Pictures

photos at the dinner we had. ENJOY. us in the mission car driving and the dinner with the lindahls

divisiones siempre

another week of alot of work and crazy traveling and planning and helping with all the missionaries int he mission. we went all over the place. but it was really cool i went down to alvear. where i was last winter and i saw alot of my converts and leaders of the branch down there.and it still was as cold as i remember. but one of my converts is planning on going to the temple in augost and wants me to go with him still and we are trying to work that out. so he can get endowed and go on his mission here in a couple months. it is way cool. i will never forget finding him and helping him. his family still is not receptive to the gospel and does not want to hear much of anything that we have to share with them. but he is still strong and doing well. i gave him some more shirts and ties to use for church and the mission when he goes. it was alot of fun. and a family we found and got baptized the week after i left is WAY strong and doing really well we had lunch with them and that was great. they have still remembered me as the first ever to come in there house. that was alot of fun. lots of good memories from good old southern mendoza in alvear.

in all of our capacitaciones the elders have been good and receptive to what we have to say and all are willing to prepare for the new president to come in. so that is really good. i hope that they take in the council we have for them. it really is for there benefit and will help them to have alot more success. we saw a good difference in the zones that we went to visit this week and they are working weell and starting to apply what we taught. tomorrow we have zone leader consejo and that will be interesting the first one i will be leading and in charge of. always i am just sitting as the zone leader and listening to what the AP's have to say. but now i am preparing it and staying up late to get things all ready. last night we did not get back to the apartment till almost three. verifying and getting all the things ready we could. and we still have alot of things to do tonight and tomorrow before we start. but it will be fun. we have some really good things planned and the leaders are excitecd and ready to learn.

we were on divisions the other day also and we saw a ton of people standing outside and tons of smoke going up in the air (which is common, argentina burns all there garbage everywhere) and as we got closer a fire truck came flying around the corner and we saw that it was suprisingly enough a house that was burning down. and everyone was watching it. not doing anything... haha they never see that here since all the houses are made of cement or adobe. but this one went up and was burning good. it was crazy! then we had lunch with a huge bolivian family and in the smallest most humble of houses. but they are such nice people and so willing to give. you just should have seen us in that house. we barely fit all four of us missionaries. but somehow we did it and had an awesome lunch with them that was good and fun.

last night was really cool. we got invited over to president lindahls house to eat dinner with him and hermana lindahl. and it was the best meal i have had in argentina. we had roast beef, mashed potatos and gravy!!!!! ahhhhh!!! man it was so good. a real sunday dinner, i have missed for such a long time. then we had the most amazing carrot cake i have ever tasted in my life! we had some really good discussions about life and the mission work and dating and marriage. lots of stuff i had burning on my mind. and president is such an inspired man. gave me so many answers i was looking for and really helped me to feel a little more at ease on alot of things. i am so grateful to have such a great man as my president and the opportunity i have to work so closely with him and hear and have his council is just great! he says he will come to my homecoming if i am in contact with him and if i let him know and if you let him know also when he gets home by email or by calling him. you really need to meet him! he is great! he will continue to help me after the mission i know it. has helped me to put good goals and meaningful goals.

i was a little jealous about the rubarb pie. i was talking about it last night at presidents house telling them how good it is. so i am a little jealous. but at the same time not to much since i know i cant have any here. if i were home and could not eat any i would be even more jealous. but since i wont have the chance for any for awhile, its not a big bother to me. i hope you have got in contact with the roberts family. we want to go up to deer creek that friday we get back with both our boats and have a good old time up there then go to his house that his family owns in midway for lunch or dinner or something and we could cook some good argentine asado for everyone! it would be alot of fun. so think about it and let me know what yall think.

lots of things have changed on the mission. things back home. and big changes in myself.i still obviously am alot of the same. but inside i have changed alot and have alot of different thoughts and goals and desires in life. i see things in alot bigger perspective now and understand the real importance of the gospel in my life! i am really sorry for kent and marci, tht must be tough. they will be in my prayers. everything will work out i hope!

well i hope that everyone has a good week and is diong well i miss you all and think of you often. stories are constantly shared about you all with my comp and people i show pictures to. they think you all look beautiful and love the pictures just to let you know.

con amor

elder bigelow

ps elder roberts says whats good? and hi to don,... haha and if he can be roberts dentist

milagros

well this week was a really crazy week. working towards getting this record for the month of may. we started off really bad and was looking to be a record low. but we brain stormed and prayed and started working a little bit with a plan two weeks ago to try and recover. then last week it was all or nothing. and we really saw some big miracles! it was amazing! i had some of the most spiritual experiences i have had in my mission and in my life. i trully know that angles were with us and helping us through our faith and the prayers that took place.

