Farm Visit!

Dear Family and Friends,
Hallo!! it was a busy week, we were very fruitful in the vineyard of milnerton this past week i think. we got some new people to teach. they mostly are the ones that came from referrals of other missionaries and a few from Bro Teddy, our ward mission leader. I apologize that you woke up yesterday with no email. i was a little pre occupied yesterday out at the Mayburgs farm!!! :) it was so fun to be out there in the country. South Africa is very beautiful once you get out the cities. wow! haha We drove to Malmsbury about 60Ks our of milnerton. and then we met up with Peirt and His Wife Caroline and 3 kids. and rode out with them about 35more kilometers. quite the drive out there but oh it was fun! :) reminded me of home. I loved it. We had a brai and then Peirt took us out on a farm drive to see all of their farm. about 700 acres. pretty big. all dry farmed wheat. its really green now. so in a few months it'll be yellow and harvest will be around the corner. On the drive out there we saw lots of Canola farms as well and vineyards of grapes and fruit trees. really pretty, yes i took pictures. its probably been the most enjoyable pday so far haha. so yeah thats what we did yesterday for pday.

Sunday we had 5 investigators at church, Jacob and Pumla only stayed for sacrament meeting and then had to leave to go see family, guess they had a death in the family or something. and then we had Eugene and Anele and his friend Ayanda. Church was nice, the talks were on hope and the Book of Mormon. Gospel principles was on work and personal responsibility, bro Teddy taught the class. it was good. and then priesthood was on Eternal marriage. Got me even more excited to go back to the temple. Then the afternoon we went to the Beattys to have lunch, we had tacos! and they were really good, sis Beatty makes all of their food from scratch. Shes a trooper. they hardly eat meat in their home tho, they eat alot of raw food, veggies, fruits and nuts, the taco meat was even made from walnuts and still tasted the same. she healed herself of breast cancer 2 years ago from just eating the right food! i thought that was a miracle... did you know that green spinach salad is really good if you blend it all up and add a few more things to it? it tastes like a smoothie and is a smoothie! its incredible, i never thought i would like spinach till i came here.! they are Americans originally from Florida i think well thats where they lived before they came here. Bro beatty works for a nuclear energy power plant in melkbostrand. bout 30ks out of milnerton. they have a really nice house out there. we really enjoyed being in their home. Then that night we went to see the Mbambus briefly they are doing good. J.J. and Candida didn't make it to Church tho. :( guess they woke up late and Bro Levus wasn't going to wait for them so he left without them and he was there early! it was cool to see him there on time. but then he also left after sacrament meeting to go sort out something. but they are doing good.

Jacob and Pumla are still scheduled to get baptized on the 28th so i hope they still progress and make it to church the next few weeks and they keep their appointments. they haven't been keeping them this past week. we still need to go over some things with pumla, and we need to have their interviews this saturday. I hope we can meet with them every day until they are baptized. daily contact!! ha. Pumla was really happy that i got her a Xhosa Book of Mormon, she understands much better now and has been reading. jacob is ready.

Eugene is awesome haha. i love how he prays. on wednesday last week he opened up with prayer and he said "thank you for this awesome day" it was funny but thats how he is. hes a colored! he really has been reading alot out of the scriptures. We hope to even move his BD up a few weeks if he can abstain from his addictions. he just got work at spur so thats good for him, i hope it doesn't interfere with his Sunday tho. he needs to be at church every Sunday.

We found some new potential priesthood! John and Simon. John is originally from Burundi and has been here almost 2 and a half years and then Simon is from Zimbabwe been here about the same. they work for this guy that make all the props for movies. so they have a lot of old stuff in their house and are in charge of looking after it. pretty cool stuff there. they have a moose sign that my comp wants to buy from them haha. you don't have moose in south africa haha. we thought that was funny. we taught them the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon and they were very receptive to it. they want to get baptized, English is a bit of a problem tho but we can manage around that for now. good guys tho very humble.

the Hill family (LA) are doing good, haven't made it to church yet but we know they have a testimony of the gospel and of the restoration. We have made serious progress with them and getting them to open up and tell us how they feel. they just need to let go of whatever is keeping them from going to church and they would be a great strength to the ward. Peirt was even asking about bro hill last night when we were driving back to Malmsbury, so members do care about one another. i just hope the unity of the ward will get better and home teaching will improve.

haven't eatin anything unique other than the tacos that sis Beatty fed us on sunday. they were really good tho!. and we had ice cream that she made with coconuts they even make their own cheese, without milk!!! i was surprised! kinda offended coming from growing up on a dairy farm... what do you think about that dad?? cheese without milk that tastes the same. no dairy in the beattys diet. it shocked me!!

