baje...

well i got a call from president lindahl last night and i am going to be dropping as a zone leader to go back up to san juan to help an elder that he wants to become a leader. i will be going to the other zone in san juan from where i was called chimbas. and i will be in an area called albardon. and my companions name is elder windget, he has six months on the mission and is from idaho. thats all i know about him for now. but president lindahl told me he has alot in store for me. but from hearing my wants and desires and his, this is what is going to happen for now and maybe next transfer something more will be coming my way. but for now i am very excited to drop and have a whole new energy about me and now i will have alot of fun!!! i am going to miss san luis and the members and people here ALOT but i now this is what i need to do right now. it will definitly be a very very difficult goodbye for me. my zone leader will be elder roberts from alta, my friend. so i am super excited about that and it will all just be really good.

this week was a really good week. we had a baptism on saturday and i did the baptizing and i also did the confirming on sunday. it was a really good baptism lots of members came and were all excited for it. great time!! on friday night we got permission to go with the priesthood of the ward out to a lake and have an asado with them and a spiritual thought and stuff. kinda like a fireside but with just the elders and high priests of the ward. it was alot of fun and we all go to know each other more and had a blast passing the time together and the spirit was very strong there. but even more special was right before we went to the church to meet up with everyone and get in the cars to go. we were walking and felt we needed to go to the complete other side of our area from where we were and as we were working around there we saw the bishops moms house. who is a very strong and active member in the church. we decided that we will pass by say hi and see how things are going for just a quick second. we got there and went in and she asked if we needed something or why we came by. we told her that we were not sure ourselves but we felt we needed to drop what we were doing and come... she started to cry and told us that the missionaries had not passed by her house for about 20 years just to visit and see her. she told us that she knows we are called of god and guided by his had. because she had been praying and needed help and asked for him to send it to her. she has been strong in the church for a long time. for many years and now feels very stressed and weighed down with things. her husband was excomunicated a little over a year ago and is now getting baptized again and just a lot of things that i will not go into details about. but she had been feeling weighed down and stressed and sick. and said that the reason that we came was to give her a blessing.... it was one of the most powerful blessings i have been apart of. i new that i was guided by the hand of the lord and doing his errand. my companion gave the blessing and every word that came out of his mouth was the exact word i was thinking of and had in my head. the hermana sobbed from this blessing. afterwards she told us about her conversion story and all the blessing it has brought to her family where there have been several missionaries and leaders in the church and everything. it was a very special moment for me and to be apart of.

also on sunday we were able to give silvio serantes the melikezidek priesthood. i was not able to baptize him but i got here right after his baptism and baptized his son and have been there for alot of the steps and he is doing great. what a special experience to see and be apart of to give someone that you have seen in the bad and the good and the great change in there life and in the life of there family from the gospel. and to give them this great power that god has priveledged man with here on the earth. it is so amazying and i had the tingles that whole time and tears were shed in that blessing. it was a very special experience for fowler and i to see and be apart of.

on another note i heard from one of my converts in godoy cruz in trapiche from last year. he to has the melkezidek priesthood and is preparing to go to the temple next month!! so that will be super cool i loved to hear that from him and that he is doing good. it is roberto, he has a crazy conversion story as well. it is amazing the change that has come in his life and the happiness he has found from coming closer to our savior and be guided by the holy ghost. so great!!!

other then that nothing to new or crazy going on. all is well. this week i will be leaving and going to chimbas in san juan. back to the blistering heat!!! where i think i will be finishing my mission out at. all is well, my health is great thanks for the thoughts and prayers. my toe is doing alot better and i am very happy. i hope all is going well for you, i miss and love you. have a great week.

