Christmas Conference

Well, another week in the work of the ministry. Somehow we pulled off teaching 11 lessons this week, even though a bunch of people "rescheduled". It was all good though. We found a girl named Rebecca while street contacting in town last week and we were able to teach her a simplified version of the Restoration. She seems pretty interested. Hopefully I'll have more details next week.

We had our Christmas Conference yesterday, so we got to wake up at 4:30and drive to Edmonton. It was really good. President Manion gave a really good training to start it off. He also gave us a warning to not waste our Christmas. He said that sometimes missionaries have a tendency to just go from active member to active member on Christmas and just hang out and party. He shared an experience from his mission in which he and his companion went to the train station in Frankfurt. It was Christmas day and they decided they would go and talk to everyone who was alone. Sure enough they found a number of people, mostly U.S. servicemen and workers who were spending Christmas in the city because they had no where else to go. They invited all of these folks to come out to a restaurant with them and have a little get-together. He said it was a wonderful experience with all of these folks as they talked and laughed together that evening and he encouraged us to not waste this chance to lift some burdens on Christmas day. Elder Dodson and I have some plans to make this Christmas a good one. Of course a part of that will be the chance to skype all of you! I'm definitely looking forward to that.

I'd encourage you all to look up a song called "Star ng Pasko" on Youtube and see if you can find it. It's a Tagalog Christmas song and I think you would all enjoy it. You could also probably get the English translations for it. But it sounds way better in Tagalog. 

I have received both the Christmas and Birthday packages! I set up the little tree with the battery power light on the table. I think I may move it to our little display in the main room as the centerpiece. We actually have quite a lot of Christmas stuff thanks to members and investigators haha. the main room is Decked out! I'll be sending pictures for sure. Thank you all for contributing to my birthday present! the ear muffs are way warmer than my other ones! I hope you all have a great week! I hear that Aubrey and Ashlynn have been tearing up the vocal scene! Good work y'all! I will be playing my violin in an old folks home tonight believe it or not! wish me luck! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

All Is Well

Greetings from Canada! We expected it would only get colder up here, but low and behold, we got ourselves a Chinook! The snow's been meltin' and yesterday it was a balmy 8 degree's Celcius. No coats necessary! 

     Well, we had some pretty high goals this week, but we didn't hit them. people are getting busy and we didn't teach as much as we had planned. But hopefully it will be better this week! We did however invest a good chunk of time helping out with the annual ward nativity display. people come from all over town to see it. The members of the ward brought in about 200 Nativities and they set all of them up in the gym. it was quite the sight once it was all finished. The time we invested payed off though! we got 4 referrals from the members. We will hopefully be meeting with a couple from India this week to teach them gospel! The members in this town are phenomenal at missionary work! Especially the Filipino's. I think that they think I'm the new one to go to when the have a Filipino friends that they want to invite to take the lessons hahaha. It's not my stewardship anymore, but maybe I could be useful in helping out the Tagalog Elders. 

We had a baptism on Saturday! Lisa Goldsbury is now officially Sister Goldsbury. She is the greatest and is enthusiastic about the Gospel. The member of the ward have been a great help in the fellowship process and it has really helped Lisa feel welcome and accepted. And she's also a super good missionary! she told us about a friend of hers in a little town called Caroline in our area. She said that individual had begun reading the Book of Mormon for some reason or other and she's inviting her to church after Stake conference! So many prepared people are out here, just waiting to be found! We anticipate more Baptisms to come!

A couple weeks ago, we met a man named Elke, who lives in a members basement. We talked with him for a bit and he said that he'd be interested to sit down sometime. So we met with him last Saturday and had a great little visit. He had some good questions and we invited him to read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it to find out the truth of our message. We had one for him in dutch which he was very interested in. The next day we were talking with the member who he lives with and she said that after we left, he immediately started reading the Book of Mormon, through the introduction and testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses and talked to her about it. We look forward to meeting with him again this week and hopefully get him out to church!

As we were going about the work of the ministry here in Rocky this week, the words of my beloved hymn, "Come Come ye Saints" came to my mind:  "Come, Come ye saints, No toil or labor fear."  This is what being a missionary is all about. It is all about work. This labor of love will yield the greatest and most satisfying rewards and we cannot fear cutting down on lunch time or elsewhere in order to get that great reward- the building up of this part of Zion and in building relationships with wonderful people that they may obtain the ordinances of salvation. 

There is so much good going on in the area and we have a lot to do! I trust that everyone is doing fine back home! It's the most wonderful time of the year, for sure. keep me updated on everything!

Love 

Elder Higginson.

The Year Mark

Greetings from the Wicked North! It's getting cold here and we got about 10 inches a week ago Monday and it's stickin' around. Sorry I didn't email much last Preparation day! We were in a hurry to get out to Abraham lake and a little mountain town called Nordegg out in the far reaches of our vast area! So we didn't have much time to email. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes and thank you for the package. I have not yet received it, but mission Christmas conference is coming up so i'll probably get it then, or sooner. Sister Manion has asked that I perform in the Conference with a few other guys. Should be good! 

So in case I haven't told you yet, Rocky Mountain House is awesome!!!!!!! we have a lot of investigators and a Baptism this Saturday! surprise! She's been investigating since September and she's ready and exited to make the big commitment! We have set goals to teach 15 lessons this week, which is killer. We've got some people who are getting close as well. The Ward members are super awesome out here. they are really missionary minded and we are getting a lot of them to come out and teach with us. I've been fed almost every night since I've been here haha! What a wonderful way to spend this time of the year.

My companion is Elder Dodson, a good natured fellow from Sugar City Idaho. He's a good obedient soul. He's going to be leaving the area at the end of the month and I'll be taking over. 

So interestingly enough, Barbra Brant the main investigator who I taught in my first area, who then went to Calgary and disappeared - has suddenly got in touch via Facebook! I know where she is and I'll try to get the missionaries back in touch with her. We'll see what happens! 

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season in Idaho and Utah. Thank you for taking time to think of me and send me nice things and emails. I will be praying for Mckay. So sorry to hear that he is having a difficult time. Every one be merry and enjoy yourselves! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

This is out next to Abraham Lake. We were going to get some pictures of the lake and stumbled upon a herd of Big Horn Rams! about 28 of them all together we think. I got some video of them butting heads, Check it out!   

The Tagalog Ministry of Elder Higginson has come to a close.

Well, my short time here in Coronation Park is over! I will now finally be going outlying. I'm off to Rocky Mountain House in the southern part of the mission. I've heard great things about the place and one of my first Zone Leaders served there for a time. I look forward to this opportunity to serve.

My Good friend Elder Walker has finished his tour of duty as the Assistant to the President and he is going to replace me as Tagalog, serving in the Bonny Doon Stake. He gave me all of my Tagalog study material so I'll be getting it back to him at transfers. In hindsight I wish that I would have taken advantage of the assignment to serve in the language capacity with greater enthusiasm earlier. It took me a while to get used to the idea and I didn't realize what a privilege it was until I was removed. I have come to love the language and the people so much. However, I will not make the mistake of being bummed about no longer being Tagalog. I have set a goal to accept whatever assignment I receive with enthusiasm from now on. It will just make things better.

