A Full Pew

We have learned here that most things that involve food go well:) Haha which is why our Tarapaca Tiene Talento night will include a variety of desserts to bring in the people. We are moving ahead full throttle with our ward activity, and I think many people are super excited! We already have 10 people that want to present and we have not even gone to the classes on Sunday yet.

My clothes are holding up well so far. Wearing the same thing does get boring pretty quickly, but I do have a few skirts packed away. I figured when I open my luggage again it will feel like Christmas and it will be a wardrobe update. We will see if it works. My shoes are dying. I have only worn one pair since the beginning so I still have the other two that are brand new, but I thought one pair would last a little longer. There are already some holes in the soles and I have to shine them every other day to hide the stratches. I figure if I can make them last til the end of March I can toss them and start wearing another pair.

 

This week was pretty great. On Tuesday we went with our crazy less active "J". She was the one who had attended church the other Sunday for stake conference. I really felt like she was improving and getting things straightened out, but then she called us and said she needed us to come over immediately. I will spare the details, but I left the visit wondering if what we were doing was helping. We spend all day talking to people and then in the end they dont show up to church or they dont want to make commitments and they stop progressing. I enjoy what I am doing, but in that moment I just felt like we really weren't seeing much progress in anyone. However, Heavenly Father loves us and when we ask with faith for things that are just we will receive the blessing. This week in church we had three less actives sitting with us (and 3 children who are under 8) and 1 new investigator!! We took up an entire long pew!! I looked at all of us sitting there and felt so blessed and like my efforts were bearing fruit. It was a great Sunday.

 

I had another awesome experience with prayer earlier this week too. We have been working with "R" and "M" .  M is a less active (who went to church this week, R was working in another city) and R is an "atheist" who believes in a Supreme Being and Creator", not exactly atheist if you ask me, but whatever. The last lesson we had with him we talked about God being our Heavenly Father. It makes sense if we were created by something that that being would be our father. He agreed and we encouraged him to pray and ask if someone was there, if someone was listening, and if this someone loved him. He agreed that he would that night, and said the concluding prayer in our lesson.

 

In Preach my Gospel it tells us that we should be constantly renewing our testimonies. We can always be asking to know if the Book of Mormon is true or if Thomas Monson is a prophet even though we may already feel like we know the truth. I read that part a few days after our lesson with R and decided that I would take the challenge to ask if Heavenly Father was there and listening. I asked in the morning and like normal the answer didn't come then.

 

That night we were having a FHE with an active family, but their father is inactive. He says that one day he just stopped feeling the spirit and didnt need to go to church any longer. I decided to focus the message on building strong families and wanted to share a Mormon Message that I could kind of recall. The family let me use their computer for a moment and I found the Message. It is a video called Earthly Father, Heavenly Father. We watched it and the whole family was touched. I could hardly speak to give the rest of the short lesson I prepared. I realized that that short video was an answer to the question I had had that morning in my prayer and that although it was a simple question, something I already knew the answer to, it was still answered. It is a great video and you guys should definitely watch it. The message of the video also helped the family I was teaching and really brought the spirit. I was so grateful that the idea to share the vieo had come to my mind when we were planning. 

 

The work is moving, slowly but surely here in Arica, Chile, and it sounds like you guys are making a big difference there in Mesa. Keep a journal of all the great missionary experiences that you are having so that you can remember. I love you all and hope you continue to do great things!

 

Hermana Biggs

Excerpt from letter to Bailee:

This week was a great week in the mission feild. We found a new investigator who is really receptive. His name is "L" He lives on the last street of our sector and in a part that is a little ghetto so we hardly ever go there. We had an address of a less active member on the street and decided to go and find the less active. However, the address didn't exist! But since we had not been on the street before and it was still daylight we decided to make contacts and knock on the doors of the houses. Thats how we found L. We have taught him twice and he came to church with us on Sunday! I was so happy to see him progressing in a short amount of time. However, we are going to run into some problems soon. A few years ago, he was attacked while working downtown selling seafood. Several people beat him and he lost his memory and has spinal damage so he can hardly walk. He doesnt remember much of his past, which has one bright side because before the attack he was an acoholic, but among the cons is that he can not read or write. He doesnt remember how, although mentally he is totally coherent. To go to church we had a member pick him up and help him to every class so that was great, and we are thinking that we can download some chapters of the Book of Mormon and he can listen to them instead of read. He is really great and we hope to see him continue to progress.

Advice to Ivory:
Keep up on the piano, this past Sunday I had to play the piano in sacrament meeting, because there is no ward pianist!! It was terrible and I was so nervous. I only knew two of the three hymns and messed up big time on the first one, but I can still improve (hopefully). Keep praticing now so that when it is needed you can share your musical talent:) 

Answers to questions:
Aspen wanted to know if there are any dogs.  

There are lots of dogs here that dont have owners. They wander around in the streets all the time and sometimes they start to follow my companion and I. There is one dog that always tries to bite our ankles but he is little and has some problem with his teeth, so it doesnt hurt:)

 

Worst food and best food?

The worst thing was definitely the hairy soup, but the other day I was served this peach drink that was pretty terrible too. They had boiled the peaches and then added cinnamon or something. You drink the water of the peach and then eat the boiled peach too. it was all I could do to finish that thing, and then they asked if I wanted more! NO THANK YOU

 

The best thing hmmmm. The bread here is super delicious and at 7pm it is fresh out of the oven at a local bread shop. We go a few times every week and buy a slice of cheese and a piece a of bread yummm. I love it

Transfer Numero Uno

Final day of transfer numero uno!! There are 13 transfers in a sister missionary´s mission and I have completed the first one. I am staying in Arica and with Hermana Castor. I already knew that since we are still training, but it was still fun to recieve the phone call. Everyone spent the week making guesses about who was going to go and who was going to come. It didnt matter to me though, since I don't know very many of the other missionaries lol. One of the missionaries that we live with thought she was going to be transfered, so we were anxious and nervous to see what the change would be, but it turned out that she and her companion are staying with us, so no changes lol. We are getting a new zone leader so that will be fun. 

