My First Gringa!

Things have been going really well this week. We are having so many lessons with members and investigators present, it is super great for our investigators. We have been working a lot this week with T and her son P. T is a less active, but she wants P to be baptized. However, of course we need them both to be going to church for that to happen. She is afraid of what people will say because she is a single mom of two children, but we are getting really close I think. She is really begining to understand her divine nature. We went to visit her on Friday with a member and it was such a great lesson. She knows that Heavenly Father sees her as a strong woman who is trying her best. We are really happy to be able to help her. Tonight we are going to a member´s house for family home evening and we have invited her. I think it is going to go really well, but keep her in your prayers.

We had great success with A this week. She and her boyfriend and daughter all want to get baptized, and they have been attending pretty consistingly for the last 8 months. However, both the parents need to get divorced and then married. We were having problems with A because she cannot locate her husband. They have been separated for 16 years and dont have any communication, so she cant make any progress in the divorce process. However, our mission is now using a new program to find less actives and locate the true addresses of members. We have an hour every week to work with the on-line part and then we go out and try to locate the members that supposedly live in our sector. The cool part is that we have access to all the voting records in Chile in order to find addresses and names, so we were able to put the husband´s name in the search and WE FOUND HIM!!! We gave A the address and she is starting to get a divorce! Its funny to be excited for that, but it is a great step so that she can marry her current partner. Its a six month process, but she is super happy and so are we,

Lots of progress here in Tarapaca Oriente! We are still seeing lots of progress with the activation of less actives, so thats exciting too. This past Sunday, J came to church. He is the older brother of C, who we activated about two months ago. He only attended sacrament meeting, but he enjoyed the talks and the sacrament and when we went to visit his family at night he stayed for the lesson! I think he is ready for something more in his life.

This week we also welcomed Hermana Christensen to our apartment. She is really kind and great and a fellow Arizonian from Snowflake! The first gringa that I have lived with since I started the mission. We have a lot of fun when all four of us sisters have time together. Today we went to show her the Morro and Roly´s (more huge sandwiches:) We entertained ourselves by pretending to throw ourselves off the el morro (a common thing to do her in Arica apparently).

I hope you guys are living it up in the beach house. Be safe and remember that I now live fifteen minutes from the beach so be jealous!! Hahaha enjoy your vacation! I love you guys.

Hermana Biggs

A Trip To Hawaii

This week was a little off for us here in Arica. For Friday all of the missionaries traveled to Iquique for a zone conference with Elder Spanuas (a 70 from Argentina) and the mission president. We left Arica at 11:30 and filled an entire bus with missionaries. The five hour drive to Iquique dropped us off there at about 4 am! We were all so tired and then had to walk to the chapel. Once there we all crashed on the pews trying to take advantage of the last hours of sleep before the conference. When the confrence started we were all still tired, but I learned a lot. It was great. The main topic was prayer. President Dalton talked about the mission goals that we have, and said that he was thinking about why we hadn't seen the progress that we wanted. He prayed about it, thinking that maybe the goals were too high or something, but his answer was that the mission isn't accomplishing the goals because we are not praying for the goals. I thought that was really interesting, and it is actually true. Then he talked about how we need to pray with faith and trust that we will be granted the things we want and need in time. Elder Spanuas and his wife then talked about praying with a specific plan. They said that we would see more of the Lord's hand if we prayed, not only for the goals, but thought and prayed about a plan. It could be something simple like "prepare the owner of the bread store to accept our message today when we go and buy bread" or something more involved when we need more help.

Their advice really struck me because we are really struggling with the V family. They want to be baptized but have not gone to church. Plus the mom´s bipolar depression has made some situations complicated. In Ward council the bishop asked what help we needed with them, and I was completely lost. I didnt have an answer because we had done everything to try to get them to church. When I Heard the advice  in the conference I knew that that was something we needed to impliment. We need an inspired plan and then we need to pray to see results. We are going to put this in action soon! (once we have the plan ready). It was a really great conference and I was glad we could all go.

When we returned to Arica on Saturday we had to hurry and get our missionary activity underway. The Elder's had planned a Trip to Hawaii activity for the two wards that attend our chapel. We worked all saturday getting the chapel transformed into a troipical Paradise complete with a movie theater, club, smoothies, soccer, a mini chapel, and video games. The visitors received leis when they entered and could visit all of the attractions. It was really fun and those who went said it was great! We enjoyed it and are already planning our next activity.

We got our transfers that night as well, and after many heart attacks for people saying I was going to leave Arica, I learned that I am staying to finish training Hermana Alonzo. I was soo happy to hear that! I am not ready to leave my beloved Tarapacá still. Hopefully, at the end of this transfer I will be... but not yet.

Last night we said goodbye to Hermana Delgado who has lived with me since I got here, but she is now finishing her mission. She should be home on Wednesday. It was sad to see her go, but hilarious to see her try to pack up all of her things. I am sure she will enjoy being home, but she is awesome. Today I am in a trio until Hermana Fernandez´s new companion gets here in the morning. It has been fun, and soon Hermana Christensen will be joining us in our Little apartment.

I hope you guys enjoy this last week of school. Send me pictures of the finished product of the kitchen. Sounds like it is going to look great! What is the color scheme exactly? I think you should use pastel Green. I like that color hahaha. I love you all. Ciao!

Hermana Biggs

Emilee's missionary plaque came in and is proudly displayed at our ward building!  However, Emilee was quick to remind me that her release date probably won't be until July 15, 2015- not June.  I'm not sure how I feel about that! 

Because of Him

It was great talking to all of you guys too. I was so nervous to call, yet I had no idea why. It has been a great four months, but it was fun to see everyone in person.

