February 29, 2016 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey everybody!

So I've had quite the week! But first, I'm going to start with what's going on for transfers. Transfers are this Thursday, however, we don't find out any information about them until Tuesday. Which is tomorrow. So up to this point I still have no idea whether I will be staying in Little River or getting transferred. It's honestly up in the air and this is the most nervous I've been for a transfer yet. I very well could stay in little River for one more transfer, that wouldn't be surprising at this point. In fact, I wouldn't even mind that much because I've come to love this ward and things are really starting to pick up in my area. But if I do get transferred out, I literally could go to any area in the mission and it would make sense. I suppose I just have to wait and see, then let you guys know next week what happened.

On Saturday, I had a surprise baptism! One of my investigators from when I served in Springlake got permission from his mother to be baptized! So I got to attend that and it was great to be able to see him again. He was baptized by his best friend in the ward, which was one of the priests. I really enjoyed seeing not only him be baptized, but this priest being able to exercise his priesthood to perform the baptism. I'll include some pictures from it.

Then last night we had a Charla Fogonera, or in other words, a fireside. This one is for new and returning members. I always love these because it gives me the chance to connect with old missionaries that I have served with in past areas, and also see some of my favorite people from past wards. So of course I saw the Bella Vista people that I love, because they always go to these, but I also saw a few people from Springlake as well. I'm hoping it'll be that way with Little River once I leave.

I'm getting to know so many people and making a ton of friends out here, it's crazy! Only on a mission would you be able to make friends from all over the US (and other parts of the world) and still become best friends. I love it and there will definitely be some reunions once my mission has finished. I'm loving my mission and I'm loving all the people that I am meeting, it's awesome! And by the way, ONE YEAR DOWN! That's right, I just hit my year mark this past Thursday. It's all downhill from here and of course I had the ceremonial burning of the shirt to mark one year of my mission. It's ok, it was an old shirt and I was going to throw it away anyways

Elder Biehn

February 22, 2016 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey everybody!

So I had a great week this time around! It started off a bit rocky because we got snowed in again, not nearly as bad as before but still we couldn't do anything. It didn't even snow for very long, just in the morning until the afternoon so there wasn't a ton of snow. However, apparently there is this thing called frozen rain. Basically it is so cold that when it rains, the water instantly freezes once it hits the ground. Well it was raining, and that means there was ice, lots of ice, everywhere. We couldn't walk, let alone proselyte. I ended up falling flat on my butt because I'm not used to walking on ice . Elder Justesen fell too so that made me feel a little better and not like a total Californian... So we spent that whole night inside, which really threw a wrench in our plans. 

But there is good news! After all we did this week and doing a ton of finding, we ended up finding a totally of 9 new investigators! That's a crazy amount! And the best part is, they're all families! We found three new families that we will be able to start teaching which gives us a crazy huge teaching pool. I love it when things work out .

Another interesting story, I now know why it is not a good idea to do trios. A trio is when there are three missionaries working together, and I got to be in one on Wednesday. Our district leader had an exchange he was going on, so that means Elder Pickett had to come to us for that day. Well, we had a blast to say the least, and if trios were a common thing, almost nothing would get done! We were still able to get a bit accomplished though, but most of our night fell through. So we were just cracking jokes the entire time we were driving from appointment to appointment. 

So I had a really good week and it looks like things are starting to wrap up. This upcoming week is the last full week in this transfer, then transfers are the following Thursday. I've been here for 6 months now and I'm expecting a transfer pretty soon. I've really come to love this ward, its members, and all of my investigators. It has really grown on me. And even now I know Springfield and Annandale like the back of my hand! 

Love you guys and you'll hear from me next week!

Love Elder Biehn 

Tayler at a Naval Base on P-day. 

February 15, 2016 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey Everybody!

So I gotta be honest and say not that much has happened this past week. Sure things change and all but nothing like dramatic. Just continuing on working. We did have stake conference this week and that was a really good experience. There were two members of the seventy there and they both spoke. They gave really good talks! Basically what they both said was, "are you doing the things that you are supposed to be doing as a member of this church?" It was awesome and a great moment for reflexion.

Earlier in the week I did have a cool experience. So our appointment fell through and we didn't really have a back up because we thought this was for sure going to happen. Well, what happens when missionaries have no plans left to try? That's right... Tracting. So yes, we started tracting in an area that we don't normally go to. It's an apartment complex that me and Elder Castillo had tried before but with not much success. So we go and we start knocking a building, starting at the top. It isn't until we get to the very last door of the entire complex that something finally happens. A man from Africa opens the door and starts saying, "I'm a Muslim, but you should talk to my daughter. She's a Christian." Turns out his daughter was baptized as a Mormon back in 2012 but had gone inactive for a couple of years. Something crazier is that the same day we knocked, she had the impression that she needs to go back to church this week, but she was having doubts. That's when we show up and she was really just in shock for the entire time we were there. I really think that was a testimony builder for her that Heavenly Father cares about His children doing the things he asks, especially when it comes to going to church. We were there to give her that extra confirmation that church is the place she needs to be on Sunday. It also is an amazing example that we, as missionaries, can be inspired to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. How were we suppose to know that this less active of 4 years was considering coming back to church as we began knocking? Why did our lesson fall through? Why did we decide to knock that specific building? I have no idea! I just know that it worked out perfectly for what someone else who was struggling needed.