This week we saw great improvement! We were able to have an increase in the number of lessons we were having. It had dropped in the 4th and 5th week, but we are back on track! We have two new investigators. One is "V" who is a child in an inactive family. The goal is to activate the whole family so that we can have her baptized. We went and taught her the plan of salvation and at the end she shouted "I want to be baptized!". We are really hoping her enthusiasm will help her family. They are hard to teach and have mixed ideas about the gospel and science fiction, so its always an interesting lesson. Plus, they have been going to another church on Wednesday nights because this church gives free dinner, but the family is getting some mixed up gospel ideas from that church. We really need to reconvert them to the true church. It is a difficult task but not impossible. 

Our other investigator is" I". We had an address from the ward  guide (where all the phone numbers and dirrections are I forgot what its called) and wanted to find an inactive man. However, the address ended up not existing. The street where he lives is really far and in a part of the sector that we can't go after dark, so we decided to take advantage of our being there and make contacts and there we found "I". She is an older women of about 60 years or so. She is just in town for the next month because she is helping her disabled brother. She says that she had seen elders walking through her neighborhood, but had never contacted them. We taught her the plan of salvation and she was really captivated. We are super exited to see her progress. She invited us back and wants us to teach her brother as well. At the end of the month she is leaving, obviously, but we can teach her all we can and then turn her over to the missionaries in her neighborhood. 

Hermana Castor and I are working on our first ward activity!! We are super excited and it is coming together well, even though we are not going to do it until March 28th. We are going to use Hermana Castor´s idea of a talent show and its called Tarapaca´s Got Talent. We are going to have a dinner and a variety show of talents. There is also going to be a museum element to display those talents that are not for the stage (paintings, clothing design, etc). We already have six people ready and the best part is that 2 of them are meos activos and one is an investigator.We are plainning on having each quorum/auxiliary present somehting as well. It is going to be a lot of work, but we are already seeing a lot of excitement and it is still a month a way. The ward has not had an activity for several months and almost no one went to the last one, so if we can at least get the members to come it will be a success for the first activity. We are hoping that the food will really draw them in and we are going to distribute a lot of the responsibilities too so they are obligated to come hahah!

This week I also got to do my first intercambios where we change companions for a day. I was left in my sector and went with Hermana Delgado. I had to remember where all the people live and take the iniative in teaching. I was confident that I could do it, but somehow still super nervous. It ended up being great! I got lost for a minute with one house, but not super lost haha. I knew in the general direction where I needed to be. I also got to learn some new contact techniques and teaching methods from Hermana Delgado. it was a lot of fun. The sister trainers (Hermana Tumbaco and Delgado) are the sisters that live with us and they do all the intercambios with all the sisters in Arica. It is funny how we live with them but do not know them too well. We work all day and just see each other for a few hours in the morning and then at night. Therefore doing the intercambio gave me more time to know Hermana Dalgado. She is a ton of fun and really positive. I admire that. She is also much more up front with the people than Hermana Castor and I have been, so I learned a lot about that too. 

One of my goals for this transfer is to recognize and utilize the power and authority that I have as a missionary. It is easy to want to be friends with the members and investigators and menos activos, but they have to know my purpose. Sometimes I have fear of saying something direct like " why didnt you go to church?" or telling them that they really can change and need too. However, that is my duty. In the CCM we listened to a talk about our power and authority. It mentioned that as sisters this is the only time that we have the power and right to call people to repentance and to bring people to the waters of baptism. We can be member missionaries all of our lives, but only those who are set apart have that special power. I need to utilize that power more and remember that is my purpose in this short time during my life. 

These next six weeks I hope to see great progress both in the people I work with and myself. These first six weeks were great and I have learned tons, but there is so much more I can do. I am loving my sector and having an awesome time working here. 

I hope you guys are all doing well there! I love you all !

Hermana Biggs

One Month In The Mission Field

Wow sounds like a packed week. I am glad you guys are so involved in missionary work there. That is awesome, and member missionaries are really the key. Keep up the good work!  We have an 8 year old that we are trying to get baptised . Her parents are investigators and her mom attends church every Sunday. This past week, F, the girl, turned 8 and really wants to be baptized. However, her mom wants her to wait a little longer until she knows more. We feel that she is ready and have talked to the primary president. We all agree. F is super motivated and knows several Book of Mormon stories. We are going to teach the missionary discussions to her and then hopefully commit her to a baptismal date for the 15th of March. We have to get permission from the mission president since she is under 16 and her parents are not members, but we are pretty sure that he will agree since they are active. Keep her in your prayers. 

We have several other children of menos activos that need to baptized, but the rule is that children cannot be baptised unless their parents are active. We have a new less active family we are working with. It is actually part member because one of the daughters is an adult but not baptized. Plus, there is a 10 year old boy but his parents of course are not active. Hopefully we will see some changes there. 

Hermana Castor and I are really struggling to find new investigators. We did not have any dias de los muertos but we had no success finding new people. This week we have promised ourselves to ask references from everyone, regardless of what state of conversion they are in. We have a goal of 5 new investigators which would be amazing! With a little prayer power I am sure we will be able to do it. 