This past week was a little rough. We had some great lessons, but I feel like it was a bit difficult. The spirit in the apartment was definitely lacking. I was worrying about how I could help my hijita be a better missionary. I had tried to be an obedient example, but it seemed like my example wasnt the one that she was trying to follow. I have a tendency to be a little too controlling, and I have really tried to be on top of that, but I stil felt like I wasnt doing enough. On Tuesday, I was pretty upset. It seemed like every conversation lead to some topic that didnt need to be discussed and every joke was just a little too much. Little disobedient acts and comments that really dont seem like anything grand were really affecting the spirit. We had a district meeting that morning, and I went to it contemplating what I could do to show love but also express how I felt. As we waited for a video to load I started praying for help. I felt like those parents that they talk about in General Conference, that want to know how to raise a righteous child in a world full of evil. (A little dramatic I know, but I really do worry about my hijita)

It was amazing to recieve an answer right then and there. I felt my mind being flooded with things that I could do and say to help the spirit in the apartment and show love. I was amazed at how easily it all came to my mind, and of course I was reminded of the great love Heavenly Father has for me. He took the time in my moment of need to help ease my worries. By the time the video was ready to watch, I felt confident that I could make the changes that I wanted to see.

However, it seems like Heavenly Father wasnt completly done giving his answer. The video we watched was a mormon.org video that the church had made for Easter. It is called Because of Him (Gracias a El). After watching the clip, I just felt overwhelmed with love for my Savior.  I felt a renewed sense of hope that I could become the person that he and my Heavenly Father want me to be. I am so grateful for the things that Jesús Christ has done for all of us. He sacrificed himself selflessly so that we can be clean and live again with God and our families. He gives us limitless possibilities in this life and in the life after death. Because of Him, I have so much potential.

My spirit was renewed after I left the district meeting, and I have tried to put in pratice the things that came to my mind. Bit by bit things are improving. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to be happy.

I love you guys and  hope you can get a chance to watch the video.  It is amazing. I love you

The photo is from a market called YES. They sell American clothes by the kilo. We went there today and basically had to dig through huge piles of clothes. It was pretty hilarious, but in the end I got a cute navy blue Banana Republic cardi for about a $1:) Imported all the way from the USA haha

I'll Virtually See You In A Week!

Your space for the show was so cute! I love the "Love" sign with the heart and the cute little burlap flowers. Bailee´s skirt is amazing too. Did you find that at a thrift store or make it? So adorable, send me one too:)

I am glad that things went so well for this show. Your little black and white boxes show how much Heavenly Father cares about us, not just spiritually but in every facet of our lives. Like it says in Mosiah 2:41 those who keep the commandments are blessed in all things both temporary and spiritual. I think that that is an awesome promise that we have, and your success is just a fulfillment of that promise. Perhaps if the show hadn't gone so well, I could be accompanying you guys next summer for the beach house, but I guess that's just how things are going to be. Enjoy your time there. I hope to see lots of photos. 

This week was difficult. We had a hard time finding people home in the afternoon and then when it was about eight o´clock we would enter a house and they would talk and talk until 9:45 when we had to leave to go to our apartment. We got to know some of the families better, and that is great that they trust us and are open. However, we didnt get to visit the majority  of our families that we normally do. It made the week hard, seeing as we planned everyday to visit several people and then in the end only get to talk to one or two families. We are majorly tied to the spiritual development of the people here in our sector, and that's a great responsiblity. When we do get to visit many of the investigators or less actives or members, I worry about them. I know what we share is important and always want to work with as many people as possible.  It seems like there is always a disappointing week in every transfer, but that doesnt make them any more fun or bearable. By the time this past Sunday rolled around I was just ready to start a new week with a clean slate. 

Three investigators came to church. A and F,  who always come,  and then a friend of C. C is a 12 year youth that we have activated (still not his family, but we are working on it!). He recieved the Aaronic priesthood 5 or 6 weeks ago and invited one of his neighbor friends to come to church. J is only nine, but said that he really enjoyed primary. Sacrament meeting was boring for him, but I think most nine year olds have a hard time in that meeting. Hopefuly, we can have a lesson with him and his grandparents this week, and invite all of them to come to church. 

The V family didnt come and is having more struggles again, so we will see how we can help them tomorrow. We go to ward council about every week, and the leaders have said that they are going to go and visit them. I hope they do. They need some advice, that as missionaries we cant give (about budgeting and stuff like that). 

Tonight we are having family home evening with a member family and bringing two of our investigator families. I am super excited for it, and I hope that it will be a good way to start off the week. We are trying to increase our lessons to investigators with a member present and have created a calendar where the relief society can sign up to work with us for a few hour each day. The first week, nobody signed up to go with us, but they did fill out the spaces to have an FHE with us in the month of May. This past week, we have two sisters who signed up to work with us in the mornings. I hope that they have good experiences and can share with the other members so that EVERYBODY wants to work with us. Hahaha. 

Thats about it for this week. I have a lot of hope for this coming week. I think it is going to be awesome. As a zone we are going to sing the EFY melody of As Sisters in Zion and Army of Helaman for a zone conference in about two weeks. It is going to be for all the missionaries in Arica and Iquique (we get to travel!), the mission president, and a member of the 70. We have been practicing, but there are only four sisternaries in our zone and none of us know how to sing. Plus we are singing partly in English and I am the only gringa! I am praying that the spirit will be strong and convey the message because I am not so sure that our voices will hahaha. No, it should be fun. We are looking forward to it. 

We talked with the bishop and it looks like we can skype at 7:30 Chilean time which I think is 4:30 AZ time. Check on that to be sure please. I think I remember my skype information so I should be able to connect, but if not keep your email open and also facebook. Our mamita was saying that there is a way to sign into facebook and use skype from there if we remember that password. Ill shot you email if I have any problems connecting. 

I love you guys! Good luck with the end of the semester. Ill virtually see you in a week!!

Hermana Biggs

El Bautismovil: The Baptism Mobile

Hey!