Elder Collins has been a good companion for the last two weeks. He's got a good heart and I anticipate he will do well as a missionary. He's going to be training this transfer haha. 

The work in this ward has been super cool! We did a sweet fireside under the direction of the ward mission leader about the book of Mormon. We did a musical number and the focus was on a video put together of all the members sharing insight and testimony from the Book of Mormon. It was so well put together by the ward mission leader. He is just like Uncle Bob actually haha. He's tech savy, makes movies and has a very similar personality. 

I hope you all are doing fine! The Temple looks awesome! I'll give you updates when I get to my new area! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Waiting in limbo

It snowed for the First time two days ago. Here we go again!

I've been a little depressed since I got here. Going from a sweet area with tons of great members and Investigators to a run-down part of town with one 9-year old investigator is quite the disheartening transition.  Nothing too much to worry about though, because I've kind-of figured out how to deal with it. The solution is to work. Cutting down Lunch time and trying to stay effective with proselyting hours. Guess what?? there's a lot less time to be depressed :) My companion was a little sluggish at first but he's taking to the new routine with enthusiasm. He's been out for 4 months or so and has a lot of energy. Maybe too much. So I'll see what I can do to help him for as long as I'm with him. I expect he'll turn out to be a fine missionary.

I am going to try and do as much as I can in this area before I leave. We have found a few people who have said we could come back and one lady said she'd come to church. We have a car for a week and then we are on buses for the other half, so we get to talk to a lot of people as we are out and about. I still have the habit of gravitating towards Filipino's hahaha. They are just so nice and fun to talk to. Most of them are fine with meeting, they are just super busy. I've found 3 since I've been here that have given me there address and telephone number so I've passed that on to the Tagalog Elders. 

I am still continuing to study Tagalog in my spare time at the end of the day.  I hope I can continue to study and improve my abilities. I've come way to far to quit. Maybe when President Manion leaves I'll swing a deal with the new president to put me back in haha.

The Alberta Air Museum is walking distance from our apartment so we will be going today! That should be a dream. I'll let you know what's happening next week as far as transfers go. Love you all tons and hope you are enjoying life! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Emergency Transfer

Greetings from the great white north! Today we had our first snow!! Isn't really sticking, but that's totally fine with me. Lots of snow to come. And also good to hear about the success of the Halloween party!! Ya'll look pretty good :)

Happy 12th birthday Dallin! You are such a great brother and I hope you had a great birthday!

Thank you Grandmother for the package and the new music! It's perfect :)

and thank you all for the other package you sent. I was so thankful for it all.

Well, there has been a lot that has happened this week. Everything kind of went south beginning on Halloween. One of the Elders in the district told my comp that he was having trouble with his companion and he needed to do an overnight exchange. I didn't trust any of it. It seemed like he just wanted to go party on Halloween with my companion. Nothing was adding up. After we exchanged I felt like they were trying to trick me so I called the Zone Leaders to tell them I was suspicious. Some miscommunication happened and President called them. They got in trouble for some disobedience (not as bad as I thought it was). Basically they both hated me after that. A couple days later I called President and told him I was done. So president made a decision. 

We both got removed from the area and I am in a place called coronation park, right in the middle of Edmonton. It is anticipated that I will be back as an English missionary for good. This is not what I wanted. I really was starting to get the language. President thinks it is causing me too much stress. Which it's really not anymore. There were a number of Filipinos that I had been hoping to serve with. I wanted to become fluent. Transfers will be in two weeks. I have no idea what will happen. 

Nevertheless, I will have faith.  I am super sad to leave Tagalog. Never thought I would have said that even 2 months ago. I think I will continue to study the language in my spare time. I know that as we choose to have faith in the Lord He will strengthen us and give us power to adapts to difficult situations. I have done it once and I will do it again. I am thankful for the many prayers that have been given on my behalf back home and elsewhere. I hope you are all doing well! I will continue to adjust.

Love, 

Elder Higginson

In your patience possess ye your souls

Hello family! It's been another rough week in the work of the ministry but I feel things will get at least a little better.

 I'm glad to hear that Dad is recovering. Your faith in the Lord astounds me. I will continue to pray and bring forth good works which I know will bring blessings here and also for you all back home.

Apparently the Lord thinks I have some attributes that still need some fine tuning. And he's right of course. So I'll keep working on them. One that I really could afford to continue in is Charity. Several weeks back, Uncle Jim sent me some of his words on Charity and it really helped me. I will continue to try to have love and acceptance for people.

There isn't really a spirit of obiedience up here in the North Stake. In fact, most of the place is rank with the stench of disobedience. I've been able to spend a little time with one of the Zone Leaders this week and he says it's a huge problem that they have been trying to correct, but the last attempts seem to have had a similar effect as the efforts of the Nephites to turn the hearts of the Lamanites back to God as recorded in Enos. "But our labors were vain; their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature." 

It seems that we are now in the Begining phases of what was done to contain the Nephites from their own wickedness. "And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction." I think the key to all this is forgetting about them. If they doeth that which is evil, they do it unto themselves and will be held accoutable. If they perish, they perish unto themselves (Helaman 14:30).

Anyway, I am doing better than I was. My comp is still content to walk in his path, but we will continue to find a way to get along. He seems to have at least somewhat of a good heart. But he has some anger issues and a lot of other stuff that is a pain. Perhaps I will only be with him for 3 more weeks. I will continue to pace myself here and work hard. I think that the future should be good. My language skills are improving, and my companion is helping me. I'm learning this area faster than any prievious one. I'm becoming much better at teaching and finding the best ways to cordinate with members. And I am keeping myself obedient. Thank you all for your prayers on my behalf.

Love,

Elder Higginson

Testimony of Obedience

Well, my email this week might be a bit more brief, seeing as that I'm short on time. This week has been super hard for me. I'd just like to talk about Obedience.

God has given us a number of commandments that He knows will bring blessings into our lives and prepare us for exaltation. If we are to live with God again we must live in a way that is acceptable to Him, in fact we are commanded to live as He does (Matt: 5:48). "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

God told Moses that His work and His glory was to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", therefore He does not give a commandment unto the children of men save the purpose of it is to bring blessings into our lives, including greater spiritual power, the Holy Ghost, power to resist temptation, and the power to endure all things. As people humble themselves before the Lord, He gives the commandments and as they become more prepared - He gives them higher laws, that in turn, bring greater blessings.

To the children of Israel He gave the 10 commandments, a a subsequent preparatory law because their hearts were hard and their spiritual sensity dull. They had been given a higher law but they proved that they could not obey it. To keep them under control, the Lord gave aproxamately 600 sub-commandments that would keep the people in line, because "the rebelious and disobiedient have more need of masters." And Titus 1:9 The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient. It was not until much later that they were given the higher law by Jesus Christ, to which the Mosaic law had been but preparatory.

We are reminded constantly in the scriptures of the results of Disobiedience. (D&C 64:36) And when we recive commandments with Doubtful hearts the scriptures say we are Damned : (D&C 58)

The key is obeying for the right reasons (D&C: 64:34). When we use our agency in the way that God wanted us to from the begining, we shall have Him on are side and He will fight our battles for us.

