GANAMOS!!!! con un RECORD

well we won the cup!!!! and we also broke the mission record with 27 baptisms this month. the record before was by two legends in the mission of 26. we had 7 baptisms fall on friday night and saturday. but it still worked out pretty well and we broke the record and today here in mendoza we came for consejo for zone leaders and we won it and president was super happy. we broke several records this month but this was the biggest one obviously. i dont think i have ever worked so hard and been so exhausted in my life. it was a tough month but as you can tell it paid off. and with more still to come for december.

well that is super cool about amy cate and her mission call. i have a friend in the houston texas spanish speaking mission. leaves in july or augost though. but she still might get to know him. elder steve richards is his name. i didnt even know she was thinking about serving. but that is super cool. she will love it and do very well.

i am super glad to hear about all the fun and good times you had on thanksgiving and this week. i ate brownies that i made with some doughnuts and juice on thursday night after a crazy day of work. so not quiet as good as yours but still it was good and i had a good time with it.

so on tuesday we went to bless the home of this man. and had to do it at 12 30 at night. and he has no light. so it was a little crazy just a candle lit in this small little apartment. and right before we got there i guess it was crazy he said. he told us that his bed was shaking and pictures came off the walls and stuff and the candle would not light... so that was sketchy. but we talked and then blessed the home and it was super spiritual, and you could just feel the presence of god in the home and that the bad feeling had left. he was super happy and grateful for it. and then the next day he got a job. and then friday night decided he cant be baptized anymore for his work.... it was super hard to accept and hear. it is just so funny how satan works, every single moment that us, the servants of god, leave a house satan enters to tempt them and pull them away with enticing worldly things. for this we need to baptize everyone as fast as we can so they can have the holy ghost and have that companionship of a god figure to help them with satan. and then the members can help with keeping them in church and strengthening there testimony. but our job is to baptize. the job of members and a little of us to a certain point is to retain. but i have learned that i was called to bring people to salvation and that is through baptism for the remission of sins and gift of the holy ghost. the biggest gift god can give us in this mortal existance. people cant recieve salvation if they dont get baptized. so for that i felt really sad for those that fell and did not get baptized, cause i feel i failed as a missionary. but i know its ok because someday it will work out. just hopefully sooner then later. cause the second coming is close.

but this week was a great week.and a great month. next week is transfers so we will see what happens there. and thanks for all you have done for me i love you and miss you. tell everyone hi. and amy cate congrats and about my friend there. take care and have a good week.

con amor
elder bigelow

Mucho Trabajo

November 22, 2010

thanks for the emails and the annocnments i am happy to hear everything that is going on!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! that was my first meal wiht a member last year was thanksgiving. i am not really looking forward to doing much. maybe making a bunch of desserts in the pensh with the other gringo i live with but we will see what we will really do.

so these past two weeks i dont think i have worked harder in my entire life!! the mission is going for a record of 1000 baptisms, and everyone is working super hard and all the zone leaders are competing hard hard hard to win the cup. and i have been doing all i can with the zone to bring the most posible success we can and teaching them alot of things and everything possilbe. the past two weeks i have woked in my own area for about 4 hours in totall and the whole other time was in other areas with my comp helping the elders out and preparing investigators for batism. and thus far it has worked alot. we talked alot about the price we are willing to pay for the lord. and i have been paying it trying to have success and break records here in the mission. leaving my area behind and barely eating if eating at all some days. and we are in the norhern province of our misson and everyday it is over 100 degrees. and we dont take breaks for anything. we are just going and going and going. but i have been sleeping like a baby every night just to wake up to leave earlier and work longer. and it has been working out. we had a record of investigators in church with a baptismal date, then the mission has seen for one week. so that was really good and we are expecting to have a huge last week of november to win the cup we hope. we have been in the lead the whole month and this last weekend we have alot of possibilities of people to get baptized and us to go up even more and to break some records so we will see what will haplpen i am excited and a little stressed but i am loving it. it is so much fun.

