March 24, 2014

Hello my wonderful friends and family!! Hope you are all having a wonderful week. I sure am jealous of any of you that are down in the valley right now....I seriously miss heat so bad! Every day I step outside and have to make the decision, "Big jacket or medium jacket today?". Or there is the occasional "small jacket" day. Those are rare though. I keep asking everybody when it will heat up, and they say about July or August. Oh goodie! I will be nice and warm down in AZ then :) I will be excited when I get off the plane to see my family and friends...but what I want most is to be greeted with a giant quilt and let me cuddle up on the runway in direct sunlight. If you could run that by the airport that would be great! My body has not seen sun in about 15 months :)

Haha anyway, enough about the weather! Seriously....all people talk about here is the weather it is hilarious. Because it changes so often, I guess. But this week was absolutely incredible!! So many wonderful things happened and I am grateful I was able to witness many miracles.

We went to transfer meeting last week. Although, for the first time in almost my entire mission, I am staying with my companion another transfer! I may only have 10 companions in my mission afterall :) We shall see I guess. I am excited to be able to work with Sister Ellgen for another transfer as the Sister Trainer Leader. However, as my last transfer approaches, I secretly hope that I can just be a "regular" missionary for once....not being trained, not training, not the Trainer Leader, aside from that of my area...it is a selfish desire for sure. But I just wonder what it would be like. I guess we will see if I get the chance.

I have learned something new about the Atonement this week - it can literally help our bodies physically! I have always thought of the Atonement as a way to be forgiven of our sins. But this past week, I have been more tired than I have ever been before! Okay, I think I say that every single day. But this past week I really felt it. Going non stop from 6:30am-10:30pm every day is so hard. No time to just sit for a few minutes. Too much to do! (Which is a great blessing, don't get me wrong). But this past week I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to give me strength, to help me be able to endure the challenges of missionary work, especially physically. And, each day I successfully completed every task at hand. I literally crawled into my bed some nights...but I made it nonetheless. I know that was a blessing of the Atonement. The Savior knows exactly how it feels to be physically exhausted and at the end, and He can succor me! (Alma 7:11-12). I am so grateful for His infinite sacrifice for me personally.

This week I will share an insight that another missionary I know, serving in Korea, shared with me through email today. He said he learned it at their Stake Conference this past and I loved it! He talked about how we learn that the Savior is light so clearly in the scriptures many times, but none more clear than when the Savior is born, and when He is crucified. I quote from The Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 1:15 "For behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came." Here, the Nephites are given the sign that was promised them at the time of the Savior's birth, on the opposite side of the world. As the Savior, the Son of God, enters into the world, the world is filled with light. The Savior IS Light. Well, not many years later, the Savior of mankind is crucified by those who reject Him. I quote again from 3 Nephi 8:23, "And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually;" So, on the other end of the spectrum, when Light is taken from the earth, the earth remains in darkness. For three days and three nights there is darkness covering the earth, and the Nephites can know for a surety that on the other side of the world, their Savior was crucified for their sins. As the Savior leaves His mortal ministry, the light literally goes with Him. Brothers and Sisters, this goes for each of our own personal lives as well. If we but follow the Savior with full purpose of heart, our lives will be filled with Light. However, if we spend our days rejecting the Savior and not following His simple commandments, then our lives will be nothing but darkness. It is a simple equation, but the adversary loves complicating things. Think about your life and ask yourself, "How can I fill it with more light?" The answer is simple - do something each day that will bring you in line with the Savior's will even more than the day before. President Tilleman teaches us a special principle about obedience regarding the White Handbook. He says, "I know you are all obedient to the missionary standards. So, in order to become EXACTLY obedient, look every day in the White Handbook for a rule that you are not following, and follow it." We are not yet perfect in this mortal life of ours, but if each day we find something we can do better, than the day we meet the Savior face to face will be nothing but joyous.

Recently Sister Ellgen had a wonderful idea about journaling. So, we hardly ever have time to write in our journals. Seriously though...with 16 sisters to work with and then our own area as well, we are on the phone until 10:30 every single night. Most nights I sleep in my skirt because I don't have time to change! Anyway, Sister Ellgen decided to get a voice recorder and just record her journal entries, because she can talk much faster than she can write. Genius! You better believe I got in on that :) So, I walk around with a tiny little voice recorder thing, and whenever I have a thought, I just record! It is awesome! I won't be writing much in my journal the rest of my mission, but that's alright. My future posterity will love this :) I talk to my future family a lot on it. So hopefully I don't lose it or anything!

