Eye injury

Hey everyone!!!!:) Well it has been an interesting week!!:) Haha well if you haven't heard I was a bit of an idiot and kinda got myself into a sticky situation. SOOOO the story goes :) haha..... SO we were helping these less active members move apartments. They were super nice and it was going super well! :) They are awesome and I am so glad I got to meet them before they left. Anyways in the process of moving them out they gave us a bunch of stuff for our apartment since they were moving to the otherside of the country and therefore could not use it. ONe of these things being a super sweet weight bench! I was excited cuz we dont have a weight bench at our house and I was looking forward to being able to finally lift weight. Anyways we got back to the apartment and while everyone was showering, because we were super gross after having moving the people, i decided to try out the new weight bench! :) It was awesome I was so excited! It had these awesome big elastic bands for resistance that you could use for leg lifts and another set that you could do curls with! It was so great I was using the curl ones and I was loving it and was like ah i could probably curl the same weight as the leg lifts....SO I started doing curls with the leg lift part of the bench. Well it turns out the member had slightly jimmy rigged the leg lifts so the tension would be tighter. He had taken the pin that locks the bench and took the elastic band and etached it to the pin so the leg resitance would be more. ANyways it work just fine when you do leg extensions because your legs only pull the device up to 180 degrees. Anywas I was curling it and becuase when you curl the bar comes up a lot further I some how managed to pull the tension just to the right spot were the pin was straight up with the elastic band directly below my head. This caused all the tension that had been pulled in the band to slingshot the pin straight out of the hole straight up into, what happened to be directly in line.....my eye :) haha not exactly the best.... anyways it took me out and continued on and hit Elder Hansen in the back giving him a nice welt. Luckily that has pretty much healed but it must have hurt like crazy! Anyways so the pin had shot up into my eye knocking me back off the bench and onto the ground. It didn't hurt to bad at first. Anyways the Elders all rushed in and no body would let me look at my eye. THey told me to keep it covered and get to the Hospital. I was like seriously? it really doesnt feel that bad im sure its fine I don't want to go....well i didn't win that argument the quickly got me into a taxi and took me off to the hospital. By this time I was just trying to keep the blood from dripping off my hand and getting everywhere. Anyways we made it into the hospital and I went straight to an eye specialist. 2 and a half hours and 4 stitches later I was released. turns out I have the four stiches which have already healed super nicely! :) Truly a blessing! :) But the thing they are worried about right now is when the pin hit my eye it scratched my cornea to a degree 5...whatever that means :) haha anyways apparently scratched it pretty good but they say that that will heal within a month and a half or so, so that is super good! :) The thing they are worried about now though is that I have some internal bleeding inside my eye...right now causing me to have a nice little blind spot...the thing that was worrying them was when I went back in a few days later the bleeding had actually increased instead of decreasing....they gave me some medicine to help the blood hopefully slow down and keep from filling up more of my eye and keep from having a hemmorage. I will be on this medicineuntil saturday and then if things havent been improved they are going to send me up to Seoul to have some form of lazer eye treatment to help it. Anyways it has really stunk cuz I haven't been able to leave the house much so it really stinks but I have been working super hard on my korean so that is improving a ton! :) And i have still been able to do several appointments with investigators via phone calls! :) So hey it works! :) Anyways it looks like everything should heal perfectly, it just may take some time. As of right now my vision out of my right eye is very limited but hopefully it will start to improve! Anyways I have definitley felt all your prayers and have definitely been  truly blessed ! It turns out if the pin had been about 2 cm lower I would have completely shattered my eye. God is definitely watching over me and I feel so blessed! :) Anyways the investigators are doing awesome! Our three knew boy investigators are super sweet! They are becoming more and more interested in the gospel and are just super cool! We are planning on talking to them a little more about baptism this week to hopefully open the door! :) And 김일환  and his kids are doing super great! :) We are still working on his smoking...he is getting way better! :) And he is right on track to get baptized! :) Anyways life here is going great! I am learning a ton every day and growing so much! The blessings of being a missionary are enormous! :) And definitley life changing! I definitley encourage everyone to be super strong member missionaries and promise you that if you will dedicate a part of your day every day to missionary worrk you will see tremendous blessings in all aspects of your life! :) I love you all and can't wait to hear from you!

