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