1 Year Today...

Wow how time flies! Crazy. Since Elder Rigby left one year ago today I thought it would be fun to post some pictures. Enjoy. (click on the pictures to make them bigger)

News From Africa

Elder Watson's son lives in Hibbard and they forwarded this email to us.
"Elder Rigby is one you can claim and be proud to have from Rexburg - He is doing well and has the respect of his Mission President." (Elder and Sister Watson – area authorities in South Africa)

Merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

HEY! haha it was so much fun talking to all of you! :) i loved it very much. Christmas was so much better than i thought it was going to be. I am truly blessed to be here in Port Alfred with the sweetest couple in the mission they really do love the missionaries and the people. Elder O'Dell is a very emotional person. He loves the Christmas season and every time he bears his testimony he cries. Its heartwarming :) They are so good to us. they gave us all golf shirts so we can go golfing on new years day and play 18 holes at the Port Royal Golf Course, which is a really nice course. Elder O'Dell paid for all 4 of us and even renting a cart. So i can't be more thankful than that. they are the best! We had a good brai (BBQ) in the afternoon and had 4 different kinds of meat haha south African style :)..we just had fun playing cards and enjoying being together. New Years will be fun too i hope haha. we can't work at all on new years since everyone will be drunk and won't be thinking straight so we are going to go play golf haha. :)

We really don't have any investigators that are too serious at the moment. The Hola family , family of 4, have a baptismal date for he 15 of January but i don't think they will make it, they haven't been coming to church and haven't been reading. we have barely seen them this month. been busy with their son in the "Bush" guess. thats crazy stuff! yo!... another investigator is Luleka. She is an interesting one....she has seen missionaries before and has even gone to church a few times when it was near the township but now that it moved she hasn't had the urge to go. so its been a few years. She just lives with her little girl in this shack and really doesn't know much. she says that she is going through a really ruff time in her life and she wanted to know why God is letting it all happen to her. We taught her the first half of the plan of Salvation, it was a difficult one to teach to her, she zones out a lot so we ask a lot of questions so shes "there" its going slowly.

We have a part member family that we are really focusing on. the daughter Delsie, is a member but her mother and 3 other half sisters are not so we are striving to get them all baptized. also going slowly. they had concerns about the BofM so we had a nice lesson on that this past week and then we started teaching one of Shadae's (sister) friends Jillian. She really wasn't that interested at first but said last night that she will start reading the Book of Mormon so hopefully things will work out there! all of them need to come to church! haha

Well I love you all :) Have a good week!

YOUR MISSIONARY,
Elder Robert S Rigby SACTM

Christmas is Coming

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from hot south Africa haha....yes it is very hot! like having Christmas in July for me sheesh haha. NO snow or cold, which i don't mind not having the cold hehe but i do love the snow! :) So it was a good week. I got transferred to the other area in Port Alfred haha so i'm now working in the township with Elder Lebala. He is so funny! i love him. haha Its like we aren't even companions cause we have been living in the same place for the past 6 weeks. its great! :) I'm doing fabulous though i love having people to teach and that will listen, the only problem is that they don't come to church like they should....but i do what i can do!

So the 2 new Elders in the District are Elder Moorcroft from Joburg and his greenie Elder Bangerter from Centerville, Utah. they are both cool missionaries. Elder Moorcroft is the DL and i am finishing training Elder Lebala so you will be getting a letter about that from the Office. This transfer is going to be very joyful haha! Christmas with the O'Dells and i get to Call home!!! :) :) I'm excited! hehe

Well it is the Christmas season. Even tho it doesn't feel like it at all cause there aren't any decorations up like there is back home. We did put up a Christmas tree last night at the O'Dells and decorated with lights and balls and tinsel :) so it does make things a little better hehe. I got a nice poem from President and Sister Probst in my email today. I'll attach it to the email so you can read it :) it cool, president wrote it i think.

I know my Jesus Christ is my Savior and redeemer and that this is the special time of the year that we celebrate his birth. Heavenly Father truly does love each and every one of us, He sacrificed His only Begotten Son for us. I don't know where i would be without my older brother, Jesus Christ, in my life. I definitely wouldn't be on a mission in South Africa that for sure. I truly am grateful for the time i have to serve as his missionary here in this beautiful part of the world that He created for us. One day i hope and pray that i can go back into his presence and live there with my family. I love you guys!! i miss you and am thinking of you, not too much tho haha. and yes dad, i am striving to stay focused! :) don't worry. i hope and pray that Heavenly Father is helping me, in fact i know He is.... I wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the world then on a mission. I am needed here. i need this and the people i teach need me. its by the Lords servants that they come into the fold of Christ. The Missionaries do the finding and teaching and the Spirit converts people. I have felt of the spirit so much this past year and i am grateful for the experiences i have had. they have been learning ones! I know why i am here. To teach the Gospel and increase my own testimony. the people i see every day truly love us as we teach them about Jesus Christ even tho some of them don't realize it, and reject it. they wouldn't be on earth if they didn't accept the plan of Heavenly Father so they accepted it but still have their agency. dang agency haha.

So last Monday we went to the game reserve in bathhurst. i got to pet a giraffe! haha you don't get to do that every day back in Idaho! it was cool. also saw some zebras and wildebeest and springbok. it was fun!

Well i don't know what else to say. Glad everyone is doing well! Well i love you all and am excited to talk to you all on Christmas! have a great week!

LOVE YOUR SON,
Elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)

Yebo!

Dear Family and Friends,

Yebo!! :) how we all doing in the Freezing snowing part of the world? hehe i'm doing good good good gooooddd!! hehe :) SO anyways! I have not really seen any south African recipes. i've tried a few such as pop and tribe and the other interesting meals that us Americans wouldn't normally eat, such as the intestines and head. but yeah haven't had that for a while now since i'm in a white area. Oh and milktart is really good by the way :). Sister Dell, sister in the branch made us a custard dish thingy with bread and jam. it was yummy it was bread with jam on it then she poured custard on it and warmed it up. it was quite nice hehe. you know me and deserts haha i love them!!!. i even make muffins now that i can eat in the boarding at night before bed, like i always had my sweets back home, nope i haven't changed there haha.

ok zone conference, it was really good. We traveled to east London early Tuesday morning left about 6:15am and drove 2 hours well an hour and a half. and were there early :) haha took a big 3 zone, East London, Mdantsane and Queenstown zone picture with pres and Elder and sister Watson and then had the meeting. Elder Watson talked to us about holding on to our recent converts and forming a auxiliary circle around them that they can't get out of. it was cool. Sister Watson spoke to us about the articles of Faith and how each and everyone of them has doctrine in them and so we can use them to teach with quite easily. it was cool she had Elder Austin, AP, mark down on the board how many doctrines are in the Articles of faith. and there were 72 at least it was interesting. and then president spoke about the importance of the holiday season and how we can continue to work and find those that need to more about the Savior, perfect time for it too, its what Christmas is all about. yes, many people leave but there are lots that come in too so we can teach the holiday comers.

the next day, Wednesday, we again drove to east London for the 3 zone Christmas activity. we first watched a movie called "gifted hands" its about a brain surgeon who in his first years in his life he wasn't very smart and then he put his mind to his studies and now he is the best brain surgeon in the world and now is head of Johns Hopkins Hospital. it was really good. has a really good message, if we put our mind to it we can accomplish anything. its all up in our head. :) We then had a gift exchange, well candy bar exchange and had pizza for lunch and then sang hymns for the remainder of the activity and focused on the meaning of Christmas. it was so much fun singing all of those hymns. the Spirit was so strong and then later on Sister Probst thanked us for our singing and the Spirit we brought. it was very good. made me kinda home sick, i miss singing with my dad... made me think of how i was 12 when i started singing with him and now Jared is now starting to sing. So Jared, keep it up and take my place for a while :) then we came back to Port Alfred.

The rest of the week: We did some service on Thursday morning in the new chapel. We hung up all the new blinds and white boards. it was fun! it really looks like a chapel now haha. Then Friday we had district meeting and then worked. We had a good few lessons with some families. Grant and his Girl Friend Jade it was fun teaching them. they are interested but Grant says that the ocean is his church, he likes surfing and then Jade belongs to the grace of god church or whatever its called. Grant is a construction worker and Jade works at a furniture store. Jade was more imputive than Grant but its alright, grant kinda zoned in and out of the discussion haha it was funny. he randomly asks us if we know his neighbors haha it was funny. the other family, the Van Startons weren't that excited once we got into the Restoration part. the wife really didn't believe that at all. So we left them to pray about it and then we will check on them next week. i hope.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. it was good, or so i was told afterward. I spoke about how we can receive happiness by applying the principles of the gospel into our life. mainly lesson 3 in PMG haha. So i guess it was good. Had a Baptism on Saturday for the other elders investigator Sister Gloria can't spell her Xhosa name. she was really excited to be baptized it was great.

