know to be true. People for some reason this past week have been pretty hard hearted toward what we have been preaching. Ya, it is sometimes difficult to endure. But the most difficult part of it all, is knowing what they are missing out on. This church is true. I know it. It is no longer a belief. And I KNOW that it will bring such happiness to their lives. But when they CHOOSE not to be happy, it is so difficult to watch. I cannot imagine how Heavenly Father feels watching His children on this earth. I was having a difficult time one night, just thinking of some of the encounters we had that day. I began reading in Matthew, and I am so grateful I did. Matthew 5:10-12 brought me such great comfort! How grateful I am to be persectued for righteousness' sake. I wouldn't have it any other way. I want to badly to help these people find happiness. But the saddest part of it all, is we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We are His representatives here in Oliver. Which means, they are treating Him this way. I apologize to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ every time we encounter something like that. I feel so terrible for what happens and what persecution is directed toward them. Oh how I love them and I weep for the pain they must feel watching this world.

The other night, I believe it was Friday, I was praying fervently to my Heavenly Father to let me know that I was making Him proud. I fear that I fall short of His standards and I want to never do that. I wanted to know that I was doing good here in Oliver. Well, I concluded my prayer right before bed at about 10:20. At 10:25 my prayer was answered. We got a phone call from President Tilleman (which was extremely strange, because we are supposed to be in bed by 10:30!). But it was wonderful, and an absolute answer to prayer. He called, with Sister Tilleman on the phone as well. He said "Sisters, I am sorry it is late. But I needed to call you and tell you that I couldn't be prouder of you." He continued to speak, with Sister Tilleman, for about 10 minutes. I will not go into the things he said, for fear of sounding prideful. That is the exact opposite of what I felt. I have never been more humbled. I knew in that very moment that Heavenly Father was so very aware of me. He prompted President Tilleman to call and speak with us that night. I was so humbled at the words that he spoke to us. I knew in that moment, that I was doing what Heavenly Father wanted me to. I felt as though I had not let Him down. Despite massive persectution, I could be proud of my work. President Tilleman will never know how much that phone call meant to me.

Well, I have developed an intollerance to lactose here on my mission. That has been interesting. So this past week I got Almond milk since I have cereal every morning. Well, that stuff is not the greatest in the world. Haha but that's okay, I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to enjoy things we like without enduring pain after! Although I don't have exactly the things I love still, I am still so grateful that He has made this transition wonderful. Pretty random, I know. But I just thought I would share yet another tender mercy from the Lord.

Well, this week's challenge is one that I hope and pray that you take seriously. I want each of you, old and young, to forgive somebody who you need to forgive. Whatever that means for you, please do it. Pray about them. Pray to Heavenly Father to allow you to see them as He does. He will help. I cannot imagine how excited He must be to hear that prayer. How important it is to forgive our brothers and sisters. I would love to hear any experiences you have with this. But I have prayed fervently and I feel as though this was the message and challenege I needed to share today.

How grateful I am for this Gospel. I bear you my solemn testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom here on the earth. It is true. Joseph Smith was and is the first Prophet of this dispensation. If you want happiness in this life, read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it. The Lord can testify to you that it is true. Because IT IS! I cannot express this enough. It breaks my heart, literally, knowing that some of you reading this have either not yet fonud the truth or have fallen away from it. This is the way to eternal happiness. I am 21 years old, and I don't know a lot. But what I do know, is I would not give up 18 months of my life to devote it to something that wasn't true. It IS true. Please pray and find this out for yourselves. Please email or write me with ANY questions or concerns. Nothing brings me greater joy than helping those around me find this same happiness. I cannot express it clearer - this church is true.

I love you each of you so very much. How grateful I am for you in my life. I pray that the Lord may be with you in times of need, and that you may turn to Him when times are good. He is there. I love you.