last week i went out to this little pueblo next to the mountains. it is all bolivians here to work in the vineyards and stuff. and they are super humble and amazing people. i dont think i have been in such a humble beautiful place before in my life. but we used bikes and went and rode everywhere to visit everyone we possibly could. we put 8 fechas and had one of the most amazing day i have had in my mission. we went up to the base of the mountains in the vineyards in the middle of no where to teach this lady and her husband. and has had a hard team because her dad died 13 years ago and was not sure what was with him and stuff. i started explaining the spirit world and that he is recieving the exact same lessons as she is and she started balling and said to stop that she never had heard anything like that before and felt such a burning in her chest that she did not know what to do. i explained how she will see him again and that they will both be happy for excepting the gospel of christ in there lives and live together forever. she balled and said she knew it was true. we then prayed on our knees on the dirt floor and when we were done it was a mud floor from all the tears that fell. she prayed and it was amazing. then and there asked to know if it was true and the church is true and if her dad is happy with her taking these lessons if he is to. and she balled and balled and we all felt the spirit so strong and knew the presence of god was in the room and and it was unbelievable. she is getting baptized and has never been happier. it was amazing!!!

we then went to this lady whose two sons recently got baptized and we taught her at her house. where there are like thirty bolivian houses all smashed in the space of where one house should be. she is so humble and poor no beds or chairs. just tarps on the floor with a blanket. she is 35 and had her first son at 14. we taught her sitting on the floor indian style. and the spirit was so strong as my companion and i testified of christ his resurrection and that we all can live with him again through baptism and a remission of our sins. and she was not sure of baptism before but after she could not wait another day, and got baptized the next day. and she weeped at her baptism and it was so special. such a special special night and experiences with her.

then this week i went to work with elder bills, my old zone leader, but now is in my zone and going home in december. he has this family who is ready for baptism but wouldnt get baptized or come to church for several weeks. so i went out to help him. we read doctrine and convenants 9 prayed alot and alot. and we recieved revelation to talk about the law of chastity. and so we went out and taught it and found out that, it was that for the problem. and the mom did not see it as a problem and thought god would forgive her. and before i knew it i was speaking and explaining an example to her, that i didnt even know where it was going, but she was blown back and said ok i understand. and she looked at us and smiled and decided to obey it and be baptized. then right then the phone rang and her mom found her a job. something she had been looking for for months and god blessed her with it right as she made the desicion to be baptized and obey this commandment. it was so amazing and her with her two kids are getting baptized on saturday.

then the priceless other experiences we had this week in interviews and helping the other misionaries has been some of the best experiences in my mission. and my area is not even seeing success. but i am more happy then ever because my zone is taring it up and everyone will look again and think twice of san juan and know we are serious and mean business and who ever wants to come here had better be ready to baptize!!

tomorrow i am going to a mans house named miguel that has evil spirits in his house. and has some really sketchy stuff that has been happening so we are going over to give the home a blessing and he asked especially for elder ruiz and i. so i hope and pray that all will go well. and i know i will be protected and all will go well. i have dealt with worse and experienced worse. but with the power and authority from god, nothing will stop us. even more special this man is preparing for his baptism saturday as well. we are going for a record breaking weekend and will finish off our secret plan we have been working with and finish off a record month if all goes well and we are hoping it does!!

i love this work and am having a blast with it. i love you all and miss you!!! have fun on thanksgiving. telll everyone hi, and to enjoy the great food!!! and to keep an eye out for cute girls for me hahaha i love you all and hope you have a grateFUL week!! and i hope i do to....

con amor

elder bigelow

ps i got letters from the teachers quorom and stuff thanks i will be replying soon. and packages, i will keep an eye out for i am good with things for now. maybe G´s i could use. and i want a REAL salt lake jersey, and maybe a new utah jazz shirt with the new symbol.... but if not all is good

viento zonda

well this week went by super super fast!!! i could not believe it on saturday i thought it was wednesday. time has just been flying and we are doing so many great things that i cant even keep track of the time or the things we are doing. i swear there is never enough time to do it all.