Love

Elder Bigler

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Transfer week, 4 new invest w/pics!

Ty's doing great! Here's the latest update with only a few grammatical corrections, and Korean translations! ;-)

Wow transfer week flew by! :) haha and it was another awesome week in 천안! :) {Cheon-On! therefore he didn't get transferred}  We got a new greenie in the house and it is definitely a lot of fun to see him trying to figure out everything that is going on :) But it has givin me a lot of great opportunities to work on my translating to help him understand a little of everything :) Anyways to start out the week we went to this buffet called d'marris and holy cow it was crazy!:) haha it had over 2,000 different types of food and it was all crazy delicious! They had steaks made right in front of you. Grilled pinnapple, roasted duck, and a bizzillion other delicious things :) {wow things have changed!} it was great! haha then we had an awesome district meeting but by the end elder hansen wasn't feeling good. we took him home and I went to visit 김일환 {Kim, Il Whan} with our korean elder 장세진{Jeong, Sae Jin}. It was super cool! He has completely stopped drinking and we are now working on him stopping smoking! He is planning on being baptized on the 14th so keep him in his prayers! We are planning on baptizing him with his two kids and then helping him get the priesthood so he can baptize his youngest in about a year! :) he is such an awesome guy and it is so crazy to see the huge change in his spirit and countenance from since we first met him. I still remember the first time I came into his house and met him...the feeling was completely different and so much better. You can feel the happiness, love, and hope that the spirit has brought into his life! :) It is fantastic! Anyways then sadly I think I cought what elder hansen had and me and him spent the next day not able to keep anything down....haha anyways but we kep working hard calling people. We even had an appointment over the phone with one of our investigators :) it was interesting but definitely a cool experience! :) anyways we got out the next day and met with 이효빈and 송상옥 {Ie, Hyong Bin & Seok, Sang Oak}. And they brought a friend with them which is now a new investigator! All three of them are progressing and we are having a blast teaching them. Next time we meet we are going to have a ping pong match and it should be tons of fun!:) Koreans are crazy good at ping pong! But I am learning fast! ;) haha anyways we got to meet with the rest of our investigators and everything went super awesome! :) I am so glad I get to stay here! It is crazy that I have been here in my greenie area for so long and am still not leaving! But i love it and if i could stay here for the rest of my mission I would definitely love it!:) The ward is fantastic, the investigators are great, and the zone is doing awesome! Im super sad though cuz my MTC companion, Elder Chow, just got transfered to 고반정, {Ko Ban Jeong} which is in the new Seoul South mission so I had to say good bye :( but I know he is going to do awesome! :) Anyways I have tons more I wish I could right but sadly I am out of time....There is so much going on here!!!:) haha anyways I love you all so much! Thanks for everything! Write me when you can and work hard! :) It is crazy everyday to see the blessings of the spirit that come from working hard with complete trust in the Lord.

Love you all!

Elder Bigler

{Enjoy the pics below!}

.    Elder Bigler and Elder Hansen with four new investigators

    "My Korean "Mom" and "Sis."!"

     

     Elders from MTC group 

Korean rice fields {how would you like to pull those weeds by hand?}

Love you all!

Elder Bigler

6/16/13 Awesome!!

Well, we determined that things are "awesome" in Korea! We are definitely going to have to get some details on these stories! Anyway, here's the update, enjoy!