It sounds like you guys are keeping busy as usual:) Hopefully all goes well with Junk in the Trunk this week and the installation of insulation hahaha. I loved those photos from the Pageant. Dad I am still convinced the beard look is not for you:P Is Aspen a fairy in the birthday party picture? How cute!

This week, we had so many great experineces with many of our investigators. When we went to talk to A and F this week, the boyfriend/father was there. He is really supportive of the church, although he has never attended. However, he loves talking with the missionaries and I was grateful to finally be able to find him. He works in one of the mines in Antofagasta and when he is in town they normally go on vacations. The lesson went really well, and he talked about the great change that he has seen in A since she started going to church. He said it has made her more soft and lovely. He is going to start his divorcement papers and A is trying to as well!

D, D, D. Our lovely taxi driving friend. He is such a great investigator and we had an amazing lesson with him on Friday. The spirit was really strong and he was finally certain that he would attend church . He said the closing prayer for the first time in all of the times that we have been working with him. It was really powerful. Both Hermana Alonzo and I left feeling so great. He is really progressing and we felt such a spiritual high after leaving his house. 

The V family is progressing as well.  This week we were able to put baptismal dates for E and V ( the mom and daughter. The dad is a less active) for the 31st of May. We were super proud, and they are really excited for the date. I can really see how people are more focused when we committ them to baptism and set a date. Although, the baptism may not occur on the first date we set, it really helps get them ready and start preparing on their own. They are excited to reactivate and went to our ward activity on Saturday. It was a dessert festival. Every organization made two desserts to present and share. Hermana Alonzo and I made a "Baptiz-mobile" and the Elders of the ward made cinnamon rolls. Our baptizmobile won most creative!!!! It was super fun, and we were happy to see the V family attend. 

Our other great lesson was with R. He is married and has two children. About a year ago his wife and oldest child were baptized. The youngest is still only five, and R didnt feel ready. I started teaching him with Hermana Castor and he said that he was Atheist, but has faith. We were a little confused by that statement, but we went with it. Over the past few months it has been difficult to teach him (he works in the mines too), but we have seen great change. He has a really strong testimony now of Heavenly Father and prayer and is learning and accepting our teachings. His wife is less active, but wants to go to church as a family. The lesson with him was short, but really powerful. We had brought a member with us and I am convinced that her testimony and experiences really helped him to be more open. It was very powerful. He too said the closing prayer (although not for the first time) and the spirit became even stronger. It was really great. 

A week full of really great lessons. I felt like the spirirt was very strong on several occassions. However, we wouldnt know the good if there was no opposition..... All of these people and families promised that they would come to church. We also had two others that were also saying that they were going to come. With the spirit so strong we believed that we would have 7  investigators in church on Sunday. We called to verify on Saturday night and Sunday morning. We excitedly went to church.

In the first hour no one showed up. Our church schedule is reversed so we do Relief society and then Sunday School and then Sacrament Meeting. We knew that many of the investigators could only come for Sacrament, but we became nervous when no one showed up for the first hour. We made a few calls to those who were supposed to be there to see what had happened and they affirmed that they were still coming . However, when the third hour rolled around, no one had come. No one, not a single investigator. It was a little frustrating and disappointing admittedly. I really thought that at least the majority would come. The lessons had been great, I believed. I now more fully understand that when great things are happening there is a lot of opposition. We went and visited those who didnt come to church yesterday. Sure enough, alll of their plans had grown complicated for one reason or another and they all figured they could just go to church next week. 

We have a lot of hope for change here. We are seeing great things but it was a bit difficult to be sitting alone yesterday. We are going to keep working and make sure that this week they know  the importance of going to church. We just want them to feel that same spirirt that we do when we go. I know it is possible, but it appears that it is going to take a lot of effort. Like I said, when something great is going to happen there always seems to be some opposition. Hopefully, this week was all the opposition hahaha. If not, Hermana Alonzo and I are ready!!

I love you guys!. I have heard that we are talking with our families on May 11th. The bishop said we could use his computers to skype. Our church is from 10am-1pm Chilean time, so it will be some time after that. I will try to get a better schedule this week, and I will let you know. 

Hermana Biggs

First Baptism!

Hahaha yes I took that picture in the air in her honor haha. Ironically I have met the authors of the two blogs that I read before the mission. They are both serving in Arica. Hermana Brewster (likes to jump) is in her last transfer and is really great. Always happy and a great example. Hermana Severston is also really fun to be around and is one of the Sister Leaders so we do exchanges with her every once in a while.

 

I did finally get the package! Thank you so much. I have already put those measuring cups to use (and the skittles too) Thank you for all the letters, they are so sweet. I also got some awesome letters from the stake relief society activity and I loved the quotes that they attached. Thank you so much!

 

L did get baptized and confirmed this weekend. Our own Easter miracle! Although I was not sure how to plan a baptism, I think it went really well. We had a special musical number by one of the YSAs in the ward and a few talks and testimonies. After the baptism we finished with sugar cookies,  which everyone loved. It was a bit stressful the week before baptism. We wanted to be sure that he was really ready for the big change and covenant.

 

I remember when we first met him. We had gone to his street, which just happens to be the last street in our sector and the city, looking for a member that supposedly lived there. We were disappointed to find that the address did not exist but since we hardly ever walked to that street, we decided to knock on some doors and present ourselves. His was the second door we knocked and his sister invited us to come in and talk to them both. She was there visiting for the weekend, but he invited us to return. At first, the lessons were filled with silence. He hardly talked at all and because of an attack that left him unable to walk and without any long term memory, he couldnt read the scriptures. We would ask a few questions at the beginning of the lesson and receive short responses. At the end, we would ask if he needed anything and then we would leave. We were uncertain of his feelings and progress.

