Oct. 20^th

Dear family, this last week has been insane!

I've learned a few things as an assistant. For example, we don't really get sleep. This last week we had our mission tour with Elder Arnold of the 70 (First Quorum of the Seventy – a General Authority for the Church). He is an extremely spiritual and very intense man. His list of what he wanted for the mission zone conferences was long and detailed, and he expected it to all be perfect.  We spent the three days of Monday-Wednesday on a combined 14 hours of sleep, but we got it all done and it was incredible! We learned tons from Elder Arnold, and one of the coolest parts was the one on one interview we had with him!

Elder Arnold of the First Quorum of the Seventy

After mission tour, we tried to get back to focusing on our proselyting area. It's so cool to serve in YSA (Young Single Adult congregations). The English ward is pretty cool, the bishop is a former mission president so he's super awesome at helping us out. The Tongan ward is awesome! This last week, we even taught a lesson in Chuuk (Micronesian language). I can't speak it obviously, but I read out loud from the Book of Mormon in it. The person we were teaching told me it sounded exactly right. I just pronounced it like I would pronounce Spanish haha. We even got to teach a young man in Spanish, so that's good, I can still practice my language skills.

Life is super good. We stay busier than I even anticipated. Most days start before 6:30 and we don't get home until midnight, but I love it! I feel productive and feel like we're getting tons done, now it's time to focus on helping the mission keep moving forward and helping our brothers and sisters learn about the true and restored Gospel.

Unfortunate part of this last week, we had an emergency transfer on Saturday that moved about 6 elders and sent one home, which was no fun to deal with and we felt bad for those involved, but it'll be for their best in the long run. Elder Chappell and I spent all day long transporting missionaries and their things from one place to the other, pure craziness! (Part of his new duties as an AP: Assistant to the Mission President)

I feel like I'm going to blink and it'll already be Christmas time, can't wait to see y'all :) (We will get to Skype and talk to him on the phone that day!!!) Until next week, just know that I love y'all and you're the best family ever :) Keep on smiling!

Life is good though. Crazy, but good :) I love being on the mission!

Hey Madre! I love you! I'm sorry my email time was limited. We had a “kind of” P-day today.  We had a mission office meeting all morning, finally got some food/did some shopping, then just had a couple of hours to play ball and clean, so that's what we've been doing. But I love you! Thanks so much for your long update, I truly appreciate it and I'm so thankful to have a mom like you, I brag about you ALL the time. Seriously, you're the best. 

Love always,

Scottie

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy):

Hey Aunt Tammy!

I'm glad to hear grandma and papa are healthy! (My sister is currently visiting my parents)

So my favorite part about this new assignment is the opportunity it gives me to grow in leadership skills. Least favorite part: we get very little sleep. We don't really get to follow the (normal) missionary schedule because of all the extra assignments we have, so instead of 6:30 am to 10:30 pm it's like 6:30 am to midnight haha, every day.

We get exposed to plenty of opportunities to learn how to correct/assist the missionaries we serve over when they’re disobedient as well as plan for the mission goals and implementing general improvement plans.

Phrase of the week: no puedo esperar. It means I can't wait. Each day that's how I feel about the next. Each day is a great opportunity to learn and grow :)

I love you so much! See yah soon! Send my love to everyone back home please.

Scottie

Oct. 14th

Hola Family!

Here is my official mission newsletter announcement as AP :)

Elder Higgins is a new AP!

So today, we didn't get a P-Day,  this is a week where we won't get one (now that he is an AP – Assistant to the President – his P-days will not always come regularly, depending on what needs to be done in the mission office) . We have 1 hour of "free-time" today, and we have to go shopping too. much easier with a car though! (As an AP he now has a car for the first time since he has been out on his mission)

We've stayed so busy this last week. We've been super busy over here. We haven't gotten back to our apartment before midnight once this last week, there's always so much to do! And we started our mission tour today, so Elder Arnold of the First Quorum of the Seventy (a General Authority of the church) was here to speak to our mission and Elder Chappell (Scottie’s companion) and I were in charge of setting up everything, getting mics, projectors, chairs and tables setup, everything. We had to conduct ( lead the meetings where Elder Arnold was speaking), slightly nerve-wracking when there's a General Authority staring at you haha. But today's meeting went well, just have to worry about Tuesday and Wednesday now. It is kind of cool driving again, no lie, I like that part. 