i am suprised it was such a blow out with utah and tcu. but that is an interesting little game and things that happened. i hope tcu and boise state play in the national title game. i cant believe it about hamiliton. i am totally shocked and amazed. kinda sad to be honest also. i heard some things from some people. but never thought it would become like this. i guess the alta program will be going down the drain for a little bit then. which is really sad. but oh well things happen sometimes i guess. and to lisa that is fine if sean and lindsey are wearing my clothes and stuff. all they are doing is collecting dust and stuff in my room. just my important things i would prefer them not to wear but i dont think they even would anyways. but it is all good, im not using them and when i get home i will need new clothes anyways and i can wear seans to maybe.... i thought the iggs and eggs joke was funny. its true though, and super funny. sean will accept it someday haha

so this week, i think i worked with my comp in our area together for about 1 hour in the whole week. we had divisions and meeting in mendoza and had to help other areas and stuff. but it was still good. we had good success anyways in the area. and we went with a member, a return missionary who gave us a reference to some of her old neighbors and so we went with her to teach them. and after the opening prayer we asked if you knew you could live with your family forever and see them again after this life what would your reaction be.... and the head of the house broke into tears and said he would be happy and do anything cause his wife passed away six years ago and has felt so lonely, and needs god in his life to help and accompañar him in all the things he is doing and in his daily life. and wants to be with his wife and his kids again. way powerful lesson and started off great. this return missionary is amazing. she is the bomb helps us so much and just gives references like crazy and is totally involved in the work still. and she is not even in our barrio. so that is even more awesome with all that she is doing for us.

thanks a ton dad for the advice on the leadership and help i can give to the zone, i will use some of that stuff tonight in our zone meeting and in helping the district leaders in there district meetings tonight. i am super excited for the zone and the things we can do. we had some little problems with some elders but we fixed them and got things all going well and i think we will be on the same path now and headed for the same success that we want and konw we can have. president is very excited also and expect big things to be coming from us here.

yesterday we had a hard storm of viento zonda. which is wind that blows like 60mph and is SUPER hot!!!! it was like 42 degrees celcius and then with the wind it was like 50. i about died!!!! i have never been so hot in my life. it was so hot at night sleeping that my nose started to bleed and like wouldnt stop i swear. it has been super hot. it is like i am working in lake powell in the middle of july but it is not even the time for the hottest temperature here yet. but i am loving it!!! its fun and just such a good experience. the girls dont have like any clothes on here as it is and in this weather its less. everyone thinks we are crazy walking in ties and long pants and stuff it is great. but i am getting pretty tan i think and is doing good. but all is going well. thanks for all the prayers. that is crazy that i am the only missionary in the ward tell everyone hi and thanks for all they are doing it is appreciated, and i hope it continues. i am glad everyone knows me and stuff, easier to get started on dating after the mission haha i dont know anyone especially girls, they all are getting married!!! hahaha but seriously thanks for everything.

anyone in the temple you see that i know or knows me tell them hi. and find me new friends haha love you all and i hope you all are getting ready for the hollidays, they will be super fun and good!!! miss you and love you!!!

con amor

elder bigelow

Monso!!!

November 1, 2010

well this week we had a pretty good week. we are doing something in the zone that we have not done before and it is to help every single area to find more investigators and to clean the ward registros and stuff. and we have jsut done it in two areas so far, but wow we had so much success and saw so many miracles and blessings from it, it was amazing and we are expecting to have big things happen here in november. the mission is going for a thousand baptisms for the year, and we are at 830 right now and so we are close and have alot of big plans for november and for the things that could happen!!! i am really excited and absolutely am in love with the work right now. i am so anxious to get out of the pensh and go work and to get things done and to get our investigators to progress and to help them to answer the questions and problems they have with things. it is so much fun now and always something different!!!

