Dear Family and Friends,
hey everybody! :) how is everything back in Idaho?? Things are going here in Mdantsane. Had an ok week. Nothing too exciting happened this past week. But i'm good and glad its pday haha. I needed a break for a bit.Here is the week:
Monday- had a good pday. played soccer again surprise! haha
Tuesday- spent some time working with a less active member, Bro Gontsana. He is an old man who was baptized last year i think and now he claims that he doesn't have any money to come to church but if he really wanted to come he could find a way. He has a really huge print of the BofM oh my goodness haha i've never seen one that big before. It was cool. We then went to the Memorial for one of RC that passed away in the bush 2 weeks ago. Khwanele. Very sad. It was all in Xhosa so i couldn't understand what they were saying but its ok i didn't need to hear, the other people that were there did.
Wednesday- My comp had a DL training that morning so we went there to the chapel and then i went with Elder Simelane to his area and did some finding for an hour. it was good Surprisingly i enjoyed it for once haha i usually don't enjoy finding but that morning i kinda did. after that we had lunch at KFC and then went to our area. We saw our RC peggy. she is the funny old lady who likes to make fun of us. we just visited with her. then We saw Olwethu. the shy one who doesn't like questions. but we finally got her to talk and give us feedback on what she has learned. it was good. She is a JCF (Jesus Christ Family Church), very big here in South Africa. So its going slow with her but we are making progress. Then we went to Sister Honjiswa and she fed us! it was great! We love going there cause she always feeds us and has questions for us to help her understand. its awesome! haha
Thursday- had our Weekly planning for week 6 oh my goodness, where did this transfer go! already time for transfer predictions haha. After that we saw Ms Mbadlayana. she is a very wonderful lady who had lots of questions for us. she is very active in her church but wants to come for a visit. So were trying to establish a calendar with her so we can plan effectively for her and get her to come to church. Then we saw a referral from a member, Bomikazi. She is a teen aged girl who wants to be baptized and come to church. so we started teaching her. normally we won't teach young ladies in their teens if they don't come to church and don't have anyone to support them. But she came once. so Sister Rani wanted us to go teach her so we went and talked about God and Jesus Christ and Faith. it was a good lesson. Then we had interviews with President Probst. :) i love interviews! haha i pounded him with "good" questions haha he likes questions from his missionaries. he liked mine. he is very pleased that i've gotten refocused and doing well in my teaching. I respect him very greatly wonderful man.
Friday-had district meeting and talked about account abilities and how we can help our investigators keep commitments better. Had some good insights from My comp and from myself haha. gotta love 2 man districts. Got post today! yay! thanks! and yes i'm focused about my investigators! We saw sister Peggy again today and left her with a Spiritual thought. then we saw Olwethu and watched the restoration DVD with her and she liked it. We had our ward mission leader with us and his wife so that helped with that a bunch. His wife was a JCF before she joined. so she related with Olwethu very well and they knew each other. so it was good.
Saturday- Went on exchanges with the ZLs. I went with Elder Mfaladi in his area and then My comp stayed in our area with Elder Mathipa. i had a good time with Elder Mfaladi. He goes home in August so he only has 7 weeks left. he is a very good missionary though and we had a good day. i learned a new principle. If they don't read what you left them to read then why don't teach them anything till they read it. so we had one experience with that. we went to this ladies place and she hadn't read it. so we told her to read it and then we would come back in 2 hours and talk about it. so we left and then we came back later. unfortunately she wasn't there. so it didn't work very good that time. but i'm gunna try it a few times in our area and see if it works. so it was a good day.
Sunday- had church and then tried to see yongama but he couldn't see us. :( so we left and then went to our DA which was really good. haha Mayburry cooked it. she is a coloured actually and is engaged to Thando. So they are getting married in December. The ward had a temple trip this week. so 21 or so went last night around midnight and now they are up in joburg. Man i miss the Temple!! i'm very excited to go again when i'm finished. but after DA we really didn't do much. no one was home. so yeah that was the week!!
I have watched a few matches. Obviously when SA was playing and i tried to watch the US games but didn't get to see all of them. I briefly saw the last one against Ghana . Now were out dang it!! everyone is calmed down since Bafana Bafana is out but its still going.
Well i love you guys i'm outta time! have a good week!! loves
Your missionary,
Elder Rigby CTM
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Updates
Dear Family and Friends,
Hey everyone!! Wow i'm tired today, i don't know why. I've been struggling to get up in the morning. Surprise surprise i know. We got a car on wednesday so that was very nice. now we can see everyone that we want to if they are home. Thats been a problem this week, no one has been home or they are all busy. So we didn't have very many "good" lessons this past week. But here is the week:
Monday- Pday! Did the normal morning schedule and then played soccer with the Zone it was fun haha i didn't score though darn it. We went to the area at 6 and our FHE with some members fell through so we walked and went to Thando's place and he wasn't home so we waited there outside till the ZLs came. It was kinda chilly waiting outside. We couldn't go anywhere else because it was one dark and then two it was too late to see people. South Africans go to bed early here. so we didn't want to make anyone mad by interrupting their evening.
Tuesday- We saw the Mbadlanyana Family. She had lots of questions for us again and we had a nice discussion. Gave her a copy of the book of mormon and she wants to come to church but she claims she is too busy with her own church so we'll see what happens there. We also saw Yongama that evening, he is a JW and is very stuborn haha he is slowly making progress though so thats good. he doesn't have any problems with the BofM but he keeps saying that if he had his bible on him he was gunna prove us wrong on different things so its very interesting. We Talked bout Baptism and the Holy Ghost with him and he kinda had a problem with the me calling the Holy ghost a "he" he didn't like that. its fun to teach JWs haha my comp really likes it. then we went to Zukiswas (M) to wait for the ZLs. yes they sometimes feed us when we are there waiting. I've had lots of cups of tea this past week. since its been kinda chilly. the herbal tea don't worry. it tastes nice when you put sugar and milk in it :) i didn't like it at first but i've gotten to like it now haha.
