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~

10 kg of kimchi

Hello Everyone!

Well, this was my last week with Elder Christensen. He leaves on Wednesday, so lots of farewells (and farewell buffets..) this week. Almost all of my companions have gone home after serving with me, so I'm pretty used to all of it by now, but it looks like the pattern will change a little bit. I will be staying in Suwon, and my new companion will be Elder Case. He started his mission 6 weeks after me, so he will be my first companion who hasn't been on a mission for more than a year longer than me, I think the change will be exciting. He is serving in Seoul right now and actually is learning Korean Sign Language (for the church members that need it over there) but will now be here in Suwon with me for a while. I can't wait!

A church member gave us 10 kilograms of 김치(kimchi) because we ran out at our house...

t should take us a few weeks or so to finish it.. :)

And actually as I was carrying the kimchi from the church to our home, we passed a couple with a newborn child. I said hello in Korean, and at the same time my companion said hello in English, the Father was not actually Korean and I had failed to notice. So, they were friendly and said hello back, both in English and Korean, and kept going our opposite ways. We were anxious to get home, we had just had a ward activity so I was carrying tons of kimchi and bottles of juice, and my companion was carrying donuts and a pie and we were trying to drop our food off at home before our strength gave out. But after walking for a minute or two, we heard somebody behind us say "Excuse me?" in perfect English. As it turns out, it was the father that we had said hello to a minute before. It turns out that he was from Missouri, and he had turned around to come back to talk to us. So he asked "Are your from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? You should come to our house sometime, we would love to talk about religion. Can I give you my phone number?" I almost dropped my kimchi. We exchanged info, and hope to meet him again this week. These are the kinds of people that we pray to be able to meet, and we were able to meet him at a time that we weren't even expecting. These kind of experiences may be more common in certain parts of the world, but over here I've come to know how special these experiences are, and I'm so grateful. And I'm grateful that I get to stay here for the next little while, I love this place!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Bigelow

PS this week we hiked around Hwaseong fortress, some of it has been restored but it was a pretty sweet fortress back in the 1700s

A little bit better today than you were yesterday

Hello Everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed your 추석 holiday, I know I did. We actually had some unexpected news this week though... There was a problem with the contract of our apartment, so despite all the business of the holiday week we had to move houses~ Here's a photo of the new house:

It's a little bit smaller than our old one, but it's got all the necessities and we don't spend a whole lot of time in the house anyways....

Okay not actually true, that photo was taken at the Korean folk village. In the city next to us, there's a traditional folk village where you can experience some of the customs of Korea, including pottery, dancing, martial arts, architecture, horseback archery, and of course forms of punishment....

It was a super cool adventure, I'm glad I got to see it

There was also an earthquake in Korea this week, very rare here but I think one of if not the largest in recorded Korean history. It was in the Southern part though, so it was just a little bit of shaking on our end. We're all okay!

The other highlight of this week was a visit from Elder Whiting, one of the leaders of our church. We were able to meet with him as leaders of the mission one day, followed by meeting with the whole mission the next day, it was such a great training. He taught us a lot about pushing ourselves to be better and following the guidance of the Spirit, it's been a huge help to me in my missionary work. That's one of the things that I cherish about this church, the fact that no matter where you are currently, the important thing is that you're trying to be a little bit better today than you were yesterday, and a little bit better tomorrow than you are today.

I hope you all have a great week! This is Elder Christensen's last week before he goes home to America, so I'll find out my new companion this Saturday~

Love, 

Elder Bigelow