April 28, 2014

Well hello everybody!! Sorry I didn't email last week...I was too busy looking at pictures of the cutest baby in the world - little Peyton Jade Ghormley! Congrats to Dobson and Ghorms :) If any of you are ever having a tough day, first pray for strength, and then look at pictures of little PJ. It will brighten your day for sure :)

Well, aside from having a beautiful new niece, this past week was absolutely incredible, to say the least. I can literally not comprehend the incredible miracles that the Lord placed in our path. I will try to name a few to give you a glimpse of the Lord's incredible work that He has allowed me to be a part of!

First things first, our wonderful friend we have been working with since we got here is getting baptized on Wednesday!! This is a miracle, indeed. For so many reasons. She has been taught since about October, and just about everything that Satan could throw at her, he did. Last week, we were debating whether or not we should continue to teach her or let her reflect for a little while. She has been taught for a long time, and has set a baptismal date so many times. However, those dates have never happened and many obstacles continue to come in the way of her getting baptized. Well, at the beginning of last week, she told us she was ready to set another date for baptism - May 31st. We were excited, at first. But then in personal study on the morning we were going to meet with her, the Spirit touched me so strongly that we needed to invite her to be baptized in April. I was reading in Alma 47, the story of Lehonti and Amalickiah. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, I can give a quick background. Lehonti (good guy) is on the top of a hill with his army, while Amalickiah (bad guy) is at the bottom with hill. After numerous attempts from Amalickiah to try and get Lehonti to come down the hill and speak with him, he finally gives in a little bit. Amalickiah tells Lehonti to just come down the hill a little bit - not the whole way! And he can even bring guards with him. No worries there, right? Well, this small act led to the eventual death of Lehonti, after being poisoned by Amalickiah and his servants. Anyway, what does this have to do with our friend? Well, as I read this, I thought of her. I thought to myself, "Satan is asking her to come halfway down the mountain with guards...he is telling her it is okay to get baptized, just do it in about 5 weeks! Because he knows better than anybody what can happen in 5 weeks." So, I figured she needs to get baptized as soon as possible. She is living all of the commandments, been to church dozens of times, and ready to go. No need to wait. Well, our lesson with her that day was amazing. We invited her to be baptized on Wednesday, and she immediately said yes. It was as if the Spirit was preparing her all day long to answer that question with a resounding "Yes!". Joy immediately came onto her face and appeared to enter into her heart. So, in two days we will be having a baptism of one of the most incredible people I could know. Prayers for her would be much appreciated!

Another incredible part of this miracle is a promise we received from President Tilleman at the beginning of April. He said, "If you get 20 quality gospel conversations every single day, and talk to every single person you come in contact with, then you will each have a baptism in April." I took that promise to heart. As I am down to only weeks left in the mission, I am taking everything President says and engraving it onto my heart, as I know those are the words the Savior would tell me. Well, his promise was fulfilled. Every single day, except for one day in April, we got 20 quality gospel conversations and spoke with everybody we came in contact with. The Lord's promises are fulfilled according to our faith. I know that He is there watching over us, and giving us the strength we need to do His work! What a sacred calling this is!

This past week has literally been a blur. I have never been in so many cities in one week in my entire life! Except for maybe on a road trip. So, we have 16 sisters in our stewardship as Sister Trainer Leaders. This week, President Tilleman asked each of the leaders in the mission to make sure that every single companionship in their stewardship reaches the standards of excellence (the standards for each key indicator in the mission). Recently they were raised, and now set much higher than I would have imagined at the beginning of my mission. Ever since they have been raised, the Lord has blessed Sister Ellgen and I so much to be able to reach it each week, along with dozens of other companionships in the mission. But unfortunately we have not been doing our part to fully make sure every single sister reaches them as well! So, this was the week. Well, many companionships were far from it in the middle of the week. So, we started going into their areas and helping them. I literally never knew what a human being could do in 24 hours....it is unreal! The Lord like stopped time for us or something. So off we went each day, from Burnaby, to Port Coquitlam, to Deep Cove, to Vancouver, Richmond, Port Moody, and Coquitlam. Probably a few others here and there. It was crazy. I have not slept as good as I did these past few days my entire mission! My head hit the pillow and I was OUT. Then didn't budge until 6:30 :) Anyway, after such a long week, every single companionship except for two met the standards of excellence!! One of them, because they were sick and stuck inside...the other one also had some health problems and couldn't work all week. But every companionship that was able, went to work and saw miracles! It was so incredible!! I was so blessed to be a part of it. The only downside of being a Sister Trainer Leader, is that every single day flies by so quickly. As if it never even happened! It helps my mind get lost in the work, though.

This week's challenge is to simply pray for our friend getting baptized on Wednesday, that her heart may be prepared and that her family will be supportive. For security sake, you can call her Sister K. :) Thank you for your prayers in her behalf!

This week was truly full of miracles, and I am blessed to be a part of this work. Anybody who has served a mission, I would love any advice on the last month and a half of your mission. I pray that I may be able to literally sprint to the finish line! I hope that the Lord can use me as his instrument in bringing others unto the knowledge of their Savior. I pray that I will find every single person that the Lord sent me here to find. May I be able to say, as Paul did at the conclusion of his mission - 2 Timothy 4:6-8  6- For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7- I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  8-  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

I know that the only way this will happen, is through the grace of the Savior. I pray that each of you may pray today, to find out where you stand with the Savior, and do everything within your power to become more like Him over this next week. I love you all!!


Love,
Sister Biggs