24 May 2010

24 May 2010

Semana Ocupado!

Sup fam! not much hurr!

First off, HAPPY BURFDAY PAPA!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YA DAD! So wow, this week we did a lot of member work! We are lacking in numbers lately, bigtime. So we are really trying to activate the people more because they need to come to church! They say they will, and they just don't. It’s tough, I mean, it’s 3 hours on a Sunday. Not too hard. But, oh well, we are trying. They have their agency. We always had a lot of stuff to do it seemed. This week went by super-d-duper fast. Bt here we go!

Tuesday - So this day, we moved our apartment out! It was actually really fun. We moved a couch by putting it on top of our car and tying it down with jump ropes. If that’s not redneck, I don't know what is.Then after we got moved in and everything, we got ready and went to see Estefany. Wow, this is a crazy story. So we gave Estefany a reading assignment, even though we know she's going back to Mexico, so we show up Tuesday. We started talking to her and then we move into our lesson. She said, “Oh yeah, I read and prayed.” We were like “great!” She said, I prayed to know if this new church is right.” After she prayed, she had a dream. Her mom died this last year and her mom appeared to her in her dream and said, “You are doing what is right. This is God's church and it is not new. Keep reading the BOM and praying!” So yeah. She believes in the message. But it is too bad for us that she left to Mexico. Just a golden investigator. But durn, we were so sad she had to leave. After that, we saw Efrain. We talked to him about getting his patriarchal blessing and such. Then we waited for his roommate, Jesus. He never showed. So we went and saw a few referrals, not there. Then we went home because we had 4 guests that night - our DL and 2 elders in our district; the next day was Zone Conference! Elder Orellana was there. The one from Orem. He is so funny. I love that kid.

Wednesday – We woke up. Went to Zone conference! It went until like 5pm! Wow! What a long zone conference. It was super good though. The culture in this mission is out of whack, so we had a huge discussion about what to do with it. It was really good. Like I said before, President is really trying hard to make this mission better; and it’s really working! So he's changed some rules and things. So it will be a lot better and everything will start well! I'm really excited for the things that are going to happen, actually. It’s great! It was good to see all my buddies that are from Papillion too. It’s so fun at zone conference! I love it so much! After zone conference we went to Hector's. He called and said he needs help. I guess his life is in the dumps now and he wants us back. So we went and talked to him for a while. Then we had correlation meeting for about an hour and a half, where we just talked about members. We know we need to be working with investigators, but we first need a good ward support,ya know. So that’s why we are working hard in that area. After that, we went home and just worked out and went to sleep. It was a very tiring day of sitting in meetings.

Thursday – I honestly don't remember what happened this day. I remember eating with Sister Kreber! It was good, as always. We planned to have some things that will help our ward even more. For instance, we are going to be teaching an English class soon. That will help us with members and our pool of investigators will rise hopefully. But yeah, Thursday was pretty boring day...just tried to see people all day. I swear Thursdays are just always not good days.

Friday - So this day was actually a really good day! It started out normal and what not, but then Luis called. He said that David (the guy who lives in a van and is drunk) will be at his house at 12. “Come and teach him.” We were like. uh? ok? sure. So we show up. David is all showered up, hair combed, shirt nicely tucked in, and he's been sober for 6 days and went to church on Sunday. We were so happy! It was like a miracle. So we start teaching him and he just kept apologizing for being drunk and stuff. Gosh, we were happy! So we taught him, gave him a libro, and invited him to church. He said he'll come, he'll read, and everything! Yes! Then after that, we went to visit Hector and his mom. They weren't there. Durn. We wanted to see his mom. She hasn't come to church in over a month. After that, we went to another inactive, Loraina. She has a testimony. She reads the Book o Mormon. But she said she doesn't need to go to church to know its true. We're like. uh ok. After that, we found this family. OK listen to this, a family of 6 and they are all legal. They live in a nice house and they have 2 cars. And they are legal!!!!!!! Oh gosh. We GQ'd them and we're probably going to go back. Man, it would be awesome to see them get baptized and be members. They would help out a ton! I hope so. After that, we went home and slept. Super tired!

Saturday - This day was full of nothing too. Nothing really happened at all. No one. We saw Hector and his mom. We taught them and talked with them. There is so much stuff going on in our ward right now, according to her. We asked her to come to church with her kids and she said, “Yes. Definitely!” So we were happy about that. Other than that, it was just a long boring day - pretty much.