Well that was the week for you! I am glad everyone is doing better, send my love to grandpa and everyone else.

well i love you all and hope you have a fantabulous week in Idaho! :) LOVES!
your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby SACTM

Muhandend?

Dear me Family and Friends,

Good day! Muhandend? (how are you?) Good! glad to hear it :) well I'm doing good had a slowish week but hey thats what happens in the work of the Lord sometimes. you can't complain. we had a big rain storm on tuesday and Wednesday. so that should've been here a long time ago but winter isn't what i expected in cape town this year. stupid global warming i guess. I'm glad i have car and not out walking in the rain. now its sunny and warm again, interesting weather you might say.

We had the confirmations on sunday! :) Elder Sutherland confirmed Levus, Bro david Craig, young mens president, confirmed J.J. and i confirmed Candida. it was very nice and oh you should of seen the smile and the "light" in their faces after we were done! it was great! i definitely saw the Spirit in them. its such a wonderful gift Heavenly Father has given us to help us stay on the path that leads us back to HIM. I love missionary work :) it pays off when you have a baptism and a confirmation and you see the happiness that comes to them after. the gospel of Jesus Christ is the key to happiness! :)

Jacob and Pumla are doing well, they came to church on sunday but were a bit late, they missed the sacrament again. they always miss it. and thats the most spiritual part of church! we'll work on that. Pumla wasn't feeling well tho but she still came. i think Jacob made her come haha. we had a nice fast and testimony meeting and then gospel principles was on sacrifice, i taught the class we had about 8 people in the class, so decent size. and then priesthood was on home teaching and the way we are supposed to use our priesthood every day or at least every week. the question was asked, how much do we use our priesthood?? its a very good question that all of us need to ponder about and consider improving. God has given us this power to serve our fellow men and improve the world. it was a great lesson. but back to jacob and pumla! hehe we saw them on tuesday and went over L3 with them we read the pamphlet with them and pumlas understanding is improving very well! i got her a Xhosa Book of Mormon so hopefully she will read everyday!

We got a referral from the missionaries in mitchells plain on thursday, Eugene. He is 33 and struggles with drugs but he really wants to change his life. he came to church yesterday and he had been in mitchells plain a few times as well. he wants to get baptized and he has read the Book of Mormon alot. he reads the scriptures a lot. he reads 2 chapters of the old and new testament and then also reads a chapter or 2 in the Book of Mormon. which is incredible! i have never met someone that is so dedicated to reading everyday. haha. so we are going to work with him as much as possible and get him off drugs and help change his life. he's very sincere. he has a 7yr old son Colby. they both came yesterday. i think they liked it. he stays in brooklyn with his parents now to help him. cool guy.

Got another referral from our zone leaders, Bukeke. she is 26 originally from queenstown. her mother is a member and well thats how we found her i guess. she wants to learn but goes to her own church and teaches the kids there, she loves kids. we can only see her on weekends since she works at standard bank during the week and doesn't get home till late and is tired so weekends are the only time for the time being. she has really good potential. she stays in summergreens with her niece who is a member that just came from queenstown, she is 12. and then she also stays with cousins. most of her family are in PE tho. very nice lady. we taught her the Restoration on saturday. and she committed to be baptized, we hope to give her a date next saturday.

check kinda dropped us this past wednesday. he did some research and got advice from his family and he doesn't want to make problems in his family with him going to one church and his family going to the anglican faith. we tried to resolve his concern but he didn't want to change his mind. We asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon and of course he said no. so we committed him to read and pray about it and then we would follow up with him in a few weeks. the Book of Mormon is the key to knowing if what we have is true! there is no doubt about it! i love the Book of Mormon its such a powerful tool in missionary work!