 

However, the members were willing to go and pick him up to take him to church and bit by bit he started to open up. He said that he really liked attending and thought that everything was beautiful. After the first few lessons we convinced him to say the closing prayer. He would start out speaking loudly saying "Padre Nuestro" and then mumble inaudibly. We thought that maybe he was wasnt saying anything, but in the second lesson we realized that he was indeed saying heart felt prayers. It was really cool. He never rejected an opportunity to say a prayer including a few times in Gospel Principles, but he always maintained his quiet tone.

 

He said that he would be baptized in the first lesson if he recieved an answer to his prayers about the church. We were super excited and always asked how he was progressing. We made sure to read from the Book of Mormon every lesson, so that he could learn,  although he  was unable to read himself. A few times his nephews helped him read too.

 

He has had a hard troubled past, but it touched his hear that that would all be washed away. The date for his baptism had to be pushed back a couple of times for different reasons, but finally the day arrived. He had a difficult time standing in the water, and the prayer had to be repeated twice because his legs floated up when he went under in the water. However, despite the difficulties he came out of the water clean. He was happy and glad that he was able to be baptized. It was really a great day to see him be baptized and I am glad he felt ready to make that promise with Heavenly Father.

 

In the coming weeks we, with some memebers,  get to teach him the ordinances of the church. I hope that he remembers the feelings he had the day of his baptism and always try to live worthily. He is great.

 

That was the great highlight of this week. We continue to work with D,  the taxi driver, but have still not met his wife. This week we are going to try to put a baptismal goal and drag him to church. He is still really interested and loves reading whatever assignment we give him; however, church attendance is difficult for him. Pray to help him have the time and desires to go.

 

We had a great experience with A. She is an investigator that always attends church but she needs to divorce and remarry her partner before she can be baptized. This weekend she went to Santiago because her father had passed away and she wanted to attend the funeral. A few days after she returned, we went to visit and had planned to share a short scripture about the resurrection. I started out explaining how Heavenly Father wanted us to be happy and sent us here to live in families, and that in the eternities we are going to live again with our families. Her eyes enlightened and she humbly asked " I am going to see my father again?" I was so happy to be able to tell her " Yes, you will see him again". We spent some time talking about the plan of happiness or salvation and how families can be forever. It was a really great experience and we all felt the spirit really strongly. SHe mentioned that she didnt understand much about the church but that she keeps attending because there is a peace there that she hasnt ever felt anywhere else. Sometimes people ask her questions about the church that she cant answer, but she knows that it is different from any other place. Her testimony was amazing. After the lesson, she felt renewed efforts to get her marital status up to date, and hopefully this week she will go and see what she needs to do to get a divorce. The spirit in that lesson was probably the stronget I have felt in any lesson so far. It was amazing. We were sharing simple truths that change lives.

 

I hope you guys are still holding up. Sounds like a crazy Easter week, but soon it will be all over and summer time. My companion and I are having a ton of fun and she is a really great teacher. I love it. She is a bit shy, but she knows the gospel principles and has really great experiences to share. We are getting along great!

 

I love you guys,  talk to you next week!

 

Hermana Biggs

 

PS could you send some more dessert recipes? Maybe some healthy stuff if that exista. I know theres that recipe for whole wheat cookies somewhere. See what you can do. I am baking all the time and need some new treats for FHE with the families. Thanks:)

She's A Momma!

My hijita is great. Her name is Hermana Alonzo and she is from Paraguay. We have busily trying to get in our visits this week since we lost two days with the travel to Antofagasta, so she has gotten to know the sector pretty well in these last three days. She is really happy and relaxed which is great. She is also eager to learn and help everyone progress. She is going to be a great companion. 

We are hopefully baptizing L this Saturday!! I am so excited. It is going to be my first baptism, and he is an investigator that I found, taught, and now will baptize. I am really happy for him and the changes that he has made. We had a few hiccups this week with his interview, but he has an interview with the stake president tomorrow, and if all goes well the baptism has been announced for 6pm on Saturday. A great Easter gift for him:)

This week everyone wanted to invite us to their house to eat, so my health is a little overweight. Hahaha Hermana Alonzo thinks I am the most popular person in our sector because we are always running into people that I have met. I love it. It is really fun to be able to build up that trust with the people that I am serving. With the recent transfers many people that I do not know have asked me if I got a new companion. At first, I thought it was a little weird that they were asking and had never talked to us before. However, I am really grateful that even the people I dont talk to, still know that I am there and recognize me and my companion as missionaries. It has been a great opportunity to get to know new people and of course get new investigators. I really feel at home in my sector. It is kinda odd because it is so different from home, but I have met great people and feel like I belong here.

Because of the shortness of the week, not too much has changed. The trip to Antofagasta went really well, and the new missionaries were blown away with our funny and over dramatic interpretations of the earthquakes. Everyone feared that they would have to go to Arica or Iquique for their first sector. To their dismay 6 new missionaries were sent to Arica and 2 to Iquique. But we are tranquil here. I got to show Hermana Alonzo a little bit of Arica as we went to the Morro or Hill. It was one of the military campouts for the Peruvians during the war between Peru and Chile. Chile thought taking over el morro would be a huge task (lasting weeks or maybe months) with lots of blood shed, but they used a trojan horse tactic and conquered the morro in 45 minutes. Now Arica is a part of Chile instead of Peru, so it is an emblem of Arica and there is a musuem and a huge Chilean flag. The flag is brand new and weighs over 52 kilos! It was really awesome. 

These are some of the girls that we do visits with in the ward

Here is a rainbow picture for Aspen. It hasnt rained but last Sunday for some reason there was a rainbow:)

Hermana Castor and I last Sunday together:(

 At the bus station

Hermana Alonzo and I enjoying our free time in Antofagasta. The desire of all sisteraries;)

At the top of the morro. It has an awesome overlook of the whole city and a lot of the ocean. So beautiful:)

Downtown Arica:) 

One more goofy photo with Arica in the background

I love you guys and hopefully will be getting your package tomorrow during our zone meeting:)

It's A Girl!

