Headed to Suji

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good Halloween! Our ward did a Halloween party last Saturday and we were in charge of decorations because we're the only people who have actually celebrated Halloween. It went really well, we even had a bat garland and a giant candy corn (apparently Koreans have never heard of candy corn and thought it was a beehive...), but unfortunately my camera was dead at that point so photos are pending.

Also news for this week: I'm getting transferred! I've been here for 6 months, and on Saturday night we found out that I will be moving to 수지 (Suji) this week, which is actually in the city right next to Suwon. It is also in the same stake, so I think I will still be able to see some of the ward members. Because I was leaving, I gave a short testimony in Sacrament meeting and told the members that because of my surgery, it was already my second time serving in that ward, so I didn't think that coming back for a 3rd time would be out of the question... They took it as a promise~

Here's the twist though: my companion, Elder Case, is also getting transferred. And he is also getting transferred to Suji. And we will continue to live together. But we will not be companions anymore. Starting on Saturday, we will each train a brand new missionary. So I will be a trainer! I'm a little bit nervous, but also excited for the opportunity to be a trainer. I'll let you all next week how it goes!

Also here is a picture of me with 최기성(choi-gi-seong). He is a recent convert who completely turned his life around this year. He works out of town so he can't meet with us often anymore but he calls us almost every day just to check on us:)

Other things this week:

-With the 8 missionaries in our district, we have one that can play the cello, one that can play the violin, and one that can play the ukulele, so this week we decided to do musical proselyting. We picked out a few songs, then went to a park in our area and did our own little performance. It went really well, lots of people stopped to listen and we were able to share our message with lots of them

-When we meet with members, we often talk about Korean accents (because they vary by region) and also different American accents. And since we have 2 missionaries from Utah, one from California, and one from North Carolina, we are able to cover a good percentage of American dialects. I'm getting really good at the California surfer accent~

-Yesterday while we were travelling, my companion left his bag on the bus yesterday.. Not only did it have all his materials and a brand new camera, but it also had his passport, because we were going to return it to the mission office. Lucky for him though, we are living in Korea and the percentage of honest citizens here is a whole lot higher than most other countries. So, this morning we went to the bus station and picked up his back, new camera and passport and all. ~Korea is the best~

I think that's it for this week, I'll talk to you all next week!

-Elder Bigelow

Elder Bednar!!!!

Hello everyone!

This week in sacrament meeting, there was something called the Primary Program, where the young children sing songs and share brief messages, always the best Sunday of the year. Last time it happened while I was a missionary though, there was only 3 kids in the ward so the missionaries did it too, but this ward has about 15 kids so I just did translation this time. But when one of the 9-year-old kids was sharing a brief message, he was quoting an old church leader, so their title was Elder ____ (some name I can't remember) But when the kid tried to say the person's name every time, he said "Elder Bigelow" instead... It was quite endearing and it means that I have been here for quite a while :)  The sad part was that he felt like he had really messed up and cried after, so this story has quite the sad ending but I figured I'd share it~

As we were walking this week, we met a man who stopped us and asked what the "Latter-Day Saints" part of our church name meant. It was a perfect opportunity for us to explain the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, as well as introducing the Book of Mormon. After we explained it, he said something along the lines of "Wow, I never knew about the Book of Mormon, or that there were people following Jesus Christ on the American continent either... If this Book is true, this can't be taken lightly! I'm a leader in my Christian congregation, but if this is true I am going to have to tell all of them about it too... I can't just believe all of this right away though. I'll try reading it, and then I want to meet and talk about it." For all those that have been a missionary, you will understand exactly how great of an experience we thought this was. Now, I don't know how things will work out with him, but I'm grateful that The Lord put us in his path so that we were able to meet this man.

Jared didn't send this but I pulled it off the blog
 written by his mission president.  He has a
fun personality demonstrated by this photo bomb.

And the highlight of this week was a visit to our mission by Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles. We met in Seoul, and were able to spend roughly 3 hours with him. It really was life changing- He spent most of the time answering missionaries' questions, as well as letting us ask questions and helping us to find the answer to them. My favorite part of it was something that he said along the lines of:

" You will likely never have another opportunity like this in your life. You are here for three hours in an audience of 250 people, meeting with one of the 12 apostles, 2 mission presidents, and 2 members of the Quorum of the Seventy, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. So if there's one thing that I hope you learn from this meeting, if it is only one thing, I hope you understand that you don't need an apostle to answer your questions. You have the promise of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and a promise from God that you can receive answers and revelation from God." Cool, right?