Wednesday- Got our Car today!! yeah!! its so nice to not have to walk, but i must say walking was nice. talked with lots of people. We met with the Mkrola Family. they have a daughter who is a member but she is up in Pretoria studying. they are a very nice older couple. We talked about 2 nephi 2 and the fall of Adam and Eve and what not. it was a good discussion we also met with them on Saturday and talked about agency. After them we went to the Bakani family. they are originally from England and were taught by missionaries up there. so they know about the church. its just that they are still trying to get settled in and getting everything figured out and so they have been very busy. We went there and they were of course watching soccer haha so we didn't teach anything we just had a nice visit with them.
Thursday- had our weekly planning. then went to the area saw Olwethu and talked more about the BofM and Joseph Smith we were gunna watch the Restoration DVD with them but we didn't have time. So maybe this week will get to do that with her. She is very shy still but does talk. She really doesn't like it when we ask questions but we have to ask questions. thats how we role. then we saw Samora. He is doing ok. still trying to make sure he understands the restoration and the bofm so we ended up talking about that. it was good. i felt the spirit helping me as i explained the book of Mormon to him. I have a habit of not talking in some appointments so my comp kinda got mad at me so today i really tried to talk and share my thoughts it worked good. :) i felt good about it after. So i'm still improving
Friday- had district meeting and then ate lunch at Nandos chicken. it is a really good place to eat. very good food. I had Mediterranean chicken seasoning. mmhm it was good :) We then met with our RC sister Peggy. she is a trooper haha always likes to make fun of us and laughs. we reviewed Baptism and Confirmation with her then met with Yongama later that night as a mentioned earlier. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and then talked about the sacrament. he doesn't believe in taking the sacrament cause the JWs believe in the 144000 people that are the only ones who get to take it. so we tried our best to teach him what we know and that the sacrament is for everyone....We also met with Sister Honjiswa. she is a trooper as well she had a question about the articles of Faith so we talked about them and she gave us tea haha. very nice lady.
Saturday- had our correlation with our mission leader and then saw the Mkrolas again and then saw Tiso Family. we just visited with her and talked about beliefs and everything. got to know her. she has very good beliefs haha so hopefully we can combine ours with hers and make something happen! :)
Sunday- had church and met with members and tried to visit other investigators but no one was home. We past this family that were outside trying to change a flat tire. so we stopped and talked to them and i helped them with their tire. haha my farming skills came in handy today lol. So that was the week!!
i Shared the ensigns with whoever wanted them haha. i really don't know what i would like for my Bday package. mail is taking forever though! MAN haven't gotten letters for a month.
Well my time is almost up. i love you guys!! have a good week! it was just zone conference last week. interviews are this coming Thursday. i'm excited haha love you!! be good have fun
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby
His current companion, Elder Mkhise, and Elder Rigby
Hey everyone!! Wow i'm tired today, i don't know why. I've been struggling to get up in the morning. Surprise surprise i know. We got a car on wednesday so that was very nice. now we can see everyone that we want to if they are home. Thats been a problem this week, no one has been home or they are all busy. So we didn't have very many "good" lessons this past week. But here is the week:
Monday- Pday! Did the normal morning schedule and then played soccer with the Zone it was fun haha i didn't score though darn it. We went to the area at 6 and our FHE with some members fell through so we walked and went to Thando's place and he wasn't home so we waited there outside till the ZLs came. It was kinda chilly waiting outside. We couldn't go anywhere else because it was one dark and then two it was too late to see people. South Africans go to bed early here. so we didn't want to make anyone mad by interrupting their evening.
Tuesday- We saw the Mbadlanyana Family. She had lots of questions for us again and we had a nice discussion. Gave her a copy of the book of mormon and she wants to come to church but she claims she is too busy with her own church so we'll see what happens there. We also saw Yongama that evening, he is a JW and is very stuborn haha he is slowly making progress though so thats good. he doesn't have any problems with the BofM but he keeps saying that if he had his bible on him he was gunna prove us wrong on different things so its very interesting. We Talked bout Baptism and the Holy Ghost with him and he kinda had a problem with the me calling the Holy ghost a "he" he didn't like that. its fun to teach JWs haha my comp really likes it. then we went to Zukiswas (M) to wait for the ZLs. yes they sometimes feed us when we are there waiting. I've had lots of cups of tea this past week. since its been kinda chilly. the herbal tea don't worry. it tastes nice when you put sugar and milk in it :) i didn't like it at first but i've gotten to like it now haha.
Wednesday- Got our Car today!! yeah!! its so nice to not have to walk, but i must say walking was nice. talked with lots of people. We met with the Mkrola Family. they have a daughter who is a member but she is up in Pretoria studying. they are a very nice older couple. We talked about 2 nephi 2 and the fall of Adam and Eve and what not. it was a good discussion we also met with them on Saturday and talked about agency. After them we went to the Bakani family. they are originally from England and were taught by missionaries up there. so they know about the church. its just that they are still trying to get settled in and getting everything figured out and so they have been very busy. We went there and they were of course watching soccer haha so we didn't teach anything we just had a nice visit with them.
Thursday- had our weekly planning. then went to the area saw Olwethu and talked more about the BofM and Joseph Smith we were gunna watch the Restoration DVD with them but we didn't have time. So maybe this week will get to do that with her. She is very shy still but does talk. She really doesn't like it when we ask questions but we have to ask questions. thats how we role. then we saw Samora. He is doing ok. still trying to make sure he understands the restoration and the bofm so we ended up talking about that. it was good. i felt the spirit helping me as i explained the book of Mormon to him. I have a habit of not talking in some appointments so my comp kinda got mad at me so today i really tried to talk and share my thoughts it worked good. :) i felt good about it after. So i'm still improving
Friday- had district meeting and then ate lunch at Nandos chicken. it is a really good place to eat. very good food. I had Mediterranean chicken seasoning. mmhm it was good :) We then met with our RC sister Peggy. she is a trooper haha always likes to make fun of us and laughs. we reviewed Baptism and Confirmation with her then met with Yongama later that night as a mentioned earlier. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and then talked about the sacrament. he doesn't believe in taking the sacrament cause the JWs believe in the 144000 people that are the only ones who get to take it. so we tried our best to teach him what we know and that the sacrament is for everyone....We also met with Sister Honjiswa. she is a trooper as well she had a question about the articles of Faith so we talked about them and she gave us tea haha. very nice lady.