Sunday - So I woke up and just wrote my talk! Then we went to find David and Hector to get them to come to church. No luck on that, but we still kept our fingers crossed! But yeah, we had a good showing at church. Two families came from Crete, that was good, and two white families came to visit. So we had a pretty packed house. But none were any of the people we talked to during the week, which is always discouraging. But, oh well, what else can you do? So I spoke on the Atonement and Obedience in a very respectful, blunt manner. I hope I got the message across. I know it’s hard to listen to someone for 20 minutes, but I tried. I couldn't crack my jokes as usual, because I am not completely fluent enough to do that quite yet. Well I can tell jokes, but not in a sacrament talk manner. But yeah. After church, we went to Hector's because he didn't show. Then we had dinner late at like 8, so we just stayed home. We made a pretty good meal though! Oh well. That is it for the week.

Today - We are going to play some b-ball, and then do some shopping and some laundry. Yeah, not much. We have a meal with a member. Then I have to plan my training it’s my turn tomorrow in district meeting! Whoopppeeee!

The weather here is humid and hot. I'm sticky and sweaty all the time. It’s crazy.
It rains a lot here, but it’s not cold. No tornado's yet. They say that Lincoln is like a bowl, so tornado's don't usually come here. The last one was like in the 70's.

Well, I better get going now. I hope you all have a great week. Use the Atonement every day (that’s what my talk was about). We aren't just members on Sunday; we have to be members every day in our lives. And remember what our Savior has done for us. I know that as you pray every day you will feel the same way. I love you all and hope that you all are as happy as I am right now! Thanks for always being there for me and always supporting me! I love you all!

Love always,

Elder Bradley Rigby

17 May 2010

Well hello there!!


So whats up? This week was a pretty crazy one I might say. It was a good one,. but it was quite crazy. It was good to receive that package! Seriously, I loved it! Definitely a weird week for me out here. But it was really good. This email might be short again because so much went on . I forget things! Well, here we go!

Tuesday - We had district meeting. It was really good. My companion trained and then after that, we went to Norms to get a sandwich. Then we took our DL (his car was getting fixed) to do some shopping. They don't have the resources because they’re out in Wahoo. But then, I think we had dinner at the church with Sister Kreber and had a good chat with the Ward Council about what needs to go on in the ward.

Wednesday - So the day before transfers are always so stressful because we don't know where we're going. So that day was just hectic. We did manage to see a few people before “the call.” So we get called at like 2pm saying we have to switch apartments. It was super yuk. We love our apartment. The apartment that we moved into is so much smaller and both windows are facing just a brick wall. It stinks. Plus, we live with two others Elders until their apartment is ready for them. The reason we switched is that our apartment was a monthly pay and the apartment we're in now is on lease. So it was easier to drop our apartment because an area was closed. So yah. After that, we found out Elder Moore and I are still together here. It was good to hear that. The remainder of the night we spent packing up our apartment, getting ready to move, which we were not happy about. Especially since I just got settled in, it seems!

Thursday - Transfer day. So we woke up, packed up everything, then we began to move. Only our stuff and our beds, not the furniture yet, that is today. Boo. But yeah. We moved in and unpacked and then the other Elders moved their stuff in too. Oh gosh! It’s so crammed in there. Don't ask me why we don't just stay in our other apartment alone until they leave, but that’s just how the lady said. She's a bit dingy, at times. But yeah. We got a call today that the other Elders are finally moving to Crete! It’s been a long 4 days. It’s not fun when they are here and we have to get them stuff to do in our area. We’re like, “Go to your area already.” So that day we unpacked, got settled, and, by that time, we had dinner at Sister Kreber’s house with Efrain and we taught a good lesson on missions again. It was good. We always eat so good there. We had hamburgers, and ahhh. just so delicious.

Friday - So we did our studies. Then Elder Moore and I went to see Estefany. We went there. Just to find out that she is moving to Mexico this coming Saturday, which is really bad. She was one of our most solid investigators. She always reads. She never came to church, but still.So we were sad about that. Then we went to the other apartment and did weekly planning. . . . alone! Then we went to our new apartment and we headed out to Crete with the other Elders. Since we know it the best, we showed them around, showed them their apartment, and introduced them to members and investigators. It was super good. Fun to be down in Crete again. But now we'll never go there because it’s an open area to the Spanish Elders - which is good! But yah, then we came back. and we went and set up 2 appointments - one with the Sister of Estefany and one referral. Then we found Fidel, drunk of course, but we taught him a lesson on being sober and doing what the Lord wants him to. Not drinking and smoking all the time. It was hard because he was plastered. He even asked us, “Do I smell drunk?” We're like, “Ya. How much did you drink?” He's said, “Not much at all, just 12 beers.” Yeah. suuuuuuurre.Not much there. So yeah. but we invited him to church and taught him a lesson on the street then went home.