He also spoke a lot about becoming agents who choose to act and become what God would have us be, rather than just being acted upon as an object. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to learn at the feet of one of the Lord's chosen apostles, it is something I will never forget~

(PS there should be a picture of us with Elder Bednar on the mission blog soon)

Have a great week everyone!

Love, 

Elder Bigelow

Scooping rice

Hello Everyone!

It's taken a few weeks, but here is the photo from our Zone Training this month! I hope I never leave this place, it's the best  

Some of the missionaries in our area serve at a soical welfare center once a month, we help serve meals to Elderly people, it's super fun. As these people go through the line, they get their rice, their meat, then the side dish, followed by the kimchi, and then grab a bowl of some kind of soup and then enjoy their meal. So as missionaries, we put on our caps and our breath guards and gloves, and put the food on their plate for them. My first time there, I was in charge of the meat, the easiest task. I did that for a few times, and then last time I was upgraded to scooping soup, a much more difficult task. The tofu sinks to the bottom, and if there's not a good ratio, people aren't happy. I did okay though, no huge mistakes. As of this last week though, I have been doing this service project the longest, I was assigned to scoop the rice, the most difficult of all the tasks in the kitchen. The rice must be stirred once it finishes cooking, but it's also extremely hot. I suffered some first degree burns on my hands, but I only got yelled at once for not stirring the rice well enough, so I'm counting that one as a success. I love serving here~

As far as missionary work goes, we have still been working with 김대현 and he came to church for the first time yesterday! We will have to postpone his baptism because he hasn't been able to come to church for a few weeks, but he is progressing really well. We gave him a Book of Mormon Stories book and he carries it around whenever he meets with us, he's my favorite.

Looking forward to this week, we will have the opportunity to hear from Elder David A. Bednar, an apostle of the Lord. We have been preparing for this for quite a while now, and I know that this week is going to be life-changing.

Talk to you next week!

-Elder Bigelow

Trying not to let all the power go to my head

Hello everyone!

The seasons have changed again, Spring and Autumn in Korea are only about 6 days long. But last winter was the coldest in 14 years, and last summer was the hottest in 24 years, so I'm excited to see what this winter has up its sleeve..

My fever disappeared on Tuesday, just in time for a super busy week. On Tuesday, we had Mission Leadership council, where some of the missionaries gather and receive training which we then teach to the rest of the missionaries. We talked quite a lot about preparing for Elder Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles who will be visiting us next Wednesday.

Then Wednesday involved figuring out how to best relay the information to the rest of the missionaries. It actually included a whole lot of translating, because we got lots of handouts, but all of them were in English. And I love Koreans and want them to understand too, so we had to translate quite a bit. I'm not exactly certain they could understand our amateur translation, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Then on Thursday we met all the missionaries in our zone to have our monthly zone training. Actually as missionaries, to protect ourselves we follow lots of pretty specific rules, some of which include calling to ask for permission to use the computer, leave the house early, or change out of the missionary attire. And since I am currently serving as the only Zone Leader, I am currently the only one that can give permission for  all the missionaries to do that. So I take that responsibility very seriously, but I also realized this week how funny of an idea it is, especially to those who are not missionaries. I told someone that we have been teaching while we were practicing English that all of the missionaries in 5 different cities have to call me if they want to change clothes or use the computer, and he couldn't stop laughing for a solid 5 minutes. I'm trying not to let all the power get to my head~ :)

Also this week we were able to watch General Conference, a biannual broadcast from the leaders of our church. I really enjoyed all the talks that were given, I don't think I can choose a favorite... But one that I really enjoyed was from Elder Ballard, who quoted the Savior in saying, "Where Will You Go?", a question the Savior posed to those who decided to leave him when he taught some things that may have been hard to follow. And Elder Ballard posed the same question to us, asking where we would go should we decide to abandon the truth we have obtained. And the simple truth is, there is nowhere else you can go to find the restored church of Jesus Christ in the latter days, and I'm eternally grateful for that. To watch General Conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

After General Conference ended, we went with a member of our ward to Seoul to visit 강우석(Kang-U-Seok), a young man in our ward who has been fighting brain cancer for several years. He is in recovery after his 3rd brain surgery, but the tumor is growing back again so it looks like all we can hope for now is a miracle. But my companion and I were able to give him a priesthood blessing of comfort and counsel, and it was a very tender moment for everyone that was present.

