June 15 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey everyone,

I had a good week because our family that we found is making progress! Honestly, I would be surprised if they don't get baptized. It was awesome because we brought a member with us to our lesson. They are both from Peru and so hit it off instantly. Then they even made it to church. The part was that they were trying to schedule their own ride to get to church. The same member that we took with us was the one to give them the ride, so I'm talking to you members right now. Go with the missionaries! You never know who you might be able to fellowship and you could be the reason that an investigator sticks with the church at first.

On another note, I did a lot of service this week. There is another investigator family that we have that I've been meeting with since I got here, and they haven't done very much along the lines of progressing. But anyways we helped them with yard work. They were laying a lawn. Let's just say I was tired and really sunburnt by the end of it. I found that I need to work on the Christlike attribute of charity because I was not enjoying it. Then later in the week we had a zone wide service project where we were stuffing backs for a set of games that this county puts on. So it ended up being fun because there were other missionaries there that I could talk with.

The end of the transfer is coming up in a week and a half and this next one is going to be crazy. My companion is sure that he is leaving the area, my district leader is finishing his mission, I'm going to have to lead the area, and President Riggs is being released as mission president. We are all counting down the days to June 25 because everything is going to change. And I just got used to it too.

Adios and I will talk to you next week.

Elder Biehn

June 8 - Elder Biehn Weekly Update

Alright, time for another weekly letter to everyone to let you know how I'm doing. I'm going to start with my investigators because I've had a lot of questions about that. So, we have a very small investigator pool because a lot of them are frozen and aren't keeping commitments. I have one baptism scheduled for the 20th of June, but other than that, not much else. We do a lot of work with less actives which I see is just as, if not more important. These people have made their covenants and still fell away and it is more dangerous for them because they actually know. It's like it says in 2 Nephi 31:14 "and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me." So it's really important we get these people back to church. I know it doesn't have the glory of adding numbers to your baptism count but that isn't the focus. Plus, less active members know a lot more non-Mormons then active members, usually. So we can always ask them for people they think might be interested.

On another note, I had the chance to lead my area this past week. What that means is that my companion leaves for the day and a different elder comes to work with me. Since he knows nothing our investigators I have to do all the planning. I'll tell you, it wasn't easy. The morning is mostly studying and preparing for the day so that was easy, but once the afternoon came it was ridiculous. No one is home between lunch and 4 and so we have to find something to do between that time. Nobody is around and there is absolutely nothing
that we can possibly do because everyone is working. Tracting, visiting, even with members. So we ended up taking care of some loose ends until our prime proselyting hours came.

The past weekend was really good for my companion, and that's because we got fed A LOT. The past three night we've had dinner with someone. And every time it was super filling and I was able to go without eating for at least one meal. I was content with one meal a day, which is absurd for me. Especially last night. One of the members in my ward invited the four elders to dinner at his house. Let me tell you that Argentinian men know how to cook. He had made some of the best carne asada and salchicha I've had in a while. We were all stuffed by the time we were done and very, very happy.

Well that's about it for this week. I look forward to hearing from everyone and I will talk to you next week.

Love
Elder Biehn

June 1 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey guys!

Man, do I have a story for you! A lot of good has happened this past week and I truly feel that Heavenly Father guides us to where we need to be right when we need to be there. On Tuesday, one of our appointments fell through so we had an extra 30 minutes before our next appointment. We had the impression to go visit a member of the ward, which we had originally planned for if we had time. Normally 30 minutes isn't enough time to do anything but I felt like we had to so we did. We call him up and ask if we can visit, of course he says yes. We get there and we start having a good conversation but then he asks if we have some extra time. Apparently, one of his neighbors needs help to take things out to the trash. His neighbor had been having a lot of health issues lately and just barely got out of the hospital, so she was on bed rest. He tells us he wants to give her a blessing but needs help because he hasn't given one before (he is a convert for two years). Of course we agree and we ask her if she has faith in God and in His son, Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong at that point as she struggles to explain that she knows there is something greater than us but she knows he can help. We proceed to the blessing and it is me and the member that are doing it. He gives such a strong blessing and afterwards she wants us to come back again because she felt that there was something different about us. She was the reason that we had 30 extra minutes that day.

Right before that happened, we had a lesson with our current investigator and we brought a recent convert with us. He brought with him his little sister that isn't a member. We had an awesome lesson about baptism with everyone participating and our investigator committed to be baptized on June 20th! So overall, that was a great day.

Yesterday was a miracle as well. So I woke up early and decided to make myself French toast for breakfast. You have to understand that this is monumental moment because I've been eating cold cereal for breakfast every morning for the past 2 months. It turned out great, thank you mom and dad for teaching me how to cook. After I had the thought nothing can ruin my day, I had French toast this morning. Honestly, yesterday should have been really discouraging because we hadn't taught anyone because all our appointments fell through and no one was opening the door. Then on our last door we were going to knock before going home, they let us in. There was a whole family! And they were excited to see us because they had listened to the missionaries before but both of them got transferred out so no one else came to visit. This family was awesome, they were just soaking it all up. We had a great lesson on the Book of Mormon, prophets, Joseph Smith, and prayer. Of course they had the standard objections to the restoration but we were able to answer it with scriptures and truly testifying of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. And now we have a return appointment scheduled for next week and they invited us to come by whenever we need something. This family has so much potential I will be shocked if they don't get baptized. So after our day of failure, we end up finding 5 new investigators at once. That was the reason we didn't have any other lessons and were prompted to go to that street to tract.