Love,

Sister Biggs

May 14, 2013

What a blessing it is to serve the Lord!! And an extra special blessing to be able to serve Him on my birthday. I cannot think of a better way to spend my mission. I hope to make this day His. I hope to show Him how grateful I am for all He has done for me. How blessed my life has been for the past 21 years. I forgot it was my birthday until this morning when my mission president's wife called and wished me a happy birthday. I have the greatest mission mom in the world :) Then I forgot again until I got on my email! I have great famiyl and friends :) Hopefully I will forget again as I get back to work after emailing.

I wanted to start off by talking a little bit about today. Since it is my 21st birthday, my companion and I were thinking of things I could do to celebrate. This is what we came up with, and I hope to accomplish them all!

21 people talked to on the street

21 doors knocked on

21 cards handed out

2 new investigators, 1 new baptismal date

21 prayers throughout the day

I hope to be able to have the Lord's help as I strive to have one of the greatest days of my mission.

How great it was to talk to some of you on Sunday for Mother's Day. I want to apologize for being so emotional. I definitely did not see that coming! My companion was looking at me pretty weird. She didn't cry while talking to her family, so I must have looked a little awkward haha. But she doesn't know my family. I have the greatest family in the entire world and it was an extrememly emotional roller coaster while talking to them. How great each of you are. Derek told me when I was crying on the phone to "stop crying. Tomorrow you are going to get right back to work." I told him I wouldn't wait until tomorrow, the Lord needs me tonight. And I was glad he told me that. Because as soon as I was off the phone, we did get right back to work. It was wonderful. We ended up going over to somebody's house who desperately needed us there. It was wonderful!! More details will be in the rest of the email.

Well, tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day. We have a zone conference in West Bank (about 2 hours away), and President Tilleman and his son will be there. His son just got back from his mission last weekend so he is taking him around the mission as we are working on changing our planning and how we use our time. I am very excited to meet him, he sounds fantastic. Anyway, after the zone conference, President Tilleman and his son will be driving to Oliver to have 3 lessons with us. Now, this may not sound that exciting to you back home. But this is huge. A mission president has not visited Oliver or Osoyoos in over 30 years, because work has never been progressing in this tiny area. They try to focus on teaching lessons to investigators who could really benefit from it. Well, after that long of a drought, the Lord is harvesting His work here. And we are so honored to be able to have President meet some of our investigators!! To have him and his son here will be such a miracle. I cannot wait to write all about it next week. And to start the day with a zone conference, I cannot think of a better day! My 4th zone conference in 4 months!! Heavenly Father is trying to say something about this work...it is HASTENING!!

We saw Fawn again on Mother's Day. I think I mentioned her in last week's email. Anyway, she was the new investigator who invited her less-active mom to the lesson and it was a mriacle. Well, this time she invited her again. Apparently this is going to be like a regular thing. I cannot describe my excitement about the whole situation. Her mom, Sister LaFleur has not been to church in about 20 years. But this past lesson, she bore fervent testimony about this church. She said that through all of her trials in her life, the church has been the ONLY thing to never leave her. I thought that was incredible to hear from somebody who has not been in a long time! She also looked at us, with tears in her eyes, and said I have prayed for 40 years that my daughter Fawn would become Mormon. And I feel like it is happening. She told us what a miracle it was that she was even sitting at the table with us. I know that Fawn felt of her mother's love for her, and for the Gospel. We shared the story of the first vision with her, and all about Joseph Smith and the Savior Jesus Christ. It was the first time she had ever heard anything about Joseph Smith. Well, we asked her what she thought. She said "Oh, it has to be true. I know he saw what he said he saw". Wow! It is so incredible to me how the Spirit can just testify to somebody of the truth of something they have NEVER heard before in their life!! She said she knew the Spirit was telling her it was true. We invited her to be baptized, and she said yes. We have not set a date yet, but I feel so good about her. What a blessing she is in MY life, and I hope to be the same in hers. I will keep you updated on her progress towards Salvation from Jesus Christ! I just cannot express to you how important it is to help our brothers and sisters who are STARVING for the truth! We, as Latter-Day Saints, have the meat that can suffice their hunger! We must feed it to them! Just think, if you run into to one of your friends after this life and they have then accepted the Gospel. I can only imagine them saying, "Sister Biggs, you had this your entire life, and you never shared it with me?" Or, "Hey, I remember you, you passed me on the street. Why did you not help me find this happiness?". Well, those are words I never want to hear. So I strive to share this Gospel with EVERYBODY.

