Sigo

well this week was a good week. we had our last zone conference of our mission! that was crazy and we had to give our going away testimony. i never thought it would come time for me to go home and to share my testimony at conference like that. but it happened. and it was good. it was also pres. avilas first conference and things were different then when president lindahl was here. the zone conference started at 9 in the morning and ended at 730 at night! with lindahl it never went that long. it always ended in the early afternoon after lunch. it was good just really long and no one was paying attention anymore and just wanted to go out and work and stuff. but it was good.

we had a good week with our investigators and people we are helping to come back to church. a few inactives came on sunday and even shared there testimony in sacrament meeting. so that was good and it was a good spirit felt there. we also finally got a bishop called in our ward and that was a good change and thing that has needed to be done for the past little bit. it was a really good sunday though. lots of poeple shared there testimonies and we were also able to get the elders quroum really excited to go out and do there visits! with the help of the stake president and us they are alot more animated and we have a better plan set forth to help some future leaders of the church that are currently inactive. so that was exciting. things are gong really well. i am having a blast!

just a little update i have thought about it and i know that the desire at home is for me to come home and eat at home. and i love the idea! and i was thinking if possible we could get together all as a family and friends if wanted and who ever really wants to come, that we could have a BIG bbq! a typical USA summer bbq, with hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, watermelon, cantalope, and some orange jello with the cream from lisa and maybe a red one also with berries in it. and a texas chocolate cake or rubarb pie or both for dessert.... if possible. that is what i would think would be good and would enjoy. just to have my two cents worth put in.

i am really happy to hear about work dad. roberts and i have been praying for you and the business that it will pick up and things will go better for you. i have felt good this week and hope that it keeps getting better! thanks for everything. i miss you all and love you all alot!

con amor
elder bigelow

familia

well this week was a good week. the mission is slowly starting to change and rules are being put in and new things are being enforced it is odd.... but things are good. we are still trucking along and having a great time! we had a pretty crazy guy come to church yesterday. someone we talked to in the street that week and he came. he is a mess! super depressed! but a good heart. has alot of problems with drugs and alcohol. but is looking for god in his life. he left alot happier then when he came and felt good he said so that is good. there is slow here in mendoza now. the mountains are completely white and it is super cold! but now to many times in my life can i say i saw and walked in slow in august... so that is crazy! just got to keep a positive attitude about everything! i really do love it here though! i called and asked for permission to go to san juan to give a special made missionary plaque that says ELDER MAXI MALLA on it, to give to maxis mom. but i did not get permission for that. and i asked to go to san luis to say by to my converts and the bishop there. but tampoco did i recieve permission. so it was a little hard for me to accept. but i understand the reasoning and will be happy with it. i will just miss these families so much leaving here. i did not think the last time i saw them would be the last of my time here as a missionary. but its ok.

thanks for all the info dad! i loved it and it was somethings i had on my mind. something else is i want to go down the stairs with my group of elders i am coming home with. so dont come to the gate, please.... also like you said dad i do need a job! especially to pay for all the things you are telling me i will need to pay for. which i love and am fine with. but any ideas for a job i could have asap upon arrival of getting home....? like start applications and stuff now and get it asap when i get home so i can start working and fill my time and make money to pay for my things. when we go to powell we probably wont take the houseboat out of the marina right... since no one will be on the lake that week and stuff.... since there is not really the need for it out. just to be on in and disfrutar it! haha

well i guess i better get back to working! but i miss you all and love you! nos vemos pronto estoy emocionado a verles! les amo

con amor
elder bigelow

son capos

well i am glad to hear that your sunday was such a great day for you! it was a pretty good day for me as well. i gave a talk in church again because it was mission sunday. but i am positive it was not as good as the lindahls talks and stuff. they are so amazing and such capos it is so great! i am so glad you finallly got to meet them and get to know them a little more and feel the powerful spirit that they carry with them in the words that they share. i cant wait to see them when i get home. and dont forget to stay in contact with them and have them come to the homecoming because bishop rasmussen is planning on it. he emailed me again. and it will be really good for all the young men in the ward i think to hear his words and stuff and get excited to serve a mission. that is really cool you talked to hopkins parents i am living with him after the mish and from moncurs parents he is great! i had a reallygood time with both of them and learned alot and saw some reallygood miracles with them both.and the hermana deem you saw, i started the mish with her so that is cool im sure several people there i would have known im sure that was alot of fun for everyone. the miracles thathappen on the mission are so incredible it is so great! and has helped me to realize the miracles that happended to me before the mission as well.