Rember that in keeping all the commandments of God there is safty and sactification by the spirit.
"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

To those that follow the Lord, come those great blessings and joy.
"Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days."  (D&C 64:34)

That we will all humble ourselves and partake of the blessings of the kingdom is my prayer,

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Back In The North!

Hello everyone! This has been one heck of a week and I'm pleased with how things are going!

Congratulations on the completion of the amphitheater! Seems like it was quite the experience! And of course I must with Ashlynn a happy birthday! Happy birthday Blue Star! hahaha, Joke lang :) From the pictures I've been seeing, seems like everyone is growing up quite a bit! I look foreward to seeing you all in a little over a year.

So I parted ways with Elder Ronquillo last week to come up to the North Stake, Tagalog speaking. My new companions name is Elder Ortega and he's been out for about 20 months. He was one of the very first Tagalog Missionaries and he's lived in a lot of places, Starting in the Philipines and ending in Idaho. He learned most of his Tagalog in the mission field and he's really good.  He's super cool and easy to get along with. There are a lot of different people we are working with up here and things are going really well! We've already taught a ton of lessons since I've been here and we are super busy!

Sister Van Vleet is again in one of the areas we cover! She's actually sitting right behind me emailing at the St. Albert Library haha! It's good to be back to my first area again, this town is really a nice place. I'm good friends with a lot of people here already so I'll make sure they know I'm back and set up some supper appointments, which Elder Ortega is exited about :) There are a lot of good members up here.

We got a less active to church this Sunday, named Von. He's a less active young guy and is really philosophical haha. He's super nice though. Church went well except for one of the speakers passed out during his talk and the bishop and his counselors

had to catch him, and then try to revive him. It was all good afterwards though, he was fine.

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving so since nobody wants their door knocked on that day, we went out street contacting in down-town Edmonton with a few other sets of missionaries. There is another Missionary by the name of Elder Lincoln Berguson and he is super good at the Piano so he played on the corner and we talked to people, gave out hot chocolate and conducted a poll to find out what people are thankful for. It was really great and we passed out a lot of cards and got some peoples info. And only one guy was bashy! I'll send some pictures of the deal later on.

Anyways, I'm super happy to be serving up here. The Work is fast-paced, the people and missionareis are awesome and I'm going to dig in and learn this crazy jungle language and the giant area. Do your best and let the Lord take care of the rest, right? yea that's right.

Love,

Elder Higginson

Balm of Gilead

Hello everyone! Well there have been some ups and downs this week, but it's all working together for my good. Things are picking up in the area again now that I am about to leave!

Firstly, Conference was Awesome! I only missed one talk because of drowsiness haha, which is too bad because it was Dallin H. Oaks and he is a stud! I'll have to go back and read it. :)

The First Talk of the conference by Elder Uchtdorf was killer entitled "it works." Don't over complicate the gospel!
"Church leaders must strictly protect the Church and the gospel in its purity and plainness and avoid putting unnecessary burdens on members."

It's so cool that Elder Renlund is a member of the 12 now!! it was only a few short months ago that he came to address the Bonny Doon Stake while I was serving with Elder Jennings. He had some wonderful insights. I believe he referred to Doctrine & Covenants as "D&C" during his talk, which should never be done hahaha! Elder Jennings and I had a good laugh about that one. Annndd now he's an Apostle so no more room for error. :) He actually came to visit the non-member husband of one of the Ward missionaries in our ward. Elder Renlund sat down with him, his spouce and the family and finally got him accept the invitation to read the Book of Mormon. He started coming to church regularly after that. Elder Renlund is every wit an Apostle of God.

This week we had exchanges. I went with my Zone Leader, Elder Barber and it was a much needed respite. We were walking out of the Library and getting into our car when I saw an Indian man nearby and said hello to him. He recognized us as some sort of ministers and he wanted to sit down with us and learn about are church, so we set up an appointment for the following morning at 11:00 A.M. He was right on time to our appointment (which was so nice) and we taught him the first lesson. Elder Barber and I had prepared in the morning to teach someone without a Christian background, but we found he had looked into a lot of religions, born Hindu, and studied at a Catholic School. We had a super spiritual visit and his questions were great. He's just an honest truth seaker who is confused with so many religions in the world.  He then offered one of the most sincere prayers I've probably ever heard and ask God if he would reveal the truth of the Book of Mormon to him. They will have another lesson next week. I look forward to hearing what happens!

And of course, the big news: I am getting transferred to the North of Edmonton. The area includes places like Ft. McMurry and Grand Prairie, which are about 5 hours North. I am looking forward to giving this my all! The Last 7 weeks have been a struggle for me, but I have repented, exercised faith, brought forth good works and prayed continually without ceasing. I have tread this personal wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God, and I am confident that he is pleased with my offering. I was in need of this divine chastening.

I'm glad that you have all enjoyed conference and I thank you for your outpourings of insight upon me. Special thanks to Uncle Jim and to Mother for your remarks, they have touched my soul and strengthened my faith in my family. So let us all press on!

Love,

Elder Higginson

Hello Everyone!

Well hello Everyone! It's super crazy to hear that Rylee is actually about to be home in Utah! Feels like the end of an era. :'( Well, I'm sure there exciting things to come. And McKay leaving shortly as well! You will have to send pictures and video if at all possible.

Another super hard week in the work of the ministry. We have two new investigators, and maybe one of those might be something we can work with. His name is Ariel and he doesn't have time for much, just like most Filipino's here. But the first lesson went well and he has been to our church before. He also knows one of the Filipino Members. We'll try to set up an appointment for next week.  Cristhian passed the sacrament for the first time this Sunday, which was really cool. He's read most of the Book of Mormon, Half of True to the Faith and he is beginning the Doctrine & Covenants.

In other news, everyone cancelled their appointments this week. Like eight people. I'm just about at the end of my rope here with just about everything. However on Sunday President said he is not sure if he's going to transfer me. I'm not sure if I could handle that, but I suppose I'm not the first one whose had to learn a foreign language while dealing with a lot of stress and exhaustion, not to mention a companion who has been just trying to make it harder. Just part of the territory I suppose. If I am to remain here though, I have prayed and asked God that if I am faithful in treading this wine press alone, that he will bless you all back home with the strength and power to overcome your trials.

I hope you all have a great time down at conference! Say hi to Rylee for me!

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Philippians 3:13

Greetings from Canada. 

It's been a difficult week in the work of the ministry but I believe I am out of the woods. I'm so glad to hear that I have a new cousin, David! I look forward to meeting him. How is Riley already almost done with her mission!?!? And I'll be praying for you dad, and fasting for your surgery on the 23 of October.

Sa Canada, ang mga Filipino ay mga alipin. Basically no one kept their appointments this week. The work schedule of most Filipino's different from day to day, and many of them are on call. So they are not home when they tell us to come back and they are terrible at answering texts. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of my time, so we've decided to do more finding on foot this week. We've found another dozen people who said we could come back...and they will probably do the same thing to us haha, lame!

However, we do have one progressing Investigator! Jethro is a stud from Bataan (I can't remember if I reported this earlier) and he is keeping commitments. He's read a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon and is very interested in all this. We are bringing a member with us to a lesson tomorrow. We also want to do a church tour with him asap. He works from 8:00-4:00 on Sundays., which is super lame. I'll keep you updated.

