Week 52: a haiku - Pierce City, Missouri

Unseen mosquito

Destroyed me while I played hymns

Begone, dumb insect

Hey all!

Technically it's a senryu but whatever. Seeing as how I've eaten eight cheeseburgers in the last two days, I think my diet has more room for improvement than my wording. 

~

 Aaaaaaaaanyways, hope you're all doing well! Here are some miracles from our week:

- Our friend Kent was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! He's an awesome guy and I'm happy to say that Pierce City Branch has embraced him wholeheartedly.

- We also got to head down to Bentonville with Kent and two other members for a departing devotional from our mission leaders, President and Sister Collins. Man, I'm really gonna miss them. On a brighter note, while we were there, Kent bore testimony of his conversion to a soon-to-be-baptized friend of a sister missionary I went to high school with! Shoutout to Sister Hale from Campo. 

- While on exchanges, Elder Wadsworth and I were blessed to meet a member family with eighteen children, fifteen of whom were adopted foster kids from high-profile trafficking and abuse cases. For privacy's sake I'll limit the details, but a brief conversation the mother of this special family taught me a whole lot about the true meaning of "Christ-like" love. And get this: one of their adopted daughters is about to leave on her mission! 

~

Friends to pray for:

- Norma: her wedding's this week and she's on date for baptism in July!

- Tilor: bad news is he got hit by a car and he's in a wheelchair for a while. Good news is he came to church anyways and brought his mom and sister too! Last Sunday was his mom's first time leaving the house in five years.

Back by popular demand, the songs of the week: 

"Brand New Colony" by The Postal Service

"Where Love Is" (General Conference 10/2021)

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/music-from-october-2021-general-conference/2021-10-where-love-is?lang=eng

Note: In my mission, we generally stick with hymns and music directly published/licensed by the Church. I throw a contemporary song or two in here every once in a while just cause they get stuck in my head, but for these two years it's hymns for me, baby. 

Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

~

Thought: "Small Acts of Service" by Spencer W. Kimball

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1974/12/small-acts-of-service?lang=eng

"Hell is frozen in self-pity." Service, on the other hand, is the ultimate defense against spiritual stagnation. God's commandments prevent human misery because, when we follow them, we turn outwards; we become instruments in Christ's hands to "clear a channel for the river of God's love."

“If we are not careful, we can be injured by the frostbite of frustration; we can be frozen in place by the chill of unmet expectations. To avoid this we must—just as we would with arctic coldness—keep moving, keep serving, and keep reaching out, so that our own immobility does not become our chief danger.”

So keep moving! Don't stop. Life is a race, but "taking a break" from daily personal prayer, daily study of the Book of Mormon, daily Christlike service to others is not like taking a water break. Don't take a breather from living your covenants. It could be spiritually fatal. 

 As in all things, Jesus Christ is our exemplar. His consistency of character throughout His life is a perfect example of how you and I can "live after the manner of happiness." We may not be perfect, but, thanks to our Savior and His Atonement, we can always be faithful. 

The Gospel works. Trust the process.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 48 - Monett, Missouri

 Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

Hey all!

Not a lot of time this week but I at least wanted to write something. This week has been a rollercoaster in so many ways. Here's some stuff we've been up to:

- MLC! Learned a ton from the powerful workshops from President and Sister Collins and the APs, then grubbed with some of the Monett vets at lunch. It's crazy how many missionaries I'm friends with that have served in my current area at some point or another. 

- Bentonville and Rogers got totally trashed by a tornado this week. It was so weird driving through my old area on the way to MLC and seeing trees down and wreckage everywhere. 

- Took the most gorgeous one-lane road through the Ozarks back to Monett from Bentonville and felt like I was on the Cars ride but it was actually real. W.

- Went back to that Church-member-owned trading card store and pulled this crazy hundred-dollar Pokémon card from a cheap booster pack. That one's not super spiritual, I know, but hey, it was a tender mercy. It counts.

- Went on an exchange with Elder Wasden, a missionary Elder Bigelow (one of my past companions) is training right now! He's such a cheerful, friendly guy. We had a great day together and I know he's gonna go far as a missionary.

~

Thought: why does God cut us down sometimes?

This is a video based off of one of my all-time favorite stories, "The Currant Bush." It's based off of Elder D. Todd Christofferson's April 2011 talk "'As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten"” which itself was based off of Elder Hugh B. Brown's BYU devotional entitled "God is the Gardener." Both messages are fantastic, and if you love this story then I'd invite you to study them both.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

God always delivers His people. Stick with Him until the end and you'll be so, so glad you did.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 45 - Monett, Missouri

 Hey all!

