Words of Comfort from Luxembourg

Sounds...interesting back home. Life never really gets much easier, that's for sure. That's something we talked about in church yesterday, the importance of making sure that our kids know that we still have trials and difficulties and weaknesses even as adults, that life doesn't suddenly resolve itself when you get older. Something I hadn't really thought about before.

I've seen and experienced and heard a lot of things on my mission. I have seen more misbehaving, wayward children than I would have imagined, of all ages. People who have come back from heroine and cocaine addictions, missionaries who have come back from dark, low places to serve honorably, faithfully, and powerfully as representatives of Jesus Christ. I seen people whose parents have not only wanted to run away, but have, and never came back. Whether the vice be technology, drugs, girls, faithlessness, crime, poverty, or anything of the sort, everyone has something. The perspective that my mission has given and is giving me is that there are no big or small problems, just problems. But they can all be overcome through things like faith, prayers, love, understanding, and forgiveness, essentially the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He and his Atonement make all the difference.

I don't want to get preachy, but just love them. I know you do, and I know they don't make it easy, but that's really what will make the difference. Tyler doesn't really respond to my emails as much, and when he does, it's short. I wish I could be there for him. Kevin is better but still does feel some heat from others about quitting band.

I'm out of time, so I'll just have to leave it at that. Keep doing all you can for them. I pray for you all every day, and I hope that those prayers reach you. Keep the faith and keep reading and praying and going to church, please, if nothing else, do that. I love you so much, and I'll talk to you next week. Hopefully it's a better one!

Love, Elder Bigler



First Photos of Luxembourg

Foggy Day in Luxembourg

Careful Crossing the Street
Quiet Afternoon in Luxembourg

Meeting Up with Elder Gomez in Paris
Notre Dame Cathedral

Look Who Came to Luxembourg
LDS Violinist - Lindsay Stirling

Fresh Prince of Belair

Hey!

Well, I made it! 12 hours of traveling later, of which 8 were on trains, I made it safely out of France and into Luxembourg. After a super hectic Monday and Tuesday of getting ready for the move, I hopped on a train Wednesday morning around 7. That one took me to Rennes, where I had to get off to pass off my comp to the Zone Leaders (to avoid him being alone) and then catch another train from Rennes to Paris (alone. Double standard...?). As Elder Lloyd and I separated, we did the "Hoorah for Israel!" thing from the Other Side of Heaven, which was pretty awesome. :)

Once I got into Paris, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with Elder Evans for what was probably the last time, since this is his last transfer. We had a good talk for a few minutes before he headed out to St. Brieuc. Eventually, I made my way through the crazy Montparnasse gare to the metro and got over to Chatelet, the main metro station. There, I said hey to Elder Beck, who also told me that you guys and his parents had met up, and then I met Elder Gomez. We had a train to catch on the other side of Paris that was coming fast, so we took off right away. After we got there (Gare de l'Est), it was all pretty much smooth sailing. We took a train to Nancy, got off there, got some fries, and then caught the last train from Nancy to Luxembourg. Not sure how far we traveled in total, but it was a lot. (Distance traveled was 862 km or 535 miles).

Getting into Luxembourg was an experience. Compared to sleepy Lorient and Calais, coming out of that gare into what felt like a rich version of Paris was breathtaking. There's a reason that all the missionaries I talked to on the way looked at me like "That's not even fair" when I told them where I was going.

Adam with a Classic Rolls Royce in Luxembourg

The first thing I noticed was the cars. The "average" car here, is about an Audi. My first day, I saw many, many Porsches, and Jaguars, 4 Maseratis, 4 Aston Martins, 4 Bentleys, a Lotus, and a Lamborghini. On my whole entire mission, up to now, I had seen 8 Ferraris, but in roughly 4 days here I have seen 3. That's just to give you an image of what it's like.

Walking around, you hear English, French, German, Spanish, Luxembourgish, Portuguese, and Chinese. It's hard to even tell what language to listen for sometimes. But, pretty much everyone speaks English and French, so I have no problems. But I'm now learning Spanish to teach our amis better, since Spanish is Elder Gomez's native language. Climate wise, just a little colder and less humid than Lorient, for now, but we usually have snow here in the winter, so that should be nice. The ward here is about 130 people, probably my biggest so far. Everybody, mostly, speaks English, but we usually do services in French, with translations in at least two languages running. We have a lot of RMs and youth, something that I hadn't seen at all up to this point. Because of conference, I have only met a few of them so far, and those that I did meet were American, Canadian, British, and a couple French. It feels surreal to sit in an American's home, watching conference, while being in Europe. And that's probably the word that really fits how life feels here. You can feel the magic of Paris, but much smaller and much richer. 