Well i know its been a tuff transfer and its been fun at the same time! Transfers are this coming Thursday so i think i'm staying here but only the Lord knows that! Well i love you guys so much! have a gooder week and stay close to the lord! Cheers!

your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby

Never Alone

Dear Family and Friends,

I loved the email mom haha thanks long ones are nice so i will try and do my best now to do the same! :) week- lots of tracting with little success. Things just aren't happening here in town. My comp and i are getting very tired of it too! People just don't like what we have to share about the Restoration of the Gospel. They think that if they go to church and believe then they are "saved" its common to get that response from people.

So glad to hear that my SD card got there safely! :) thats a relief haha i worry so much when i put that thing in the post box wondering if it'll get to you. But it did so we're all good! We're good! hehe. I knew you would enjoy the pictures and videos i had too much fun with some of them, as you have now found out haha. Well things are good other wise. i know why i am here! to preach the gospel and to strengthen my own testimony. One thing that Elder Holland said when he was in Capetown last month, "i can only promise one convert and that is YOU" i thought that was very profound and that it makes a lot of sense and its definitely true! I am becoming more converted as i do the lords work with all of my heart. I am trying my best to do it. some days are really hard tho, people don't let us in, they rebuke us and tell us we've been deceived and so forth yeah I'll tell that story....

So we had an appointment with a wonderful Afrikaners family. The father was very nice and let us in, we had previously met with the mother and the son but not the father. So it was a bit of a shock at first for him. So we introduced ourselves and told him that we had spoken to his wife and so forth and so he let us in. we sat down all around the table with the family and started to teach the restoration. it went really well at first...but then we got to the part about prophets and oh my goodness, they didn't like the fact that we still need prophets today. So it pretty much ended up in a argument that i didn't want to start. at one time we said that the bible has been interpreted in so many ways, and then the dad shuts his bible and says "well if you don't believe in the bible then you are not welcome in my home" i was so scared at the moment i didn't know what to say. my comp just restates his reply saying we do believe in it and so forth but we believe that prophets are there for us to interpret it and we need to follow them. well it didn't get anywhere. So i bore my testimony on what i know to be true and we left with that. they commemorated on what we were doing and that they felt sorry for us cause they claim that we have been deceived by the devil. Yo my faith was tried in that lesson. So after we got back into the car we drove to our next appointment and i felt the impression to pray, so i told my comp and we prayed together, i said it and as i was praying....i felt the Spirit so strong.... that i KNOW, that i haven't been deceived and that i am doing the work of the Lord. I love my Heavenly Father and know that He loves me! I know He is guiding me and looking after me as long as i am doing what He wants me to do. My comp also felt of the spirit. I am where i need to be. We didn't get anywhere in the lesson but we told them the truth and what we know to be true.

So my faith is definitely being tried and tested these 2 years and i know i can do this! I have the power of God on my side! I know this gospel is true! I know the Book of Mormon is true and contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know i have the power of God the priesthood and can use it to bless people around me and to help in my work.

The rest of the week was just tracting and finding. we have been joking around and watching the ocean when we have the chance. Its Chuker fishing season (aka squid) so we see lots of Chucker boats along the shore. they fish all day long and all night. and its really good money R45 for one kilo thats crazy haha. they all have big bright lights on them at night to draw the squid to them so one night we were wondering what all the lights were on the ocean. and so we asked someone and they told us chucker boats. we are like what? haha squid boats. they come in to the rivers and lay their eggs and then go back into the ocean and die. its like a bee, once they sting they die. so same with squid. they lay eggs and then they die. so its good fishing for them now as they are going back out to sea. it was cool.

Well we have zone conference this week in east london and then we have our Christmas thingy the next day together with 2 other zones. i'm excited to see my old companions and missionary friends :) So we get to drive early in the morning to east london and then come back that afternoon and then go back again the next morning.

I got my Christmas package!! :) and the letters! THANK YOU so much! haha i loved it and my comp enjoyed his presents too, yes we spoiled it and opened it haha. My comp says you are the best haha

Well have a wonderful week! i love you all and i am having fun serving the Lord in south africa! thanks for your love support! talk to ya all next week! HAVE FUN, BE GOOD AND WHAT?
don't do anything i wouldn't do. hehe love you!
your missionary
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

11 Months Today!

Dear Family and Friends,

Hallo!! little Afrikaans for you, yes thats what im trying to learn now since i'm in a white area haha. Maagie Vol ogies toe! which means tummy full eyes closed hehe :) my companion is trying to teach me a bit of Afrikaans. its quite the language to learn very hard, its kinda like dutch like when Elder Calhoon on the best 2 years trying to learn dutch, yeah thats me trying to learn Afrikaans haha my comp just laughs at me and tells me no its not such and such its this and this. wow gotta love mission

I love my Heavenly Father and the love He has for me as his son and servant. So i'm doing better but not all the way there yet i WILL get there tho, tracting is becoming a nice way of just working hard. we walk and can talk to everyone even tho people don't want to talk to us we still say hello and how are you and such, they usually say i'm good or i'm fine and keep walking. I loved how you gave me the information on this little town. its definitely true about the holiday homes and luxury homes. YO there are very wealthy people in the world its quite fun to go and knock on one of these big homes and see the reaction of the people who stay there, usually old retired people. but yeah we did find a good family to teach after the holidays. they are leaving and said we should come back in January. they have a very big home and own a game reserve or manage it or something not exactly sure haha on their cars it has the logo of the game reserve so we are still trying to figure out it they own it or just work there. but the lady who answered the door was very interested and said that her and her husband had just talked about going back to church and were discussing which one to attend so hopefully the Lord has prepared this family and they will like what we share! :)

We have others that we have tried to share the gospel with but we set appointments and then they aren't there when we go. why don't people just tell you up straight that they arent interested??! like really it would be so much easier for us it they did. which i'm used to now. 11 months today....CRAZY! don't feel like it at all haha but i can say that i know how to do missionary work, i've learned so much so far and still waiting for more learning experiences.

Had interviews with pres on friday morning. Yo it was nice!! haha i really enjoyed visiting with him and sharing my thoughts and feelings with him. he really does know what to do in my situation, he gave me good advice on pretty much everything. He told me that tracting is a sacrifice that i have to make to show the lord that i'm ready to work, also told me to find joy in it and to just lift up people and their relationship with God. i never thought of it that way before, even when people reject our message our job it to make sure that we lifted them a bit on the gospel. and make them feel good about it. its kinda funny how people always reject our message but congratulate us or commemorate us for the work that we do. they always say things like that, its interesting.

No, the O'Dells didn't cook the thanksgiving dinner. they are having their own lunch today with other couples in Gramstown. So they aren't around today. which is ok. i think we are going to go to the big pineapple in bathurst. and see the farms! :) i hope haha. we'll see what the district thinks....something to do. had a nice lunch yesterday at Sister Dells place. she fed us some good food. she made this thing that had crapes and hamburger meat and cheese it was really good. we also had potatoes and a veggie dish. then desert was very sweet, warmed bread with butter and jam on it then covered with custard! yo it was nice haha she let me take what we didn't have home with me :) so i get to have custard today for a nice sweet treat hehe.

One interesting well experience that we had this past week....we tract this street and come across a lady who was taking down her laundry. we walk up to her and she says "you can't convert me i was a mormon once, my parents were both mormons and they brought me up in the mormon religion and i just didn't find the happiness in it. so i decided to just read my bible and forget about the Book of Mormon. and oh i felt a big change in my life. i have accepted Jesus in my life and i love Jesus" etc. It was quite the debate so i finally just bore her my testimony and told her to have a good day. she tried to tell us that we don't follow Christ and that we are part of a cult and that we don't know the Bible. and such I about had enough of it and just got to the point where nothing i said was working, so we left. My comp and i talked bout it after and came to the conclusion that we aren't loosing anything and she is loosing everything. Some people are difficult! haha

Well my time is up i love you guys so much! :) I'M SO gratefully for the true gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and the opportunity to share it with others! I love YOU have a good week!

Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)

I Feel My Saviors Love

Dear Family and Friends,

Hey! Tracting: still trying to find those that are prepared by the Lord. Its quite funny sometimes when we go up to the door and then the alarm goes off before we even touch the door. it funny. we have set off 3 alarms in the past week. then the security company guy comes to check it out and he just goes "Oh it you guys again" haha we laugh and then finally ask him if we can come to his home and teach him haha he agreed. so yeah.

I'm enjoying port alfred its a good place. small but good. even tho we really aren't busy teaching yet. the other elders are busy teaching but that cause they are in the township. we are all having fun talking and laughing with another in the boarding or when we are in the car. I love being with the O'Dells they take really good care of us, they feed us every friday and sunday. So i get american food! haha :) they make me laugh and i just enjoy serving with them.

