July 29, 2013

What a blessed week in the greatest mission on earth! Great challenges and great faith building experiences, but mostly great miracles that I pray I will be deserving of at all times. This email won't be too long, because it is pretty painful to type...I am allergic to Canadian mosquitoes and my hand right now is the size of a softball :) So I mostly just copy and pasted what I sent to President this week! But I thank you all for your support and love :)

So this last week as I prayed about what to share in District Meeting, my thoughts were immediately turned to finding new investigators. So I studied and prayed, and decided that I wanted to set a goal as a district for the new investigators we would find between Wednesday and Sunday. I left it open to the sisters for us to discuss as a district. Our highest as a district has been 6 for a week - unacceptable! So I challenged them to push their faith and set a high goal. Finally, we decided on 21, thanks to Sister Frederickson's faith. That would be a new investigator everyday for each companionship - but since it was already Wednesday, a little more for each companionship. I was willing to go as high as the district was. So we submitted the goal to the Lord on our knees, and we felt confident. With most of us in tears, we sung "I Believe in Christ" to close the meeting, and got to work. Brothers and Sisters, what followed was miraculous. Like I said before, 6 has been our highest thus far. Immediately as we parted ways, we began getting texts the next few hours "New Investigator!". Before we knew it, we were at 5. Then 10. Then 12. And finally, come Sunday night, we had reached our highest yet - 17! Sister Hobbs and I more than doubled what our highest was yet with 8. No, we didn't meet our goal of 21. But I firmly believe that each companionship tried their absolute hardest to find those investigators. The Lord certainly opened up the windows of Heaven to us this week. 17 compared to 6 - what an improvement. This is what happens when Faith plays a role! I feel humbled and inadequate to be the district leader of such a faithful district. They will never know the impact they had on me this week. I could literally feel their faith working in our area as well as in theirs. What a miracle that took place this week in our district. Why do these numbers matter? Not because we care about who has the highest numbers. But because each of these numbers represents somebody who is one step closer to a saving ordinance in the Gospel. What a blessing!!

Sister Hobbs and I are out of kilometers for the month on our car, so we are on foot until Thursday (I know, we are so spoiled!). But yesterday we walked over to pick up Sister Lopez at her house to see if we could walk with her to church. She gladly accepted, and I had to turn on the Spanish! Long story short, I spoke Spanish for the next 4 hours. We walked her to church for about an hour, then she sat with us in Sacrament meeting, then I taught her during Sunday School the Plan of Salvation, and finally we walked her back to the bus stop outside of the church because she was headed downtown. My head was hurting pretty bad after, I must admit :) People tried talking to me when I walked back in the church building, and I was forgetting how to say everything in English! It was pretty embarrassing, I am sure the members thought I was a little strange. But it was so wonderful to be able to speak with her about things that I have never learned in University before. What a blessing it is to be able to speak another language completely through the Spirit!

We have had some incredible miracles this past week working with members and less active members. Lindsay Nelson, a less active of about 4 years, is wonderful. Sister Bailey in the ward invited us over for a BBQ that she would be at, and we got to meet her. She is so great, and she invited us over for dinner next week. I hope to be able to help her on her journey back to being and active member in the church!!

I wish I could describe everything that has happened this week. But, most of them will just be wonderful miracles that I have in my head and in my journal, hopefully for eternity :) This week's challenge is to reach out to a less active in the ward that you know or don't know. If you don't know any, then ask the Relief Society president in your ward to get you a list and go visit one! You have no idea how precious those wonderful brothers and sisters are! Please let me know if you have a chance to visit any of them!!

I love you all so much, and thank you all for your great support. A shout out to Alyssa Fathead Hundley this week - headed off to the MTC! What a fantastic missionary you will be. The Lord certainly has great things in store for you. Never forget how much I love you!!

Love,

Sister Biggs

July 22, 2013

What a miraculous week this has been here in Victoria. What a blessing it is to serve the Lord in this capacity! I thank all those who email or write letters to me, you have no idea what that means to me. Support from back home is amazing!

Just a quick shout out to Derek and Kaila - congratulations this week on the marriage! It will have already happened by next week, so you get an early one :) Kaila, welcome to the family! You both are so wonderful!! I love you!

