When in doubt....PRAY

Dear Family and Friends,
Another transfer has come and gone! Luckily Sister Kentner and I get
to stay in Rupert for another transfer as Sister training leaders. So
happy! I love her, and I love Rupert, so basically I am just living
the dream. This means I have 3 transfers left........can't even
believe it. I am excited to keep working and being a missionary and to
sprint to the finish line!

Monday-Good p-day! We went to a members house with our zone, and
played volleyball. They had a court inside their house, it was
awesome! That night we had a lesson with the Mussaw's (less-active
family), and we taught the plan of salvation. We had a really great
discussion about how Christ is the center of the plan and we can't
make it back without using His Atonement. Really amazing lesson. And
the best part is, they have been back to church 4 Sunday's in a row!
So awesome!

Tuesday-District meeting! Our last one of the transfer. The focus was
finding through members, and we talked about a lot of ways that we
could help our members, it was awesome! Also there is a new Easter
initiative that the church is doing. It is a 2-minute video about the
hope we have because of Christ's Resurrection. It is AMAZING and is so
powerful. We have special pass-along cards, and we are supposed to
share it with everyone. If you haven't watched it, watch it right now!
Here is the link: HeLives.mormon.org :)
For our district lunch, we all came back to our members house and
cooked a big breakfast for lunch. Super fun! I also got to go on
another exchange with Sister Pohahau. Long story short, some sisters
had to go home, and so there was a few emergency transfers, so Sister
Pohahau got a new companion, and she hadn't been on exchanges yet that
transfer, so we got to go on another one! We were in Rupert, and we
got to meet with our recent convert Lori who is finally coming back to
church. She has been through so much, but she is so strong, and it has
been amazing to work with her. Super awesome day!

Wednesday-Exchanges with Sister Ramsey! Another dream exchange. She
goes home on Thursday! So crazy! We had an awesome last exchange. We
were in her area in Burley and so we just walked and worked all day
long! I love that girl so much! She has been there for me always, and
she is really like the older sister I've never had. We had a really
great conversation about the kind of person we want to be when we get
home, and we set some goals of things we are going to change and make
better after the mission. It was awesome! Miracle of the day:So Sister
Ramsey was in charge of the keys, but normally her companion is, so we
forgot the keys and locked ourselves out, but the landlord was able to
let us back in. Then we got the keys and left again, and Sister Ramsey
had the keys in her hands the whole time so she wouldn't lose them. We
came home to drop some stuff off, and the house key was not on the
ring. So we backtracked and looked everywhere on the sidewalks and in
the street. No luck, and then I had this overwhelming feeling come
over me...."when in doubt....PRAY" So we stopped right there and said
a prayer. Right after that, we went to a members house to use the
bathroom and Sister Ramsey was searching through her bag, and there
the keys appeared! The keys were NEVER once in her bag that day, it
was so amazing! We had the faith and we relied on Heavenly Father and
he answered our prayers. I have never had a missing key found story,
but it was pretty awesome!

Thursday-Weekly planning day! We had a lot of appointments with some
less-actives we just met, and they went really well! We had our Book
of Mormon class as well, still not a lot of people show up, but the
ones that do love it, and I love any extra time I can get to study the
scriptures. We studied in Alma 25-26. Super awesome missionary
chapters! Alma 26:27- "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were
about the turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said:Go
amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine
afflictions, and I will give you success." So amazing to know that He
is always there, and we can rely on him. We just gotta endure this
life and he will bless us so much!

Friday-Mission Leadership council! Our meeting went from 8am-4pm.
Really long day, but really awesome meeting. Our focus for this month
that we will train the missionaries on is improving our contacting
skills with sharing the new "Because He Lives" initiative. I am
excited to renew and refresh my contacting skills and to be able to
focus on talking to everyone around me. It is really easy to lose the
"missionary fire" sometimes because you are so used to doing it by
now. But it is important to always be learning and applying and
improving everyday, and to stay enthusiastic about the work. That
night we had the most amazing lesson with Corey. He has changed so
much and he is so passionate about the gospel! He is working on word
of wisdom issues, but he has this absolute knowledge that God will
help him overcome his addictions. It was a powerful lesson, and we are
excited for his baptism at the end of this month!