We have been teaching Brother Cristhian the new member lessons and he's the greatest. He went on a date with the sister of the guy who baptized him last week haha! Such wonderful fellowship. She gave him a copy of "True to the Faith" And he has been highlighting a bunch of stuff in it for like 2 weeks now along with the Book of Mormon. He also signed up to clean the church, which he did on Saturday, and he was able to attend a priesthood meeting on Sunday night right after work. He is doing so well and is super active!

I was able to meet with Mercedes this week on Saturday!!! It was so good to see her and her fellowshiping friends :) So she and her friend Brena and another guy cooked us a fancy supper and it was a grand time! Mercedes reported that she has finished the Book of Mormon and began reading it again! and she did baptisms for the dead last week as well for the first time! She's precious. I got her a pocket sized hymn book.

Anyway, I'm short on time. If you wish to know how things are in the companionship I would cite you to a separate Email, but I believe the situation is summarized in Philippians 3:13

"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for t prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jeus."

Have a wonderful week Everyone!

as always, love

Elder Higginson

Greetings from Canada

Greetings from Canada.

Well, this week was super hard for me, just like the last three. However we did see miracles. I'll just list a few below.

1) A set of Elders in our Area found a Filipino and organized a pass-over lesson this week. His name is Jethro and he's a very nice guy, probably 18 or 19. We had a solid lesson with him and he was impressed with my Taglog, which is always encouraging. He is planning on coming to church this week and we have another appointment with him today! We'll get some fellowshippers for the next lesson.

2) We were knocking a few doors in a different area on Saturday and with one in particular, a shirtless Black guy opened the door. He had a crazy bunch of tatoos on his chest. So we invited him to hear a message that could bless his life and help him deal with personal challenges and concerns of course! He said that he had received a copy of the Book of Mormon before and he would be available to listen on any other day, but he was busy right then. So we referred him to the other elders. They reported back to us that they had a great lesson Sunday and he accepted the soft commitment to baptism! His name is Dess by the way.

3) I was reading the Aklat ni Mormon the other day and most everything I was reading was actually making sense! For some reason the story seems more new and exiting when you try to comprehend it in a foreign language. You go through it a little slower and compare the English and really examine the words and verses, it's amazing.

4) This isn't really a miracle, but we'll see. I got a spiritual impression to knock on a door last night while in the city. I just felt the need to bear my testimony to whoever was on the other side of the door. Well it opened and a tall guy answered. He told us he was an Anglican preacher. well I testified with all the sincerity of my heart that what we share would bless his life. He said he'd be willing to meet and discuss about our faiths. Who knows what that means. So we referred him to the Assistants to the President, who have stewardship over that area. They said they will baptize him and his congregation, Sidney Rigdon Style haha. We'll see what happens.

Anyway, I'm working my guts out right now and I hope that you all have the strength to accomplish what is required of you and the spirit to follow the will of the Lord. I pray for you individually  and for your success.

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Binyag!

Well it was a super hard, super fulfilling week. I don't really remember much except for the good stuff, and that the rest was a bit of a drag but oh well, here goes.

We did the baptismal interview for brother Crithian (yea, we found out that's how it's spelled) on Wednesday. It all went smoothly and one of our Zone Leaders this transfer is actually a Filipino so the interview was done in Tagalog, which is neat. Then we had a lesson with him and got him all prepared for the baptism. We coordinated with the Ward Mission Leader on Friday to make sure everything was squared away and evidently it was, but he was not going to be able to attend the Baptism, which is sad, because he did a lot of the work putting it together. But he was able to go fill the font at 6:30 in the morning before going to school, bless his heart :)

When we got there at 8:25, all the doors were locked, which kind of wigged me out haha. I didn't get much sleep the night before being worried about it all going smoothly and also bearing a portion of my testimony in Tagalog. Probably similar to Elder Groeberg's experience. Elder Outhouse!! haha! yea, no need for that to happen. Anyway, after a few phone calls and just after Crithian arrived with Brother Hues, Someone came out of the building and let us in. We had to start a little late, but at least 30 or 40 people showed up which was perfect. The talks were given and I was able to bear half my testimony in Tagalog, which was great. And Brother Ben Hues was able to perform the baptism, And the relief society brought muffins and fruit salad for afterwards! There was a crazy English member who somehow caught wind of the baptism and she made a lot of noise afterwards. Good thing Cristhian didn't care, he's just happy to be baptized. He bore his testimony after the baptism and said that the thing that made him decide to get baptized was Alma 5:62:

 "I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life."

On Sunday I was privileged to confirm Crithian a member of the church. It hadn't struck me so much before, but I hadn't considered how special it is that authorized servants of the Lord can cause someone to have the Gift of the Holy Ghost. All I said was "receive the Holy Ghost," and to think that God would just honor that request and send the third member of the Godhead to be with this man is almost beyond me. After the meeting we conferred the Priesthood upon him and ordained him to the office of a priest. Things are just moving along! He's already signed up to help clean the church next month and as soon as possible, he'll be interviewed for a Temple recommend and go do some baptisms for the dead. He'll be doing a little research to do a proxy baptism for his mother, who died 10 years ago, which would be great.

Well, I've said enough, so I'll make an end of my sayings here. I have a testimony of the convincing power of the Book of Mormon. I've seen it work in my own life and in the lives of those I've taught, who really took the time to ponder the message it contains. I have a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, whom God chose before the foundations of the world to restore the Gospel. Alam ko na, sa pamamagitan ng pananampalataya kay paginoon Jesucristo, at pagsisisi, at sa pamamagitan ng pagbibinyag, tapos ulit ang process na ito, lahat tayo ay makakaranas ng kaligian, sa buhay na ito. 

At sinisabi ko po ang mga bagay na ito, sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, Amen.
 

This is a tad bit difficult

Kamusta po kayo!

Well, I bit farewell to Elder Pring this week. He was a great companion with a sincere desire to be obedient. At ngayon I am with Elder Ronquillo. He's been out for 11 months and hasn't learned much yet. Anyway, we had a decent week in the way of missionary work.

I've probably worked harder this week than I ever have before on my mission. Mostly out of necessity, but Elder Ronquillo is not taking to the area. We are not on the same page. I'm organizing a complicated baptism, running an area and trying to learn a language all by myself. I think the Lord will bless me for my efforts though, if I endure this well.

We are having a baptism THIS SATURDAY!!!!! It's happening, no question about it :) The baptismal interview will occur tomorrow and everything should fall into place. The baptismal service will be at 9:00 a.m. and everything's ready. Then conformation the next day! The next steps include getting him home teachers and receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. I'll be sending some pictures of all this next week!

We got a referral on Friday from our Zone Leader's, concerning a guy named R.J. So we went by to pay him a visit and he let us in. He's probably in his late teens and he has been taught by missionaries in the past. We had a great first lesson and taught for understanding. Then we asked him to pray about ang aming mensahe, at tonkol sa aklat ni Mormon. So we knelt down and he offered a humble prayer, probably one of the few he has ever uttered, and there was a long pause. We shouldn't be afraid of pauses as missionaries, because that's when the spirit is usually working with people, but my comp interrupted and told him to say "in the name of Jesus Christ Amen." Not cool, but he said he felt a good feeling inside himself, and he said he'll come to church and read about the Book of Mormon. It ended up being a good experience and we'll probably go back this week.

