Week 28: Down South - Fort Smith, Arkansas

 Hey all!

Back at it again. Fort Smith is, as I've said before, the real deal. It's just so "Arkansas." Something interesting about this place is that even though it's super ghetto, the city doesn't feel particular dangerous. A *lot* of people here are super poor, but most of them are pretty chill and almost everyone loves Jesus in some Southern way, shape, or form. It's nice. 

Another fun thing about Fort Smith: there are a ton of stray dogs and cats that just hang out everywhere. Some of the big dogs make me nervous, but most of the strays here are down to just hang out and follow you around for a bit if you pet them. It's really endearing, actually. But don't pet the scary ones. 

~

We just got off the phone with our buddy Aaron, so I'm not starting this until late and I've gotta get to bed soon. I usually end up taking more time than I plan to on my spiritual thoughts, so tonight I'll go a little lighter on what happened this week and just take stuff straight from my journal entries:

Thursday: slashed our "people we're teaching" pool in half during our weekly planning session, spent hours tracting in the beautiful weather, and taught our ward mission leader's foster son Jacob in their beautiful home full of musical instruments. 

Friday: learned "Wet Hands" from Minecraft from memory, visited our hospitalized soldier friend Robert again before he got transferred to Savannah, and knocked a super sketchy neighborhood (including one house with a bullet hole in the front window )

Saturday: successfully cracked four eggs in a row at breakfast (new personal best,) got a full Southern Bible sermon from a guy named Walter, and played my first hymn in front of an audience, "Silent Night," as a special request from a little girl being baptized by the sister missionaries in our ward. 

Sunday: our brotha Bobby showed up to church and he was awesome. He has real Gospel soul. My mental was all over the place that afternoon, but I felt better after we decided to venture across the border to Oklahoma and knock doors there cod the evening. Being "out" is usually good for my head. 

Monday: tracted all day in the rain and found four people to teach in one apartment complex, befriended a stray dog (see photos,) coddled the tamagotchi my buddy Elder Anderson sent me from back home, and made some blueberry jam from the eleven cartons of blueberries a Marshallese family gave our roommates.

Tuesday: mañana es P-day. Elder Bigelow and I really just endured today. Most of our lessons fell through, but we still got to some hear cool stories from Brother Fair, the member who accompanied us to two of those ill-fated lessons. You'd never guess that unassuming old man was an Army Force Ranger and an undercover customs agent back in the day. Besides that, we taught Jacob again, this time about temples and families. I'm starting to really love that kid. 

Wednesday: worked on my Legos with Elder Bigelow, bought some frozen dinners and ramune at Walmart, played ultimate frisbee at the church, and practiced a ton of piano yet again. Went out to eat for at least the fifth time this week (I do not feel good,) then got a call from Aaron where he basically just taught himself the answer to all his questions he had for us. 

~

"Can I get a copy of the Book of Mormon and come to church? I want to see if I feel the Spirit when I try it for myself."

"It seems like we should really be more united as Christians, but we're not because of all these denominations. It's like someone's trying to mislead us."

"I read two more Book of Mormon chapters after the one you gave me, and it seems like you believe we can only be saved in and through Jesus Christ. I agree with that."

- Aaron

I love this guy. 

~

Song of the week: "Feathers" by Early Eyes

~

Teaching Jacob last night reminded me of a goal God inspired me to make last year, one that played a major factor in me being on a mission today. When I was at BYU last year, my grandparents served in the Provo temple just across the campus every Thursday afternoon. Going into my second semester, I decided I wanted to see my Grandma and Grandpa in the House of the Lord every single week, so I did my very best to make it every single week. No matter my spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical state, I strived to always be worthy to enter that holy house, be near my family, and serve my Savior come Thursday. I want to testify that doing so changed my life. 

I do not know all the answers. I have unresolved questions that I'm still working on. Some things in life I just don't get.

But!

Three things I do know:

1) Jesus Christ and His Atonement are real. 

2) The Book of Mormon is the word of God. 

3) My life got better when I started visiting Grandpa and Grandma in the temple. 

Faith would be useless if we had all the answers. 

God, however, in His matchless love and mercy, will always give us enough to get by. 

Moroni 7:48:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

My invitation to my friends who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: go to the temple every week. If you don't have a recommend, prayerfully make a goal with the Lord to get one. You will come to know the Savior as you serve there. 

