Things are great! We had two baptisms this past Saturday--a girl age 9 and another 18. And we are excited for another baptism next week--a young father whose wife is a member (if just slightly inactive--but not anymore!). The family is so kind. We can only visit them on Sundays because that is his only day off, and they always feed us. He is a great story of diligence. He grew up in a the poorest of the poor families, and decided he wanted more in life. He has worked diligently to be able to read, and continues to work on it. He already has a great understanding of the gospel principles. The district leader told us that in his interview on Sunday he gave one of the best answers he has ever heard as to who Joseph Smith is--that God sent him, a prophet, to restore His Church because He knew we would need His Church in our lives (something to that effect). So awesome. They still live in the slums area, but God has already blessed them so much already. I am so excited to see him continue faithful--he will be a great leader.
We picked up a lot of new families this week, and we are really hopeful for them. So excited to see the Lord continue to make this area more fruitful!
We had a great FHE yesterday with the Stake President's family. It was on Obedience and Faith and how those are our bridge to blessings. If we want more blessings, we need to increase BOTH obedience and faith (included in faith is positive thinking--my addition). This was so good, and a refreshing reminder that my goals are worthy as a missionary, I just need to ask, obey, and have faith*positively think I will achieve, with the help of the Lord*. The lesson came from a workshop with Church employees, and the speaker said that the members of the Church ought to be some of the richest people on the earth(many examples in the scriptures)--the only reason they aren't is they aren't obedient/have faith. Ex: give tithing, but give grudgingly. If your fists are closed, you cannot catch the blessings that come from heaven. But when you are generous, and have your hands open, that is when you can catch the blessings of heaven. I really liked that. A lot of this reminded me very much of "As a Man Thinketh".
***many missionaries set their standards low, which is sad. I cannot tell you how many times in the MTC we were told by leader after leader that we are meant to be Ammon's and Alma's--their are MANY waiting for us. Oftentimes missionaries sell themselves short by not thinking that they can achieve more. But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Why would He give missionaries back then large success, and us not? I am convinced that the only thing holding us back is lack of imagination as far as goals are, and that we fall into the trap of everybody saying "that is too high of a goal, you are just focused on baptisms", when in reality if we really believe and work for it God will give it to us. I pray every day to God that He will set events into motion that will result in the words spreading like wildfire here, that people's hearts will be prepared, and that I will say and do everything at the right time. Because I do not know how to reach thousands of people on my own, but God does, and He wants them to be reached. And He will provide the way, just as He did for Alma, Ammon, and all the other ancient missionaries.
---my statement: There is no reason to set low goals, and every reason to set high ones.
1) So we have cockroaches in our apartment (I even saw one on my first night here), and permethrin to spray them and any other bugs. One night there were some, and a particularly weird one creeping on the wall and on the ceiling, out in the open. I started spraying him like crazy.....and he kept moving (it takes a while to kill them).
Me: "What do I do now?"
Sister Sojor (roommate): "Wait for him to realize he is dead."
Soooo funny. My desk ended up getting splattered with all the permethrin from the ceiling and wall.
All my love, (send my love to the grandparents too!)
Kat
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
10/10/11
Pamilia! Thanks so much for all the prayers, and all you do for me. Michael, it is funny how a picture from your apartment can inspire....my companion thought that squatters/slums were only in the Philippines. When she saw that picture she was so surprised. It think it helped her understand that people in the Philippines aren't the only ones who suffer from poverty. A thought that came from General Conference (which we watched this weekend b/c of time difference), was that of gratitude. We must have an attitude of gratitude, and I wonder about the people in my area. Many of them are squatters, and are extremely poor. But some things popped into my mind: a) they have a roof over their heads, and a building to sleep in b) they have food to eat c) the Lord has brought the gospel into their lives d) they have their family....and the list could go on. The more we are grateful, the more we will receive. Attitude (and what we focus on) is of utmost importance, and makes all the difference!
Things are great with my companion....we are continually working on patience together. She gets tired of speaking English sometimes, but everything is great. She is very supportive, and I am so grateful for her.
Awww, no more tomatoes :(
Did you get a Daughters of our Kingdom mom? I am so excited they came out with it. I am sad they are not giving the sisters in the field one.!
Some Spiritual Thoughts of Mine
1) General Conference was AWESOME
2) Satan whispers to us that what we have and do is weird, but in reality it is the other way. It is weird that people do not have the Gospel, and are living their lives not centered around Christ.