We had the Branch Christmas party on saturday, yes we had it early cause everyone will be on holiday when it is Christmas time so we had it early. It was a lot of fun. we had games such as gini sack races and a game with balloons etc for the primary kids. remember how i said that we really don't work with primary, well in port alfred there are a lot of primary aged kids that come to church we are required to help haha it's fun. i love kids. they make me laugh sometimes. after the games we had lunch and then we had the nativity play done by the primary kids. it was good. they had only practice 2 times before so it was a little ruff but it was still nice. i got to conduct the singing.

Well i'm glad that everyone at home is doing well and things are happening without me haha. I miss you all and love you and am so grateful for your love and support. I love this gospel. it really is true. I had a very spiritual experience this past week as we were teaching a lady in her home. Malinde. She is a mother of 3 and her husband is really not a church goer so when we were done with the lesson i bore my testimony and i just felt the Spirit come over me and testify of the things i was saying to really be true to myself and to her. She accepted to pray and read and come to church when she got things worked out with her church that she had just joined haha so it'll be a battle with that. I love my Heavenly Father so much and i'm truly grateful for the love that He has for me, i feel of it everyday. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and His example to us. I know He lives and loves us. Have a good week!

Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

Work Continues

Hello-
I really like Port Alfred. My comp is Elder Grobler. He is from Blomfrontien in south Africa, White missionary like me haha. we are enjoying each others company. there are now 4 missionaries here. Elder Aphane and Elder Lebala. they are working in the township and my comp and i are working in town. white area for us. so lots of tracting, cause town hasn't been worked for a very long time. So i was very tired yesterday after 5 hours of tracting. no success really but thats mission for you, some days you don't teach at all, we did manage to get into 2 homes tho. talked with some JWs who just wanted to bible bash us it was not fun haha. people have very different views about what how we should follow Christ. its insane some just believe that we only need to believe and we will be saved, others think that we don't need prophets cause that would be following man, but really its following the Savior cause its His prophet.

there are no members that stay in town, they all stay in the township. I love teaching tho so whenever we knock on a door we try to teach them something but in the end they don't want to listen to us kinda sucks but we are doing what we can do.

So yeah we have a 4-man boarding. haha its fun reminds me of the fun we had in mthatha. the boarding is great nice and big. and great shower even tho the water is bad. so get to buy water to drink and cook with every week. but its ok.

the most weird thing that i've ate is tripe, aka, cows intestines and stomach. it tasted ok haha. i have lots of spiritual things happen, i really enjoyed the conference with Elder Watson a couple weeks ago. it was really nice how he explained the Restoration. well my time is about up i love you all and i will do my best as a missionary

your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

Changes

Family and Friends,

Hello! Well lets get started, its been an interesting week, i'm now in Port Alfred. Port Alfred is a mission branch, very small but very loving people. Yesterday at church we had close to 20-25 people. it was a good sunday for here haha. i'm really not used to the small numbers but its alright i'm going to learn lots here i'm hoping. I'm with Elder Rapitse and Elder Grobler. they are both cool elders and are really nice. Elder Rapitse served in Meadow ridge after i left so him and i are enjoying talking about all the members and people that we both knew. Port Alfred is a small town with a port, obviously haha and we have the best senior couple in the area and they are the leaders of the branch, elder and sister Odell from Gilbert, Arizona. i asked if they knew Tom and Lanae, they said no. but i guess Gilbert is a big town so lots of people. they are really nice they fed us last night and yo it was the best meal i've had in a long time haha mashed potatoes and gravy and steak and peas! it was delish! =)

So i'm doing good. I love pres Probst, he is so understanding about everything and truly cares and loves his missionaries. and your right mom, he is called of God to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm in good hands. I got your letter. the orange one haha thanks for the card! halloween was nothing here. its only an American holiday, Elder Grobler was asking me why we celebrate halloween. i didn't know haha so Why do we celebrate it???

Back in King we had good lessons with Namhla and Lisa. Namhla is getting closer to baptism and i hope everything continues to go well with her and her friend. i do know i did something, i at least planted seeds and taught what i know to be true from the bottom of my heart. I love this gospel. I'm very happy to be a missionary with a wonderful leader and friend.

a funny thing to share about my past companion elder Opolot haha. He always would say, "WOW" it was funny how he would say it and he also would say "MMM" it was funny, he would randomly say it in the boarding or in the car or even in appointments haha.

Well i love you all! i miss you guys.... Well have a good week i will do my best to work hard. LOVE YOU!!

your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

I Love the Work

Hey Everyone!
well its been a slow week. Nothing really exciting happened other than pday last week haha. i had so much fun playing mud Rugby! haha pictures will detailize how much "fun" we had haha. it was good to get away from boring king and have fun with the zone. =) we'll be doing it again today! pretty excited, we had to come get copies of the book of Mormon so the zone leaders said just come for pday! so we did. =)

I really enjoyed conference this weekend. We had 2 investigators attend a few sessions and they enjoyed the talks but said it was boring. so i hope everything will be better for them. i enjoyed Elder Hollands talk on saturday morning. I love you guys so much and i can't even imagine the "sacrifice" you are making to make sure i stay out here and do what i am called here to do. I LOVE YOU! President Monsons talk was good too! i loved how the whole conference was centered on the plan of salvation. attendance was few but those who did come enjoyed it. as far as i know. i don't know why people only came for one session and then left. i guess they got bored and hungry. our bishop wasn't even there. i guess he was out of town for meetings or something so bro Sitebe, first counselor was in charge and he served his mission in the cape town mission a long time ago. i think its funny he and his family now live in where he even served his mission. he served in King too haha. what a site! i love the work i am doing, the people are awesome, members are the best to missionaries, we had a DA last night from a sister in the ward who wasn't even supposed to feed us. she asked who is feeding you today? we replied no one at the moment. she then said come to my place. it was great! the church is true no matter where you go and people are very loving and caring wherever you go!

We have 2 investigators that are really progressing towards baptism now! =) i'm excited! they are the ones that came to church yesterday. Nomhla and Zinizi. both want to be baptized but Zinizi has 2 kids that stay outside of Mthatha so most weekends she isn't around and she even mentioned that she will be staying that side for a long time if things aren't good. she misses her kids so she doesn't like to leave them. so her baptism might not happen. =( Nomhla on the other hand is definitely going to be baptized this month! sometime! hopefully by the 21st or the next week. i need a baptism. haven't had one for a long time. but i keep telling myself that maybe i didn't come here to baptize, maybe i came here to teach, and reactivate! oh yeah 5 less actives came yesterday too! =) so things are happening....Speaking of things happening, i was talking to Elder Hansen, he is now serving in MD3 my old area and now they have over 100 coming to church! so my work did not go unnoticed! i'm very happy about that.

Well i don't know what else i would like for Christmas. maybe a tie haha. i really don't care. and of course sweets! my M&Ms =) but yeah.

Glad to hear that the straw is all hauled and that things are going well back home! I'm doing good for the most part and enjoying my area. i don't want to leave yet. but who knows with pres and the Lord. might have bigger plans for me than i know of. Well i love you all and so grateful for the Lord and his gospel in my life. I know Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that i'm here to represent Him and do his wonderful work on earth to bring our Brothers and Sisters back into His Presence. Have a good Week!!
your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

The Good, the Bad, and the Wet

Dear family and Friends

hey! Greetings from the wettest place in South Africa haha. its been raining all weekend. kinda sucks. people don't like to see you when the weather is bad. it was quite fun changing a tire in the rain. got all wet and it was a challenge to wash my hands, we used the the nice rain water in the gutter haha. better than greasy hands on the steering wheel. So yeah we had not one but 2 flat tires in one week. wasn't the best thing but luckily i know how to change a tire! it was a slick swap haha.

We had the special visit from Elder and Sister Watson yesterday. it was really good. he spoke really boldly about the Restoration and how Joseph was only 14yrs when this all happened to him. it was really cool. he had a 14yr old come up and stand next to him as an example, then he had a 17yr old come up, to represent when Joseph saw the angel Moroni and then a 21yr old come to represent when he received the Plates. it was kinda funny cause all three were taller than Elder Watson. I got to shake his hand before the meeting started and of course he asked me where i was from when he saw my name and i told him and he said, " oh of course your from there, lots of Rigbys in Idaho" i told him i knew Ryan and he said well we will have to get a picture together. But he left before i could get a chance to =( but its ok. It was really good to hear him speak about how he has served for 7 Presidents of the Church. and how he got really nervous when he had to give a talk in sacrament meeting and the prophet was presiding. Its always nice when the Prophet calls you up 2 days before Sunday to tell you that he will be attending your ward. we all chuckled.

we are here in East London today for pday, we came yesterday and then just stayed the night with the zone leaders. to save ks. but its not the best day to play to sport since its raining but we are going to do it anyway haha or go play in the chapel in the gym. glad to hear that you got the letter from president, i thought he was going to send an email. guess not. but yeah i know its a big responsibility to be a DL and do all that stuff i'm trying my best and the zone leaders are here to help me if i don't understand. and of course my Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for His love and comfort that i feel everyday. i love this gospel.