My invitation for my friends who aren't members, but still read this far and may be wondering what in the world I'm going on about: watch this cool tour of one of our temples in Rome, Italy: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2019-01-1000-two-apostles-lead-a-virtual-tour-of-the-rome-italy-temple?lang=eng 

~

Well, that all turned out to be pretty long anyways. Whoops. Well, hopefully this email did its job and brightened your day a little. Love you all!

Elder Rigby

The Martins' awesome music room

Cool bullet hole. Thanks Fort Smith

Dinner

Vile imposter

Oklahoma Day

Shoutout Äldste Calder

Greetings from Oklahoma

Hello beautiful

Got crabs

Elder Uchtdorf

Stay tuned for next week's email

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

Week 13: Pedal to the Metal - Bentonville, Arkansas

Hey all!

This week I smashed a plant, gave a Book of Mormon to a McDonald's cashier, met an Apostle, and ate a muffin in the House of the Lord. 

Note to my non-LDS friends: 

This week's email might be a little confusing if you don't know the context behind temples or our church leadership, but I'll say this: every aspect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is intended to help us draw nearer to our Savior in thought, feeling, and action. If you're ever not sure how that might be so with an unfamiliar policy or doctrine then shoot me an email and let's talk about it. Once again, I do this kind of thing 24/7, so I'm more than happy to. 

News:

- The first House of The Lord in Arkansas is now dedicated and operational! I'll talk more about the Bentonville temple and all the cool stuff I got to be involved with for it later but it's been an awesome experience.

- I hit my 3-month mark yesterday! I've officially been out for one summer break's worth of time. Weird. 

- Good news: we finally got in contact with Harrison! 

Bad news: he doesn't really care anymore, which stinks. Harrison told us on Friday that he realized he had been going to church just because he didn't know many people in the area yet but now he did so he was good. Ouch. We think he actually might have run into some doctrinal issue that he's just too nonconfrontational to bring up but that's a whole other can of worms. He didn't try to give us back his Book of Mormon though >:) so I'll keep y'all updated on him in the future. 

- random little bags and packages from Walmart keep showing up to our door. Apparently the big online order of snacks my parents had delivered to my apartment ended up getting split into the 12 Days of Christmas haha. A happy accident for sure.

- shout out to my main man Brock for becoming the next Elder Rigby in a long and illustrious line of Elder Rigbys. He'll be at the Provo MTC for a couple of weeks before he heads out to serve in Orem. All y'all Orem folks, keep an eye out for my cousin, yeah? He's a cool dude.

A ton happened this week so I'm just going to cover the second half so y'all don't have to read a chapter book. This weekend's highlights:

SATURDAY

- Jacob 5 is cool. The 77-verse allegory of the tame and wild olive trees is super interesting now that I'm finally starting to be able to make sense if it. 

- Angel: a Seventh-Day Adventist who believes in the Book of Mormon but just doesn't wanna switch religions. Ight. Your choice I guess. He was "getting his mule outta the hole" (fixing up his car) so he could get to work so he didn't really say much besides that. 

- My bike has started to whinny whenever I stop or slow down and I'm a little leery about how wobbly the rear wheel is now. My noble steed is riding into its twilight years, unfortunately.

- BYU actually beat the Razorbacks like 20 minutes away from me in Fayetteville. Big W for my Cougs. Wish I coulda watched it. Ah, but the work goes on. 

SUNDAY

Temple dedication! 

Elder Bednar (a global church leader and one of our current Twelve Apostles) spoke with straightforwardness and clarity unlike most anyone I've ever heard. He and his family lived in northwest Arkansas for like twenty years while he taught at Arkansas State and man, he truly loves this place. I was kinda blown away. This guy, one of the most serious and composed speakers of all the Church leadership, shed tears over being able to open a temple to The Lord in his home. I could go on and on about everything that he and the other speakers shared with us but saying more wouldn't capture what I'd hope to express so I'll keep it short.

Some invitations he left with us:

1) Replace the word "temple" with the name "House of The Lord." Just like President Nelson encouraged us to use the full name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints instead of "Mormons," using "House of The Lord" rather than "temple" better captures its true meaning and purpose. 

2) Do not call it a small temple. You do not make "smaller promises" in a smaller building. Don't get the pearl confused with the box that holds it. 

2.5) "Everyone's excited when a new temple opens...for a time. Don't let that excitement die down. Overuse it to the point that they need to build a second one."