Saturday- had our correlation with our mission leader and then saw the Mkrolas again and then saw Tiso Family. we just visited with her and talked about beliefs and everything. got to know her. she has very good beliefs haha so hopefully we can combine ours with hers and make something happen! :)
Sunday- had church and met with members and tried to visit other investigators but no one was home. We past this family that were outside trying to change a flat tire. so we stopped and talked to them and i helped them with their tire. haha my farming skills came in handy today lol. So that was the week!!
i Shared the ensigns with whoever wanted them haha. i really don't know what i would like for my Bday package. mail is taking forever though! MAN haven't gotten letters for a month.
Well my time is almost up. i love you guys!! have a good week! it was just zone conference last week. interviews are this coming Thursday. i'm excited haha love you!! be good have fun
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby
His current companion, Elder Mkhise, and Elder Rigby
Hey everyone!!
So its been an interesting week! We walked a lot so thats my exercise for the week. I'm getting tired of it. Its really difficult to walk in our area because its so big and there are hills and ups and downs everywhere. We would see one person and have to walk a long ways to see another. pretty lame. no one wanted to come with us this week cause we have to walk. So i hope we get the car soon. here is an update of the week:
Monday: We did our usual stuff in the morning and then played soccer for the afternoon. It was fun! i scored a goal! haha I wore my soccer jersey and everyone kept telling me that i needed to score again because Rooney, the name on my jersey scores twice at every game haha. I only scored one though so i didn't live up to the name oh darn. Then we came back showered and went to the area. had FHE with the Jamma family. it was fun.
Tuesday: Tried to have a good day. Walking sucked. but whats new. We visited with Siyatemba (I) and just talked about soccer and who we think is going to win and everything haha. it was a good visit. We then walked all over kingdom come and attempted to see people but no one was home. or they were too busy to see us. We met with Mbasa too! We had a really good lesson with him. We talked about what he thinks of baptism and if what he knows. He has the testimony. hes ready. after that we just waited for the other missionaries to come and pick us up at the Jam Jams place (members).
Wednesday: had our weekly planning for this coming week since zone conference was on Thursday. Then had lunch, i made potato bake. it was really good. My comp really enjoyed it haha. He tells me afterwords "you need to show me how to make that man haha it was nice" i told him its not hard and that its very easy to have on Planning day. It can cook while we plan! :) and tastes really nice! Oh! Speaking of potatoes, thank you for the ones you sent me mom they were very nice! i had one last night :) good Idahoan potatoes :) so after lunch we went to the area and say sister Peggy, who is a RC and is very dedicated and faithful to the gospel. she's a 72 yr old and stays a lone so shes always happy to see us. She likes to make fun of us haha. We then met the the Mbathayana Family. Oh man, wow they had lots of questions for us about pretty much every topic you can think of about the gospel so we attempted to answer them and said that they should wait for most of the questions they had after we had given them the Restoration and Plan of salvation. They just kept pounding us with random questions. but it was okay.
Thursday: had zone conference with East London Zone. It was really good! President and the ZLs talked about the book of Mormon and the importance of it in the conversion process. We as missionaries have to have a testimony of the things before we can really teach it to someone else. It was a really good conference i love the Book of Mormon. There is so much you can learn from it as you read and study from it :) after conference we had a good discussion with one of our investigators, Olwethu. She had some concerns about the BofM and said that she couldn't read it cause she didn't understand it. I asked if a Xhosa one would make a difference she said no. So we really patient with her and let her tell us her concerns and we ended up having a great discussion. the Spirit was very strong. i felt it there helping me ask the right questions and we managed to get her concerns resolved :) So hopefully next week when we see her things will have improved.
Friday: Had District meeting. Its basically like a companionship study cause its just the 2 of us haha. it was nice we just reviewed what we learned from zone conference. Book of Mormon is Powerful! you all had better be reading it!!!! and praying about it too!!... The 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP is here!!! oh my sick haha everyone was so noisy today!! Sheesh it was very hard to proselyte. yes, South Africa has a team. Bafana Bafana. They drew with Mexico. 1-1... Then we saw sister Peggy again then walked around more and went to Mbasa's place and had a very wonderful lesson with him about covenants and the importance of them. We read Mosiah 18:8-10 with him and had him tell us what the covenants are that we make at baptism. Can you guys tell me what they are??? I shared my conversion story with him and it was really wonderful to share it with a man who is ready to have the blessings of Baptism in his life. The Spirit was very strong and it just overcame me when i shared it with him. My comp thanked me afterword haha. We then gave him a Baptism date for the 26th of June!! booya!! YEAH! haha were excited.
Saturday: had a very interesting day. very hard to go see people when they are all watching soccer. haha so we did the best we could and made the best of things. lol
Sunday: church was good. had a good DA with members and then we stayed in NU-16 and met tried to see people there but they were all busy and Siyatembas relative passed away so he was busy with preparing to go to King Williams Town. So we just said a prayer with him. We had a RC pass away on Saturday evening In the Bush. The tradition where boys go to get circumcised. its very sad that he passed away. he was a very happy young man. his family aren't members so they are taking it very hard. hopefully they will be softened and feel of the atonement.
Well i love you all and hope everything is going well back home. I'm doing fine. yes my comp is having me work. haven't had any stomach problems since Meadowridge. No we haven't been exercising since we have been walking. i have weight in my backpack as it is. but i'm good. my time is almost up. I love you guys!!
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
Monday: We did our usual stuff in the morning and then played soccer for the afternoon. It was fun! i scored a goal! haha I wore my soccer jersey and everyone kept telling me that i needed to score again because Rooney, the name on my jersey scores twice at every game haha. I only scored one though so i didn't live up to the name oh darn. Then we came back showered and went to the area. had FHE with the Jamma family. it was fun.
