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)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
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)
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)
Monday, August 30, 2010
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)
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)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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)
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)
Monday, August 16, 2010
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)
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)
Monday, August 9, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, August 2, 2010
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)
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)
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