Week one in Missouri! 

~

 

Flashpoint: Monett is like a parallel-universe Bentonville. If Bentonville didn't have the insane cash flow it gets from Walmart, it would be Monett. Also, a solid one-third of the town speaks Spanish and we have no Spanish missionaries for forty-five minutes, so we'll take any creative ideas we can get for how we can help these folks receive the restored Gospel en español.

The fairest of them all: My new companion, Elder Fairchild, is a great guy. He's temperate and soft-spoken and we get along well. He's on his last transfer before he finishes his mission, so I'll be killing him off (mission slang) in five weeks. 

Duplex lords: man, we're spoiled here. For unknown reasons way too convenient for us to question, we two Elders get to live in a three-bedroom two-bathroom duplex directly across the street from our local church building. Shame we're never in it cause we're always out working 

That'll happen: well, apparently some kind of tornado or high winds blew past a quarter mile away from us today. From what we've heard so far, the worst of it in our town was a few trees knocked down and a clean hole punched in the local McDonald's sign, but it sounds like some other areas got hit pretty hard. 

Victory for the dodgeball boys : good news - all three of the teenagers we'd been bringing to youth night in Fort Smith are getting baptized this Saturday! Please pray for them as they're preparing to make this special promise with God. 

~

Thought: The Sabbath Day.

Following last week's theme of promising blessings, I took a page out of Elder Shields' book and made a quick list of the blessings God promises us for keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Here's what I found in a few minutes:

"Make the Sabbath a delight," and you will...

(Isaiah 58:14)

- delight yourself in the Lord

- be caused to ride upon the high places of the earth

- be fed with the heritage of Jacob thy father

(Doctrine and Covenants 59:13)

- experience fuller joy

- be more fully kept unspotted from the world

(Preach My Gospel: a Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ)

- feel joy and peace

- be spiritually nourished

- be physically refreshed

- feel closer to God

- build a deeper relationship with the Savior

(3 Nephi 18:12)

- be built upon His rock

(Doctrine and Covenants 59:16-21)

- receive the fulness of the earth

~

In conclusion, come to church. Look for Jesus Christ there. Also, please invite all your friends to come with you. I promise it will always be worth it.

~

Song of the Week: I follow the missionary music standards, but thinking up a song that I liked back home every week is starting to get a little distracting. I'm probably gonna discontinue this one for consecration's sake.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

~

Love you all! God is real and good.

- Elder Rigby

Week 44 - Fort Smith, Arkansas

 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. 

~

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. 

~

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:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2011-03-0071-elijah-and-the-widow-of-zarephath?lang=eng

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.

~

Songs of the week:

"His Eye is on the Sparrow" sung by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/music/music-from-april-2024-general-conference/2024-04-his-eye-is-on-the-sparrow?lang=eng

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

Cool devotionals/sermons:

"Illuminated Stories" by Robert T. Barrett. 

If you like art, check this one out. It's super cool. 

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/robert-barrett/illuminated-stories/

"The Inconvenient Messiah" by Patricia and Jeffrey R. Holland

"Yes, but not this way."

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-and-patricia-t-holland/inconvenient-messiah/

~

Love you all! Jesus Christ is real. His Gospel really works.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 32: Viktor Krum - Fort Smith, Arkansas

"Short haircut" < "Bulgarian Quidditch fade"

Hey all!

Well, it's 10:20 and I'm hitting writer's block already, so I'll probably end up scheduling this to send tomorrow morning. This week might not be as polished as I'd like it to be, but I hope it still gives you a picture of life as a missionary for Christ.

~

- A family I taught with Elder Kemp in Bentonville, the Juarez-Andrianos, got baptized last week! 

- I gave a 15-minute talk on 15-minute notice last Sacrament meeting. Fun stuff.

- Transfers! Elder Bigelow (my main companion) is going to Cassville, MO and Elder Smythe (my Spanish Zone Leader companion) is going to Springdale, AR, so I'll be hitting the streets of Fort Smith and Barling, AR with Elder Keller starting this Friday. I hear he's quiet but hardworking, experienced, and very obedient, so I'm looking forward to learning from him. 