Tuesday: Tried to have a good day. Walking sucked. but whats new. We visited with Siyatemba (I) and just talked about soccer and who we think is going to win and everything haha. it was a good visit. We then walked all over kingdom come and attempted to see people but no one was home. or they were too busy to see us. We met with Mbasa too! We had a really good lesson with him. We talked about what he thinks of baptism and if what he knows. He has the testimony. hes ready. after that we just waited for the other missionaries to come and pick us up at the Jam Jams place (members).
Wednesday: had our weekly planning for this coming week since zone conference was on Thursday. Then had lunch, i made potato bake. it was really good. My comp really enjoyed it haha. He tells me afterwords "you need to show me how to make that man haha it was nice" i told him its not hard and that its very easy to have on Planning day. It can cook while we plan! :) and tastes really nice! Oh! Speaking of potatoes, thank you for the ones you sent me mom they were very nice! i had one last night :) good Idahoan potatoes :) so after lunch we went to the area and say sister Peggy, who is a RC and is very dedicated and faithful to the gospel. she's a 72 yr old and stays a lone so shes always happy to see us. She likes to make fun of us haha. We then met the the Mbathayana Family. Oh man, wow they had lots of questions for us about pretty much every topic you can think of about the gospel so we attempted to answer them and said that they should wait for most of the questions they had after we had given them the Restoration and Plan of salvation. They just kept pounding us with random questions. but it was okay.
Thursday: had zone conference with East London Zone. It was really good! President and the ZLs talked about the book of Mormon and the importance of it in the conversion process. We as missionaries have to have a testimony of the things before we can really teach it to someone else. It was a really good conference i love the Book of Mormon. There is so much you can learn from it as you read and study from it :) after conference we had a good discussion with one of our investigators, Olwethu. She had some concerns about the BofM and said that she couldn't read it cause she didn't understand it. I asked if a Xhosa one would make a difference she said no. So we really patient with her and let her tell us her concerns and we ended up having a great discussion. the Spirit was very strong. i felt it there helping me ask the right questions and we managed to get her concerns resolved :) So hopefully next week when we see her things will have improved.
Friday: Had District meeting. Its basically like a companionship study cause its just the 2 of us haha. it was nice we just reviewed what we learned from zone conference. Book of Mormon is Powerful! you all had better be reading it!!!! and praying about it too!!... The 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP is here!!! oh my sick haha everyone was so noisy today!! Sheesh it was very hard to proselyte. yes, South Africa has a team. Bafana Bafana. They drew with Mexico. 1-1... Then we saw sister Peggy again then walked around more and went to Mbasa's place and had a very wonderful lesson with him about covenants and the importance of them. We read Mosiah 18:8-10 with him and had him tell us what the covenants are that we make at baptism. Can you guys tell me what they are??? I shared my conversion story with him and it was really wonderful to share it with a man who is ready to have the blessings of Baptism in his life. The Spirit was very strong and it just overcame me when i shared it with him. My comp thanked me afterword haha. We then gave him a Baptism date for the 26th of June!! booya!! YEAH! haha were excited.
Saturday: had a very interesting day. very hard to go see people when they are all watching soccer. haha so we did the best we could and made the best of things. lol
Sunday: church was good. had a good DA with members and then we stayed in NU-16 and met tried to see people there but they were all busy and Siyatembas relative passed away so he was busy with preparing to go to King Williams Town. So we just said a prayer with him. We had a RC pass away on Saturday evening In the Bush. The tradition where boys go to get circumcised. its very sad that he passed away. he was a very happy young man. his family aren't members so they are taking it very hard. hopefully they will be softened and feel of the atonement.
Well i love you all and hope everything is going well back home. I'm doing fine. yes my comp is having me work. haven't had any stomach problems since Meadowridge. No we haven't been exercising since we have been walking. i have weight in my backpack as it is. but i'm good. my time is almost up. I love you guys!!
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
Wow!
Dear My family and My Friends,
Greetings!! How are things?? Its been pretty swell here in South Africa! We had a really good week and saw lots of people and talked with lots of people. I bout died haha ok not really but yeah i was tired at the end of the day. The weather has been iffy the past week. its gotten cold and windy and rained a bit on Wednesday. not much but some. Summer is the raining season In the Eastern Cape. And they didn't got much this year so we are having a drought. The dam in Mdantsane is VERY low on water. like it doesn't even look like its a dam kinda looks like a littleish river/pond. Kinda sad. but yeah! that and electricity, people keep saying that there is a power shortage so we aren't allowed to use heaters or anything like that. so last week it was a bit chilly in our boarding. I had to put more blankets on my bed cause it was so cold. yeah you'd think it would be warm in South Africa all the time, but yeah no!! It can get pretty dang chilly some days and some nights. the wind was what made it the most cold. So i'm grateful for my sweaters/jerseys (whatever you want to call them). yeah i wore it the other day. haha.
So this week our car was taken away from us. :( :( So we get to walk in our area now for the next 2-3 weeks. I'm not happy about it but it has brought blessings. we have talked to a lot of people since we don't want to walk a lot and go all over kingdom come. haha. We had a really good lesson with Mbasa on Saturday night. He is very close to getting a baptism date. We went there and since we hadn't seen him in 2 weeks we just wanted to talk to him and see how he was doing and all. We get talking, asking questions and everything and i asked him how he felt about his prayers. cause prayers are the only way that you can receive that witness for yourself. and he said that he felt good about them but wasn't sure about them either. So we ended up discussing more about what prayers are and how they work and what he needed to to and everything. it was really good! i felt the Spirit there helping me talk to Mbasa and resolve his concerns that he had. We didn't plan on talking about prayer at all before we went there. but the spirit put the thought into my head to ask him about his prayers and look what happened. :) he needed to hear that. he needed to be taught more on prayer. We opened up the Bible Dictionary and read a few scriptures and at the end of the lesson i could just tell that we as missionaries made a difference. We helped him. :) i felt really good about it as well as my Companion.
