Week 73 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Wow, I totally didn't finish one of my thoughts last week. That random tangent about a keyboard with a song bank that I wrote about in my previous email was supposed to lead somewhere but that thought's gone now so oh well. 

~

November 20th, 2024

Hey everyone! 

Closing time here at the UofA. Transfer news came today and I'll be heading up to Anderson, Missouri with Elder Perry this Friday! Boy, this is bittersweet. I've had a lot of ups and downs in Fayetteville but I really think it's been my favorite area I've served in so far. It's gonna be weird going from a city of 100,000+ to a few scattered towns of under 2,000 each but the Lord has need of me there and I'm ready for some miracles.

 There are too many of you to shout out individually, but to all my friends in Fayetteville, you've changed my life. Thank you. 

Woo pig forever! 

My new address is 506 Tracy St, Anderson, MO 64831

~

Some fun stuff from this week:

- Happy six months to my last comp Elder Foster! Ya done good, son. 

- We exchanged with the Marshallese Elders up in Springdale for a day and I got to work with the Marshallese people with Elder Condie! It was a super cool experience. They're so fun and they have so much love. We did a stop smoking workshop with one couple and found another girl who wants to come along to church with Elder Wasden and his new companion down in Fayetteville! 

 

- Experienced a new dimension of spicy suffering after downing ⅔ of a can of ghost pepper chili cause it was the only food I brought to Springdale. Just...Just don't do what I did. Don't even buy it. It ain't worth it 

- There are 100% definitely house elves in the institute building. We were alone in the church tonight with both doors locked and left for an hour and when we got back somehow there were five new bottles of Gatorade and a 12-pack of soda that I'm certain weren't there when we left. +

~

Here's my Google Photos album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

Cool speech: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/j-ty-hopkins/lessons-on-endurance/

~

Thought: Revelation 3:19-21

 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Taking correction is hard. I've had a couple of moments this week where I felt really chastised and had to fight to keep my pride at bay. From my experience, the urge to snap back a defensive retort, justify my actions, and deny my weaknesses was oh so tempting, but this time, the Spirit brought a scripture to my mind and it gave me pause. 

 I took out my phone, looked it up, and found Revelation 3:19 to be what the Spirit put into my mind. What's more, the next two verses contained an interesting promise from the Lord Himself:

 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 

 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

 We know from 2 Nephi 26:24 in the Book of Mormon that the Lord does nothing unintentionally. So, to my understanding, the Lord seems to link receiving chastisement well and repenting humbly with receiving Him into one's heart. As we see in Mosiah 3:19, those who "put off the natural man" by doing so are promised to become "[saints] through the atonement of Christ the Lord". To me, it all seemed to boil down to one question that came into my mind:

When I am faced with the choice between my pride and my Savior, which will I choose?

Isaiah 57:15:

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Love, 

Elder Rigby

Week 67 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hey all!

I think I've felt every single emotion this week. Like, the whole color wheel. From General Conference to transfer news to crazy lessons my own lovely demons, I'm just all outta feels, man.

♤ Transfers! So long, Elder Foster. It's been a good ride. He's heading up to Stockton, MO and I'll be staying in the YSA and serving with Elder Wasden! I've served near him before and he's a real cheery guy. 

♧ Crazy lessons! We taught our first lesson to an atheist dude who was just so full of questions and he and totally I ADHD'ed out so hard while Elder Foster sat there and looked at us like we were crazy, which was a fair assumption. The best part was that when we told him that General Conference was that weekend, he basically said "Wait, your prophet is speaking in two days?? I'm watching that for sure." ("Chyesss!" - Ignacio)

◇ Rough weekend. 'Nuff said for now. Thank goodness that Christ is always there for us in our dark times.

♡ General Conference! All of the speakers were outstanding and I was so fired up and ready to share the Gospel by the time it ended haha. The Saturday evening session was probably my favorite. I'm so thankful for prophets of God and the chance we have to come to know the Savior better through their words. 