Saturday - This was a super great day! We woke up,. got ready, and went to Omaha!!! Yay! Road trip! We arrive and saw all the Spanish missionaries. It was so great to see everyone. It was a way good day. So we had a 2 hour meeting in the morning. My companion trained on the culture. It was so good. Then Elder Shumway trained on finding. Also very great. So what this meeting was for is to better help the Hispanic community in the work. It’s to help us. the Spanish missionaries excel. So yeah. That was the morning training. Super good. I really learned a lot about the people - even more. Then we had lunch. It was nachos. It was super good. Then we had another 2 hour meeting. We learned on teaching by Elder Chinche, and then commitments by Elder Petersen (who is living with us right now). It was good. Just a good time to be there with all the Spanish missionaries who I have come to know. It was really spiritual, and I learned a lot. But then at the same time, it was super fun! Then after the meeting, we drove to the temple! We did a session in Spanish. It was super awesome. So weird hearing it all in Spanish. I tell you, I understood it, but yeah, saying it - hard. Sometime we'll have to do a session in Spanish when I get home. It’s so cool. I liked it a lot. Some words I couldn't understand, but I just pieced it in. But I really enjoyed it a lot. It was super fun and it was mostly just the missionaries there.But the session was super packed. I just loved it though. I haven't been to the temple in like 3 months, so it was good to go back there. After that, we took some pictures.(Of course my camera was out of battery - Lucky me). Then, after that. we went to the Sandovals! We called them Friday and set up a dinner appointment! So my companion, Elder Petersen and his companion,Elder Morrill and his companion, and I all went to the Sandoval’s house and ate dinner. The Rivera's were there too! It was so good to see all those members again and spend some time around the dinner table with them. It was so much fun! Then we had to leave and drive our hour back home! So yeah, we did that. then we went to sleep…well they did. I couldn't sleep much!

Sunday - I woke up with food coming out both ends. I don't know why. So I was super sick. So I took some meds and went to sleep until about 5 pm. Then I felt a little bit better. I was sad that I had missed church and stuff. But, seriously, I felt like absolute crap. After that, I kind of just lay there. Then at like 8:30 we went to Luis' house and visited him. Then we came back. I was so tired, so I went back to sleep again and got a great sleep. So nothing happened Sunday because of my body.

Monday - Today we are going golfing, finally. A member is paying for us to go. It’s awesome. After that, I'm not sure. We have a dinner appointment with our ward mission leader, and then I believe we're moving the Crete Elders out of our place! So yeah.

Well, that’s it from the Capitol city today, everyone! It’s going to be a great week this week. We have zone conference this Wednesday and we have a lot of plans for this week. One of our ideas will include having an English class in the church, We will have the lessons in the English, so while we're teaching the people English, we will be teaching them the gospel. Sneaky.,yes, but oh well. So we're going to make fliers to hang up in the town! Hopefully this will be a week full of teaching and stuff. We're really hoping so. It’s great out there. I miss you all a lot, but I know I'm out here for a reason. I really enjoy it. I love you all so much! I hope you have a week full of loving moments of the Spirit! I keep you in my prayers always. Have a great week!
Love,

Elder Rigby

10 May 2010

Hola Familia!


So honestly. I really don't know what to write in this letter, because I talked to you guys last night and told you everything. So this may only be a paragraph. Sorry for my blog followers, but I’m all talked out. I look forward to next week! It was soo good hearing from you all! It’s weird to think sometimes that you guys are just at home and I’m not. I don't mind. I just feel like I’m at a football camp for 2 years. And when that’s over, I’ll come home tired and sleep. j/k But not much happened this week that I haven't told. I had my interview with President Kunz. It went really well! We taught people and they didn't come to church. We had a Mother’s Day activity Saturday! Which was really good. Mother’s Day is a huge, huge deal in the Latin culture, plus it was like a Cinco de Mayo celebration too. Which was good. Transfers are this week. I hope I stay with Elder Moore in Lincoln. But we'll see what goes on. We have 2 new missionaries coming in. One of which was supposed to be my companion in the MTC, which will be awkward But yah! Not much more from the capital city here! So yeah. Have a great week and I’ll definitely make up for it next week! I will have a lot to talk about! Thanks for all your love and support for me! I love you all and keep you in my prayers always!