No we don't have primary programs here, too small. on saturday they had and activity and one kid pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher so white powder was all over! So the elders came to the rescue to help clean up. vacuum worked really well.

I don't know what i want for Christmas. music would be nice and a new tie haha. i'll keep thinking. i'm not too picky

Well i love you all and miss you! Have fun, be good and what? Remember who we stand for =) love you guys!

Elder Rigby

But we did Work!

Dear family and friends,

Greetings back home! How is the weather? the weather here has been pretty nice actually. warm and then cold warm and then cold. it fluctuates big time but is Africa it happens. Its been an ok week. nothing exciting happened that i can tell of. appointments fell through and people didn't come to church. and fellow shippers weren't available. so member presents were really low this week. if you look at the stats it looks like we didn't do anything productive. i hate that. but we did work! So i can't say anything bad.

We did give a baptismal date to a guy on the first lesson but then when we went back for the return appointment he wasn't home. i kinda don't think he really understood what we were asking him, cause he just kept saying "ok, alright" like the Xhosa people do. yeah its really annoying. but its fine its fine. We had 2 mommas come to church yesterday but they left after sacrament meeting, i asked them before they left if they wanted to stay and they said no. i don't think they liked it too much. i don't understand what there is to not like about church.... but anyways. we will visit them this week and find out the details.

We've been working a lot with the less active members. Bishop wanted us to really focus on retention and reactivation so thats what we are trying to do. the people that we visit make promises and then don't keep them so we really aren't getting anywhere, some are just plain lazy to come and others have problems with transport and money to come. in PEC we were told to work closer with the active members to try to get the lost ones to come back, whether it be for them to visit or have them go and pick them up. So we shall go for that approach this week as well. I'm enjoying this area and the members are great. we didn't have a D.A. yesterday which sucked. We were planning on one as we always do so we really didn't have much to eat in the boarding. but we had some nice bread and rice. yeah wasn't the best Sunday afternoon meal i've had. Yo the last time i didn't have a D.A. on sunday was back in Mthatha. I didn't like it.

I get to watch conference on the 30th and 31st of this month. next week the stake is having a special visit from Elder Watson, area presidency, so we will be going to Mdantsane next week for church =) i'm excited haha. the zone pday will hopefully come next week i have to write an approval form to the zone lords and then they will send it to the APs so it can get approved which President already approved but we still have to write up the explanation thingy. but yeah excited for that too =)

Well i love you guys!! have fun! peace out!

your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)

Simple and Plain Truths

Dear family and Friends,

hey everyone, glad to hear you had a good week back home. Is it getting cold yet? its starting to warm up here. So dad got some sunshine hauled eh? haha thats good thats good. i don't miss that but i do miss tractor work. Round up time, i was wondering when that was coming. sounds like a big coming week with Island Park and Spencer in the same week. have fun with that. can't wait till 2012 when i can join in on it again. i may not stay here too long. President told me to boost up the area and that i will probably only be with Opolot for 6 weeks so i don't know what will happen i can't predict anything haha

I have had a good week. lots of work had commenced in King. :) Bishop is very pleased with what we were able to do during the week as he mentioned in PEC yesterday morning. We have done lots of LA work and we even have gotten the brethren to come out with us to fellowship. so work is picking up a bit. its been fun working with Elder Opolot. haha he is a funny character. he needs work on his teaching, cause i talk a lot in appointments now. didn't realize how much i like teaching until i talk the entire time and my comp is just sitting there being quiet. but i do give him time to teach. being senior is quite the responsibility. wow. i have to make all the decisions and have to report to the ZLs and yeah. Elder Samuel Opolot is his name from Uganda and has an interesting accent.

We have been teaching former investigators and working with the ones that they were teaching last transfer. we have one BD, Nomhla. she is a very nice lady and has come to church twice now. we didn't see her this past week cause she went to P.E. so i hope she is back this week. She stays in a township called Sweetwater. its an interesting place but good people. I taught gospel principals yesterday on the law of chastity, yeah talk about awkwardness! haha. but its got to be taught! and we had very good participation from the class. i like it :) I'm enjoying it here for the most part. good members and good people to teach if they will keep their appointments. we now have a ward mission leader! so the work will now progress even better :)

Well i know this is the work of the lord! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't. I'm so grateful for your love and support and all that you taught me growing up. Mission is good, challenging and worth it all at the same time. I know I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and wants me to be happy. I Know Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God who came here to die for us. Book of Mormon truly is another testament of Jesus Christ, i love the Book of Mormon and so grateful for the way that it teaches. Like in 2 Nephi, cant remember what chapter, how it says that Nephi likes to write in simple and plainness. God knew what he was doing when he commanded them to write the Book of Mormon. I love you! have a good week!

Your missionary in South Africa,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

New Area: New Responsibilities

Dear Family and Friends,

Hey! the best news is that i'm still in Mdantsane! well the zone! haha i'm now in King Williams Town. 60ks from mdantsane. Its a nice place so far only been here for 5 days and the work is well dead. So lots of work to be done. Its a ward that has only 140 members but only 40 come to church its sad. Its a very beautiful chapel, its one of its kind. it kinda has the tabernacle look to it on temple square. its pretty! :) Bishop Mpapa is a very nice man and he does his job well. the stake wants to split by 2012 as i've mentioned earlier so we had a nice lesson/discussion yesterday in priesthood on how exactly we as a ward are going to help achieve that goal. it was good. we lack priesthood/ and the less active families will be miracles when they come back to full activity. My new companion is Elder Opolot, from Uganda. He is a funny guy haha oh my sick! Its great. I'm the new district leader, yeah i have more responsibility now! great! i knew it was coming to me though so its fine its fine. I'll do the best i can and do what i can do. Its a 2-man district so its not too hard just me and the comp! haha. The boarding is a bit smaller than i'm used to but its ok. we are hardly there anyway. Lots of different town ships around the town. like 4 or 5. so many people! there are even whites here! haha we even have a white couple in church! i was very surprised to not be the only white in the ward.

I miss Mdantsane tho... it was a wonderful place to be. i'll remember my investigators and the members for the rest of my life i hope. good memories there. So when President called me on wednesday for news i was shocked haha i wasn't expecting to leave but he told me that its when you don't expect to leave that you do. He told me i did a good job in that area and now i need to be sent to an area where i can boost up the area again so we are gunna send you to king Williams town. I was very well shocked. Its next door to Mdantsane but far enough away that we I don't get to see other missionaries every monday. So we are planning a zone pday, where we will be able to go to mdantsane to have fun with the the zone.

The only thing i can say about the work is that its true and that its very important. I know why i'm here and i know what i need to do. I hope i'll be able to do what the Lord expects of me here in King. I like it so far. I don't know the place yet but there are good people with great potential. Bishop wants up to work with the less active members and families. so we shall do that. the nice thing about being senior comp is that now i can do the work my way haha. we have lots of former investigators that we can check up on. So once i get to know the area we shall have lots of fun i hope! I'm excited for exchanges with the zls haha its the only time i shall see other elders. They come here and spend a day and a half with us. so its cool. not this week but next week.

My comp is a good missionary. He has only been a member since 2007. and his family lives in a village 5 hours away from the closest chapel, they aren't members. he doesn't even email them every week. he only writes them here and there. i feel bad for him. he doesn't get mail from home. He has been on mission now for 6 months. So i'm wondering if people back home could write to him just so he can get mail. I gave him Sister Potters address haha he was excited about that haha he wrote a letter to her last night i thought it was funny. He is a funny guy tho yo haha We have fun with just the 2 of us. all i have to do is adapt to him and i'll get along with him just fine! :)

Well i love you all very much and very glad everyone is doing well. I miss you guys... But i know Heavenly Father is taking care of you and even me. I know the Lord has great trust in me now that i'm a district leader. I hope i can fulfill what He sent me here to do. I hope you all have a great week and that everything goes well. LOVE YOU!

Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby CTM

Hello from the Beautiful Land of South Africa

Elder Rigby and Elder Diphala

Hey Everyone!!

Molo! :) How is everyone doing? I'm doing alright! no complaints as far as i know of hehe. Mission is good for the most part. Glad to hear the grain is finally getting harvested. :) hear its spud harvest, thats crazy how time is flying by yo! feels like its still march or something. I'm getting old on mission haha. fun stuff tho haha. So its been an alright week not much has happening on this side. Still the same old same old. Comp is "dying" strong which is good i thought he would be trunky by now but he's not haha. i asked him why and he said its probably cause he is still in his same country and not too far from home. which makes since but he is very happy to see his family and to go home. Hes gunna miss mission tho, its been implanted in his brain for 2 years and now it comes to an end all of the sudden. But it really doesn't cause every member is a missionary and now his mother and father are investigating the church. I told him to go home and harvest them haha. he agreed :) what a marvelous blessing it is to be a missionary and have the blessings come to our families back home. So have you guys seen any blessings come since I've been absent? The Lord does bless our lives as we strive to live the principles of the gospel.