The family we are really focusing on right now is K and E and their daughter S. I have talked about them before I believe, but they are great. They have a lot of interest and want to keep learning and learning. They like to invite us over at 7 pm for "once"  (pronounced like the Spanish number 11). It is the final meal of the day here in Chile. They do not eat dinner , but have a large lunch. Then the once is in the evening and consists of tea, juice, and ham and cheese sandwhiches. They love their bread and eat it with everything. It is super delicious. Although I am not sure why since its not anything super special, but at 7pm there is a bread shop that has fresh bread and the smell fills all the streets. Its a temptation every night to eat it!  

Anyways we want to start really pounding baptism with K and E so that they really understand the importance. They are still committing to come to church this Sunday, so that is great. However, like what is happening to you guys we have people promise up and down that they are coming to church and then never show up. However, we had luck for the first time getting someone to church! She is a less active and has a 2 month old baby. She is really struggling with emotional problems and being a new single mom. However, she said she would come to church and asked if we could pass by her house in the morning to make sure she went. She has been inactive for 10 years, but went this past Sunday!!! She said she would come again this week too! I am so happy to see her trying to put her life in order. 

This week I passed my first month in the mission field (the time in Arica not including MTC time)! It was Valentines Day! I feel like I have learned so much about the gospel and the Book of Mormon. However, I am sure there is much more I need and will learn. In the BOM I am in 3 Nephi; Christ is about to come and visit the people. I have been looking for the promises we can obtain from keeping the commandments. There are so many scriptures that speak of an action we do and then immediately promise a blessing. Those are my favorites. I also like the war chapters in Alma and Helaman and trying to find principles. I have learned so much  from those chapters but sometimes the principles  I pull from the readings are a little stretched to be applied to something besides war, but that’s the fun part! Relating it all to my days and struggles. 

I hope you guys have an awesome week! When is the udderly show? I think Superstition Farms is where I took the girls this past summer? It is out in Queen Creek and on Hales Rd or something? Super fun! Mom make sure you have time to make up for the Valentines Day diseaster! Hahaha too funny, surprises never work the way I want them to either. 

If you have not made CDs yet there are a few songs I am interested in Come thy font by the Mormon Tab Choir, one song from the best 2 years one line is " Can’t you see I am not who I used to be" sung by a male, and the last is a song by a woman- she talks about being in a plane and talking to an atheist. One of the lines is " It passes all my understanding how it all turned out just right". I dont have the titles but maybe you can find them with the lyrics. Anyways I love you guys and cant wait to hear from you next week!

Hermana Biggs 

Here's a photo from the BBQ we had today for the final pday of our zone leader. This is not our zone, just some of his close misisonary friends. 

Death... and Life...

 This week we had a hard time getting a hold of our investigators. When we were doing our weekly planning and district meeting, we realized that we had not hardly seen any of them in the entire week. A lot of appointments had fallen through and such, so we spent a lot more time with less actives. They are awesome but frustrating! However, we keep working with them and hopefully we will see progress. 

D is one of the investigators that we could not get in contact with all week. He ended up not going to church and we have stopped by his house just about everyday, but no one is ever home. We had a set appointment for Friday, but again no one was home. I hope he is doing well, and we realize that things are a little crazy right now because it's summer break here, but school is starting up in March. Everyone is hurrying to get the shopping and enrolling done and taking their final vacations out of town. Hopefully, this week we can see D though and see what happened this past week. G and N are dying I think (in missionary terms). It has been two weeks and again we have not seen them. They have been home three times when we pass by, but they always set an appointment for another day. That's a good sign that death is setting in.

However, there is good news too! We found a new investigator who was open to the gospel. In fact she, C, was taking the lessons and wanted to be baptized about a year ago, but then moved. Many of her brothers and sisters are members, but all are in-active. She is in a really sensitive spot right now because she just had a miscarriage. She is having a lot of difficulty with that and has moved back home (she is 19) to help cope with the depression. She is really sweet and we hope we can help her understand the plan of salvation and also her potential and worth.

Finally , we have K and E. K is the investigator who has no religious background at all,and E is her husband who had an LDS friend and has read almost all of the Book of Mormon. This week we had several appointments with them that all fell through because they have been busy. E works in a mine and had a heavy piece of metal fall on his shoulder, so they have been working to get insurance. However, the good news is that he is now home and we can teach them together as a family. Our meeting with them starting out a little rough. He told us he was looking to work in a different mine and that if we could help him get a job he would come to church. We had to help him and then he would help us, he said. However, after our lesson in 3 Nephi 11, his demeanor changed. He wanted to know what people wear to church and what happens in the meetings. He also wanted to read more of the pamphlets we have. K seemed really interested in the Plan of Salvation especially when I told her that it focuses on families. In the end, they said that they would come to church not this week but the following. This week is Stake Conference and for some reason they don't want to come to that. Overall, I think we made great progress. When we left the lesson Hermana Castor said she knew that they would be baptized. That's two people now that she has said that about, so I am excited to see it happen:)

These next couple of weeks we are really going to focus on strengthening our relationship with the bishop. Our ward is pretty new. It was just created 8 months ago and we are seeing a serious lack in leadership. However, our bishop has a lot of enthusiam and the Relief Society president is awesome too. They are normally the only ones at ward council, and they are super dedicated to their callings. We are hoping to rob some of that enthusiam and use it to strengthen the entire ward. We are planning a ward activity, so if you have ideas we could use them. We want something fun for everyone,and something that people will actually come to. Also we want lots of investigators and less actives to show up as well. We are hoping a fun activity with bring more unity and enthusiam for missionary work and the ward in general.

That is the update for this week. We are hoping to see a lot of improvement in the next eigtht weeks that Hermana Castor and I are together. I cannot wait!

I love you all:)

Hermana Biggs

The pictures are from the humming bird sanctuary that we went to today. It was so green and beautiful, but we only saw one humming bird. However, there were also goats, chickens, ducks, and llamas. Plus there were like 14 missionaries from my zone and another zone and we had a blast:)

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Teach Me To Walk In The Light

The Gilbert temple sounds amazing. Hopefully it isnt too run down come July 2015 haha. Sounds like more missionary work is happening out home than here in Chile!

