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

Another week with Pics!!!

Wow another week has already flown by! And i guess it has been two weeks since I have had the chance to send out an update! haha a ton has happened! I wish I had time to recount it all! Well I have finished my first week as AZL! haha stats nights are crazy! haha but super fun! I am still in 천안 but things are just as great as ever! Our English class is growing a ton so that is awesome! It has more than trippled since I got here! And our investigators are doing awesome! Things have been crazy trying to balance the zone with the area but it has definitely been a ton of fun and I have learned a lot from Elder Hansen! He is awesome! We SYL all the time and it is definitley helping my Korean improve exponentially! Thankgoodness!! haha! The weather here has been all over the place. Sometimes it is super hot and I walk outside and am just drenched from the humidity, and other days I am wearing a jacket cuz it is so cold! haha I don't think the weather has decided what it wants to do! Anyways things are going great! I can definitely feel the spirit leading us everyday. I know with out a doubt that if we put our faith 100% in Christ and in our Heavenly Father and we do our very best every day, he will guide us and bless us to become much more than we ever would have thought possible!  I have to admit I am very excited to be a big brother again! Tomorrow!!!! woot woot! :) Anyways I love you all so much! This is definitely the work of God and I am so greatful to be apart of it! Stay strong and work hard and always remember to trust God with all your heart!

 

Love,

Elder Bigler

  

 

                                            Zone Conference
                                          

                                                    "Just for fun"

                                                  "Lookin' good"

 

Mother's Day & Skype Pics!

We had a wonderful time last Sunday talking/seeing Tyler! Thanks to Michelle's diligence in learning modern technology, we got to talk with him and see him through SKYPE!  It was a real treat!  He looked great, and sounded great too!  One of the highlights was when Michelle told him that the baby was supposed to be able to hear voices and that he should talk to her... so he started talking to her and jokingly told her to "kick mom!"... Then she did!  We all enjoyed a good laugh! He is really enjoying his companion and loves teaching.  They have been getting busy and are actually having a tough time fitting everyone into their schedule!  One of the highlights they get to do is play basketball and then teach english to college students! They have started a program of 50/50, where they teach english for half of the time and the gospel discussions the other half of the time! When he first got there the work of sharing the gospel had been tough due to inaccurate rumors spread by other churches, however due to Tyler and his previous companion meeting with leaders of local churches many hearts had been softened.  Aside from the regular missionary responsibilities of teaching and preaching, he is the assistant zone leader, and is primarily responsible for teaching, training, and all-round helping the Jr. companions in his zone.  He is loving the Korean people and particularly many of the ward members where he is serving! He is even loving the food... even a few things I wasn't all that fond of! :) All-in-all he is doing well, and loving the opportunity to serve The Lord and the Korean people.  We're so thankful for him and his faithful service, and are grateful for the wonderful blessings that it brings to our family!  His only request was to remember him in our prayers and keep the letters comin'!

May 5 update

Hey everyone! Wow another week has flown bye! Sorry if my English is getting a little rusty. I try to not speak it very often! :) So this week has been crazy. So I had to go into the doctor and I got some kind of interesing infection which ended keeping me inside for a bit but things are better now! :) But in the midst of it all Heavenly father still blessed us tremedously. Every evening I always had enough energy to get out and go to our appointments. This week we have met with some awesome people. We made 2 more new investigators so things are super busy. This next week we are just trying to get everyone scheduled so we can meet with everyone! I am super excited! :) We have a few investigators who are progressing really well and I just can't wait to go meet with them! I am growing so close to them all and I am starting to get really close with the ward as well it is awesome! I go to church and feel like a celebrity and love all these people, God has truly blessed us so very much! Oh by the way dad do you remember a 조경순 자매님? Haha she remembers you! She served in the same zone with you I think, anyways she was super excited when she found out I was your son, she started pullin out pictures of you baptising people and just pictures with you in them, haha it was awesome, and now we are just super close with that family! Her husband is a man named 구장아 and he is just a stud. He is our member that comes with us to meet with one of our investigators and he is just awesome. Turns out the investigator was his best friend in Highschool and so things are just going super smoothly and the investigator is progressing so quickly it is awesome! Well aside from that this next week my first companion goes home! So crazy how fast time flies! And we are awaiting transfer calls so Ill let you all know what I hear. I get the feelin like I am stayin in 천안 but we will see! Anyways I hope all is going well! I love you so much! thanks for everything! Thanks for the prayers and keep sending letters! I love getting to hear from people! Love ya all!