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 72 - Fayetteville Arkansas

Hey everyone! 

I had an awkward twenty minutes of free time before P-day started and I could go back to sleep this morning so I figured I'd knock my email out early this time.

Me and Elder Wasden are literally just Timon and Pumba from The Lion King. I don't really know how else to describe it, so yeah, we're living it up. The work's going great and we had a lot of friends join us for church this week! Plus, both Elder Wasden and I were asked to speak in church this Sunday so it was perfect timing! I didn't think to record it but in short I based it off of the talk "It’s True, Isn’t It? Then What Else Matters?" by Elder Neil L. Andersen and talked about four things that matter most to me:

1) Jesus Christ was resurrected. 

2) The Two Great Commandments are the ultimate recipe for joy and spiritual survival. 

3) The beauty of God's creations are evidence that He is real and He loves us.

4) The Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored.

Here's that message from Elder Andersen:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2007/04/its-true-isn-t-it-then-what-else-matters?lang=eng

~

Other fun stuff that happened this week:

- Met a missionary who served in the Fayetteville YSA 33 years ago! 

- My old mission buddy Davy McKee is getting married to his longtime girlfriend next month! Bro can't wait until I get home smh >:(

- Elder Wasden's first name is Carter and I called him Carson nine times in one day on Sunday 

- A member tossed me a water bottle after church on Sunday and I tried to land it on my head and it totally exploded all over me right smack in the middle of the chapel  So much of being a missionary is just learning how to be in the most stupidly embarrassing situations 24/7 and just taking it like a champ haha. 

- One of my best pals is serving his mission in Peru right now and a past missionary companion of his pulled up to one of our YSA activities last week! What are the chances haha. It's a real small world in the Church, isn't it.

- My roommate Elder Thomsen found out one of the three keyboards in our apartment has a preprogrammed song bank

~

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

Song of the week: "Blue Ain't Your Color" by Keith Urban

Scripture of the week: Isaiah 58:3-12 - the true law of the fast

~

Love you all! So does God. 

- Elder Rigby

Week 71 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

*two fishes

Awkward typo when you teach out of the scriptures all day long 

Hey all!

Another week, another round of lessons learned, another short email.

 Nothing like tornadoes in November to give you writing material for your weekly email. We had *six* lessons to walk around the temple with our friends one at a time during a game night up in Bentonville but seeing as how there was a funnel cloud directly over UArk campus they decided to postpone the activity and the lessons until next week. Dang 'nadoes. 

Elder and Sister Bednar, global leaders of our church, gave amazing messages at a devotional broadcast for young adults on Sunday night! I've said it before, but they're pretty special to us here in Arkansas because Elder Bednar used to be a business professor at the college I'm serving at right now! Their message is very specifically focused on technology, the power of human agency, and the God-given opportunity to work and grow for ourselves. It's awesome.

 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/broadcasts/nov-worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults?lang=eng&mode=watch

 I love Ring Pops. Just thought you should know

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

Quote of the week: "My area of Arkansas is fancy Arkansas." - Elder Thomsen

Scripture of the week: 2 Samuel 24:24

"...Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing."

Please, reach out whenever you feel like it! I'm happy to hear from ya and I'll do my best to respond when I can. Love you all!

Elder Rigby

Week 70 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hey everyone!

I decided to take more time to respond to individual letters and emails today so this'll be super short. Elder Wasden and I are doing well here in Fayetteville and the work's progressing slow and steady. Unfortunately, we found out our one friend with a solid date for his baptism had some legal troubles and won't be able to be baptized for another year :/ but our other friends have been doing great! We bring five loaves and three fishes, and He does the rest.

Song of the week: "Bryn" by Vampire Weekend

Cool BYU devotional: "The Atonement of Jesus Christ, Judgment Day, and You" by

Jörg Klebingat. Elder Klebingat doesn't preach fire and brimstone, but he does shoot real straight. Personally, I thought his candor was refreshing. To me, this speech is a powerful sermon on "costly grace."

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jorg-klebingat/the-atonement-of-jesus-christ-judgment-day-and-you/

A suggestion:

Think through God's plan for you, then try counting the number of gifts He gives to us in it. I'm sure there are way more, but here are some that I came up with in a minute or two:

- The gift of life
- The gift of a body
- The gift of a loving family
- The gift of a Savior
- The gift of repentance and forgiveness

- The gift of freedom and agency

- The gift of the scriptures

- The gift of the Priesthood

- The gift of commandments

- The gift of a living prophet

- The gift of nature

- The gift of music

- The gift of friends

- The gift of prayer

- The gift of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

What gifts are you most grateful to God for? If you spend time to identify and write them down, your everyday life will become much, much more joyful.

Love,

Elder Rigby

Hardly took any pictures this week so this'll have to do

Week 68: Skim-friendly email - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all!

Short email this week. Elder Wasden and I are doing great and we're seeing some awesome miracles here at the University of Arkansas!

Fun stuff from this week:

- Got called to repentance with a Book of Mormon scripture by a friend we're teaching (2 Nephi 9:34)

- YSA members be like:

"Hey we're teaching your friend Byron downstairs" "What?? Byron's here?!?"

"Hey can we all come to your lesson on Wednesday? Your friend's so cool."

"Hey Elder Wasden, you get in the car too. I'll back you guys"

- We've been teaching quite a few friends here lately and it's been amazing. I think that Fayetteville YSA has become my favorite area I've served in yet. I have precious friends and memories from every single one of my areas, but this one is just such a blast.

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

~

We've got a big lesson tomorrow with a friend of ours. We've only known him for about a week and a half, but in that time he's come to two lessons, our Book of Mormon group study, and church and has perfectly kept every commitment we've given him. We have a ton in common, from our personalities to the way we think to the things we like, and we've clicked so well that I just can't help but wonder, "Was I called to this area specifically so that I'd be able to meet him?" I want so badly for him to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

So, if you're able, please pray for our friend Byron. He'll make such a wonderful member of the Lord's Church should he choose to seek for and act on that confirming witness from the Holy Spirit of the truth of Christ's restored gospel.

~

Thought: 無為 (mu-i)

"Seek Him with All Your Heart" by Bishop L. Todd Budge

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/45budge?lang=eng

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 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