Sorry if there are any typos, I'm on a Swiss French keyboard, and it's really hard. For Dad, Elder Gomez is from Dallas Texas and yes, he is a Cowboys fan. :) He's in his 7th transfer right now, and I'm in my 10th (in case you guys lost count). He's super nice and loves the members, and knows them really well. To describe his personality, I'd say "relaxed". :) Both physically and when it comes to the work. Which is good in some ways especially since this city has really pumped me full of energy and I just want to go go go. He's got a kind heart, and he really wants the best for this ward. He's a big change from Elder Lloyd, who was a little too energetic for me. I was getting really worn out and I think it was a good decision putting me with Elder Gomez. 

As far as the situation with only having two missionaries goes, there was just a problem with the apartment of the Elders, and they ended up losing an Elders équipe and the soeurs équipe, and just moving one to the soeurs' appartment. So, yeah, we're the only two missionaries in this entire country. And technically, we have part of Belgium and part of France in our sector too, and we have special permission to go a little bit into Germany under certain circumstances. It's a small apartment, but quite nice, in the part of Luxembourg called Belair (no joke). We have a couch and a dishwasher (currently broken however), two things thqt are extremely rare in the mission. It's gonna take some cleaning up to get it to Elder Bigler standards though...

Overall, I'm super excited to be here! It's super clean, super nice, and has lots of potential. I'm already sure that I'll be sad to leave. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Be good and keep working hard!

Elder Bigler



Photos from the Missionary Apartment in Lorient - Apparently Transfer Time Affects "Elder Bigler" Clean Standards During Packing.

The Lounge - The Flag on the Wall is Signed by
Each Missionary Who Served in Lorient

Kitchen/Laundry Room

Pink Seems to Be the TP Color of Choice

Cozy Bathroom

Companion Study Area

Book of Mormon Inspirational Art Wall

No King Beds for Missionaries

The Living Room Complete with Fridge

Wéi geet et dir? (Luxembourgish for "How are you"?)

Hey everybody!

So, I've gotta keep this really short today. It's been a crazy couple of days here, and yesterday just got a little out of our hands and we didn't have time for our emails. I wish I had more time to write because this week was really a week full of miracles here in Lorient. One evening, we went to give a blessing to one of our amis' sons, who recently found out that he has cancer in his throat. After that super spiritual experience, we had three more unplanned lessons consecutively before finishing the evening. It was an amazing evening.

The main reason I'm taking a few minutes to do this is just to let you guys know about the transfers. I'll be leaving Lorient, which, as usual, is sad and exciting at the same time. But, I'm super excited because I get to have the new experience, and very rare one in our mission, of serving in Luxembourg!

That's right, I'll be leaving France for a little bit, and going to a country where French is the 3rd language taught in their schools, after Luxembourgish and German. I'll let you guys do all the google searching and stuff. From what I've heard, it's going to be a big change from France. Part of what makes this so unique is that, first off, there is only one équipe (companionship) of missionaries in all of Luxembourg. Granted, the whole country is about the size of Rhode Island. But on top of that, the missionaries that usually serve there are those called to our mission Spanish speaking. When I got here, I pretty much had decided that I would never serve in Luxembourg, it's so unlikely. But, it looks like the Lord wants to further diversify my mission. So, on y va (let's go).

Have a good week!

Elder Bigler

Some Fun Google Facts About Adam's Transfer

The Train Ride

7 Hours and 9 Minutes by Train

Distance - 862 Km = 536 Miles

Luxembourg is a Tri-Lingual Country.

Luxembourgish, French and German are its official languages.

Population = 524,853 in 2012

Time Warp Effect, Couch Moving, Baptism, French Plateau

Hey hey hey!

Honestly, some weeks I just have trouble thinking of anything to write in these letters. And trouble remembering what I even did this last week. It gets harder and harder to tell the weeks apart as the mission goes on. It kind of has a weird time warp effect, being out here. I catch myself saying things like "I got a guitar last year for Christmas" when really that was almost two years ago. I realize that I've been here in Lorient for 4 months, and that has only felt like a few weeks. "Time" just has become a pretty relative term.