We saw elijah this week, we just read with him from the Book of Mormon and he told us that in a few months he will be having weekends off so he'll be able to come to church, which is exciting i just hope it happens. We also saw the mockys (LA) on wednesday evening. did you know that you can make chocolate cake in 2 minutes!? haha i didn't know that but yes you can! haha you just put the ingredients in a mug or a glass bowl and put it in the microwave till its puffed up haha i thought that was cool! it tasted pretty good too. not too shabby. yeah thats what the mockys teach us when we are at their home. haha Morgan also showed us how you can make mac and cheese in 20 min in the micro wave as well haha. funny guy, he loves his microwave! of course i would too if i was a single dad with 2 boys and i work all day and then don't come home till after 6 and then have to make dinner. we have good times at the mockys!

we had a wonderful DA at the mthembus last night. we had sheppards pie! :) and apple juice it was very yummy. i feel at home when i'm in their home, i don't know why. they are such an awesome and caring family. Martin just needs to come to church. they just had their baby 3 weeks ago and is such the cutest little thing. i love that family. always have wonderful laughs when were there. martin was actually asking me if i was going to come back with my wife in the future to visit. I told him i would love to but i don't know if it would be possible. they even offered for us to stay with them if i ever do make it back. so there is definitely love in that home :)

So thats basically my week for you! :) we do have people to teach and share our testimonies with thats for sure. and the Lord has blessed us with the referrals so i am very grateful for that. I love you all and i hope everyone is well. have a great fantabulous week everyone! i love you!

your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)

ps i was in port alfred branch when i was in port alfred. there is only the small mission branch there. good people tho! only 2 missionaries there now. and a new senior couple to be the branch president. the robinsons there were assigned to the joburg mission but then they came here instead because of the lack of couple missionaries in sactm.

Baptism!

Dear Fam and Friends,

Hey!!! :) well yes i sent this email later today because we were doing some service this morning for a widowed women who was moving so we helped the bellville lot with that and then had lunch at spur and now we are emailing! finally! hehe. service was nice but very hard working. had to move a grill/braii, fridge, washer, dryer and a bed up stars to the 3rd floor! very tiring, i think i got my exercise for the week! But its a very beautiful sunny day! its supposed to be winter and cold but its not feeling like it. where is the rain? the cold? Ek vert ne! (i don't know) in Afrikans. you can see know on the parl mountains tho! haha my comp wanted to go skiing next monday, of course elder pearson and i told that it wasn't possible unless we get a helicopter. haha sounds like a plan... yes bellville clan stayed and did not change they are happy about it. New zone leader tho since elder Bradshaw went home. Elder Ventsenakaos from Austrialia. and elder leach from utah but he is still waiting for his visa to go up to Nam. yo this visa thing is killing the work in Namibia. there is only 4 missionaries up there. and there is supposed to be 10.

it was a good week other wise. we found some new people to teach on saturday morning. it was probably my most successful saturday morning of my entire mission. it was fun haha teaching people from Zimbabwe and Congo. thats all we ever teach, its who is interested in the gospel. We taught Naiomi and Honest, from zim, they are Pentecostal background and Naiomi is going to 7th day Adventist. we taught them about the Restoration and they didn't seem too eager to learn more about it since they claim that the truth is in the Bible. we also left them with a copy of the Book of Mormon to read. they believe that the truth was lost but that we do have it in many churches because we have the Bible. it was a nice lesson they are willing to pray and read but i don't think they will progress much...

We also taught Monica and Shadrick. they are from congo. they are nice people shadrick is an albino and is the nephew of monica is is 14. cool kid tho. they don't go to church at the moment and they were really interested in hearing more about the gospel. we briefly taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and extended an invitation to be baptised and they committed to it. even committed to come to church, but they didn't make it. i see good potential in them. plan to get patrick, monicas husband involved. looking for priesthood families!!

had the baptism on sunday! :) it was lovely! hehe i baptised Jay Jay and Candida and then elder Sutherland baptised Levus. i had to do it twice on both of them i said the prayer wrong. said thee instead of you....ha...thats what it says in the scriptures! but bishop wanted it done again. so i did. now they can say i was baptised twice haha it was such a treat to see their smiling faces that day. they were pretty excited. not many stayed for their service tho, i guess thats how it goes in milnerton. after the baptism we went to the dollmans for lunch oh it was good food haha i always enjoy it. then we went to the area and met with peter briefly. he had company so we didn't stay long. but we got another potential from that. John he stays in brooklyn and wanted to know what we do and what we talk about so we got a return appointment with him. also from berundi. small country in africa. then we visited the oliphants and had a nice visit.

