Hey all!
Sorry for no email last week! I'll be better at knocking them out sooner from here on out.
I'm just getting back from a two-day trip from Bentonville for exchanges with the Assistants to the President (APs) and then an all-day leadership council meeting. Sounds kinda boring if you're not a missionary but I promise it was a great time. We also find out transfer news tomorrow so I'll update this when we find out.
*Update: I'll be heading to the Monett Zone, Monette Ward in Missouri with Elder Fairchild! Also, shoutout to my trainer Elder Ceb for being the new AP!
Monett is the smallest zone in the whole mission population-wise with under 150,000 people spread across eight areas compared to 102,000 people in my last area alone, so this is gonna be a big change for me. I know it's God's will that I serve there, though, and I have faith that there are some amazing people waiting for the Gospel in Monett. I choose to make this the best area of my mission.
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Stuff I did this week:
- Drove a brand spankin' new (nine miles on the odometer) 2024 Nissan Rogue a hundred miles through the boonies between Bentonville and Fort Smith and both of our phones died on the way 
- Highlights from my exchange with Elder Shields: met a Ukrainian CSGO player who wanted to come to church and a Muslim dude I taught at a park in Bentonville six months ago, taught the absolute craziest lesson that I 100% cannot write about here, and met a Pohnpeian girl who wants to get baptized and just happens to be cousins with a boy we baptized in Bentonville! Fun stuff.
- MLC! Big focuses of this month's mission leadership conference were promising blessings after every invitation we give and improving our council times. We set a new mission record for baptisms this month and set a goal of 100 baptisms in June (WOOOOOO LET'S GO ABM) to send off President and Sister Collins and welcome in President and Sister Hathaway.
- Hung out by the storm shelter for half an hour after a tornado touched down twenty miles south of Fort Smith a few nights ago. Not sure why people live where a giant whirlwind can just pop out of nowhere and launch them to Alberda, but whatever.
- Said goodbye to a few members I'm tight with here ;/. The last people I talked to tonight were some of the Deacons (11-13 y/o boys) who I'd passed the Sacrament with for the last four months and who are like my . One of them, Grant, looked me in the eyes and said "You are a good missionary." It made my day.
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Thought:
I spent at least an hour today trying to come up with a good way to summarize this BYU Devotional I loved called "The Inconvenient Messiah," but nothing I wrote felt quite right. After saying a prayer about it, this is what I came up with:
1 Kings 17:8-24: The Widow of Zerephath
Consider the true weight of a blessing promised by a prophet of God.
What blessings were the widow promised?
How did she have to exercise faith in order to receive these promised blessings?
This video impacted me when I watched it this week. I'd recommend starting from Elijah and the widow's conversation about halfway through:
As a representative of Jesus Christ, I have the privilege of being able to promise blessings in His name. I promise you that you will never regret following Jesus Christ. No matter the decision, I promise that you will always be glad you chose Him.
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Songs of the week:
"His Eye is on the Sparrow" sung by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square
Cool devotionals/sermons:
"Illuminated Stories" by Robert T. Barrett.
If you like art, check this one out. It's super cool.
"The Inconvenient Messiah" by Patricia and Jeffrey R. Holland
"Yes, but not this way."
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Love you all! Jesus Christ is real. His Gospel really works.
Love,
Elder Rigby
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