 

We made the sugar cookies for a FHE last Monday and they turned out all right. The end result following the recipe was very liquidy. I think it was because we made substitute buttermilk. Also, we dont have measuring cups here with American measurements. Everything is in grams. So we just kept adding more flour and then some sugar and then more flour. The oven is also another story since it works off a gas flame. It doesn´t really have temperature control, but overall they turn out good. A little more buttery than sugary but still delicious.

 

Tell Ivory that I am having fun on the mission and there are not too many animals here but A LOT of dogs and cats. Sometimes they start following us in hoards and we have to drive to distract them and then run so they quit following. Also many people have little turtles for pets, so that is super cute.

 

Aspen: There is unfortunately no rain here in the dry desert, so I haven´t seen any rainbows. You will have to take a picture of one and send it to me:) I have met several kids your age. There is one girl that is about to turn 5 and she is adorable. She has dark hair and brown eyes, but her smile and goofiness always remind me of you. I will try to get a picture with her the next time I go and visit.

 

As far as the finances go, I get 80,000 pesos every month which is about 200 dollars. If we just buy food, it is more than enough for the month. We get around primarily on foot but there are taxis and buses that we can use. However, we just use those for activities that are outside of our sector. Our sector is about a 3 mile by 3 mile square, so nobody is very far from us. It's just the days where nobody has time to talk to us and we walk from one side to the other trying to contact different people that come to our minds.

 

That was all of Thursday this week. We had a member accompanying us, so we were super excited to contact as many of our investigators as possible. We had two set appointments and then a list of others we wanted to see and then our back up plan of people. We set out to work, and no one was home. Our two appointments got rescheduled for a different day and we went to every single one of the houses we had planned and thought about and not one was able to have us in. We walked the full length of the sector back and forth as people came to our mind. Up the hill and down the hill and then back up. It was terrible and the worst part was that our member got blisters on her feet! So sad. Luckily she is a YSA who wants to serve a mission, so she understood that some days were like that. But it was terrible.

 

The language is great. I was worried because everyone said that Chileans talk really fast, but so far it hasn't been too bad. I understand just about everything. They like to add "po" to the end of every sentence, though. It is super funny. Also they have a lot of different words for things, but luckily Hermana Castor helps me with that. My vocabulary is obviously more Mexican and Nicaraguan, but Chileans have made up their own words for things, so that's where I need the help.

 

We found an investigator this week that we hope is "golden". He (D) had been the taxi driver one day for Hermana Castor and her other companion, and wanted to know more about the gospel. It turns out they had an appointment for the day that transfers occured, so they never got to visit him and then somehow he got forgotten. However, we met him in the street and he still wanted to meet with us. He listened to the entire Restoration lesson and just kept saying that he wants to learn more. We gave him the Book of Mormon. And guess what? He loves to read so he said he would read any part that we assigned. He also said he would come to church! We left the lesson feeling really great about everything. Hermana Castor got the impression that he and his wife will be baptized. However, he did not show up to church yesterday. We are going to visit him either tonight or tomorrow and hopefully find out that he just had to work extra or something. He is such a kind sweet old man. D is our only promising new investigator, but we are constantly looking for more.

 

Luckily our young family, G and N, have not be able to leave town to go and pick grapes. They are waiting for some money from the dad of G to buy the tickets to Santiago. It is awesome for us because we have more opportunities to teach them! G asked us the other day to pray for her and the money and we said we would, but then when we left I told Hermana Castor that we cannot because we have to teach them first hahaha. So far our non-praying has been answered haha:)

 

Keep working with those less actives! We have such problems with them here. We become such great friends with them, we share our testimonies and visit often to give spiritual thoughts and FHE. They have testimonies but without a friend and connection in the ward, they do not see the purpose in going to church. We are always asking for people to go and visit them and become their friends, so as often as you can, meet with them and become friends.

 

I love you guys and love the pictures you sent!! Keep up the good missionary work. Good luck on the javelina hunt, Dad.

 

The picture is of the baptism this past Saturday. It was not one of my investigators, but one of the people is in my ward, so we attended. The older man is a baptism for the other ward that uses the building. There was such a strong spirit at the baptism. The girl who was baptized for our ward is 24 and has a 2 year old daughter. When she came out of the water, we were in the bathroom to help her and she was crying and crying. It was beautiful; she really felt clean. That is the point of all the work I am doing. Crying repentance to all the Chileans so that they too can feel clean, through baptism and then again in the temple. Aww it was such a good experience.

 

I love you all!

 

Hermana Biggs

Excerpts from Letter To Bailee

All of the missionaries love the little photo book you gave me. It sits on my desk and they are always wanting to look at the pictures of you crazy people. Its awesome!

 

This week we had a lot of fun doing missionary work but we also had lots of disappointments. However, I think it should start improving soon. We are really focusing this week on contacting random people in the street to find new investigators.

The other day we went to visit a less active member and we felt the spirit so strong. We talked about Alma 7:11-12 and she was remembering one of the sacrament hymns that she loves. She then began to remember the song that was sung at her baptism which is Teach Me to Walk in the Light. Her less active daughter was there too (she is about 24) and that was the same song they sang at her baptism as well. We decided to sing it for them in Spanish and that really brought the spirit. I could tell that we were filling an emptiness. They were both happier and said that so many precious memories were brought to their mind. The mom told us at the end of the mini lesson, that she wants to come to church on Sunday and is going to try. We are going to pass by her house again to confirm, but it is amazing to see how the spirit works with people.