I won't have time to write about all the incredible things that happened, so I picked a couple I will write about. I first want to start with this past Saturday. President Tilleman has promised each of us if we work hard enough, that we can get a new investigator in the Gospel every single day. That is saying a lot for BC, as many people are pretty secular. A new investigator is when you teach a principle, have an opening and closing prayer, and set a return appointment. So we find some tracting, on the street, things like that. But they must be willing to meet again - that's the tricky part! Anyway, we took this promise to heart. Saturday, we said we will get a new investigator everyday, because we are going to work our absolute hardest! So we got to work. We talked to well over 200 people that day. At 5:00pm, we parked our car and prayed to Heavenly Father and let him know we wouldn't go back to it until He told us to. So we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. After about 3 and a half hours, we had talked to many people, but still no investigator. My faith wavered a bit, I must admit. We only had about an hour left. We went down a side street, and prayed diligently, asking Heavenly Father where our new investigator was. We discussed, and then prayed again. And again. Finally, we decided we needed to go see a woman about 15 minutes away who we had found about a week ago. She is the daughter of Sister Lopez, the recent convert in the ward. Not doubting the Spirit, we drove there and knocked on her door. She was very nice, but not very accepting to us teaching her a message that night. I listened to the Spirit, and He told me that she was to be our new investigator that night. So when she was about to close the door, I asked "Do you speak Spanish?". She looked confused, but answered yes. I began speaking Spanish to her and asked her if we could just say a prayer on her doorstep really quickly. She smiled, and invited us to come up and teach her more. We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and left her with a copy which she gladly accepted. I prayed in Spanish (something I wouldn't have been able to do if Uncle Troy and Jeramy hadn't mentioned some phrases for me a couple years ago - the Spirit really does bring things to your remembrance!). She then invited us to come back on Tuesday. There it was - at 8:45 at night, 15 minutes before we have to go in, the Lord blessed us with the fruits of our labors. We had worked hard that day. We worked through sweat, tears, and even some blood (I cut my finger while slicing a cucumber :) But as we put our faith in God, He blessed us, just as He promised He would. God does not give open ended promises.

I felt our faith as a companionship increase miraculously. The next day, Sunday, we determined the same thing. We told Heavenly Father that we desperately wanted another person who we could bring closer to Jesus Christ. We worked and worked and worked, and with about 30 minutes left before time to go home, we prayed. We pleaded with Heavenly Father to tell us who needed to be taught that night. After the prayer, Sister Hobbs said "Anna". She is a young mom who we tracted into a couple weeks ago. Well, we stopped by Anna, and of course Heavenly Father blessed us even when we didn't even deserve it. We taught her all about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon on her doorstep. We prayed, and will be seeing her on Wednesday. We both walked away with tears in our eyes, very humbled to know how much God was aware of us. We don't want investigators for statistics. We care because those are Heavenly Father's children who are one step closer to the saving ordinances of Jesus Christ. What an absolute blessing that is. We are continuing our goal, even though today we will only have 2 hours to proselyte. But we can do it with the Lord's help.

With God, all things are possible. He WANTS us to succeed in bringing people unto Him. He did not send us out here to fail. With His help, we may reap the fruits of our labors. I love what Bishop Bartel has told me many times - God is a 4th watch God. We have witnessed this multiple times this past week. We worked until we couldn't do anymore, and then handed it over to the Lord. And He took care of everything.

Saturday while we were walking around for many hours, we were getting pretty tired. We were singing hymns while going between people and houses, to keep our Spirits up. Just when we had received every rejection in the book, we look up and there are the Victoria YSA Elders driving by. They honked, smiled, and waved. To you this may seem but a small thing. But I cannot tell you the joy it brought to Sister Hobbs and I. Speaking all day to people who did not necessarily even believe in Jesus Christ, we looked up and saw these two young men with an incredible light about them. It is a light that you cannot describe unless you have seen it. When you see a group of faithful Latter-Day Saints, they have the light. These Elders had that light, and it lifted us up to the skies. We had energy to last us all night, thanks to their simple act of waving and smiling. That was certainly a tender mercy of the Lord.