Anyway, this week's challenge is to try and record something everyday, preferably in a journal, from what you learned that day. We learn constantly in the scriptures the importance of remembering. Well, how can we remember if we don't write it down in some way? Aren't we grateful that those Prophets in the scriptures who wrote things down! Now, we should do the same for our posterity. It is possible - make a few minutes a day for it! Or, if you are like us and literally have no time, just set a voice recorder on your lap while you are driving and record :)

I love this Gospel so much. Jesus Christ is my Redeemer, and I am eternally indebted to Him. This is His Church, and His Gospel. May we prepare ourselves spiritually as General Conference approaches, a time when we have the opportunity of hearing from Special Witnesses of the Savior. I love you all! Thank you for everything!!

Love,
Sister Biggs

March 17, 2014

Good afternoon my wonderful family and friends!! This week has been such a blessing, as always. I feel like I just cannot keep up with the weeks anymore. Didn't I just email like yesterday? Whoever took March, please give it back. Thanks! :)

Today I wanted to share an insight that the Spirit gave to me this morning during my personal study. I am almost finished with the Book of Mormon for my 4th time here on my mission, so I am in the Book of Ether right now and LOVING it! (Obviously). Anyway, I fell in love with the story of the Jaredites and their journeys across the great waters and how the Lord guided and directed them. Something that stuck out to me this time was in Chapter 6 of Ether. They has just finished building the barges, and are finally on their way out to be guided on the waters by the Lord. Ether 12:5-6 talks about the many trials and tribulations that came their way on the waters. They were met with storms, and waves, tempests, and fierce winds. But what I really love is verse 8, "And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters;". What a powerful statement. This simple statement teaches us many things - when we are going through our own spiritual tempests and storms, we can be assured that as long as we are faithful, we are still being lead towards the "promised land". In our case, being led toward eternal life. We know that the Lord knows what experiences we need in order to become more like Him. He knows what will make us stronger and what will help us to draw nearer to Him. He knew that because the Jaredites had built these barges according to His desires, they would be able to withstand the storms that so fiercely came their way. So too, must we be able to build ourselves upon the Savior so that when the winds and storms come, as we have been promised they will, we will be able to anchor ourselves in Christ. The chapter goes on to talk about their journey to the promised land, and verse 10 states, "they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water." I love this. As we go through our life, there will be many times when we feel "under the water". We feel as though we cannot get any lower, possibly even that the Lord has forsaken us. But, as we anchor ourselves in Christ, we are promised that we can have light eternally through those dark times in this life. We can know that the adversary will throw things our way to bring us down, but that the Savior is Light. He is where we can turn in order to keep ourselves away from the darkness of the world.

This past week we were contacting at a bus stop for a few hours, and about to wrap up. I saw a woman walking with 2 little boys so I thought I would squeeze in a conversation with her before running to our appointment. Well, I won't go into great detail about what had happened. But I will say that never in my life have I heard such vile things about my dear Heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ. I have never heard their names disgraced in such a manner. The Spirit was no where to be found. As a missionary, you are so used to having the Spirit with you and so when it was gone, my body almost went into shock. Literally. My legs starting shaking, and my tongue was locked. I wanted to run away. Not because I was afraid of her at all, but because I have never felt so far from the Spirit. I wanted Him back with me! 

So, when my body received strength from the Lord, I walked away and grabbed my companion who was talking with somebody else. As we walked away, I couldn't help but cry. The woman knelt down and spoke to her little boys, telling them to never, ever, speak with somebody if they have our name tag. My heart ached as I thought about what just happened. I looked at my companion, who could hear what the woman was yelling as I spoke with her, and just began crying. I hated the feeling of the Spirit not being with me, and not being with them. I couldn't control my shaking and I had no words to say! Finally, we got in the car and I turned on "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". By the end of the first verse, the Spirit had filled my heart and I know again that the Savior is real. I know that He was there with me, and that He felt that pain I felt when that woman spoke. He had felt that pain for me when He suffered for me, and for her, many years past. He knew that I would go through that. He allowed me to go through that, and I am grateful He did. Why? Because by the end of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" my tears were flowing from joy. I know God is real and that He loves me. I can literally say, that I had NO disposition to do evil ever again, for fear that I might lose the Spirit. The Lord allowed me to experience the lack of companionship from the Spirit, so that I would desire to never have that feeling again.

