Steak on a stick

Dear Family and Friends,
Happy late 4th of July! Hope everyone had a good holiday! Rupert's 4th
of July celebration is CRAZY! Who knew such a small town could throw
such a good party! Haha. It lasts the entire week before the 4th.
There is this historic place in Rupert called "the square." It is
literally a square with a park in the middle and businesses
surrounding it. It is really cute! So the whole week of the 4th,
restaurants and churches set up food booths all around the square,
almost like a fair or something. They have music, and bounce houses,
and all sorts of cool stuff. We spent a lot of the week there trying
to talk to new people and stuffing our faces. Steak on a stick was the
bomb. Haha.

On the 4th, we just spent the day with members. It is just so
unproductive to try and teach people cause everyone is celebrating and
with their families. We got fed all 3 meals that day! #foodbaby. We
were able to go watch the parade with some members and it was fun.
Just BBQs and stuff all day. For the first time, the spirit really
witnessed to me of the gratitude I should have for this free country.
Even though there are a lot of bad things happening right now, I am so
grateful especially for the freedom of religion that we have. I
wouldn't be a missionary here if it wasn't a free country! So many men
and women have given their lives for us, and God has definitely
blessed us to be able to live here. It was a really humbling
experience!

Best part of the week....we set a baptismal date with Brenden!
Whooo!!!! It is awesome because in Sister Rhiner's training we have
been focusing a lot on the baptismal invitation and have been
practicing it a lot together. And then we got the opportunity to
extend one and it was so powerful because we were both prepared and
bold with it. He is getting baptized on August 1st and we are so
excited! It will be my last weekend as a missionary, so I get to go
out with a bang!  He has been getting a lot of backlash from his
family who used to be members. But he said, "I just told them that I
have faith and I know it is true no matter what anyone else says." I
can't even imagine how hard that would be. But he is truly on of God's
elect and he has been so prepared for this. His wife is so cute (she
is already a member) and is already planning the meal for after the
baptism haha. It is an occasion to be celebrated! They came to church
and are loving learning more about the gospel. I love being a
missionary!

The rest of the week was spent doing lots of service! Rupert is having
record breaking heat right now, so it has been fun doing yard-work!
Haha. The amazing thing is, normally I would probably complain and not
want to do it, but I just love serving these people no matter how
sweaty I am! It is so worth it. My patriarchal blessing reminds me
that I need to give of all my talents, time, and ENERGY to building up
the Lord's kingdom and serving those around me. That has never been
more true, and I am grateful for that opportunity.



Sister Rhiner is amazing and I am so lucky to be her companion. She
just hungers for knowledge and has a desire to learn it all and be the
best missionary she can be. And we have a blast together. One night
this week, we couldn't even pray because we were just on the floor
laughing for like 15 minutes haha. Sometimes it is hard to go to bed
because it feels like a sleepover with my best friend! It is the best
when you have a companion that loves the work and loves to have fun.
Life is just good.

We are still working on finding some people to teach! We have been
focusing a lot on our members and committing them to be missionaries.
We have made copies of our name-tags(without our names on them), and
have been giving them to everyone to write their names on as a
reminder that we are all called to help the Lord in this work. And we
have started to see more excitement! Things are wonderful and I am
loving every minute and everyday, no matter what trials come our way.
There is a song that we have been listening too, and it has helped me
a ton! It goes,
"In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things. He knows how to
change the weakness in me. So I will let his love, lift me up. He
believes I can do hard things, if I will trust him, and walk forward
in the strength of the Lord."

I pray that we can all remember these simple truths throughout our
daily lives and hardships we face. He is always there for us. The
Atonement is real and it can truly strengthen us and help us be
better. Thank you for all your love and support! Y'all are the best.
Have a wonderful week. Love you!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox Sister Bigelow