This week's challenge is simple - invite somebody over in the next couple of weeks to have dinner with the missionaries, whether it be a less active, nonmember, or a random person you see on the street. Get them in the presence of the wonderful missionaries. Allow them to feel that Spirit. And please tell me when you do it! What a wonderful miracle that will be! Don't take away their agency by not giving them the opportunity to choose for themselves. And everybody likes food. So win win :)

This Church is true. I wouldn't go to another country and speak to hundreds of people I don't know to preach something that was false. A man yesterday began going off about how Joseph Smith was a fraud and worked for Satan. With tears in my eyes, I bore testimony that He was and is a Prophet, and that through Him we have more scripture today, both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. That made the man pretty upset, so we walked away. But I looked at Sister Hobbs, and bore my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Savior died for the sins of the world, allowing us access to the Father. Joseph Smith dies as a martyr, standing up for the scripture that he knew to be true. May each of us stand ready, and be able to say we would do the same if asked. For these are the last days, and the Lord needs His most valiant servants to help Him move this work forward. For it will not cease, until He states, "The work is done". This church is true!

I love you all!

Sister Biggs

Pictures

July 15, 2013

Well, this week has been a spiritual feast. I feel terrible that I will have to try and put it into words for each of you. So sorry if the remainder of this email is a littler jumbled - but sometimes spiritual events are for our experience only, and hard to put into words. But I just hope you know that this church is true, and that this week was a testimony of it.

So first things first, I didn't get transferred! And I am still training Sister Hobbs! I was very relieved when the assistants called and told us that. I love Sister Hobbs so much and wouldn't mind working with her for a while. I have prayed diligently these past few weeks for Heavenly Father to give me some experiences that will humble me. Well, I feel a little like President Eyring praying for "mountains to climb". They came! When the assistants called, they also informed me that there would be a new district created and that President has called me to be the District Leader. The First Presidency of the Church have asked Mission Presidents to approve sisters districts to get permission to create them, and to only create them if they are confident they will thrive and are better than a mixed district. Well, I am thoroughly convinced that Heavenly Father gave President Tilleman permission to create this district, solely because I need to be humbled and I am not figuring it out on my own. If you don't humble yourself, He will compel you to be humble :)

I am over Victoria, Sidney, and Salt Spring Island sisters. I have an instant love for each of them and it is incredible. The Lord has helped me to see what I can say at district meeting each week to uplift them. Wednesday will be my first one, and unfortunately the zone leaders will be there just to supervise. No pressure. I guess I better go solely by the Spirit on this one! But I am grateful for the opportunity I have to train these sisters each week, and pray that the Lord will give me strength to magnify my calling.

This past week we had transfer meeting in Richmond on Thursday. There were about 150 missionaries there, along with the 20 new ones that just came in. 12 of which were sisters! (Come on Elders, keep up!) :) I wish I could put into words the feelings we felt at transfers. But for those of you who have served missions, I guess you will understand. What a blessing it is to hear from our beloved mission President and his wife, as well as the other mission leaders. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for allowing me to be a part of this mission. I know I was called here for a purpose. The Spirit confirmed to me over and over throughout the day that this Church is true. It is the Lord's kingdom here on the earth, and cannot be defeated. Just as Joseph Smith states in the Standard of Truth, the world can combine together against the truth, but it will stand. After a spiritually exhausting day, we hit the streets of Richmond to proselyte for a little bit before heading out to White Rock to stay the night. Well, we were able to find a new investigator for the Richmond Elders, which was a miracle in itself. She was a beautiful older woman walking along the sidewalk in front of the church. Every missionary in the parking lot had their eyes on her, but Sister Hobbs and I talked to her first because we were closest :) (People will learn quick to not walk by the church on transfer meeting days if they don't want to hear about the Gospel). She was a lovely woman who has had some difficulties recently in her life. She lives right behind the church and was very welcoming to us talking to her about it. She accepted an invitation to have a church tour the next day with the Elders. The Spirit was so strong as we walked along the busy street in Richmond. God had prepared Helen for us to meet her on the street that day! I pray that all may go well with her journey to find the truth.

Then on Friday, we had our second Sister Conference in Richmond! It was even more amazing than the transfer meeting...if that is at all possible. We were trained by President and Sister Tilleman, as well as Elder Christensen (from the Seventy) and his wife. It was held in the Relief Society room, so I was about 6 feet away from all 4 of them, which was a spiritual experience in itself. Those men are called of God. Elder Christensen trained us on so many things that I wish all you sisters could have been a part of. Heavenly Father loves His daughters. It was a much more casual environment than transfer meeting in the chapel, so we had a lot of fun. President Tilleman was able to show us a new side, and we were able to get some "Momma's Advice" from Sister Tilleman that she says is only for sisters :) I love those two more than I could ever express. I know that I have eternal friends in them. Once again, the Spirit testified to me of the truthfulness of this Gospel. I PLEAD with each of you who have not yet found this out, to read the Book of Mormon. Or email me if you don't want to read it! It breaks my heart knowing that not all of our brothers and sisters on this earth do not want to learn the truth!  We want everyone to live with their Father in Heaven in truth. He WANTS us to return. That is why He has sent 70,000 little children throughout the world wearing black name tags to help bring them back to Him. For you members back home, please find those who want to hear the Gospel.