You can read the full dedicatory prayer Elder Bednar gave here: https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2023/9/18/23878909/bentonville-arkansas-temple-dedicatory-prayer-elder-david-a-bednar?utm_campaign=churchnews-en&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social_share

After that, the Hosanna Shout (a traditional cheer we do when a new House of the Lord is dedicated) was led by Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran, a General Authority Seventy from Nigeria. He had this super thick accent and the way he literally shouted "hosanna" was super cool and intense. Not really sure how to describe it but yeah. Nigerian accent + Hosanna Shout = cool. 

After that, we were invited to help the AV crew again for some crazy cool service opportunities.

Some of the things I did in the Bentonville House of the Lord:

- Organized the waiting room

- Moved Endowment room furniture

- Helped set up an altar

- Appreciated the art in the maintenance basement

- Found a sick workshop with the complete blueprints of the building

- Ate a pumpkin muffin in the breakroom

- Shook Elder and Sister Bednar's hands. We also met the two other General Authority couples accompanying them. Elder Bednar made fun of how Elder Cebollero pronounces his name. "Two L's make a Y, Elder."

The works. 

MONDAY

Apparently the whole Bednar family came and chilled in the church during our weekly District Council just down the hall. We didn't get to meet them again but the hosts let us chow down on all the food that got left over so that was a nice consolation prize. Apostle food is delicious. 

Beverly: met an RLDS lady for the first time. She reads the Book of Mormon and believes in Joseph Smith everything but thinks the main Church is corrupt so she goes to a tiny 20-person congregation called Rogers Remnant Church with her family. Speaking of herself, she basically just told us "I was born into this church so I'm going to stay here until I die." It made me sad.

Learn a lesson from this lady. Think for yourself. "Study these things out in your mind" as the prophets wrote. Don't be content with just staying where you started. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is all about thinking and acting for yourself. Study the scriptures yourself. Check out a church service yourself. Pray, personally and sincerely. It'll be different, yeah, but honestly ask yourself if it's brought you closer to Jesus Christ and if being closer to Him has brought you greater peace and joy. If your goal is finding the number-one surest, straightest, and truest path to God, then don't knock this path until you try it.

TUESDAY

- Finally starting to exercise again but now I'm four days behind in my journal. Ay caramba. That's not a curse in Spanish, is it?

- Biked up some hills like a champ

- Knocked some apartments with Brother McKinney. He's like if Matt Damon was a firefighter who served a mission in Fresno. Cool dude.

Tuesday was a good day. Seems like Tuesdays usually are. Not sure if that's because they're right before my prep day or if it's been long enough since my last one that I'm finally back in the swing of things.

WEDNESDAY 

- P-Day: bought groceries, got another Pokémon happy meal, played volleyball, took a quick nap, practiced the piano, and did my best to write to a few friends. Not bad. 

- Learning music on the piano brings me joy. I've learned five (well, almost five) songs so far this summer, most of them from video games haha. Gotta nerd out out here somehow. 

Ate "Hobo Soup" at the Cannons' for dinner and it was much better than the name had me expecting. Plus, the recipe's super simple. Here's how to make some classic Arkansas cuisine:

- 1 can minestrone

- 1 can rotel

- 1 can ranch style beans w or w/o jalapeños 

- 1 sausage link

Crockpot on low or warm until it's done and enjoy. 

Thought:

Alma 32: 27-34 (and 35-43 if you want to read more.) 

In this section, the prophet Alma proposes an experiment on faith to his audience. Similar to Christ's parable of the sower in Mark 4, Alma compares faith to a seed that needs to be nourished before it can grow into a tree that bears good fruit. 

Whether or not you're interested in joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, give this one a read. It's not super long and it's good spiritual insight for everyone. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/32?lang=eng

Going along with that, here's a speech on the power and beauty of faith in Jesus Christ by our current prophet, Russell M. Nelson. Once again, it's good for anyone and everyone seeking to grow nearer to the Savior, so give it a listen if you've got a few minutes:

"Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains"

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/49nelson?lang=eng

Love you all! Thanks to everyone who's emailed me already this week! I appreciate the kind wishes and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Elder Rigby

Fotos:

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

Week Four: Paratrooper - Bentonville, Arkansas

Hey everyone! Hope you're all good. A ton of stuff happened this week and I can't get to it all but the biggest thing is that I finally got to go to Arkansas! I'm assigned to the Bentonville 1st Ward with my trainer Elder Cebellero and we're right in the middle of town. Like smack in the middle. The Bentonville temple is literally in the same parking lot as our church haha. 