 

The mission is still awesome. I am getting more connected to the people since I am visiting and getting to know them more. Plus many of our investigators are new, not just old investigators from my companion, so I am starting at the beginning with them. They are all such great people, and I love them all instantly, it is sometimes funny,

 

I hope you continue doing welll! I love you so much and am so grateful for your emails.

 

Hermana Biggs

Excerpts from Letter To Madison

The washing feet thing, I am not sure why it is a tradition. I think it comes from Jesus washing the apostles feet. So like they are the older, more experienced missionaries and are serving us. I am not sure. However, they don´t actually do anything!! It is just for the photo, they act like they are shining our shoes. My shoes really need a shining; I wish they would have actually done it. My companion is great. She is awesome at saying the right thing when people have super odd questions or comments. Like the other day we were walking and some guy asked me if I could teach him English. He then wanted to take me dancing and offered us drinks! Oh goodness. I told him we had to hurry and leave since we had an appointment to get to; however the word for appointment and date are the same in Spanish "cita". SO he asked if he could have a cita with me!! How ridiculous! I was like no we are missionaries and we teach the gospel of Christ, but my companion stepped in and offered him a pamphlet about the restoration and then said we had to keep walking. People are crazy and I am glad to have my companion to help me handle them haha.

 

I love you!

Hermana Biggs

Dias De Los Muertos

Oh those pictures look awesome! (We sent pictures from Aspen's birthday party and the hunting trip)I was able to find some raid and have not seen too many cockroaches since I sprayed all the cracks in the entire apartment. It smelled terrible! But no more roaches:) >My shoes and clothes are holding up well; although finding modest skirts and dresses when I need new stuff is going to be difficult, so if you find any while out garaging hang on to them for me.

This week began the roller coaster that I suppose will last for the entire mission. We had some really high and exciting times and then some not so awesome moments. We call the not so awesome time "dias de los muertos" because when our investigators do not want to hear any more or are not interested in progressing they "die". It's pretty funny because if we sense that they are separating themselves a bit from the church or are not completing their commitments , we say (privately of course) that we need to visit them once more to see if we have to kill them, meaning that we are moving on. So, this week we had two dias de los muertos. The first one was with M. Hermana Castor had taught her twice but had not been able to contact her in two weeks. We had gone to her home several times, but she was never home. Finally, we found her at home! However, she told us that she had been offended and had come to realize that the church was racist, because, as missionaries, we cannot kiss males on the cheek. This is the usual greeting in Chile, and we do kiss all of the mujeres, but just give handshakes to the men. Hermana Castor had not explained this to her (normally we don't and never have problems unless the men try to kiss haha). However, she was offended that Hermana Castor and her old companion had not kissed her husband. Some people are just loca haha. T

However, now to the good news!!! We are making excellent progress with K, the lady who has no religious background. We realized that we are going to have to explain things more simply to build her religious foundation, but she is really responsive! We are going over to her house this week, and will hopefully be able to teach her husband. He has a few LDS friends, so hopefully he too will be receptive.

Oh goodness, we had a crazy experience with one of the less actives. I had been warned by Hermana Castor that she is a little off. She was not wrong lol, but what was worse was that  we arrived at her house right when she was starting to prepare lunch. She said she was making picante pata and wanted us to try it because it is "super healthy and delicious". We had to go to our mamita for lunch in 30 minutes, but she insisted that she cooked fast and we just needed to try a little bit. She then went to the kitchen to cook and left us sitting there. In about 20 minutes the food was done. Pata is the foot of a cow and picante means spicy but she didn't add any spice. It looked good. It was served with potatoes and rice. However, with a second glance we noticed that the "healthy meat" was pure cartilage from the ankle of the cow. Worse than that was that there was still hair in the cartilage!!! Short spikey little black cow hairs in the food! Hermana Castor and I tried sorting out all the meat that had the longest hairs, but that was like half the dish. I was ready to gag. Her idea of a little taste was a full serving! Oh it was awful. We guarded our gag reflex to eat the pieces with the fewest hairs and then I rapidly grabbed the plates and took them to the kitchen, trying to hide what we had not eaten. Oh a day to remember:)

(This is not a picture of the picante pata.   This is a competo.  A hot dog with lots of tomato, guacamole, mayo, cabbage. Yummy yummy yummy.)

Well it sounds like you all are super busy! That's crazy all of the missionary work you are doing! Great job:) Aspen looked so cute for her birthday. It looks like it was a lot of fun.

You should look up the situation here in Arica. Apparently there is some kind of treaty that Chile signed with Peru years ago that promised Peru part of Chile´s sea. However, Chile did not comply with the treaty and does not want to give up its rights to part of the ocean, since it is used by Chilean fishermen and shipping companies. Peru of course is demanding the ocean. Today is the deciding day, but both sides are saying they are willing to fight for the ocean and economy. There are big displays here in the center of Arica, since it is the city that will be affected by giving up the rights to the water. There are gun shots (empty shells I assume) and lots of chanting and singing and up roar. It appears Chile is losing, but the Aricans fear that soon Arica will belong (once again) to Peru. Look up the history, I am not sure of all the details lol. But then send me the info so I know:) Always excitement in the mission:)

(This is the big march of the Aricans. There is a lot of press and loudness, with bands and all kinds of stuff)

I love you all and hope school and hunting went well. Love you

Hermana Biggs

It appears that just an hour before her email a decision was reached about the boundary.  Here's the article I sent Emilee:

World Court Draws New Peru-Chile Maritime Border

THE HAGUE, Netherlands January 27, 2014 (AP)

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press

The United Nations' highest court drew a new maritime boundary between Peru and Chile on Monday, awarding Peru parts of the Pacific Ocean but keeping rich coastal fishing grounds in Chilean hands.