Wow as I thought about all the crazy stuff I had to write about this week I was shocked. However, I think you guys had even more events happening. I hope things relax a Little bit, although it seems like life may be at a faster pace with a heavier weight for a little bit. In the first chapter of Joshua,  Moses had just passed away, and now Joshua is in control of the children of Israel. They were supposed to enter the promised land, but it was being inhabited by other people. Joshua had to live the law of Moses and help the Children of Israel enter the promised land. Joahua felt overwhelmed with such a huge charge place on his sholders. He probably felt alone after losing his friend and the prophet, and he was unsure of what to do given the new trial. However, in the first chapter, God gives Joshua the same advice three times. He tells him to "be strong and of good courage". I especially like the ninth verse that has additional advice. Like was said in General Conference this weekend, in this life we have to stand strong even in the toughest storms. I remember the example of the tree that was used. In the strong wind and adversity the tree strengthens itself in order to survive. I know that we grow stronger when we remain faithful in the face of tribulation. Luckily, we have the help of Heavenly Father as well to remind us that we are never alone. His help is divine, powerful, and 100% real. One of the benefits of prayer is that we recieve the blessings that he wants to give to us. One of the talks in General Conference also mentioned three things that families should do in order to remain strong and united: pray together daily, read scriptures together daily, and weekly FHE. Implement these principles, and you'll  have the promise of strength from a prophet.  I know that lds.org has hints to help make scripture study better for families of all ages. Through the hours of study here in the misión my love for the scriptures has grown so much. I use every spare minute Reading the book of Mormon and Bible because I want to learn more. Help the youngsters develop that desire. Be strong and remember (I forget who said it) that it doesnt matter if the house is a mess, if homework isnt done, or laundry isnt washed, scripture study and prayer are worth the sacrifice.

This week got kicked off with the a bang! It was the last week of my second transfer and Hermana Castor and I were excited to get to working. We have increased drastically in the number of our investigators and we wanted to plan a way to visit all of them (plus the less actives and some members) at least once this week. However, the earth had another plan. Tuesday night there was the big earthquake. They say it was 8.3, but it really didnt cause much damage here in Arica. This city is prepared for that kind of stuff. We were in a lesson with B, the less active that we had just met (her husband is not a member). We were teaching the Restoration when the earthquake began. At first we thought it was just a tremor but it got stronger. We opened her front door and saw the cars dancing and everything shaking. There were a few Little electric explosións. After gathering her small children that were asleep upstairs we hugged and prayed. The quake lasted for about a minute I believe (or at least it felt that long). The earth stood still again and we said a short prayer of consolation and then took off to our apartment. Before entering we found a family in the Ward who told us we could go with them to their grandmothers house. She lives really close and has a room ready for earthquakes with food and blankets and candles. We ran over there trying to contact the other missionaries, but the cell lines had been cut. We felt calm and safe, but with the tsuanmi alarm everyone in the city was running carrying blankets and small children. Although we were already in a safe zone, the people still panicked. About two hours passed and the phones were restored. We received news that we needed to head to the stake center for the night. We slept on the tile floor (ouch), but were safe and tranquil. The next morning we returned to the apartment. Then that night the was a replica of 7.4, but it was short. We went to the stake center again mainly because the other sisters in the apartment were terrified. We slept on the floor again but were safe. The next morning we left and everything was tranquil. There was a rumor that the wáter was going to be cut for 2 days, and in some sectors it was, but our wáter was only gone for four hours, so that was great. On Saturday the misión president came to console everyone and make sure we were all safe. We had all been a Little shook up, but really there was no damage done here.

(This is the photo the Mission President sent to show us all the missionaries were safe!)

Really there is a peace that comes from the góspel. Although a Little worried I knew things would be fine. I am in good hands here and am being blessed. Although there was talk of it being the start of the end (hahaha) everything has returned to normal. Chile is the most sismic country in the world thanks to its position and shape, so we are used to Little tremors and movement. With the large quake the people went a Little crazy; I Heard the grocery stores were a mess and people panicked because none of the bread shops made bread for two days (a staple in the Chilean diet). But we are fine, we are happy, and we are safe. Thank you for your concern and prayers:)

Saturday and Sunday we were able to watch the four sessions of conference, and I loved it. The first sesión I think was my favorite. I had a lot of questions answered, and I loved the music. It really brought the spirit.

More exciting news! This week was the last week of my second transfer and as usual there is lots of talk about who will be coming and going. I was praying that Hermana Castor and I would stay together for one more transfer, but as the week drew to a close I was feeling more and more like she was going to be leaving. We got the phone call Friday night and as I had felt (and not hoped) she is being transfered to a super small town called Tal Tal. The offices talked to her first, so I knew from her expression and conversation that she was leaving. I waited impatiently for the phone to come to me, and nervously prayed that I could accept my future companion.

The Assistant to the President told me :Hey Hermana Biggs I hope you are getting ready..... ( I was confused by this) because you are going to give birth! You are going to train one of the new sisters!!! You are going to have a daughter! ( the person that trains is the mom and the one being trained is the daughter. plus there are grandmas and great grandmas.... a Little weird I know hahaha but tradition)

So, here I am. I just finished my training and now I am the one who is going to train. I am excited, but also nervous. I am going to be the senior companion but what if someone asks me a question and I am left clueless. Or what is my daughter doesnt like me or is a picky eater. Who knows. I am super excited and have been really praying to be prepared. General Conference really helped me understand how I can be a good example and show lots of love. Hopefully, the misión president was truly inspired with this calling. I travel to Antofagasta tomorrow to meet my hijita (daughter). There will be a short training sesión for trainers and then we will eat with all the new missionaries and then have the shoe shining ceremony where we find out who is our companion. Wish me luck....... maybe wish more luck to my hijita;) We have spent the weekend trying to tell everyone good bye for Hermana Castor and I took a million photos that I cant upload because theres not a card reader in this internet place!!!! Next week again i will have them.