This week we had 2 investigators at church! YAY! haha Abongile and Siviwe. its was wonderful to see Siviwe there. He has come in the past years but he hasn't been able to since he started school and now works on weekends to help him with transport to school during the week. but since school is out for 2 weeks he was able to work during the week and now can come on Sunday for 2 weeks. its good. I asked him afterward how he liked it and he said it reminded him of old times. he wants to be baptized. but hes schedule just makes it hectic for him to come to church regularly... Abongile always enjoys church haha. Her mother is still the same. although she did sit on in the lesson on Wednesday evening. She asked some good questions but still doesn't accept it. after we left i guess she said some pretty intense things to Abongile. Like, that she thinks we are just trying to get membership and that our church is foney. i was kinda shocked when Abongile told me at church yesterday. So i told her to not give up and let the Lord soften her heart and prepare her. Told her to continue to read, pray and come to church. She is very sad that she can't get baptized yet. I'm sad! but nothing we can really do till she is approved by her mother. or till she is 21. which is a long time from now

We had another baptism for Cwaytia on Saturday! another person i started teaching in NU-15. so my work did not go to shame haha. it was combined with ward 2 they had 2 sisters getting baptized it was a nice service. We had a really good Sunday attendance yesterday. Lots of people came it was awesome! the less active families are starting to show up again. :) made me very happy. This ward needs families to come back and improve the ward. So things are happening in the ward, finally! I had a nice chat with our presiding Elder. Bro Kuviwe Mahlangabeza. He also sees the things starting to happen. home teaching is very important and visiting teaching. thats what takes care of the members. Lots of times people go less active cause they don't have their home teachers come to visit and so they feel neglected. but its starting to get better. and getting a good Bishop will make things even more better. So i hope Pres Bell is finding a suitable Bishop and will him soon.

Well i love you all and miss you. I hope you have a good week and i hope things get better with harvest. Hows everyone else? I know the church is true. i know my Father in Heaven loves me and i know that Christ is my Savior and that he lives and loves us. I'm so grateful for the love and comfort i feel from the Holy Ghost in my life as i serve my Father. I'm grateful to be a missionary in this beautiful land of South Africa. Its where i need to be :)

LOVE YOU GUYS
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

The World is Different

Dear My dearest Family and Friends,

Hey! How's it that side of the world? sounds like its been raining, well its been raining here too! all of last night actually with some thunder storms even. pretty cool. Haven't been sleeping the best lately i don't really know why but i do what i can do. My week was ok. not the busiest week i've had on mission but it still had some good lessons with people. I miss you guys... But i'm indeed very grateful to be in South Africa where i need to be at the time i need to be here. I read through my patriartical blessing the other night and it mentioned that i would be able to bring converts into the church reactivate those that are lost. i have now seen the success of it coming true. i really haven't had any converts get baptized yet but i have brought people back into full activity. an older gentlemen, Bro. Gontsana, has now come to church the past 3 weeks. i'm so happy. he is the nicest old man haha. very happy to be a member and loves the missionaries visiting him. I'm glad i'm here! :) maybe it was me who needed to visit these less actives and share my testimony with them to bring them back i don't know. I just keep going back to my blessing. We've been working with 3 other families as well. the Mandla family, the Kulashe family and the Jozi family. all 3 know the church is true but for some strange reason they won't come to church. Bro Kulashe was in the elders quorum presidency when he was active 2 years ago. i don't know what happened. Its been nice to visit them, he likes farming haha very South African rural area farming tho haha the "old fashion way" as i would call it dad haha. oxen and a plow haha. i find it very amazing haha. i still like my tractors! oh i see them here and there. Massey Ferguson and ford tractors. haha my comp and the other elders tell me to calm down when i see the tractors lol i don't get too excited but do go "oh look at that!" lol silly me i know, typical farm boy. No John Deere or CAT or anything else. not a whole lot of them this side where i am anyway. i hear that the drive between Cape Town and George is where all the farms are. Mostly dry farms. starting to get into the irrigation systems (pivots) not too many i haven't seen them yet. the world is different haha.

We had good lessons with Abongile and Kamva this week. Mostly teaching Kamva and reviewing for Abongiles sake. She needs to get baptized!! haha. We had a baptism for Sinazo Mazeleni on saturday. she is now being taught my the NU-15 elders, Elder Maseko and Elder Andrimitantsoa. it was nice. wasn't very organized but she was dunked so thats what matters most haha. confirmed her yesterday. they'll be having another baptism this coming saturday for Cwaytia and another candidate Whimpy. Exciting for them! i planted seeds with Sinazo and Cwaytia. haha so i feel good about that.

We also had good lessons with Mbasa and Sekhi. they didn't come to church again yesterday. i guess they were tied up at there grandmas place. Mbasa has been struggling with reading. so yesterday we asked him if he had any questions about anything and he asked about covenants. So we talked about that stuff and used Mosiah 18:8-9 with him. he struggling with everything i think. i hope things turn out for the better with him. His bro, Sekhi is doing better, he had been reading the Bible but he needs to read the BofM. So hopefully that will have changed. he wasn't there last night so i hope he will be there next lesson.

Others just didn't hold and it was a struggle the entire week it seemed like. People just aren't committed and seems like they want to learn but don't want to make the time. I don't get it!? People are weird. Samora ran from us when he saw us drive up to his house on Saturday. crazy smoker deadlock dude. haha

My comp goes home next week Thursday. the 30th of sept. He is ready to go home haha. Still going strong but he needs to go home. i'm excited to get a new companion. I might train.... but not sure. there are 21 new missionaries coming in. so lots of elders will be training. Going to be a very young mission come January. Well my time is running out. i hope this is enough details... Oh we had zone conference on Thursday. it was really good. it basically was another day of the training on the new stuff. focus was getting people to come to church. it was good. got some new ideas on how to get people to church. that is the biggest problem in our area. not fun.

I love you all and miss you. I hope you have a good week and i'll talk to you next week! Peace out!

Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby CTM

The Gospel is True!

Hey Everybody!

Molo! :) how is it back in Idaho?? raining i see. that sucks. hasn't rained too much lately here. We need the rain so bad this side its so dry. so tell it to come this side haha. Yes i would love a small picture of the prophet and Christ to carry around with me in my white bible or wallet that'd be great! :) Its been another interesting week. people just don't commit to church. the only people who do come is Abongile. she is the only one who is there every sunday if she can. Her mom is still hard hearted. but getting there we hope! Abongile is now going to ask her dad if he can talk to her mom about it so maybe that will help convince her! :) (her parents are divorced) her dad doesn't have a problem with her getting baptized. So yeah. We are also trying to teach her nephew kamva. He is only 9 but he is very interested. his mother, Abongiles sister is fine with him getting baptized he is even counting down the days to it haha i thought that was cool. its very special to be baptized by the correct authority.

We finally got to see Mbasa and Sekhi. they are doing good. still didn't come to church yesterday. We saw Sekhi on the street yesterday after church and so i asked him what happened with him and his bro in coming to church. He told me that he had overslept and by the time he got ready Mbasa was already gone. and said that he was going to church. He didn't show up. so he lied to his mom and brother. don't know what/where Mbasa went all i know is that he didn't come to church. So we are seeing them again on tuesday so i'll find out then. We had some really good lessons with them this past week. The Spirit was so strong in 2 of those lessons. felt as if i was going to shed some tears. I love this gospel. it really is true. as long as we do our part in following the Christ we will be blessed and have joy. After we had closed the lesson i asked Sekhi how he felt he told me he felt warm inside and i could tell. Mbasa is having struggles recognizing the Spirit. He says he feels like smiling. which can very well be his answer. as it says in Galatians 5:22-23. but yeah. Sekhi is coming along great. Mbasa not so much. still is very busy with his studies and friends. I'm worried about him, i don't know why i'm so into these investigators the way i am with Mbasa and Sekhi and not with the others that we teach. its weird. Elder Maseko asked me why i was stressing out about them so much and it got me thinking. I told him its cause i can connect with them well i guess.

We had exchanges in the district on wednesday and friday so Elder Andirmistantsoa was with me on wednesday and then Elder Maseko was with me on friday. both had a good time together. Elder Andri is still learning haha made me think back when i was green haha i've come a long ways since then. in only 8 months too! Crazy! Time flies thats all i can say!