As Tagalog missionaries, sometimes it's hard to find Filipino's when your out looking for them. Usually we look for Rosaries hanging from the rear-view-mirror in peoples cars, or for flip flops on the front porch. But yesterday when we were walking around we encountered about a dozen children of African decent who asked us if we were policemen haha! We could have just explained that we were not and went on our way, but I decided I'd have a little fun with them. I explained that we were missionaries and asked each of their names. I asked were they were from to which about half responded they were from Nigeria and the others from Ghana. So I asked them a few words in their langugages and taught them a couple in Tagalog haha. They were the most delightful kids. Anyway, I explained that we had a message for all the Filipino's in the neighborhood, and asked "could you guys tell us where any are at??" they all happily volunteered and led us to every house where there were Filipino's. One of them said we can come back and the others didn't answer, but now we know where they are! It was a great experience.

Anyway, I know that we are part of God's true church and that is something special. I  I know that through the Atonement we can be cleansed from sin, and by so doing - qualify ourselves to receive the Holy Ghost. "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." At sinisabi po kong, ang mga bahgay na ito, sa pangalan ni Jesukristo, Amen.

Love,

Elder Higginson

Mamatay na ang dapat Mamatay!!!!

Magundung umaga po!!

Well, this week has been messed up, and it looks like the next 6 weeks will be as well. Elder Pring is finally getting transferred (down to Red Dear), So he's super exited. I'll be with Elder Ronquillio. I mentioned briefly last week that we would be receiving another member in our companionship for a short season. Well looks like I'll be with him for at least 6 weeks. 

So it ended up being a terrible Idea to have him come down here. We thought we would need him because we heard he spoke Cebuano, (and we have an investigator who speaks Cebuano) but he evidently forgot how to speak the language. He speaks some Tagalog and hardly any English. He's been out for 11 months and doesn't know how to use a daily planner. during the lessons we've had with him this week, he's managed to inform two people that only men can hold the priesthood, which is true, but totally unnecessary for people to know during our first visit. In short, I'm basically going to have to train this punk. I don't know why, but there have been a lot of disobedient and lazy Tagalog missionaries over the last couple years, and the culture of it has been perpetuated into a lot of the native Filipino Elders. My current companion Turned from the wicked traditions of his fathers after serving with his last companion, Elder Walker and now with me. He wants to be obedient and knows how to be. I'm proud of his progress.
Looks like another difficult assignment from President. Time to forget myself and go to work.

Everything is going well with Christians progression towards baptism. He accepted the law of Tithing with enthusiasm this week and has committed to live the law! And his friend who brought him a church activity in the fist place will be the one to baptism. His name is brother Hues and he is the best Member missionary in town! He drove his bike like a third of the way across Edmonton just to be present at our lesson this week. Salt of the earth kind of guy. 

The stake has become aware of Brother Christians situation and has got involved, so there is some crazy stuff we have to work out. Because of work, Christian can only attend in the mornings, so he can't attend the ward in the area where he lives. so we've arranged with President to have him confirmed and attend in a different ward. The problem is he can't receive a calling unless he attends the ward he is supposed to. The last resort is to move his records into the ward he is able to attend, which will require going through Salt Lake. It doesn't happen often because the church is concerned about people getting lost when they move or if they go less active, which makes sense. We will need to have a definite place for him to attend church by the end of the week.

This is such a pain and I'm doing it all by myself. I don't know exactly why, but maybe it's because Elder Pring is not as comfortable speaking with White people. And now I'll be totally be myself to everything and somehow get the message to Brother Christian concerning what church he will attend, and what he should do with Work. A member of the stake presidency recommend he try negotiate with his boss on the grounds of religious freedom to have time to attend Church on Sunday. Evidently you can do that legally but I don't know if it will work. Employers here seem to abuse Filipinos willingness to work and they don't negotiate well. Please pray for us.

On a positive note, one of our recent converts (brother Jay, who was baptized a week after I got here) Gave a sweet talk in Stake Conference!!!!!!!!!! He talked about his conversion process and he said he almost passed out. Then Elder Stacy of the 70 got up and had him stay while he asked the missionaries who taught him to talk about how the ward helped. The focus of the conference was about how Councils in the ward and stake bless members. It was super great. We'll be celebrating by going to the house of Grace and Jay and they will be feeding us Balute and Turron. Should be good! 

Well, lots of news this week, I hope you are all adjusting to life with School and all the other crazy things :) Love you tons and I'll give a report in a week!

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Good week!

Kamusta Po Kayo! Magungdung Tanghali!

Well this week, we decided to work our guts out and change tactics a little bit. As a result we got 6 new investigators and taught 7 other lessons! We found two roommates - Ruel & Dominic, a sweet lady lalain, a couple - Joel and Joy, and a nice guy named Cloid who really respects missionaries. It was a killer week and exhaustive!

We have been doing a thing with teaching The first Lesson that involves simplifying and intensifying. It's something that I've worked with before and it's based on teaching out of the Pamphlets, but our Zone Leaders have been experimenting with it and really getting it down to a science. So I was on exchanges with my Zone Leader Elder Barber (a good friend of Elder Jennings) and he introduced the idea. Basically you ask people if they have maybe 5 minutes to sit down and talk about Jesus. We don't go into all the details of every principal - we say "we aren't going teach teach you everything in this pamphlet, so you can read it after we leave, we'll just give you the basics and get out of your hair.)  we teach by showing people the pictures in the pamphlets and ask what they know about them. By so doing you can find out where they are at in their knowledge and then you don't have to expound so much. You make it so simple that they totally know what's going on and then you ask them to pray about the Book of Mormon and then ask when You can come back. They are a lot more likely to set a close return appointment when you only took about 9 or 10 minutes for the whole thing! (we tell them five, but it usually takes about 9, but whatever) It's been  super effective.

Our investigator Brother Christian is progressing very well. We taught him this week, he attended church and treated us to some Donaire Buggers at the burger Joint where he works! Isn't he a stud!?!? We were able to cordinate with the Gateway YSA ward to set up his baptism and it looks like everything should work out! We are set for Sept. 5th

Our Other investigator Richard is progressing and reading the Book of Mormon, Albeit a bit slow, but he really wants to understand. He's really Cool.

I've got a cool scripture for you 

 24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Basically the motto of our week. It's kindof a joke about us outrunning all the other missionaries but realistically we are really in a race to fulfil the will of the Lord. 

We will be obtaining a new member in our companionship for one week starting tomorrow. I met him in the North. His English isn't to good, but he's proficient in Cebuano, Bisaya and Tagalog. Go figure. Should be a ton of fun and we'll keep working hard!! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Hello everyone!

Hello everyone! 

Well, we had a pretty good week here in Alberta Canada. We worked hard and got some stuff done. my memory is a little sparse on the particulars but here's some stuff I remember.