I know that God works miracles among His children and he prepares them to receive the Gospel. When they're ready, often times they will run into us. When I say us, I don't just mean the missionaries, I mean every member of the church. You never know what people you will have an effect on. Often times, if we talk to a person they almost always have a friend that is Mormon or somehow know a Mormon. That is the way we, as missionaries, are able to get into people's homes and teach them.

I love all of you and be sure to do your part in spreading the Gospel. 

Love
Elder Biehn

May 25 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey everyone!

This has been quite the week for me. Another good one for the books. Nothing too exciting though which is odd. I've just been going about my normal business of studying every morning, then teaching in the afternoons. This is kind of bitter sweet but since my investigator got baptized, we don't really have any other progressing investigators. Sure we have people to teach but they aren't really making any progress. The point is, we don't have anyone to teach right now. So we spent this entire week knocking. No success from that. We talked to some people at the door just enough to say we are missionaries and then "I'm not interested" and slam the door. That's how every night was. So why did I like this week so much? I guess it really just because I'm starting to enjoy talking to new people and using the Spanish that I have learned. I can really see and improvement, even more than before because now I'm teaching lessons and not just adding a comment here and there. It's really exciting to see! Anyways, my companion and I were able to get in contact with one of investigators that really just forgot about us, and we found an entire family! So now we have people to teach for this upcoming week.

I'm loving my mission right now and especially since today is my three month mark. It's hard to believe that I have already been through 3 months but at the same time that it has only been 3 months. I still have a lot to learn while I'm out here and I have definitely seen a change. For example, I like country now. That one is HUGE! Lol. But I have grown and now I have a great desire to serve.

Be safe and I will talk to you again next week.

Love 
Elder Biehn

May 18 - Video

May 18 - Elder Biehn's Weekly Update

Hey Everybody,

This past week was super crazy for me. I had a lot of people that I met with throughout the week, lots of meeting for all the other missionaries in my area, and I helped plan and pull off a wedding and baptism! It was so stressful planning a wedding because I had no idea what anybody was doing because no one would communicate. It was ridiculous. But overall the wedding went great and the bride and groom were both really happy.

Then the next day was the baptism of the bride. She has been an investigator for a while but she was just waiting on some divorce papers. Long story short, it all worked out and she was able to get married. Then for the baptism, me and my companion went over to her place to fill out the baptismal papers and when we got to the paper of the person who will baptize her, we asked who she wanted. She turns to me and says "could you do it?" I was shocked, and she saw that she had caught me completely off guard. She just laughed and said the look on my face was priceless. But everything worked out and it went perfectly. I was able to say the baptismal prayer, in Spanish, without messing up! It was so cool to have my first baptism.

Overall, the work is going good here in Virginia. I'm enjoying the time I get to go out and talk to people. I'm meeting so many new people; investigators, members, and missionaries alike. One thing that makes it hard to work is that it is becoming summer. And with summer comes extreme humidity is really hot weather. Just a few days ago it was only 80 degrees outside but the humidity made it feel like it was in the 100s. Not looking forward to June-August, that's for sure.


I hope everyone is doing great back at home and I love you all!

Love
Elder Biehn

May 11 - Elder Biehn Weekly Letter

Hey everybody!

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! I know I did because it is one of the times I get to see my family. Yes, I actually called them yesterday and not just emailing! It was so easy since I have an iPad.  All I had to do was go to the church building and call them with FaceTime.  The only problem is that now I won't be able to call them again for 7 months, on Christmas. But they definitely were a site for sore eyes and being able to talk to them has really boosted my moral and desire to go and serve.

Speaking of which, we have been working on finding a lot more so that means tracting.  And of course, not much success from that. However, on May 8 at exactly 8:00 PM I had the first door slammed in my face. I just had to mark the moment, the first and definitely not the last. After he had slammed the door, I just stood there and laughed. I found it hilarious honestly. The look of "why me" or "oh great, the Mormons" on his face was priceless. I'm actually surprised that it has taken a month to get my first door slammed. The Latino community out here is actually really polite and helpful, especially to a gringo like me trying to learn Spanish.

Summer is coming, and here in Virginia that means humidity. Oh my gosh, it is brutal! It's just barely starting to get hotter and I'm already dying. I'm not looking forward to July and August. But for reason the people out here love to be more active during summer. And can you guess what sport I'm playing since I'm in the Spanish program?? Of course soccer, I volunteer as goalie. We are actually going to go play with the other elders today and probably for the rest of summer and fall.

As for teaching, I'm actually having more success. I am participating more and more in every lesson and I'm having actual conversations with people. Slowly but surely it is coming along. My family asked if I can speak Spanish yet and I just shot off a random sentence. They were just like, wow, because I'm sure they didn't understand me. Lol.

A mission is definitely hard but now I'm starting to like it.

Love
Elder Biehn