This new way of teaching really works. we gave 4 more people baptismal dates :) now the question is are all of them going to hold to that date or not. so hope and pray. I like the new stuff its very Christ orientated. Focused on Christ. :) Missionaries job to invite others unto Christ! Does the family have a Preach My Gospel in the home?? If not get one and have family home evenings on the principles in it. OKAY? good! haha

Have Zone conference this week on thursday. More counsel and learning from our dear Pres Probst. Hes awesome thats all i can say. My comp is not trunky. surprisingly haha he is going home in 2 and a half weeks and he is still strong. which i commemorate him on that haha. i want to die strong. He sent stuff home today so he can fit everything in his suitcase haha.

Stake president here in East london came to our ward yesterday to interview all the Melchizedek Priesthood brethren to find a Bishop since we don't have one for 3 months now yeah not good. low on active priesthood brethren. its not cool so i hope the interviews went good and that Pres Bell found a bishop.

Well i don't know what else to say other than i love you and miss you all. I hope you have a fabulous week and all do what you need to do :) I finally got my package!! :) i freakin love it haha thank you family! I love the goodies and supplies :) so thanks again. Well love you!!

your Elder in South Africa,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

Greetings!

MOLO! How is everyone? Sounds like your all doing very well. which is wonderful! :) i'm doing alright as well. i love Pdays haha emails are my favorite thing about the day. :) I still haven't gotten my package i'm so hoping i'll get it friday. It takes longer to get to me cause i'm not in cape town. i'm 3 hours away (flying) in East london. So the office gets it and then they have to ship it to me so another couple of days. so friday it should be here! My birthday was blah... wasn't that great. Birthdays suck on mission as everyone else says haha. which is so true just a normal day on mission. we worked hard. had some good lessons though. Surprise. haha. Taught Nomandla. She is a 28yr old single parent. with one ADHD. yeah doesn't like to sit still and likes to do random stuff. her brother has it as well and is 16. He won't take meds for it so he is, well a interesting one haha. he likes the fact that i'm from America and living in "South Africa, the mother land" i thought it was funny. he really isn't interested in the gospel but hes very friendly. now back to Nomandla, we taught her the first part of the plan of salvation and after we were done she like, is that it? I thought it would keep going. haha We told her that we would share more next time. So she is very interested and hopefully prepared. We also taught Siviwe that evening. We finished the plan of salvation and he understood everything. we had an another appointment with on friday but he wasn't there so we haven't seen him for a week now. Hope he is alright.

Wednesday and Thursday we had our 2 day training with president about the "new curriculum" there is a new way that we first start teaching and how we go about doing it. it was good training. We practiced, roll plays, and it really works on investigators surprise surprise! The brethren know what they are talking about, well the Lord knows. I enjoyed being with other missionaries and with the senior couples and Pres. We had fun. We now invite them to follow the Savior by following his example and being baptized by the correct authority. and give them a date if they agree, on the first lesson. This new stuff sifts out the ones who aren't prepared and it helps us let them know that we are serious and don't mess around. So in general it goes back to our purpose of inviting others to come unto Christ. :) MISSIONARY WORK then in the afternoon we went to the area and tried the new stuff and well it was a challenge at first and we can see how it works now. Its pretty cool.

We gave Abongile and her nephew a baptismal date for the 25 of September. We are still praying that her mother will agree and let her be baptized. Kamva, the nephew, is now taking the lessons and he came with Abongile to church yesterday. and he enjoyed primary, since he is 9yrs old. So continue to pray for them and we will do our best to help them. the mother agreed to sit on the next lesson so i hope this is the Lord doing His work. :)

now another lesson we had with an investigator, Ndibonga. haha She was very surprised that we asked her to be baptized and to pray about it. she didn't like it at all. so she isn't prepared to receive it yet. but we tried. If they won't first agree to follow the Savior then we don't want to waste our time with them if they won't progress. so yeah.

We did see Mbasa and his bro Sekhi. They haven't been reading and their prayers aren't as good as we thought so that night we discussed the importance of reading the BofM and praying for confirmation. it was nice to see the look on their faces after the Spirit had gone through them. Mbasa knows its true just is not acting on it. Sekhi is still learning so we really didn't be harsh on him as much. they didn't come to church yesterday. guess their mom didn't stay at home saturday night so they didn't get transport money to go. or so Sekhi told us yesterday afternoon when we passed him on the street.

I was on exchanges with Elder Kehler (ZL) on Friday. Yo, i had so much fun haha he is so funny and we worked hard and applied the new stuff and got people to commit to baptism and pray at the end of the lesson in english. it was great! had a gooder day.

sat all of our appointments fell through and we didn't have a fellowshipper with us so it wasn't a very good day. i don't like it when that happens. weekends aren't fun on mission cause no one wants to see missionaries. they are either drunk or want to party with their friends. which makes sense. Had a good sabbath yesterday tho. had 3 member present lessons and had a really good DA. haha i was so grateful for it since i had been fasting. We ate at the Mhaklangebezas. it was very good. and they even bought cake for us since it was my birthday on Tuesday so it made up for the not so fun tuesday. haha. I love members!

Well overall it was a good week and we are now going to attempt to walk more in the area. We need to. To save on Ks and to see more people! and exercise haha. i've changed thats all i can say haha little chubbier than i was back home haha pictures will testify of that i'm sure. I love you all and miss you guys! hope you have a wonderful week and read and pray!

Church is true Book is Blue!

Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

Excitingly Waiting

Ello!!! :) How is everyone?? Sounds like you are all doing well. which is good! I'm doing good. no complaints other than appointments keep falling through and fellowshippers just aren't reliable some days but yeah. I'm enduring! Thanks for the Bday wish :) I'm so excited for my package haha hope to get it this friday be who knows! post is very slow these days. Had an interesting week....

monday: played soccer. had a good appointment with Siviwe, a former investigator. He is really interested but his schedule is really busy with school and work. so he hasn't been able to come to church yet but we are working around that at the moment. He is "golden" i guess you can say haha.

Tuesday- lots of appointments didn't hold. but we did manage to see another former, Nomandla. She is golden as well. So things are starting to look up a bit. She hasn't come to church yet either but we'll keep insisting and inviting. :) We also met a less active family, the Jozi family. The mother and father are members but their 17yr old son isn't so we are going to teach him with the family and try to get 2 birds with one stone! :) sound good don't it haha. and then later that evening we met with Siviwe again. Restoration DVD and the Book of Mormon.

Wednesday- Did some finding in NU-16. Found some good potential but nothing promising yet. Met with Abongile :) she is just really really ready for baptism but she has to wait till either her mother agrees or she turns 18. So it might take a while. but we continue to visit her and share dvds and read from the BofM with her so her understanding increases. She came to church yesterday and liked it as usual. Then we met with a member who was baptized last year in march so a RC but we can't count it as a RC cause she is over a year. She is doing better. We got there and she wasn't feeling well and i guess one of her Brother in laws passed away. so she wasn't doing too good that day. she did come to church yesterday and she looked much better. was happy and smiling again.

Thursday- had our weekly planning. had lunch, potato bake! as tradition! haha. with some good meat. it was tasty i thought haha only cooked meal that we get during the week. cause we have to take lunch to the area cause we travel 30ks everyday to the area. So yeah i'm really getting tired of sandwiches but i don't know what else i can do. We later saw Mbasa finally oh my sick... haha he just isn't committed anymore. His friends have a very big influence on him and he goes with them when they show up. or so we figure. He just needs time i think so my comp and i are going to continue to try to see him for the rest of the transfer and if he doesn't progress we will drop him. So prayers are the only thing. We met with another former family. the father is more interested than the mother. so we had a nice discussion with him. he liked the fact that i was a farmer from USA haha people don't think there are farmers in the States i thought that was funny. We then saw sister Kulashe. She and her husband are less active they were baptized in 2007. we haven't really figured out why they aren't coming to church yet. so we will continue to see them as well.

Friday- busy day, had district meeting and and then didn't have a fellowshipper at first so it put stress on me. haha. i don't like that. We saw Abongile again and Siviwe and then Bro Mjuza. a less active he comes and goes it seems. his wife works for the mayor for buffalo city so i guess thats her excuse for not coming to church. but not sure.

Sat- well didn't have a fellowshipper. it sucked. couldn't teach. not fun when we can't teach cause we don't have a fellowshipper with us with females. So we attended ward council well my comp and Elder Makseko did. While we waited for that i practiced the piano, well attempted to haha. appointments fell through so we attempted to see others but no one was home. got return appointments with a few tho so thats a plus i just hope they all hold this week!!

Sunday- attended ward welfare meeting since our ward mission leader now has a job and has to work everyday. yeah it sucks. So we attended that and then had church. we only had abongile at church but the other elders had 2 so good for them. It was a good sunday. saw lots of people. Abongile, tata Vukubi (former i mentioned above whose wife really isn't interested) had a really good DA haha i was really full afterward haha.

