Week 51 - Got rear-ended driving today!

Hey! Hey!

This week has been a good one We have three new people we are teaching this week! So that is great. One of them is Daniel. He is the boyfriend of a little sister of a member in our ward. He went to the Philadelphia temple open house with them and liked it, and wanted to learn more. So we went and taught him about the restoration. And it went really well! It was probably one of the best first lessons I have had! 

And then the next person is Melisa. She isn't the most interested, but she is super nice. And wants to learn so it's cool. This was kinda a funny story. So some Spanish elders tracked into her and she was kinda interested, so we scheduled a pass off lesson where all four of us would go and teach her so she gets to know us. But it isn't all at once, so we plan to meet at this coffee shop down in the city. So we show up and she invited two of here friends and the Catholic deacon. And they are all sitting there and are like "welcome, sit down" and we are like dang we got set up! It actually went surprisingly better then I thought it was going to go. There wasn't really too much fighting. The deacon wanted to know kinda what we believed and why we believe that way. And she is looking for knowledge and was interested too. She was super nice and she could really feel the spirit when we talked about how we know and so that was cool. The lesson didn't go the best but we connected! So that is great. 

And then we meet another guy named Neal. And he is looking for a church right now. He is really smart but open. He is a very scientifically minded person and so he wants to know, but he doesn't want his mind to get in the way. He wants to know the truth. So that is super cool. And we had the perfect member in that lesson with us. So that was a definite bonus! So it is going great right now!
We went to PEC and were like "YAY, we have three new people that are coming to church! So watch out for them." But none of them came. So we said, "next week, They will be here!" It was kinda funny!

Dang it is crazy to think that school is starting again soon! That is so crazy to think. I have almost been out a year too. That is super crazy! That's good you got a good coaching staff. And that you are kinda settling into your position. Dang I miss those tacos. Whenever someone asks what we want for dinner. I always say tacos. Because we get spaghetti and pizza and potatoes and meat a lot. So like what can you ask for that isn't super expensive. So I always say tacos. So we get tacos a decent amount.

Things are going really well. We had a good week this week. For activities we played fugitive for FHE. Elder McCray and I were the cops and we had to pull these towels out of like you pocket to get you out. Kinda like a flag. And this one girl put it down her shirt and she had like 2 inches sticking out and we were like ok. Really. We are missionaries and you do that. But it was kinda funny. And then Saturday we had a game night. So we went for like our dinner hour and they had pizza and games. So it was fun. It was nice to relax a little bit.

No we don't watch the olympics. It stinks. I have seen probably 4 minutes of footage totally. The news was on it the gym the other day and they showed a couple highlights. And that was cool. Some girl swimmer is killing it I hear, but other then that I don't know much.

Oh and funny story. We got rear ended today. By an old Asian lady today. It wasn't that bad but she didn't want to give us her information. It was a pain, it was hot and she didn't speak English very well. She was like 58 and tried to tell us she had her baby in the car who is 4 months old. And I was like, "Yea that's not your baby." It is kinda funny now, but it was really testing my patience at the time.

I sure love you! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Bigelow

Week 50 - I will be really weird

Hey mom!

This week went really well! We were able to take Sam to the temple. He really liked how the temple is completely about families. And how we go there so we can be with our family forever and that we also go there so that people that have already died can be with their families too! He liked how we could see the model of the temple and see all the rooms. And how we talked about what all the rooms are for and what we do in them. And then we watched a video about family. And then we were able to go into the entry way of the temple and they have a little room on the side. Where we just sat for a little while. And he loved it. He said he felt like he was "at home". And I thought that was so cool! Because he is home. He still isn't really progressing too much which kinda stinks. But he is coming along slowly. He is muslin from Sudan. (I can't remember if I told you). But he is really smart and kinda gets hung up on some things that most people wouldn't think of.

And than something else cool that happened is we had a less active come to church yesterday for the first time in over 4 years. So that was great! We have been working with him once a week for like the past 8 months. And we went over Saturday night. And he was like. "Oh hey, I think I am coming to church tomorrow". We were super surprised. We were like what??? He was planning on coming on the 21st because he was singing in sacrament meeting. But he told us he wouldn't come before then. But hey he changed his mind. And it was great! And then he actually came so that was really good! He is pretty funny. He makes me laugh all the time.

So those were kinda the two big miracles for the week. And that was great! We got a lot more people to sign up on our meal calendar this week. So that was good. I passed ours around priesthood executive committee.

I really like the ward here! It is super fun to be around people closer to my age. Yea they are all older and definitely more responsible but they like to have fun and they are not all caught up with their family stuff. So that is good. And it is super fun to be able to go to FHE and some of the other activities with them! We started basketball Saturday mornings. And bring people we find in the street to play. And we found a couple of guys who are super excited about it. Saturday was the first day we played and it was super good. I think that is probably the best way to find people for us right now, because it is easy for members to invite some of their high school friends and people from work to just come play ball. And it is super easy for us to go play at some court by the church and be like, "hey, we have an indoor court, want to play. We play on Saturdays." And then they come. They have questions we can answer and they meet members. They already have a friend. And so that is really fun. We play one or two nights a week for like an hour if we don't have an appointment. And we have had some really good contacts from that! And I am a lot better at basketball now. You would be super surprised! I can actually make shots consistently.


So for the first couple weeks I was here it seems like everyone in the ward is just super good friends. Kinda like a family. Not really like a bunch of single people who are looking for spouses. And so I was like cool. And then yesterday we were waiting for Gabe, the less active to show up and this guy we go out with a bunch comes walking up holding hands with this girl in our ward. And it took me by surprise. I was like what??? And then I remembered I was in a YSA ward and it just took me by surprise. I haven't really seen anyone I knew holding hands for a while or anything or like people having a girlfriend. Like yea I will see that when I get home. But hey it happens out here too. It was kinda funny. I realized that the mission awkwardness is here. Like I was weirded out by hand holding. And I still have over a year left. I think I will be really weird when I get back. So just be warned.

This week for studies I read a talk about having real intent and I liked it. It is kinda long. But you should check it out. Living with Purpose: The Importance of “Real Intent” by Randall L. Ridd. It was in the 2015 CES devotional. And I think about serving a mission with real intent. Living life with real intent.

That stinks that you are already to school again. All the people going to BYU from our ward are peacing out. So that kinda stinks. But we still have some homies in our ward.


That quote is pretty cool. It is true. And sometimes when they are unresponsive it is easy for you not to love them. But that is good. That's all you can do with everyone in life. Not just investigators or students but friends family and everyone else.

Today we have zone activity. We are playing sand volleyball and basketball and spike ball. And we have a bbq and it is bring your own meat. So that should be fun! We do have a zone training tomorrow. We had MLC (mission leadership conference) and so we have somethings we are instructing our zone on. Like unity and patience and enduring to the end. So that should be good. I don't think it will be too bad.

Something cool about Sam. When he was home there was a church that tried to build a church there in Sudan. And he is the guy that would sign the permits to build and stuff. And because the government is mostly Muslim most people wouldn't have signed for a Christian church to come. But Sam just felt like it was a good thing. And it turns out that it was a Mormon church. So that is pretty cool. And I keep getting the feeling that even if Sam doesn't convert that he will be very influential in the church getting missionaries into Sudan. So that is pretty cool.

I love you. It is always great to hear from you!
Love, Elder Bigelow