Week 69 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

16 months! I'm officially two-thirds of the way through my mission. I've been procrastinating this email all day so it's about time to get this thing done.

♤ Man, our friend Byron is so cool. We've been blessed with a lot of friends to teach lately, but teaching him has been extra special. We taught him God's plan over the course of two lessons and I think it was the best Plan of Redemption lesson I've been involved in my whole mission. It was awesome. He's searching for truth he told us himself that "if I find that this really is Jesus Christ's true Church then I will immediately be baptized." All we could ask for. 

♡ Our new members here are amazing!! Seriously, they're the most consistent and involved in the Gospel of any group of recent converts I've been able to serve with. One of them asked out of the blue to meet with us and we got kinda worried but instead of saying her faith was struggling she just asked us how she could get better at sharing the Gospel with her family. "I don't get it! Why doesn't my Nana wanna get baptized yet?? The Gospel is so amazing!"

◇ UArk had its homecoming game versus LSU and once again the entire city showed up to watch. It's always a crazy night trying to find somebody who wants to talk about the Gospel in the middle of a Hogs-Tigers showdown. Too bad our boys lost 

-> 

♧ An older couple serving in our college ward held a backyard concert/tailgate party on gameday and holy cow it was insanely good. The band consisted of the brother in our ward plus three of his sons (one of whom has a music theory PH-D) and one of his granddaughters and they absolutely shredded together. One of our friends who happens to also be in a band showed up with one of his bandmates and when the PH-D guy soloed over "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by the Beatles we all went crazy. It was seriously one of the best guitar solos I've ever heard. Man, this area is great. 

Song of the week: "Pillowcase" by No Vacation

Thought: Mormon Preserves the Record

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/mormon-1-7/2024-01-0900-mormon-preserves-the-record?lang=eng

Sometimes scripture videos can be a little cheesy, but I've gotta say this one was good. It can be easy to forget how dark the scriptures can get and then someone accurately depicts it in film and wow, it's dark. 

 Because we live in a fallen world and God gives us the freedom to choose light or darkness for ourselves, the army of God is going to see some casualties. The Lord says three times in the Gospel of John that Satan is "the prince of this world," after all. We're not in friendly territory. 

 But read this sentence from the last words of Mormon and tell me who wins in the end:

Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up. - Mormon 7:5

In Christ lies the victory. He is real, He is good, and He has a plan for you. Trust Him, repent every day, and follow His words and I promise you'll end up with Him again. If you're lucky, He'll even use you to help others make it home too. 

Love, 

Elder Rigby

oxytocin

Week 68: Skim-friendly email - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all!

Short email this week. Elder Wasden and I are doing great and we're seeing some awesome miracles here at the University of Arkansas!

Fun stuff from this week:

- Got called to repentance with a Book of Mormon scripture by a friend we're teaching (2 Nephi 9:34)

- YSA members be like:

"Hey we're teaching your friend Byron downstairs" "What?? Byron's here?!?"

"Hey can we all come to your lesson on Wednesday? Your friend's so cool."

"Hey Elder Wasden, you get in the car too. I'll back you guys"

- We've been teaching quite a few friends here lately and it's been amazing. I think that Fayetteville YSA has become my favorite area I've served in yet. I have precious friends and memories from every single one of my areas, but this one is just such a blast.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

~

We've got a big lesson tomorrow with a friend of ours. We've only known him for about a week and a half, but in that time he's come to two lessons, our Book of Mormon group study, and church and has perfectly kept every commitment we've given him. We have a ton in common, from our personalities to the way we think to the things we like, and we've clicked so well that I just can't help but wonder, "Was I called to this area specifically so that I'd be able to meet him?" I want so badly for him to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

So, if you're able, please pray for our friend Byron. He'll make such a wonderful member of the Lord's Church should he choose to seek for and act on that confirming witness from the Holy Spirit of the truth of Christ's restored gospel.

~

Thought: 無為 (mu-i)

"Seek Him with All Your Heart" by Bishop L. Todd Budge

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/45budge?lang=eng

Love, Elder Rigby

Week 67 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hey all!

I think I've felt every single emotion this week. Like, the whole color wheel. From General Conference to transfer news to crazy lessons my own lovely demons, I'm just all outta feels, man.

♤ Transfers! So long, Elder Foster. It's been a good ride. He's heading up to Stockton, MO and I'll be staying in the YSA and serving with Elder Wasden! I've served near him before and he's a real cheery guy. 