Sister Hobbs and I sang in church yesterday "Come Thou Fount". It was a wonderful experience - not because of the singing, but because one of our investigators came to church. Barbara, who I have told you about before, finally promised she would come to church to hear us sing. We were so excited. She only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but she said she felt the Spirit very strongly. She could tell I was a little nervous to go up and sing, so she sat next to me holding my hand to calm me down. Tears filled my eyes as Heavenly Father gave me a glimpse of the love that He has for her. He has helped her to find the Gospel at 75 years old, and I hope and pray that we may lead her down the path to baptism. She hugged us after church and asked "So I will see you tomorrow eh?". We smiled and said absolutely! Although it will be a slow process for her, she has read the Book of Mormon every day for a month now. She is in 2nd Nephi and just loves it. That Book is the word of God. No man could have written it.

Yesterday afternoon, Sister Hobbs and I were pleading with our Heavenly Father to help us meet our goal of new investigators this week. We set that goal in faith, and knew that we could accomplish it. We needed only one more before the night ended. Well, we had only one hour left, and we decided to go to a former investigator's house to see if we could teach her. Unfortunately she wasn't available. But we walked back to our car, and saw a woman watering her plants. Prompted by the Spirit, I asked if she needed any help. She graciously accepted - looking exhausted from the heat. We quickly found out that her life was falling apart and that we were an answer to prayers. We spoke with her about the peace that comes from Jesus Christ's Atonement. After praying and setting a return appointment, she was a new investigator who I had instant love for. Heavenly Father had not only answered our prayers, but had answered hers. He loves His children way too much to let them wander around in this life without direction. What a blessing to know that!

Well, this week's challenge is for each of you to write 3 missionaries that you know out in the field. None of them have to be to me, don't worry! I have just heard a lot lately about many missionaries coming home early or getting distracted in the field. Only people who have served missions can understand the difficulty it brings. Certainly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. However, as we have support from back home, it makes life a LITTLE bit easier. Heavenly Father has given us family and friends to be able to help us get through rough times. And well, for 18-24 months, a simple letter is a great way to do that! So, for all you reading this, I know you know at least 3 missionaries in the field, whether you are a member or not. If you don't, then ask a neighbor, they can give you an address. You have no idea what a letter from home means in the field. Just a simple way to show your love.

I hope you know how much I love each one of you. I am grateful for your support and prayers - they are certainly felt out here in Canada. I hope and pray that you may all gain your personal witness of the Book of Mormon. How can you know a book is true unless you read it? You cannot. But I promise you that as you read it, that the Holy Ghost will bear witness to you that it is true. It changes lives, and it will change yours as you allow it. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Biggs

July 9, 2013

Hello to all of my wonderful friends and family! What a blessing each of you are in my life, one that you may never comprehend. I love you all so much!

This week has been a miraculous week of growing and learning. It is transfers already! We find out tonight if we will be transferring or staying. I would assume staying since we just opened, but you never know what the Lord has in mind! Any letters that go out this week can either go to the Richmond address or the Victoria address, up to you! Victoria should be fine though. I feel as though I will be staying.

Well to start off, I don't know if you remember me talking about Sister Lopez, the recent convert in this ward. She only speaks Spanish and is just the cutest little thing! Anyway, she has missed church the past few weeks. The ward doesn't have an address for her, so we were getting kind of worried. Don't want to lose one of Heavenly Father's children! So we got assigned from the ward mission leader to try and find her house address. We finally tracked her down at her son's old address (which was a miracle in itself). She was so excited to see us! Her eyes lit up and she hugged us lovingly. I spoke to her about the importance of coming to church (they definitely don't teach that at ASU!). She expressed her desire to come back, she said things have been very busy lately. So she asked if we would walk with her to church on Sunday, and we graciously accepted. I have never been so excited to see somebody in church! My heart rejoiced as I watched her look at the speakers, not understanding anything they were saying, but clearly feeling the Spirit. What a blessing Hermana Lopez is to me. I told Sister Hobbs after we left her home that I felt as though she was speaking English. It was so wonderful that I was able to communicate with her. However, it scares me for when I get home, because I probably won't be able to use it at all because it is clearly only the Spirit helping me with these wonderful people! But that's okay, I will take what I can get. The gift of tongues is a real thing my friends. And through the Spirit, all things are possible.