3) Be like Christ (which should be #1)
4) I am the messenger of God, not the author. [What I say and prophesy to my investigators comes from God, not from me. I am working on a way to make this more clear.]
5) God does not waste the time of His servants. They may waste their time, but He does not because every moment is precious when it comes to the salvation of the souls of mankind. Lesson: always be on the errand of the Lord, and not a moment will be wasted. [I have seen this for myself. The Lord really guides us in everything.]
Well family, I love you so much and am continually grateful for you and all that we have. I have a bunch of pictures and David and Jacqueline's drawings all posted above my desk. They give me strength and comfort. Keep up the good fight! God is sooooooo aware of each of us, and wants us to be our best!
Kat
PS I am happy to make you look good. You make me look good too! I proudly bear the name of Biggs (or "mga malaki" in Tagalog :)
Scripture for plaque: I think Alma 36:24-25. This really encompasses the spirit of my mission.
Things are great with my companion....we are continually working on patience together. She gets tired of speaking English sometimes, but everything is great. She is very supportive, and I am so grateful for her.
Awww, no more tomatoes :(
Did you get a Daughters of our Kingdom mom? I am so excited they came out with it. I am sad they are not giving the sisters in the field one.!
Some Spiritual Thoughts of Mine
1) General Conference was AWESOME
2) Satan whispers to us that what we have and do is weird, but in reality it is the other way. It is weird that people do not have the Gospel, and are living their lives not centered around Christ.
3) Be like Christ (which should be #1)
4) I am the messenger of God, not the author. [What I say and prophesy to my investigators comes from God, not from me. I am working on a way to make this more clear.]
5) God does not waste the time of His servants. They may waste their time, but He does not because every moment is precious when it comes to the salvation of the souls of mankind. Lesson: always be on the errand of the Lord, and not a moment will be wasted. [I have seen this for myself. The Lord really guides us in everything.]
Well family, I love you so much and am continually grateful for you and all that we have. I have a bunch of pictures and David and Jacqueline's drawings all posted above my desk. They give me strength and comfort. Keep up the good fight! God is sooooooo aware of each of us, and wants us to be our best!
Kat
PS I am happy to make you look good. You make me look good too! I proudly bear the name of Biggs (or "mga malaki" in Tagalog :)
Scripture for plaque: I think Alma 36:24-25. This really encompasses the spirit of my mission.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Update 10/3/2011
Pamilia!
I love you all so much and I miss you! Michael, I am glad to hear that things are going so great! I am excited for all of your investigators!
The plane ride was great, for the most part things went smoothly. Half of our party threw up while we were landing in Hong Kong, or me, threw up right after we landed. It was because of the breakfast food they fed us--something was not right with it, and we were not the only ones on the plane to throw up. It's okay--we all felt much better after ejecting the bad stuff from our stomachs. My companion is Sister Segovia, a native. She is great, and so patient with me. We both really want to work, and we are eager to really make our area prosper (double our numbers as they said in missionary in-field orientation). We are in the Taytay zone, Cainta 2nd Ward area--it is new! The ward is awesome and so eager to help us. We hope to get a lot of referrals from them to help us with our goal. We started working the day I arrived--we got back to the apartment and then went to teach a progressing investigator. I was so tired I had a hard time staying awake during the lesson, but it went well. The Lord has really helped me--I slept more on the planes than I usually do, and I have adjusted very quickly to the schedule here, even though it is opposite from what I am used to. I do not feel much jet lag at all, which is really good because it is work, work, work. No rest for new missionaries :D
A couple months ago the Church came out with a new 12 week missionary training program--Michael, I am sure you are going through it, aren't you? The goal is to make missionaries effective and able to train themselves (minus language stuff) after the 12 weeks. I think they were getting sick of people to take 6 months to get adjusted. I think it is a great idea. We are starting it today (tomorrow really), but we have already applied a lot of the principles-- the new missionary teaching lessons and extending commitment invitations, and we also get another hour of companionship study. The one downside to that is we don't leave our apartment until 1pm because we have four hours of study plus our hour of lunch (and breakfast + getting ready).
We ate dinner at the Bishop's house on Friday, and I think we are eating at the Stake President's house tonight. Don't worry about me getting enough food mom--everyone is so eager to feed us. We gave a lesson to a progressing investigator last night and they insisted on feeding us dinner. We also had a baptism on Saturday--two sisters, Heidi and Pamela. Their dad came to see the baptism, and he came to church on Sunday! We are hoping to be able to teach him as well. We have a baptism planned for each Saturday, except this coming Saturday because President DeLaMare did not want them to have to wait a week for confirmation. (FYI, Sister DeLaMare asked for your e-mail address, I do not know why. I gave her the sisterk one and the digis mail one).
