2 New letters from Elder Bigelow

(We haven't received a letter for a couple of weeks, and just heard from Zack today).


Well this week is transfer week and i am staying in Trapiche and am getting a new companion. Hs name is Elder Gimenez. He is from Juy Juy here in Argentina. Its a province in the north. He has about 13 months in the mission and is really funny i got to know him in my first transfer. He will be here on wednesday to work with me. Also the other latin that was in my pension is now in the offices and is the new AP so that is really cool. He was an awesome elder and i loved it being with him every day in the pensh.

The baptism went really well and i gave a talk on the holy ghost at it. it was good and i felt good about it. we had an investigator come his name is Roberto, and he is about 65 and a little overweight. He has a little problem with vision and walking but is awesome. He had us down load the bom on his computer to listen to it, and loves us coming over. His son is traning to become a Catholic preist and told him to quit listening to us but then Roberto just dropped major cane on his son. Told him that he feels good and we help him when we are there and that he has never done that. But will give him fifteen minutes to preach to him like he did us the first time and if he feels the same way he did then he will listen to his son and not us. And needless to say he is still listening to us and came to the baptism and to church yesterday and bore his testimony about the change in his life just from the short time he has had to listen to us. I was so shocked and impressed. the spirit was so strong and I loved it. That is in small part the fruits of the mission i think. He will get baptized this transfer I think. I am especially excited because I was the one who contacted him when he was sitting outside his house a few weeks ago. And those never work out like this one is or like the one with Mirna. It trully is the fruits of our labors and the blessings of your prayers. Thank you so much.

A couple things really stand out to me about this week and it is people that we have talked to in the street and in the park. One of them was a Jehova Witness. Which in itself is such an apostacy religion.... but its ok. They have one section of the scriptures totally interpretted wrong and they base there whole religion on that. it just amazes me how people can let satan rule there life so much and not open there eyes. Another is a lady stopped us in the street and told us why do you preach and invite people to church its all the same god and all believe in god so they are all right. Well I'm sorry but no that is not how it is. How many churches did Jesus Christ have on the earth when he lived here..... one!!! And if you read in the Bible a little bit you will find that there was an apostacy and a restoration was to come. We are not still in an apostacy like some churches think. Its not our words that teach people and convert them. It's the spirit and prayer and the feelings that they have of remembering that this is the church and that this is the way that we need to live. Its so funny how some people can just get so caught up in the world and what they have done. There is a way to happiness and its through our loving savior Jesus Christ who sacrificed his body for us so that we might be able to live with him again and be able to be clensed from our sins.

The family is such a key and vital part of this gospel and i see it more each and everyday. Just this week we went and visited the daughter of Mirna the woman i baptized last transfer. Mirna had alot of problems and the gospel and the church has helped her so much and we finally got her to give us her daughters address to visit her and when I spoke to her and bore testimony of the church and told her that her mother is now happy and feels more peace in her life because I was able to baptize her with the authority that I have which is straight from god. and showed her the picture and she started to cry and it was such an amazing experience. I love it and I love this work. I am so grateful that I have such an amazing family that supports me and that loves me. I hope that I can raise as good as a family that you have dad and Lisa and have the love and families that all of you are starting and have in yours now. I hope that I will have that in my family and my wife will have the same goals and desires as me.

This week is conference and I cant wait for it. I have never been more excited. And I will give you the same commitment I gave my investigators and members. Pray and ask to recieve an answer or some source of spirit from conference, and you will recieve it. I promise you that. It happened to me last conference.

I love you and miss you. Keep up the prayers and I will do the same they are heard and felt thankyou.

Con Amor
Elder Bigelow



Here is the second letter

Hey there family and everyone!

Wow what an amazing conference we had!!! It was the best I have ever been able to listen to and the thoughts and feelings were so strong. I really was looking forward to it so much and could not wait at all for it to come. I was more pumped then I have been for any movie coming out or for any sports game on TV or anything. And wow did it pay off!!! I was able to watch every single session with the other missionaries in my zone and the whole stake that I am in, in the stake center. I especially enjoyed the Saturday sessions. It was so spiritual and uplifting. It talked a lot about mothers and young women and their importance to us. It also talked a lot about morality. The last talk was by Holland, and wow!!! That was so good and he dropped some serious cane on morality and all that. I really encourage you to read it in the May ensign or liahona. All of the talks on Saturday, cause they were outstanding. I cant wait to be able to read them all again. I took notes on every one of them but I know there is still more to be found to help when I read it again. Some really cool things happened to....

So me and Elder Gutierrez last transfer tried and tried to get Mirna one of our converts to let us go talk to her daughter, who she had had problems with for years and years. They had not said a nice thing to each other in about 10 years and not even talked in about 3 or 4. But we told her the importance of families and we both felt so strongly that we needed to go visit and talk with her. Finally a couple weeks ago she agreed to let us go. So we got on the bus after getting permission and road 45 minutes away from our area into the area of the hermanas. We got there and found the house we were both way nervous but went knocked (clapped) the front door, and she was outside next door and said to hold on she is coming. She came over and was way nice but did not want to listen to the message we had for her but we insisted and said it would only be five minutes finally she let us in. She told us a little about her and we told about ourselves then she said that the sisters had visited her before but then dropped her and quit coming by. We explained that we were sharing a message about families and the importance they are in Gods plan for us and said we have something very special to share with her. I then spoke to her in English cause like Mirna she knows English and loves to talk in it. And I can’t remember the exact words I had but I know I was tingling all over while speaking and had the spirit with me. And I told her that I had a strong testimony of families and I love them very much and that I know she loves her families and that we all can change and have hard trials in the family. And I showed her a picture of her mom and the baptism and how I baptized her and told her how special it was and how at peace her mom is and how she wants to fix things now. At that moment, Debra, Mirnas daughter, started to cry and said how she did not have the best relationship with her mom but has so much she wants to share and tell her and everything. We then talked and bore more testimony and closed with a very spiritual prayer and left.

This last week Debra rode on her bike from her house to her moms to ask for forgiveness and a new start. She took that forty-five minute bus ride to only riding a bike to get that forgiveness. They cried and forgave each other and have worked things out a little bit and this last week they were inseparable. Always together, and a most amazing sight. I was walking around the corner to go into the English room for conference when I saw Mirna and Debra walking in together and Mirna holding the hand of the grandchildren she had only seen a couple times in there 13 year life and the other never before in her arms. It was awesome to see a family reuniting and sharing love one with another. That truly was one of the fruits of the mission. I have experienced and tasted of others but this was such a testimony builder for me and I think could help all of us in the family with all of our issues that we may have had and may now today have.

I have truly loved this time I have spent on the mission and the spiritual experiences are numberless. I am having a blast and experiences like this are what I wanted to have happen on my mission. Its not about numbers its about the lives that are changed by coming unto Christ and excepting his plan that he has for us and receiving and feeling that happiness. Bringing families closer together is what this gospel is about. It’s based around the family and I cant wait to start my family and have the happiness in it that is in this family that I am currently in I am so grateful for that amazing blessing to have been raised in this gospel and blessed with loving parents who know the way. A worthy priesthood holding father who was able to pass that along to me and my brothers, to have in our lives and in our families. I am surrounded by such amazing examples in our family and I am so grateful to be able to count my blessings each and everyday for this family. I hope that I can do as good as a job at raising my children as you have. And that my wife is half as amazing as Lisa or Lindsey or Becky or Jenny or Ashlyn all so great and truly hold the family together. Thank you all for what you do I love and miss you very much and cant wait to talk to you in some weeks and here again from you in a week. Keep strong.

Con Amor
Elder Bigelow