con amor

tu mendocino

elder bigelow

semana con enfermedades

well this week was a good week. it was a little tough cause eveyone in our pench came down with the cold, one at a time. and so that was tough to sleep and to work with along with my toe killing me all week. but some how we got through it and now all of us are healthier and happy and doing good. the really problem continued with the hermanas when last night a big fight broke out between all of them and and we got a call with one of them crying not being able to speak really and she speaks spanish so even harder to understand her. but we finally got out of her that one of the hermanas was in this arguement and fell against the wall with her eyes rolled back and slid to the floor... she had fainted. and would not wake up and was have a very hard time breathing and all of them were freaking out!! so we stopped the next taxi that passed by us and got in and went to there apartment to calm things down and give the hermana a blessing. we got there and the hermana had woken back up and was now in bed resting. so we went in and gave her a blessing and it was really spiritual and after we talked to the other hermanas as calm and nice as possible but still dropping cane on them for acting like such little girls and acting like there age. one of them is 32, another is 25 another is 24 and he one that fainted is 23. like please!!! and that was the last phone call crying we got for the week of like 10 others that we got during the week. and today it continued till just barely we had to go buy a bus ticket so that the one who fainted can go home tomorrow and end her mision a week earlier. and it is sad cause she is not and was not even the problem. she started the same time that i did. but it has to happen i guess... it sad but what can you do... the problem leaves next week. so that will be good. but it sounds like i will probably be dropping and going somewhere else.

aside from that, we had a great week. it is true that with sacrifice and prayer comes great rewards. even with being sick and a super painful toe and my comp being sick we went out and worked this week and had a great week. we found some really amazing people and continued working with some of the people that we had and continued to help them to progress. gustavo, our miracle continues to be great. he lives out side of our area but we are still teaching him casue the ward he would be going to the bishop does like having baptisms and is making members go inactive. but this week we talked about joseph smith and he told us he believes it ad knows it to be pure truth and that we have need for a prophet today and said he knows that he is a true prophet today thomas monson. and the bom is true also. it was amazing and he has not smoked, drake, or done cocaine all week. and feels alot better for it to. he could not come to church yesterday cause his family owns a big bread factory and he had to work... but he is still good and doing great.

then we found this 20 year old kid named nicolas. he is awesome!! he lives all the values of the church and looks and talks like he is a missionary or an r.m. he is way cool. and i gave him the book of mormon and was explaining it to him and how important it is to me and in my life and he was rubbing the cover and started to cry. and told us he never has felt this burning in his chest and his heart pounding like that and said he knew it was true. he said right before we knocked the door he was talking about the holy ghost and the role that is plays... how it works if it is the god of all truth... and testifies of the truth. and BAM we knocked the door. he said he wants to get baptized and stuff so we are working on all that right now with him. it was awesome!!!

we also found some other really great people that accepted to be baptized and elder fowler and i put the goal to baptize 10 people next transfer if we are together just in our area. it is amazing cause we have the people and we made plans to work even harder every day. to leave earlier and come home later. to take full advantage of our time and do everything possible to force god to bless us from our labors. it is going to be great... but the AP´s came to work with us this week. and we talked a little about our futures in the mission. and it is sounding like i will probably drop as a zone leader, then the following transfer go up as an assistant to help bring in the new president and help the mission continue on during that change. which would be alot of fun i think and a great experience for me!!! i am not how sure i want that or anything. i want to stay here with fowler. but i know some things need to happen and would be good. i dont know what will take place but we will see. and i will keep talking to them. really i dont care what i do. just want to work and do whatever to help. if that means to be an assistant so be it.... if it means to drop and help a troubled elder or tough area so be it.... or stay as a zone leader. whatever is what i have just started saying. i dont have anymore preference cause i know what i want i probably wont get. haha but working with the APs we had some good success and saw more miracles and had alot of fun together i was comps with one of them and the other i know very well. so it was all a great time.

well that is about it for this week. all is going great down here with me. i am learning alot and feel i am growing everyday. please let me know as soon as possible what you can about school and that stuff. we have an apartment found and all that good stuff going well. one elder was just told he may not be able to get into UVU so please let me know what is happening there so i can figure something out of what i can do. i got the card and bought a new camera thankyou!! yeah it would not work, so i had to go to the atm and in my checking account it said i only had 175 dollars. so i checked my savings and i think that was where all the money was so i had to take it out and pay with cash. bu it is a good camera, very similar to what i had before. thankyou for that. i still have alot of questions about school and all that stuff. it kinda worries me, i know i dont need to be worried. but it is something on my mind how i will do it all... but its ok, things will work out. if you could let me know what is happening that would be great.