I'm happy and healthy though. Slightly sleep-deprived, but it comes with the job :) maybe I can take a nap after mission tour is over on Wednesday :) 

I got congratulated by a member of the 70 today and that was kind of cool! He told me and Chappell we did a good job setting everything up, it felt kind of good, because we lost lots of sleep over it :)

I’ll try to send some pics of a cool experience we had this last week, but until then, I love y'all and I can't wait to email with you next week :)

We went downtown to pick up our iPhone 5, an upgrade from the four we have currently, and this was inside the Missionary Department of the Church Office Building. That's 350 broken iPads from all over the world, that missionaries send in because they broke them. That's why missionaries in the future have to buy their own!

What happens when a missionary falls off his bike...And then lands on his iPad. No worries, it wasn't me, but thisiPad is destroyed

Thanks for being the best and most supportive family ever!

My new apartment seems great, the bed is decently comfortable.  Ha-ha we come in, fall asleep, wake up,  shower, get dressed, and leave. I am barely here :) 

Elder Chappell is amazing. I came out (from the MTC: Missionary Training Center) with him too, so we've been buddies up until now, and now we're just meshing and working hard and doing good work. I love serving with him, 

Our eating consists of lots of fast food and skipped meals (they are now over 2 Young Single Adult Wards so not many family meals). Not super healthy. We did get some bomb dinners from the Tongan ward though, and they always give us left overs, so we eat that lots too :)

Love, 

Scottie

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy): 

Hey Aunt Tammy!!

This last week has been crazy busy! I loved driving again, and yes ma'am, all in English (As an AP he is no longer serving in Spanish Speaking congregations). My companion speaks Spanish, so I can keep it up somewhat by talking to him :) Being assistant is very fun. It's super intense and I feel like I'll learn and grow a lot. I will probably not get transferred anymore, not 100% positive, but it looks like this is my last area!

Spanish word of the week: obediencia. Its obedience haha, just like it sounds. But we've been learning tons about that in the mission, especially focusing on Mosiah 2:41. Great stuff!

Love you!

Scottie

Scottie watching General Conference in the home of Senor de Alba

Hey family!!!!

So let me just say, this last week definitely has changed my mission. That's for sure :)

On Tuesday we started our exchanges (on exchanges they pair up with another set of missionaries and switch companions for a day) with our Assistants to the President (APs), and I had interviews with Pres. Swain (his mission president) that day too. Pres. called me in, sat me down, and we started with a prayer. Then, he said, "Elder Higgins, the Lord would like you to serve as an AP." So....I'm definitely getting transferred haha. 

The new assignment becomes official!

Being an Assistant will bring an incredible amount of new responsibilities. Because it's so much, I left my area last Tuesday and have spent the whole week with the AP's (except Saturday, I got to go back to my area and and watch General Conference and say bye to people), and I've been on information overload mode trying to learn everything. To give you an example of how crazy our life is sometimes as AP's, we got here to the office to work on Transfer details (transfers occur every six weeks, during transfers new missionaries come in, those finishing their mission leave and missionaries are moved around as needed) yesterday at 4:30pm....and didn't leave the office until 12:15am. 8 straight hours of work, no dinner haha. Would've ordered a pizza...but it was Sunday. We've got 21 missionaries coming in tomorrow so lots to do with that. 

Elder Jarvis (Scottie's companion) snoozing - after conference, I'm sure :) 

It is pretty cool, I got to sit in on the meetings with Pres. Swain to talk about transfers, so I know where every missionary in the mission is going and I got to help pick some of them. (His mission has 160 missionaries and 20 Senior couples – married couples serving together)

Monday morning meeting with President Swain

I also get a car now. I got to drive for the first time in almost a year and a half last Thursday, which was awesome. 2013 Ford Focus, nothing too fancy but driving is fun :)

I love y'all and we've got lots to work on today. We don't really get a pday (preparation day) today since we've got so much to do, but hopefully next week I can try and write more. I'll send some pictures too!

iPads for new missionaries!