This week I had my exhcange with Elder Stucki, which was super fun. We pretty much just talked about American Fork the whole time. It really is cool to be able to talk about specific people from back home with somebody like that. During our talking, we found out that we had had a crush on the same girl at the same time once... Good times. :)

Thursday we were surprised to get a knock from one of our members asking her to help move a couch. We were free, so off we went. Turned out that she lived on the fourth floor of her building however, and that it wasn't just a couch, but a whole futon hide-a-bed situation. As Elder Lloyd and I started hauling it up the stairs, we quickly learned that the staircase turned too sharply to carry the couch normally and that the only other option was to carry it vertically up all the stairs. But hey, big strong AMERICAN missionaries have no problem with that. :)

Saturday was the baptism of the Vannes branch, which was awesome! Lots of people there, and we were even able to get David to come! He seemed to enjoy it, and it was a nice time for him to meet a few members. We even tried to play matchmaker a little bit with him and this 22 year old girl in our ward. ;)

We had a whole ton of other exciting stuff happen, but, as I said to Président Babin, it was all just kind of a blur this week. Maybe it's just the crazy heat we've been having this week, but I'm really struggling to think of anything else specific to share with you guys. This is most likely my last full week in Lorient, and, if I still have my guessing skills going for me, I'm pretty sure I'll be heading out a little more east in about 9 days. But, nothing's sure yet, so I'll just leave it at that. :)

Mom, you asked about my French. Honestly, I haven't felt much improvement in the last few months. I've been really trying to work on my accent with Elder Lloyd, who is really gifted with accents (people often ask him where he's from in France and are shocked when he says he's from Texas), and I've feel like I've made some progress there. Comprehension is still sometimes difficult when it's really crowded or the person talks slurred, but I pretty much understand it all. But on the language itself, just little improvements here and there. On the other hand, only improving a little bit is fine, since I really feel pretty confident overall. I have no fear to communicate in French, or make phone calls in French (which are probably the hardest part). I can confidently explain whatever I need to just fine and without any help or any pauses that wouldn't be there in English. So, short answer, I'm kind of at a plateau, which most missionaries hit, but I'm pretty confident with where I'm at. :)

Anyway, sorry that's not the most exciting letter, I'll try to organize my thoughts a little more for next week. :) In the meantime though, have an awesome week! It sounds like you guys have a lot planned. Keep up the good work!

Elder Bigler

Random Photos

Elder Lloyd and Elder Bigler With Their
Malagash Friends Estelline and Victor
They Remind Adam of His Nana and Papa Craynor

Experimental Deep Fried Snickers

Inside of a Deep Fried Snickers

The Main Plaza in Lorient

Repentance is Just Another Word for Change

Hey everybody!

I don't have a ton of time this week, so I'm gonna have to keep this pretty short. Fortunately, in this case, it was a pretty quick, kind of uneventful week.

Things mainly started to pick up around Thursday when we had district meeting in Quimper. My new haircut was well approved. :) After the meeting and waiting for trains (the usual), we went on exchanges to Brest. Elder Lloyd was with Elder Stucki, and I was with Elder Moffitt. If that sounds familiar, it's cause he's the same Elder Moffitt that was in the MTC with me. That made for a pretty good exchange. It was a really cool experience mostly because I was able to see how much he had grown. Knowing him from the beginning of the mission, there was a pretty evident change in him. He's still the same guy, that's for sure, but at the same time, he's much different. It's kind of hard to explain, a really subtle, but really apparent change.

As missionaries, we talk a lot about change. Repentance is just another word for change, the Atonement allows us to change, we go to church to change, etc. We talk about how much we want to change, how to change, what we want to have changed when we go home, stuff like that. The Gospel, after all, is a Gospel of change. So, for me, it's always a powerful experience to see someone change. Whether that's through being taught by the missionaries or being a missionary, doesn't matter. My exchange with Elder Moffitt was a reminder of some goals I set at the beginning of my mission for how I wanted to change, and a reminder of how I haven't quite accomplished those goals yet.