Sister Hobbs and I have been focusing a lot on the less actives in this area, kind of like Osoyoss. I don't know what it is about those less-actives, but I have a great love for them. I desire so badly for them to come back home! By the grace of God, 3 less-actives have now been officially moved off of the less active list this past month. Sister Landry, Sister Winter, and Sister Collett have each been meeting with us regularly since we got here. Sister Winter is now preparing to enter into the Temple! What an absolute miracle the Atonement is! She has also given up coffee and has been living the Word of Wisdom for a week now. Sister Collett has enjoyed coming to lessons with us and hasn't missed a day of church in 5 weeks. Sister Landry has expressed her desire to go to the Temple and has asked us to help her quit smoking. Brothers and Sisters, God is a God of miracles. He has welcomed these three women back with open arms, and they can feel it. I enjoy watching them in Sacrament meeting rejoice and feel the Spirit as they feel they have come back home. What a blessing it is that Heavenly Father has placed them in our paths. I have certainly learned more from them than they have from me. May the Spirit help this work to continue to move forward in bringing back those lost sheep! They are SO important!

So a week ago Friday Sister Hobbs and I were street contacting for a couple hours. We talked to this man named Hernan from Mexico, who was very nice and open. He said he wasn't really interested in learning more, but accepted a pamphlet and gave us his number. We didn't think much of it, until Monday came and we felt strongly to call him. So we did. He hesitantly set something up with us for Wednesday. Tuesday evening he called us, and said "Actually Sisters I really don't want to meet. But I will call you if I change my mind." Saddened, we thanked him and wished him the best. The next day when we were originally supposed to meet, we got a call from him. "Hi Sisters, I really want to meet. I want to hear what you have to say." Very excitedly we set up an appointment for Thursday! We went and taught him outside of a restaurant. We asked him what made him call us back. He said "Well, it is very rare that somebody stops and talks to you on the street. So you must have something important to say, and I want to hear it." With smiles on our faces we taught him all about our Heavenly Father and the role of prayer in our lives. He has never had a relationship with God, but says he feels so empty inside right now and wants to fill that hole. He said he feels as though we can help him with that. How neat it is to see that the Spirit can influence anyone who has come in contact with the church. He has started reading the Book of Mormon and we will be meeting with him again this week. Hernan is an absolute miracle and I am so grateful that he followed the influence of the Holy Ghost. Sister Hobbs and I fasted last Friday (the day we met him) for Heavenly Father to lead us to somebody who was in need of help, or who was going through a hard time in their lives. Along came Hernan. Heavenly Father answers prayers brothers and sisters! He is so very aware of us!

This week's challenge is to do all you can under the influence of the Holy Ghost to find somebody to share the Gospel with. I know there are many non members reading this as well, and so for you, your challenge is to pray and ask if you should meet with the missionaries! I can promise you, with all the energy of heart, that your life will forever be changed for the better. This is the only way back to our Father in Heaven. I want you to know that I would not give up 18 months of my life away from home, school, work, and family and friends for something that I didn't know was true. I can promise you, you can come to know that as well. I want each of you to return back to your Father in Heaven so desperately! Please ask the missionaries, they can help you!

Brothers and Sisters, what a blessing this work is. I fervently pray that when I meet my Maker, and wet His feet with my tears, that He may accept the effort that I have put into His work. All that I do is because I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I praise His name for all He has done for me. I am eternally indebted to His sacrifice, and feel as though it is an absolute privilege to help others find Him. May we each find ourselves worthy at all times, in all things, and in all places, to face our Maker with joy at the last day. May we embrace in His arms and know that we have put forth our greatest effort to serve Him. May we forever be grateful to our Heavenly Father for this wonderful plan He has given us. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the way back to Him. I didn't choose it to be that way, God did. May you put my promise to the test that as you read the Book of Mormon, you will find that it is truly the word of God. I am here to answer any questions or concerns you have! Please, allow God to bring you home to Him.

I love you all so much! May you help those who have not yet found their way or who have lost their way to come back home to their Father. Have a great week!

Sister Biggs