I love teaching. Its so cool when you teach someone and i can feel the spirit in me helping me share what i know to be true. i love it :) Well i love you all and hope you are all safe and having fun! I'm looking forward to my package!!! :) love you guys, miss you

Your South African Missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

I Stayed!

Dear Family and Friends in Idaho and wherever else, haha

MOLO!! :) glad to hear everyone is doing fabulous :) I'm doing alright as well its been an well, interesting week.... Not a whole lot has happened in the area but i'll give an explanation of the week here it goes:

Monday- Went and played soccer surprise surprise haha then had FHE and our ward mission leaders place. The Cetywayoes. it was good. did a lesson the one of the Christ like attributes from PMG

Tuesday-Well did some former investigator finding since tracting hasn't been doing the job. days suck when nothing happens thats all i can say. We were able to set some return appointments with a few of them and some are still interested and maybe are now ready to receive the good stuff. Pretty much all of the appointments that we had that afternoon fell through. not fun. so backup was formers! quite the quest to find their address in this big township haha. drove around way too much just trying to find the stinkin house number haha. but oh well.

Wednesday- more former finding. were able to again find them and get a few return appointments but well most of them didn't hold as well. these people just aren't serious at all. they tell us to come back but won't be there when we come. so i guess that either means that they aren't interested or that they just "forget" the appointment. We did see Abongile though :) she is doing well but still very disappointed that her mother won't let her be baptized. we read 3 Nephi 18 with her and talked about the sacrament and stuff. she enjoys every lesson so much. she is so ready for baptism but her mother is being stubborn. We later met with Chwaita. She is a former who we found at a investigators place bout a month ago. We did a lesson on the first half of the plan of salvation. she is doing well she even came to church last week and this week so good stuff. oh! and got transfer news! I well, i think you can tell by now but i stayed!!! YAY!!! haha still with Elder Diphala. so that means i'm killing him. so he'll get to enjoy my bday package as well. i'm so excited for it haha!!!!

Thursday-well.......haha transfer day.....yeah didn't get to the area till 3 but had a good chat with other missionaries waiting for their bus. We now have 2 more missionaries in ward 3. Elder Maseko and his greenie from Madacascar, i can't spell or pronounce his name ha. sorry. so they now work just NU-15 and my comp and i work NU-16-18. yeah its big area. don't go to 18 so much cause its still under construction. but yeah. We have the car and they other elders walk. We later had a really good lesson with the Bakani family. family of 4. we watched together forever with them and we got talking about temples afterward and sis Bakani asked Bro Bakani if he wanted to get sealed. he said yes. :) so she then said that well you need the priesthood then. So we were very happy :) good good good haha. They know the church is true just still having problems with getting setting in since they lived in England before and then came back here to Mdantsane.

Friday- had district meeting. its nice to be in a 4 man district again. :) after that we had lunch at Nandos. (chicken place, very nice) then saw Abongile again and watched search for the truth with her and she said afterwards that she can really see how the church is true and she really wants the blessings from it. after that we went to an older lady, mama Qosana. she is a former. we watched the restoration dvd with her and well it went well. she understands how the church fell away. then the rest of our appointments fell through so we visited members

Saturday- tried again to see formers but no success. we did manage to meet with a former by the name of martin. he is really a church goer and now after we explained that Christ's church fell away and the priesthood left the earth, he now understands that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only church that has the power and authority. so he now wants to know how to get the priesthood so that was a good lesson as well.

Sunday- our area didn't have any at church. the others had 1. so people slacked this week. Church was good. my comp gave a talk haha he was informed 10 min before sacrament meeting. last week i was informed saturday morning but didn't have time to prepare much so mainly just used the knowledge that i had and my scriptures. So yes i have improved haha. Well the rest of the day was boring. no one was home so visited members and less actives. and saw Abongile to find out why she didn't come to church. she had to stay home to take care of her nephews. so yeah.

Well thats the breakdown of the week for ya! haha I'm very happy to still be in Mdantsane 3rd ward. :) good area and we will endure in the work. we have to. i just have to keep going and do it. Gotta do what i gotta do. Life goes on. Well i love you all and miss you guys. hope you have a wonderful week! Peace out

Your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

It's All Good

Dear Family, and Friends,

molo everyone!! :) Unganie? I'm good or indepele. hehe. Its been a hectic week. appointments haven't held and some more challenges have come upon the area but its all good its all good. what can we do?..Endure! Endure to the End :) i keep tellin my comp that we have to endure and do the best we can and don't get discouraged. Its tuff when people don't want to see us or they claim that they are too busy to meet with us. but its people in the world these days so we do what we can do. we did some more finding and found 2 more father led families that have good potential. So thats good stuff. meeting with them in the weekend. i hope i'm here to see it. but other troubles have been:

Abongile is doing well. She isn't the problem. Its her mother now. She is against abongile getting baptized for the second time cause i guess she was baptized when she was younger but abongile can't remember it and the fact that it wasn't done by the correct authority. So its gunna be hard trying to explain it to her mother that she wasn't baptized by the correct power and authority. So continue to pray for her please. thank you.

Mbasa is just too tied up with school and hasn't kept his appointments so we did manage to met with him tuesday and we dropped his baptismal date and told him to not worry about it for right now. he just needs to think and get his life figured out. his friends have a big influence on him and as well as his parents. wants to keep both happy. which is understandable but with his friends he goes with them instead of staying for our appointment or going to church. so its hard.

other investigators just aren't serious enough to progress. they don't see the importance of the message that we are trying to share with them and either run away from us or tell us that they are busy. So yeah not fun. We need to find the elect to teach i guess. I'm running out of ideas on that. we have started to look up former investigators and see if they are still interested or what what. but nothing has happened with that yet. we will continue to work. I have to work i can't stay on my butt all day and do nothing anymore. I get bored and go crazy haha. So its been a challenging week. i hope and pray that it will get better.

yes i gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. It went well. i spoke on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (aka lesson 3 in PMG) :) i ended up taking all the time. Only 1 speaker was before me and she only spoke for 5 mins so i spoke for 25 mins haha it wasn't too hard to do actually. i'm a missionary and i know what to talk about. my knowledge of the gospel has increased so much these past 8 months. mission changes a man. haha. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that i do have and that i can share my testimony with the people of south africa. they need the gospel so bad. its the only thing that can truly bring happiness to their lives. I'm really surprised that there are lots of less actives in mdantsane 3rd ward. people join the church for the wrong reasons. its dumb. No i haven't had time to write my conversion story down. i know it though. :)

How are the family prayers and FHE going?? How about family scripture study?? and personal study?? ALL of you should be do them!! i will come back in the night and get after you if your not haha. no not really but please read the scriptures. everyday! and pray!

I love you guys so much! :) i love the gospel that i'm sharing with people. I know my savior lives and that we have a loving heavenly father who knows each and everyone of our needs and wants us to be happy. I know as we put our faith and trust in him our trials and challenges will go away without our hearts hurting. What joy we have with this gospel in our lives :) The Church is True the Book is Blue have a wonderful week and i will do my best as well. LOVES

Your South African Missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (CTM)

Progress is Wonderful

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello everybody! :) I'm doing fabulous! so no worries there. i love emails :) hehe....Well its been a interesting week. not much has happened. :( Mbasa isn't progressing anymore, he hasn't been keeping his appointments and his parents are more concerned about his school studies at the moment so they asked us to only see him on weekends if Mbasa doesn't say during the week. so its sad but we'll continue to work with him and his bro. now Abongile on the other hand is doing quite well :) makes my day when we go see her and teach her and she understands and is very excited about her Baptism on the 28th. So she is one of the elect investigators! :) she was definitely prepared. her mother hasn't changed so yeah. but thank you for the prayers continue to do so please.

Interviews were on Tuesday. They were great! :) president is such a great leader and Priesthood holder. he knows what hes doing and i respect him for it greatly. I told him how it is and that "my work is not yet finished in this area and that i want to stay and see my investigators baptized" haha he just said " well i'll certainly commission it with the Lord" ha thats president Probst for ya big time. haha. he has seen the progress in me and sees that i have brought fire to my old companion, Elder Diphala. So he'd love to keep me here i think but its what the Lord wants not me and not President. We also had a mini zone conference before interviews and Pres and Sis Probst informed us that the mission is changing. New ways of teaching are going to be in full activity by Jan of next year. so we get 4 days of training before the new year so we will all be on the same page as the new missionaries that will be coming in. so more training and council. gunna be fun..... well it should be ok i guess we will see what happens. oh and now we will only have interviews and zone conference every 3 months instead of every transfer. i'm not very happy about that but yeah. So our mission is one of the biggest in the world i think. well geographically anyway. so our first 2 training days will be in September sometime and then we will have the other 2 later on. I guess they have already done the training in Namibia and Pres was looking at the difference and its nice. so yeah fun stuff.

but other than that it was an ok week. Been trying to sit down with some good families to teach but haven't been able to do that yet. the families are always too busy, or so they say. So we will continue to work smart and get these families taught and more investigators..