Mount Timpanogos from Adam's Window

When I think of change and progression, I often picture the view of Mount Timpanogos I have outside my window at home. It's not a smooth, upward climb to the summit. Sometimes, it evens slopes back down and you end up having to hike even higher to make it back up. But, in the end, what's important, if we really want to make it to the top, is that we keep going. Ups and downs mean nothing as long as we end up higher than where we started. Elder Moffitt has definitely made it higher, and he inspired me this week to do better on my hike to the top. I've only got 10 months or so left out here, so I've gotta push. :)

For everyone else, well, we never really know how much longer we have left. So, why not start pushing today? Get on the uphill slope, and starting climbing to the summit, start climbing home to our Heavenly Father. I know that we will all be blessed as we push ourselves to climb higher.

Until next week,

Elder Bigler




Bonus Photos

The Train Station at Angers
Nearby City in the Missionary Zone

Adam's Favorite French Hymn
Not Found in the English Hymn Book
"Remember, My Child"

La Scorff River at Night
Separates Lanester on the Left and Lorient on the Right

Alma 26:27 - A Scripture Boost from Mom

Prologue to Adam's weekly letter. Once in a while we are lucky enough to be able to "talk" for awhile through emails on letter day (Mondays). What follows are a couple paragraphs from Cindy's letter to Adam followed by some email exchanges with him. This conversation leads directly into Adam's letter. The best part of this post is witnessing how the Lord watches out for his missionaries. Often the best source of encouragement comes from home. In this case, Cindy (Adam's Mom) was able to give Adam a spiritual boost directly from her studies of the Scriptures. Moms know their sons. Combine that with the guidance of the Holy Ghost and you get a powerful force of love!

Adam Hugs His Mom Goodbye at the MTC

Mom – Sunday Night 12:56 AM 9-8-14 (We really should do this earlier in the day.)

Saturday after going to the soccer game with Cooper and  the rest, we did some yard work.  Dad edged the whole lawn so it looks pretty nice.  We have had some rain lately that keeps the lawn growing and nice and green.  Saturdays go way too fast!  I had wanted to go to the temple so Dad thought that was a great idea.  Turns out there was a BYU game on that night so nobody at home was going to miss me or anything.  I got all dressed and ready to head out the door.  When I got in my wallet to grab my recommend it wasn't there.  I remembered that I had given it to dad when we went to Kalin's wedding and sadly hadn't used it since so I asked dad where it was.  He went upstairs and checked his suit pockets and said it wasn't there.  He said he remembered putting it someplace obvious.  We looked in all the places that we thought were obvious but couldn't find it.  Meanwhile, the last session came and went so I stayed home and put on my pajamas and read scriptures for awhile instead.  Today while we were waiting after church for dad to be set apart Kevin got in Dad's suit pocket for some reason and pulled out both of our recommends!  What's up with that?!?  Wouldn't you think that going to the temple was a good thing, and that Heavenly Father would want me to go, and when I said one of those little prayers to help me find where dad had put my recommend that He would have helped me find it?  We tried to find a lesson in the whole thing.  Dad said that sometimes you have to go to church to get answers to your prayers.  Whatever!  I'll try to get there again soon.  The good news is that while I was searching our drawers and closets I found a little wad of money that I had apparently forgotten about.  Yay me!

I have successfully read the scriptures now for 64 days in a row.  Haven't missed a day.  I am on Alma 27.  There are some good missionaryish scriptures in Alma that I am sure you have read.  Alma 17:2,3&4ish are good and I thought you might like chapter 26:26-28.  I thought they were good missionary verses too.  I also liked 17:10 just because. 

Adam – Monday Morning 8:38 9-8-14

As far as your whole temple story, I don't know if there really is a direct answer. Something I've learned as a missionary is that sometimes the Lord answers our prayers much differently than we would like. By not finding your recommend at that moment, you were able to take some good time to read your scriptures, and find some extra money! Sometimes, the blessings of the temple (or other things) can come from just showing the desire to go. Like they always say, it's the thought that counts. (Now, of course, that's not an excuse to get out of the ACTION part.) I would take a guess and say that the next time you go to the temple, you'll understand more why your prayer was answered how it was.

That Alma 26 reference actually answered exactly what I was looking for right now... :)

Mom – Monday Morning 9:03 AM 9-8-14

So if Alma 26 was just what you were looking for, maybe that's why I stayed home from the temple cause I read that night from Alma 17 - Alma 26.  If I hadn't had so much time to read that night I would have only made it through a verse or two.  So maybe it was all meant to be a blessing for our missionary whom we love very much!!