Elders Isabell and Chappell training Scottie on his new AP duties!

I love y'all. I'm excited for this opportunity. I know I'll learn tons! I'm sad to be leaving all the people in my last area, but it's okay, I know our relationships will last after the mission :)

The AP I am replacing is going home in 6 weeks, he's already been assistant for 7.5 months, so pres. (President Swain)  is letting him do his last transfer in the field. 

I'll probably spend the rest of my mission as AP.

I'll be in 2 wards: an English YSA (Young Single Adult) and a Tongan YSA haha....I'll miss Spanish. (He has been serving Spanish congregations and communities since he began his mission)

The wards both meet 9:00-12:00, but have sacrament on opposite ends of the block (of meetings). So it goes: 

Ward council from 7:00am-->9:00am

Sacrament in one ward from 9:00-->10:00

Classes for an hour

Other sacrament meeting

Other ward council meeting

And we don't always get a P-Day as AP’s, and sometimes it changes randomly, depending on the day. So we'll just have to be super patient there :)

And because it's YSA (Young Single adults – they don’t do much cooking!), we almost never eat with people (missionaries normally have dinner with different members of the congregations where they are serving). They give us money, we go out to eat. They eat in restaurants A LOT! It’ll be way different (he is used to eating dinner in the homes of the Spanish-speaking families he served) haha

Love you!!!!

Scottie

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy):

Hey Aunt Tammy!!

Sorry it's kind of short, but we've had a crazy last week. I got called as an Assistant to the Mission President,  it is the highest leadership position you can get assigned to as a missionary (there are only two AP’s in his mission). So I'm pretty nervous and excited at the same time. 

We've got a crazy day, but I'll try to send more emails next week :) I love you! I'll send good vibes out to all!!

Te amo!

Love, 

Scottie

September 29, 2014

Dear Family: 

This last week has been one of my favorite weeks of my entire mission. It was full of craziness, but just had the perfect ending. We are continuing to see growth and member involvement in this area. Miracles are happening too. A less active member called us on Monday and asked us to come over on Tuesday, and when we did, she presented us to her 20 year old son who just came from Peru...new interested investigator, just like that. 

Throughout the week, nothing too crazy happened. We continued to work hard to help the families we're working with. We're seeing huge progress with los Santana (the Santana Family) and Allie. It's a huge blessing to be in an area with so much member support. 

They made hot wings!

This week, we also had a crazy amount of weird foods haha. Wednesday night, we had a dish with a family we're teaching: caldo de patas de pollo y pescuezo. It was soup made with chicken feet and chicken neck. Except, they ate the chicken feet, and expected us to do the same. Chicken feet....not my favorite. There's no meat!!! It's just straight bones, nerves, and skin. That was kind of gross. And boiled neck...enough said. Then, yesterday, at church, our branch clerk gave us what he called "Aztec food" - chapulines. It was pan fried grasshoppers cooked with lime juice. Needless to say, pretty interesting haha. 

"Aztec food" - pan fried grasshoppers!

Saturday we had our baptism, for the Santana couple. It was stressful at first. Our ward mission leader told us he would go and fill up the font, just like he did for our last baptism...but when we got there 45 minutes prior to the baptism, there was no water in the font. We turned the lever to start filling the font...and no water came out. None at all. Several people came to try to help us figure it out, but nothing was happening. At 3pm (the time of the baptism), there was still no water...but after a prayer and some other people looking at things, the water finally started flowing and we had a beautiful baptism, they had nonmember family members there too and it was amazing. It was certainly stressful at first, but it turned out really well. I'll send pictures!