The line drawn by the International Court of Justice ended decades of debate about how to carve up some 38,000 square kilometers (14,670 square miles) of fish-rich waters off the coasts of the Latin American neighbors. Peru's fishing industry estimates the annual catch in the region to be worth some US$200 million.

Peru wanted a maritime border heading roughly southwest, perpendicular to the point where the two countries' land border meets the ocean. Chile insisted the border should extend from the coast parallel to the equator.

The court found a compromise by saying a border already existed parallel to the equator extending 80 nautical miles from the coast and then drawing a line southwest to a point where the countries' 200-mile territorial waters end.

In Lima, President Ollanta Humala had no immediate reaction.

Outside the presidential palace, scores of people who had watched the verdict being read on two giant TV screens shouted "Long Live Peru" afterward, though there was some confusion as to whether their country had won or lost.

In the Peruvian border city of Tacna, a few hundred people from a patriotic society who had gathered in a movie theater to watch the ruling sang the national anthem. Dozens of police guarded the Chilean consulate but there were no incidents.

A professor of international relations at Lima's Catholic University, Farid Kahhat, said Peru had won a bit more than half the territory it sought.

But the leader of the Peruvian fishermen in the region, David Patino, told The Associated Press that the decision was a loss.

"We haven't won anything. We are in the same situation as the past," he said.

After Peru, Chile is the world's No. 2 exporter of fish meal.

Peruvian historian and columnist Nelson Manrique called the decision an "intelligent verdict" that is "not going to please anyone but it's also not going to bring anyone to fits."

Patricia Majluf, a leading Peruvian fisheries scientist, said the area up to 80 miles (128 kilometers) that remains in Chilean hands "is where the Chilean boats fish the most" and she doesn't expect the verdict will cost the job of any Chilean fisherman.

"All the anchoveta is fished in that zone," she said. The anchovy species is converted into fish meal for an insatiable global market that uses it in animal feed and fertilizer.

Majluf, a professor at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, said about 1 million tons of anchoveta are harvested annually off the northern Chile coast. That's about the same amount as off the southern Peruvian coast, she added.

For many, the case launched in 2008 by Peru is a matter of national pride. Chile seized its three northernmost provinces during the 1879-83 War of the Pacific from Peru and Bolivia, which lost its only coast in the conflict.

The actual border area has long been a model of coexistence. Citizens of both countries travel freely between Arica and its Peruvian sister city of Tacna, both of which depend on the fishing industry and on each other.

Chileans crowd into Tacna's hospitals and clinics for the cheaper health care, while Peruvians work construction and other day jobs on the Chilean side of the border. Arica's mayor, Salvador Urrutia, says some 5,000 people cross the border in both directions each day.

Rulings by the court are final and binding on both countries. The presidents of Peru and Chile each pledged to adhere to whatever decision the court made. The countries are partners in a number of important regional and Pacific economic alliances and have seen annual bilateral trade grow from $500 million in 2006 to $4.3 billion today and each had significant investments in the other in sectors as diverse as tourism, retail and gastronomy.

Chilean government figures put Peruvian investment in Chile at $11 billion last year with Chile investing $13.5 billion in Peru.

January 20, 2014: Arica

Sorry that I haven´t been able to write in like two weeks, but we didn´t get a seond p-day in the MTC and then I had missed the normal p-day for my sector. Speaking of sectors: I am in Arica with Hermana Castor from Mexico!!!

Arica is the furtherst city north wise and is pretty close to Peru. I flew from Santiago to Antofagasta last Tuesday and then met my trainer and then we had a 12 hour bus ride to Arica! The bus is really nice though so it wasn´t too bad. Arica is pretty great. I will be here for sure for 3 months and then maybe longer depending on what the transfers are like. My companion and I get along great! I am so grateful for that. The MTC was great preparation for the mission and I am so glad because I am already teaching!! It is super exciting. We have 10 investigators that we try to track down everyday. One was supposed to get baptized this past Saturday, but suddenly had some doubts about a living prophet. We postponed the baptism and showed him the mormon message "dare to stand alone". It really brought the spirit and I think he felt it too. Hope he can resolve his doubts soon. Another investigator we just taught for the first time yesterday. She basically has no religious background, but believes in God. We were talking about the restoration, but she doesn´t even know Bible teachings. It is really interesting (also very uncommon) that she doesn´t have any knowledge about the gospel, but she was really receptive and we are going back to teach her this week. 

 

A lot of the people here do live together and aren´t married, so that's always something we need to teach, but it sounds like many people are open to the idea of getting married, which is good. We are teaching a lot of young people like 18-22 year olds. Many of their families are part members or they have some inactive relative or something. It's unfortunate, because the gospel is really centered on families, but their families are not interested in listening or reactivating. It makes conversion and remaining active difficult for youth. Also we spend a ton of time with less actives. They are pretty great and always are thankful for God and all their blessings, BUT they won´t come to church! They always have some excuse, but we will get them there somehow! 

 

Arica is hot, dry, and dusty. It was hilarious when I was flying from Santiago to Antofagasta. The view started out as super pretty, lots of mountains, not too much growing, but some stuff. Then we started flying over the Andies which, in this area, are totally dead, but really awesome to look at because they are huge. But then we started getting closer to Antofagasta, and there was nothing! We flew past the city which looks pretty modern, but then we kept on flying and flying for like 20 minutes. Everything was just flat dirt. Nothing! No cars, no houses, no people, no sign of anything. All the missionaries from the MTC on the plane were joking that we were  going to the easiest mission because we were only going to be teaching bugs and iguanas (although I am sure they don´t live here either, haha). We touched down in the middle of nowhere and I was certain that there was no airport. It seemed like you could land just about anywhere because there was nothing in the way. I have a picture attached of our touch down. Its just dirt.