in the week we are teaching this girl named carina, she is 23 and has a 4 year old daughter and lives with some inactive recent converts. we are helping the family come back to church and carina to accept the gospel and come to church and be baptized on the twentieth of this month. she is really nice and good to teach. but she has about a 55 year old boyfriend that she just moved out from living with, and he has been coming over to see and talk to her and to eat and stuff. and he is a totall jerk and sad sad man. i have no idea how he got carina, she is pretty cute (and has all of her teeth), and this guy is UGLY!!! he has like black hands from smoking so much and woking on cars and pretty sure just not taking a shower in the last about five or six months. he has holes all in his pants, shoe lace for a belt and a shirt that has one button and has stains from everything on it, nasty greasy hair that is falling out and is almost balled and missing teeth. but the other day i had been praying alot for carina and what to study in the morning in my personal study and i first went to preach my gospel but didnt find much. her questions are about baptism and the rusurrection and spririt world stuff. and after not finding anything in pmg i went to the book of mormon and was flipping through the pages and stopped accidently on 2 nefi 9 and just started to read a little and the first three verses i read were i think 21-24. and just like talks about all of her questions and was amazing. really guided well. and i told my comp and we went straight there first thing in the morning so we could teach and hopefully not have the boyfriend show up. so we went and i shared it and shared my testimony and she then said, ¨so in order to enter the kingdom of god, i need to be baptized..., and i can follow the example of jesus and be resurrected?¨ YES YES YES we said so happy and we went into explain more about it and then HE walked in puffing his is cigarret and just acted like he owned the place and ruined the spirit and becasue of him sunday she could not come to church and was just satan in the form of a man i swear. he has the worst arguements ever and i have dropped so much cane of him in scripture and in testimony and still he is so dumb!!!

we have this other investigator family that we found, they are awesome!!! and there are about 20 of them that live in the same house well different houses all conected to the dad/grandpa. and all the nieces and nephews come running when we go over and they sit and listen and love us. we are really working on the grandpa he is the clave to everything. if we can get him to church and baptized then everyone will follow and they will all do the same. and we had a great lesson with him saturday night and he said he would get baptized if it is true and wants to come to church and get to know it. so we will see, i was super excited. but on sunday he never showed up and so that was a bummer but it was cause his daughter had a baby so he had to go and stuff. so it is understandable i guess. but he is a good guy we just need to find him more and help him a liffle more. and get him to church. but he is good and we are really trying to help him alot.

i loved your email though dad thanks alot for that. you always have good advice and know what to say. it was a great email and i am really excited for this patient of yours and the things that could come with her. wish i was there secretly to teach her and to help her out and stuff with you and lisa. i wish she was my investigator. she sounds like she is golden now and ready to really learn and stuff. i cant wait to hear what comes of it all and stuff. remember to be a better listener then talker that is the important part and to ask inspired questions... questions that come from the soul, that she will answer and teach herself. but i know you two will do great with it and i am really excited to hear all about it.

this month of october also we put the highest goal in consejo at the beginning of the month and we got our goal.we did not win the cup, but we broke the record of highest goal set and met in a consejo by a zone!!! so that is cool. it was 14, and we got it. but tomorrow we go to mendoza again to have consejo and we will put an even higher goal, and shock everyone. we are thinking between 18 and 24 is what we will put. and with our plans that we have, we think we will meet it and break it big time and break the record in the mission of most baptisms in a zone in a month. we are pushing to break 30 or 40 in november. it will be a month of monso milagros!!! i am super excited to see what happens. keep us in your prayers and pray for us to have more faith and the faith to have miracles in our companionship and in our zone.

dad i strongly appreciate your advice and your help on everything. i have learned to rely on the lord and his will more then i ever have in my life and i cant go away from that now. i dont even want to think about coming home. it scares me to death and gives me sick feelings. so for right now thanks for all of your help and advice but for now it is enough and all i need. i just want to be focussed on the work and not have coming home early or even the thought of coming home come in my mind. but i will have you know those trips sound super fun and i am super excited. the lake powell one if i come home the time i would be assigned would not be till about sept. 28 so i will miss out on the lake powell trip most likely on the new houseboat. but everything sounds great and i would love it all, sounds like a blast!!! and the ideas and help you have for school and stuff sound really good and would be greatly appreciated!!! i love you all so much and am so happy to have you in my life and all mean so much to me and all you do for me. the prayers are heard and felt. keep up the faith and good work.

con amor
elder bigelow
tu favorito argentino