this week was good. it went by super fast! it was crazy! but the highlight of the week was for sure celebrating roberts birthday which was on friday. i made him breakfast in bed. we had a killer lunch with one of our investigators and met up with elder davis and his comp and had a dinner with some members and ate cake and celebrated there. it was really good. and interesting because the daughter of this family served a msh in LA, Cal. so she speaks perfect english and is going to provo on aug. 14 to study at byu and so we told her a little about utah and the byu scene and what there is to do. that was fun. it is crazy there are several people going to byu this next year from down here. haha and even more looking into trying to go asap. but that day was super fun. i got roberts a big book on mendoza he has been meaning to buy but we never have had time so i bought it for him one day when i was on divisions. i pulled a dad... when he had it in his hands about to open it, clearly being a book, i told him it was a basketball.... haha just like dad always does with gifts like that.

the rest of the week was pretty good. a little tough to handle because like all of our investigators fell. and ruth did not make it back from chile because the pass is filled with snow anbd the bus cant make it through. and just everything bad with our investigators that possibly could have happened, happened. so we have to go back and work hard this week and try to get them back on the right track this week. thats just what we do as missionaried and what we have to do in life. when the going gets tough, just got to get going! when we fall just get back up again and try harder the next time.

im glad that things are going well for everyone. things look to be getting way fun. little malachi looks like a champ with his blonde hair... but then again who is not a totall boss with blonde hair... haha im glad to hear everyone is getting pretty excited for me to be coming home. i am getting really excited as well. i cant wait to hear what the plans are that the family has and what is waiting for me. i am way scared but as i have learned on the mission, change always is good. if you take it with the right mind set. i would love to hear some of the plans and things that the family has and stuff. put my two cents worth in. even though i will be totally happy with whatever!! haha

but i got to go. i love you all and miss you all and am so thankful to have such a great and awesome family that is so supportive and understanding of the gospel and a help to me to grow and be a better person.

con amor
elder bigelow

New President

i got online on manday and saw that no one had wrote me so i did my own thing and no one wrote elder roberts either so today we are on to write the families we have back at home. happy fourth of july to everyone. it is a little late now i know. but im sure everyone had a pretty good one. here it was cold and no one celebrated except for us gringos who went out to a cafe and got a cup of hot chocolate some empanadas and watched to uruguay vs. peru game with some of the elders from peru in the zone. so it was good all and all.

well we have our new president know. it is president and hermana avila.... they are from buenos aires and are about 15 years younger then the lindahls and are here with there kids. two girls and a boy. and another daughter who is married and another son who is on the mission in washington state. president avila was formerly a 70 and now is our president. his older brother was the mission president before president lindahl got here. i have had the chance to meet and talk to him and his family. and they all are really great!! he is an amazing man as well! really energetic and excited abuot he work. and his wife is really funny and always making jokes. elder roberts and i both dropped and came to the area of mendoza centro. it is one of the biggest chapels in the mission. and the area is in the heart of mendoza capital. it is a big area. but really cool. i like it alot. everyone is really rich so it makes it a challenge for us to teach people. but we have some really promising leads right now and are preparing two people we found on our first two days of working here for baptism on the 23rd.

all the members are really excited to have us here. we are trying to get everyone excited and do some reactivating that president lindahl asked us to do. everyone wants us to come over and visit them and eat with them. and they all have friends and families they know that they want us to go out and visit. so we are really excited for what is to come.