☆ Went on a hike for P-day today at Devil's Den State Park and man, Arkansas is criminally underrated. This place is gorgeous. Check out some pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sk1refRidSszyYk7

○ Want a cool statistic? Numbers aren't everything, of course, but check this out: last year, 25,000 students attended high school seminary with their friends in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and 9,000 of them chose to be baptized and confirmed - over one-third. The math says that if three of your friends come to Seminary with you, statistically speaking, one of them will choose to join the Lord's fold. If you and your classmates each brought just one friend to seminary per quarter, you'd double your class size in less than a school year. 

Song of the week: "Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground" by Coldplay

~

Thought: The Triumph of Hope by Neil L. Andersen

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/12andersen?lang=eng

What better way to hear the news?

Elder Andersen was the first speaker in this year's October Generall Conference, and in it, he talked all about his grand-nephew, Trey. The funny thing is, we were actually in the same ward at BYU! Lived on the same floor and everything. He was a pretty quiet dude, but I recognized him instantly. It made me so happy to see him up on the screen and even happier to hear he'd gotten accepted to the BYU accounting program and even planned to serve a full-time mission! ...And then Elder Andersen told more of his story. 

 Honestly, I didn't know him super well despite having gone to church with him every Sunday for two semesters, but something about the idea that one of the guys I chatted with in the hall a year and a half ago just isn't alive anymore hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm assuming a lot of us from the 122nd ward found out last weekend, too, and while everyone deals with loss differently, it probably wasn't easy to process for many of us. 

But I'll say it again: what better way to hear the news? A living Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ was inspired to use Trey's story to teach the eternal truth that because of the Savior, hope will always triumph. Thanks to Christ, our story doesn't end here. 

Mosiah 16:8-9:

 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. 

He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 61 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 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.

~

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. 

~

Super cool talk! Give it a listen:

Following Up by Elder M. Russell Ballard

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/04/following-up?lang=eng

Song of the week: Children's hymnbook page 76, "This Is My Beloved Son" (April 2009) 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/music-from-april-2020-general-conference/2020-04-this-is-my-beloved-son?lang=eng

~

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

Week 60: #1 Loon Fan - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hey everyone,

This week was pretty eventful! I'm gonna do some bullet points this time so my word count isn't in the ten thousands.

Spiritual

- Surprise exchanges with Elder Smythe and Elder Shields, the traveling missionaries! Elder Smythe, my 3.5th companion, goes home this Saturday. I'm gonna miss him. 

- Interviews with President Hathaway! I really trust him as my leader. He's a man of God.

- We set up a free lemonade stand on campus with the senior missionaries and a Chinese exchange student they met came to church on Sunday! He's a super nice guy whose uncle told him to join a Christian church and we're happy to help with that. 

- Got Bible-bashed like five times (three in one day on Thursday ) and dodged a few more. Not fun, would not recommend. But seeing as how Jesus Christ is the most controversial figure in the history of the world, go figure that His true gospel is controversial too. 

- In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the focus of our Sunday meetings is around an observance instituted by Jesus Christ and known as the Sacrament (aka the Lord's Supper, the Holy Communion/Eucharist, etc.) and I had the opportunity to pass it to the congregation last week. The building was packed to the point that we used all of our trays and ended up being just one cup short, the one that would have been for me. It was sooooo hard to keep a straight face walking all the way to the back of the room, grabbing one single Sacrament cup, filling it up, walking all the way back, and saying the blessing on the water all over again, but all laughs aside it was actually a powerful testament to the fact that Jesus Christ's gospel is a gospel of leaving the ninety and nine for the one. 

- Our friend from the Rogers sister missionaries is doing amazing. She is so cool. Her baptism date is September 8th and we had another lesson with her tonight!