This week's challenge is to again, only if you have the ability, donate to the Church's missionary fund. I know I have given this challenge before. But I am realizing each week how grateful I am for those of you who are contributing to us as missionaries.  So many literally could not do it without you. Please, be as generous as your means allow while still taking care of your family. I PROMISE you, you will be blessed.

I love each of you so much. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. May I stand as a witness of Him as I bear His name literally on my chest each and every day. May I eternally have His name written in my heart as I represent Him and His Gospel. May each of you know that I KNOW, that my redeemer lives. For I have seen His hand in my life countless times. I know that He is there to comfort me when I stand in need of comfort. Will I falter or will I fight? Brothers and Sisters, I answer with a resounding, "fight"! For the adversary is alive and well. Each and every day, may I represent the Savior to the best of my ability, always abounding in good works, to one day find myself on His right hand. I am not perfect, but I try my best to remain pure. To echo the words of the dear man whose son was taken over by a devil, "Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief."

Sister Biggs

March 10, 2014

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an AWESOME week. We sure did here. But I say that every week. PS - for those of you who saw that terrible picture of me online from Elder Christofferson's visit, 2 things - 1) It's not from his visit. That was taken like months ago at another meeting haha! 2) I promise I don't always look like death. I just try not to fall asleep whenever I sit down as a missionary. I was paying attention :) Okay that's all for that side note.

Well, I want to base this week's letter off of a quote I heard while in a family home evening at Bishop's house last week. It touched my heart so deeply, and hopefully it will to yours as well.

M. Russell Ballard, The Sacred Responsibilities of Parenthood, March 2006:

"When you stop and think about it from a diabolically tactical point of view, fighting the family makes sense. When Satan wants to disrupt the work of the Lord, he doesn't poison the world's peanut butter supply, thus bringing the Church's missionary system to its collective knees. He doesn't send a plague of laryngitis to afflict the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He doesn't legislate against green Jell-O or casseroles. When Satan truly wants to disrupt the work of the Lord, he attempts to confuse gender and he attacks God's plan for His children. He works to drive a wedge of disharmony between a father and a mother. He entices children to be disobedient to their parents. He makes family home evening and family prayer inconvenient. He suggests family scripture study is impractical. That's all it takes, because Satan knows that the surest and most effective way to disrupt the Lord's work is to diminish the effectiveness of the family and the sanctity of the home."

I could just end the email here. But seriously. Brothers and sisters, think for a minute about the sacred unit of the family and look around! The family is the most sacred social unit in time and in eternity - it is also the most attacked by Satan. This quote has a bit of humor to it. But then Elder Ballard gets serious. Ask yourself, have you ever put off FHE or scripture study because it was inconvenient? Or because you were too busy? I sure have. Multiple times in my life. Brothers and Sisters, this past week has just really opened up my eyes. Satan is attacking the family unit like NEVER before. As a missionary, I have seen more broken families than ever before in my life.

So, if Satan is attacking the family all day everyday, then what do we do? Well, primary answers!! According to this quote, we must do three simple things to keep the foundation strong - Family Home Evening, Family prayer, and Family scripture study. That's not so difficult, right?  Yet Satan makes it seem "inconvenient". I have certainly been there. I am grateful that on my mission I have time set apart every morning so that it's not a matter of convenience to read the scriptures, I just do it for two hours a day! I love it. But sometimes I fear when I go home and might forget things sometimes. Satan is alive and well.

I am not exactly sure where I am going with all of this - I just PLEAD with each of you...please do these three things! Protect your families from the adversary!! Do everything in your power to strengthen your family. Ask yourself, "what am I putting before my family?". Then, change it! This sacred unit will be attacked and destroyed. But those who stand strong will be rewarded with relationships that can be perpetuated beyond the veil.

I guess the reason I bring this up is because I love my family so much, and I know each of you feel the same way about yours. I cannot imagine Heaven without them. It wouldn't be Heaven for me. I plead with my Heavenly Father every single day to keep my family strong and close, including my future family. May we each align our priorities with the Lord's will.

This week's challenge is to hold FHE tonight, and have family scripture study and prayer every single day. And if you are not doing that, ask yourself what you can change to align your will with the Savior's?

I am not sending this to condemn. Rather, I am sending it because I love the family. I love this sacred unit that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of on this earth. It literally shatters my heart to think that some families won't be together for eternity. But yours can!

I love you all, and this Gospel is true. What a blessed week this was in the greatest mission on earth.

Love,

Sister Biggs