Luckily it turns out there are people here, haha, and the airport is about 45 minutes from the city. The drive from Antofagasta to Arica was about the same as my first impression, although there were more hills of dirt to make it interesting:) Also it was a full moon so that was cool too. But yup, pretty much dead. In the letter from the president he had said " you can drive for miles and not see one living plant or animal". I knew he was right but I figured that was in reclusive areas or something. It would have been better to say " anywhere you drive, outside of a city, you will not see any living thing". 

 

 The people are great though and the houses are all bright and colorful which makes the view a little better. We have a mamita to wash our clothes and another one to make us lunch. Apparently people do not eat dinner here, because we have breakfast when we wake up, then eat lunch at 2pm, and then nothing until we get back to the apartment at 10pm. It's a little rough, especially since I was eating like crazy in the MTC. However, I am getting adjusted. We have a lot of time that we spend in our apartment since I am being trained, which kinda stinks because we are missing opportunities to teach, but that's alright. I do have to learn to keep improving. 

 

OH its soooo gross! Every night when we get back to our apartment at 10, there's cockroaches everywhere!!! I die! Its terrible. There are some that are small and a different breed, those I can handle (well kill:)) But there's always a couple huge, flying cockroaches that we have yet to murder. We are going to go to the store soon and buy some RAID so that they will die and quit coming in. Eww so gross.

 

For P-day we went to a beach which is about 30 minutes away from my sector. We went with two other companionships from an old sector of my companion. The beach is not the most beautiful apparently, but I loved it. We played volleyball and built a sand snowman haha. It was tons of fun!

 

Also the other photo with all the missionaries is from the car wash we held on Saturday.

Some elders from a different ward wanted to do it as a way to get references and new investigators, so we volunteered to wash and they taught the people in the meantime. However, it turns out that the most promising investigator they met is in my sector!! Haha, too bad for them. We have tried passing by the investigator's house, but no one has been home. Apparently, it's really hard finding people to teach on the weekends because people travel and go to the beach. So, maybe we will be able to catch up with them today or tomorrow. Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. I love you all so much and wish you the best for all the fun plans you have coming up this week! Love you

Hermana Biggs

We had a chance to email back and forth for a few minutes, so here's some questions and answers from that conversation:

Little fun facts: Wiki says there are about 200,000 people in Arica.  Arica features the rare, mild desert climate. Unlike many other cities with arid climates, Arica seldom sees extreme temperatures throughout the course of the year. Arica is also known as the driest inhabited place on Earth, at least as measured by rainfall: average annual precipitation is 0.76 mm (0.03 inches).  Despite its lack of rainfall, humidity and cloud cover are high. With humidity levels similar to those of equatorial climates the sunshine intensity is similar to the Sahara desert regions in the Northern Hemisphere (like the Cape Verde islands).

Are you in a a ward or branch? how big (area wise) is the stake? How many missionaries in your ward/branch and the stake?
We are in a ward called Tarapaca ward. Yesterday there were about 70 people at church, so its not too big. We have four missionaries in every ward. Generally a set of sisters and a set of elders. However, there are many areas where they are no sisters, so maybe I will eventually be a part of a sector opening for sisters. I am not sure how big the stake is but there are two stakes here in Arica.

What is the home like where you stay?
Oh it is alright. We have warm water, not hot, but warm. We have a small room with bunk beds for the four of us that are living there. We have a huge living room with no furniture just our four desks and a closet. The kitchen is small and the water leaks so we have to keep it off during the day or it drips, but we arent there part of the day so that's alright. It is pretty much the same style as the nicaragua house, just has the basics and its constantly dirty from all the dust-

Will this be the regular time you get to email? What's your pday like?  
P-day is every monday from 7:30 am to 7pm. Today we went to the beach before writing, so I am not sure that we have a concrete writing scheldule. We can basically go anytime between 7:30 and 7. So it depends on what we do activity wise. Next week we are going to try to write earlier though. Maybe at like 11 am

How's the food? 
The food is good. pretty bland, as in not spicy or sweet, but good. We eat a lot of soups and then have rice and bread and some sort of chicken or sausage. The Chileans love jello, so we eat a lot of that, but its ok. I like it too. I havent been able to buy any street food, so I just know what the past four or five lunches have been like in Arica. It's pretty good, but always hot food in the middle of the hot day so that's not so fun!

Do the members ever feed the missionaries?
Members feed us on Saturdays and Sundays. 

 I have to leave now but I love you all. Talk to you next week!

Arrival In The Mission Field

We didn't receive an email from Emilee this week because she left on her Pday for the mission field.  However, we were thrilled to receive an email and photos from her Mission President. 

Saludos de Chile!  Greetings from Chile!

We are pleased to inform you of the safe arrival of Sister Biggs in the Chile Antofagasta Mission.  We are thrilled to have Sister Biggs with us here in the mission.  We had the opportunity to visit with her and get to know her on the day she arrived and today during our orientation and assignment meetings.  She is going to be a great missionary!  Thank you so much for the sacrifice you are making so she can serve.  We know she will appreciate the support she will feel from home through your letters.

We have attached a few photos. 

The first two were taken in front of Antofagasta’s landmark, La Portada, with the city in the background. 

The last one is of Sister Bigg’s trainer/first companion, Sister Castor, symbolically cleaning her shoe.

Thank you for sharing Sister Biggs with us.  We will care for her as if she were our own daughter.  We know your family will be blessed by her service.

With much love,

President and Sister Dalton

Chile Antofagasta Mission

The MTC (or in Spanish) The CCM

Kevin and I both sent Emilee an email this week so I'll post both of the return emails we received.  