We had another good lesson with a sister, Nosephiwo. She only wanted us to stay there for 5 min and basically share a spiritual thought with her but we actually ended up staying an hour haha. we just got talking about what we do and life and the gospel more. trying to get her to answer the questions we asked and getting her to open up. but things are progressing with her. it always helps to have members come with us and be there for the appointments. having that "bond" of someone who lives there and knows what kind of person they can be. cause me as an American haha i can't understand Xhosa worth anything, even tho my companion can. but with the members being there it makes things go better, having another person bearing witness of the things we know to be true!
So with not having a car, the car we had has many problems, Brakes, clutch sticks and won't come off the floor sometimes body work needs to be fixed and yeah over 92000 ks on it the office decided to take it away, fix it and then sell it. so we get the opportunity to have a new car hopefully in 2 weeks. I'm excited for it haha. So yeah, the Zone lords pick us up in the morning and drive us to the area and then we walk all day and then they pick us up at 8:30 that night. We usually wait at members homes in the evening till they come and get us.
have zone conference this week on thursday i'm pretty excited about that :) and then interviews next week. Today we are doing who knows what for P day haha. might go play soccer or golf i dunno. I'm glad you finally got my SD card very glad that it got there un-damaged. Having fun with the photos?? hehe yes we have fun and yes we do work sheesh! why do you think i'm out here for?? haha Elder Morrill and Elder Buthelzi are in that picture of the district in our matching ties. (*Note back in Cape Town with Elder Heydenrich)
and the rest of you back home have a great week too!! i love you guys!! hope things go well!!
Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
P day in Cape Town: Elder Larson, Elder Rigby, Elder Butelezi, Elder Carver
Mththa Elders: (b) Elder Rigby, Elder Zulu (f) Elder Rimuwa, Elder Turner
Greetings!! How are things?? Its been pretty swell here in South Africa! We had a really good week and saw lots of people and talked with lots of people. I bout died haha ok not really but yeah i was tired at the end of the day. The weather has been iffy the past week. its gotten cold and windy and rained a bit on Wednesday. not much but some. Summer is the raining season In the Eastern Cape. And they didn't got much this year so we are having a drought. The dam in Mdantsane is VERY low on water. like it doesn't even look like its a dam kinda looks like a littleish river/pond. Kinda sad. but yeah! that and electricity, people keep saying that there is a power shortage so we aren't allowed to use heaters or anything like that. so last week it was a bit chilly in our boarding. I had to put more blankets on my bed cause it was so cold. yeah you'd think it would be warm in South Africa all the time, but yeah no!! It can get pretty dang chilly some days and some nights. the wind was what made it the most cold. So i'm grateful for my sweaters/jerseys (whatever you want to call them). yeah i wore it the other day. haha.
So this week our car was taken away from us. :( :( So we get to walk in our area now for the next 2-3 weeks. I'm not happy about it but it has brought blessings. we have talked to a lot of people since we don't want to walk a lot and go all over kingdom come. haha. We had a really good lesson with Mbasa on Saturday night. He is very close to getting a baptism date. We went there and since we hadn't seen him in 2 weeks we just wanted to talk to him and see how he was doing and all. We get talking, asking questions and everything and i asked him how he felt about his prayers. cause prayers are the only way that you can receive that witness for yourself. and he said that he felt good about them but wasn't sure about them either. So we ended up discussing more about what prayers are and how they work and what he needed to to and everything. it was really good! i felt the Spirit there helping me talk to Mbasa and resolve his concerns that he had. We didn't plan on talking about prayer at all before we went there. but the spirit put the thought into my head to ask him about his prayers and look what happened. :) he needed to hear that. he needed to be taught more on prayer. We opened up the Bible Dictionary and read a few scriptures and at the end of the lesson i could just tell that we as missionaries made a difference. We helped him. :) i felt really good about it as well as my Companion.
We had another good lesson with a sister, Nosephiwo. She only wanted us to stay there for 5 min and basically share a spiritual thought with her but we actually ended up staying an hour haha. we just got talking about what we do and life and the gospel more. trying to get her to answer the questions we asked and getting her to open up. but things are progressing with her. it always helps to have members come with us and be there for the appointments. having that "bond" of someone who lives there and knows what kind of person they can be. cause me as an American haha i can't understand Xhosa worth anything, even tho my companion can. but with the members being there it makes things go better, having another person bearing witness of the things we know to be true!
So with not having a car, the car we had has many problems, Brakes, clutch sticks and won't come off the floor sometimes body work needs to be fixed and yeah over 92000 ks on it the office decided to take it away, fix it and then sell it. so we get the opportunity to have a new car hopefully in 2 weeks. I'm excited for it haha. So yeah, the Zone lords pick us up in the morning and drive us to the area and then we walk all day and then they pick us up at 8:30 that night. We usually wait at members homes in the evening till they come and get us.
have zone conference this week on thursday i'm pretty excited about that :) and then interviews next week. Today we are doing who knows what for P day haha. might go play soccer or golf i dunno. I'm glad you finally got my SD card very glad that it got there un-damaged. Having fun with the photos?? hehe yes we have fun and yes we do work sheesh! why do you think i'm out here for?? haha Elder Morrill and Elder Buthelzi are in that picture of the district in our matching ties. (*Note back in Cape Town with Elder Heydenrich)
and the rest of you back home have a great week too!! i love you guys!! hope things go well!!