i feel that good things will happen this transfer working with elder sutherland he is always excited to work and very supportive of the decisions i make, i just hope i make the right ones for the area and for the district. new things happening with that. the transfer focuses are going back to focusing on a specific chapter in PMG and this transfer is chapter 8 using time wisely. and we tie it into the fundamentals which isn't hard just different for me. not used to preparing district meeting that way. but its ok i'll do what i need to do.

jacob and pumla didn't make it to church yesterday.. so i don't think they are getting baptized on the 14 of August. we tried to stop by after church and see them but we didn't find them home... jacob wants to get baptized so bad but they need to come to church at least 3 sundays in a row before they can get baptized. so pray for them and for the mbambu family. they are doing really well. they'll get the Holy Ghost next week. :)

I love each of you very much and miss you guys. its crazy that time flies by so fast when one is doing the Lords work. i enjoy missionary work and i want to do it again with my wife in the future. it'd be fun! :) Africa is so amazing, the people hear are just so friendly and they don't mind anyone talking to them, but then when it comes to the gospel some just don't even want to talk about it. i think its like that everywhere. the Lord knows who is ready and who is not. i just need to be more inclined with the Spirit and listen to its promptings. i have a hard time recognizing them tho, but as Elder Holland said it doesn't get easier, even if he is an Apostle. so they feel what we feel. I love this work, with all my heart. i know it was truly blessed my life and my families life. i never knew how blessed i am until i came out here. i know Jesus Christ Lives and i know that Heavenly Father loves me, very much. i have felt of His love many times, especially when my days don't go that well. I know the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and that we need to read from it daily. its words are so powerful and so simple. I love my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ and i leave you with this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

your son/brother/missionary,
elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)

ps i really don't know if i need anything for my bday. cambells soup would be nice :) hehe just a package is wonderful i really don't mind whats inside. at least if its something from home.

Investigators

Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings! I'm so glad you got my SD card and that you enjoyed the pictures :) yes i/we had lots of fun taking them and laughing about experiences and so forth. Well the week was good, as i said last week it was transfers so i got my new companion, Elder Ramochla. He is funny haha his laugh is a like a little monkey lol i just crack up everytime he laughs at something. haha. he was trained in Gramstown by elder Macharoi and then he went to Gugelethu. he really enjoyed it there and is kinda sad that he left but happy at the same time. he needed a new area. but he likes this area now that hes been a few days and met the ward and so forth. haha he even had to give a talk yesterday in church. he wasn't happy when i told him that bishop had asked him to give a talk and he hadn't even met him yet. not like my story of coming at least one sunday and then having to give a talk the next week. but yeah. hes cool tho i really enjoy working with him so far, hes a really good teacher and only been out 5 months.
We didn't have any investigators pitch up yesterday at church. dang it! :( i don't know why? we even went to the mbambu family to ask why they didn't make it. so i hope when we see them tomorrow things will be better for them and the family will start to progress. they really want to get baptized. jay jay, the 13yr old wants to get baptized before his father and sister haha. we just told them that it would be better for all of you to get baptized the same day. he then agreed to that. he goes to youth every tuesday. so he really wants to progress. Candida, the sister who is 11 really hasn't shown much effort but she's young so i don't really know what to expect from her but yeah.
Anele didn't pitch up either like he said he would. we saw him sat and he told us that he had a friend that past away that was really close to him so we were going to talk about the Word of Wisdom but then after he told us that we read Alma 40 with him and talked about life after death, to help him receive comfort. he felt better after the lesson. hes a good guy just struggling with finding work and keeping appointments. i'm sure he didn't pitch up yesterday because he couldn't wake up.... thats been his reason for not coming before so i even asked him sat if we could call him in the morning and he said no i'll get up. but didn't come.
jacob and pumla didn't come either. yo, it was a bad sunday for investigators i guess. we didn't see them yesterday but we saw them saturday morning and we taught them the 10 commandments and keeping the sabbath day holy. i kind of rebuked them for not reading everyday and just laughing about it. they need to know that they can't get baptized unless they do what the lord wants them to do. wonderful couple but they need to act more as well. we'll see them tomorrow as well and find out more details. they are really struggling financially. so maybe that had an effect on coming to church. those are the main people that we expected to come.
Caroline dropped us this past week. her husband doesn't want us to come anymore. he doesn't like the fact that we are teaching his wife when she already has a church. man, people don't get that it doesn't matter if you have a church or not we are still going to teach you more about the Saviour! so she is sad about it and hopes and prays that he will change his mind in the future and let us come again and teach them. she was really getting excited about our message too! dang it! :(
We visited the Mthembu family on wed evening. and we had a really nice time. they are such sweet people and are so good to us. i think we are even getting close to having bro mthembu come to church...:) he is so funny and had a blast giving elder Ramochla a hard time about Lesotho. haha it was funny. Sis Mthembu is expecting her baby next month so they are excited about that. but a great family. Also visited the hill family friday and then again yesterday afternoon. yo they fed us on friday and then yesterday a sister gave us food at church so we went home after church and had that and then we went to the hill family and we had just ate and they fed us again haha i couldn't say no they wouldn't let me. and then we went to Vickys later around 5:30 and she fed us too! oh my goodness i struggled there haha i look over at my companion and he is just really struggling to get the food down. we were so full when we got home yesterday. haha So mom, yes your son is being taking care of. i definitely don't go without food. haha. no wonder i've gained weight.
we went to Sebastian's and Reins wedding on saturday. it was very nice. just a few couples were invited and the missionaries, because we are teaching the bride. so thats where the photo was at.
Well i love you guys! :) hope all is well and everyone stays healthy. Have a gooder week and remember who you are and what you stand for :) peace!
your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)
ps requesting Reeses pieces for sis dollman. :)

