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

Week 62 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hey all!

I'm low on time so I'll jump straight into the week:

Mo Money Monett strikes again:

 Back in April, Elder Fairchild and I met and taught a sixteen-year-old boy named Tilor in Monett, Missouri. We didn't know how things would turn out with him after Elder Fairchild finished his mission and I got transferred to Pierce City, but...

 Flash forward to Monday and we got a call from the sister missionaries in Monett that Tilor had chosen to be baptized on Wednesday! It absolutely made my day to hear the news. We watched his baptism and confirmation over Zoom last night and wow, it was such a special experience. Plus, I got to say hi to some old mission buddies who went home a few transfers ago (shoutout to my boys Ryan and Brigham!)

 Tilor's had a hard, hard life, but he is so full of charity to his family and loved ones. His choice to follow God and love His children despite all the opposition in his life is sure evidence to me that Lord always comes through.

Transfers: 

I'll be staying in the Fayetteville YSA (UArk college congregation) for another transfer with good ol' Elder Foster so we'll both still be here for our friend Marli's baptism this Sunday!

Razorbacks International: 

One of our friends we're teaching recently came to America from China and speaks mostly Mandarin but lucky for us, my pal Sister Fugal knows Mandarin and she and my other pal Sister Holding just happened to be down here in Fayetteville all the way from Lake Ozark, Missouri exactly when we were hoping to teach our friend. They popped in for the lesson and it was so cool getting to feel the Spirit even when I had absolutely zero idea what either of them were saying. Good stuff 

Canine therapy: 

Charlie will always be the #1 goodest boy but Lupe the chocolate lab makes a good substitute. We have dinner with an older couple in the family congregation every Monday and let me tell ya, there's not much that makes me happier than getting to pet a labrador.

A favor: 

One of my buddies from the Fayetteville YSA named Harrison just left on his mission to the Philippines this week and has been having a pretty hard time his first few days in the MTC. Would you all be willing to keep him in your prayers please? He's an awesome guy and one of my good friends, so I'd really appreciate it.

~

Song of the week: "Ebon Coast" by Andy Mckee

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

Give it a read: Doctrine and Covenants 67

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/67?lang=eng

Scripture of the week: Micah 6:8

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

~

 I felt the Holy Spirit in all these experiences and I hope you did too as you read about them. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving a mission for my Savior. I promise you that as you choose to make and keep covenants with Jesus Christ that you will always be able to feel what the Paul called "the peace of God...which passeth all understanding."

Love, 

Elder Rigby

Elder Fairchild and Tilor

The Lake Ozark Sisters and us after our lesson with Zhilin

Week 61 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all!

Another week, another email. My time in Fayetteville's been flying by. Only a week and a half until one of our friends is baptized on September 8th! Here's some stuff that happened in the last week:

- Our friends who didn't like organized religion went to church with the family missionaries on Sunday >:)

- My friend Harrison gave his mission farewell message in church last Sunday! He talked all about the power of service and the parallels between serving others at the food bank (which we did with him every Tuesday) and serving others in the temple. In both places, we help real people in need overcome real trials as we do as our Savior Jesus Christ would.

- Mission tour! Two members of the Seventy, Elder Christensen and Elder Buckner (global leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,) came to our mission for a few days and we got to hear from them and our mission leaders yesterday! Elder Christensen led the meeting and we had an awesome discussion all about the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the importance of helping others receive His gift for us through baptism and confirmation. 

- For P-day today we hit the driving range, played some pool at the Institute building, and FINALLY got haircuts. Good stuff.

~

Storytime:

 I got a really nice watch from my parents last Christmas and I totally lost it right before I left Fort Smith back in April. I prayed so hard and we spent hours looking for it everywhere with zero luck and the clearest answer I got was that it simply wasn't the Lord's will that I find it then. 

Fast-forward to our mission tour yesterday and I saw an Elder wearing a watch just like mine and told him I liked it and used to have one too and he was like, "Thanks man, I found it at the church in Fort Smith a month or two ago and nobody ever claimed it. It's pretty nice, right?" 

...

...and now I have my watch back! Shoutout to Élder Anderson for taking good care of it the last couple months. He's awesome. 

~

Super cool talk! Give it a listen:

Following Up by Elder M. Russell Ballard

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/04/following-up?lang=eng

Song of the week: Children's hymnbook page 76, "This Is My Beloved Son" (April 2009) 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/music-from-april-2020-general-conference/2020-04-this-is-my-beloved-son?lang=eng

~

Thought: Elder Olsen's Ten Minutes of Prayer

 Elder Olsen is just about the nicest guy you'd ever meet. He's a total teddy bear, which is ironic seeing as how he's built like a grizzly. We served near each other when I was in Monett, Missouri earlier in the summer and he once told me of a way he planned to improve his relationship with God: he'd go to his closet, set a timer, and spend ten minutes with Heavenly Father in sincere vocal prayer.