- I went on a bunch of exchanges with other missionaries this week: 

1) Elder Fife, AP: quiet, relaxed, skillful, and consecrated. We went searching for Marshallese families to teach for hours with no luck, but we had a great time and even got some free Gatorade

2) Elder Miller, DL: a kind missionary who's finishing his two years just a couple of days from now. His smile is even bigger than his muscles. 

3) Elder Illguth, Elder Miller's trainee: the Arkansas Bentonville Mission's resident polar bear. Hails from the small town of North Pole, Alaska. We went finding in this one neighborhood and a little dog there went door-to-door with us for a solid hour and a half.

Throw in Elder Bigelow, Elder Smythe, and soon Elder Keller and I'll have served with six different missionaries in one week. Social butterfly status achieved. 

~

Song of the week: "Kyoto" by Phoebe Bridgers

~

Thoughts: oof it's 10:50

1) How should I measure success as a missionary?

"Wrestling with Comparisons" by J.B. Haws

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/j-b-haws/wrestling-with-comparisons/

2) How can I deal with faith-shaking questions?

"Stand Forever" by Lawrence E. Corbridge

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/lawrence-e-corbridge/stand-for-ever/

~

Well, I have a favor to ask before I wrap this up that I'd really appreciate your help with. 

This area has a lot of potential and I have the feeling I'm about to get a very good companion. The adversary sees this and is going to be working overtime to try and break us down this transfer, but that opposition simply will not matter if we go in the strength of the Lord. So, if y'all wouldn't mind, would you pray for us here in the Fort Smith Zone, please?

The power of prayer is real. I know that when we reach out to God in faith, He will always be there.

2 Nephi 32:8-9

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/32?lang=eng

~

Love you all! Your support means the world to me. As always, if there's anything I can help with while I'm down South, just let me know.

- Elder Rigby

Elder Fife

Also Elder Fife

Dog we tracted with for an hour and a half

Neinei's baptism 2.8.24

Elder Illguth from North Pole, Alaska

Elder Miller

"Stand Forever" by Lawrence E. Corbridge (BYU Devotional)

More Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

Week 27: Tracting Heaven - Fort Smith, Arkansas

 It just got so real.

Hey all!

Well, it's been six months and I've finally arrived in the real Arkansas. Fort Smith is a city to be reckoned with. I'm short-ish on time or I would go in do visceral detail, but suffice to say it reminds me of an oversized frontier settlement with lots of drugs and lots of Jesus. Super humble, super fruitful, and suuuuuuper ghetto... this area is the missionary equivalent of free-play mode. The Fort Smith First Ward boundary alone contains four companionships of missionaries, two English and two Spanish, including both Zone Leader companionships and the STLs. We have yet to bump into other missionaries while out on patrol yet, but the proximity is pretty fun. 

 I miss Bentonville a lot more than I thought I would. The fantastic members, the home-cooked meals every night, the convenient distance of virtually everything and everyone, the general niceness of the whole place, and, of course, the Bentonville Temple, were all something special. That said, I can't wait to learn and grow from my time with Elder Bigelow, Elder Smythe, and all the other folks down here.

~

The Fort Smith missionaries are, in a word, tough. It may be more rough around the edges down here, but they're full of faith and they work hard.

Elder Bigelow: a physics-defying perpetual motion machine of spiritual momentum. This guy has infinite faith as long as you keep him from getting hangry. Having to rein my companion in is a much better problem to have than having to drag my companion along, though. Plus, we have a lot more in common than I have with my past companions, so while my social battery drains fast with him some days and we don't always see eye-to-eye on how to approach the work, I'm very much looking forward to getting to see miracles with him this transfer.

Elder Smythe: the de facto captain of the Fort Smith Zone. Call it Fort Smythe. This guy's a powerhouse who's served longer than all three of the other missionaries in our zone leadership combined. With the weird split companionships for the Zone Leaders here, it kind of feels like I'm in a part-time ZL apprenticeship to him. Elder Bigelow and I serve together for 90% of the time and the other 10% consists of Elder Smythe showing me the ropes of planning zone calls, MLC meetings, exchanges, and the other vaguely bureaucratic responsibilities of the calling. 