Your Missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
P day in Cape Town: Elder Larson, Elder Rigby, Elder Butelezi, Elder Carver
Mththa Elders: (b) Elder Rigby, Elder Zulu (f) Elder Rimuwa, Elder Turner
Monday, May 31, 2010
Indepele
Dear Family and Friends,
Molo Unganie!! hehe hi how are you! haha I'm having too much fun with this Xhosa :) Indepele means i'm good. (In-dee-pee-le). hope you can pronounce that one!.. so its been a good week. Had many appointments and saw lots of people. None are progressing very much but we found 6 new people to see this week so thats wonderful. we had a really good lesson with a lady, can't remember her name dang it, oh well. But it was a really good lesson on the Restoration. She has been seen by the missionaries before and gave her a book of Mormon but she moved and left it back where she came from. So we taught the Restoration and she was very excited to get a new copy of the Book of Mormon! haha probably too excited to a point. we'll see how the appointments go with her this week. Oh! her name is Nosphiwo. Liking these Xhosa names?? haha lots of them are hard to pronounce. well at least for me. my comp can speak them just fine since he is Zulu. But things are going well.
had a nice Sunday yesterday. Church was wonderful, we had a combined priesthood and relief society meeting and bishop gave a really good discussion on the "order" of the church. He handled it very well. I hope no one took offense of it. But it needed to happen. There is a certain way of doing things in the church and the members were slacking. So hopefully the members will do better now. We didn't have very many in attendance in Sacrament meeting. Shame. lots of less actives here i guess. People get baptized and then go less active. i don't know why, it happens a lot. kinda sad!
another experience we had this week, haha its funny. So we had an appointment with this guy at 11 and so we go there and he tells us to come back at 3. So we go there at 3 and he isn't there. figures. so we go across the street and start chatting with this Fellow, Siyatemba. Hes had some troubles in his life and so he wants to change so we are seeing him now but back to the story. While we were talking to Siyatemba we see the man that we were supposed to see hiding behind the shack. he keeps poking his head out to check if we are still there. haha we were laughing at him cause he was hiding from us. We continued to talk and then he starts crawling on the ground to his home shack. he then gets up and we see him and so we start walking up to him and then he takes off running. like a sprint run. Guess he really didn't want to see us. He could have just told us that he didn't want to see us and it would've made things a lot easier but on the other hand we wouldn't have found Siyatemba to teach if we hadn't have been there at that time. So the Lord truly works in Mysterious ways!
I like my new companion. Elder Mkhise. he is a funny short missionary. he can be too serious some times though. But we have become pretty good mates. Just took a week to get to know each other. haha just gotta be patient huh. so things are good there. we were in a big rush this morning cause the ZLs called us at 7 and said we need a ride to the airport. they went to zone council. where all the zone lords and APs get together with president for training and things. happens every 3 months. So they called us at 7 and they had to be there in 30 min. they didn't make it. so they missed their flight and had to wait for the noon flight. but yeah i didn't get breakfast this morning! and then we had to help other elders move to their new boarding. so i had a banana this morning and haven't had a chance to eat yet. I"m really hungry now haha. food is calling.
So yes Mdantsane is all blacks. all speaking Xhosa too. church was better yesterday with the language cause a member of the high council was there haha. but yeah. I'm one of the few white people in the area. Elder Bradshaw, from Utah, is also serving in the area and Elder Beck. I like Elder Bradshaw hes a cool dude. he got here Thursday. but wow president made a lot of changes this transfer! many missionaries were transferred to new areas. Elder Rimuwa is now with Elder Beck in 1st ward. so were sill in the same Zone! :) its nice to get together on Fridays for district meeting and then on pdays we can do things together if we want since we all stay in east London.
But i'm doing well and enjoying it here. yes its been tuff learning a new area and people but i'll get through! i know it! i just have to keep pushing myself and do it!! I"m so grateful for My savior and what he did for us. I know he lives and that he loves us. I know Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to succeed at this and in this life. just have to do my part and have faith in him and trust! i love you guys! Thanks for all that you do! and all the stories of home! i really do enjoy them, haha especially of Brady! the goober lol. love you guys! peace out!
YOUR MISSIONARY,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
Molo Unganie!! hehe hi how are you! haha I'm having too much fun with this Xhosa :) Indepele means i'm good. (In-dee-pee-le). hope you can pronounce that one!.. so its been a good week. Had many appointments and saw lots of people. None are progressing very much but we found 6 new people to see this week so thats wonderful. we had a really good lesson with a lady, can't remember her name dang it, oh well. But it was a really good lesson on the Restoration. She has been seen by the missionaries before and gave her a book of Mormon but she moved and left it back where she came from. So we taught the Restoration and she was very excited to get a new copy of the Book of Mormon! haha probably too excited to a point. we'll see how the appointments go with her this week. Oh! her name is Nosphiwo. Liking these Xhosa names?? haha lots of them are hard to pronounce. well at least for me. my comp can speak them just fine since he is Zulu. But things are going well.
had a nice Sunday yesterday. Church was wonderful, we had a combined priesthood and relief society meeting and bishop gave a really good discussion on the "order" of the church. He handled it very well. I hope no one took offense of it. But it needed to happen. There is a certain way of doing things in the church and the members were slacking. So hopefully the members will do better now. We didn't have very many in attendance in Sacrament meeting. Shame. lots of less actives here i guess. People get baptized and then go less active. i don't know why, it happens a lot. kinda sad!
another experience we had this week, haha its funny. So we had an appointment with this guy at 11 and so we go there and he tells us to come back at 3. So we go there at 3 and he isn't there. figures. so we go across the street and start chatting with this Fellow, Siyatemba. Hes had some troubles in his life and so he wants to change so we are seeing him now but back to the story. While we were talking to Siyatemba we see the man that we were supposed to see hiding behind the shack. he keeps poking his head out to check if we are still there. haha we were laughing at him cause he was hiding from us. We continued to talk and then he starts crawling on the ground to his home shack. he then gets up and we see him and so we start walking up to him and then he takes off running. like a sprint run. Guess he really didn't want to see us. He could have just told us that he didn't want to see us and it would've made things a lot easier but on the other hand we wouldn't have found Siyatemba to teach if we hadn't have been there at that time. So the Lord truly works in Mysterious ways!