last week we went through the area book looking for people to go by and teach that elders taught before and we found this lady ruth. that is friends of a member. so we went to talk to the member about her and he told us she is in chile now but wants to be baptized. the roads are closed from chile to argentina due to snow. but will be coming back soon. right then his computer made sounds and it was her on skype!!! in chile!!! so we taught her over skype and she is one of the people that has a fecha for the 23rd. she will be back like on the 15th we hope. so that was one of the coolest lessons i have had on my mission is over skype to someone in chile!! haha

the area is really great though i am really excited to be here these next some odd weeks finding and helping people. i have alot of energy and excitement for the things we are going to do this transfer and i know we will baptizel. and it is known to be one of the toughest areas in the whole mission and is really rare to get a baptism. but WE ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE!

but i hope all is going well. i will keep sean in my prayers! i hope he does ok and is stayng strong. the temple will be missed by you guys. but you still will be able to visit and thngs im sure. its one thing i miss the most is gong to the temple. two years without is tough. but thanks for everything. have a great week i love you all and miss you.

con amor

elder bigelow

chau lindahls

June 27, 2011

well it is the last week of the lindahls! but it will be good to get a new president and his family that is coming with him. it will be a new fun experience i think. i am now starting my last transfer and i think once we get the new president in the offices we will be dropping and going on a special assignment to try and reactivate some fallen bishops in the mendoza stake and get them back because they are stake president material. president lindahl feels that way and so do we. so it looks like we will be going to the ward in mendoza centro. where the president of the mission always lives and be in that ward to help him. but out of the offices and in the field more so we can help these men in this stake come back and be the leaders that we know they are.
this week was really good. sounds like it was maybe not quiet as good as a dramatic fun first lake powell trip bu still alot of fun. really cold but we are doign our best to stay warm! we went to san juan and worked with fowler a little bit and got a couple more people baptized for him. it was good. i visited the malla family. they are doing good. i found out that maxi was burried in the shirt and tie that i gave him.... that was cool to hear. they are doing great! really recoving and understanding the whole thing.

roberts did beat me a little i guess in wrestling he usually does but his was cheap he had me in the bathroom and not much space and i tripped... haha but get in and talk with his family go out to eat. they say you are all going out next week. put in a good word haha they have a cute daughter i hung out with before the mish hahaha

i will try and get all the info i can from the lindahls and let you know about it.
have a great week thanks for everything! i love you and miss you!

con amor
elder bigelow

puntos en mi rodilla

June 20, 2011

thanks for the letter dad! it was exactly what i needed to hear and what i needed to kinda help me through with the passing of maxi. i talked to his family a couple times on the phone and they were just a wreck and couldnt even talk it was even hard for me to talk when they would all start to break down in there tears. i will for sure get in the information of him to go to the temple and do his work for them when i get home. this week was pretty crazy! it started with me getting stitches in my knee from falling while wrestling with elder roberts before going to bed on tuesday night and i fell into the bath tub in the pench and hit my knee on the tile soap holder in it and it exploded. in all the laughter of what happened and trying to figure out how to fix the soap holder i pulled up my pants to see my knee and say it was split wide open! haha so we went to the emergency room and i got stitches. dont worry the mission has a deal with the hospital where i went and it was free. little sketchy but free. and it is healing really nicely. almost all the way sealed up now. we gave capacitations all week and talked for about 4 hours straight everyday except saturday. it was exhausting! but really fun, i got to see lots of missionaries as they were getting ready to have there interview. i will have mine this week and i am looking forward to it very much! my very last with president lindahl cause he goes home the first of july! he told me he would be honored to give his testimony at my homecoming on the 28th of aug. he just needs the time... because bishop rasmussen emailed me and asked if he would. so i asked and he said he would be honored to but needs the time so please let me know asap!

well in the week of interviews we drove up to san juan in the mission car to do the interviews and stuff. it is wierd to be in a car again and driving and things. but it is fun. i dont drive much typically someone else drives. but still it is wierd. we went up with the lindahls and that was such a great experience!! i loved it. i learned so much about being a good business man and missionary and alot about there lives and things. it was alot of fun. elder roberts and i shared our whole story with themn and they loved it. and we made some plans with them to someday after go out on our boats and go skiing and boating. and lots of other plans for the future. it was alot of fun. they always make me ffeel so loved and noticed in all that i do and just make me feel like a million dollars. it is so great.