My companion, Elder Diphala is now 22 months on mission. so yeah he is going home at the end of september/beginning of october. Transfers are the 19th of this month so i will either be here or somewhere else when i get my package...on that note i really don't know what i want. as i mentioned before i would like Campbell's soup and good vegetable soup haha more spuds would be nice. :) ok my comp says he would like "anything that a 22 month old missionary would like" his exact words haha so don't blame me! a cool lookin tie would be nice for me. :) a light blue one! ummmm i don't know what else. Reese's, M&Ms (Peanut butter and Peanut) i'm not picky when it comes to this! anything! :) oh and more about him his parents aren't members just him and his younger sister. He is 27 years old, studied law before he came on mission... likes soccer....

Well i love you all and am so grateful for your love and support! :) The church is True the Book is Blue :) have a good week.

Your South African Missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)

PS oh! members always ask me if i have sweets. (aka candy) so the hard candy is the best for them its something that you could send. tic tacs haha they like those. and others of course.... and oh my sick is just an expression like wow or amazement or shocked. YSA- young single adults yeah we don't have that back home cause there aren't enough of them to have a class.

Hi! How are ya?

Dear Family and Friends,
I'm doing very well! had a very busy fun week i'd say. :) saw lots of people and just had some good lessons with our investigators. the work has pick up a bit and we have found some more people who have potential. its very interesting that when we tract that every door we knock on has either been to church before or seen missionaries before. so the area has been worked. Now with seeing these people again, the missionaries before planted seeds so now we are attempting to harvest them. :) we'll see what happens this coming week with the ones that we have set appointments with. the next few days are pretty busy. lots of appointments set up. which i'm grateful for haha its not fun when we have to come up with something to do for that day. i like being in peoples homes and sitting down talking with and teaching them. :) as every missionary does.

its been hot the past couple of days holy cow. haha you'd think winter would be over. but it shouldn't be yet. or at least i don't think it should, i don't know haha i haven't lived here long enough to find out when and how long seasons are. today itself is a nice sunny day! :) i like sunny days, and now that we have a car its better cause we don't die of heat exhaustion. yeah its been pretty warm. I love this place. i love the people. I love my companion. He is a good missionary who likes to work and have fun. I find joy in the work. especially this past week. Yo it flew by! i can't believe its already pday again. crazy stuff.


what a wonderful principal the gospel of Jesus Christ offers for us. Families truly can be together forever! "We can be together forever some day" from the together forever dvd. I'm so grateful for you guys! my family! :) i love each and everyone of you! Thank you so much for your love and support as i serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and bring more into its fold. South Africa is truly where i need to be at this point in my life. i have no doubt about it. the Lord knows where and when we are needed in life. Missionary work is really the best thing on earth that every member can do!!! and should do!!! so i encourage all of you to seek out to those you know who need the gospel. yes, i know little Rexburg really isn't the place for that but hey no effort is wasted. PMG states that every member is a missionary so get to work! the full time missionaries can't do it without the members....

We have given Abongile Majavu a Baptismal Date! :) August 28th is the day. she is excited. but i'm worried cause her mother isn't really approving of the church. Abongile mentioned yesterday that her mom was kinda concerned why all of the sudden she has "changed churches" she used to go to the one her mother is going to. So i'm worried that her mother isn't going to let her be baptized. So may i ask you guys to pray for Abongiles mother? pray that her heart can be softened. Abongile wants to be baptized and wants her mother to attend her service. so prayers are needed.

Mbasa on the other hand as a Baptismal date but didn't manage to come to church again yesterday. i don't know what is up with this kid. His brother has shown more interest than him this past week. both of them had been reading but didn't hold their appointment last night either so i'm concerned about him as well. This past week we met with them every other day so i was calmed down and not so worried but now that he didn't show up yesterday makes me concerned again. Stubborn people i guess.... we didn't have any investigators at church :( so we didn't even have our gospel principals class. So my comp and i attended YSA. learned about Elijah and Elias.

The members have worked with us alot this past week and its been wonderful! :) when we have fellowshippers it just makes the day a whole lot better it seems like. not sure why but we are able to teach everyone we have planned for and have another testimony other than the missionaries. We have interviews tomorrow with President. i'm excited. haha i'm gunna tell him i want to stay and that my work is not finished here in Mdantsane 3rd ward. I don't know if that'll work but we shall see. I want to stay i want to see my investigators baptized. that would be awesome.

So as i mentioned above i'm doing well and yes, i'm "UP" mom. :) i feel good about the work i'm doing. I'm having fun doing it too. yes, we have bad days but don't we all. we just have to change our attitudes and pick up ourselves and do better :) So i know this church is true, i Know the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and that the Prophet Joseph Smith translated it by the power of the Holy Ghost and was a prophet called of God to do the Lords work. I know families are ordained of God and that they can be together forever through the great and marvelous Sealing power of the Priesthood in the Temples. I miss the Temple and am looking forward to going back. I love missionary work. :) i love you guys! Have a good week!

Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)

Dear me family and Friends in Idaho,

Hello!!!!!! i hope that is a long enough hello haha has to go half way across the world. haha. Its been a good week. I'm enjoying working with Elder Diphala and finding more people to teach. we found some good families this past week. so hopefully something spectacular will happen with them. :) I'm glad everyone is doing better now. what did you all get? the bugs or what? Well i'm doing well. we now have a car! hooray!! haha we didn't have a car because it had to in for repairs, it had been in a few accidents and needed the brakes fixed and the steering and the back bumper and lots of other things. so yeah! its now fixed and we have a car :) i and my comp are very happy about it too. haha

Well this past week was a good one. we had zone conference on Tuesday and it was on working with our stake and ward leaders. it was good council from Pres and sister Probst. They are awesome. We as missionaries are required to bring souls into the fold. The ward is responsible for befriending these souls and making sure they stay in the gospel. They also mentioned that we cannot do anything without the ward. it won't move forward. We are to "help" the ward not the ward help us. So yeah.

We have managed to visit with Sinazo and Abongile this past week a few times. they are doing so well. we hope to give them a baptism date this week for the 28 of August. Abongile already wants to be baptized. she is probably the only investigator that i have found and is progressing in the teaching. :) i feel really good about it. She came to church again yesterday and loved it so she definitely will strive to be there every Sunday. Sinazo is also doing very well. we met with her on Tuesday and taught her the first half of the plan of salvation, then met with her again yesterday after church and taught her the rest of the plan of salvation. a cool thing about that meeting was that she had a friend there who has been taught before and has a copy of the BofM so she sat in on the lesson and then we set up a return appointment with her for Wednesday so we are hoping that she will join us now on as we continue to teach Sinazo. good stuff.

So those are the really progressing investigators. We have a few others but they aren't very committed to the appointments. so there is Mbasa. yo i'm worried about this kid. he is supposed to be baptized in 2 weeks and hasn't been coming to church. so we went there yesterday after church to find out why and he always comes with a family issue that he had to take care of. so has of right now he won't be getting baptized on August 7 anymore. he will probably be baptized with the other 2 candidates on the 28th. So we talked to him and told him that we don't want to "push" you to being baptized and i think that helped him understand that he just needs some more time to get back into the groove of things.

We also did some tracting this past week and found some good potentials as i mentioned above. we found a guy by the name of Bulelani. he is a policeman and also has a problem of drinking. We first got there and i asked him how his day was and everything just to be friendly and get to know him a bit and he told us that he had a good day. So i asked well what did you do. then he told us hes been drinking. lots actually. I'm not quite sure if he was sober during the 15 min lesson we had with him or not. haha he was sober enough to understand and respond to the questions we asked him so it was good. I hope this guy can turn around his life. its sad to see people just drinking away there life. or smoking away their life. if you know what i mean. but yeah hes a good guy. we hope to see him next week, since he is working this week.

well that was basically the week for ya. haha it was a good one. we worked hard. walked then got the car saturday to it was nice. we attended ward council and established with the brethren that there is a problem with missionary work in the ward and we only have 2 baptisms for the year where there is a goal of 26 so we have lots of work to do. No i didn't have to give a talk yesterday thank goodness haha. i've lucked out again. wasn't threatened yesterday. So that was nice. i taught gospel principals though i think that takes the spot of giving a talk.

well i love you guys!! :) i'm grateful for the emails and letters. i got one from you mom. thanks for the report on Nationals :) WOW storm front won!! that is cool!! i want to hear the songs they did. I'm very surprised that the vocal majority took second. Some day i will go to nationals again! haha.

I would like Campbells soup!!!! haha i hope you haven't sent the package already. so Campbells and MissMall socks and sweets as usual please. M&Ms you know :) hehe well have a good week everyone!! LOVE YOU!

your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)