Families are forever!

Here you go as we recived it :)

 

안녕하십니까!!!!  Wow it has been another crazy awesome week! :) Filled with learning moments, miracles, and all sorts of crazy experiences :) but hey whats new, thats just something that comes from being on a mission! Anyways this week was absolutely awesome! Im not really sure where to start but the other day we had the opportunity to go to a Korean style wedding for one of our investigators. It was definitley a cool experience! :) It was our investigators daughter and she was getting married to a guy from canada that she met at school! Anyways turns out he doesn't know any Korean, but lucky for him she knows english. Anyways I ended up having to translate some of the wedding for him, mostly just the instructions of what everyone was telling him he needed to do before the actual wedding started :) haha I can only imagine how he felt.....im sure a wedding day has a lot of stress, i can only imagine not being able to understand what is going on at my own wedding! He was definitley grateful for the help and it turns out he actually has been looking for a church! We got to have a super awesome chat and he is going to meet with us and his wife and his new father in law! :) Their whole family is super awesome and it was such a cool experience. But it definitley made me grateful for our promise of being able to be married for time and ETERNITY. Life is short and I can't imagine not living with my family for all eternity. We develope such close relationships with those we love and care about, it wouldn't make sense for God to take those relationships from us after we die. In fact he hasn't. He intends for marraige to last much longer than 'til death do we part'. I look back to yesterday sitting in the baptismal service and feeling the spirit bare witness to me of the power of the sacred ordinances to bind things both on earth and in heaven. I know God truly loves us, he has given us a family to learn, grow, and help one another. And He wants us to be together forever. I am so grateful for the sacred privilege of eternal marriage and eternal families. Power comes from a family bound together in righteousness. Here in Korea there are definitley lots of struggles that come from being a member of the church; however I have seen the families and the wards here come together to provide strength, support, and happiness to one another. Let us all look for opportunities to strengthen our relationships with those we love, for our families truly are the greatest gift our father in heaven has given us. This week I have had many opportunities to look back on my missionary time and see the growth and change that has happened in me. It has been truly tremendous. A journey, that is just beginning, but a journey that as I look back on I am so grateful for! I have learned and grown so much and I intend to learn and grow so much more! I love you all so much and am so grateful for the support you all have given me! Keep working hard and remember that if we put our trust in God we can not fail! :)

Love
Elder Bigler

Korean Thanks Giving - Blessings, Living by the Spirit

Here it is as we received it, Enjoy! 

 

 "Well this was an exciting week! It was the Korean thanksgiving this week so the whole country basically shut down for 3 days! Haha it was crazy! But the miracles definitley didn't stop coming! Something crazy cool that happened......Elder WIlliams got a referral from someone he knew in america that knew someone here. We got in contact with her and it turns out she is from 전주! The city we are in right now! Anyways we called her and she said she would be down here for thanksgiving so we should meet up then and talk. Then on wednesday she called us and said that her family actually really wanted to meet us because Elder Williams knew the guy that she had lived with in America for a month or so. They said they were really grateful for her having such a wonderful experience with our church in america so they wanted to meet with us and get to know us! So we went over to their house for dinner on wednesday night! When we walked in it was so crazy! It turns out that the girls dad was a potential investigator of ours that we had been trying to meet but he had always been to busy! It was soooooo cool! Definitley organized by the hand of God. We came in and the Book of Mormon was right there in the room by the tv! Turns out he has been reading it and likes it a lot! Anyways it turned out to be an absolutely amazing night! Their family is awesome and we got to meet all the cousins and aunts and uncles and they were all intrested in our message! :) This is definitely God's work! Anyways aside from that since the country was like shut down President asked all the zone and district leaders to do a three day training with all the missionaries! It went so good! Everyone learned so much and while we were doing that a guy walked into the church and said he used to meet with the missionaries and he saw all of us inside so he wanted to come in and continue learning. He had some amazing questions and wants to start coming to church and keep learning more! :) Anyways there were a ton of other amazing miracles this week but Ill have to share them all some other time! But something I have been focusing on learning and applying this week is learning by the spirit! I think a lot of times I find myself studying doctrine, reading the scriptures, and learning how to be better....however this week as I was reading a book called 을 위한 선교사 (i think in english is is called member missionary work?) anyways out of that book there is a story told about teaching an investigator how to learn for himself through the spirit and it displayed an awesome 7 step process of learning by the spirit. This week I decided instead of having my investigators do the process, that I was going to do the step by step process. It has truly helped me a ton! After a few little personal tweeks and adjustments I feel as though I have finally figured out how to learn 100% from the spirit and really understand the frequency, power, and clarity of personal revelation! This week I have learned so much and have understood it all so much more than I have before! I like the idea of how when we go to school we can study the text books to learn all the class material, or we can study the text books and listen to what the teacher teaches and then clearly understand all the material! This is exactly how life works! We can study books, scripture and other material to learn about life, how to become better people, and how to return to God; but when we learn to take our studies and then listen to the teaching of the teacher personal chosen by God, The Holy Ghost, then we can really understand anything. The Ghost has a mission to help each of us through life, he is our personal teacher to life, and he has power that if we learn to understand and utelize will open our understanding to all the misteries and questions of this life! Heavenly Father loves us, he wants us to learn and to grow. He has given us the material, he has given us his best teacher. Let us not take it for granted, but instead use it to its fullest! I love you all and am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to learn, to serve, and to grow! I hope you have an amazing week!"

