"Dang, I didn't know Mormons were actually cool."
- guy we found last week
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Hey all!
This week was a lot better. Thanks for the prayers as always! They work.
Things are looking up in our area right now as we've found a bunch of cool new friends, taught some good lessons, and reaffirmed another friend's baptismal date for the 20th! Elder Handley really is an awesome companion to have. We have very complimentary skills, so we build up and strengthen each other's weaknesses well.
The Fourth of July was pretty sweet here! Let me tell ya, they go all out in the boonies on the Fourth. We heard fireworks every night for at least five days. On Independence Day itself we had an awesome dinner with some elderly members deep in the boonies and they showed us their equatorial guineas (weird dino chickens,) beehives, and soon-to-be-occupied bat cages in exchange for us pouring some diesel into their tractor for them. After that, we headed into town and wandered the streets looking for people lighting off mortars in their yard so we could invite them to come to a church tour.
We saw too many miracles to count this week, but one theme I saw throughout is that we always just happened to be show up at exactly the right time that our friends were best prepared to receive the Savior's message. I'll recap a few really quick:
♤ We felt prompted to go stand in line at a food truck at a community concert even though we weren't hungry and the family in front of us happened to be members who bought us food and the family behind us happened to be super good friends with some other members we know in Pierce City! What's more, the next day one of the senior missionaries told us to go visit a lady at this antique shop (that happened to be 500 feet away when he called) and she turned out to be the mom of the same family we met at the food truck the night before! Promptings from the Spirit are funny like that.
♡ The Spirit told us to knock some of our current friends' houses even though we knew they probably weren't home and their adult son answered. We talked for a bit and he ended up coming to our chapel tour that same day, then came to church with his mom on Sunday, and now he's praying about baptism!
♧ A dude just randomly showed up to church last week and we totally missed him because there were a bunch of unfamiliar faces due to both a baby blessing happening and a returned missionary giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting. A member noticed him just chilling there though, so we were ready this week. He's a recovering addict who's almost done with rehab and looking to strengthen his faith and His grandpa's RLDS so he figured he'd try the Book of Mormon. There's no RLDS churches for at least an hour, though, so he decided to just come to ours 
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Click here for a video of the dino chickens:
Song of the week: "Mansard Roof" by Vampire Weekend
Cool video of the Bonner Family's conversion story:
Friends to pray for (please:)
- Norma, Freddy, and their family
- Anthony and Adriana
- Wade
- Brysten
- Kent
- The missionaries of the Monett Zone! We've set a goal of five baptisms this month and know that your faith and prayers will help us.
Who/what should I pray for this week? Let me know and I'll do it!
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Thought: Mormon 5:17-18
"They were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father.
"But now, behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is, so are they."
These verses may be a little gloomy, but Mormon (the guy the Book of Mormon is named after) uses a powerful analogy here to illustrate the invaluable blessings that come simply from following the Good Shepherd.
Elder Dale G. Renlund expounds upon Mormon's analogy of the sailing vessel in his BYU Speech "Constructing Spiritual Stability:"
"Without Christ, we are driven like a vessel tossed about upon the waves. We have no power because we have no sail. We have no stability, especially in times of storm, because we have no anchor. We have no direction or purpose because we don’t have anything with which to steer."
When we faithfully and prayerfully give Him our heartfelt all, Jesus Christ will bless us with power, stability, direction, and purpose. He is our shepherd and our captain! Do everything you can put yourself in a place where you can hear His voice, then listen to Him and do as He says. He will guide you through troubled waters.
Love,
Elder Rigby
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