October 28, 2013

Hello from beautiful BC!! What a blessed week this was!! I know I say that every week. But I will keep saying it until it is not true. I hope you are all doing well!

Again, I don't have much time. So I will try to pick some highlights of the week :)

This past Friday we has the wonderful opportunity to go to a priest-laurel conference for all of British Columbia. President Tilleman selected 12 companionships to go and supervise all twelve groups, and I got to go. The conference was entitled "I hope they call me on a mission". Perfect! It was such a wonderful experience. It was an all day event and we went with our group to about 6 different workshops that were each and hour long. We learned about Preach My Gospel, the Book of Mormon, how to share the Gospel with people, and even how to cook quick and easy meals. The youth absolutely loved it! I did as well. It got me so excited to see each of them serve the Lord. Funny experience with a girl in our group - we asked her very excitedly, "So are you planning on serving a mission??" With a smirk on her face she said "No way, I want to have kids". Sister Gibb and I couldn't help but laugh. Apparently the youth today aren't aware that you can do both :) We explained to her though! She still wasn't convinced.

Another sister here in the mission shared a wonderful quote with me by President Hinckley and it touched my heart so much! I want to share it with you -

Yesterday we found out something that was heart wrenching. Okay, that's a little dramatic, but I stand by that statement. We went back to one of our potential investigators to follow up and see if we could share our message with her. She was very nice the first time we went, and very cold the second time. We asked her if she had read anything on the internet (as we know many people find anti-Mormon things between the times we meet with them), but she said she only read the pamphlet we sent her in the mail. Well, as many of you may know, we don't send anything in the mail to the people we work with. Nobody does. Well, after a lot of research and talking to members, we quickly found out what was going on - a certain religous group that is very prominent here in BC sends anti-Mormon pamphlets to each person that we meet with within a week, and states that the pamphlet is from us. So, when we go back to follow up with the people, they have read the pamphlet, and only know false things about the church that they clearly don't like.  They don't send it out about any other church. This makes me quiver for a few reasons - one, because I have no idea how they know who we talk to. I will definitely be watching my surroundings. Two, and most importantly, the adversary is working harder than ever before to turn people away from the truth. And he isn't about to stop.    It breaks my heart knowing that we are losing so many people in our teaching pool due to these pamphlets. Why do I bring this up? Because, brothers and sisters, why would people spend so much time and energy, and even money, to prove to others that only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints wrong? Well, for one reason alone - "The adversary KNOWS what truth is. If he didn't know, he couldn't fight against it.  Therefore, he doesn't care what church people join, as long as it isn't this one. For if he can keep people from the truth, he he wins that victory each time he does."  How sad it is to see people fall into his grasp so quickly. Brothers and sisters, protect yourselves Spiritually! Sister Gibb and I were talking about when we are raising our children, how scary it will be sometimes for our children. The adversary will not stop at anything. He doesn't want people to be happy! He wants them miserable like unto himself!

Brothers and sisters, your challenge this week is simple. Pray so desperately, more than you ever have before, for the Lord to tell you if the Book of Mormon is true, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is HIS kingdom here on the earth. Receive that witness EVERY SINGLE DAY! For if we do not, the adversary slips his way in through ways unknown to us sometimes. We are seeing faithful members of the church fall into his grasp so suddenly.  Brothers and sisters, I don't want that to happen to any of you, my friends and loved ones!!  Stay close to the Lord.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true!! I can't say it enough! I don't care who you are, how old you are, what you do, or where you live - this is the only way back to our Father in Heaven. Yes, that's a bold statement, and I will say it again and again. Because it is true. I know it, and I know God knows it. I pray that each of you may come to know it for yourselves.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Biggs

October 22, 2013

What a blessed week here in Willoughby it has been! Once again, we literally have no time to email. But not because we have appointments again. But because we are in Abbottsford with some sisters getting ready to play basketball for a little while! As many of you know, when I get to the point of about to explode with stress, a little basketball helps :) So we are playing!!

So with the few minutes I have, I want to talk about Elder Christensen. He is the Area Seventy and is in our ward here in Willoughby. It is crazy! I look at him on the stand sometimes and feel so honored to be in the presence of such an incredible man. We have received great direction from him in our mission, but having him in our ward is such a special thing. Of course, he is hardly ever there. But yesterday, he spoke in our ward about something he felt very strongly about. He said he woke up Sunday morning with a great deal of revelation and inspiration, and he asked the Lord who he needed to share it with. He said he felt very prompted to share it with our ward!

He started -

"Brethren and sisters. It is time to protect our families and our homes!! Danger is coming from the adversary like we have never seen before."