Food Glorious Food

Dear Everyone!,

Hi! :) how is everyone? sounds like Arizona is the place to be...i wanta jet ski! Thats not fair i must say! but oh well at least i have sunshine most of the year and not just a few months :) well this past week its been raining, today its raining must be winter in cape town. luckily i have a car cause i don't have a rain jacket. the week was really good tho, we had some really good lessons.

We've really been focusing on Jacob and Pumla and getting them to progress by reading everyday. they just don't do it, even if its just for 10 min they come up with excuses of being busy or i came home late and etc... but other than than Jacob is doing really good. he came to church again this week, unfortunately Pumla didn't make it again, i guess she didn't have anything to keep her warm since it was kinda cold yesterday morning. but in Priesthood we bore our testimonies and Jacob stood up and bore his testimony in Swahili and a member Bro Freddie translated for him into English. it was COOL! HAHA now all the brethren know him and want to help him. it was great, he has really changed from the first time i met him he has seen the truth in our teaching and he knows its true, now its just getting him baptized. hopefully it will happen at the end of them month. their date is the 26th of june. Pumla isn't showing much progression at the moment so i don't know if she will be baptized the same day, like they wanted. but they are a wonderful couple.

Vicky is just a joke and doesn't keep commitments, but she doesn't want us to stop coming. she says she feels bad things happen when she cancels our appointments so she sees the truth but isn't really acting on it. doesn't read doesn't come to church. so basically all we have done with her and Lauren, her daughter who is 18, is read with them from the Book of Mormon. and help them understand the importance of it. but as the tables turn she has now quit her job because she didn't like what was going on at work with her colleagues and what what so she walked out and now she needs to find a better job so she can pay the rent on their flat. She just cried when we told her that she needs to put more effort into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She knows what she needs to do, just isn't doing it. so i hope and pray that things will get better for her and her family. shes a wonderful lady, very loving and will do anything for her kids but she doesn't feel that they will do the same for her, she's disappointed. I felt for her. i didn't know what to say other than Jesus Christ is the only one who can help her. for her to find comfort in prayer and scripture study. i love these ladies but i'm running out of ideas to help them. So pray that they will act on their faith.

The Mbambu family, part member family, are doing good. we saw them tuesday evening and we were able to talk about the restoration and explain more in detail about it and the Book of Mormon. Levus, the father is really showing interest, but hasn't made it to church yet. didn't come yesterday in fact the entire family didn't make it. last week because they were tired and then this week because they were expecting a friend to come visit and then didn't come till yesterday evening. we stopped by yesterday to see what the cause was and thats what they told us. and then they surprised us with food haha. this was at 3 and then we had our da and 5 haha and then we saw the hill family, (LA) and they fed us too, and this was at 7 so i we got 3 DAs yesterday. yo i was full last night. no wonder i've gained weight haha people like to feed me. which i have no problem with :)

The dollman family fed us yesterday at 5 and we had spaghetti with chicken instead of mince meat. it was really nice you should try it mom haha. after that we went to the Hill family, less actives and we got there and bro Hill asked us how much time we had and i said all the time you need. why?..Well we need blessings all of us. so We gave every member of the family blessings. total of 6. it was very nice. they are a wonderful family but struggling with unity and the boys not listening to their parents and so forth. and its exams this week so they wanted us to give them blessings. the Spirit definitely came to the rescue when i didn't know what to say in the 3 blessings i was voice for. Bro hill as arthritis in his knees so we anointed and blessed him for that and also comfort blessing. had a wonderful evening with them. Bro hills humor is something else let me tell ya haha. he is one of a kind. i just wish they would come to church.

