Hey everyone :) Its been great to hear from you all. Thanks so much for
all the wonderful birthday wishes :) I have to say birthdays in the
mission field are a little different :) It was pretty much just a normal
day in the mission field until the evening. When we got back to the
apartment my companion surprised me with a birthday cake and a new tie
and tie clip :) It was so awesome :) He was like I don't know what they
usually do in America but this is what I have seen on TV :) haha it was
awesome and so cool of him! I guess Koreans for a tradition of birthdays
usually have some form of seaweed soup? I didn't have any but tomorro I
am going on a split with 이우현 장로님. and he says he is going to make it
for me :) haha anyways this week has been truly amazing! :) I started
off the week going on a split with Paskett 장로님. He is super cool. He has
been out about 5 transfers? I think...haha and he helped me learn a
bunch of stuff that foreigners wouldn't know but that are so common to
native Koreans that I probably wouldn't learn it from my 동반자 it was
super helpful :) Then when I got back to my zone two native korean
elders came and slept over because one of them had to go to a day of
military training, because I guess in Korea it is required to serve and
after you serve you have to go to day of training once a year until you
are like 30 or something like that. Im not 100% sure it was a little
confusing and they explained it all in Korean so I am not sure if I
understood correctly or not ;) haha. Anyway they stayed over and we had a
trio companionship for the day. It was fun :) I learned a lot of Korean
really fast cuz my other two companions were speaking to eachother in
korean and I had to understand quickly and say stuff otherwise I would
just be left out :) haha and I didn't want that so I picked it up fast
:) it was cool! And then the next day we had combined district meeting
and it was so cool to see a group of several missionaries focused on
looking for opportunities to serve more people here in Korea. It is so
cool to see everyone's dedication to just wanting to help other people. I
feel so blessed to be a part of it. We are looking for many new ways to
serve the farmers in the area as they are starting to plant and also
help a few families in the area were it is a single parent family and
they are having a hard time and we are just going to help them clean up
and teach their kids english and just help them however we can :) it is
super cool. and it was about this time as we were discussing this that
we me and my companion got a random call. My real compaion had gone on a
compaion exchange because he is district leader and the missionary I
was paired with was a new missionary who has been out only one more
transfer than me. Since we were in my area I was told I was Senior
companion! A little overwhelming if you don't know how to get around and
can only partially communicate with people :) haha but then came the
miracle of this random phone call: Some guy had received a book of
mormon from some elders on the street about 20 years ago and they also
gave him an english book of mormon. Lately he has been trying to learn
english so he decided to pick up the english book of mormon and try
reading it. He struggled but started reading the korean edition they had
also given him. He couldn't understand the amazing feeling he felt when
he read and he wanted to meet with us and learn about it and for us to
help him read the english book of mormon too. It was so awesome. Since
friday we have met with him twice, and he is so cool! :) He is totally
progressing :) We then got a call from another area with a refferal! We
called the guy and he wanted to meet so we went and met him. And then
the next day we got a call from a member and he gave us a referral for a
family of a dad and 3 kids who want to meet with the missionaries! We
called him up and scheduled to meet with him this week! And then today
we called and scheduled a few other appointments. Talk a bout a week
full of miracles! We have been working super hard and have truly been
blessed. I know that Heavenly father is watching over us and helping us
find those searching for the hope and peace that comes from our message.
When I got to this area we had 2 investigators, neither of which were
really interested in the church. When I got to the area my companion was
pretty much ready to go home and didn't feel like this area was being
very receptive of the gospel. We weren't getting much support from the
wards or ward members, and overall it was just a bit of a struggle. I
sat down with my companion and told him that Heavenly Father was aware
of his missionaries and he wouldn't send us to this area if he didn't
know that the people here needed us. We had a bit of a pep talk and
decided to set some goals and work as hard as possible. We have been
talking to as many people as possible, helping others and doing what
ever we can to strengthen ward members and strengthen the hope and light
of Christ in this area. It has been a battle but since starting things
have truly improved. We are now meeting with the mission leader weekly,
he has been buying us food. The members all love us and we have no
problem getting dinner appointments or help with investigators :) and it
has been so cool to see that as we give everything we have and work our
hardest God helps us go even further than we thought possible. Since I
have gotten here we now have 11 investigators and 7 of which are really
progressing in their undrstanding of the gospel. :) It has been a
tremendous blessing and I know God is with us as we have been going
forth :)
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Ty's Letter to the Priest in our ward. It applies to all of us....