I like my new companion. Elder Mkhise. he is a funny short missionary. he can be too serious some times though. But we have become pretty good mates. Just took a week to get to know each other. haha just gotta be patient huh. so things are good there. we were in a big rush this morning cause the ZLs called us at 7 and said we need a ride to the airport. they went to zone council. where all the zone lords and APs get together with president for training and things. happens every 3 months. So they called us at 7 and they had to be there in 30 min. they didn't make it. so they missed their flight and had to wait for the noon flight. but yeah i didn't get breakfast this morning! and then we had to help other elders move to their new boarding. so i had a banana this morning and haven't had a chance to eat yet. I"m really hungry now haha. food is calling.
So yes Mdantsane is all blacks. all speaking Xhosa too. church was better yesterday with the language cause a member of the high council was there haha. but yeah. I'm one of the few white people in the area. Elder Bradshaw, from Utah, is also serving in the area and Elder Beck. I like Elder Bradshaw hes a cool dude. he got here Thursday. but wow president made a lot of changes this transfer! many missionaries were transferred to new areas. Elder Rimuwa is now with Elder Beck in 1st ward. so were sill in the same Zone! :) its nice to get together on Fridays for district meeting and then on pdays we can do things together if we want since we all stay in east London.
But i'm doing well and enjoying it here. yes its been tuff learning a new area and people but i'll get through! i know it! i just have to keep pushing myself and do it!! I"m so grateful for My savior and what he did for us. I know he lives and that he loves us. I know Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to succeed at this and in this life. just have to do my part and have faith in him and trust! i love you guys! Thanks for all that you do! and all the stories of home! i really do enjoy them, haha especially of Brady! the goober lol. love you guys! peace out!
YOUR MISSIONARY,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
News
Dear Family and Friends,
Hey everyone! How is it? I'm doing okay. I have been Transferred again. I was only in Mthatha for 5 weeks. That sets a new record there. no one leaves that area that quick. But i guess president wanted me somewhere where i can be around more missionaries and be closer to civilization. I'm now in Mdantsane 3rd ward. My new comp is Elder Mkhise, from Durban. He's really short haha. I feel like a giant when i'm next to him. He is my District leader and senior companion. He just turned Senior on me actually so its "new" to him. I've been with district leaders for the past 3 transfers so its not new to me haha so i'm helpin him with STATS and stuff. So i left Mthatha on Wednesday when Elder Scott, not the apostle, came and talked with us 3 Elders in Mthatha but yeah thats his duty as a Senior Couple Missionary-helps missionaries. hes based in Joburg at the area office but came down to mthatha for the day and then i went back with them to East London. Elder Scott is originally from Pocatello and then moved to Utah when he got married. They are a really nice couple. gave some good advice. On the way back to east london we talked about cows haha. he has 10 acres back home and wants a few cows. i was enjoying the conversation with them. he's been a cop, a high school counselor and now a professional therapist for the church. He was surprised that i grew up on a dairy farm. haha.
So i'm now in Mdantsane (MM-dawnt-sawn-ae) hope you can pronounce it haha. It is just outside of East London and is the 2nd largest Township in South Africa. Soweto is the biggest up in Joburg. Very big township. Urbanized, lots of ups and downs. Hills and bumps and stuff. actual housing tho to my surprise. Yes there are a few shacks but its mostly government houses. Xhosa speaking area of course. so nothing new there. In church yesterday sacrament meeting was in english and then sunday school and priesthood was in Xhosa and English so it was bit difficult for me to understand some of it. my comp can carry out a conversation since his native language is Zulu. So he can understand people here, haha i just stand there and smile most the time. "just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave". The bishop is very young. probably late 20s. it is a ward but has about 70 to 100 members come to church from what i've seen so far. The other 2 wards have close to 200 people come every sunday and so they are going to create a fourth ward soon, so i've heard. There is 2 chapels, 3rd shares with 2nd ward. we go at 9:00 and then 2nd goes at 1:00. 1st ward has there own building. they are very nice buildings. actual church and not just an old hotel building like Mthatha. Just the 2 of us in the ward. there is 6 elders in 1st ward and then 4 elders in 2nd ward. I'm in a 2man district and 2man boarding. So district meetings are pretty much like a companion study. I miss the 4-man boarding. it was fun and it is the only one in the mission. We stay in Cambridge which is actually in East London mainly because there isn't anywhere to stay in Mdantsane. So its about a 20 min drive to our area every day. there is 4 cars in the zone 1 of them is in the shop at the moment so Elder Whillhite and his greenie Elder Beck are walking in there area. Its the first area for him to be walking haha. he is going home on friday. hes done with mission...but if you do the calculations 3 companionships are walking. We all stay in East london so we take the other elders who are walking in their area to their area when we first go every day. its kinda nice.
Pday today. the nice thing about being here is that we are really close to East London zone so we can get together with them and play soccer or whatever. I'm pretty excited about that part. I get to mingle with lots of missionaries. Including my trainor Elder Heydenrych! :) I'm not sure what we are doing today. everyone is fueled up with soccer since its the end of the transfer. I came a week earlier because my comps last comp Elder Wilson went to the office to serve. So he needed to leave early so he could get all the training for it. so since i was already in a 3some in mthatha i just came here to Mdantsane. it all worked out. I didn't realize i was leaving until that morning. President called me and asked me if i could get packed that fast. i told him it shouldn't be a problem. and now here i am. i like the new area.
I would like some hymns to listen to. any arrangement is fine. So even if you just send a few CDs with hymns that'll be fine. and then i'll get a CD player and whatever. I bought a battery charger at game. my camera was eating batteries like none other. so i put a stop to that and got chargeable batteries and charger.