 

Love

Elder Bigler

Sept. 15th Pics, letter at end (Sorry I "published" this late)

                                             Youth Activity

                                          Pic with Comp

                                          Try knocking on this door!

Hey everyone!!!! Wow this week flew by so fast! We were so busy but it was so awesome! So On monday Elder Lyons (the other senior comp in our house) got called to go to the Mission Home to be the new paperwork Elder which meant I got to take on both my schedule and his schedule and train his greenie and mine this week. It was so awesome!!!!! We saw so many miracles it was amazing. But I wanna share just one in particular! So we found a phone number off of a old english survey that had been done and contacted the guy. Turns out he was really excited to meet with us and wanted to meet that night! We were excited and I decided it would be best for the two Greenies to take the lead as the missionaries in teaching the lesson and I would be there more to just offer support if they were having a hard time explaining or understanding what was going on. The lesson went amazing! I definitely have been blessed to have two of the greatest Greenies ever! They worked super hard preparing and were definitely nervous. I told them that I wasn't going to do any teaching of any doctrine and that they would have to get it all taught so the investigator could understand. It was definitley a growing time for them, but they definitely rose to the task! They guy was not interested at the beginning but by the end was definitley engaged and prayed for us and committed to reading the scriptures and everything! It was awesome....but that is just the start...After we walked the guy out the door and said bye we return back into the church....maybe 4 minutes later some random guy off the street walked in and said he had met with the missionaries about two years ago and some how had lost contact but lived close by the church. He said he often came by the church but didn't realize that it was the same church that the missionaries he had met two years ago came from. Apparently when we walked the investigator out he saw us in our white shirts and ran over! He has read the whole book of mormon and believes it and is just amazing! We met with him again a few days later and he is just awesome! He is super busy cuz he owns his own shop but he wants to continue learning more! :) So that was a big miracle and definitley a cool experience! IT was a true testimony builder that there are many people out there that are merely kept from the truth because they know not where they can find it! Anyways aside from that things have been going absolutely great. The ward here is awesome and they have been helping us a ton! I definitely feel like I am learning a ton every day. I don't have a ton of time today. This week is kinda a weird week because there is a huge holdiay this week were like the whole country basically shuts down and takes a break for 3 days so it is going to be an interesting week but I am definitley looking forward to it! :) Anyways I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week!

Love

Elder Bigler

Wow!

thought I would just send the update I sent to President so I didn't have to type as much! :) Here ya go:

 

아이고! 회장님 지난주 저회가 많이 기적을 봤어요! 특별히는 제가 모든 경험 중에 한개 이야기하고 싶는 데요. 그래서 저회가 지난주 많이 광주에 여행했어 돈 많이 없고 음식 많이 먹을 수도 없어요. 또한 제가 금요일에 일어났을 때 하늘에서 계시를 받았어요. 이 계시무었냐 하면 저회가 그 때 우리 구도자이랑 약석을 위해 금식해야하는 계시였어요. 저회가 노무 배고프지만 성신한테서 확실히 왔어 저회가 같이 금식했어요.  저회가 우리 구도자 만았을 때 침례 날짜 정했어요!!!! 이분은 한년 동안 선교사와 만나고 있었고 그 침례 날짜 권유를 만히 받았어요. 하지만 그 때 가르칠 때 성신 아주 강하게 느꼈어요! 정말 기적!!!! 그것 밖에 또 기적 보았어요! 하지만 시간 앖어서 나중에 알려 드리겠어요 ^^ 그래서 회장님 이주 제가 Lyons장로님을 위해 구역지도자 책임나 시작하면 괜잖으세요?  아니면 제가 금요일 후에 그러게 하겠어요. 회장님 감사합니다! 항상 회장님을 위해 기도합니다! 열심히 보아사하겠어요!!! ^^ 대전 선교부 화이팅!!!!! ^^