So I have been thinking a lot about what I would want to
say to the priest quorum. I am truly proud of all the young men that you
are. You have all been a strength to me and I know you will be great
missionaries. I know now there is a stronger sense of urgency in the
preparation of missions and I would like to just add my personal
affirmation that this sense of urgency is needed. Young men Heavenly
Father loves you and knows what you are capable of. And he knows that
through you he can bless the lives of many of his children. Dont ever
under estimate yourselves. Search deep in your heart and ask yourself if
you know these things, this message, to be true and if it has blessed
your life. If you are unsure you need to get down on your knees and
PLEAD with your father in heaven to help you find the answer for
yourself. It is no longer enough to go off the testimonies of others.
Your testimony will be tried throughout your life and unless you have
gained an adamant testimony for yourself right now you will not be able
to go forward with faith, hope, and trust in your father in heaven
throughout all of the struggles of this life. But I know that if you get
down on your knees and pray with REAL INTENT, and a DESIRE to know you
will receive an answer. I did this and I did receive an answer. And
despite the struggles I know that God is there and that Christ is
helping me, and that I am growing every day. I also want to talk to you
about one more thing. You all are the Elect of God. We hear this a lot.
But what does this mean? Think about it. Do you know what your full
potential is? Are you working your hardest every day to reach your full
potential? We know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are
going. These three questions are some of the biggest questions of life.
And you know the answer to them. You know how to work hard, you know
how to be patient, you know how to be respectful, and you know how to
exercise the true love of Christ. Are you doing this? I want to try to
illustrate something. Picture a graph showing the potential of three
people. The first person on a scale of 1-100 is 60, the second 40, and
the third 80. Now picture them all reaching the level of 40 for their
potential. Who is the most successful? The one whose maximum potential
was 40. The other two could have accomplished 60 and 80 but they only
reached 40. It is not enough to be satisfied with ourselves. We have to
push ourselves to become the very best we can be. We cannot look to
compare ourselves to others and be satisfied. WE NEED TO REACH OUR
POTENTIALS. Every day we should be working hard to become better than we
were the day before. We cannot become lax and be ok with where we are.
We need to always want to improve. We can do great things and we have to
work our hardest to become the best we can be. And at times it can be
hard. We come to a mountain that seems impossible to climb. We try to
find away around it and know there is no way but to climb. But like
Elder Holland said, dont give up, you keep on going, there is help, and
something better on the other side. I know this is true. Hope in Christ
can help us accomplish all things and if we put our trust in Christ, and
work our very hardest we will surpass our potentials. Through Christ
all things are possible. If you will do everything you can and reach
your potential and turn to Christ to keep going you will be able to
become more than you ever imagined to be possible. I know that you all
can accomplish anything you set your minds to. Decided today who you
will become and work your hardest to become that person. As for me I
want to be able to return home to my Heavenly Father and in that day be
able to look into his eyes and say I worked my hardest every day,
learned as much as I could every day, and became all that I could be and
more through Christ. And then I know he will look back at me and say,
my son I am proud of who you have come.
I will not be satisfied with being good, and I know you all, you
all can accomplish anything. You are a group of the strongest young men I
know. Do not be satisfied with good. Strive to be great! Work hard and
always know that Christ is your strength and when you can't go anymore
he will help you and you will be able to get through all things. I love
you all and I can't wait to get back and see the men that you have
become. My favorite word, BECOME. Everyone, BECOME, true disciples of
Christ!
I know this gospel is true, through it we all find strength we dont
have on our on. Through this message there is always hope, there is
always love, there is always purpose, and I know this message has
blessed my life and many of those around me! I am so grateful to be able
to serve and I know you will all be great missionaries! Work hard, and
never give up :) No football game was ever won in the first quarter. The
game is won by the team that can push through and push hard when the
other team gets tired and wont get back up. Everytime you fall, get back
up! No matter how many times you fall you are still a winner if you get
back up. You only loose when you give up. Be strong, trust in Christ,
and get back on your feet and press forward! You can do it, I know you
can!
Love
Elder Bigler