Letter to Dad:

Hey! its my first and only P-day at the mtc. It has been really busy, but I have learned so much so that is good. The scheldule is a bit crazy! We really don´t have any time for ourselves, but I made some really good friends. The hardest thing is showering. We have 30 minutes after exercise to get everyone in the room showered and ready so go. In my room there are four sisters ( me and my companion Hermana Perez, and another set of companions). The president said we need to take 3 minute showers, but a few of the sisters do not understand what that means, hahah. (I have mastered my process so I am in the shower for about 90 seconds:) It's difficult, but it really doesn't matter how I look, it is about what I am going to learn.

We are in classes for about 13 hours everyday and we sleep from 11 pm to 7. I have learned so much it is crazy. Everytime I learn something I want to commit it to memory and improve, so its a lot of pressure to remember everything, but the work is so important, and I want to know how to best help people. One thing we really focus on is adapting the gospel and the lessons to our investigators. Before anything we have to be their friends and gain their trust. That, I think, is going to be a lot of fun, but also difficult because if they dont want to continue the lessons or they don't gain their own testimony, it's a friend that I'm losing. But I think that will be a lot of fun to be in the "el campo" or the field.

Thank you so much for the letter you wrote for the first day in the mtc. It has helped alot and I am working on memorizing D&C 4. I have the first three verses down! Not much time to learn the rest, but thats ok.

I love you so much and hope you are enjoying work and the family and all of that:) Im not sure when my next P-day will be but I leave the MTC on next Tuesday. I love you!

Hermana Biggs

The Santiago Chile Temple

The CCM

Letter to Mom:
Hey it is great to hear from you. I worte an email to dads work email so read the two together and hopefully I dont overlap too much. The first day in the MTC was not what I expected. They basically put the new arrival missionaries in a room all day and told them to memorize the purpose as missionaries, the first vision, D&C section 4 and a couple other scriptures. We were there all day! A few times a teacher came in and said they were going to teach but then they left like 2 minutes later and just told us to memorize until they came back. Apparently the whole MTC was busy because they were receiving 40 new missionaries all at different times and trying to deal with paperwork, lost luggage and getting everyone situated. So that was weird, but I did memorize several things and had a chance to meet some great hermanas. The next day was much better and structured, and now we follow a tight schedule from 7 am to 10 pm and then have an hour at night before bedtime at 11. I am excited to be learning so much, but I am exhausted! I have also gotten a little sick, but just from stress. Just a runny nose and cough, and I am getting better.

The food here is kinda like cafeteria food in the States but Chilean style. One of the hermanas is from Chile and she is always telling us how the food is kinda Chilean but not really. They do offer mashed potatoes with every meal minus breakfast and then normally fried chicken patties. Rice is also very common and some sort of bread. They have lots of soda and "juice" that isnt 100% juice as drinks. They also offer a salad bar which is nice.

My companion is Hermana Perez, she is in the blue shirt if I can upload photos. (It looks gray in the photo) She is from Mexico and has a really strong testimony so that is awesome!She is also very dedicated but much more into sharing her thoughts than I am. But I always learn something and for that I am thankful:) She is going to Santiago North mission on the 14th so I wont see her anymore. But there are several going to Antofagasta.

It has been a lot of fun here, and I am learning so much! There is always something to study, learn, and improve. My saying is always "voy mejorando" or I go improving. As companions we have "investigators". Basically our teachers act like one of the their investigators did when they served. Hermana Perez and I have three teachers and therefore three investigators. The investigators we teach are Fransico, Lucas, and Mercedes. It is really fun putting what we learn in practice. Its amazing how much I have come to love and care about these investigators. I worry about their needs and wants and what we should teach them next and how we can communicate better. AND these aren't even real investigators! The mission feild is going to be awesome!

Everything is amazing. We haven't been out and about in Chile yet, but I cant wait. I am excited, nervous, anxious, tired, and stressed, but somehow happier than ever. The most important lesson I have learned so far is something I should have learned long ago, but it is that the scriptures really contain every answer we need, and advice for every problem we have. If you need something look in the scriptures, if you study enough you will find the answer.

I hope you are all doing well. Girls, I hope the new semester is great and that you get some better grades than last semester! Especially you Madison! You need a big scholarship for college:) Mom good luck with  primary and finding willing teachers. Maybe bribe them with something hahah. I love you all and hope all is well. Remember the church is true and really, teaching people that,  is not as hard as I thought. I love you all so much.

Talk to you later

Hermana Biggs

Arrival In Chile

Emilee left for Chile at 11:15am Tuesday, December 31st.  Here she is getting ready to go through security. 

Does she look like a fantastic Missionary or what!  It was a long day and a long night as we waited to hear of her arrival.  Her flight landed in Santiago at 9:00am, January 1st.  We just received our first email:

I have arrived safely and am at the CCM now. There were 7 other missionaries that I met in Alanta and we all flew together. They were really fun to meet and I felt like a genius because I was the only one who was fluent. The flight went really well and I was able to sleep for 5 hours. Which is good since we are going right to work. After arriving we went to that historic building (we read about it on a blog) that is not part of the CCM to stay and live, but it turned out that Antofagasta missionaries dont stay there. So i was specially driven over to the CCM. We are working on memorizing some scripture right now, but I have 5 minues to write. I will be in the CCM for two weeks, since apparently I still remember all of my Spanish. So my departure date is January 14. Everything has been fun and I am getting along well with all the latina sisters, which is good because they will be my companions while I am here. I have only met three other people going to Antofagasta, which is crazy because the misison is soooo much bigger than any other in Chile. Well I have to go! Talk to you later I love you all. Not sure when P day is yet

Hermana Biggs

What a blessing to have our sweet Emilee serving a mission.  We will continue to post her emails and pictures.   

Love, 

One Proud Missionary Mom!