The Santana Family w/ Pres. Atwater

The Santanas, Pres. Atwater and Elders Jarvis and Higgins

Then, Saturday night, we had a truly powerful lesson with the Pacheco family. They haven't been to church in about 7 months, just moved here. We went over at 8pm to teach them, and we had a lesson where there whole family (7 people) participated and they were crying and saying how much they wanted to come to church and overcome their problems. The kicker: they texted us earlier in the day to tell us not to come over because they'd had a fight, but we just got a bunch of "no content" messages to our phone. First time I've ever been thankful our phone is kind of junky, blessings! They were all at church today :)

Sunday was an amazing day at church too! We had 134 people there today, when I first got into this area, 110 was a good average (for their Spanish-speaking branch/congregation). We had a recent convert blessing the sacrament, another one passing (the sacrament), the whole Pacheco family was there, Alberto, Maira, and Esteban all got confirmed...it was just wonderful. It's so cool to see how much the Lord is blessing us in this area. 

We're excited for the upcoming week, with General Conference! What is General Conference?

The only scary part is that next Tuesday (Oct. 7th) is transfers (transfers are help every six weeks and missionaries could move to another area within the mission). I'm hoping and praying I don't leave this area, I love the people here with all my heart, I do not want to leave!

Ayari - the daughter of one of the families that he is close to!

I just want to share a quick testimony of our Savior. I know that He lives and is at the head of this church. He and The Father love us so much that they provided a plan for us to return to live with them in eternal happiness one day: the plan of salvation. Through the gospel, we can learn about this plan and how we can apply it to our lives. Also, I've gained a strong testimony of the atonement of Christ and what he did for us, so that we can return and be happy with him one day.

I also love the last verse of the song "Abide with Me": "Abide With Me""Abide With Me"

3. I need thy presence ev’ry passing hour.

What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?

Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!

Abide with Me!

I love y'all so much! I can't believe we're already to October. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas! (the next opportunity we get to talk to him by phone/skype)  This is crazy :) I hope everyone back home is doing well. Thanks for all your love and support! And no worries, I'm healthy and happy and smiling and just all around thankful for all the blessings in my life. 

Love always, 

Scottie

P.S. We met Allie and Nathalie at Kneaders on Saturday morning so we could teach Allie and get delicious French toast (Kneaders is kind of like an Atlanta bread company, but with a heavier emphasis on breakfast). While we were there, the conversation came up of whether or not they'd want their parents to come with them to breakfast. Jarvy (Elder Jarvis, his companion) and I just looked at each other and we were both, at the same time, like "man, what I wouldn't' give to go to breakfast with my parents."  (I'd love to have breakfast with my boy!!) I love and miss y'all and Savannah and Sophia so much. I'm so thankful to be able to have y'all as my eternal family :)

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy)

Hey Aunt Tammy!!

I'm glad you're back in the south though Aunt Tammy, now I just gotta get back so I can go and visit :)

This week has been crazy! We did have some more baptisms, and I sent some more photos my mom's way, so she should be getting those up on the blog. Total, I've probably gotten to participate in close to 20 baptisms, which is pretty spectacular to see all those people participate in an ordinance that will allow them to work towards an eternal family. 

I'm looking forward to hearing the prophets speak (at General Conference) and answer my questions. I've got a few about what I should do post-mission, and I bet they'll help give me some guidance. We're gonna try and go downtown for one of the sessions (General Conference in held in the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City), so I'll try and take some pictures :)

New word of the week: vislumbrar - to glimpse or make out in the distance. sometimes, it requires faith to move forward, because we can only vislumbrar the future or what will happen, but our Heavenly Father knows and loves us and wants the best for us :)

I love you so much Aunt Tammy, can't explain how excited I am to see you soon! The time is quickly approaching :)

Love always, 

Scottie

Scottie with a prior companion, Elder Chavez!

Hey Family!

Sorry I haven't emailed an update in a while...we've been crazy busy, and then I got super bad  food poisoning last week, but I'm feeling so much better now. So here's some of the highlights of the last few weeks:

So over the course of the last 3 weeks, the work here has just exploded. The Lord is truly blessing us in our efforts to invite others to come unto Him.