Sister Haight and I spoke on Mother's Day. (Which, by the way, I hope each of you mothers had a wonderful day!!). It was an emotional wreck! No, it was good. But very hard. I began my talk just fine. I spoke about incredible mothers such as Mary, the stripling warriors' mothers, and Eve. Well, then I began speaking about my mother.  I have the greatest mother. The tears wouldn't stop for the rest of my talk. If there is one thing I have come to be excited for on my mission, it is to be a mother. There is something mothers have that nobody can understand until they become one. And how excited I am to have that opportunity!

Back to the woman who we saw Sunday night. Late Saturday night we get a text. (Ok, I say late...it was 9:45. But it was late for us! We were getting ready for bed! My how my mission has changed things...) Anyway, she says that she REALLY wanted us to come by the next day. We had no idea why. But we did. We stop by and she is in tears, having a difficult time with her ex. We did our best to console her. She told us how she had nobody to turn to, and how a few months ago we made a really good impression on her and she wanted to speak with us. Well, long story short, she will be one of the 3 people meeting with President Tilleman tomorrow night. We told her about Priesthood blessings, and how much one would help her right now. She agreed to have one. So tomorrow, President Tilleman and his son will be administering to her. What a miracle this whole situation was!

Well, we went to see Robin yesterday. The doctor would not let him go to church or even leave his room because he is on so much oxygen ever since he quit smoking. His lungs are on the verge of collapsing because they went into shock. How sad it is to watch him go through this. Well, when we went to visit him yesterday, he was sitting in his scooter crying. He said that he had messed up and bought cigarettes. He had smoked 4 that day. My heart literally crushed into a million pieces. I watched him as he struggled for words and could not express his disappointment in himself. He got into his bed as tears rolled down his face. We spoke to him about how much his Heavenly father loves him. He looked up, helplessly, and began crying again. He said He feels like he had disappointed his Heavenly Father. He said he wanted so desperately to be baptized, but he didn't think he was worthy. Well, although we may need to move the date for his baptism, he is still worthy of it!! I love that about this Gospel. We never deny anybody the blessings of Heaven. They deny themselves of it. Before we left, we asked him to offer the closing prayer. Wow. I am surprised I could contain myself for the rest of the day after hearing that prayers. He began PLEADING with Heavenly Father to help him overcome smoking. He was literally sobbing, struggling to get words out, asking Heavenly Father to allow him to get baptized. Tears were surrounding the room as the Spirit of the Lord softened this man's heart. I have never been so touched by a prayer before. It made me want to hug Robin and give him a glimpse of how much his Heavenly Father loves him. He has no idea. We will be seeing him again today, and tomorrow President Tilleman will be doing his baptismal interview. Oh how I love that man. I thank my Heavenly Father every single day for bringing Robin into my life. I have never met somebody more humble, and desirous to submit to the Father's will.

Well, ever since our mission made some changes according to how we use our time, and how we plan, the Lord has been opening up the windows of Heaven to us, and we literally do not have room enough to receive His blessings!! This past week, our zone found 37 new investigators!! This is the highest we have ever found. Sister Haight and I found 4 new investigators who want to know the truth of the Gospel, the most this area has ever found. This is all because we follow the counsel of the Lord. We follow the revelation our mission president receives. And He is blessing us abundantly for it!! We know this is only the beginning!

