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