We taught our main investigator brother Christian twice this week in members homes. There are a lot of folks from various wards supporting him which is great. We have moved his baptism date to the first Saturday in September to make everything compatible with his work, but he is progressing along very well and he is absorbing everything that is being taught. We've just started working out the details with the YSA ward where he lives and we are on scheduled to have everything prepared for the baptism.  I'm not sure how many people will attend, just because of the circumstances but we will make sure it is announced in the wards.

We were able to meet with Richard this week and he had read all of the introduction to the Book of Mormon and reported everything he learned at our visit. He's not the fastest or most proficient reader, but he's defiantly making an effort, bless his heart. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon in English and Tagalog. There is a lot of deep Tagalog in the Book of Mormon that hardly any Filipinos know how to use haha, The normal dialect is called Taglish, or Tagalog supplemented with English words.

We met with a number of other people this week, but no tremendous progress to report. Most Filipinos will let you in, but not near as many are totally interested in joining the church, they just want to talk about Jesus. It's a pain trying to get people to understand the purpose of our visits are to help them understand the message and give it a shot so they can gain a testimony of it for themselves. It's frustrating. One of our other investigators who is not progressing, but comes to church, - she just played on her phone during sacrament meeting!! This isn't the Catholic Church! Put that away! The Filipino members are a little frustrated with her too. She doesn't keep commitments, despite our efforts to explain the purpose of our visits, so we are dropping her. It's funny how many of these people say "yes Lord" or "Haleluja" when you are praying during a lesson. A lady asked when an appropriate time to pray would be during the day, so I invited her to read Alma 37:37 and every few words she would say "yes Lord" and "Yes Lord Jesus, Hallelujah!" Elder Pring and myself get a kick out of it haha.

Anyways, I'm glad to hear that Trek went well and it was a good experience for the ward. You guys do a good job of sending me pictures and info on the life back home, and I appreciate it. I may be getting transferred in a couple weeks, or getting a new companion but we will see.

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Hello everyone! I am pleased to report that We had a great week!  Ako at ang kasama ko ay pumupunta mitigas sa pintura. (I and the companion mine are going hard in the paint... hahahaha)

We were able to meet with our primary investigator, Brother Christian this week and he agreed to be baptized!!!!!! He says he's ready and that he has gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon! He said that "every time I open the book, I get exited." It's the coolest thing. We have hit a small snag in the fact that we found he has been attending the wrong singles ward and all his friends that he has made are attending the other ward. And that ward for some inexplicable reason just changed it's time to 1:00 P.M. which interferes with Christians Trabajo. So we've got some serious work to do. His baptismal date is the 29 of August.

We found a sweet new investigator named Richard while we were looking for our supper appointment last Friday. We saw a rosary hanging from the mirror of a truck so naturally we knocked the door of the house adjacent to it. It's usually the most surefire way to find Filipino's haha. He let us in and we were able to teach a good lesson and he said that he seriously wanted to read the Book of Mormon to know if it's true. Hopefully he finds time to. He's probably a busy guy, but we will come back this week and see.

Lastly, we went to the heritage days festival in the middle of Edmonton Yesterday to do service. I was on my feet for 7 1/2 hours with a bunch of other missionaries. We just collected money for the food bank at the bus stop area, and told people where to go. It's kind of satisfying when you can actually apply language skills! If I'd see a Filipino family that looked confused I'd just ask "Kailangan mo ba ng tulong? (basically, do you need any help?) And then a big old smile spreads across their face and they ask who taught me Tagalog. "ang kiabigan ko doon!" -My friend over there! And then I'd give them some basic directions in Tagalog or as much Tagalog as I could. It was cool. We got to check out the event briefly as well. Everybody comes to represent their culture and sell food and trinkets and do performances. We were given some tickets for our service and I used it to get some curry chicken, rice and egg rolls. I got some free roasted banana from the Filipino Tent, which was surprisingly really good! And some barbequed pig snout. I'll attach some pictures. Anyway, it was a good week in the work of the ministry. I'm getting a better hold on the language and I'm having a good time and working hard. Love you all tons!!

love, Elder Higginson

Ang simbahan ay totoo!

Hello everyone!  We had a decent week in the work of the ministry and we worked really hard!

 But first, an update on my Tooth:

I went into the Dentist on Thursday morning and he was super cool. He fixed the tooth up quick and didn't charge me a cent. I thanked him the best I could with a numb face and went my way into the highways and the hedges. It looks great great and I'm back in action!

We found a neat little Filipino family last week and we were able to teach them this week! The fathers name is Donde and the mother's name is Bless. Two girls: Alisa and Alisel. We had a great Lesson one and I was able to speak a little Tagalog! They were a little hesitant about being baptized but they seem interested and we got them two copies of Ang Anklat ni Mormon: one in English and the other sa Tagalog. Hopefully they will be able to attend church, but they will be out of town for a week. We have also been teaching another lady named Sister Nene who speaks hardly any English. She has been attending church for the last two weeks but she doesn't seem to understand much. It's kind of a lame deal. She hasn't been reading from the Book of Mormon either but she really likes us. We will continue to diagnose the situation and if she wont keep commitments we will drop her.

Brother Christian is our awesome investigator and we will be inviting him to be baptized this Wednesday! He's been progressing pretty quick, though we were not able to meet with him this week. However he did attend church. But now we have a problem: for some unknown reason the Singles Ward we are attending with him will be moved to 1:00 P.M. in a different building. Our investigator has work at 12:00 on sundays, so I don't know how this is going to work. Not super happy about it though. I still think he will be baptized but he needs to attend church in order to stay rooted in the pananampalataya. That word means faith. Tagalog is crazy sometimes.

Ako at ang Kasama ko ay ayos lang.

(Me and the companion mine are doing fine.)

Elder Pring is a funny Elder with a happy disposition and a good feel for the missionary work here. He's a little slow in the morning but he has an obedient spirit. He was trained by a less than obedient missionary, So Elder Walker (his last comp.) and myself and really been getting him all figured out. It's not his fault, he didn't even speak hardly any English when he got here. But now that he knows all the rules he is determined to obey them. He is a humble servant of the Lord. Well I've written plenty. I love you all tons and I am loving this opportunity to serve the Lord.

love,

Elder Higginson

 Elder Pring

Another week in the work of the ministry

Hello everyone! It was so good to get emails from you last week, it was nice to hear how things are going in your lives!

This week was pretty dang great. We exceeded our goals for lessons taught and we have a couple investigators who are progressing along nicely! We had TWO INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH!! this is a new record for me on my mission! Our investigator Christian came to the YSA ward and our investigator Sister Nene came to our home base ward in Meadows. It was a crazy Sunday, driving between meetings to be with our investigators, but it was very satisfying.