Well. I love you so much. You have no idea. Thanks for everything! You are the best familia in the whole wide world! I mean that! I love you all! I hope you have a great week!!!

love,

Elder Brad "the beast" Rigby

_______________________________________
Just a quick summary for you all from the telephone call we had with Brad on Mother’s Day.

He sounded really, really good. He is so happy as a missionary. He is learning a lot about life and his testimony is growing. He is trying hard to be the best missionary he can. He loves being with his current companion and is concerned that there is a chance of them being separated on this Thursday’s transfer because they may open two more Spanish-speaking areas in the mission and will need to switch things around to staff the new areas. He keeps in contact with several of his friends that are serving missions. It is good for them to see the differences and similarities they each have to face in their respective missions.

Lincoln is a more difficult area than Omaha. They have to work harder to find people in Lincoln because there is not a specific area where the Hispanic live, like in Omaha. The branch is small and struggles, so a lot of the missionaries’ efforts are put into reactivation of church member who have stopped going to church.

The recent convert, Fidel, is still feeding his addictions and not doing well. Hector, the boy they were teaching, has not contacted them and hasn’t quit some of his habits. They are holding off on teaching him until he shows more commitment. They keep working to try and find their next baptism.

Brad is excited for the upcoming mission conference for the Spanish Speaking missionaries. He hopes to learn more about how to bring the Gospel to the Hispanics.

It was great to talk to Brad. He wishes he could see and hold our new puppies. We miss him, but we love that he is serving the Lord and working hard in Nebraska. May the Lord bless him with success.

- Don & Terri Rigby

We are making a tower of cans! Don't worry, We haven't drunk all those cans, our members donated like 40 of them. haha.

We ran out of tp, so we special opsed it, and got some from other missionaries. hahaha

My companion and me being awesome.

03 May 2010

Yo what’s up!
First off let me give a birthday shout out to my homie COLTON!!!! 12! Wow buddy! You're getting so old. Before you know it, you might be as strong as me. Ha-ha. jk. But I hope you have a great birthday buddy! Enjoy these years. They are good and only come once! K, so that’s super cool that Mimi had some pups! I'm sad I missed that. That would've been so awesome! I hope you guys keep one. Really! Because that would be so awesome! So yeah, this week was kind of up and down again. Don't worry. I'm good. I just hate to see people throw their life away to drugs and stuff. This letter will be a little shorter because I get to talk to you next Sunday and I'd like to save some things to talk about there! Besides, really, we just do the same thing every day. So yeah.

Monday- We exchanged with the ZL's and it was good! We went and taught this one guy, Adam. He's homeless, but he's got a good heart. I talked the entire time. It was good. He said he would come to church or call us. But it’s hard when he doesn't have a phone or house. So we didn't find him the rest of the week. Then after that we taught this way, awesome couple. They want the church, but they work every day, except for Monday's. So it’s really hard to get them to come to church and stuff. But they will read and listen always. Just getting them to come to church is the hard part.

Tuesday - So the ZL was sick all day! So I just studied and stuff until we exchanged back. Boring day. Then we had dinner with Hector, and he told us he smoked again. We're like, “Oh, great....ugh.” So we taught him about that. Then he tells us he's moving to Iowa! We were like....what the heck, man. So we were kind of sad about that. But who knows, he has no car....no money. There is no way. Then after him, we had our correlation meeting. It was a good, long one. It went until like 8. But we have a lot to do these next few weeks of the transfer. We hope we are together another one because we have a lot planned for this place. We are working hard to make this ward functional and get more people to church. So yeah. Not much happened Tuesday.

Wednesday - This day....I think we tracted like all day. We rescheduled with Estefany. Then we had dinner with a way less active. It was really good! I liked it a lot, but yeah. After that, we decided to travel out to Nebraska City for the night and next day. Elder Hudspeth said they had some referrals for us out there! So yeah. Road trip!!! It’s about an hour east of here. It was a fun drive through the rolling green hills of Nebraska. We arrived there and just kind of chilled and talked. Then went to sleep.