I am excited about this week's challenge. It kind of goes for longer than a week, but you will love it, if you but put your trust and faith in the Lord as you do it. It is a 40 day fast. Just as Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days, we, too, can do that. Now, this will not be a fast of food. For as mortals, our bodies need substance and energy to run. However, it will be a fast nonetheless. I want each of you to pray about something that is keeping you from completely submitting to the Father's will. Do you spend too much time on Facebook? Do you not share the Gospel to your friends? Do you have a bad habit that the Lord would like you to break? Well, then that will be the thing you fast from. I am doing this myself, and I have already seen miracles after only a few days. I won't share what I am fasting from, as it is personal. But I promise that as you take this seriously, the windows of heaven will be opened unto you.

I love each of you so much. I hope you have a wonderful week, and may the Lord be with you!!

Love,

Sister Biggs

May 7, 2013

What a miracle-filled week we have had. I know I say that often, but even I stand all amazed at the miracles the Lord allows me to witness. I hope to be able to stand worthy of them when I meet my Maker face to face one day.

Some housekeeping things first - I will be calling Mother's Day and I want to apologize that I won't get to talk to everybody I want to! We need to keep the calls to 40 minutes or less, and I want to be sure and talk to my family. But I hope each of you know how much I love you, and I would love to hear from  you through email or letters since I cannot talk to everybody then!

Also, next week we will be having a zone conference on Tuesday, and then President Tilleman is coming down to Oliver to meet with some of our investigators. So we will not be emailing until Wednesday. Just to keep that in mind!

Well, there have been some changes here in the mission this week, and in missions throughout the world. For 50 years it has been a tradition to have the missionaries over for dinner. Well, things are changing now. We are only going to be going to dinner appointments if there are non member or less active members present. We must be focusing 100 perent on the work, and this will certainly help. We could not be more excited about. This will encourage members to invite their friends over if they want to feed us! We are very excited because we won't be spending an hour a night with members when we could be out teaching the Gospel at that time. I am so excited!

We have already seen a miracle from it. We usually go eat every Sunday at my Branch President's house. But this week we had to tell them that we couldn't. So we ate in the church, having a very difficult time with leaving them behind like that. But also knowing that we would be blessed and that this would let members do missinoary work. Well, only minutes after we finished eating, we went and saw Fawn, a woman we have been trying to see ever since I got to the area. She is a daughter of a less-active member. Well, after months of trying, she finally let us in her door. She was delighted to see us. We talked and talked and she opened up her feelings regarding religion and the church. She became a new investigator THAT NIGHT. I cannot express the excitement I felt as I knew that the Lord had opened up the windows of Heaven to us so soon after being exactly obedient to the counsel He has given this mission. I was continually reminded of Praise to the Man - "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven". And it sure does, my brothers and sisters. It sure does.

While we were walking from Fawn's house to another investigator's house, we saw to men walking toward us. We spoke to them and I could tell they did not understand. They were both Mexican, so I began speaking Spanish with them. Their eyes lit up and they began to smile as I spoke to them about Jesus Christ. They asked if they could come to church on Sunday and if we could give them our number. I couldn't even believe the things I was saying. The Lord has loosened my tongue to be able to speak to people in Spanish whenever I need to. I have witnessed the gift of tongues so many times thus far, and I hope to continue to see it unfold!

When we were on exchanges this past week, Sister Tutt and I stopped by somebody's house who was a potential investigator from the members. I felt strongly about them. Well, they let us right in. His name is George and his mother's name is Rose, and BOTH became investigators that very night. They are so excited for us to come back and teach them the Gospel. They want to learn more and I feel so strongly that they will accept the truth. I cannot wait!!

Well, now for one of the best news of all...after 40 years of smoking like a chimney, Robin quit smoking on Saturday!!! We have been praying so incredibly hard for him. In order to be baptized on May 25th as he wants to be, he needed to be done smoking by Saturday. Well, he sure was. He says he is done for sure. Unfortunately, he has been bed ridden ever since because of the withdrawals and sickness he feels. But he says it is all worth it. He says he will go through anything to do the will of the Lord. He cannot wait to be baptized. Every time we meet somebody in that area, they go "Oh ya, Robin is a Mormon. He is telling everybody". Haha he is going to be the greatest member missionary ever!! I cannot believe how incredible this man is! President Tilleman will be giving him his baptismal interview next Tuesday. I pray that May 25th will be the day that Robin enters into the waters of baptism!!