Adam – 9:32 AM

That's possible too! :) It definitely is a blessing for me. :)

Mom – 11:24 AM

Not sure if you are still there, but now I'm curious.  Why is reading Alma 26 a blessing for you?  Are you struggling with something?  Should I worry or pray harder??
Also, I would love to see a picture with your face in it!  ;) ;)

Adam – 11:27 AM

New haircut.....

Mom – 11:32 AM

Anyway, nice haircut!  Is that a faux hawk???
My Grandma Sommers/Finch would say it was "sharp"!
And ARE you ok?
(Running down to the school office for a few minutes before sacred lunch break is over.)

Adam – 11:44 AM

Haha kind of. Elder Lloyd said it would look cool on me, then my district leader said it was okay and also agreed that it would look cool, so we tried it last night. :) It feels pretty sharp, my hair is kind of prickly in the short parts!

And yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. Just in the kind of mid mission mid life crisis sort of thing. I'm explaining it in my letter, don't worry.

Adam's Letter.

Bonjour!

I was gonna make some comment about how fast time flies, but I figure after 50 weeks or so, that you guys maybe get the idea that it's going fast. :)

As usual, we had a bunch of cool experiences here and there this week. Things started off with our journey all the way to Angers. Monday night we had to catch a train to Rennes. We missed our actual train, so had to catch another one about an hour later. As a result, we got to Rennes around 9, had to catch a bus around 9:30, and got to the Rennes apartment around 10. All along the way, we were able to talk to a whole bunch of people. A couple Americans, an older couple on the train, and a couple other random people on the bus. The next morning we talked to a bunch more people on the way from Rennes to Angers. After the big conference, we ended up sitting next to the sisters on the train ride home, and that's where things really started to happen! The power of 4 missionaries. :) Essentially, we ended up teaching the whole train car all together. And, later on in the week, one of those people ended up becoming a new ami for us!

Times like that are awesome as missionaries, times where you can just sit and talk openly with people. It's not always easy to come across them in the street, so we feel pretty blessed to have those times. Beyond that, we had a pretty good week. We weren't able to set anything up with Iona, but we're kind of leaving that to her for now. We want the desire to come to church to come from her and not from us. Saturday afternoon I felt prompted to call someone, but I didn't know who. So, I just pulled out the phone and started going through our long list of contacts. I came across Louis, a less active member, and felt like I should call him. We set up a rendezvous for that evening and it went really well! We also started teaching another less active family this week, Beatrice and her son, and they already fed us! Super delicious Guatemalan food. Anyway, there are tons of little stories I could tell from the week, as is always the case.

But this week I want to be "the honest missionary", I want to be real. That's something I'm working on.

I'm tired. Thirteen months of missionary life wears on a person. There are missionaries out there who can work at maximum capacity for all two years and still be as fresh as ever when their time comes to go home, and that's amazing. But I wouldn't put myself into that group. Mom, today you sent me the reference of Alma 26:27. In that verse it starts off by saying "Now when our hearts were depressed". That part really hit me. It's not that I'm "depressed", not at all, I promise. Just the way that's worded. Their hearts were depressed. To me, that sounds like they're tired. Tired of being rejected, tired of confronting the same types of people and the same difficulties over and over, and, if being a missionary back then was anything like it is now, tired of and as a result of trying their best to worry only about others. To me, those are the makings of a depressed heart. And that's a little how I feel lately. Now, don't think I'm sick of being a missionary or that I don't like it anymore, that's not at all what it is. I love this work and wouldn't rather be anywhere else or rather be doing anything else. But that doesn't mean it's easy.

After hearing and answering questions like "Are you Jehovah's Witnesses?", "Why do I need to be baptized again?", and "What are you doing in France?" almost every day for over a year, it gets kind of, well, old. That "blue fire" that we say new missionaries have is kind of down to the coals right now. In that verse it follows up and says "and we were about to turn back". I'm not really about to "turn back" per se, but I do have times where I think "ugh, here we go again..." when people start asking these questions. Times where I'd rather just be a regular member who blends into the crowd. Neither of which is really good for a missionary to have. So, it's been a weird week or two. I've just felt kind of...out of place, in a way.

But then comes good ol' Mom (with a little help from Alma). You can always count on your parents. The scripture goes on to say "behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." The first part is the most important to me. The Lord comforted them, as he'll comfort me.