Thursday - We woke up, worked out, then hit the streets of Nebraska City! We talked to some Spanish people. Elder Moore went with Elder Routledge. They like talked to the majority of the people. I talked with like 4 people for a little bit. It was cool, I guess. Then we switched and went and saw some English people for them! It was fun, for the day, to be down there with my buddy from Provo! It was a good day. Then at like 4 we came back because we had dinner with Sister Kreber. The sky was crazy looking! We were so waiting for a tornado to come! So we had dinner with Sister Kreber and then we met our ward mission leader and we went and taught this guy Jesus. (Colton it is pronounced like hey-zeus, not like Jesus.) But he is a great guy. We were there for like an hour just chatting. Then we taught a lesson. I guess he lived in Santaquin for like 8 years, but never went to church. So he seemed really interested! But he didn't come to church yesterday.  After that, the sky was still crazy! But nothing. So we went to another appointment with a less active. Our ward mission leader just took it away. We looked out the window –thunder, lightning, rain, it was unimaginable. It was awesome. So after that, about 9pm, we had to sprint to our car! It was raining so hard; we just got soaked! Don't worry. I filmed it! Then that night, we just sat on our balcony watching the lightning and listening to the thunder in the dark. It was so awesome! They have some crazy storms out here! It was way sweet, but I didn't get to see a tornado. darn it!

Friday – We woke up to a phone call from Elder Hudspeth. They had 3 tornados! - one in Nebraska City and two on the outskirts of it. I guess the sirens went off, and they were just asleep through it all. We had a good laugh about that. After studies, we went and taught Estefany. She's a former investigator and she's really interested and wants to learn more and more about our church. She is probably moving to Mexico the first of June. But we're going to try to be fast with her. We taught her a great lesson. She had good questions and insights and we taught her about them and she loved it. It was soo good. Then rest of the day we tracted. Then we had an appointment with Hector at like 7. We talked to his mom and she said he doesn't want to get baptized and the move to Iowa and all this stuff. So we finally see him and we start teaching the whole family. The kids are just being disrespectful, but we kept teaching. Then yeah, we just were like, “Yeah, he's not ready for this yet.” So we told him, “Call us when you want to have joy in your life and be baptized.” Then we left. So hopefully that is a wake-up call for him. But yeah, we were pretty sad we had to do that. But sometimes you just got to weed people out who you are wasting time on, so we can find others that are prepared for the gospel. So we were sad that we gave up our only baptism. So then we just went home...

Saturday - I honestly can't remember anything from this day....wait. We taught Gabriel and Jose. They were good, but they were drunk. So we left. And that was all I can really remember. Oh yeah, we found out about Fidel, recent convert, and David. Fidel has gone wayward and yeah. We're done dealing with him. He's high and drunk every day, so we gave up on him. No matter how much we talk to him, it does nothing. So he just needs to hit rock bottom, I guess, before he really notices. And David - his van is gone. So we have no idea. We think he went back to Grand Island. Oh yeah, we went to a birthday party! It was fun. Awkward, but fun. We had cake, hamburgers, and soda.

Sunday - So yesterday pretty much wasn't all that great. We woke up and started giving people calls to come to church. They all had something going on. So we called our ward missionary to give a ride to his room-mate, who is Jesus. He said that he and another member aren't coming. We were like wow! So we studied - while watching the Lincoln Marathon go on! It was right outside our apartment, so we watched it. But then we showed up at church, kind of sad, and we see like 8 members tops. So we had 16 people there yesterday, and 6 of those people were a white family from Utah, visiting the group leader. Bad day... but priesthood was good. This convert taught an awesome lesson. We were so proud of him! After church, we went to go give a blessing to a lady in the hospital. She wasn't a member, and had no idea who we were. We offered to give a blessing or say a prayer and she said, “No, I'm good. (Even though she's almost died 3 times the last week.) It was weird. Then we had dinner at our ward mission leader’s house. It was so good. Biscuits and gravy, carrots, and salad. It was so good! They had their family over and they are moving to Provo, Utah. The dad is from Orem, UT and he went to Mountain View. We had fun there talking with him. He's a good guy. After that, we met the ZL's to give them one of their bikes that had been in our apartment! Then, yeah, we just chilled and went to sleep!

Monday - Today....we're just going to go to the mall and then probably play basketball! We have a home evening activity for the ward. Then we are going to see that family that is only home on Mondays! Not much goes on. Just the normal weekly things! But I love p-day. It’s the best day. We need it for sure.

We just found out we are having a Spanish day on the 15th. We get to meet with some General authorities who will teach us about the work in Spanish. Then we get to do a Temple session in Spanish! Which will be so weird! But its going to be way sweeet!