This past Sunday I finished the Book of Mormon again. I began reading it in the begining of February, and just finished it. This is the first time I have REALLY read it while studying its words and pondering on what it is saying. Brothers and Sisters, I testify to you that it is true. I can now say that I have read every single word and every single page in the Book of Mormon, and it is true. I know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that it is true. I pray that you will do your part to come to the same knowledge. I am now going to be starting it over, and hopefully will be able to read it a couple times through here in the field!

Well, for this week's challenge, it goes along with a quote by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. "Each of us will have our own Fridays - those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death - Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next, Sunday will come." What a great quote by an incredible Apostle of the Lord. My challenge to you is this - when you kneel down at night to pray to your Heavenly Father, thank Him for everything that you have, before you begin asking Him for things. Even if it was your "Friday", the Lord is preparing you for those incredible blessings. He WANTS to open the windows of heaven to you. Allow Him to. Pray that you will have the strength and humility to recognize those blessings. And I promise you, He will unfold them to you.

I love you all so much. I appreciate your support and prayers. They are well felt here in Canada. I pray that this week brings you missionary opportunites, and that you take advantage of them. I love you, and have a great week!

Love,

Sister Biggs

April 30, 2013

Well, I sincerely thought that last week would be one of the most cherished weeks of my missions because of the incredible things that had happened. Turns out this might just be a regular thing now. For those of you who have been on missions, I am sure you have been there! But I cannot believe the breathtaking miracles I witnessed this week. I will do my best to express them adequately in words.

As some of you know we have been teaching a man named George Reay. He is a less active who enjoys our visits, but is having a hard time coming back to church. Which is completely understandable. Get this - he has not been to church since he was 12 years old!! (He is almost 60 now). Now keep that in mind as I continue writing. I love Brother Reay and he says when I am off my mission he wants to come visit AZ and meet my family. God provided an incredible instant connection between him and me. I love that man. Anyway, this leads into one of our investigators. Don't worry, I will make it all connect soon.

We are teaching a man named Robin. He is in a wheel chair and has some physical incapacities, but is fully there mentally. We were walking one day and I saw him sitting in his wheelchair smoking. I told Sister Okano that I felt we needed to talk to him. So we crossed the street and introduced ourselves. He was very loving and welcomed us to come back sometime. Well, he was the one last week that said he felt like he was in Heaven. This week when we taught him, more incredible things happened. We taught him the restoration, the story of Joseph Smith and The Savior's church. When I finished reciting the first vision to him, he was staring in my eyes and I asked him "Robin, how do you feel abut that experience?" He replied in a very quiet voice and said "Sister Biggs, it just makes sense". Oh how that warmed my heart. The message of the restoration DOES make sense! After a couple more precious moments, I invited this wonderful man to be baptized. After the invitation, he looked up with tears in his eyes and said "Most definitely. I want that." Then I asked him how it would feel to become a member of Christ's church and be cleansed from all his previous sins. He said "Sister Biggs, I would be speechless with joy. This is where God has led me." I could not contain my emotions. We talked a bit more about him being baptized toward the end of May. He could not express his excitement. We then talked about him coming to church. He said he wanted nothing more! We taught him on Saturday and he said he would like to be there the next day. Well, he is in an electric scooter and we don't have anybody in our ward with a lift in their car. So as excited as we were for his desire to come to church,. I was nervous about how we were going to get him there. Then I remembered Nephi's promise in 1 Nephi 3:7. The Lord will NEVER give us a commandment that we cannot keep. I knew this applied to Robin. But I also was reminded of the Brother of Jared, and how HE was the one who came up with the idea of lighting the stones. HE had to find a way for the light to come into the barges. I knew we had some work to do. So, with only 3 hours left in the night, we cleared out our night and put forth all of our effort in finding a way to get Robin to church. If we could get him a wheel chair, it would be much easier. But the home that he lives in would not be able to provide him with one until next week. Long story short, we spent HOURS calling everybody to see if they had a trailer, or some way we could transport this heavy electric scooter. We had no luck for about 2 and a half hours. We called Brother Reay and asked if he had any trailer. He said no, but he had some ramps for his quads that somebody could use to get his scooter into the back of a truck. He said he did not want to come to church, but somebody could borrow the ramps. Well, we were at a loss because nobody had a truck. We prayed harder than we have ever prayed before. Finally, 15 minutes before we have to go in for the night, Brother Reay calls us back. He said "Hey, I was thinking. I don't want this man to miss church. So I will bring my ramp and he can put it in my truck, and I will just come to church." Now, you cannot fathom the emotions that were going on in our minds. There was silence on our end of the phone, as our eyes filled with tears. We did not know what to say. After assuring him that we were still on the phone, we thanked him and made arrangements for the next morning. I know this may seem long and drawn out, and I apologize for that. But I am struggling to put this experience into words. Brother Reay has not been to church in over 40 years. Robin has never been to church. And suddenly the Lord soften Brother Reay's heart enuogh to be able to provide a way for both of them to go.