Saturday-Progress records and correlating! Lots of paperwork. But the
best part was the women's meeting! I LOVED how focused it was on the
family and strengthening the family. It made me really excited to
apply all those things into my own future family. I love how they
talked about being a mother or a father as the most important role in
this life. Some of my favorite quotes:
-Do not bury your testimony. Hold onto the truth and light you already
have, and learn to listen to His voice.
-Our duty as daughters of God is not only to learn from our own trials
and challenges but to learn as we help others through theirs.
-Life rarely goes as we have planned.....but if it is the Lord's plan,
it should be our plan.
-The Lord needs us to be brave, steadfast, and immovable warriors in
defending the family.
-Peace will never leave us as we serve others.

Sunday- It was a great Sunday! We got to teach the 5th Sunday
discussion in 4th ward. They asked us to teach about missionary work,
but instead of making them all feel guilty and trying to get them to
do missionary work, we took the approach of what they could do in
their lives to be more in tune with the spirit so that they could be
prompted. We talked about having a willing heart and being ready to
respond to promptings. Missionary work is not this separate thing that
we do that takes a bunch of time and effort, but it is a part of our
everyday lives. Missionary work is going about doing good, and
following the spirit, and simply just reaching out to people. It is
really simple, and I am determined to be one of these members when I
am not a missionary anymore. This is the Lord's work, and we can't
expect to do it without him. Get on your knees and ask for the heavens
to be opened and the opportunities will come, I promise. It is amazing
to be a member of the church, and we need to reach out and share the
love!
Quote from church:"If you give Satan one inch, he will become your ruler."

It was a great week and I am excited for this Easter week and for
conference! Remember how important it is to really listen, because we
are literally receiving counsel from our Father in Heaven. Hope
everyone has a great Easter! Remember Christ and His sacrifice for
you, and remember the hope and peace that comes from his Resurrection.
I love you all! Happy Spring!

Steak and Shrimp

Dear Family and Friends,
Another week has come and gone, so crazy! We had a really awesome, busy week!
Monday-Volleyball with the zone! Super fun! It must have gotten
intense though because I was so sore the next day. Gotta work on
getting in better shape haha. We had a lesson with the Mussaw's about
the Joseph Smith story and each of our own conversions. It was
awesome, and I love them so much!



Tuesday-Super busy day! We had a district meeting in the morning, and
the theme was, "Reach out and Rescue." I love being spiritually
edified everyday! I love being able to focus on the gospel everyday,
and not have all the worldly distractions all around me. I have never
been closer to the spirit and it is the most wonderful feeling! We
spent the rest of the day making visits to less-actives, and we tried
to make contact to some new people that the ward wanted us to go
visit. Unfortunately afternoons are tough and nobody is ever home!
That night we had our 4th ward relief society birthday dinner. The
theme was "Daughter of a King." They had an amazing program all about
our individual worth. Loved it.

Wednesday- Day one of a special leadership training our mission had.
All the zone leader, district leaders, sister training leaders, and
trainers got together in Twin to get trained on how to become more
Christ-like leaders. It was SO good and I learned so much. I learned a
lot about charity, and sometimes that is what someone needs. Even if
no work ever gets done, some missionaries just need your love rather
than you forcing them to do something you don't want to do. Definitely
a hard lesson to learn, and something I continue to work on each day
is to love people more and to reach out and be there for them. After
the meeting, we all got to go on exchanges with other leaders! I got
to be with Sister McCallum and it was so much fun! We got to relive
our week being companions. I love her so much, and we had a wonderful
exchange. I learned so much from being with other leaders of our
mission. Great day!