i came back and had to pick up a new misionary on friday that came late from guatamala because of visa problems. so that was fun and we also went out and worked in the area we technically have for us on saturday. elder harvey and i did, because leal and roberts stayed in san juan to get somemore people in the water in san juan. but harvey and i found some miracle pople and found this great family of 7 that all accepted to be baptized and honestly were the family of gold that we have been looking for in our own area and been working with in all the other aeras of the mission. so that was way cool. really fun experience to know that now it really is your own investigator family. i also found out where the ditoto family is the family of gold i found last year in alvear and how they are doing. they are good. still going to church and doing well. they are sick but doing really well. i wrote them a letter and will be trying to go out and visit them this weekend if i can find the time to do it and to get out of the office and out of areas that are struggling a little bit. im sure i will be able to find the time so i am excited to see them and how they are.

happy fathers day dad. i hope you enjoyed that letter. it sounds like you did and i really meant all that i put in it. i would really love to get a tag if at all possible! it is all my dreams had been about the past like months then i got the news i did not draw and they ended and it killed me! so that would be great if we could get that hook up! also i forgot to let you know that YES I AM IN for the texas game!!! please! i cant believe you even asked haha and hopefully the tcu game which i hear will be in dallas cowboy stadium..... also keep in contact with the roberts family. you need to continue talking and becoming friends! haha

thanks again for all you do! i hope trek went well for sean. and i hope powell goes well for all of you this weekend! you will be in my thoughts and i will be wishing i was there. but loving it that i am here! good luck with the house boat! thanks for everything again! i love you all and miss you all!

con amor

elder bigelow

Maxi

June 13, 2011

well this week was good. we wetn to san luis and i got to see my converts and work with them. it was great! i loved it! such a good time and they all are doing so well. i was so happy almost emotional about some of the things they are doing and how strong they are now. we had dinner with thme and i believe silvio tried to get you on face book or something dad to talk i guess. but it was great.

so you remember maxi from a couple of weeks ago in albardon that i baptized.... just an amazing 21 year old kid that i became the best of friends with and grew to love so much! such a special kid and i know in several occasions teaching him the veil was taken away and i could remember him and how i needed to teach him. whether it were in dreams or in our actual teachings that we had with him. i felt it was so vital for us to be with him at all times and helping him and getting him to baptism. i felt such strong impressions of it. and we did after hard work and lots of praying and fasting and many things. he recieved the priesthood last week and this week was going to be getting a calling in the ward. but last night i got a little disturbing phone call that told me that he passed away...... he was coming home on his motorcycle and was in a accident and was killed..... it was really tough for me to take this morning calling his family and talking to them to help them and to calm them down. he was so great!!!! we had so many goals and plans for him to serve a mision and go to the temple in a year and i told him i would try my best to make it here to go with him and would help with whatever he needed for the mission. i loved this kid so much! he was my best friend... my brother.... it was hard for me to take in. but i know where he is! and i know why i felt what i did to get him baptized. it was his time. and i know he is taking what he was taught to teach there in the spirit world. he is with my mom. he is with others and helping them. i feel sad but comforted and satisfied knowing i was able to take part in that saving ordinance. keep the malla family in your prayers.... (pronounced maya)

other notes. one of my converts from godoy cruz from the begining of my mission i got to see yesterday and help to give him the melikezidek priesthood. he was also a miracle! he is doing great. roberto is his name. that was a really special time of my mision.and i got to see my first ever convert who is still active and has gone to the temple and is doing great! and so many other converts and members. because we had an area conference yesterday. it was good. i think a temple might be coming to mendoza in the near future. we are one of the only missions in our whole area. uraguay paraguay and argentina that is still improving month by month and year by year and one of the highest! we are doing way good and the area presidency loves it. and they talked about it on saturday night in a leadership meeting with bishops and stake presidents.

life is good. i am loving it. woking harda nd going through the trials that come our way bu doing really well. i am glad you got in contact with the roberts family. me and him have become best friends and i know there family lives a little of a rock star life. we got to hang out with them. i am sure they will be good with hanging out the friday we get back and go boating. talk to them and stay in contact! it will be super sweet!

i hope all is going well.i miss you and love you! i appreciate you all so much and all you do! keep up the good work!

con amor

elder bigelow