Well, if this didn't catch our attention, I don't know what would. He went on about how we need to stand in Holy Places - not just in temples and churches, but in our homes, our families, our mindsets, every aspect about our lives. We must protect ourselves from the adversary. It is time to separate the wheat from the tares, as in the scriptures. Time to separate those who are sometimes Sunday church goers, and those who are completely converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord will hasten this work in His way. Elder Christensen went on to talk about how we need to "RUN TO THE TEMPLE", that there is safety in going there. Of course, the Lord must have given him some special revelation that morning that he wouldn't completely divulge to us because it was not appropriate. But brothers and sisters, I was not too far away from him as he spoke and the Spirit testified to me that I needed to take his words VERY seriously. Spiritual danger is all around us - but it is about to get worse. Elder Christensen talked about the need to make our homes and our families a place of refuge and safety. We need to flea to the Temple whenever possible and do the work of the Lord.

I guess, in a nut shell, Elder Christensen receives great revelation from the Lord, and wants us to take heed to folllow his council. He wants us to protect our families from the adversary! PLEASE brothers and sisters. The adversary is beginning to attack the family like NEVER before. Please heed this and the Prophet's council!

While listening to Elder Christensen, my thoughts slowly turned to my future home and my future family. I received great revelation from the Spirit on how I want to raise my family and the importance of centering our homes on Jesus Christ. There is no other way to happiness. This week's challenge is to sit down with your family - whether you are a member of the church or not - and make a list of ways you can protect yourself and your family from danger. This means physical, spiritual, emotional, temporal, morally, or any danger they may come upon you. Protect the most sacred unit in time and in eternity! Stand up for what you know to be true, and right.  All of us can change and make the choices that bring us in alignment with our Heavenly Father.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the support from home! In case you didn't get it last week, here is my address.

Sister Biggs

7101 195 Street

Surrey, BC V4N 5Y7

Canada

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Biggs

October 15, 2013

Well, sorry I am emailing a day late, yesterday was Thanksgiving! That was a surprise. But it was great, we had ChineseThanksgiving at a ward members' house and then Turkey Dinner at another members home. Both of them had investigators there for us to teach! It was so neat!

Anyway, apparently you can send letters directly to the home I live in, so here is the address!

Sister Biggs

7101 195 Street

Surrey, BC V4N 5Y7

Canada

Thanks for all the wonderful support from everybody back home! We hardly ever have time to email so if you email me, I will get back to you just maybe not within a week of getting it. I am just making my way through :) I usually have more time to write letters though so IF you have time to write, that might be easier! But emails are great as well :)

I absolutely love working here in the lower mainland! What a blessing it is! Recently, I felt my faith wavering a bit about baptizing in October. I know it was a commandment from God, and God provides a way, so there had to be more we could do! Well, Sunday came around and we didn't plan on having anybody at church. Finally, we get a text at the beginning of Sacrament meeting from a man that we met on the street a couple days before. He said "I am at the front entrance of the church". We immediately ran out to find James! My heart leaped with joy as I saw his faith in coming to a church that he had never even heard of before. He came in and immediately fell in love with all the people there. The ward was so welcoming and loving toward him. He is from China, so we introduced him to a family who is also from China, the Tsai's. They became best of friends immediately! We ended up going to lunch at the Tsai's home the next day for Thanksgiving, and invited James to be baptized on October 27th. He excitedly accepted! What a miracles it was to witness! He says it would feel wonderful to see all his sins washed away and to feel like he can start fresh. I couldn't believe it! I was so disappointed that I had let my faith falter even for a moment, and Heavenly Father still blessed us with this miracle. My faith is now bursting.  I know we all have times where we feel like we need to increase our faith. I cannot doubt the power of the Lord! We do not receive the witness until after the trial of our faith. I feel like I didn't even stay as strong as I should have during the trial of my faith, and yet the Lord opened up the windows of Heaven upon us. What a miracle it was to witness!

I don't know if you remember Amanda and Ramsey from Osoyoos, Ramsey was an investigator and Amanda was an inactive member. Anyway, they have a son Cody who was 7 years old. He was such a light to behold! I have never met somebody with such energy. I love that boy! Well, I found out yesterday that Cody passed away just 3 weeks ago. Apparently he was inside their trailer when it caught on fire, and was severely burned all over his body. He was saved by a fireman, and went through multiple surgeries, however his little fragile body couldn't handle it anymore and he eventually passed. My heart shattered into a million pieces when I heard this. The thought of little Cody passing on was incredibly heartbreaking. He was one of my favorite children I have met on my mission! I struggled with it all night last night, certainly had trouble sleeping. But I was able to consult my Heavenly Father and the scriptures about how this could happen to Amanda, who was just beginning to come back to church and life was falling into place. But I know that Cody is in the greatest place he could possibly be in at this time. He is being taught the Gospel fully now and is with his Heavenly Father and the Savior! He can begin teaching others about the truths that he found briefly while here on earth! He came to primary a couple times and absolutely loved it. I have no doubt Heavenly Father is watching over him very closely as he continues to progress. I still struggle with the idea of what happened. Certainly the most tramatic thing I have heard on my mission. But The Lord has a plan and we will have trials. We must have trust in that!