♧ Crazy lessons! We taught our first lesson to an atheist dude who was just so full of questions and he and totally I ADHD'ed out so hard while Elder Foster sat there and looked at us like we were crazy, which was a fair assumption. The best part was that when we told him that General Conference was that weekend, he basically said "Wait, your prophet is speaking in two days?? I'm watching that for sure." ("Chyesss!" - Ignacio)

◇ Rough weekend. 'Nuff said for now. Thank goodness that Christ is always there for us in our dark times.

♡ General Conference! All of the speakers were outstanding and I was so fired up and ready to share the Gospel by the time it ended haha. The Saturday evening session was probably my favorite. I'm so thankful for prophets of God and the chance we have to come to know the Savior better through their words. 

☆ Went on a hike for P-day today at Devil's Den State Park and man, Arkansas is criminally underrated. This place is gorgeous. Check out some pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

○ Want a cool statistic? Numbers aren't everything, of course, but check this out: last year, 25,000 students attended high school seminary with their friends in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and 9,000 of them chose to be baptized and confirmed - over one-third. The math says that if three of your friends come to Seminary with you, statistically speaking, one of them will choose to join the Lord's fold. If you and your classmates each brought just one friend to seminary per quarter, you'd double your class size in less than a school year. 

Song of the week: "Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground" by Coldplay

~

Thought: The Triumph of Hope by Neil L. Andersen

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/12andersen?lang=eng

What better way to hear the news?

Elder Andersen was the first speaker in this year's October Generall Conference, and in it, he talked all about his grand-nephew, Trey. The funny thing is, we were actually in the same ward at BYU! Lived on the same floor and everything. He was a pretty quiet dude, but I recognized him instantly. It made me so happy to see him up on the screen and even happier to hear he'd gotten accepted to the BYU accounting program and even planned to serve a full-time mission! ...And then Elder Andersen told more of his story. 

 Honestly, I didn't know him super well despite having gone to church with him every Sunday for two semesters, but something about the idea that one of the guys I chatted with in the hall a year and a half ago just isn't alive anymore hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm assuming a lot of us from the 122nd ward found out last weekend, too, and while everyone deals with loss differently, it probably wasn't easy to process for many of us. 

But I'll say it again: what better way to hear the news? A living Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ was inspired to use Trey's story to teach the eternal truth that because of the Savior, hope will always triumph. Thanks to Christ, our story doesn't end here. 

Mosiah 16:8-9:

 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. 

He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 66 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all! 

Another week down. I have thirteen other drafts sitting in my Gmail right now and yet again I just don't have the time to finish them all this week. I'm sorry! I'll get back to you soon! For now, here are some highlights from my week:

First off, here's a crazy cool miracle. Way back in December, my zone briefly did a pilot program in finding people to teach through Facebook. It had a lot of haters, but a few missionaries (you know who you are) were total social media finding champs until it eventually got shut down. I'll say I claimed the middle ground between those two haha. We did our due diligence but only ever ended up getting like three people to accept our friend requests so we could message them. One of them, a guy named Asher (last name omitted for privacy reasons,) we sent this nice lil video we made just for him the day after Christmas and despite all that effort he totally ghosted us. 

However!

Here we are sitting in a big missionary meeting called Zone Conference last Friday and we got on the topic of working with those who have recently converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to help them share His message with their family and friends and some Elders from a couple towns over piped up "yeah, ever since our buddy Asher ------ was baptized back in March, he's been totally awesome at sharing the Gospel with his friends" and I absolutely spewed my metaphorical hot chocolate. Completely by accident, I totally blurted out right in the middle of the meeting, "Did you just say Asher ------!?!?!? We messaged that guy on Facebook last Christmas! WHAT?!?"

Awkward.

Anyways...it really was him. Through what I am sure was nothing short of the whispering of the Holy Spirit and guidance of the hand of God, this guy we messaged one day after Christmas found his local Church meetinghouse all on his own and decided to just pull up to church one day. He met with the missionaries, learned and prayed about the message of the Restored Gospel, and chose to be baptized and confirmed into the Lord's fold. And get this - he's a Sunday School teacher now! God is real and good.

~

Other cool news:

- Our friend Luis told us after our last group Book of Mormon study, "Wow, going to the temple sounds so cool. I guess I've just gotta be baptized now." Attaboy, Luis.

- Marli's been real sick for the last few weeks. The doctors said she'll be better in a few weeks but she'll be out for at least a month. This is such a critical time in her conversion, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep her in your prayers.