It all started on September 2nd when we had our Mission Leadership Council (for all Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the Salt Lake City West Mission - Scottie is a Zone Leader). The meeting started at 6:50 AM, but we're used to getting up early so it was no biggie. The first hour of the meeting was led by Elder Arnold of the Quorum of the 70, and that was intense. He's got a very strong, type A personality. He kind of tore into us about making sure we were doing everything possible to be the examples to the mission, since we were the zone leaders and sister training leaders. He explained that our divine motivation for everything should be helping our brothers and sisters return to their Heavenly Father. Just the way he explained everything got us all fired up. We also talked about goals for the mission. Later in the meeting, Pres. Swain said that too many people in the mission weren't hitting the standards of excellence, so he lowered them and we all made a plan to get every companionship hitting them, then we'd move them back up. He changed the standard from 15 lessons with a member present to 10. Jarvis and I were already hitting the 15 mark, so we made goals to keep that going higher as well as get more baptisms in our area.

At the Mission Leadership Council

Throughout that week, we really applied everything we learned and were really bold with baptismal invitations. We invited 5 people to be baptized, and they all said yes! It was so exciting and just a testimony to me of the truthfulness of the Gospel, I love it.

Fun note, on Thursday, 9/4/14, we went down to Temple Square, and I saw Ayala Noguiera (the girl with orange hair that's dancing in that picture of me that's on the lds.org site haha): Scottie and Ayala on church website (Ayala is from our area, they attended youth activities together before their missions), she serves as a Temple Square Sister (missionary) right now. 

Elder Jarvis, Levi, Pepe and Scottie at Temple Square

On Friday, 9/5/14, I started feeling sick with a cold/flu-like symptoms. That was no fun, and it had me exhausted haha. Life is good though! Our zone training went well and hopefully I'll get better soon!

Happy Birthday Sophia (Scottie’s youngest sister)!!!!!! 9/6/14. I can't believe she's already 14, how fast is time flying?!?!

9/7/14: Today, Jarvis and I spoke in stake conference (a meeting for all congregations in the stake/area where he is serving), and I think that went well. Then we had our first meeting with Alberto. He's the brother of a recent convert in our branch, and he's been to church twice, but he just moved in with them for the foreseeable future, so we met with him tonight. He shared his strong desire to be baptized, and we felt impressed to invite him to be baptized in two weeks (since he'd already been to church a few times), and he said yes! We're way excited for that. Then, we did a fast today so that Allie (investigator) would be able to get permission from her parents to get baptized. She said that she talked to her parents again, and they didn't say yes, but they opened up and were okay with her going to church and stuff! The power of fasting is real!

9/11/14: I can't believe it's been 13 years since the attack on the twin towers. All I can say is I'm proud to be an American and live in a country that gives me so many freedoms. I'm thankful to all those who have sacrificed so that I can have these freedoms, and I'll always keep them in my prayers.

9/13/14: The cold I've been having hit its peak today. In the morning, Elisa called us and asked if we could help them pull things out at their house for a yard sale, so we got to help with that, and then she gave us some medicine. It made us super sleepy, so as soon as 9pm hit, we were home, planning, and asleep haha.

9/14/14: Today was an awesome Sunday...until 10:40pm. It was a truly good day at church and everything, all went really well and we had a few good lessons after church. Our dinner was dropped off to us, pupusas de chicharron. Jarvis wasn't hungry so he didn't eat, but I
did. After FHE (Family Home Evening) with the Balderas family, we got our numbers report ready, called it into the assistants....and that's when my stomach started doing backflips. Around 10:40 I threw up for the first time....and then did it every half hour until 10 AM the next day. I didn´t get any sleep, and it was rough.

Some of the "numbers" the Zone Leaders have to report

9/15/14: Monday. It was a recovery day for me. I tried to sleep, didn't eat anything all day, tried to get some liquids in me, but I threw those up for a while haha. When Jarvy (Elder Jarvis, his companion) went to play ball (It was p-day/preparation day), he dropped me off at the Balderas’ house so Pepe could be my companion for the afternoon, but I was just trying to get some sleep in. They're such an awesome family, they truly treat me like family and look out for me. I got home around 6:30, fell asleep at 7, and that's all I remember until 8am on Tuesday.


9/16/14: Tuesday. Today was much better! I still can't eat much, but I wasn't throwing up as often, only a few times all day. We did our District Leader Training meeting today, had an awesome lesson with the Santana family (getting baptized on the 27th of this month), and then
sleep.