- Knocked a guy's door and he opened and said something like "I talked to you two a week ago and I'm just gonna tell you organized religion has been starting wars and killing people since like the 1300's." And we were like "Yeah man, we totally agree. That's why we need modern prophets to restore Jesus Christ's original church back to the earth." And he was like "Hmmmm... let's meet for coffee sometime." One thing led to another and we taught him and his wife on Monday and they're so cool. Now they're coming to a handoff lesson at the church with the family missionaries on Friday 

-  Campus contacting while school is in session is insane. There are just so. many. people. I usually didn't have any problem talking with everyone but as the amount of people we've talked to has gone from a drinking fountain to a fire hose I've started to see the limits of my social battery. However, I've also seen a bunch of tender mercy pick-me-ups showing me that the Lord is aware of my shortcomings. My two favorites were a miraculous spur-of-the-moment church tour with a girl we met on campus two days ago and an awesome exchange with my zone leader Élder Crim yesterday.

Fun

- Did some yoga 

- Bought a drink cup with a snack lid for five bucks and put pistachios in it. Legendary purchase

- Had six Elders in our apartment for five days in a row because theirs was getting sprayed for mold. We threw a birthday party for Elder Peterson with the ZLs  

- There's a K-dog place in Fayetteville let's go!!!!! I've eaten three Korean corn dogs in the last week. 

- Totally sliced my finger open cutting a bagel with a butter knife. We live in a fallen world I guess. 

- Talked to a Japanese guy on campus and he was holding three of the same T-shirt so we asked where he got them and he was just like "here you go, you can have them" even though we were 90% sure he definitely got them for himself. Dang Nihonjin are too polite. 俺はどろぼうになったようだね。

- Saw a sticker that said "Hug a loon" with a little drawing of a loon (the bird) next to it. If anyone knows the deeper meaning of this, please clue me in. I've gotta know. 

- Songs that got stuck in my head this week: "Cat" by C418 and "Dog" also by C418. Give em a listen for me if you can 

Thought

Alma 15:18

Alma 17:1-2

"Brother" by NeedToBreathe

Brother let me be your shelter 

I'll never leave you all alone 

I can be the one you call 

When you're low, oh

Brother let me be your fortress 

When the night winds are driving on 

Be the one to light the way 

Bring you home, oh

Homie check: if you're on this email list, I care about you. Jesus Christ is the strength of parents, youth, children, families, and friends. If you need to talk, let's talk sometime.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 59 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all!

Happy fourteenth birthday, Marin! You're so awesome. Also, happy anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Rigby! Gilbert folks, wish my cool little sister happy birthday today for me please!

 This week we had the opportunity to start teaching a friend from the Rogers YSA missionaries who's preparing to be baptized in the next few weeks! She is so solid. Her lessons have been some of the most spiritual teaching opportunities of my whole mission. It's such a blessing to be able to be a part of her conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'm sure there's more to write about but I'm not in a super wordy mood this week. The music standards just got updated in our mission, though, so here's some good Christian songs we heard on the radio this week:

- "Brother" by NeedToBreathe

- "Still Rolling Stones" by Lauren Daigle

- "Have I Done Any Good?" by Alex Boyé. This one's actually from the Sacred Music app so every missionary can listen to its absolutely crazy intro

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

~

Thought: For the Strength of Youth

About two years ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published a revised version of "For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices." This book is amazing. By using principles of Christlike discipleship rather than enumerated standards, it simultaneously teaches three us things: 

1) Jesus Christ is the way to eternal joy.

2) You are a beloved spirit child of God.

3) Your Father in Heaven trusts you.

Missionaries: use it in teaching! We found it to be especially powerful when teaching our friends about the Ten Commandments (which are conveniently included in the back of the book.)

Family and friends: give it a read! This book came from a living prophet and apostles of Jesus Christ. If they truly are who they say they are, then the value of their words is immeasurable. 

See for yourself!

For the Strength of Youth

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/for-the-strength-of-youth?lang=eng

The Book of Mormon

https://go.churchofjesuschrist.org/bookofmormonapp

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 58 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all!

 Another week down. This week was tiring and I've been feeling pretty out of juice lately, but the tender mercies of the Lord always contrast better against a dark backdrop. Instead of a big spiritual thought today, I'll just share some of those bright spots:

1) We accidentally knocked the door a guy who was a member of our local family congregation and he let us right in for a quick visit, and for some reason felt prompted to do a practice run with him on a lesson we teach on the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. About halfway through the lesson, his mom came downstairs and joined in, and when it ended and we asked if they knew anyone the missionaries could teach, the mom said "y'know, maybe it's time for me to take the lessons again." 