Thursday-Part 2 of our leadership training. We all came back together
and discussed what we learned being on exchanges with other leaders.
It was one of the best learning experiences I have ever had and I am
so grateful for it. The rest of the day was weekly planning and
appointments. We got to teach Cory and he is progressing so well! I
love seeing the change that the gospel makes in peoples lives. It is
truly incredible, and it is just another confirmation to me that this
really is Christ's church and it is true! In Book of Mormon class, we
read about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies burying their weapons, and it helped
me want to be even better. There is so much we can learn from reading
about the pride cycles in the Book of Mormon. Just like in those
times, Satan is so real and so present in our day. We need to hold on
to the word of God and do all we can to stay strong! Conversion takes
a lifetime, but it is something we need to work on everyday of our
lives.


Friday-Exchanges with Sister Anderson! I love exchanges. Sister
Anderson is from Las Vegas and she is amazing! Such a great
missionary. We had a day FULL of appointments and not one of them
cancelled. It was wonderful. We have been working a lot more with
members and we have been teaching the lessons to a lot of them. We met
with the Chard family to teach them, and they told us so many success
stories in their own missionary work. They said, "The moment we
stopped caring what everyone else thought of us, and just decided to
be happy is the moment that everything changed and we were able to see
the Lord's hand and he placed so many people in our path." It hit me
that a lot of times our problem is that we aren't willing because of
fears we may have. If we have a willing heart, and we pray for the
courage to help people and share the gospel, those opportunities will
be given to us. Be willing and try!

Saturday-paperwork/meeting day. Someone fed us steak and shrimp for
dinner. Literally NEVER had that on my mission so it was a treat. :)


Sunday-It was the 4th Sunday so that meant meetings all morning! I
love it though because our wards are so involved and they want to
help! In church one message stood out to me; pleasure is different
than happiness. Pleasure can only be temporary, but happiness can be
eternal if we do the things that will bring us happiness. And only the
Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring us eternal happiness! There was a
Sister that just returned home from a mission in Korea and in her
homecoming talk, she talked about how she saw Heavenly Father's love
manifested in all the experiences she had in Korea. So true! The rest
of our Sunday was spent at appointments with less-actives. I love the
people that I meet here. I love every single one of them! We were fed
steaks again! So happy! Haha.

I can't even believe that it is the end of March. That means
conference is coming
up. Start praying now that your heart will be open to the messages
you need, I promise conference will be a whole new experience if you
prepare for it. Life is wonderful and I love being a missionary. I
love Sister Kentner and for the wonderful companion she is. Thanks for
all your love and support. Have a great week!
Love, Sister Bigelow

Loco-moco

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was a good one! I am pretty sure the time is on hyper-speed.
It just keeps going faster and faster and I am loving every minute of
it!
Monday- Best P-day of my life. We got to go golfing!!!!! It was the
first time in like 2 years so it was pretty exciting. Our entire zone
went to the driving range. It was a beautiful day, and I was surprised
at how fast my golf skills came back. Everyone wanted me to teach them
haha. It was the best! That night, we had an awesome Family home
evening with a less-active family. Great day!