Oh my goodness what an amazing week! And holy cow it flew by! :) Anyways I dont have a ton of time to email but I will try my best to get a few things in! This week has been filled with so many miracles and so many amazing stories I can't even begin to write them all! This is definitely God's work, he is in control and I am just along for the awesome ride! :) Anyways so we went to the beach! It was awesome! I got super sun burnt but it was super fun! And it has pretty much all turned into a tan now! :) haha anyways on the way back we ran into a guy that by happenstance was a lessactive who lived in the area and had been looking for us! :) Oh that night was awesome I wish I could say it all! Anyways then the next night when we met with 김일환(Kim, il whan) it went just awesomely! He now has a baptism date with his children and he came out to church with his kids and loved it this week! :) Then we were walking home and probably one of the biggest miracles happened to me ever! Best story of my mission so far! Me and Elder Hansen got home and were just like, this can't be real life! it was awesome, i just dont have time to type it all out. Basically one of the coolest, richest, smartest, and funniest old guy ran up to us on the street...and started one of the biggest miracle nights of my life! :)It was awesome! anyways then the rest of the week just went awesome! Made a new sweet investigator had an amazing day at church and worked like crazy!!! It was so awesome! I have felt the spirit so strongly this week and it has been so amazing! I am learning so much! I met this guy in the ward who is like basically the biggest genious of the bible and book of mormon and he showed me this BIG huge study book he has had for the past 50 years and it is just chalk full of amazing info! He showed me how he studies the scriptures and it is just genious. I have sense changed my personal study habits and I have been getting so much more out of it! I can feel the change every day and I so grateful God has given me so much! He is the reason I am me. Everyday he gives me so much! He is by far the best! I know if we turn to him in everything he will help us. He loves us so much, I have felt it so much more sense coming out on a mission! He is truly with us and knows our struggles. We cannot do it without him. I have come to realize that. We cannot truly find ourselves until we have lost ourselves for the lord! Anyways so I wish I could recount everything from this week but I will just have to have story time some other time! :) Anyways I love you all so much! Youre awesome! Oh and by the way transfer calls came and I am going to stay AZL in 천안 (Cheon-on) for another transfer! :) Well I hope all is well! Keep me updated and send me letters whenever you can! :) I love getting mail and I promise to write back asap :)

사랑으로!

Elder Bigler

6/9/13 - P-day & 23 lessons

Sorry all, it took me a bit to get this posted... I have had a few requests to do a better job at translating Ty's Korean, so I'll step it up.  I realized that when he talks about names if people or names of places they don't cross my mind as needing translated! :)... I am also worried that the way they spell it may be different than I would guess in English, but I'll do my best!

Our first e-mail of the day:

Hey everyone! Super great to hear from you! :) I am not going to be able to have as much time to email today simply because we are going to the beach for a district activity in 대천(Dae-Cheon). :) ya dad your old area :) sad thing is we wont be able to go into the water but we will get to play beach volleyball! :) Anyways Ill send my weekly update! This week has been crazy awesome! :)

Here is his real update later that day...

      