 I feel selfish because I've learned so much more than anyone I have come here to teach, but I'm so grateful for the blessing of being a missionary

Have great week everyone!

Love, 

Elder Bigelow 

Trying not to let all the power go to my head

Hello everyone!

The seasons have changed again, Spring and Autumn in Korea are only about 6 days long. But last winter was the coldest in 14 years, and last summer was the hottest in 24 years, so I'm excited to see what this winter has up its sleeve..

My fever disappeared on Tuesday, just in time for a super busy week. On Tuesday, we had Mission Leadership council, where some of the missionaries gather and receive training which we then teach to the rest of the missionaries. We talked quite a lot about preparing for Elder Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles who will be visiting us next Wednesday.

Then Wednesday involved figuring out how to best relay the information to the rest of the missionaries. It actually included a whole lot of translating, because we got lots of handouts, but all of them were in English. And I love Koreans and want them to understand too, so we had to translate quite a bit. I'm not exactly certain they could understand our amateur translation, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Then on Thursday we met all the missionaries in our zone to have our monthly zone training. Actually as missionaries, to protect ourselves we follow lots of pretty specific rules, some of which include calling to ask for permission to use the computer, leave the house early, or change out of the missionary attire. And since I am currently serving as the only Zone Leader, I am currently the only one that can give permission for  all the missionaries to do that. So I take that responsibility very seriously, but I also realized this week how funny of an idea it is, especially to those who are not missionaries. I told someone that we have been teaching while we were practicing English that all of the missionaries in 5 different cities have to call me if they want to change clothes or use the computer, and he couldn't stop laughing for a solid 5 minutes. I'm trying not to let all the power get to my head~ :)

Also this week we were able to watch General Conference, a biannual broadcast from the leaders of our church. I really enjoyed all the talks that were given, I don't think I can choose a favorite... But one that I really enjoyed was from Elder Ballard, who quoted the Savior in saying, "Where Will You Go?", a question the Savior posed to those who decided to leave him when he taught some things that may have been hard to follow. And Elder Ballard posed the same question to us, asking where we would go should we decide to abandon the truth we have obtained. And the simple truth is, there is nowhere else you can go to find the restored church of Jesus Christ in the latter days, and I'm eternally grateful for that. To watch General Conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

After General Conference ended, we went with a member of our ward to Seoul to visit 강우석(Kang-U-Seok), a young man in our ward who has been fighting brain cancer for several years. He is in recovery after his 3rd brain surgery, but the tumor is growing back again so it looks like all we can hope for now is a miracle. But my companion and I were able to give him a priesthood blessing of comfort and counsel, and it was a very tender moment for everyone that was present.

 I feel selfish because I've learned so much more than anyone I have come here to teach, but I'm so grateful for the blessing of being a missionary

Have great week everyone!

Love, 

Elder Bigelow 

Elder Case

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed your week and I hope you all enjoyed your general conference! We will watch it this week on Saturday and Sunday because of the time change, and I couldn't be more excited!

Other exciting news this week: I got a new companion! We went to Seoul on Wednesday to drop Elder Christensen off, and now I'm serving with Elder Case. I really don't think I've met a happier person in my life~ He just loves everyone and complements everyone, I'm really excited to serve with him. And I haven't even gotten lost once, that's the most surprising thing. Anyways, Elder Case is the same age as me, is from Utah, Speaks Spanish and American Sign Language, and now Korean and Korean Sign Language. So I'm trying to learn Korean Sign Language from him, I've only got the alphabet down so far though...

Also now that Elder Christensen left, I'm in charge of translating from Korean to English during Sacrament Meeting for the members of our congregation that don't speak Korean. Which isn't too bad, until someone shares a story about nuclear power plants and molecular interactions... At that point I just kind of laughed at how lost I was~ 

I've been a little sick for the past few days with a fever that has been up and down, so I've had to rest quite a bit but I do have some American brand medicine that does a pretty good job at keeping it under control :)  We've got a busy week ahead of us though, so I'm hoping it will be gone by tomorrow~

Probably the highlight of this week was being able to set a baptismal date with 김대현(Kim Dae Hyeon). He is an 11 year old that we have met with a few times, and he decided that he wants to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. He's a super good kid, and I'm excited to see all of the progress he will make!

That's all for this week, I hope you all have a great one!

Love, 

Elder Bigelow

PS Last week in English class the lesson was about body parts, so we spent the entire class naming a ton of body parts

And then this week, one of my English class members showed me a diagram she had made with all the body parts we talked about

Artistic, right? ~My students make me so proud~