- I'm becoming a plant dad again. Every time we knock the door of someone with a ton of plants and they're not interested, I ask them if they have any plants they don't really want and they've hooked me up almost every single time. In the last week alone, I've acquired a monstera, a Brazilian philo dendron, a spider plant, and a pot of marigolds. 

- For those of you who know what it is, go to Emotional Resilience class when you get the chance. If you don't, look it up. It is so inspired. 

~

General Conference is this weekend!

One of the most critical doctrines of Jesus Christ's Gospel is that He speaks to His disciples through His mouthpieces, the prophets (Amos 3:7,) and one of the most distinct beliefs of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that He still does so today. 

Members: please invite your friends to watch Conference with you! Think of the wonderful ways Christ could change someone's life because of your courageous invitation to them to act in faith.

Friends: If you're curious about what prophets and temples and priesthood and all that other fancy vocab I and my missionary friends often use, look no further than the source. If you want to see for yourself if God speaks to his people today, then "come and see."

~

Scripture of the week: Moses 6:53, 59-60

And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water?

...

 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; 

 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified.

~

Come and see:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/event/october-2024-general-conference

Love, 

Elder Rigby

Week 65 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all! I woke up feeling sicky today but at least it was pretty mild yesterday. Speaking of which, thank you all so much for the birthday wishes yesterday! My birthday was different but all the things that mattered were the same. 

Since I'm low on time, here's my week:

Thursday through Sunday: 

Boy, we fell out of the boat for a few days. I won't go into detail but it was a real hard few days for us. We're good now though. 

Anyways, party week:

Monday: 

We had two friends along to our church volleyball night! Plus, someone gave me a big ol' monstera plant when we were out knocking doors. 

Tuesday : 

we had exchanges with the Huntsville Elders! I went with my good friend Elder Dildine and had a great day. 20th birthday party part 1: eating hobo soup (made by the one and only Sister Cannon, my surrogate grandma from my very first area) with three other Elders at 8:30 at night in a frat-house-turned-church on a college campus in northwest Arkansas. Absolutely unreal vibe.

Today: 

P-day! Long story short, it was a good one. 20th birthday party part 2: Emotional Resilience class with the YSAs and a huge box of Nerds gummy clusters from my dad. Plus, I bought some Pokémon cards with all the coins we've found while knocking doors and one of my member friends gave me a plant. Good stuff. 

Tomorrow: 

Exchanges with Elder Illguth! He's basically Elder Foster but jacked. This will be our third exchange together but the last time was all the way back in Fort Smith like eight months ago so it'll be fun to work together again. 

Friday: Zone Conference! We'll be heading up to a big meeting with our mission leaders and a ton of other missionaries so that's gonna be awesome. 

Thought: DIY

I'm sorry y'all, I'm out of time this week. I want to share some things that describe my experiences with the Spirit and sharing Christ's love with others but I think it'll have to come in IKEA form tonight. Combine these three things and it'll give a good picture of what I've learned this week:

1) Mosiah 7:18: "an effectual struggle"

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/7?lang=eng

2) "BrokEn" by Coldplay

3) "Stay in the Boat and Hold On!" by Elder M. Russell Ballard

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/10/stay-in-the-boat-and-hold-on?lang=eng

Love you all! Friendly reminder: it's all true.

Love, 

Elder Rigby

PS After reading this again this morning, I realized I should probably add a note to give more context:

When I said "we fell out of the boat," I meant we had a hard few days physically, mentally, and spiritually, not that we experienced personal apostasy like Elder Ballard talks about at times in the message I linked at the bottom. I'm not perfect but I don't plan on leaving the Lord anytime soon.

John 6:67-69:

 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 

 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Week 64: The Anti-Scronk Initiative Inbox Oliver Rigby - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Phew, what a week.

♤ Feel like I gotta explain that title first so here's a random little factoid just for some worldbuilding. One of our members served his mission in Cleveland during COVID and doom-scrolling on Facebook became such a big problem throughout the mission that the Ohio missionaries renamed it "scronking" and began an inquisition that will forever go down in mission lore as "the Anti-Scronk Initiative." I just think the name sounds funny.

♡ I love being District Leader again! It's the best assignment ever. Every week, I get to call each companionship of missionaries in Fayetteville and the surrounding towns and check up on how they and their friends are doing and it's so fun to be close with them. Plus, every Monday I get a chance to lead out a district council meeting and plan some workshops with everyone. It makes me happy. 

◇ Holy cow, gameday was so intense. We spent like five hours walking around the stadium and campus inviting people to church and it was crazy. Here's a quick figure to put things in perspective: there are about 100,000 people in Fayetteville and the first UofA home game had about 70,000 attendees. 