 

haha just kidding Ill write it in English....well most of it!:) anyways this week has been absolutely amazing! And if you read above you can tell it was absolutely full of miracles! Well to start of the week we went to a really famous buddist temple in our area! it was a really cool experience! :) I took lots of pics but sadly I will have to send them next time cuz in all the craziness this morning I left my camera at home. Anyways the next day we had some super awesome lessons! :) And I was asked to translate a 45 minute presentation on Essential Oils from English to Korean for a recent convert of ours! Luckily thanks to Hannah I already knew a little about Essential Oils so that helped. But holy cow thanks for the gift of tongues! there is no way I could have done that on my own! Anyways the next day we got to go to a special mission tour and listen to Elder Whitting from the Quorum of the Seventy. It was awesome! I learned a ton and have already seen how applying words of our Church leaders bless us every day! So we went back and taught English Class and it was absolutely amazing. Pretty much the whole thing turned into a gospel discussion and we had two investigators explaining to another person in attendence how the Book of Mormon had to be the word of God! :) And how they new that we were sent to share this message! I felt truly blessed to be teaching such wonderful people who already had begun developing strong testimonies! :) Then on thursday I went back to 광주 for a special meeting with all the trainers and there greenies! It was awesome! I definitely learned a ton! And Elder Williams was so awesome! He has learned so much. When he got asked all of a sudden with out any prep he was able to get up and teach a 15min lesson about the Restoration in amazing Korean eveeryone was way impressed! He has come so far and is working so hard! He is awesome! Anyway because of all of the traveling and business, needless to say we were broke! And didn't have much food, but we made it home and were finally able to eat a little bit. However the next morning we felt prompted we needed to fast for our lesson that night. Eventhough we hadn't eaten much for a while we went forward with faith. Knowing that it was what God wanted us to do. We worked hard and taught our lesson around 3. By far, the best lesson I have ever been a part of! The spirit was so strong. I literally felt completely guided the whole time. And the investigator expressed that he felt the spirit and knew it was from God. Prior to this he was aethiest. Following, he believes in God, believes this is true, and set a baptismal date to prepare towards! He has been taking the lesson for over a year and said that he finally feels the faith growing inside him that other missionaries had talked about before! We are so excited for him! Anyways today transfer calls came...well actually yesterday for Elder Lyons in our house. He got moved to the mission home and had to leave this morning! He is going to be the new office elder. President then called me and asked me to train both Elder Williams and Elder Kidmann for the next week until transfer day when he will be sending another missionary down to finish training Elder Kidmann! So this week I am in a awesome trio with two awesome greenies who are just burning with the spirit! I can't wait! President also called me to be the District Leader here So looks like Ill be a little more busy from here on out. But I am definitley looking forward to getting to know everyone in the district better! Anyways I have so much more I want to tell you about! Like getting to go fishing in korea with some investigators, and some crazy experiences but I guess Ill just have to wait till I get home! :) One thing I also wanted to share that I have been studying this week....Satan has power, and as I have been out here on a mission I have realized that. He has power, a lot of it, and he is not afraid to use it. But there is something much more important. God has power and control! While satan has power he has no control over the plan or the future. God has absolute power and he is the creator of the plan. He knows all things and can do all things. I know Satan has power; but I know without a doubt that we need not fear. If we live worthily, with faith in Jesus Christ, and call upon the powers of heaven we can work by the Power of God. And though Satan may have the power to bruise our heel, we have the power to overcome all, to return to live forever in immortality with our heavenly father. In his glory we can do all things. By his power we forever have dominion over satan. I do not fear, for I know in whom I have trusted. The Lord is my light, he is my strength and I will forever glorify in him! My Savior! My Redeemer! My Lord!  Remember him, and always put your trust in him and you will quickly come to a knowledge of the divine power he holds. And the divine power we can excercise in him!

I love you all so much! Hope to hear from you all soon!

Love

Elder Bigler

Crazy busy and awesome ... Pics!!!

So this week is going to be a little shorter, I have so much i want to say but just not enough time to say it. haha I have so many stories I want to tell but ill have to just summarize the week. Basically things are going amazing over here! We are so crazy busy and it is awesome! We have been running around from appointment to appointment, on a couple days we literally were running in order to get to appointments on time! It was so great and the spirit was so strong in every single one of them! I wish I could say I had a favorite I could talk about but they were all so amazing I just dont even know how to begin to describe them. The peace and the love that filled every room was just amazing. One really touching moment came when a kid who is suffering from some mental handicapps came in quitely and respectfully sat down on his moms lap and quietly and intently listened as we talked about the savior and the importance of families. This was a huge witness to me of the Prince of Peace. I actually have been studying all week about the Prince of Peace and how  amidst our busy lives we are constantly in search for peace. The true source of all peace, The Savior, Jesus Christ. Only through him can one find true peace amidst a world of constant movement and change. The Savior is the same today, yesterday, and forever. And just as it says in Moroni Chapter 10 the power and gifts of the holy ghost shall never be done away with, unless we fail to excercise faith in the savior. One of the greatest gifts of the holy ghost we learn of in direct relation to one of his names, the comforter, is the comfort and peace the holy ghost brings to our lives. Through faith and more specifically excercising faith in Jesus Christ we allow for the comforter to come into our lives. Then we find true peace. This week I have been studying and trying to apply this as best as I can and i have grown so much! This week has been probably one of the busiest weeks of my missionary life, however I also feel as though it has been the most peaceful. I definitley have grown a ton and am looking forward to growing and learning more about my savior and the peace he brings into our lives.

I love you all so much and I hope everything is going well! Hope to hear from you soon!

Love

Elder Bigler

      Elder Bigler and Williams