Week 100: One in Three - Miami, Oklahoma

 Four Sundays left...

Hey all!

Well, first things first, I totally wrecked my ankle playing volleyball today haha. It's not broken and I'm not coming home early, but unfortunately I can't do normal missionary work on it right now. Prayers would be appreciated, thanks 

Life's been pretty wild in general this week. Four of our most promising friends—our miracle family from the farmer's market and a cool guy who was on date for baptism next month—all decided they weren't quite ready to live the word of wisdom and decided to stop meeting with us. We're on good terms with all of them still, though, and the lady we first talked to at the market asked if they could keep their copies of the Book of Mormon because they would join as a family or not at all but she was still really interested in studying it! They'll come around all in due time. 

On the bright side, some super cool friends of ours who were taking a little to warm up started coming through this week! 

Please pray for:

- Matthew

- Zeke

- Brent and Shelby (especially Shelby, she's having a difficult recovery right now)

- Andy

- Cindy, Ray, and Tim

~~~~~~~~~~

One awesome sermon I heard this week that I couldn't wait to share with you is called "Choice and Commitment" by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Twelve. He had some great insights on becoming better at making decisions and at choosing to follow the Savior, Jesus Christ. Here's a link:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/broadcasts/worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults/2020/01/12christofferson?lang=eng

~~~~~~~~~~

(Forgive my formatting these next few paragraphs, I ran out of time haha)

If you're between the ages of 13 and 35, please check out this article about the power of inviting friends to seminary and institute! I'm so pumped that the Lord inspired leaders in the Church with an initiative like this. Check out this excerpt from the article:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/youth-young-adults-asked-to-invite-a-friend-to-seminary-institute

Right now, over 800,000 youth and young adults around the world are enrolled in seminary or institute. Even better—more than 60,000 of them are friends not of our faith! And here’s the amazing part: One in three of these friends chooses baptism—often because they feel a real sense of belonging, peace, and community as they grow closer to Jesus Christ.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband reminded us in the April 2025 general conference:

“They are a mighty battalion, gaining strength from each other as they learn of Jesus Christ, follow, and testify of Him as the Son of God.”

The Church just launched the Invite a Friend to seminary or institute initiative—and it's all about simple invitations that open big doors. Here’s how you can join in.

As you feel prompted by the Spirit:

• Think about inviting your friends or contacts to join seminary or institute.
• Encourage members in your area to do the same.

In seminary and institute, your friends will find a place to feel the Spirit, learn about Jesus Christ, and develop lasting relationships.

One of my good friends from Fayetteville joined the church because of the seminary program. This is for real. Imagine if out of all the people you ever invited to seminary or institute, only one of them came to know and accept the truths our loving Father in Heaven so desperately wanted them to know. 

So says the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants section 18:

13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

Love y'all! See you at home soon.

Elder Rigby

Week 75 - Andersen, Missouri

 Hey all! 

 Another week in the sticks 

I'm starting to really love this place. The pace sure is different from Fayetteville and the UofA but the folks are just so kind and humble and the sulphur in the water here really spices up normally boring activities like brushing my teeth, showering, drinking water, etc.

I don't have a whole lot of time tonight so I'll keep this one short, but even if I can't write all of them, rest assured that something bizarre and/or wonderful happens to the missionaries in Anderson every single day.

 This week, I/we... 

 - ate two Thanksgiving dinners with only an hour in between them 

- found a cool millipede in the basement. 10/10 would recommend basement millipede-watching

- played guess the body part with Pohnpeian mystery barbecue. Think I got an elbow

- found out that I lived with my current companion Elder Perry's cousin, who's also named Elder Perry, in Bentonville almost exactly a year ago! 

- started working with an awesome younger couple named, the Lionhearts, to streamline our ward records and visit lost members of the fold who might not have had contact with the Church for a while. I don't really know how to describe how awesome they are. Both of them converted to the Church 6 and 12 years ago, respectively, and have been an absolute power couple since they got married a year ago. Plus, their chocolate lab Aslan is a nice stand-in for Charlie too (you're still #1 Charlie don't worry)

- finished the Book of Mormon again! As always, please try it for yourself and ask God. He will never lead you wrong. 

~

Song of the week: "Here I Am Again" by Luz Ysabelle Cuevas (see Sacred Music app) 

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

Check out this awesome nativity video called "The Christ Child"! It's definitely worth a watch: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/light-the-world/2019-09-0050-the-christ-child-a-nativity-story-lighttheworld-1080p?lang=eng

Scripture of the week: Moroni 10:7-19

~

Cool story:

 Last night, we decided to stop at the gas station called Casey's to buy some drinks on the way to the church building and casually struck up a conversation with a nice young couple while in line–nothing super gospel-related, just about the best flavor of Naked Juice and how Casey's apparently considers beef to be a viable pizza topping–and I introduced myself as a missionary and pointed to my tag...which I then realized was on the sweater I was wearing underneath my jacket. Whoops. Accidentally went undercover for a minute there. Well, now that the cat was out of the bag we talked for a few seconds more and they went to buy their beef pizzas and that was it. 

...Or so we thought. 

 Flash forward to later that evening and we're meeting with the Lionhearts again and Sister Lionheart offhandedly mentions that her friend who wants to start coming back to church more will be joining us for dinner this Saturday with her boyfriend/husband(?) who isn't a member of the Church and she just happened to have the same unusual name as the girl from the couple we'd talked to at the gas station. We asked what her 

boyfriend-husband-man-dude's name was and sure enough, we'd talked to them not two hours earlier. The Lord prompted us to open our mouths in the most unlikely of places and when we did, we unknowingly made friends with the people we're hopefully going to start teaching in a few days! God is real and good.

Love you all!