There is so much going on it is hard for me to take stock. It is a good thing I have my companion because I would not know how to get home. They do have jeepney, and tricycle things that are motorcycles with a car thing attached to them--they stuff people in the car thing and on the motorcycle where they are not sitting. Wow! It is a good thing I am not much bigger, otherwise I would be having some problems. I can discern words usually (depending on the speaker), and sometimes I understand what they are saying. They tell me I have very good grammar, and that I am clear and easy to understand--I just need to be faster, because right now I am really slow and it is sometimes a little uncomfortable for them to listen to me because of it.
Everyone stares at me--I would stare at me too, because so far I am the only tall very blond and very white person I have seen on the streets (not counting the other American missionaries who we only see at meetings). I hear "parang Barbie" a lot. I am the average size of a male here, and oftentimes bigger, actually. So different.
I have to go now. I love you all so much, and thank you for all your love and support!
Kat
I love you all so much and I miss you! Michael, I am glad to hear that things are going so great! I am excited for all of your investigators!
The plane ride was great, for the most part things went smoothly. Half of our party threw up while we were landing in Hong Kong, or me, threw up right after we landed. It was because of the breakfast food they fed us--something was not right with it, and we were not the only ones on the plane to throw up. It's okay--we all felt much better after ejecting the bad stuff from our stomachs. My companion is Sister Segovia, a native. She is great, and so patient with me. We both really want to work, and we are eager to really make our area prosper (double our numbers as they said in missionary in-field orientation). We are in the Taytay zone, Cainta 2nd Ward area--it is new! The ward is awesome and so eager to help us. We hope to get a lot of referrals from them to help us with our goal. We started working the day I arrived--we got back to the apartment and then went to teach a progressing investigator. I was so tired I had a hard time staying awake during the lesson, but it went well. The Lord has really helped me--I slept more on the planes than I usually do, and I have adjusted very quickly to the schedule here, even though it is opposite from what I am used to. I do not feel much jet lag at all, which is really good because it is work, work, work. No rest for new missionaries :D
A couple months ago the Church came out with a new 12 week missionary training program--Michael, I am sure you are going through it, aren't you? The goal is to make missionaries effective and able to train themselves (minus language stuff) after the 12 weeks. I think they were getting sick of people to take 6 months to get adjusted. I think it is a great idea. We are starting it today (tomorrow really), but we have already applied a lot of the principles-- the new missionary teaching lessons and extending commitment invitations, and we also get another hour of companionship study. The one downside to that is we don't leave our apartment until 1pm because we have four hours of study plus our hour of lunch (and breakfast + getting ready).
We ate dinner at the Bishop's house on Friday, and I think we are eating at the Stake President's house tonight. Don't worry about me getting enough food mom--everyone is so eager to feed us. We gave a lesson to a progressing investigator last night and they insisted on feeding us dinner. We also had a baptism on Saturday--two sisters, Heidi and Pamela. Their dad came to see the baptism, and he came to church on Sunday! We are hoping to be able to teach him as well. We have a baptism planned for each Saturday, except this coming Saturday because President DeLaMare did not want them to have to wait a week for confirmation. (FYI, Sister DeLaMare asked for your e-mail address, I do not know why. I gave her the sisterk one and the digis mail one).
There is so much going on it is hard for me to take stock. It is a good thing I have my companion because I would not know how to get home. They do have jeepney, and tricycle things that are motorcycles with a car thing attached to them--they stuff people in the car thing and on the motorcycle where they are not sitting. Wow! It is a good thing I am not much bigger, otherwise I would be having some problems. I can discern words usually (depending on the speaker), and sometimes I understand what they are saying. They tell me I have very good grammar, and that I am clear and easy to understand--I just need to be faster, because right now I am really slow and it is sometimes a little uncomfortable for them to listen to me because of it.
Everyone stares at me--I would stare at me too, because so far I am the only tall very blond and very white person I have seen on the streets (not counting the other American missionaries who we only see at meetings). I hear "parang Barbie" a lot. I am the average size of a male here, and oftentimes bigger, actually. So different.
I have to go now. I love you all so much, and thank you for all your love and support!
Kat
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)