A crazy week indeed. Due to the earthquakes and conference we didnt meet our goal of visiting all of our investigators and now this week I will be gone two days in Antofagasta, so needless to say my sector needs a lot of work. But change is good. It makes us stronger and we learn so much more. I have to take Hermana Castor to the bus stop tonight and it is going to be hard saying goodbye to my mama, but maybe we will meet again in the coming transfers.

I love you all and hope this week improves. Be strong and of good courage!

Hermana Biggs

Tarapaca Tiene Talento: Tarapaca Has Talent!

Oh sounds like another crazy and fun week. Hermana Castor and I were talking about the post mission depression that normally accompanies sister missionaries when they return home and dont have a thousand things to do each day. I told her that I will probably avoid that because there is always something going on at my house: a new project or job, always something. She was impressed. 

Tarapaca Tiene Talento was on Friday. The week was full of a little added stress trying to tie loose ends together. We wanted the activity to go smoothy and look somewhat professional, so we spent most of Monday-Thursday visiting the people who had committed to perform. Thursday night we typed up a program and went to help the Young Women decorate the cultural hall. At 4pm on Friday we headed over to the church to finish up the planning. We baked 4 cinnamon cakes (from that recipe you sent) just in case the members didnt bring their dessert assignments. We set up the projector, seats, refreshment table, and finished the decorations. 

Quickly, 7 pm rolled around time for the show to begin. Unfortunately there was only 15 people in the audience and the only performers were the Elders and Young Men but they were still practicing! Chile time is much worse then Mormon Standard Time. Slowly people started trickling in and we finally had a few acts ready to perform. We started the show at 7:40. Hermana Castor stayed behind the scenes getting music and videos and microphones ready while I ran like crazy trying to arrange a program. Basically about half of the acts that had committed to come did not ever show up, but it all worked out alright because several people had pratice something and wanted to present that we did not know about. It was a lot of work coordinating who would go and when, but in the end it worked out perfectly. We had 18 different acts and an excellent presentor that made everything go smoothly. Some of the more exciting acts were a clown, a salsa dance, two of the elders in the stake showed a few wrestling moves, the Young Men did black theater which is hilarious, and the primary got all dressed up to sing Let It Go from Frozen (Libre Soy in Spanish). 

To our surprise many of the member assigned to bring refreshments showed up! However, the four cinnamon cakes were needed because we had an attendance of 90 people!!! We were so happy with that number since attendance on Sunday normally is 85 and we were planning for 70. Three of our investigators came and several less actives. The elders also had a few investigators there and some members brought friends. It was awesome. Everyone said that the activity went really well and looked organized, although behind the scenes was a bit chaotic. On Sunday we had the highest attendance in the ward since I have been here which was 115. I think its all due to the awesome activity hahaha. The bad thing is that with all the hustling Hermana Castor and I did not get to see hardly any of the acts and have no photos. However, one of our friends in the ward has them all and is going to send it to us. Hopefully next week I can send some photos. But overall, it went really well. 

As for the investigators: D we werent able to teach this week. He has been busy with the taxi, but we did get to talk to him two times and we have an appointment for tomorrow. He is excited for his wife to return on Saturday so that she can learn too. He is a great investigator,  although he has yet to go to church. I think he is waiting for his wife to accompany him so that he doesnt feel alone. L continues to progress as well. This next upcoming lesson will be the Word of Wisdom (my first time teaching it). I am a little nervous, but I really hope the spirit will be there so that he can accept to live it. We had a Family Home Evening set up to teach him with his sister but she was sleeping when we showed up, so we still have not been able to teach her,  although we have a good relationship from passing her on the street and such. Leonel is excited for his baptism and is sharing more and more with his family (which is awesome because he is a man of few words). We also got to teach B this week. He is a new investigator that has been attending church in a different ward with a friend of his. He is really curious about the gospel, but his parents are not. He is 24, but we cannot teach him in his home because his parents wont allow it. We taught him this week in the chapel with his friend, and it went really well. We want to put a baptismal date with him this week too. 

AND finally our dificult new investigator. The other day, a woman stopped us in the street and said that she is member but has been less active, but she wants to go to church again. We set up an appointment to visit her (B), her four children, and C (they are not married).B and her oldest son have been baptised, but C is of a different religion and wont allow the younger children to attend church. He doesnt want them getting bad ideas there. He has never attended, but has met with missionaries several times before. He says that there shouldnt be anymore scriptures besides the Bible and if there are scriptures from the Americas, where are the Asian scriptures? It was dificult having the spirit in the short lesson, but all we could do was testify and testify. He says that when he feels the spirit "things happen" and that when he leaves church he leaves that part of him there too, so he cant pray except when he is in his church. It is going to be a challenge teaching him, but we will want to see him change. Perhaps at least we can get him to let the younger children go to church so that B can go. Wish us luck:)

The week overall went really well.I am about to finish the twelve week training program and this past week I had to take the initiative in every teaching and planning situation. It was super easy, surprisingly. I think I have really progressed and this week a lot of things just clicked. I felt more confident that the spirit was helping me to help others. This Saturday we will hear about the transfers, and I really hope that both Hermana Castor and I stay here in our ward. Hermana Castor already has 4 1/2 months here though, so it is possible that I will get a new companion. My fingers are crossed! I also finish my third month tomorrow! I am surprised at how fast the time has gone. I know in just a few more moments I will be finishing six months and then a year and then I will be home. I  constantly remind myself of the short time that I have here and it gives me extra motivation to press on and try my best. 