Hm. 

Anyways, any streeting ideas or tips would be appreciated as always!

♧ All the missionaries in the Springdale zone took a trip to the temple today! Being able to go once every three months as a big group has become so special to me. If you have a temple near your home and you belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, I'd invite you to make an appointment for the temple right now. If you're not a member of the Church, I hope you're curious about how we connect with God and our families through temples! They're real neat. Check out this guided tour through the House of the Lord in Rome if you wanna see what it's like inside one:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2019-01-1000-two-apostles-lead-a-virtual-tour-of-the-rome-italy-temple?lang=eng

~

Songs of the week:

- "Altalenanze" by Stefano Barone

- "Early Autumn" by Ryo Fukui

- The new hymns that got released this week! Tell me your favorite hymn and I'll try to listen to it.

Cool sermon: Seeing God’s Family through the Overview Lens by Sister Tamara W. Runia

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/33runia?lang=eng

~

Thought: Symbols of Christ

 Symbols are those things tied with ideas and emotions used to convey thoughts and feelings that can't be well-expressed with words. Said Elder Bruce R. McConkie:

It is wholesome and proper to look for similitudes of Christ everywhere and to use them repeatedly in keeping him and his laws uppermost in our minds.

 I flipped open my Bible earlier this week and landed on Revelation 22, the very last chapter of the New Testament, and was struck by how many symbols the Lord uses when declaring His divine mission to His disciple, John the Revelator. Which of these symbols of the Lord and His redeeming power is your favorite?

 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 

 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 

 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Love,

Elder Rigby

p.s. Sorry I haven't responded to many emails lately! My last two Wednesdays have been way busy. I'll do my best to get back to you next week.

p.p.s. Dogs make me happy 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SqxuRlIKL0JnXwZg9GltpTdJbDBY0NuZ/view?usp=drivesdk

Week 63 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey everyone!

This week has been wild. We've had some high highs, some low lows, and plenty of in-between. This email's pretty long, but here are some of my thoughts:

High: Our friend Marli chose to be baptized! Getting to know her and her friend Tyson was awesome and seeing her testimony of Jesus Christ develop is such a privilege.

 Let me just tell ya, we saw some crazy opposition from the adversary in the hour leading up to her baptism. Just about everything that could have gone wrong in the hour leading up to her baptismal service went wrong, but the Lord always prevails and her service was powerful. She shared her testimony of Jesus Christ after receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit was there in force. 

Low: Full disclosure, this area has been pretty hard for me. I've really been humbled serving on such a big college campus and feeling my inadequacies has had me hurting a little. However, the I stand with the prophet Nephi in the very last verse of the very first chapter of the Book of Mormon: "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

 I've quoted this verse before and I'll quote it again because it's real. The tender mercies of the Lord are everywhere. In a brief conversation I had with my mission president last week, he told me that sometimes, even when we work hard, follow the commandments, and look to the Lord, He still sees fit to call us to wander through the wilderness. Judging by the scriptures, it seems like He does it pretty often with His people. 

A question I felt to bring to the Lord was, "I believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but how in the world am I supposed to apply it? How do I access the Lord's healing, strengthening power?" After some study and prayer, I was led to an answer in Mosiah 4:2:

And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.

Thought: "Be Thou an Example of the Believers" by President Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/be-thou-an-example-of-the-believers?lang=eng

We in the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days believe that God has called his mouthpieces the prophets (Amos 3:7,) upon whom the Lord builds His Church (Ephesians 2:19-20.) Our current prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, happened to have his one-hundredth birthday two days ago! Here's a story he told that I love:

Many years ago two colleagues of mine—a nurse and her doctor husband—asked me why I lived the way I did. I answered, “Because I know the Book of Mormon is true.” I let them borrow my copy of the book, inviting them to read it. A week later they returned my book with a polite “thanks a lot.”

 I responded, “What do you mean, thanks a lot? That’s a totally inappropriate response for one who has read this book. You didn’t read it, did you! Please take it back and read it; then I would like my book back.”

 Admitting that they had only turned its pages, they accepted my invitation. When they returned, they said tearfully, “We have read the Book of Mormon. We know it is true! We want to know more.” They learned more, and it was my privilege to baptize both of them.

This could be you. Your friends could have their entire lives changed because of two things: one, you lived with Jesus Christ at the very center of your life, and two, you took one uncomfortable moment to insist that your loved ones find out why. I promise you it's worth the chance. 

https://go.churchofjesuschrist.org/bookofmormonapp

Love,

Elder Rigby

Marli