This week's challenge is to read Elder Ballard's talk from this past General Conference - what a great talk that was! Then take his challenge to invite somebody to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ by Christmas. Millions will come to know the truth! What a belssing that will be!

The Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is so true! I can't believe how blessed we are to have it in our lives. Let us help our brothers and sisters find the same happiness the Lord has blessed us with! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Biggs

October 7, 2013

Hello my wonderful family and friends, once again! So, I literally have no time today. And probably won't have too much time to email for the next several months. But thought I would just share a miracle or two! First of all, I did get transferred! I have been transferred to Willoughby, which is in the lower mainland in Surrey. Not too far from the mission home in Richmond. To give you an idea of where we live, we attend the Temple View Chapel, which is in the backyard of the Temple. How cool is that!? I have msised the Temple SO much. I have also been called as a Sister Training Leader and Traveling Assistant to the President. This is a new calling the first Presidency just came out with to compensate for the many sisters coming out. We are essentially Sister Traveling Assistants to the President like the Elders. I am over a number of Sisters (over 43 sisters...yikes!). And then we do everything with them that the Assistants do with the Elders. We do 2-3 exchanges a week, so I will not have the same companion during the week, depending on what the Spirit directs. Then we attend different district meetings, and do trainings in each of them. We attend all of the zone meetings in the lower mainland to do trainings there as well. Then we have nightly contact with each of the district leaders, and weekly contact with each sister. I also call Sister Tilleman 3 times a week to report on exchanges. Then, somewhere in there we figure out how to keep our area alive as well. Long story short, I have about 15 minutes to email today because we have way too much to do :) But I couldn't love it more! I am SO humbled to be in this calling. I know that I could not do it without the Lord. My first companion is Sister Gibb, but we will be with others as well throughout the weeks, and what a blessing she is! (Yes, Sister Gibb and Sister Biggs...say that ten times fast). I absolutely love working with her. This first week has been the craziest week of my mission, and I can't wait for it to continue as I watch how the Lord shapes me into who He wants me to become.

Well, that was a long intro! But this past week was absolutely incredible. Thursday we has transfer meeting, where we are trained by President and Sister Tilleman. Friday we had mission council, which is for all the zone leaders and the Sister Training Leaders. We were trained by the leaders once again. Then Saturday and Sunday, we had General Conference!!! And for those of you who have not yet watched it....stop reading my email and go watch it!

We go to the mission home the first Friday of every month for mission counucil, so just send any letters or packages you want there.  My mom has the address.

This week was one full of revelation. And I guess with the short time I have, I will be simple in my statement about it - The Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is TRUE! We have a living Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, who leads and guides this Church under the direction of our Heavenly Father. If you are wondering if that is true, just watch General Conference and receive that witness from the Holy Ghost for yourself.

This week's challenge is to watch General Conference! If you already watched it, watch or listen to it again. And then again and again and again. Until next April :) We can NEVER take for granted the blessing of having a living Prophet here on the earth. What a blessing that is! I would love to hear any insights you have about conference. I received SO much revelation, as I know any of you who watched it did as well.

Brothers ans Sisters, I would NOT be on a mission here in another counutry without my family and friends to serve the Lord for something I didn't KNOW was true. I know it to be true. I cannot deny that feeling the Holy Ghost gives me every single day as I read from the Book of Mormon, or listen to the words of the living Prophets. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom here on the earth. I want nothing more than for each of you to find that out for yourselves!

I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Biggs

September 30, 2013

Hello there from the most beautiful place on earth!! What a blessing it is to be serving here in Victoria. The rain has been coming down like I have NEVER seen rain before. Everybody says it rains a lot here in the winter. But I was like, "I'm from AZ, we got monsoons all the time." Well, funny story...try AZ monsoons times 2 all day everyday! It is wonderful though. Because Satan tempts us SO much to not get out and work while it is raining. But as we ignore those temptations and rise above them, we see so many miracles! We came in the house yesterday sopping wet, but feeling SO successful. What a blessing it is to be a part of this work!

On a side note, tonight we get transfer calls! So, I will find out if I stay in Victoria another transfer or go somewhere else. I certainly hope I stay, but next week I will let you know! If you are sending a letter this week, you can just send it to the mission office and I will get it when we got to Richmond this week. Thanks for the continued support from back home!