I hope you guys keep having a crazy fun time. Good luck witht the Easter Pagaent and the mob scene, dad. I know you didnt miss not being in it last year. I have been reading the New Testament along with all the other materials and am about to finish Luke. I am amazed at the love and understanding that Jesus Christ had for everyone. He taught everyone and was loved by so many, it is hard to imagine that in the end the people chose to kill him. However, it is His sacrifice that gives us hope and eternal life. Like a hymn says, He died so that we may live. Although I cant imagine what was going through the mob´s head when they were yelling "crucify him", I am grateful, that He did die because he is the only one who could have done it with such love and patience and humility. This week I played the piano for ward conference and we sang Jesus once of Humble Birth for the sacrament. I had to hold back tears in order to see the notes, but it was really beautiful. Remember to give thanks for his sacrifice. 

I love you guys and hope you have a great week! 

Hermana Biggs

First Baptismal Commitment!

This week was pretty great,  although we didnt get to teach very many lessons. BUT I have my first baptism coming up! We committed L to be baptized the 12th of April and he accepted! I was so excited. He has gone to church now four times and attended a baptism on Saturday for the other ward. We are having a FHE with him and his sister tomorrow, and we are hoping that his sister will be interested and want to learn as well. We havent been able to teach her yet because she works in the mornings when we visit L and where they live is really sketch in the evenings. Hopefully tomorrow we will make some progress with her.

We were doing more service today for the family that is moving to Iquique so I dont have any photos, but I will keep that in mind. The family has to be out of their house today, but they have done nothing in the past two weeks! It looked exactly the same as we had left it the last time Hermana Castor and I helped them. They are rushing to paint and throw away and pack all today before 5 pm. It is going to be crazy, but they had a couple more helping hands so they can do it. Definitely a bit on the hoarder side of things if you ask me since I found out today that two of the three rooms on the second floor are also filled with random stuff. So that makes four storage rooms in a house of eight rooms total. I think this move has really helped them to live like the prophets say: simply. It is going to be sad to see them go, but maybe I will be transfered to Iquique at some point and visit them in their new house.

 This week one of the less actives that we have been working with finally came to church! Hermana Castor has been visiting her for five months now and had never seen her in the church, and she came on Sunday! Even better is that she went to two relief society activities as well. We had a ward relief society anniversary event on Friday and then a stake relief society anniversary on Sunday. She said that she is making Hermana Castor and I´s wedding veils since she is taking a sewing class. She is going to have them ready for us this week and wants to see pictures of us getting married when we return home. She is great and its so good to see her coming to church.

Tarapacá Tiene Talentos is this Friday! There is so much excitement in the ward, I am not sure what to expect. We have over 20 numbers and everyone says they are coming. We are going to need a lot of refreshments, so hopefully everyone remembers their assignments for that. Our goal was to have 60 people attend since it is the first ward activity in a while and attendance on Sunday is about 85, but now it seems like it may be a bit bigger. We are super happy and cant wait until Friday.

We keep having strong trembles here in Arica, sometimes 2 or 3 everyday, but no more earthquakes since last week. The sisters that live with us are really afraid, and everyone says that its odd to have so many one right after the other, so we will see. The center keeps being Iquique and we just get the vibrations, so that is great. We were eating with the some members on Saturday and they said that because of all the tremors, attendance on Sunday would reach 100. Sure enough, yesterday there were exactly 100 people attending sacrament meeting!! That was super hilarious.

Overall things are going great here. I had my first zone conference with the President and everyone in Arica on Thursday, so we got some new instructions and rules to help us be better missionaries. This week we figure we will be busy finishing up everything for the Talent Show, but it will be worth it if we can find some new investigators and reactivate some members. Wish us luck;)

I love you all and hope that everything is going well there!

Hermana Biggs

An Earthquake, A Tsunami, An Old Woman and A Hoarder

This week went pretty well. We had some more less actives at church. Last week the youngest son of a family came had come by himself, but this week he brought his older sister! We have been working with them a lot and are hoping that the enthusiam to keep bringing the family to church will grow. The son is 12 and was assigned a talk for next Sunday! and the sister that came is 16 and she wants to have an interview with the bishop to start working toward her temple recommend. After being a member all of my life, I forget about how powerful the spirit can be felt in church. Sometimes I worry that if it is not 100% quite during the sacrament or if there are children running all around, that the investigators or less actives wont be affected by the spirit. But it really does touch their hearts in even just one visit. We are seeing a lot of less actives become fully active and want to change and that is really awesome.

Guess what?!!! We found D, the taxi driver, again!!!! He was not trying to avoid us; his family had gone of vacation to Santiago for 20 days. We have had 3 lessons with him and he loves to learn. He is reading the pamphlets we leave and always has questions. We retaught the restoration to him and he said he would pray about the church and modern day prophets. He is excited to watch general conference; however, he is nervous about attending church for the first time because he doesnt know anyone there. We are hoping that this week we can bring members to our lesson and that he will feel more confortable with attending. We are so grateful to have him back in town and it was a real blessing to see him again. During our last lesson, I really felt that he was progressing. Not just that what we were saying was interesting or that he was listening because he wants to hear the "good word", but that he is actually progressing. He wants to learn more and more and is very open to the things we are teaching. After bearing my testimony about prophets and the book of mormon, he shed a couple of tears and said that what I had said was really important. He wants to know if it is true. I saw true progress this week with him, and I am very grateful. He is not leaving town any more, so we will have plenty of opportunities to teach!

I dont know if it was on the news, but there was an earthquake here yesterday. The epicenter was in Iquique (another city pronounced E-key-K) but it reached Arica too. I dont know the strength in Iquique but here it was 6.5 and lasted for a little less than a minute. I have felt two trembles since being here, but this one was strong and a lot longer than the trembles. We were in a lesson with a less active when it started and she started to get really worried, because it didnt stop after a few minutes. But all is well! It passed and there is no destruction at least for here in Arica. We were fine and continued on teaching after it passed. It wasnt until a few hours later that we got a little worried. Apparently there was a tsunami warning too, so we had to go to our apartments early. Plus, in other sectors the missionaries live really close to the beach and not in "safe zones", so we had a grand sleepover last night with 2 other missionary companionships who had to sleep on the floor. It was a lot of fun and there was no tsunami. In fact, the warning was lifted three hours after the earthquake but just as a precaution the mission president wanted everyone in safe zones.

