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:
~
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
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| Ghibli legos |
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| Nether portal |
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| Pwuken |
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| Pohnpeian Book of Mormon |
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| Exchange pic feat. double decker taco |
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| Lunch |
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| Sushi House |
do trick. 
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