we worked alot in mendoza capital with the zones here and helping them to get people in the water and saw some great miracles take place there. but the really miracle took place as we prayed to know where we should go for the weekend to help. and had a few places picked out and thursday morning it was so clear that we had to go to san juan and work there again. we called the zone leader to tell hima nd he said it would be a waist of time that the people were not going to get baptized. but we went anyway and didnt really care what he said we felt we needed to go. we got there and went a worked for an hour in the mornign and got one person that was not gong to get baptzed committed to being baptized on sunday and they were way happy. then in the afternoon it came and was great!

we felt we needed to go to an area and work with two elders and help them who had two people that were there but did not have the desire to be baptized. and in another area taht roberts went to that also had a couple people to be baptized. i went to one that seemed a little less likely but i felt reallyl good about it and i knew taht miracles were going go come for us and that these people would be baptized.

first we went to theis lady name lidia... she prayed and knew that the book of mormon is true and been to church a couple of times but did not want to get baptized and said no to the elders a number of times and felt no need for it. so we went there and we talked and i told her how i felt we needed to come and talk to her and i told her about the temple prayers an the mission prayers and she called me a liar to my face and said i was jsut trying to obligate her to be baptized. i explained that was not the case and that she could know for her self and stuff. and she knew that god would answer her prayer but not tell her to be baptized this weekend. i testified and it was more powerful then any other tesitmony i feel i have given. i told her and promised her taht god would answer her prayer and tell her to be baptized. that if she had faith it would happen right then and there!!! i promised her as a servant of god that he is ready and listening because i trully felt that way!! we invited her to pray right then and there and she would get her answer if she was to be baptized on sunday. so we knelt down and she prayed and told god she had the desire to be baptized if it was his desire of her. and asked father, do i need to be baptized on sunday........ and she was silent for a few minutes..... and BAM the spriit hit so hard and we all started to cry and she thanked god for the answer and said she would go and be baptized on sunday knowing that was the desire of him. i trully felt the presence of the spirit or angels that were with us in that moment for her to get the answer and to soften her heart to hear and feel it. and she did get baptized yesterday.

after we went to visit another girl of three years investigating. she could not recieve permission from her dad. and the elders never had met the dad. and right as we got infront of the house the dad pulled up in his car to pick her up from the mothers house. and we talked to him and he was against it still. but we some how got him to give permission, and to change days of the week to visit his daughter from saturday and sunday. to monday and tuesday which worked better for the mom anyways. it was way special and lots of tears int hat familiy as well. it was really special. and we saw many more things taht were just amazying this weekend. this week we have lots of meetings to help the missionaries prepare for the new president and it is going to be crazy but i am really excited. we dont get much sleep. last night we were up till 2 30 verifying. but it is a blast and the spirit with president lindahl is amazing!!! i learn so much in our meetings we have with him.

i better get going. but thanks for everything. GOD DOES WORK MIRACLES i have seen so many and felt the spirit so strong in my time here on the mission i cant neglect my testimony that i have recieved. i know he lives and this is HIS work!! have a good week. i love you all. thanks again.

con amor
elder bigelow

ps get in contact with the roberts taht will be great.... and any word on the deer tags....

una nueva llamamiento

well this week was a crazy week! but alot of fun anyways! i got sick, we had our baptism, and i got a phone call from president lindahl....

first i got sick and thought i was going to die! but thankfully i was able to get it all out of my system. it sucks we are so far away from everything that it is kinda hard to do what is needed so i just talked to the doctor and got things figured out over the phone. i was throwing up alot. i ate something way bad!... but i am all better now. it was just funny dad said i hope your health is good. and just last week i got sick. but i am better and dont have to worry about anything.

i did not know if i was going to make it for the baptism and i was the one who he wanted to baptize him. but i was feeling alot better friday for it and i was able to do it. it was a really rewarding experience! he is 21 and has had to give up alot. but has never been happier he told me. and when he came out of the water he started crying and gave me a huge hug and thanked me about a million times. and his family and everyone there was all teared up as well. it was really special for me and for all of us. and when we were in the bathroom changing he asked me how i felt when i got baptized and i told him and he said he felt the same. and that he feels like he is on the top of the world and can do anything. and has never felt so much happiness and joy. it was so special for me. for one of my last days here in albardon.

president also called me, and told me he knew i would do whatever he asked of me. and i told him i would that he can always rely on me. and he was happy to here that. and said that i need to pack my bags and come down to mendoza to help him to end his mission and be his assistant and to prepare to bring in the new mission president and help him to run the mission.... haha and i will be with my old enemy new best friend elder roberts from alta! i am so happy and it will be a great experiende! but it is short and that is all for this week.

thanks for everything. i love you and miss you! have a great week.

