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.
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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.
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Super cool talk! Give it a listen:
Following Up by Elder M. Russell Ballard
Song of the week: Children's hymnbook page 76, "This Is My Beloved Son" (April 2009)
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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
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