9/17/14: Wednesday. We spent all afternoon biking copies of the Book of Mormon all over the zone to get them to missionaries. The shipment we ordered got delayed, so they finally got here and people needed them really bad haha. We dropped off about 100 of them on bike, which was fun. We had some good lessons today. I'm still not hungry, and I feel a little weak, but I'm getting there!

9/19/14: Friday. Man, I finally got to feeling mostly better. First day since Sunday I haven't thrown up haha, so I'm a happy camper. Today was chill, just some solid lessons and getting Alberto ready for his baptism tomorrow.

Scottie with his Zone - The Granger B Zone!

9/20/14: Today was an amazing day. We spent all morning participating in the stake community fair, we set up a missionary table there! It was cool. Then, we went home and discovered a small problem. Some onions in a cabinet we don't use too much had rotted, and when we opened the cabinet for the first time in a while, there were bugs and this disgusting black juice everywhere. Let's just say I was thoroughly grossed out. But we manned up and spent about 2 hours deep cleaning our kitchen, which is super clean now! We had dinner with Pres. Atwater, then the baptism of Alberto. Even though he showed up half an hour late haha, it was one of my favorite baptisms of my mission. His sister gave the talk on baptism, his brother-in-law, Emmanuel, baptized him, and his 2 little nephews gave the prayers. It was beautiful. I'll send pictures!

Elder Higgins, Emanuel, Alberto and Elder Jarvis (and one of the Sanhchez children)

Alberto and his sister's family

9/21/14: Sunday. Today was an interesting day for us. The Ogden Temple got rededicated today, so all normal church services were cancelled. Kind of weird to tell our investigators not to come to church one Sunday haha. We went to the first of 3 dedication ceremonies, and it was beautiful. Elder Bednar and Pres. Monson spoke, it was really cool to see. We had all afternoon open to visit with people, so we enjoyed that opportunity with 4 lessons. Then, we had pozole (one of his favorite Mexican dishes now!) with Hermano de Alba, taught Braka, and then had family home evening with los Balderas. It was a wonderful day, and numbers were really good this week! We had 24 lessons this week, and the other 13 companionships in the zone added on another 87 lessons, so our zone total was the highest it's ever been: 111 (with members present). Then, we had 18 new investigators and 13 new returning members. Things are looking good for the Granger B zone! Life is good, I'm feeling healthier, and looking forward to another week :)

Love always,

Scottie

(From his emails to his Aunt Tammy):

Hey Tía Tammy!! (Sept 8^th)

My last week was super, sounds like yours was too! 

I am so glad that I stayed here, this area is amazing (He did not get transferred to a new area). Things are going so well. We added two new families this last week, the Santana family and the Barragan family. 

My biggest mental challenge has been just learning self-control in timing. It's all up to us to make sure we're working hard all the time, nobody is on us about it all the time. But to have success in missionary work, you have to be diligent all the time, so you have to dominate self-mastery. My mission has truly taught me how to love people and understand people from different walks of life. I've truly connected with Hispanic culture as well, and I love it. It's cool seeing the world through the eyes of a different people, you learn so much. 

New word this week: inolvidable - unforgettable. Every week, I have experiences that are unforgettable. 

I'm doing so well. I love and miss you like crazy though. I've met people in this area that will be lifelong friends though, so hopefully you'll get to meet them one day. They said they're going to come visit Georgia when I'm home, so we'll see :) 

I love you!

Scottie 

Hey Aunt Tammy! (Sept. 22)

Yeah, being sick was no fun, but I'm much better now :) 

I'm glad you had a great trip to GA (she currently lives in Iowa but was visiting), I miss it so much. The picture you sent of the beach (Tybee Island) was gorgeous, looked like it was a professional shot. I can't wait to go to the beach.  

Tyler (Tammy’s son, Scottie’s oldest cousin, he is currently living in Savannah) looked really good too, glad you got to see him. 

I'm doing well now, no worries! :) 

Word of the week: recuperar - it means to get better or recuperate haha, thought it was fitting for this week. 

I love you Aunt Tammy, can't believe it's almost October, just closer and closer to seeing you! 

Hope you have a week that's as awesome as you are. 

Love always, 

Scottie