Well, last night Frazer Smith got baptized!! What a blessing it was to be a part of his progression in the Gospel. He is the 10 year old we have been teaching for a couple months. His mother is living common law, so she was not able to get baptized with him. But we have great faith that the Lord will provide a way for her to follow not too far behind him! It was so wonderful to watch Frazer and see the huge smile he had on his face the entire night. He could hardly contain himself. Neither could his mom. This young boy is so prepared to be a faithful member of the Church. In his confirmation blessing, he was blessed to one day serve a faithful mission for the Lord. My eyes teared up as I listened to those words. The thought of him going on a mission one day makes my heart swell with gratitude for my Heavenly Father allowing me to be a part of his life for a short while. I will attach a picture of him in this email!

This week I was thinking about President Tilleman's commission for every companionship to baptize in October. Then, Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 came to mind. In this scripture it speaks about the Lord's voice being the same as that of His servants, and that whether it is directly from Him or from them, it is the same. Therefore, President's commission for us to baptize in October is now a commandment that we must follow. My whole mission I have always focused on exact obedience. Miracles come from being exactly obedient. Well, this is now a new commandment that I must treat the same way. I must admit, my natural man has kicked in at times and told me it is not possible. Because we have NOBODY at the moment who could be baptized in October. However, then 1 Nephi 3:7 comes to mind. When the Lord gives us a commandment, He promises to provide us a way to follow that commandment. He promises us that we will never be given a commandment we cannot keep. Therefore, if I do not baptize in October, it is on me. I need to work hard enough to be worthy of those promised blessing President Tilleman has given us. I have prayed and fasted this week harder than ever before! I cannot wait to see the mysteries of the Lord be unfolded to my view!

This past Saturday was the General Relief Society Conference. For those of you who did not get a chance to watch it, I exhort you to do so immediately. As soon as possible. Not only were we blessed to hear from the General Relief Society Presidency, but we were honored to hear from our Beloved Prophet. The reminder that evening of the importance of keeping the covenants we have made was so apparent in the messages given. I wanted to share an experience we had while watching the conference. There were a couple investigators at the conference, some of them for the first time coming into the building. We welcomed them and got them to their seats. We sat on the side of the chapel so others could see better in the middle, and so we could watch the expressions of those watching this beloved conference. We rarely get to hear from the Prophet as Relief Society members, speaking directly to us. Often we have President Eyring and President Uchtdorf, but rarely President Monson. Well, what a blessing it was to hear from him this time. When Sister Burton announced that we would now be honored to hear from our beloved Prophet, glancing over to one of the investigators, I witnessed one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. As she announced that we would hear from the Prophet, this woman almost jumped out of her seat and stuck her arms in the air. Then, realizing she probably shouldn't do that in the Chapel, she patted her knees with excitement and moved herself to the very edge of her seat. She could hardly contain herself to sit down. I later found out that she whispered to the woman next to her, "I was hoping we would be able to hear from him!". This is a woman who is not a member of the church. She has never stepped foot in our church building before. But when she heard that we were going to hear from the Prophet, she could hardly contain herself. It made me think, why was not every member in the congregation the same way? Why did we all not have the same reaction? Sometimes, we may take for granted the fact that God has given us a living Prophet on the earth today. Well, brothers and sisters, what a blessing that is. And what a blessing it is to be able to hear from him AGAIN this weekend! May we each jump out of our seats for joy knowing that God has given us living Prophets and Apostles just as he has provided on the earth from the beginning of Adam!

This week's challenge is to help prepare ourselves for conference this weekend. For those who do not know, this happens twice a year where we get to hear from all of the leaders of the church, including our beloved Prophet and 12 Apostles. He is not the Prophet of this church, but he is the Prophet of the world. So, I would exhort you to listen to what he has to say! This week, please write down 5 questions you wish to have answered in general conference this year. I promise you, if you do so with a prayerful heart, and watch conference with an open mind, God will answer each and every one of those questions for you. I also exhort you to watch all 5 sessions this weekend. Don't record them and watch them when you get around to them. This is the Prophet of the Lord and the Lord's chosen leaders!! I cannot think of ANYTHING that should take the place of us listening to them!! I can hardly even wait!!

Sorry this email was longer than normal, but I am full of joy at the moment and cannot contain it. I am sure many words were jumbled and there was a lot of confusion while reading this letter. But if anything, brothers and sisters I hope you understand that I have a fervent testimony that this church is the Lord's church here on the earth. I know that my Savior lives. Nothing can shake my testimony and knowledge that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. May you each come to know that for yourself. I love you all so much and thank you for your love and support! STAND IN HOLY PLACES AND NEVER MOVE! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Biggs