I love you guys and miss you lots. Thank you for all of your love and support. I'll be ok i hope. its still tough getting refocused and everything. but i'll get through. the lord is on my side. and i know he cares about me to help me get through this. but have a good week!
your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
Hey everyone! How is it? I'm doing okay. I have been Transferred again. I was only in Mthatha for 5 weeks. That sets a new record there. no one leaves that area that quick. But i guess president wanted me somewhere where i can be around more missionaries and be closer to civilization. I'm now in Mdantsane 3rd ward. My new comp is Elder Mkhise, from Durban. He's really short haha. I feel like a giant when i'm next to him. He is my District leader and senior companion. He just turned Senior on me actually so its "new" to him. I've been with district leaders for the past 3 transfers so its not new to me haha so i'm helpin him with STATS and stuff. So i left Mthatha on Wednesday when Elder Scott, not the apostle, came and talked with us 3 Elders in Mthatha but yeah thats his duty as a Senior Couple Missionary-helps missionaries. hes based in Joburg at the area office but came down to mthatha for the day and then i went back with them to East London. Elder Scott is originally from Pocatello and then moved to Utah when he got married. They are a really nice couple. gave some good advice. On the way back to east london we talked about cows haha. he has 10 acres back home and wants a few cows. i was enjoying the conversation with them. he's been a cop, a high school counselor and now a professional therapist for the church. He was surprised that i grew up on a dairy farm. haha.
So i'm now in Mdantsane (MM-dawnt-sawn-ae) hope you can pronounce it haha. It is just outside of East London and is the 2nd largest Township in South Africa. Soweto is the biggest up in Joburg. Very big township. Urbanized, lots of ups and downs. Hills and bumps and stuff. actual housing tho to my surprise. Yes there are a few shacks but its mostly government houses. Xhosa speaking area of course. so nothing new there. In church yesterday sacrament meeting was in english and then sunday school and priesthood was in Xhosa and English so it was bit difficult for me to understand some of it. my comp can carry out a conversation since his native language is Zulu. So he can understand people here, haha i just stand there and smile most the time. "just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave". The bishop is very young. probably late 20s. it is a ward but has about 70 to 100 members come to church from what i've seen so far. The other 2 wards have close to 200 people come every sunday and so they are going to create a fourth ward soon, so i've heard. There is 2 chapels, 3rd shares with 2nd ward. we go at 9:00 and then 2nd goes at 1:00. 1st ward has there own building. they are very nice buildings. actual church and not just an old hotel building like Mthatha. Just the 2 of us in the ward. there is 6 elders in 1st ward and then 4 elders in 2nd ward. I'm in a 2man district and 2man boarding. So district meetings are pretty much like a companion study. I miss the 4-man boarding. it was fun and it is the only one in the mission. We stay in Cambridge which is actually in East London mainly because there isn't anywhere to stay in Mdantsane. So its about a 20 min drive to our area every day. there is 4 cars in the zone 1 of them is in the shop at the moment so Elder Whillhite and his greenie Elder Beck are walking in there area. Its the first area for him to be walking haha. he is going home on friday. hes done with mission...but if you do the calculations 3 companionships are walking. We all stay in East london so we take the other elders who are walking in their area to their area when we first go every day. its kinda nice.
Pday today. the nice thing about being here is that we are really close to East London zone so we can get together with them and play soccer or whatever. I'm pretty excited about that part. I get to mingle with lots of missionaries. Including my trainor Elder Heydenrych! :) I'm not sure what we are doing today. everyone is fueled up with soccer since its the end of the transfer. I came a week earlier because my comps last comp Elder Wilson went to the office to serve. So he needed to leave early so he could get all the training for it. so since i was already in a 3some in mthatha i just came here to Mdantsane. it all worked out. I didn't realize i was leaving until that morning. President called me and asked me if i could get packed that fast. i told him it shouldn't be a problem. and now here i am. i like the new area.
I would like some hymns to listen to. any arrangement is fine. So even if you just send a few CDs with hymns that'll be fine. and then i'll get a CD player and whatever. I bought a battery charger at game. my camera was eating batteries like none other. so i put a stop to that and got chargeable batteries and charger.
I love you guys and miss you lots. Thank you for all of your love and support. I'll be ok i hope. its still tough getting refocused and everything. but i'll get through. the lord is on my side. and i know he cares about me to help me get through this. but have a good week!
your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Greetings
Rob has had a tough week but he's doing okay and is learning from his experiences.
He does say "the baptism went well though! :) Beauty was so excited and ready. She'll be a great member. She bore her testimony afterword and it was powerful haha....but i'll go where the lord wants me to go. "I'll go and do the things which the lord has commanded" my favorite scripture :)
We have been teaching a family that stays 20 Ks outside of Mthatha and the lessons have been awesome! The 2 daughters have come to church the past 3 sundays in a row. the mother came last week. she would come every week but money for transport is a problem sometimes. told her to have the desire to go and then pray about it and the lord will make a way for you to go to church. So we'll see what happens. ITs a great family. one of the daughters is RC from East London so The ZLs gave us her family to teach and its great. the other 2 daughters want to be baptized and are very impatient haha. we told them that they need to learn more before they can get baptized. But they are very anxious to be baptized.
So yeah the senior couples are coming this week to check up on us and see how we're doing and all. so that'll be good. senior couples are great. The Farris and the Jones. They care so much about each missionary and are so good to us. work wouldn't continue without them thats for sure.
Well hopefully this week will be good. I love you guys! miss you. have a good week!
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)"
He does say "the baptism went well though! :) Beauty was so excited and ready. She'll be a great member. She bore her testimony afterword and it was powerful haha....but i'll go where the lord wants me to go. "I'll go and do the things which the lord has commanded" my favorite scripture :)
We have been teaching a family that stays 20 Ks outside of Mthatha and the lessons have been awesome! The 2 daughters have come to church the past 3 sundays in a row. the mother came last week. she would come every week but money for transport is a problem sometimes. told her to have the desire to go and then pray about it and the lord will make a way for you to go to church. So we'll see what happens. ITs a great family. one of the daughters is RC from East London so The ZLs gave us her family to teach and its great. the other 2 daughters want to be baptized and are very impatient haha. we told them that they need to learn more before they can get baptized. But they are very anxious to be baptized.
So yeah the senior couples are coming this week to check up on us and see how we're doing and all. so that'll be good. senior couples are great. The Farris and the Jones. They care so much about each missionary and are so good to us. work wouldn't continue without them thats for sure.
Well hopefully this week will be good. I love you guys! miss you. have a good week!
Your missionary,
Elder Robert S. Rigby (CTM)"
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