~

 P-day continues to be a nice eye in the storm. I think Tuesdays might be my favorite, though, because something about looking forward to P-day is honestly more invigorating than the prep time itself. But today was pretty nice. We started off with a slow morning, then bartered for provisions at the local saloon (Walmart) and hit the trail for the church. We played volleyball and basketball and shot the breeze with the zone for a while until I snuck off to go play the piano for an hour or two and call my family. Then, I rounded off the day by starting my Spirited Away lego set with Elder Moon, a missionary in my zone who serves up north a ways. After P-day ended, the highlight of our evening was being able to give a priesthood blessing to our friend Robert, a soldier in the Army and a recent convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of about a year who had gotten in a serious car crash.

~

Thought: Mormon 9. 

 Moroni is one of my favorite prophets. According to my religion professor last year, he's generally a more timid author. He seems to prefer to quote other prophets and often expresses feelings of inadequacy as an author and prophet (see Mormon 9:31 and Ether 12,) but other times he boldly and powerfully testifies of the divinity of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In Mormon 9, Moroni offers a direct rebuttal to two groups: one, those do not believe in Christ, and two, believers who have lost their faith in modern miracles. He also throws in a summary of the entire Plan of Salvation in verses 11-14 just for kicks. 

 I'd been struggling with feeling like I have enough faith to see miracles in my own life, particularly the miracle of seeing conversion in another evidenced by the sacred covenant of baptism, but through this chapter, God gave me a revelatory answer to a question I didn't even realize I had. As He so often loves to do, Heavenly Father uses the sacred words of the holy scriptures as means whereby he can answer our prayers with a voice clear as day. 

 If you have a question, take it to God and read the Book of Mormon for yourself. Say a prayer, then read until your answer comes. I promise you it will happen as you act in faith. I offer no timetable, as that comes down to the Lord's own will, but I can promise in the words of Christ Himself that "[He] will not leave you comfortless. [He] will come to you." (John 14:18)

Want a place to start? Read Moroni's advice for seeing miracles in modern life here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/morm/9?lang=eng

~

 To all my friends and family who I've been horribly inconsistent at writing back to, thanks for being patient with me and thank you so much for writing in the first place. Your outreach reminds me that God loves me, and that means the world to me. 

Song of the week: "Belle" by Jack Johnson. 

That's all for this week! I love you all a whole lot.

Take care and Happy New Year!

Elder Rigby

The Pursers + me with a croissant in my mouth

Brother Cannon (Corvette guy)

Sister Cannon

Luis (our first convert)

100% my fault

The Arkansas River

Tofu masterpiece

The world's largest

Fort Smith Zone

Tracting heaven. Also way too many yellow dots

My old area for reference

More Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

Week 26: Sushi Haus - Bentonville, Arkansas

 Das Sushi war großartig. 

Well, Christmas has come and gone and it was...different. I was a little lonely being away from my family for the holidays for the first time in my life, but at the same time, this Christmas has been the most Christ-centered Christmas in my life, and knowing that makes the sacrifice worth it this year.

I'm low on time yet again so this one won't be as polished, but I haven't written much about the random stuff that happens to us Arkansas missionaries lately, so I might just dump some bullet points from my phone journal and get back to packing. 

Speaking of packing...transfer calls came in this morning! Sure enough, I'm not long for Bentonville, y'all. 

I don't know how to build up suspense on an email without way too much fluffy writing so I'll just cut to the chase:

Bentonville First Ward, District Leader. Companion: Elder Kemp

                                     I

                                    V

Fort Smith First Ward, Zone Leader.

Companion: Elder Bigelow

But that's not all, folks. The Fort Smith First Ward also covers a young single adult congregation and the two areas are shared jointly between we Elders and the Fort Smith STLs (sister missionaries in leadership roles.) In addition, the other Zone Leader isn't even in my companionship; he's over the Spanish congregation with a trainee to boot. 

In short, I'll be in a new area with a new companion doing a new kind of missionary work in a new leadership role in the downtown of both the biggest and southernmost city in our mission's part of Arkansas. 

Those Legos I got for Christmas are going to work wonders as stress relief. 

~

Jokes aside, I'm grateful God has trusted me with this increased responsibility and I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow from this time. Plus, I've already met my new companion, Elder Bigelow, before, and he seemed pretty cool. I was roommates with his last companion for a bit, and man, I love that guy. And the other Zone Leader in Fort Smith, Elder Smythe, is known throughout the mission for being faithful, genuine, and extremely hardworking. I'm going to learn a whole lot from them in the coming months. 