We had only 2 investigators at church yesterday. Reine and Jacob. Anele didn't make it, Caroline didn't make it and Pumla didn't make it like they promised. so we'll find out details later this week.

Transfers is this week. got my news this morning the assistants called us and Elder Mukula is going to Queenstown and i am staying here and getting a new comp Elder Ramochela, from lusuthu i think. he has been in the zone so i've met him and he came out in january so still a newbe hehe. i'm excited to work with him. should be good. but yeah

Well i love you all and hope you travel safe home tomorrow and that all is well back home. I miss you guys. I'm glad you liked the O'Dells i love them :) have a gooder week.

your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)

*PS we got Rob's SD card today with 879 files so I'll post some when I get through them all :)

Finding--Lifting

Dear Family and Friends,

Hey everyone! Glad to know that the weather there isn't that different from here haha. its been raining and today its 60% chance of rain which it already has and it still probably will rain more. we have plans to go to Green Market Square as a district today :) so hopefully mom i'll be able to get your souvenirs there. its a big trading market.

well its been an alright week. Yesterday was really nice at church, we had 3 investigators there, came late and missed the sacrament, but i'm thankful they came! Anele, Rein and Jacob. all doing great. we gave Anele a baptism date this past week for the 24 july :) hes excited. he is still learning and he reads when he can. which should be a lot since he doesn't work or school. he's 20yrs and he really enjoyed church. he stayed all 3 hours this week. Sacrament meeting was very nice, had 3 speakers give talks. a youth bro Craigs son who spoke about the Priesthood, Bro Patrick, who spoke on what we can do to make Sacrament meeting more spiritual and meaningful. and then another brother who i can't remember his name spoke about the importance of keeping the family together by reading the scriptures and praying together as a family. he mentioned that the church is a place for the sick to come and be edified and uplifted and if we don't have our family prayer and scripture study then going to church would all be in vain. and coming from him, his wife isn't a member and she was there yesterday. so technically we had 4 investigators at church but we can't count her cause we aren't currently teaching her. but all 3 talks were very nice. i felt the Spirit as the brother was sharing his testimony. the rest of the day we visited Michele, would dropped us, she isn't ready for the restored gospel yet. she was interested in what we were sharing with Nomsa (RC) and thats all. she said she will still read her book of Mormon and will let us know when the time is right to teach her again. We saw it coming.... just from the reactions we were getting from her and her lack of commitment.

After that we saw the Hill family. haha i love spending time with them they are such a wonderful family. all boys. haha. eldest is 18 and the youngest is 2. they all just need to come back to church. they are less active. we shared a spiritual thought and prayer and they fed us some really nice mushroom sauce thingy on a roll. oh it was yummy haha. then we tried to see vicky last night and she wasn't home, like she thought she would be. I'm getting tired of her not keeping appointments. or commitments. she doesn't read, doesn't come to church and as of lately hasn't been keeping commitments. I'm tempted to drop her for a while and see what happens.

The rest of the week was descent. had good teaching with a our serious investigators. I went on exchanges with Élder Naylor in Bellville. we had a good day. not much happened tho. that area is really struggling with appointments and finding investigators. I'll see what happens on friday when i go with Elder Pearson. see if its better.

Wednesday we had the zone training with Pres and Sis Probst. it was really nice. we watched a talk by Elder Holland addressing the missionaries in the Provo MTC he basically told us that obedience is important and that our investigators need a teacher that knows the gospel so studies are important. i need to work on that as well. I'm reading the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time on mission and i'm in Ether now so almost done! :) i love the Book of Mormon. its so much easier to understand than the Bible, i'm also reading the New Testament, i'm in Luke and well its difficult sometimes ha. the training was a continuation of last transfer of We invite they commit and we follow up. Pres told us that finding isn't a proper word for it we should go lifting :) haha thats what the gospel of Jesus Christ is lifting people higher :) haha we all thought that as funny. President Probst is the man haha i'm gunna miss him.