Most of the people we were working with when I got here were crazy and not progressing by any stretch of the imagination, or they were to busy to keep commitments. But we are separating the wheat from the tares and we have now got some more solid people to work with. We have taught Brother Christian two lessons so far and he has attended church twice. He has also read about half of the first book of Nephi, which is pretty sweet. He's in his early twenties and lives here in Edmonton with his aunt. He called us Saturday night and asked (roughly translated) "is it ok if I wear a white shirt and tie (to church) even though I am not yet a member?" I don't think I've ever been so touched by a single text message! I think he is planning on getting baptized and he's progressing really well. Normally with Filipinos we are only able to teach the first half of lesson 2 (the plan of salvation) to investigators because most of them have crazy questions or have had the sectarian notion of Heaven - Hell dualism pounded so deeply into their minds that it is not possible to get all of the lesson taught in one visit. But with Christian, we were able to overcome those concerns without tremendous difficulty and help him understand God's purpose and plan for his children. We were able to complete the whole lesson and it was awesome! He had a question about what happen to his mom when she died 10 years ago. We taught him about the spirit world, which is a place of happiness and rest from the cares of the world. Elder Prings mother also passed away 10 years ago and he was able to tell of his conversion and how this principle was what really led him to joining the church. Both of the lessons we have had with Brother Christian have been awesome and we are all so blessed!!

The bottom of my front, right tooth got chipped off yesterday, which was unfortunate. Not too painful though thankfully. To temporarily remedy this, I have put the chipped off part back in its place and then put in my retainer, so it looks normal for now. Things could be worse. I hope you all have a wonderful 24th of July and Happy birthday to my wonderful sister Michaela! And congratulations to Mckay on his mission call; he will be a blessing to the missionary force.

Panatilihin ang pananampalatya! Have a great week everyone!

love,

Elder Higginson

The day has come that burns as an oven.

Hello everyone!

I don't have a lot of time to write this week, but I want you all to know that I'm doing fine. I'm working hard and we are starting to see progress. I am learning the language a little better, though I still can't really speak it. I'll be patient.

I've been in this assignment for a whole transfer can you believe it?? The last month and a half has just flown by! And I'm not even sure what we really accomplished! That's horrible! Thank goodness last week we got a new investigator who wasn't totally crazy or too busy to keep commitments. His name is Christian and he has some great member friends. We were able to teach him the first lesson in a members home this week, with two members present, both of whom speak Tagalog fluently. The spirit was there as well and it was great! he was also able to make it to church this week so things are moving along swimmingly.

Elder Jennings is going home in a couple of days which makes me sad. He and his new comp. have found a solid family to teach through tracting and he says that they are progressing really well! AHHH I wish that I could teach a family!! Good for him though, he has earned the success.

I've been making some slow progress in the language and I am starting to comprehend more when people speak. Reading from the Anklat Ni Mormon is helping as well. I will keep working in this capacity and try to be as obedient and diligent as I can. I am confident that he will bless me as I strive to perfect myself.

as I was reflecting today I got some satisfaction out of realizing how much I've improved myself over the last 3 months. I've experienced perhaps what could be described as a change of heart. What happened to me that is causing me to spend nearly every spare minute of my time in learning the language or cleaning or doing something productive!?!? I don't know how it happened but I have no more desire to do video games or to dabble away my time in idle thoughts or sleep. This gives me confidence that perhaps I will be able to succeed in College and latter on after all haha! But it's gonna take work! I love you all and I hope you are coping with the challenges of life and having a good time. Don't just survive - Thrive!

love,

Elder Higginson

Sa Canada, ang mga Filipino, ay mga alipin

Kamusta Po! Kamusta ang buhay mo?

Well things are doing just fine here. And by that, I mean that I'm fairly happy and I'm getting the spirit back, though the work is pretty fruitless right now.

We worked pretty diligently all week, but most everyone is gone. Lots of these people are going back to the Philippines, or just aren't around. We were able to meet with a couple, but no one is progressing as of this point. We have two investigators with baptismal dates, but they probably don't grasp the significance of what that means and we haven't been able to meet with them for a couple weeks. It's a royal headache, and I feel like I can't help these people because I can barely converse with them. I've just been feeling like I have not been fulfilling my purpose so we have spent a few hours knocking doors in other people's area's so we can refer people to them. Not any success yet, but it make's me feel better. It's kind of funny tracting with Elder Pring, he ask's a lot of irrelevant question on the door step hahahah. It probably make's him feel similar to how I do working with Filipinos.

So here's a funny story. For those who didn't have to experience it anyway. We had exchanges with the Mandarin Elders in our district starting the night before Canada Day. I was with an Elder who is from China and was converted here. He has been a little depressed since I got here because his trainer left and he didn't know how to take over the area. So I thought I'd try to make him comfortable and get him to loosen up a bit during the exchange. It was going fine until we retired to bed. It was then that I discovered that he snores like a freight train :(. Despite my efforts to get some sleep - I didn't. I tried sticking cotton balls in my ears at 12:00, Melatonin at 2:00, sleeping out in the living room at 3:00, (but I could still hear him and it was super uncomfortable). I was awake until it was time to get up, so at that point I called President Manion and asked for permission to sleep in. I ended up getting a couple hours. My sleeping schedule is just about back to normal.

The language is coming along, slowly. I am planning to revamp my studies this week to try to get the most out of it, because I am forgetting a lot of the vocab words that I've been trying to memorize. I'm spending most of my spare time studying the language.

It seems like there is some interesting things going on in the States. I haven't become to preoccupied with it, seeing as that I have no time to be haha. On the Fourth of July, we listened to some patriotic Themed Nashville Tribute, and other patriotic stuff. I don't even have an American Flag here, shame on me haha. I celebrated by treating myself to a milk shake and some language study. Fun stuff. I hope you are having a dandy old time in the land of the free and home of the brave!

Love,

Elder Higginson

Stranger in a Strange Land

Well hello everyone! Kamusta ang buhay mo?

Things are improving in Millwoods. The people are still busy, and crazy and distracted for the most part and I can only understand a little bit and explain even less, but I'm starting to get used to it. The weather here is crazy. It was super hot last week, and then it rained and was overcast yesterday and today.

We had a cool experience a week ago when we went to get groceries. We said hello to a lady coming out of the store and she recognized us as the missionaries. She said that she was not a member but she really liked the church and had been working to get her less-active boy friend back to church. She had not been able to get in contact with any missionaries yet, so we took down her address and number and referred her to the sisters who covered the area she was in. They reported that she was very interested and came to church last Sunday, and they met with her again yesterday. Cool stuff!

We have been meeting with a returning member since I got here who has had trouble with the word of wisdom and because of this, she felt unworthy of approaching the bishop about getting a temple recommend. I felt prompted during our last lesson to bear my testimony of the atonement and of the temple - that bishop stands as a gatekeeper of the atonement and would help her repent and feel clean and that she could not go on without the blessings of the temple. We met with her again last week and to our great joy and astonishment she reported that she had met with her bishop! I'm so happy with her progress.

Things are ok here. I have been working really hard on this language and I hope someday I will be able to speak it. It's giving me quite the headache right now. I have faith that the Lord will bless me at length after a period of abasement. He has been kind of silent lately, and I'm not totally sure why. The Prophet Joseph Smith admonished the saints to "weary the Lord, until he blesses you." So that is what I'll do. I thank you all for praying on my behalf.

love,

Elder Higginson

Kamusta Po Kayo!