i love you all so much!! your in my prayers daily. i hope things continue to go well for you all and that you are all happy and safe and healthy. any new news on the family like babies or names or anything like that is alway appreciated. love you have a good week!!!

con amor

elder bigelow

this week was a pretty hectic week here in the province of san luis in the zone of san luis... we went to consejo and had a pretty good time. i found out i will be coming home august 24th. and i found out that i could become secretary to the president and an assistant if things work out and it is something that i want to do. i am not sure if i want to finish my mission in the offices is the only problem. and i am a little tired, after having now been a leader for a year in my mission. but i dunno we will see i will still be talking and expressing my ideas of what i want and how i want to end but we will see...

we also talked to president about the problems we have been having with the sisters in the zone not working, fighting, being sick, calling us for nothing, telling us we are wrong, crying and etc etc etc.... so we were going to do a change in the pensh and called and made it and two were happy and other two no and got way mad. and called president and he got mad and like things got all crazy. so now things are the same as before but president said they can do what they want. he does not care anymore and if they want to go home he will buy the next plane ticket out. one already is going home 4 months early... so i dunno it is way dumb but that caused alot of drama in the zone. i wanted to work with women... not little girls is the last thing i told them.

today i got my toe operated on. i talked to the doctor of the mission and stuff and she to the area doctor and this is what i needed to do. they took out my entire toe nail!! wow it was a doozy!!! i had shots given and stuff and didnt feel it much. but now it kills!! but hopefully the pain killers and prayers and blessings will calm the pain and i will be able to get back to working quick.

yesterday we had a huge miracle!!! you dont even know. i loved it and it was way special and crazy for a 20 year old person to take care of but me and my comp did it and will be having another baptism in two weeks.... so at church yesterday. after the sacrament was passed. a man walked in and said brother, i need to speak with someone... so we both got up went out in the hall and talked to this man. his name is gustavo. he said he needed to talk to someone before he committed a serious crime... he then told us alot of things that had happened in the last two weeks of his life... where he was in mar del plata in buenos aires sailing cocaine... he came back and got home sunday morning and at that time his mother ran at him with a knife to stab and kill him. he pushed her aside in self defense and she hit her head and was knocked out.. then his sister came and he hit her... in fear he got his moto and left to go kill himself for what he had done... so he went through an intersection on a red light to get hit by a truck and die. but the truck stopped and did not hit him miraciously... then some how he found himself infront of the chapel. and remembered that eight years ago he talked to a member and they said if you ever need help come to church and you will get it. and remembered a talk by gordan b. hinkley about the family and THE SACRED TRUTH... we talked and taught him and helped him and he told us that he wanted to be baptized.. wants to change his life and have a new start.. we talked alot about that... and he decided to do it and will do it all... we then talked about the book of mormon. and i have never seen anyone in my life react to it like he did. he is very studias about the bible and knows it very well. when we explained the b.o.m. he loved it and was so happy to hear about it. he knew it was true when he touched it and promised to read it and learn it and to charish it... so i gave him my engraven marked leather one.... cause that is all i take to church sundays. it was so amazing to see that and the change that came over him and the peace and relaxation he had... it was so amazing and such a testimony builder. we talked to him for two in a half hours during all the classes and things. and he left with a smile on his face and desire to change and his heart already had changed. was going to go home fix things and organize his life. he was going to kill himself before and decided he would go home and shoot himself since the truck did not hit him. it was very intense and yet so so so spiritual. it was amazing. i had been talking to fowler about miracles that have happened on the mission the day before. then i prayed to see miracles cause nothing had been going our way. and BAM that happens!!! it was so great i loved it.

well i hope all is going well for all of you and everyone is getting healthy and doing well. i love you and miss you.

i also hope stuff for school is going alright. that i am getting registered. i would like to take fun classes like bowling or something. and not kill myself. i hope austin and ben are working with dad on this. so please keep working on it. and let me know how it is.

