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