Monday, November 29, 2010

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)

Monday, November 22, 2010

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)

Monday, November 15, 2010

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)

Monday, November 8, 2010

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)

Monday, November 1, 2010

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)