Tuesday-Super productive missionary day! We had a district meeting in
the morning where we learned more about working with members and our
ward councils. Then we went out in the afternoon with Sister Dayley.
She is a member in the 2nd ward and she is incredible. She is a cancer
survivor, and she has so many health issues, but she is always willing
to come help us and do missionary work! The poor woman had surgery a
week ago, and she still took us out to do visits. I admire her and her
family so much, and they have become like family to us. She took us to
meet all of her less-active sisters that she visit-teaches. And we
have return appointments with all of them to either do service for
them, or to start teaching them! It was amazing!
We also got to go out with Sister Hemsley that night. She is another
amazing member. She took us to a lesson with a part-member family that
we just started teaching, and the lesson went really well! New
investigator!!! WHooooo!!!! Sister Hemsley always also feeds us ice
cream when we have bad days:) I love her! That night we had our 2nd
ward relief society birthday dinner. It was cool because one of our
less-actives was in charge of making all the food, and so her and her
family were there! It was all focused on the temple and the blessings
that come from attending the temple. They showed a cute little video
with everyone in the wards wedding pictures. It was a good little
reminder for me of where I am headed and what my goal is. Oh and I
also got sunburned today! Yay!! It was a beatiful day and we were able
to walk a lot. So happy that the sun is shining:)
Wednesday-We had exchanges, and I was able to be with Sister Taguba!
Sister Pohahau trained her and so it was fun to see her. I got to ride
a bike, and it was so much fun! I forgot that I actually really miss
biking, it is a great workout and it is really fun. We just rode our
bikes, and contacted people all day. Sister Taguba is an amazing
missionary and I learned so much from her about hard-work, diligence,
and humility.

Thursday-Weekly planning day! We planned for the whole afternoon, and
headed off to appointments that night. We met with one of our
investigators, Cory, and we were finally able to set a baptismal date
with him!!! He has been listening to the Book of Mormon while he
drives truck and he said that it has changed his life. He said, "It is
a wonderful feeling to have Jesus in my life." So simple, but so true.
So excited! We are starting to see some miracles happen. We taught our
Book of Mormon class as well tonight.Not many people come, so we
decided that we are going to make flyers and raid the entire town of
Rupert so that we all can enjoy the Book of Mormon!

Friday-I got to go on exchanges in Burley with Sister Pohahau! It was
amazing! I love that girl so much. I am so blessed and grateful to
have been her companion and to still be really close with her. We just
contacted people all afternoon. Our dinner was at her ward mission
leaders house, and Sister Pohahau made us a traditional Tongan dish
called loco-moco. It is rice topped with a fried egg, spam, pineapple,
and gravy. It was actually really good, and I enjoyed trying something
new and authentic. Then we had the weirdest night I think I have ever
had....
We knocked on a door to contact someone, and he opened the door
completely naked, and to add on to the weirdness, his dog peed all
over my leg haha. The next person we contacted was totally drunk and
he kept telling me how beautiful my legs were. We got out of there
real fast haha. And our whole night consisted of really weird
experiences. I guess that is just the mission life! We had a great
laugh about it all. It was a really fun day!

Saturday-the usual get stuff done/meeing day. The best part of the day
was that Joey got baptized!!! Do you remember Joey? WE is the one we
found awhile back, but we lost his ward to some Elders? So it wasn't
our baptism, but we got to go support him and it was amazing to see
the progress he had made. That night we had our adult session of stake
conference. They talked all about the importance of councils, and
something that stood out to me was the importance of family councils.
It definitely gave me some good ideas of what I want in my future
family.
Sunday- We had stake conference! And Sister Kentner and I were able to
participate in the choir. It was a lot of fun! There were all sorts of
topics;enduring trials. family history, women in the church, the Book
of Mormon, the 2nd coming, and Jospeh Smith. But the overall theme of
all those talks was the joys that come in an etnernal family. They
talked about how reading the Book of Mormon together as a family will
bring joy, and that we need to prepare with our families for the 2nd
coming. They talked about how we all need to be doing family history
together because family history is all about making families eternal.
It was really cool! I just realized how it is so important for me to
prepare now for my own eternal family.
The rest of the day was spent making visits and appointments with some
less-active families. It was wonderful!
I am so grateful for the amazing week that we had and for all the
miracles we were able to see. We were also able to meet a TON of new
people, mostly part-member families, and set up appointments with
them. It was definitely a successful week. I am so grateful to be here
as a missionary. and to be serving, It is the greatest calling in the
world. Thank you all for the love and support! Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Bigelow xoxoxoxoxo