Well, Sunday morning came, and sure enough there was Brother Reay dressed up so handsome walking next to Robin in his chair. I felt a small glimpse of Heaven as I watched them enter into the church. During Sacrament meeting Robin leaned over to me and whispered "I was just thinking about the way that we met. And you know what, you were sent by God." Among this and other things he told me, I felt the Spirit so strongly that meeting. I asked him after how he enjoyed it, and all he said was "I felt like I have finally found home". Brothers and Sisters, I wish I could express the joy to you that was felt while experiencing this day with Robin and Brother Reay. My cup surely runneth over, to say the least. Brother Reay expressed his joy. And although he felt very overwhelmed, it was evident that he felt the Spirit and he had a desire to return as well.

About a month or two ago, I met a less-active member who had not been to church in a couple of year at a member's home. It was only for a moment, but I felt something strong toward him. I wanted to find him. The member did not know where he was living at the moment. Well, on Saturday as we were walking around, we saw him sitting outside of what I assumed to be his home. My heart leaped for joy as I hurriede over to him. After talking for a bit, I asked him if he would like to come to church tomorrow. He smiled and said absolutely! It made me think. Some of these less-active members are just waiting to be invited. They want to come to church, but they do not know how or are afraid of being welcomed. They need OUR efforts to invite them back!!

Brothers and Sisters, this work is about finding the one. Whether they be less active, nonmember, or any one of God's incredible children, God wants us to find the one. As we have spent weeks with Brother Reay, I sincerely thought it would be months before I saw him go to church. But the Lord had something different in mind. I am so grateful to be able to humble myself enough to submit myself to his will. How much greater my joy is when I do this.

I hope that each of you understand my testimony of this Gospel. It is true. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. He could not have made up the Book of Mormon in 90 days. But most importantly, this work COULD NOT progress as it is if it was not true. God would not allow it. Especially with it being in the hands mostly of 18-25 year old young men and women. This Gospel is true.

This week's challenge is for each of you to pray DAILY to find out whether the Book of Mormon is true or not. This goes for those who already have a testimony of it. We need a daily reassurance of its truthfulness if we are going to survive in this world. I pray each morning before my personal study for God to tell me if the Book of Mormon is true. And daily I get an answer from Him, that it IS. I challenge each of you to do the same. I promise you, God will answer you. Just as He has answered 15 million other people in the world. This church is true!

I love you all, and I am grateful for the support I have from you. My heart aches knowing that some of you do not have this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ in your life, as I know how much it will bless your life. It aches even more for those of you who have found the truth and then fallen away. I apologize if I am being direct, but I cannot express how much joy comes into ones life for accepting and living these Gospel principles. Seek after the one, and love them. I love each of you and I will write again next week!

Love,

Sister Biggs