On my mission, I've learned, and I'm learning how to rely on the Lord for strength and for comfort. I didn't really understand what people meant by "relying on the Lord" at the beginning of my mission, and I'm only really starting to figure it out. But today (thanks to all that scripture study Mom :) ) I felt a little bit closer. But, understanding and building a relationship with the Lord is something that takes a lifetime, and much more, so, I've gotta keep working. 

Sunrise in Lorient - The Power of a New Day
"An Opportunity and an Invitation to Change and Become More Like Our Savior". - Elder Adam Bigler

Well, I'm about out of time. Thanks for the letters today everybody! Keep doing good at school and soccer and scouts and drama and band and work and work/school and all that stuff. :)

Elder Bigler

Frenchism: Be thankful for English. Le Livre de Mormon is 653 pages long. Just a little bit longer than the BoM.

Inspired Pizza

Dear Family,

One of the common conversational topics among missionaries when we get a new companion is what jobs we've had in our life. When Elder Lloyd and I got put together, we found out that we had both worked at pizza places! He at Little Caesar's and I at Papa John's. So, we talk about pizza occasionally, but, we hadn't really had a chance to buy it before.

Sunrise over Lorient

This past Saturday, we ended up at a bus stop just next to the local Domino's. It had been a hard day. Iona had told us that she wasn't coming to church, and our rendez-vous for the evening had fallen through with that. And we were hungry. It was Samedi Fou (Crazy Saturday), which means that all of the pizzas, in any size, were all 8 euros! With how hungry we were and how good it smelled, it only took a moment for us to get pulled in. We took our pizza down to centreville, at the big plaza next to the Hôtel de Ville (town hall, kind of). There were a lot of people walking around, since the match was about to start, so we just kind of sat and enjoyed looking at how decked out everybody was for the game while we ate our pizza. As we finished up, and the game got going inside the stadium, a man behind us grabbed our attention and asked about where we were from. His name was Albano, and he was super cool with us. He was just in town for the evening, but he let us talk with him long enough to explain our purpose as missionaries and what we believe. Towards the end of our conversation (right before we left him with a prayer en fait) another young guy, Leo, showed up and asked what we're doing here, so we had Albano explain, which he did really well, telling him that we're here to help spread honor and respect. Let me tell you, it's really cool to hear someone say that, in their own words, about you. After we finished up that conversation and left them both with a prayer, we headed off, planning to go home for the evening, when we felt prompted to change our route a little bit to go past two women sitting on a bench together. And...we ended up teaching them as well! What started out as an impulse for some hungry guys turned into a truly inspired thing, that helped other people feel the love of God.

Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of time today, we're catching a train to Rennes tonight so we can be on time for our conference in Angers tomorrow. I'll just leave you with some other highlights. :)

Tuesday evening, after our conference, and at the end of what had been a seemingly perfect day, we were driven home by the Malagash family, and had them drop us off at the church, which ended up being a tour of the church for them! Even better, Frère Fontaine just happened to be there, and he helped us out a ton!

Thursday evening, we had planned a soirée familiale with the famille Moulis. What we had planned for 7, with just us and Iona being invited, somehow turned into us getting there at 6 with her grandparents in tow. Soeur Moulis however, was so so kind to us, and let us come inside and ended up even making extra food at the end for everybody. To me, that was a miracle. Not the food necessarily, but the way that someone could be so kind and patient with two young missionaries who are nowhere near perfect. It was so great for us.

And last night we happened to be visiting our Brazilian family when their younger daughter, who hadn't been home in 4 months (she has her own apartment) just happened to stop by! We ended up teaching her and inviting her to come to church on Sunday. :)

We really have so many opportunities to see little miracles out here. Actually, scratch that, a member told me once that there are no LITTLE miracles. And it's true.

 

This morning, we ran to the beach and this time, finally, I had my camera! So I was able to see (and record) another beautiful miracle, the start of a new day. It's one of those things I've learned to appreciate more out here. The power of a new day, how each one of them is an opportunity and an invitation to change and become more like our Savior.

Thanks so much for all the love you guys send, I really feel it in your letters. They made me smile a lot today, and I really felt at home while I read them. :)

Keep up the good work!

Elder Bigler

Bonus Photos

Adam in Front of One of Vincent Van Gogh's Houses

A Giant Slug - Escargot.
Dinner?

Sunrise on the Train Tracks

A 2 Euro Coin Commemorating 70th Anniversary of D-Day