I still can't really speak Tagalog but I'm learning. I am beginning to understand it better though. The Work here in Millwoods is up and down. Filipinos are usually home on the weekends and not during the week. If they are home they are too tired to meet, or they are eating, or having parties with friends. Last Saturday we taught 4 lessons and though we worked even harder yesterday, trying to be as obedient as possible and making the best use of our time- we got nothing. I hate stop by's so much. We just stop by these people, because they hardly ever will nail down a time you can come back, and then they aren't home or they aren't in the mood to talk. We did some tracting with no success and just wasted gas. Kind of frustrating.

We did have a lady agree to baptism last week after we taught her the second lesson. I'm not sure she fully comprehends everything though and I'm not sure she will be able to make time for church. None of these people seem to be able to make time for church due to work. When we teach lessons, everyone of these people is so distracted. every lessons takes an hour to an hour and a half. Not very effective.

On a more positive note, I am learning how to say basic greetings and goodbyes in a number of languages. We run into a lot of different people here of every kind of ethnicity. So when we come across a humble soul from Romania or the Ukraine or the Czech Republic or Bosnia if they aren't interested I ask them how to say a couple words. They seem to appreciate it haha. A guy called last night asking for his son who's wife had just had a baby. I informed him that he had the wrong number but congratulated him on becoming a grand parent and asked if he wanted to know anything about the Mormon church. He was a stanch Russian Orthodox, but he taught me how to say goodbye in Ukrainian.

I hope you are all enjoying life back home. I hope everything goes well for dad in Seattle. We all must press forward with a perfect brightness of hope. I'll keep working here and maybe figure out how to again become an effective servant of the Lord.

Love,

Elder Higginson

Getting used to this Tagalog missionary work

Hello everyone! It seems like a lot of good things are happening back home! Weddings, Family reunions, Temple construction ect. I hope you are all happy!

I'm getting used to this Tagalog missionary work. It's not as satisfying as standard missionary work, and I have not been making much progress in the language, but I am having a study session today with one of the assistants to the president. He was in the same position as I am now about 5 months ago. He was here just before I was and he has been a good support to me since I got this call. He provided me with Tagalog language books and a copy of Preach My Gospel.

I got my first ticket in my life this morning. $149. There is a speed trap right next to our house that goes from 60 Kilometers to 30 Kilometers but it only applies if the lights are flashing. The ticket was posted as happening about two weeks ago, when I just got here. This place has Photo Radar so there is no mercy. Pretty bummed about it.

On a more positive note, we had a baptism last Saturday. Elder Pring and Elder Walker taught a couple from the Philippines and it took about 4 1/2 months but they agreed to be baptized just before I got here so that was cool. However, due to the negligence of our ward leaders, they were not confirmed in Sacrament Meeting! I have helped to coordinate the baptism with the ward mission leader since I got here, and it all seemed squared away, but when we got to church, the Bishop and the ward mission leader were not present, and they did not tell any of their counselors that we were having a conformation! We ended up doing it after church with the bishops first counselor. Not really impressed with these people.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop stressing and just try to have fun here. I'll be obedient, work hard and try to learn the language but I have found that trying to keep everything professional and effective here is just causing me stress and frustration. President has told me that if I cant handle this after a while then he will put me back in a English Missionary capacity. But I'm determined to give this thing a shot. I would really like to learn the language and communicate it to these good people. So I will do what I can and leave the rest to the Lord. I hope you are all having a cheery and wonderful time back home! Don't worry about me, I'll figure this thing out.

love,

Elder Higginson

Pilgrim in an Unholy Land

Kamusta Po!

Well, the last eight days have been crazy. I bid farewell to Elder Jennings and the folks in Nottingham on Tuesday and departed Wednesday morning. I talked to Brooklyn at transfer meeting! She is being trained by Sister Linnford who served in St. Albert in my district. She came out a transfer after me. I am serving with Elder Pring, who is a native from Manilla and he is a happy fellow. The apartment is probably the nicest I've been in yet, or at least after I cleaned it. I've already spent probably five hours cleaning, when I need to be studying this crazy language. The kitchen and bathroom were kind of gross. And soooo much darn Tupperware collected by missionaries and never returned. Hauled a dozen small bags of garbage out to the trash and I'm not finished. Elder Pring is a good sport and he's going to start being more cleanly.

The Millwoods area is in kind of the hood, or at least half of it anyway. There are tons of East Indians and Middle-Eastern people who don't know hardly any English. They used to have an elder here who learned some Hindi and was able to teach people here. He went home two transfers ago.

Working with Filipinos is a different kind of missionary work for sure. They are all so busy here, and it is typical for any Filipino individual or parent to have 2 or 3 jobs. They can never give you a set time to come back for a visit and they never answer their phones. Usually they say come back in a month or in a few weeks. It's frustrating. We cover a whole stake so we do a lot of driving and stop by a lot of random potential investigators, who usually aren't home except in the evenings. Elder Pring and Elder Walker did have some success with a couple however and they will be getting baptized this week. But no one else seems to have actual time to commit to anything. A couple and an individual agreed to be baptized within the two weeks before I came, but when we came by this week, they changed their minds or said they were too busy.

I am trying to learn this language out of old text books and missionary material. The new Assistant to the President, Elder Walker, was here before me in the same situation, and he learned mostly out of the text books, by studying all the time. I am currently having a difficult time wrapping my head around this stuff, but I'll keep trying and praying for the gift of tongues.

Thank you for all the prayers, advice and encouragement! I have felt a strength beyond my own in this experience and I have been working very hard to learn this language and this area and clean my apartment. Please continue praying for me and I will keep working to fulfil my responsibilities, wherewith I have been entrusted.

love,

Elder Higginson

Thou art not yet as Job

Hello everyone! I'll just let you know how things went this week and then move on to more pressing matters. 

We have added 7 new investigators to our teaching pool over the last two weeks! We have taught a good bit and have been implementing new ways to teach on the doorstep. We taught one Filipino, Raymond, who actually knew a good bit about the bible. It sort of caught us off guard, so we adapted and he invited us in. He actually got interested in the book of Enoch a couple weeks before we came, and was researching it, so he is not necessarily opposed to other scripture outside of the Cannon. He agreed to meet this Saturday, So we will bring the Tagalog Speaking Elders with us and transition Raymond over to them so he can be taught in his native language. 

I have really embedded myself in the work here and I've invested a lot of time into building this area up and restoring the members trust in us as dedicated, dependable servants of the Lord. The work has been good and I've enjoyed it. But it's over. We unexpectedly got a call Monday morning and I will be going to the Millwoods stake in South-East Edmonton: Tagalog Speaking. I don't know a lick of Tagalog and I was depressed all morning. I had made such great progress as a normal missionary in teaching, finding, planning and many other phase's of the work and I felt prepared that if I was called upon to train a new missionary I could do so. I was just getting confident in my teaching skills. I will now have to restart to a degree and re-enter the work in a sort of trainee capacity. Amid these thoughts and feelings of depression, Elder Jennings recommended that I pray for a conformation that my call came from the Lord. I have done so and the Lord God Omnipotent has reaffirmed to me that I am still called to the work, and that it is His will that I serve in this capacity. I also however, received the impression that this will be a refiners fire. I must walk by faith and not by sight.

 I have little else to report and I am not sure of what is ahead, So I'll just leave you with this photo of me blissfully playing a violin at a members home on the day previous to all of this craziness. I love you all.

Paalam Po.