Saying goodbye to my district and the MTC was sad but it had been a fire two weeks and we were ready to get going. The trip to Arkansas was actually super fun because my travel group turned out to be like 20 missionaries on the plane to Minneapolis and like 12 on the plane to Arkansas. The others in Minnesota went to Milwaukee so prepare for some greenies Elder Thompson. Also, a pilot named Captain Brett bought like seven of us Chick-fil-A. Thanks Captain Brett. 

I couldn't help but feel like I was getting shipped off to war in the last few days in the MTC. Everything was geared around suiting us up, handing us a plane ticket, and giving us a nice pat on the back before we parachuted into a battlefield. Arkansas is legit and the Bentonville mission is strong and no-nonsense. It's so foreign in so many ways and as missionaries we're out there in the thick of it almost 24/7. 

My mission president, President Collins, is equally legit. He's a super nice guy but he's waaaay tough on the "high love, high expectations" thing. No music, no member service, even no Pokémon cards. Just knocking doors every second we've got. It's way intense and honestly a lot tougher than I expected. But hey, the stats don't lie. Since he's taken the wheel the average baptisms per month has literally quadrupled in our mission. That's four times as many children of God accepting the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ every month. So while some of the guidelines we have to follow are frankly unpleasant I know that our mission president knows what he's doing. I came out here to do the Lord's work so if it's four times as effective with strict rules then heck yeah. 

My trainer, Elder Cebellero, is great guy too. He's a District Leader who's been out for nine months now and he's a great example of both an obedient missionary and a good hard worker in general. Elder Ceb's responsible, diligent, and competent and I've been learning so much from him these past few days.

In other news, this week I:

- Met one Elder that looks a lot like like Michael Cera and another that looks EXACTLY like Jim Carey. Like frighteningly close. I'll send a picture of him sometime cause he lives next door. 

- Learned missionary slang. We're discouraged from using slang so we sound more professional so a few substitutes include "treacherous," "powerful," and "hairy." I still don't know half of what the other Elders are saying but whatever, I'll pick up on the dialect soon enough. 

- Lit the duolingo owl on fire. 

Thought:

(PHILOSOPHY ALERT. Skip to the bottom and I won't be offended. Plus I can't see how much of this you read anyway.)

I got to spend part of my first day in the trenches as a trio with the Elder I was replacing on Friday. His name was Elder Sam Andersen (the exact same name as my MTC comp but he's a different guy haha) and it was his very last day before he went back home. I was exhausted and discouraged from knocking doors without success and at some point I made a joke about wishing I could switch places with him and be on my very last day too. He got super serious as soon as I said that and told me dead serious that he would do almost anything to switch places with me. It caught me completely off guard—I thought he'd be so done by that point that he couldn't wait to get home but he found something here in Bentonville that made him want to stay for as long as he possibly could. I kept thinking about it and it reminded me of an idea we learned about in my philosophy class last year. I'll quote it roughly: "you know what you're doing is meaningful if you would be okay with doing it an immeasurable amount of times over and over again." This dude was cool with serving a mission over and over again and he was devastated that he was going home while here I was doing mental math of how many months, weeks, and days I had until I got to fly back to Arizona. What made him love this so much that he never wanted to leave? I had and have literally no idea, but the longer I wear the tag the more I start to see what he was getting at so bear with me for a bit and maybe I'll answer my own question soon enough. 

Anyways, enough with the philosophy stuff for now. Here's a scripture:

Doctrine and Covenants 84:88:

And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

Missionary work is hard. It just is. But I know God will support His servants and j know that the one thing better than going home to Heaven is going home to Heaven with as much of your family as you can possibly bring with you. Nuff said. 

Love you guys!

Elder Rigby

airport Chili's in Minneapolis

gorilla head

good ol' Bentonville temple

Elder Ceb

rain is nice

various doodads

Week Two: Beefing Up - Provo Utah MTC

Note: this email is late because Samsung does not have an undo feature like IPhone does when you accidentally delete the three-page email you spent the entire day writing. Sorry for the delay :P

Hi everyone!

It's been a looooong week but I love it here. A lot of it was fun, some of it painful, most of it difficult but all of it good for me.