- Elder Rigby

(Elder Perry and Brother William, one of our awesome Pohnpeian members)

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 69 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

16 months! I'm officially two-thirds of the way through my mission. I've been procrastinating this email all day so it's about time to get this thing done.

♤ Man, our friend Byron is so cool. We've been blessed with a lot of friends to teach lately, but teaching him has been extra special. We taught him God's plan over the course of two lessons and I think it was the best Plan of Redemption lesson I've been involved in my whole mission. It was awesome. He's searching for truth he told us himself that "if I find that this really is Jesus Christ's true Church then I will immediately be baptized." All we could ask for. 

♡ Our new members here are amazing!! Seriously, they're the most consistent and involved in the Gospel of any group of recent converts I've been able to serve with. One of them asked out of the blue to meet with us and we got kinda worried but instead of saying her faith was struggling she just asked us how she could get better at sharing the Gospel with her family. "I don't get it! Why doesn't my Nana wanna get baptized yet?? The Gospel is so amazing!"

◇ UArk had its homecoming game versus LSU and once again the entire city showed up to watch. It's always a crazy night trying to find somebody who wants to talk about the Gospel in the middle of a Hogs-Tigers showdown. Too bad our boys lost 

-> 

♧ An older couple serving in our college ward held a backyard concert/tailgate party on gameday and holy cow it was insanely good. The band consisted of the brother in our ward plus three of his sons (one of whom has a music theory PH-D) and one of his granddaughters and they absolutely shredded together. One of our friends who happens to also be in a band showed up with one of his bandmates and when the PH-D guy soloed over "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by the Beatles we all went crazy. It was seriously one of the best guitar solos I've ever heard. Man, this area is great. 

Song of the week: "Pillowcase" by No Vacation

Thought: Mormon Preserves the Record

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/mormon-1-7/2024-01-0900-mormon-preserves-the-record?lang=eng

Sometimes scripture videos can be a little cheesy, but I've gotta say this one was good. It can be easy to forget how dark the scriptures can get and then someone accurately depicts it in film and wow, it's dark. 

 Because we live in a fallen world and God gives us the freedom to choose light or darkness for ourselves, the army of God is going to see some casualties. The Lord says three times in the Gospel of John that Satan is "the prince of this world," after all. We're not in friendly territory. 

 But read this sentence from the last words of Mormon and tell me who wins in the end:

Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up. - Mormon 7:5

In Christ lies the victory. He is real, He is good, and He has a plan for you. Trust Him, repent every day, and follow His words and I promise you'll end up with Him again. If you're lucky, He'll even use you to help others make it home too. 

Love, 

Elder Rigby

oxytocin

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 66 - Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Hey all! 

Another week down. I have thirteen other drafts sitting in my Gmail right now and yet again I just don't have the time to finish them all this week. I'm sorry! I'll get back to you soon! For now, here are some highlights from my week:

First off, here's a crazy cool miracle. Way back in December, my zone briefly did a pilot program in finding people to teach through Facebook. It had a lot of haters, but a few missionaries (you know who you are) were total social media finding champs until it eventually got shut down. I'll say I claimed the middle ground between those two haha. We did our due diligence but only ever ended up getting like three people to accept our friend requests so we could message them. One of them, a guy named Asher (last name omitted for privacy reasons,) we sent this nice lil video we made just for him the day after Christmas and despite all that effort he totally ghosted us. 

However!

Here we are sitting in a big missionary meeting called Zone Conference last Friday and we got on the topic of working with those who have recently converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to help them share His message with their family and friends and some Elders from a couple towns over piped up "yeah, ever since our buddy Asher ------ was baptized back in March, he's been totally awesome at sharing the Gospel with his friends" and I absolutely spewed my metaphorical hot chocolate. Completely by accident, I totally blurted out right in the middle of the meeting, "Did you just say Asher ------!?!?!? We messaged that guy on Facebook last Christmas! WHAT?!?"

Awkward.

Anyways...it really was him. Through what I am sure was nothing short of the whispering of the Holy Spirit and guidance of the hand of God, this guy we messaged one day after Christmas found his local Church meetinghouse all on his own and decided to just pull up to church one day. He met with the missionaries, learned and prayed about the message of the Restored Gospel, and chose to be baptized and confirmed into the Lord's fold. And get this - he's a Sunday School teacher now! God is real and good.

~

Other cool news:

- Our friend Luis told us after our last group Book of Mormon study, "Wow, going to the temple sounds so cool. I guess I've just gotta be baptized now." Attaboy, Luis.

- Marli's been real sick for the last few weeks. The doctors said she'll be better in a few weeks but she'll be out for at least a month. This is such a critical time in her conversion, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep her in your prayers.

- I'm becoming a plant dad again. Every time we knock the door of someone with a ton of plants and they're not interested, I ask them if they have any plants they don't really want and they've hooked me up almost every single time. In the last week alone, I've acquired a monstera, a Brazilian philo dendron, a spider plant, and a pot of marigolds. 

- For those of you who know what it is, go to Emotional Resilience class when you get the chance. If you don't, look it up. It is so inspired. 

~

General Conference is this weekend!

One of the most critical doctrines of Jesus Christ's Gospel is that He speaks to His disciples through His mouthpieces, the prophets (Amos 3:7,) and one of the most distinct beliefs of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that He still does so today. 

Members: please invite your friends to watch Conference with you! Think of the wonderful ways Christ could change someone's life because of your courageous invitation to them to act in faith.

Friends: If you're curious about what prophets and temples and priesthood and all that other fancy vocab I and my missionary friends often use, look no further than the source. If you want to see for yourself if God speaks to his people today, then "come and see."

~

Scripture of the week: Moses 6:53, 59-60

And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water?

...

 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; 

 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified.

~

Come and see:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/event/october-2024-general-conference

Love, 

Elder Rigby