OH. 

So that's why Heavenly Father wanted us to teach a lesson to a guy who'd already heard it. She wasn't even a member of our church. God knows His children a whole lot better than we do.

2) We've spent a lot more time lately looking for people to teach by going to public places and talking to everyone and let me just say man, being real with people is difficult sometimes. I often used to mask my real personality behind my "Chick-Fil-A Employee" persona I kept from my time working at the Church of the Chicken, but now, through prayer and work, I feel like I'm finally able to talk to anyone and everyone as myself, Elder Oliver Rigby. It feels good. Plus, school's starting up again and we're about to be on campus on the daily soon, so God's timing is just right as always. 

3) We were out tracting at like 8:45 and we met a couple who at first seemed uninterested, but somehow we just discerned that he had served in the military judging off the way he carried himself. We decided to just send it and ask, and sure enough, he was an ex-Marine who went to boot camp at Camp Pendleton, a military base with one end at the yearly Rigby family reunion spot and the other at my childhood hometown of Murrieta, CA! After that conversation, they were way more interested and now they're down to have the family missionaries over tomorrow and come to their church on Sunday! Plus, we found a cool college grad who wants to come to our study like 30 seconds later haha. Miracle night.

4) Okay, last miracle: Kenneth Rooks, a returned missionary and former BYU runner, just took silver in men's 3000m steeplechase! I LOVE the Olympics. They're so so so cool. So seeing a returned missionary and faithful disciple of Christ absolutely destroy in the Olympics like that is just incredible. 

~

Scripture of the week: Moroni 7:27-32

Songs of the Week: 

- "Romantic Warrior" by Return to Forever

- "Campus" by Vampire Weekend

~

Wow, that was a lot. If you're skimming through this, suffice to say that cool stuff happened this week. God is real and good.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Week 57 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all!

Wowowow a lot has happened this week and it's way more than I have time to cover, but here goes:

 Elder Foster, my companion, is such a good kid. We've already had experiences together in just our first week that have firmly convinced me that God prepared us to be companions with each other. My last time training a young missionary was at a tough time in my mission, so I see this time as a second chance. This transfer is special to me. The Fayetteville YSA ain't gonna know what hit 'em 

 Speaking of Fayetteville...holy cow, this city is gorgeous. I don't have many pictures but I'll just say that it's awesome here. It's built right into the forest all nestled in the big, rolling Ozark hills in a way I haven't seen in any of my other areas. Plus, the whole area around UofA campus is super nice and new and there's tons of murals and art everywhere. If you don't mind the trademark Southern heat and a completely brand-new species of insect just springing into existence every single week, then this place is totally the spot.

 A couple more cool miracles:

 An Elder who gave his mission farewell talk in church my very first Sunday in the field and whose family I know super well just referred one of his friends to us and now she and two of her friends are coming to our institute scripture study tomorrow!

 Plus, we followed a prompting Elder Foster had to tract (i.e. knock doors and share messages about Christ at) a few buildings in our own apartment complex and we ended up finding some cool new people who said they'd come to institute too!

Please pray for our friends!

- Mattie

- Freddy

- Matt

~

Thought: Hymn #108 "The Lord Is My Shepherd"

Well, looks like I'm out of time this week. I absolutely love deep-diving into different teachings of and about the Savior, but I guess those things don't always have to be complicated to ring true.

When I played this hymn on the piano today, I felt the Spirit. Here's my favorite verse:

Thru the valley and shadow of death though I stray, 

Since thou art my Guardian, no evil I fear.

Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay.

No harm can befall with my Comforter near. 

No harm can befall with my Comforter near.

Music that praises God and Jesus Christ brings me light, peace, and joy, especially when I can share it with others. If you play an instrument, I invite you to magnify your God-given talent and learn a hymn to play for someone else. I promise you'll be glad you did.

Love, 

Elder Rigby

Week 56: Perspective - Pierce City, Missouri

 Hey everyone!