I can't do my yoga with Darth Vader over here

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was a good one! It was super busy and it was wonderful!
The week started off with an awesome zone conference! I love zone
conferences because they are so inspiring and they help you want to be
better. We talked a lot about the Atonement and how we can be better
at praying to use the Atonement more fully in our lives. Sister Curtis
said, "Sincere prayer changes lives." That is so true! I know that it
has changed mine. Sister Kentner and I got to do a little role-play
demonstration on how NOT to do companionship inventory. Comp.
inventory is when the both of us talk about how we are doing and what
we need to work on to be more unified, happy, and obedient. So we made
the role-play hilarious! Our topics were:
1. "I've been waiting all week to tell you this..."
2. Being Self-righteous
3. Too nit-picky
4. Not helping your companion improve.
Here is an example of what NOT to do....
Sister Kentner- "Could you please back me with both hands instead of just one?"
Sister Bigelow- "Well then could you stop taking so long in the
bathroom. You are only supposed to take 2 minutes and you take 2
minutes 35 seconds. This is the Lord's time Sister."
Sister Kentner-"Well then you need to stop breathing so heavy during
morning exercises. I can't do my yoga with Darth Vader over here."
Sister Bigelow-"Well at least I actually match my clothes everyday.
Everyone knows that polka dots and stripes don't go together."
Sister Kentner-"Why are you so stinkin' happy when we say our
recitations in the morning? It's so annoying!"
Sister Bigelow-"Well why do you use ever color of the rainbow to mark
your scriptures? This isn't nursey anymore!"
*rolls eyes and turns head* haha
It was a pretty fun experience and I definitely learned that to be a
good companion, you have to be really humble and willing to improve!
President Curtis addressed us on the law of mercy, law of justice, and
law of grace. It is amazing to know that we have such a loving
Heavenly Father and a Savior that came and atoned for our sins, but
that doesn't mean that we can take advantage of it. It means that "we
are saved by grace after all we can do." We have to do our part, and
we can't just expect to sin, and then do something good to make up for
it. We have to REPENT and CHANGE and try harder than we did before,
and then can the law of mercy and graze come help us and change us.
It was a great way to start off the week! We had exchanges on
Wednesday with Sister MacDonald. She is actually from Sacramento! She
is awesome, and we had a blast. Poor girl has been sick the whole
transfer, so I could totally relate to her. We did what we could, I
helped clean up their apartment, and it was fun!

This week, we actually had TIME to try to find new investigators! We
didn't find any this week, but we met a ton of new people! All day
Friday was spent contacting people and talking to people outside. It
was wonderful, and it just reminded me of my purpose as a missionary
and why I am out here. And, it has been so gorgeous here lately! All
week it was in the 60's and 70's, and I almost felt like I was back in
California! More people were outside, and so we have had more
opportunities to talk with people and meet new people. We spent most
of our day Saturday doing the same thing as well. We have also been
meeting in members homes, and teaching them the message of the
Restoration. In Preach my Gospel it says, "Teaching members the
doctrines of the missionary lessons will help increase their faith and
desire to do missionary work more than anything else you can do." It
has been amazing to be in members homes and to teach them and to
commit them to do missionary work! We have started to see little
miracles happen as our wards get more excited about sharing the Gospel!

So pretty much life is wonderful. I love being a missionary so much!
Sister Kentner and I have had a blast, and we have worked really well
together as missionaries, I love her a lot. I love that I have the
opportunity to serve my fellow sisters, and all the people here in
Rupert. It has been amazing. Enjoying every minute even with all the
headaches:) Thank you so much for all the love and support you give
me! I love all of you so much. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Bigelow xoxoxoxo

He looks dang good!

