Elder Oliver Rigby: Week 28: Down South

Hey all!

Back at it again. Fort Smith is, as I've said before, the real deal. It's just so "Arkansas." Something interesting about this place is that even though it's super ghetto, the city doesn't feel particular dangerous. A *lot* of people here are super poor, but most of them are pretty chill and almost everyone loves Jesus in some Southern way, shape, or form. It's nice.

Another fun thing about Fort Smith: there are a ton of stray dogs and cats that just hang out everywhere. Some of the big dogs make me nervous, but most of the strays here are down to just hang out and follow you around for a bit if you pet them. It's really endearing, actually. But don't pet the scary ones.

We just got off the phone with our buddy Aaron, so I'm not starting this until late and I've gotta get to bed soon. I usually end up taking more time than I plan to on my spiritual thoughts, so tonight I'll go a little lighter on what happened this week and just take stuff straight from my journal entries:

Thursday: slashed our "people we're teaching" pool in half during our weekly planning session, spent hours tracting in the beautiful weather, and taught our ward mission leader's foster son Jacob in their beautiful home full of musical instruments.

Friday: learned "Wet Hands" from Minecraft from memory, visited our hospitalized soldier friend Robert again before he got transferred to Savannah, and knocked a super sketchy neighborhood (including one house with a bullet hole in the front window )

Saturday: successfully cracked four eggs in a row at breakfast (new personal best,) got a full Southern Bible sermon from a guy named Walter, and played my first hymn in front of an audience, "Silent Night," as a special request from a little girl being baptized by the sister missionaries in our ward.

Sunday: our brotha Bobby showed up to church and he was awesome. He has real Gospel soul. My mental was all over the place that afternoon, but I felt better after we decided to venture across the border to Oklahoma and knock doors there cod the evening. Being "out" is usually good for my head.

Monday: tracted all day in the rain and found four people to teach in one apartment complex, befriended a stray dog (see photos,) coddled the tamagotchi my buddy Elder Anderson sent me from back home, and made some blueberry jam from the eleven cartons of blueberries a Marshallese family gave our roommates.

Tuesday: mañana es P-day. Elder Bigelow and I really just endured today. Most of our lessons fell through, but we still got to some hear cool stories from Brother Fair, the member who accompanied us to two of those ill-fated lessons. You'd never guess that unassuming old man was an Army Force Ranger and an undercover customs agent back in the day. Besides that, we taught Jacob again, this time about temples and families. I'm starting to really love that kid.

Wednesday: worked on my Legos with Elder Bigelow, bought some frozen dinners and ramune at Walmart, played ultimate frisbee at the church, and practiced a ton of piano yet again. Went out to eat for at least the fifth time this week (I do not feel good,) then got a call from Aaron where he basically just taught himself the answer to all his questions he had for us.

"Can I get a copy of the Book of Mormon and come to church? I want to see if I feel the Spirit when I try it for myself."

"It seems like we should really be more united as Christians, but we're not because of all these denominations. It's like someone's trying to mislead us."

"I read two more Book of Mormon chapters after the one you gave me, and it seems like you believe we can only be saved in and through Jesus Christ. I agree with that."

- Aaron

I love this guy.

Song of the week: "Feathers" by Early Eyes

Teaching Jacob last night reminded me of a goal God inspired me to make last year, one that played a major factor in me being on a mission today. When I was at BYU last year, my grandparents served in the Provo temple just across the campus every Thursday afternoon. Going into my second semester, I decided I wanted to see my Grandma and Grandpa in the House of the Lord every single week, so I did my very best to make it every single week. No matter my spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical state, I strived to always be worthy to enter that holy house, be near my family, and serve my Savior come Thursday. I want to testify that doing so changed my life.

I do not know all the answers. I have unresolved questions that I'm still working on. Some things in life I just don't get.

But!

Three things I do know:

1) Jesus Christ and His Atonement are real.

2) The Book of Mormon is the word of God.

3) My life got better when I started visiting Grandpa and Grandma in the temple.

Faith would be useless if we had all the answers.

God, however, in His matchless love and mercy, will always give us enough to get by.

Moroni 7:48:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

My invitation to my friends who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: go to the temple every week. If you don't have a recommend, prayerfully make a goal with the Lord to get one. You will come to know the Savior as you serve there.

My invitation for my friends who aren't members, but still read this far and may be wondering what in the world I'm going on about: watch this cool tour of one of our temples in Rome, Italy: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2019-01-1000-two-apostles-lead-a-virtual-tour-of-the-rome-italy-temple?lang=eng

Well, that all turned out to be pretty long anyways. Whoops. Well, hopefully this email did its job and brightened your day a little. Love you all!

Elder Rigby