con amor
elder bigelow

la ley

this week we had a good week. we worked good. and president called us to talk to us. and it sounds like elder williams will be going home even earlier then the rest of us. at the beginning of august. so you all can go to his homecoming. he lives close! so that would be cool and he wants you all to go really bad. but i will let you know more about taht when it gets closer. and it sounds like i will be leaving the area and going back to be a zone leader. and help to enforce alot of new rules that the area presidency has put in. and to probably finish my mission as a zone leader president told me. but as we know anything can happen.

this week we had to go and to teach maxi. we have had a hunch he has a problem with the law of chastity with his girlfriend. so we went to talk to him and told him about and was shocked. and so we put a cita with him for another day to explain it more throughly and with more time. so we did and had a great lesson with him. it was a little bit of a cane drop for him. but it was really good and he still came to church and on frieday will be baptized! we are way excited! and he is doing really well and excited also. he will be a great member and really strong! i can see him serving a misison here next year. and being the future bishop of albardon! he is a huge stud and doing all the right things right now in his life and is finding alot of happiness that he has been looking for. its was special the family of his always texts him and reminds him not to smoke or do anything bad and to remember his baptism he has. its way special for me to see everyone doing this for him and the excitement that everyone has. i have grown really close to him and we really connect well and am way excited for him. another super cool baptism!

we also are teaching several other people and they are doing well just not progressing how we can see them. they wont come to church cause it is cold and it is a long travel. so that is difficult. but i know some good things are coming for the area and that we have some good investigators if they will only come to church. we have reactivated this one family that was baptized two years ago and they are really cool. the girls go to seminary every morning at 6. and the mom now has a calling to be a sunday school teacher. so that is cool and to see them doing well and coming back to church and how happier they are. i had to give another talk yesterday in church. my third one in this area. its so wierd, people get scared and dont come when they get assigned talks. and we get asked to do them for 10 to 20 minutes. so i have learned that really well how to give a talk and to teach off the fly here on the misison from all my areas and alot from here in albardon.

i am really appreciative of the prayers and thoughts that are givin by the ward and the families. it means alot to me. i have had some problems with food or something not sitting well or something i really should NOT have eaten. but i eat it anyways and i know that the prayers of blessing me with health and strength are felt cause randomly the bad stomache pain will go away and i will be feeling alot better. and i know it is from the love and the power of prayer from everyone back home. so thanks and i greatly appreciate it and hope for it to continue till the end of my mission. and i know blake ziser will feel it as well and love it! he has alot ot look forward to. argentina is a great place and the buenos aires misions always do well. the mendoza mission has managed to top most all other missions in argentina the past two years! so its not the best misison in the world like mendoza but it is close... haha but who is to brag.....

life is good. i am loving it! and having a ton of fun everyday! let blake know i say congrats and that it is the best time he will have in his life. i didnt believe it before.... but i am a strong believer of it now! it trully is the BEST two years! i love you all and miss you! take care.

con amor
elder bigelow

feliz dia de la madre

ell that was really good to talk to all of you yesterday! i had some good laughs and it sounds like everyone is doing great! like i said it still has not hit me that this was the last phone call home. and im sure it wont ever it wont hit me that i am even going home till i am in the plane probably. its just wierd how i have adapted to life here and i feel it is home and that i am never leaving and i dont ever need to leave... but im sure it is that way with most missionaries i dunno for sure though. i hope it is not out of the ordainary. life is good. today will be pretty short since i talked to you all yesterday.

but just so you know we had one of our investigators come to church yesterday. his name is maxi, he is 21 and just a way cool kid! not a typical argentine kid, has his head on pretty straight for the most part. smokes a little, and has a girlfriend. but we are helping him and he is going to get baptized the 21 of this month. and i know he will be a great leader in the church and a great missionary! im way excited for him. i did divisions last week with elder roberts in my area. and we had some really good heart to heart talks and have become the best of friends! and we taught maxi. and that night we put the fecha down and committed him to baptism and i took his cigarrets from him. and i will have another convert that had to quit smoking. most of them have had to quit smoking in my time on the mish. but we did a fast for him and gave him a blessing that he will be able to quit and he has not touched one since! and is happy and excited and says he has not had any desire for them! im way excited for him and know it will be great and he will become great in the church!

well it was great to talk to all of you yesterday! i miss and love you all! have a great week! happy mothers day to everyone i couldnt say it to!