        Subject: weekly update

OK so I am going to have to be fast cuz I am just using one of the laptops at the grocery store and I am not really sure if I am allowed to be using it :) haha We came to 대천 (Dae-Cheon) today to go to the beach for a district activity! :) Im excited :) too bad we wont be able to do pretty much everything you can do at a beach, but it will still be fun! :) Anyways this week has been awesome! I really dont even know where to start! :) So we got to go to Daecheon this week for MLC( Mission Leadership Conference) and that was super awesome! We talked about the mission and how to help all the missionaries and how to Help President Shin as he comes in and President Furniss leaves! :) Next week is the final transfer call that decides if we go to the new soul South mission or stay in the daecheon mission with the new mission president! :) So everything is super busy and we have a bunch to do as we prepare for everything! At MLC President Furniss gave his final going away talk to all the zone leaders and assitants. It was so powerful! I have learned so much from him and I have truly loved serving with him! I wish I could share all my thoughts and feelings and things I learned but there isn't time :) ANyways after that we returned to 천안 (Jeon-on)and met two new investigators and they are awesome! :) I am super excited to get to know them better and teach them both english and about the gospel! :) Then we met with 김일환(Kim, il whan)! Oh it was so powerful! We were talking about baptism and then all of a sudden I could remember my own baptism like perfectly, it was amazing! IT just came into my mind and I bore testimony and the spirit just pulled all my words out of my mouth and it was so powerful! It was absolutely amazing! Following that 김일환 (Kim, il whan),said I need that, like right now! :) Oh it was the best feeling ever! We gave his two kids baptismal dates, and he is going to get baptized as soon as he gets a few little things worked out! :) It was so great to see the joy come across in his face as he realized he had found the answer he was looking for! :) He has now read the book of mormon 1 and a half times! IN 3 Weeks! He is so awesome! :) I love him! I am so grateful I had this opportunity to meet him and to be a part of this experience with him! Anyways then we went and met with William and played Ping Pong! He is so good and taught me a bunch of tricks so when I get home, be afraid ;) haha just kidding! :) but i definitley have lots of opportunities to play ping pong here :) Anyways william is doing good! He is reading the book of mormon and really enjoying it! We are hoping to help him realize the power that comes through prayer and the direction God can give us if we have faitH:) Then we had English class which is always fun and following that made 2 new investigators! They are super cool and are really interested in the Church! :) Anyways aside from that we have really been focused on trying to get out and help everyone we see and God has definitley blessed us! We got to go farming and that was super fun! I have the new nick name Hercules in the ward :) haha I guess all those push ups are starting to pay off :) haha and we also were blessed to teach way more lessons than normal! :) It was so exciting! We taught a total of 23 lessons this week! And our zone is doing awesome! Everyone is growing so much and becoming amazing missionaries! It is a pretty young zone, so I can't wait to see how everyone becomes over the next several months! And I can't wait for pres Shin to get here! This is definitley God's work and he is helping us with every step! :) I have been blessed so much this week and have learned so much! :) I definitley know that I would not have been able to have had any of the amazing experiences I had this week without the Lord and his spirit! :) Everyday me and Elder Hansen have been blessed to be lead by the spirit to amazing people! :) Anyways! SOrry I have so much more I want to say, but sadly no time :) I love you all so much and am so grateful for all you have done for me! :) Keep working hard and always remember God is there to help you. Turn to him in everything and I promise he will be with you! I have been studying the powers of heaven and how to have them come into your life! It has been absolutely life changing! If we have faith and call down the powers of heaven I know we will be able to do things far more than we ever could have accomplished on our own! As of my own strength I know I am weak, but I know that my God is perfect, and in his strength I can do all things!

 

I love you all!

Elder Bigler

The Lord is pushing forward His work!

Here you go, as written -

 

Oh my goodness another week has flown by! :) This week has been pretty awesome! :) I started out the week doing a split with Elder Chow, my MTC companion! It was awesome! While I was with him we set up 3 baptismal dates and had a blast! It was awesome! THen the next day I went on a split with Elder Fund, another Elder from the MTC with me. It was fun and he taught me how to be pro at the rubics cube! :) haha and on top of that I have learned how to play some of the guitar! Super sweet! :) haha im not very good yet but Elder 장 is teaching me and he is amazing! :) So this week has definitely been a ton of fun and full of countless blessings! :) We met a lot of awesome people and this next week we have 4 new appointments with new investigators! I am super excited! The work is moving and there is no doubt in my mind that it is the Lord pushing his work forward! :) Every evening I go out on to the back porch of our apartment and have a really good view of the city of 천안. It is very humbling as I look out and ponder about the wonderful blessings God has given me and the wonderful responsibility he has given me of caring for the wonderful people here in 천안! I then bring my eyes up from the city and look up into the deep dark sky filled with millions of stars and am further humbled to see all of God's glorious creations and know in my heart that he cares so deeply for each and every one of them. I know that as I look up he is looking down, and I can feel his love and spirit so strongly! I am so grateful every day to be apart of such a wonderful plan, a plan that contains the light and answers that all people are vigilently searching for. God is aware of each one of us. I know this with all my heart! He loves us so much and is with us everyday! If we will turn our hearts outward and look to our father with faith and a desire to serve I know he will help us overcome all of our challenges. There is no doubt in my mind that if we humble ourselves before God and go to him for help he will make our weaknesses strengths. I have seen it countless of times! He is God, His son is our savior, His spirit is with us, and I know that if we have faith there is nothing that we cannot overcome through him and his beloved son!

I love you all so much! You are in my prayers and my heart! I am so grateful I have my Lord and trust him to know he is watching over each and everyone of you! Turn to him often. He will always be waiting for you.

Thanks for everything!

Elder Bigler