Dear Family and friends,
This week was a good one! It was SO busy, and it was awesome! The week
started out with MLC (mission leadership council). All the Zone
leaders and Sister Training Leaders get together to discuss the
upcoming months focus for missionary work, and to discuss
needs/issues/policies. It's a pretty fun meeting! This months focus is
"The partnership in the hastening of God's work." It is all focused on
how we can work better with our ward councils, and ward members to
hasten the work of salvation. I am super pumped about it, because that
is truly the key to success, is working through members. We were able
to implement it into our wards, by meeting with our bishops and ward
mission leaders to discuss what we can do to help the ward. We are
super excited to be able to work more effectively in our wards and to
see miracles happen.

We got to go to the temple this week!!! It was amazing, it always is.
I am so grateful that our mission gets to go every once in awhile. It
is really a blessing. This time it just gave me so much strength to
keep pushing forward and it gave me a lot of hope and peace that I was
searching for. I love that you can go to the temple and find answers
and feel of God's spirit so strongly. It also reminds me of the
incredible missionary work that is going on, on the other side of the
veil. I feel very blessed to be teaching the Gospel here on earth.
There is no greater call!

Our week was full of lots of appointments and meetings. We didn't even
have time to find any new investigators! It was kind of a bummer, but
it was awesome to be able to meet with lots of our less-actives, and
recent converts. If our challenge is that we are too busy, we are so
blessed! Haha. This week, we have a lot more time, so we are going to
hit it hard and contact everyone!

This week, I have been thinking a lot about what the law of
consecration actually means. I think it means laying down everything
you have on the altar of sacrifice, and giving it all you can. As I
have applied this in my missionary work, I have seen miracles happen
in my area, and in my own personal life and testimony. I realized that
if the Lord is going to bless me with all that I am asking him for,
then I first have to show him my best effort and diligence. I realized
that this work has nothing to do with what I want, but it has
everything to do with what the Lord wants. As soon as I realized that,
and submitted myself to God's will, my very nature was changed. I was
obedient because I wanted to be, not because I felt obligated to be.
It has been such a blessing in my life to be able to rely on Heavenly
Father and to trust in His plan and in His will. The Gospel is amazing
and it has changed my life and my heart. Mosiah 5:2-"The spirit of the
Lord has wrought a mighty change in our hearts, that we have no more
disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

This week, we also had an area/regional conference in Idaho. It was SO
good. Elder Nielson of the Seventy spoke about changing, becoming, and
being converted. He shared the story in Alma chapters 23 and 24 about
the Lamanites who converted and buried their weapons of war and
rebellion. He asked the question, "What is your weapon of rebellion?
Are you willing to bury it, so your heart can be changed?" food for
thought. In 3 Nephi 9:13 the Savior is inviting us to change! He can't
force us to change, and if we want to change we have to first make
that choice, and then rely on the Savior to help us. Neil F. Marriott
(love her) spoke about getting rid of the contention in our lives and
letting the Savior fill our lives with love. She asked 3 questions:
1. Who has God given you to love?
2. Who could benefit from my love and charity?
3. What one thing could I do to show more love?
She also said that when we feel contention, or anger, we have to pray.
Sometimes we don't have the love we need to give, but Heavenly Father
is the source of all love and he can give that to us. Elder L. Tom
Perry also spoke. Did you know that he is 93? He looks dang good!
Elder Perry stressed the importance of trust and confidence in God and
in one another. He said that to be trusted, we must be responsible for
our actions. It was way good. I love hearing from our leaders because
they are so inspired as to what we need to hear! Also, Sister Marriott
said that Idaho is her favorite place:) It reminded me of when
President Hinckley used to say, "Try a little harder to be a little
better." :) That is all we can do is try! The Lord does not expect
immediate perfection, but he does expect immediate progress and he
will help us get there if we just ask.

It has been a wonderful week! I am excited for this next one to keep
doing God's work here in Rupert. I am so thankful for the many ways in
which the Lord has blessed me and given me trials and lessons to
increase my faith. Wouldn't be who I am today without Him. I love you
all! I'll be praying for poor Camille's broken arms. Have a wonderful
week! Happy spring-ish :)
Love, Sister Bigelow