I like the trembles and the earthquake was a little sketch, but it mainly just feels like a mini roller coaster. Apparently some of the other missionaries were in lesson with people much more frightened. One of the companionships that stayed the night with us said that the little old lady they were with took off running telling everyone to get to the top of the hill. The missionaries went with her, but were startled with how fast she could move. They tried asking people along the way about the conditions and such since they werent too worried, but the lady kept yelling at them to move faster and get to the top of hill. Once they got there she made them stay until the mission offices called and said they need to spend the night with us, but that things were perfectly fine. They thought it was super funny that this little old lady took off running up the hill. I guess she was really worried about the tsunami.

That was all the excitement for this week. We are all perfectly fine and had a great sleepover with the other sisters. People in our sector were super calm since it is a safe zone on the side of a hill, so we really didnt have anything to worry about.

We are continuing to visit with L, the man who doesnt walk well and lives in the last street in the sector. He is progressing a bit and went to church for the third time this month, so we are hoping that we can keep teaching and help him retain the things we teach and gain a testimony for himself.

Oh I forgot to mention the service we did this week! Our old mamita for lunch is having real struggles with packing and moving. One day we went to visit her and she started crying because she felt overwhelmed with the work and with the whole idea of changing cities and homes. We volunteered to come and help so that she could get started and feel a little less overwhelmed. We had never been in more of her house than the dining room and one bathroom, but when we arrived we saw the two storage rooms filled to the brim with random stuff. She was overwhelmed not knowing where she could put things or how to pack everything away. She said that everything she touched would just get transfered from one room to the next because it didnt have a designated place. She was tired of having to touch the same things over and over again.

Luckily, thanks to someone, I am a master organizer  I have also watched a lot of clean sweep hahah. So I said lets start in the first storage room and in one corner, I got three boxes, one to pack, one for trash, and one for things that were going to stay with the house. I just started picking up things and asking "pack, keep or trash?" At first it was hard for her to throw things away. She had lived in the house most of her married life and of course "everything has a purpose". SO I had to remind her that she was moving and that she could start anew. Soon she got the hang of things and we finished the entire room in just over 3 hours.

She was super grateful and her husband as well. More than half of the things went into the trash and then we put some stuff out on the curb for people to take for free. I was so glad I could help and was bragging about all the experience I have because my crazy mom makes us work in hoarder houses hahaha (not those words exactly). But they (including my companion) were really amazed.

Of course I am not one to keep anything, and I let them know that just about everything I own is here in the mission with me and fits in two suitcases (one if I didnt have the tower of you know whats :P- we sent Emilee with an 18 month supply of feminine hygiene products :) ) hahah so I got the nickname throw away master. But it was really what they needed. We went back the following day and did the same thing in the second storage room. The movers are coming with the truck on Thursday so I assume we will return between now and then to help.  Oh the skills I have learned, Thanks mom:)

Hermana Biggs

The Work Continues

This week went pretty well. I was grateful for the pew full of people that came with us last week, but this week was even better! We had 4 investigators present and 4 less actives. Two of the less actives had not come yet since I have been here, so that was great improvement. One less active was a 12 year boy. We visit his family a lot and they love us. They were really active at one point in the church and then just started doing other stuff on Sundays and the older children ran into problems. C is the 12 year old and is the youngest of the family, but has a lot of excitement to start coming back to church. He also remembered some of the members from his active days, so all things are looking great. His dad dropped him off at the building, so maybe next time we can get his dad to stay.

We are continuing to work with L who was our new investigator last week. He cant read or write, but a family said that they are willing to help him learn and are going to start working with him. He came to church again this week and really liked it, but during our lessons we realized that he doesn't have a solid religious background. We were explaining some principles and realized that he had no idea what we were talking about. I started teaching him about Jesús and his life here on earth. It is really fun to teach people for the first time the things that I assume most people know. You really see them start to change as they come to know for themselves the truth. I am hoping we will see this with L. He has made a few friends in the ward, so everything is going well there.

We are having some struggles with our 8 year old F that we wanted to baptize. She is the child of an investigator and they both attend every other Sunday. She was really excited to turn eight, but she cannot be baptized until her mom and dad are. She was super disappointed. Her parents are both married to other people , but have been seperated from their spouses for 20 and 15 years and have been living together for the last 10 years. They both have desires to be baptized but their desires have not yielded action because they havent done anything to start the divorce process. It is really easy here to get a divorce if the people have been seperated more than 3 years and do not have any minor children. They just have to go and fill out the paperwork. Hopefully, we can get them excited to do that soon. However, now F wants to be baptized in another church because "it is easier, she doesnt have to read or learn" and her godfather can baptize her. So we have to keep trying to explain about the restored priesthood authority. We told her that she needs to be baptized in the true church. She is just a Little stubborn and wants to be baptized NOW!!

We are continuing to see miracles here in Arica and hopefully I will be here a while longer to see the fruits of all our labors. We have really got the ward excited for our Tarapacá tiene talentos night and there are tons more members who want to help us with lessons and FHEs. We are super grateful and excited for that. We are seeing great changes which will help everyone, members and non members.

Dad, did you finish King Benjamins talk? I like chapter 5 of Mosiah because it is the response of the people after learning basically all of the missionary lessons. It says that they recieved a great change of heart due to their faith, they had no more desire to do evil, and they praised God. The first several verses talk about the conversión that they had. This is the same conversión that Heavenly Father desires all of us to have. It is the only way that we will be strong enough to arise through the struggles we face. The people were truly converted.I love their willingness and their response to the teachings.

I love you all and hope you have a nice relaxing week. Tell brax happy birthday!! I hope he enjoys his party in the park.Love you

Hermana Biggs