Another week! This email's coming out a little late for various reasons, so sorry about that. 

Here's three highlights and one long story:

1) Norma chose to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! She's amazing and the wonderful members of the Pierce City Branch have been there for her every step of the way. Now we're teaching her 21-year-old son Freddy!

2) Remember our friend who came to our church open house last week? Well, we had a lesson with her and a member family where we built a campfire and roasted s'mores on her little dairy farm in the country and it was just great. Good times.

3) Transfers! Guys, it's a crazy one. This time around, I'll be heading from out in the Missouri countryside straight to the Fayetteville YSA (young single adult congregation) to finish Elder Foster's training! I'm uber-super-duper excited. This is gonna be a complete 180 from the kind of missionary work I've done before and I'm gonna be 110% out of my comfort zone. Also, the Fayetteville YSA is the student ward for the University of Arkansas, the college where where Elder David A. Bednar taught as a business professor! 

GO HOGS 

My new address is 1072 S Sports Fan Dr Apartment 102, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

Songs of the week:

"Meadowlarks" by Fleet Foxes

"Sunflower" by Vampire Weekend

Quote of the week: "Satan don't kick no dead dogs."

~

Okay. if you're low on time, feel free to stop here. I won't feel bad if you don't want to read an epistle this week. But, if you've got the time and you want to know what's really been on my mind lately, read on. 

~

Storytime:

Among others, two especially interesting things happened in the last two weeks. 

 First, a first-world tragedy. I went on exchanges with an Elder and past roommate who I used to really not get along with. Although we've since reconciled, I was really dreading this exchange and I just knew it was gonna be soooo awkward the whole way through. Fortunately, though, it turned out I was wrong. Reconnecting with him was actually an awesome opportunity to rebuild some bridges and we had a great day together. 

 Here's the kicker, though: as soon as we started talking about stuff back home, this dude totally spoiled my favorite TV show. 

 Man, I loved that series. Before my mission, I watched every episode multiple times, read every weekly comic release like clockwork, and feasted on every McDonald's promotional dipping sauce they dared to put on the menu. I was a supernerd, and some of you who know me well know that I absolutely cannot stand spoilers one bit. So, when one offhanded comment led to one fell swoop of horrifying realization, a small piece of my dweeb heart went up in flames.

"Wow, Elder Rigby, dramatic much?"

Yup. 

...

Onto exhibit number two! I share this with permission.

About two weeks ago, my sister Hazel went up to visit a friend's cabin in northern Arizona. In order to get there she would need to drive part of the three-hour trop along a precarious canyon road by herself, but she felt confident that she could make the trip alright. Hazel made it to the cabin and had a great time there for a few days, then hopped in the Jeep and started back home.

The first leg of the drive was pretty uneventful from what I heard, but when she reached the Salt River Canyon again, something was different. Although she felt no fear driving this road, she received a clear, strong impression that she needed to stop, turn the car around, and drive back to the cabin right that instant. So, though she was probably a little confused and a little embarrassed to see her friends again after she'd already left once, she listened and obeyed.

 Upon reaching the canyon again, this time in a convoy with her friends, the reason for her prompting became starkly clear: a massive collision had occured. Multiple cars, multiple semi trucks, multiple fatalities—just down the road from where she was told to stop, turn the car around, and drive back to the cabin. 

 

 My little sister has made promises with God and she lives them to the fullest. That day, the faithfulness and devotion with which she had walked the path of Christian discipleship enabled her to receive critically important spiritual guidance from He who is our loving Father in Heaven.

...

So, what do these two things have to do with each other?

By itself, the first experience was petty suffering. Nothing more, nothing less. It really did stink to have my favorite TV show spoiled, but God let it happen for a reason and that's that. 

 The second experience, though...the Lord used the second experience to grant me the gift of perspective. Through these two events, He taught with clarity what really really matters and what really doesn't. I consider it one of the great blessings of my mission that Christ chose to protect my sister rather than protecting my television. 

Romans 8:28:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Love,

Elder Rigby

Norma's Baptism