Anyways let's get into the meat of it. MTC (missionary training center) life is super busy but it's definitely manageable. Daily life basically consists of swimming through two three-hour classes plus an hour and a half of study time and coming up for air during meals, exercise, and the hour of free time we have in the evening. Let me tell ya, the dorms are a jungle at night. Missionaries or not, cram 100+ 18-21 year old guys into one building and its gonna sound like Rainforest Café. So it's a high-protein day for sure but like I said, physical drains for spiritual gains. Plus, every Monday I have a prep day (P-day) where I have time set aside to call my family, respond to emails, do laundry, and hang out with the other missionaries in my class. 

Besides my companion Elder Andersen and I my district includes three sets of sisters and three other sets of elders for a total of 14 missionaries. I've loved finally getting to know them in person and they're all cool people that I like being around. Homies of the week include Elder Checketts for having the same favorite movies as me (Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä) and Elder Stone for quoting Bible verses as he did 50 pushups in like a minute (see Philippians 4:13.)

Elder Andersen got called as District Leader! As his senior companion I'm basically now secretary/voice of reason for my adorably ADHD new roommate. He's fresh out of high school and a little hyper but he's a really nice guy and I think being called as role models for the district is gonna be good for us both. 

So much happened this week and I'd love to get to all of it but I wanna at least try to keep this shorter so I'll make another list. This week I:

- Played volleyball at the gym almost every day and kept running into into Aldstë Calder and Élder Stubbs

- Watched Stadium of Fire from a five-story building and a 日本人(Japanese) sister from McGarvin姉妹's district gave us all cinnamon rolls

- Got lost when we went to the Provo Temple (sort of)

- Sang next to a 6'5 Canadian dude at missionary choir practice

Thought:

1) God loves me. 

2) He sees the complexities of my trials perfectly. 

3) He knows exactly what He's asking me to do.

Knowing these three things has seriously gotten me through this week. The Lord knows perfectly how much I love learning Japanese. He knows how badly I wish I could be with the missionaries heading to serve in Japan and how badly it hurts to not be. But putting this dream of mine on the altar has only strengthened my faith in my Savior Jesus Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, The Lord is good at His job. He wants me in Bentonville, Arkansas so I can't wait to get there and get to work. 

Mosiah 23: 21-22

21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. 

22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day.

If anyone has any questions about Jesus Christ, His Gospel, missionary life, or just life in general then send me an email or message and I'd love to talk sometime! I can only really respond on Mondays but seriously ask me whatever whenever. 

Peace 

Elder Rigby

P.S. thank you so much to everyone who's sent me emails so far!! I had a super busy day yesterday but I'll try to write you back as soon as I can!

Week One: broccoli state of mind - Home MTC, Gilbert Arizona

Hey everyone! Elder Rigby here. Apologies for the slightly late email but week one is officially complete! I'm a missionary now so yeah! that's cool. 

Being trained online this week has been wild. On one hand it's great because in between lessons and workshops I can be with my family, walk my dog, or watch a family movie or two. On the other hand, seven days of sitting in a room filled with all the games and books and music I've decided to set aside is driving me up the wall so I can't wait to just get moving. 

As far as the actual classes go I honestly don't even know what to write about because my days felt both extremely busy and extremely chill so I guess I'll just use an analogy. Imagine eating literally only veggies every meal for an entire week and that pretty much sums it up. Spiritual greens for spiritual gains herbivore style.

The idea of being away from my family, my friends, and my main man Charlie is going to become a reality super soon and that's kinda freaky but hey, I know this is the next step for me. Yeah I'm leaving some big parts of my life on the altar and y'all know how much I wanna be chilling with the missionaries heading to Japan right now but God wants me right where He called me. I trust his judgement way more than my own, so y'know what? May as well roll with it. 

Other than that I: 

- ran into like four college buddies during zoom workshops

- found out one of my teachers is actually my second cousin Meghan lol

- got Coconut Mall'ed by the MTC leaders

- saw a funny picture of Elder Harris

Scripture of the week:

Mosiah 4:27 - And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

My teacher Brother Sorensen shared this scripture with me when he noticed I was was having a rough time in class one day. He taught me that there are times when you want to give your all but you don't have your all to give and that's okay. God gets you perfectly and loves you simply no matter the complexitiesof your trials. I'm really grateful for that. Through this week though I've felt so many little nudges and promptings that remind me that while there's no growth in the comfort zone God will never abandon me when I fall short. 

Love you guys! Go do something crazy to remind yourself that you exist. Get that adrenaline going. It's refreshing. Just don't break the law. 

- Elder Rigby