con amor

elder bigelow

otra semana

this week we had a really good week. we had three more baptisms on saturday. it was really good. i was asked by one of the boys if i would baptize him, he wants to be a missionary and you dont even know the HUGE smile that comes on his face whenever he sees us come walking down his dirt road to visit with him and his family! it is so special!! i love it. i dont know what it is but the little kids here seeing there smiles and hearing there laughs just make my day so much better and make me so much happier!! and the other two were really excited as well and overall it was a really good weekend to see all of that.

we then got some references from some members to go teach people around where they live. and we found a really interesting man that had alot of pride and told us that he was his own god and did not need anymore then that is his life. and was just really confused!! nice guy... just does not understand much on the basis of god and religion. hopefully someday. then we went to this other house and the guy and his family moved. but this lady that moved in with her family let us in and we taught her and she was really cool. understood the stuff pretty well. she does not understand scripture talk so we had to explain some things to her from 2 nefi 31. about the doctrine of christ and how it is baptism. but she picked it up and accepted to be baptized. but we need to help her to come to church. everyone here accepts fechas, but its whether or not they progress and come to church is if they will actually get baptized.

this week we are in mendoza. we have zone leader consejo. which means i can finally get my toe looked at by someone a little more professional then i am. it rains a TON in san luis, and the roads turn into rivers and my feet get soaked!! and i dont think that is helping it to much. but i am tryiing this thing that silvio and his family gave me which is what i was doing kinda. but it is to soak it in hot water with alchol. then dry it and but alchol directly on it to kill the infection. so i have been doing it a couple times a day. but it does not burn at all. so i dont know if i do have an infection. but yeah that is how my toe is.

the other day we also went out fishing!! we went with silvio and his boys. he had no idea what he was doing and his takle box was a totall joke. i had to rig everything up for them all and teach them how to cast and use the poles. which were made i believe like right after huck fin died... haha but it was alot of fun. i think we would have caught some fish if they would have had some patience and not reel in right after casting out. and the boys would quit playing in the water right by where we casted out and stuff haha. but i finally stole one of the poles and ran over to a little cove and casted out and like 7 min later i had one hooked. it was like a 15 inch fat carp they said. but it looked nothing like the carp i have seen. but we cut it open and used parts of it to fish with and caught a couple smaller ones and then we ate it and left. we were getting eaten alive by moskitos. it was horrible i swear i go bit over 1000 times. my body hurt in the shower from itching so much and slapping the moskitos to kill them off of me. it was alot of fun. if you were with someone who knew more of what they were doing and possibly a boat or conoe. wow i think you could just kill that lake. no one here has any of that stuff or has any idea really of what they are doing or how to do it. no joke one of the fishing poles was a bamboo stick with a string attached to the end. and they claimed fish have been caught on the thing. but i did not really believe it.

last night was one of the biggest rain storms i think i have been in yet in argentina. it poured all night!!! and just destroyed. and there was thunder and lighting. i swear two bolts of lighting hit our house. the whole house shook and lit up and it was super hard!!! it was unbelievable the amount of rain that fell. then we got up this morning got all of our stuff ready and got on the bus to take our 4 almost five hour bus ride to come here to mendoza. so now we are in mendoza to have consejo and to start off the new mission competition we have every year in march... with college basketball. we have march madness. it is way fun and if i stay in san luis i think we might be able to win it.

i agree with you dad. ether is a great book and you can learn so much. this current time of reading the BOM again. i really understood jacob. and there is SOOOO much to be learned in that book. and in ether as well and mosiah in king benjamins last talk. it is so amazing that book. it has changed my life so much in my time here on the mission. i admit i never took full advantage of it before the mission. but i wish i had. i did not take full advantage of alot of things. especially in my great family. i look back on things and mom dad everyone. i appologize for the dumb things i did and being such a pain at times. i really do realize it must have been tough with me at times and i am sorry. i love you all so much and you are all such a big blessing in my life. i am so happy we can all be together forever and god has given me such a loving family in this perfect gospel plan. have a good week. your in my prayers.

con amor

tu mendocino

elder bigelow