 That idea immediately stood out to me as an inspired one. As you've probably seen from my past emails, I absolutely love the idea of building a personal relationship with God and with Jesus Christ; quality time is definitely one of my love languages. In my eyes, one of the best ways you can build a relationship with someone is by spending real, meaningful time with them.

 I decided to take Elder Olsen's goal and try it for myself and I want to testify that it has quickly become my favorite ten minutes of every day. As I have changed my focus from checking the "I prayed tonight" box off my list to spending ten minutes of pure one-on-one time with God, the eternal truth that He is our loving Heavenly Father has become more certain to me than ever before.

 If you want a deeper relationship with God, I invite you to find a quiet place and spend ten minutes praying out loud to Him. It may be a challenge at first, but it just might change your life. With that kind of "if," don't you think it's worth a shot?

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 60: #1 Loon Fan - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hey everyone,

This week was pretty eventful! I'm gonna do some bullet points this time so my word count isn't in the ten thousands.

Spiritual

- Surprise exchanges with Elder Smythe and Elder Shields, the traveling missionaries! Elder Smythe, my 3.5th companion, goes home this Saturday. I'm gonna miss him. 

- Interviews with President Hathaway! I really trust him as my leader. He's a man of God.

- We set up a free lemonade stand on campus with the senior missionaries and a Chinese exchange student they met came to church on Sunday! He's a super nice guy whose uncle told him to join a Christian church and we're happy to help with that. 

- Got Bible-bashed like five times (three in one day on Thursday ) and dodged a few more. Not fun, would not recommend. But seeing as how Jesus Christ is the most controversial figure in the history of the world, go figure that His true gospel is controversial too. 

- In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the focus of our Sunday meetings is around an observance instituted by Jesus Christ and known as the Sacrament (aka the Lord's Supper, the Holy Communion/Eucharist, etc.) and I had the opportunity to pass it to the congregation last week. The building was packed to the point that we used all of our trays and ended up being just one cup short, the one that would have been for me. It was sooooo hard to keep a straight face walking all the way to the back of the room, grabbing one single Sacrament cup, filling it up, walking all the way back, and saying the blessing on the water all over again, but all laughs aside it was actually a powerful testament to the fact that Jesus Christ's gospel is a gospel of leaving the ninety and nine for the one. 

- Our friend from the Rogers sister missionaries is doing amazing. She is so cool. Her baptism date is September 8th and we had another lesson with her tonight!

- Knocked a guy's door and he opened and said something like "I talked to you two a week ago and I'm just gonna tell you organized religion has been starting wars and killing people since like the 1300's." And we were like "Yeah man, we totally agree. That's why we need modern prophets to restore Jesus Christ's original church back to the earth." And he was like "Hmmmm... let's meet for coffee sometime." One thing led to another and we taught him and his wife on Monday and they're so cool. Now they're coming to a handoff lesson at the church with the family missionaries on Friday 

-  Campus contacting while school is in session is insane. There are just so. many. people. I usually didn't have any problem talking with everyone but as the amount of people we've talked to has gone from a drinking fountain to a fire hose I've started to see the limits of my social battery. However, I've also seen a bunch of tender mercy pick-me-ups showing me that the Lord is aware of my shortcomings. My two favorites were a miraculous spur-of-the-moment church tour with a girl we met on campus two days ago and an awesome exchange with my zone leader Élder Crim yesterday.

Fun

- Did some yoga 

- Bought a drink cup with a snack lid for five bucks and put pistachios in it. Legendary purchase

- Had six Elders in our apartment for five days in a row because theirs was getting sprayed for mold. We threw a birthday party for Elder Peterson with the ZLs  

- There's a K-dog place in Fayetteville let's go!!!!! I've eaten three Korean corn dogs in the last week. 

- Totally sliced my finger open cutting a bagel with a butter knife. We live in a fallen world I guess. 

- Talked to a Japanese guy on campus and he was holding three of the same T-shirt so we asked where he got them and he was just like "here you go, you can have them" even though we were 90% sure he definitely got them for himself. Dang Nihonjin are too polite. 俺はどろぼうになったようだね。

- Saw a sticker that said "Hug a loon" with a little drawing of a loon (the bird) next to it. If anyone knows the deeper meaning of this, please clue me in. I've gotta know. 

- Songs that got stuck in my head this week: "Cat" by C418 and "Dog" also by C418. Give em a listen for me if you can 

Thought

Alma 15:18

Alma 17:1-2

"Brother" by NeedToBreathe

Brother let me be your shelter 

I'll never leave you all alone 

I can be the one you call 

When you're low, oh

Brother let me be your fortress 

When the night winds are driving on 

Be the one to light the way 

Bring you home, oh

Homie check: if you're on this email list, I care about you. Jesus Christ is the strength of parents, youth, children, families, and friends. If you need to talk, let's talk sometime.

Love,

Elder Rigby