con amor
elder bigelow

feliz dia del trabajador

well thats cool you went to saint george... i am currently in saint john... haha sounds like it was a fun trip and i hope that sean got his work done and was also able to learn a few things and changed a little aobut his form of thinking and doing things for the better. i know lisa is hookin him up with friends to have and hang out with. and hopefully she will do the same for me for girls to date and things haha

well this week went great! we had a pretty good week. we went to mendoza for zone conference my last one with president and hermana lindahl. that was kinda wierd. but it went really well and i learned a few things and had a pretty good talk with pres. lindahl. and he says he would really like to come to my homecoming and stuff that it would be a special priveledge for him and stuff. so that made me feel really good and happy. i also told him that you would like to go to his homecoming and to meet him and stuff. so he said he will give me the information before he goes home and i will pass it along to you all. and then you can go and hear him speak and meet him and talk to him. i am pretty sure it will be in provo.

also this week we did divisions and it went well. we had some reallyl special experiences and i was able to have some fun outside of my area and just really work with all my energy and not have to worry about my companion so much and all that. so it was a really big relief for me and alot of fun! we taught some really good lessons and the spirit was really strong and we also were able to give some really powerful blessings that gave me alot of ganas to keep going and to just keep working. even though it was super super cold and the wind was blowing and i didnt bring a jacket or anything i just had my sweater vest. but it was alot of fun and really rewarding.

one of our investigators(alba) told me the other day that she needed to talk to me but away from her kids and stuff. the kids all are members and she has been an investigator for three years but cant be baptized cause she lives with a guy and is not married. and cant get married till he gets a divorce from his previous wife. which he does not want to do... it is a really complicated situation. so she tells me this and i stepped outside to talk for a second with her and she told me that one of the kids living at the house she cant take anymore.... but does not know what to do cause it is not her kid it is the kid of the guy she lives with and neither him nor his wife want him around. and alba is the only other option but she cant take care of him cause she has no money for that. and he is a terrrible influence on her kids! it really made me think back to when i was home and the things taht were happening then with chris and how his desicions are not the best or for the best influence on anyone.... and the other problem was that her boyfriend figure that lives there. will not allow her to go to church anymore or listen to us anymore. but the thing is he is never around always working or buying drugs and women and bad things. he is a terrible person to her, with the way he treats her. so we left after she told me that and i told my comp and we studied and prayed about it. and went back the next day and we had some cool personal revelation! i shared about the way i have been raised and the problems that have occured in the house with my siblings and what has happened with them and even though it was hard what had to be done was they had to be kicked out. if they did not want to work, study, or obey the rules of the roof.... and so they left. and with her boyfriend, if he does not want her to be happy and do the right things he cant be the right guy. we shared about nefi when he cut off labans head and how it was better one man die then the curruption of a whole nation! better that two men leave the house then the curruption and fall of a whole family! was how we applied it. and my companion and i both decided what we want in our families and how we need to be with rules and things.

i grew up thinking all the time that i hated the rules that i had and i would never put them with my kids or if i would even have rules for them in general. but i know now it was for my better and that i will have those rules and maybe even more strict of ones so that my kids dont screw up as bad as i did in the same ways i did or anything like that. so that they will be happier and better off. i thought back to rebellious times when i wanted to leave and go live with my mom and i fought with lisa and dad. and i feel really bad for that sfuff. i was in a home where the spirit dwelled and that helped me to grow into a good person. jsut like in church, the more obedient we are the happier we live and the easier things are... the more obedient i was at home the happier i was and more fun i had. thankyou so much for all you did for me and helped me. sorry i was a pain at times but i regret it now and really see the happiness i had and how easy things really were for me. especially when i was obedient.

yesterday was the day of the worker and is the only day all year where there is no bus´s at all! so we had basically no one in church. but one of our investigators maxi... he came and that was a way good suprise he came in the cold on his moto. the testimonies that were shared were super powerful and he loved them and felt the spirit of them. it strengthened him he said and was really happy he came. but super hard day to work cause there was no busses to take us where we needed to go cause our area is huge! but it was alright. i cooked a roast yesterday also. i have made a few throughout my mission. i am prettly well known for cooking in my penches. so i cooked one for my comp and some brownies. he loved it and it was one of my best. i switched things up a bit from what i usually do. but it worked out for the better. we got to talkin and is it true that missionaries get money to help with there schooling at there homecoming.... cause if so, that would help me out a ton and would really need the help! but i dunno if that is true or not and really happens....

well i dunno if you are planning on calling me or not for mothers day next week.... but if you are. i will be in the chapel with my comp and you can call me at 730 in the evening argentina time. i dunno what that is there but you can figure it out... and call me at 0054 264 491 2568......

that is the number for argentina, then san juan, then for albardon.... so call be about 730 in the evening time on the argentina time. if you are planning on calling. if you dont call, that is fine. i will just email you and monday and see what happened or what we can do.

well i hope you all have a great week. and taht all is going well for you! thanks for everything, keep us in your prayers. they are felt and needed always. love you all and we will be talkin

con amor

elder bigelow