that was the week for ya! transfers are next week i hope i stay but if i need to go higher in mission i will, president in interviews mentioned to me that he wants me to be a zone leader but i have to work on my morning schedule first. which it has gotten better. so i'm working on it.... just keep me in your prayers. Well i love you all very much i hope you have fun in Arizona! say hello to everybody there for me :) especially the O'Dells if you see them and Erin. love you guys!
your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)

Love the Work

Dear Greatest Family and Most dear Friends,

:) its been a great week of missionary work. we are definitely finding success in the work of the Lord. WE've been busy teaching and visiting with members. and to my surprise we got some new investigators out of that, so the work is moving forward. The weather on the other hand hasn't been too great, its winter now. rain and windy. last night i was a woken by the wind blowing against the window and the rain. about 4:30 am. its very windy today. So the zone is having a pday at bellville chapel and we are going to play dodge ball and soccer and have a braii. should be fun i'm excited.

So about the week. On tuesday i was on exchanges with Elder Anderson, my zl. he came to my area. we had a good day. we met with Elijah he is a brother of a member but isn't showing much interest or commitment in reading the Book of Mormon. so we read with him again to help him. we only see him once a week cause of his work. but what else can we do. then we met with an investigator who has been away for a few weeks. Michele is her name, she has 1 kid and one on the way and isn't married yet, will be this coming August. so thats good for her. its very common here for sisters to have a child and not be married. the works of the adversary. but now they know what is right. She had a friend there also by the name of michele hah so mom your name is popular among Zimbabwians. She was very interested in finding out about the Book of Mormon. So we taught her that and she committed to read and pray about it and also be baptized. no date yet. still need to receive revelation on that haha. very wonderful lady who has 2 kids and wants to know more. her husband told her that she could go first with this and then he would follow so thats good that he also is showing interest. haven't met him yet tho. Then we visited Vicky. she has gotten her smoking down to 5 a day thank goodness there is improvement there. now she just needs to read her Book of Mormon and come to church. we read Mosiah 24 with her and it talks about burdens being lifted so that helped with her, she's going through a lot at work i guess. people aren't doing what they are supposed to and so she gets in trouble and so forth. but she has noticed a change in her life since the missionaries have come into her home. she said last night when we went there, that things turn out bad when she cancels our appointments. so i mentioned to her that maybe the Lord is trying to tell her something. she agreed. she's a wonderful lady. she fed us curry last night oh it was yummy haha.

so i had a good exchange with Elder Anderson. he said i'm a good missionary thats good for the mission. i thought that was cool. also learned that i can improve on door approaches by talking to the people more than just say hello we have a message that can bless your life blah blah blah so i have been working on that. i enjoy exchanges i learn so much from my leaders. i guess thats why we have them :)

Wednesday we had a good day. had a meeting in the morning with the zone leaders and the rest of the district leaders in the zone. we talked about giving stats right and also working effectively with members. it was a good review of what we are supposed to do. yesterday we had 3 dinner appointments. haha my zone leaders commented that we'll thats good that you are using members effectively haha.

the rest of the week was full of appointments and visiting members. Saturday we had the ward carnival which was a big success :) food and games for the whole family. haha we even had a few investigators show up. it was cool. Bishop made fun of us for eating before he did haha. he said i knew i would find the missionaries eating. now i must keep my eye on you haha i love our bishop hes a cool guy. Bishop Tiam.

Sunday was good we had our ward conference and the chapel was full! Mostly because of all the stake auxiliaries that were there haha. but it was good to see the chapel full. and we had 6 investigators at church. :) the theme was unity. being unified as a person, ward and family. it was good. then the afternoon we taught our french investigator Rein. our lessons now are just helping improve her English so she can be baptized soon. Shes improving and my companions skills as a teacher is helping tremendously. Love the ward love the area.

Well that was pretty much my week. lots happened. my relationships with members as improved as you can tell from the DAs haha. but i love you all very much. Bro seans house flooded because his geyser burst or something of that matter. we didn't get the chance to visit him this week, we'll this coming week. we have zone training this Wednesday, theme is teaching more effectively. so excited on that one. Well have a good week everyone! love you

all i can say for advice is to read the Book of Mormon every day. Revelation comes as we read the Book of Mormon. Personally and together as a family. That has been this past weeks accountability and it really does help to receive answers to prayers.

your missionary,
Elder Robert S Rigby (SACTM)

ps i sent my card today, sorry about that i got distracted.