~

Stuff from the last two weeks:

Taco Bell Doordash fiasco and the triumphant return of the Double-Decker Taco

Elder Kemp tracting in the rain on crutches (see Google Photos)

Actually productive morning: woke up and ran around the block, showered and got ready, played piano for 20 minutes, opened my Lego advent calendar, made some breakfast, planned District Council, and did some personal study with my new PMG manual 

Gave out free hot cocoa at the Bentonville Square with some ward members

I have like a year's worth of candy

Ate five tostadas at the Juarezes. Worth

Remember Jim, the hotel mogul living in Spain who referred himself after he singlehandedly taught himself 90% of the key doctrines of the Church? Well, he immediately got hit by a drunk driver driving from the airport to his new house the night he got here. No joke. He's alive and should recover, but Satan knew he couldn't shake this guy so he just sent a straight-up hitman to take him out. Naturally, his baptism had to get delayed, but he'll get there eventually. 

"If you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plan."

~~~~~~~~~

Dad got hit and run by a car immediately after he and our dog Charlie got stalked by a coyote through a farm field. Once again, no joke. Very fortunately, they got off much easier than Jim and neither of them were injured when at least one of them probably should have been seriously injured or killed. I'm not really sure how to process that one so I'll just leave it as is. 

Joined a game at the Bentonville Library chess club to try and strike up a conversation but unfortunately, I got absolutely smoked. No Book of Mormons were handed out in the five minutes before I was checkmated, unfortunately. 

Found an Action Bible in a thrift store. The Old Testament makes a great comic book story.

Ondré: Driving to a random building in an apartment complex with no objective led to us getting a second chance with a guy we had shied away from trying to teach the first time we met him. 100% actual miracle in my book. God is a God of second chances. 

Someone sent me Studio Ghibli legos AHHHHHH (update: it was my parents. They are awesome)

Talked to a guy we used to teach and he taught us the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. Good to know. 

I wanna build a missionary tree fort in the woods on pday if I'm ever transferred to the boonies. I'll leave my mark on this mission somehow. 

Baked a ton of cookies on Christmas Eve. First batch was meh, second batch was 

"My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." - Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Cronins' Christmas family tradition: singing at least one verse of all the Christmas hymns in the hymnbook. It made me happy. 

T-bone steak, Christmas hymns, and surprise presents at the Cronins' for Christmas Eve dinner. They bought us UofA merch and cool new ties cause they're awesome. These are the same folks who baked me a birthday cake too. 

Christmas morning call with my family was nice. 

Christmas dinner with the whole Bayles family. Equally awesome as the Cronins.

First snow on my mission 12/27/23

Lotsa piano practice on pday

Got sushi with the Bentonville STLs and two of their recent converts at Sushi House earlier tonight. Check it out if you're ever in Bentonville. It was so good that I bought a Sushi House t-shirt.

~

Song of the week: Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. It's a good rainy day song. 

~

I wish it wasn't 11:09pm so I could actually take some time to write a fully developed spiritual thought, but it is. By the way, if anyone has advice for time management, specifically procrastination, it would be very much appreciated. I kinda need some help with that. 

Either way, I don't want to send out an email about being a missionary without trying to use this letter as a missionary opportunity, so as for a thought, I would hearken back to the fact that every time I read the Book of Mormon and learn more about the life and teachings of my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His servants, I feel better. 

Christmas morning was great this year, but the foreboding no-man's-land of Christmas afternoon after visiting with the other missionaries at lunch and before going to the Bayleses for dinner had me pretty down in the dumps. I hadn't put on the armor of God (i.e. hadn't read the scriptures; see Ephesians 6:11-17) and I could acutely feel my spiritual vulnerability. So, after District Council ended and the rest of the missionaries left, I asked my companion if we could do a quick companion study. He said yes, and we read Alma chapter 34, where Amulek teaches of the eternal plan of salvation through repentance and faith on the Savior. My testimony today is that doing so made me feel better. I felt closer to God and strengthened in my weakness, and I knew that somewhere inside me, a hole that I hadn't noticed until that moment had been filled in with the love of God. 

If you'd like to read or listen to the chapter we read, here's a link:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/34?lang=eng

~

Welp, gotta go pack. Hope you're all doing well and Happy New Year!

Elder Rigby

My new address will be:

2700 Tulsa St, Apartment 3, Fort Smith, AR 72901

Ghibli legos

Nether portal

Pwuken

Pohnpeian Book of Mormon

Exchange pic feat. double decker taco

Lunch

Sushi House

More Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7