Hey all!
Yesterday marked exactly three months until my departure date. I wasn't really expecting this, but these last few miles of the race are really taking all my stamina haha. It's funny that at the start of my mission I was all energy and lackin' in experience, but now I'm all experience and lackin' in energy. Still out working hard though. We saw some awesome miracles this week.
I wrote an absolute ton here, so feel free to skim. TL:DR God's been introducing us to some cool folks here in Miami.
Marvin: A dignified 80-year-old Christian brother who referred himself to the missionaries through our website comeuntochrist.org. His wife of 57 years passed away a couple years back and he was super lonely and spiritually, but he remembered how his brother and sister-in-law who joined the Church of Jesus Christ as young adults had always been all-in their faith and, after sixty years or so of simmering, decided it was finally time to see what their faith was all about.
We gave him a tour of the church the next day, and he was absolutely full of questions about where his wife was and what she was doing on the other side after we showed him a video of the Rome, Italy temple tour! And, just for good measure, the Lord set it all up so that there just happened to be a group of eight awesome members doing a scripture study in the church together and we were able to set him up with them before we left! I can seriously see him joining the Church very soon.
Floyd and Michael: Floyd is a young guy just a couple of months older than me who has been looking to "get right with God again". He referred himself about a month ago, but he works evenings and the last missionaries couldn't get in contact with him. He referred himself again last week, and it turns out that his sister who he lives with was best friends with a member of the Church as a kid and put in a good word for us!
We taught him and his younger brother Michael about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel of Christ, and just on a whim felt prompted to mention that it's a testament that the ancient Native Americans were visited by Christ. He responded, "Funny you say that...Michael and I are both Native American from two different tribes. I really want to read this book now."
Needless to say, they're doing exactly that and loving it. We've since handed them off to the Joplin YSA branch (young single adult) sister missionaries, so we're praying that they have a great time there tomorrow night for institute and this Sunday for church!
Jennifer: You guessed it: another media referral. Jennifer's been studying the Book of Mormon with us for a few weeks now and finally joined us for church the first time on Sunday, which she loved. Her daughter's playing in the junior college basketball nationals right now, so that's pretty neat. More on her soon!
Have I mentioned yet that I absolutely love media referrals? comeuntochrist.org is just the best. Check it out after reading this and see if the Lord inspires you to share it with someone you know!
Hazel: The lovely 96-year-old mother of one of our fairly recent converts named Jim. She's hard of hearing and going blind, but she still has rock-solid faith and has noticed the way the restored gospel has changed her son over the last four years, so when she had a falling-out with her old church, she decided it was time to give his a look.
We taught her about the Word of Wisdom on Sunday and she immediately promised us, without us even inviting her to do so, that she would not drink a single cup of coffee for the next seven days until she joins us in church this week. If she likes church and can stand being without coffee, she said she'll be done for good. It's incredible to see that a lady who's lived for almost one hundred years is so humble and willing to change her life when God witnesses truth to her. We love Hazel! Please pray for her that she will love church and that she'll feel prepared to accept our baptism invitation soon.
Dominique: A sister who called out to us as we walked out of the apartment building and said that she was a member of the Church! Dominique and her husband stopped attending her old ward in central California after some kind of congregation gerrymandering drama but still had a strong testimony of the Lord and wanted to come back again. She told us her stories of rescuing people from the California wildfires as a humanitarian worker, then how they almost died racing three tornadoes to their grandchildren's house, then how upon leaving the tornado shelter she watched the family cow get struck by lightning, then how she restored her husband's memory by feeding him his favorite meal of steak and Coca-Cola after he went loopy from congestive heart failure, congestive kidney failure, and sepsis.
All of this was said over the course of fifteen minutes with absolutely no pauses between her sentences. It was wild. Anyways they're joining us in church this Sunday 
~
I want to shout out all the people who have sent me packages or other mail throughout the mission: you all are so kind! Because of you, I've reached a milestone: I now have infinite candy for the rest of my life! Because of that, I'm happy to say I'm all good on candy and snacks for now. If you do feel inclined to send mail beyond a letter or card, it would be greatly appreciated if it's something small I'd be able to fit in my suitcase for when I fly home in three months. Thanks!
Air Force update: after gathering some info and talking with current/past servicemen and servicewomen, it seems like the program I've been looking for is the HPSP (Health Professions Scholarship Program). Upon being accepted to the program, a branch of the armed forces will pay for your grad/doctoral school in exchange for committing to around two to four years of service in your profession for that branch. That's going to be a decision for at least three years down the road, but if you know anyone who was part of this program, I'd still love to talk to them. Thanks again!
Song of the week: "Nearer, My God to Thee" by Gerald Causse and Nicolas Giusti
This devotional is amazing! Coach Kalani Sitake of the (very successful as of late) BYU football team shares how your attitude makes all the difference in God's plan. 10/10!
Join for cheeseburger bombs: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7
Coming soon to an album near you: We were visited by Elder and Sister Renlund this week! Being able to hear from one of the Lord's twelve Apostles and his wife was such a gift. I took eighteen pages of shorthand notes on my memo pad 
so I'm still transcribing them into my journal. To spare myself hours of writing and spare you even more scrolling through this email, I've decided I'm just going to post my notes on my Google Photos once I get them all neat and organized.
so I'm still transcribing them into my journal. To spare myself hours of writing and spare you even more scrolling through this email, I've decided I'm just going to post my notes on my Google Photos once I get them all neat and organized. Love you all! I'm still slow at responding to emails and letters sometimes, but I'll get back to you soon.
- Elder Rigby
1) The Ringwoods' visit
2) The Renlunds' visit
3) zoom church > video games
(weird flex Rigby but okay)
I've been waiting like three weeks to write this one haha. Back in Anderson, we visited a nice member family with a fancy house out in the boonies of the boonies. We expected a pretty chill visit because they're more on the quiet side, but NOPE. We walked in and their dogs went absolutely ballistic, which is apparently pretty normal. They're both rescues, and not only that, one of them was a Pittweiler. Pitbull + Rottweiler. Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh that thing was so scary holy cow. If we made the slightest move it would flip out, so we had to hold perfectly still while teaching or else. It was like teaching a shark while holding an armed grenade. Anyways they were a nice family 
️