I'm thankful for the experience I have to come out and be a missionary. Not only to help myself learn of the gospel but then to expand and help others to learn and grow in the gospel as well. Even the ones that may have fallen away. Those are my favorite people to teach because it is the best feeling in the world to see the happiness return to their faces and see them so full of joy again. I love this gospel and I love my Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

That's it for this week!

Love Elder Biehn

February 8, 2016 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Well another week has come and gone and here I am writing again. So there wasn't too much that happened to us this week, nothing too exciting. Just the same old visiting people, members, less actives, investigators, knocking doors, the usual. However, there was one thing that kind of set this week on a good note. And that is that my family I've been teaching WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED! That's right! They haven't given us a specific date yet but they have expressed the desire to be baptized. So our plan is to give them a date for the next time we come over. The story about it p is pretty hilarious too. So, we are picking up dinner from a member, and while she is preparing it, the wife calls us. I answer and I'm pretty sad because they won't be able to do the lesson we had planned for that day. But then it changes, she asks us if we can talk about the requirements for baptism the next time we have a lesson. I nearly did a backflip (not really because I am not that athletic...) and Elder Justesen was just watching my reactions the whole time so he was super confused. I told him they had to cancel our appointment for that day, but then I said that they want to be baptized. Here's where it gets funny. We asked the hermana if we could step outside for a minute, then once we were outside, we started screaming and running up and down the street! We probably looked like a bunch of idiots but I didn't care, this family is getting baptized!

That one moment was probably the highlight of my week, maybe even my month, because I've been teaching this family for the past 3 months now. So most of my time in Little River has been spent with them, and now to see my efforts start to pay off, it's awesome. Absolutely awesome. So after 5 months here, I'm finally starting to see some success.

Well that was probably the most exciting thing about my week, but that is still something EXTREMELY exciting.

From Elder Biehn

February 8, 2016 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Well another week has come and gone and here I am writing again. So there wasn't too much that happened to us this week, nothing too exciting. Just the same old visiting people, members, less actives, investigators, knocking doors, the usual. However, there was one thing that kind of set this week on a good note. And that is that my family I've been teaching WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED! That's right! They haven't given us a specific date yet but they have expressed the desire to be baptized. So our plan is to give them a date for the next time we come over. The story about it p is pretty hilarious too. So, we are picking up dinner from a member, and while she is preparing it, the wife calls us. I answer and I'm pretty sad because they won't be able to do the lesson we had planned for that day. But then it changes, she asks us if we can talk about the requirements for baptism the next time we have a lesson. I nearly did a backflip (not really because I am not that athletic...) and Elder Justesen was just watching my reactions the whole time so he was super confused. I told him they had to cancel our appointment for that day, but then I said that they want to be baptized. Here's where it gets funny. We asked the hermana if we could step outside for a minute, then once we were outside, we started screaming and running up and down the street! We probably looked like a bunch of idiots but I didn't care, this family is getting baptized!

That one moment was probably the highlight of my week, maybe even my month, because I've been teaching this family for the past 3 months now. So most of my time in Little River has been spent with them, and now to see my efforts start to pay off, it's awesome. Absolutely awesome. So after 5 months here, I'm finally starting to see some success.

Well that was probably the most exciting thing about my week, but that is still something EXTREMELY exciting.

From Elder Biehn

February 1, 2016 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

So good news... We finally got our car back! Yay! No more being stuck inside or walking. We got it back about midway through this week. It had been taken away because our mission president felt it was too dangerous to be driving on the roads in this condition, which he wasn't wrong. There was ice everywhere and the snow banks were so high you couldn't see cars coming from around the corner. So he waited until Wednesday to give us our cars back. Which by the way, the best way to make sure Spanish missionaries can't do a thing is take away their car. Seriously! When me and Elder Justesen didn't have it, we couldn't do anything because 1. All of our investigators live at least an hour away walking, and 2. The roads were too bad that we couldn't even walk on them. So that basically shut us down until we got our car back.

THEN, we get our car back and get back to work. On Thursday, we had an awesome lesson with our family of investigators. Their name is the Quispes, I think I've already told you guys about them. Anyways, we had a great lesson with them. I was able to introduce Elder Justesen and get them aquatinted and also do the whole chit chat thing to get to know someone and also small talk at the beginning, the usual. Then we get to the lesson. So before Elder Castillo had left, we left them 3 Nefi 11 to read, however I had forgotten that we left that. My plan was to talk to them about church attendance and hopefully get onto the topic of baptism. Well, after Hno Quispe tells us he didn't read and that he wants us to read together, and I'm like "alright!" Cause if you don't know, practically the entire chapter talks about baptism. Baptism was the first principle that Jesus Christ taught when he came to the Americas. So I made sure to stress this point and I wanted them to feel that it was correct. So the way to do that is through prayer, however, I didn't know if they were going to pray about it or not, so I invited them to pray right there and then. We kneel down to pray and ask Hno Quispe to offer it. Afterwards, they didn't know what they were feeling. They compared it to the feeling of peace they had from when me and Elder Castillo gave them blessings. I seriously wanted to stand up and shout THATS THE HOLY GHOST TELLING YOU ITS TRUE!! But I didn't, I did it in a more subtle way. Either way, they felt the spirit and they enjoyed it. So now they are super close to baptism and there are just a few more things we really need to uncover in order to get them in the water. Thankfully I'm here for one more transfer and I want them to be baptized before I leave. They even went as far as to ask us if we could come by twice a week. Umm of course! They really want to learn more about the gospel and I love their enthusiasm. Why can't everybody want to know the truth like these guys?!

So that's been the highlight of my week!

Elder Biehn