Well, I think that is it for this week! But hey, I get to talk to you guys on Sunday! Fun stuff!!! I love you so much. The church really is true. Stay true to it and always have the Spirit with you. Don't take for granted all these things because the world will take over you and Satan too. That’s not good. I see it every day out here and it’s really sad that people don't know the truth and all. It’s really sad. So keep going on and be happy! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!! Love you all

Love always,

Captain Awesome

26 April 2010

Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo!!! ha.


K fam. What’s up? Not much here. It was really probably the worst week of my mission. I'll be honest with you guys. But it ended really, really, well! So this letter might be on the short side because stuff happened. But it’s just ah! Sometimes it’s just hard ya know. I love it out here, but sometimes, people just make you so mad or so discouraged about stuff. But don't worry. I'm great! You know how I'm positive! And no, mom, I'm not thinking of coming home at all. HECK no. The only way I'm coming home is if I'm lying on my death bed. Which is clearly not going to happen, because I'm in perfect shape. Yes, I lost 8 pounds in the last two weeks. Elder Moore and I are really doing some good work, and some good workouts too! Well. I'll get started on this thing.

Monday - So we had our zone activity. It was way fun! We went to this park called Pioneer Park. It’s so huge! You can look at it on google earth. It really is a huge park! We played baseball with a tennis ball and tennis racket. Then we played some kick ball. It was fun! Then a couple of buddies (Elders) and I went on a nature hike. It was fun. I really enjoy seeing other missionaries. They are all so hilarious. Elder Hudspeth and I get along well too. So I'm sure we'll chill after the mish. He's from p-town (Provo) as well. I don't remember much else from that day. Oh. We went to the mall because Elder Hudspeth wanted some shoes. That’s it. The rest of the night was just boring....looking for people. Good ole tracting. Not my fave, but we have to do it to find people.

Tuesday - We had district meeting. After we had that, we went to this place called Rocket Fizz. It has like every kind of bottled drink you can imagine. It’s really a cool place! I just got a bottle of some cool blue stuff. Don't worry, none of it is alcoholic. It’s way fun there though. Then we went to Subway to eat. It was a good time with the district! After that, I had exchanges with Elder Whetten. He doesn't say one word at all....I'm serious though. I had to talk to the whole time. He just sat there. Wow. It was good for me though, because I just taught lessons in Spanish by myself. It’s cool. I can actually do that now! But he could've at least said something in English and I could've translated. But not many people that day. We had dinner with Hector, an investigator, and he speaks English. Whetten still said nothing. Wow! So yeah, that day kind of stunk. Then that night, oh man, he just stared and stared at me. I thought I was with Elder Nelson again. But then the next day, we exchanged back.

Wednesday - I honestly can't remember what happened this day....haha. hmmm....Well, the evening, I remember that. So at like 5 we had dinner with a less active. And I love hot food. I'm good with some habeneros. But it was like hot, temperature wise, too. And so my companion and I were just coughing. I said, “I really like hot stuff. I don't why this is happening.” But it was hot! It was weird. That was funny. Anywho. After that, we had our correlation meeting with our ward. It was alright. Yeah....that’s all I'm saying about that. We left kind of not happy. But it’s cool. After that, we went and gave a blessing to some lady in the hospital. We were the only missionaries available, so we went!

Thursday - Hmm....so the zone leaders came over to grab something and they gave us a referral. So right after that, we went and saw this referral. Gabriel - he's awesome. He had so many questions for us and we just answered them all. We had a good lesson! It was way awesome. He wants to come to our church! But he couldn't come this week, so we are definitely going back to see him. He really is a good investigator. He had a friend there, too, and they were both very interested in the church! Then we tracted until dinner! We had dinner with Sister Kreber. We had breakfast for dinner. It was so good: french toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, juice, just good stuff. We always get good food when we go there! Then we went to the park to meet an investigator. The deal was: if we beat his friends him in basketball, he'd come to church. So we're waiting and waiting. He never showed. Ahhhh! Because I was ready; I had my game on. Elder Moore and I were just ballin’ it up. We were in pros too, so it was legit. We saw some members there from another ward, so we kind of talked with them and then played a short game before leaving. It was a good night, but sad our investigator didn't come.

Friday - Now this day was a good day. So we had planned to go to Crete this day. But I had a distinct feeling to pray about it in the morning. So I prayed and the Spirit said not to go there. I was like, “What? Am I just thinking that or what?” So after 5 prayers and 5 same answers, I thought, “Ok, I get it.” So I told Elder Moore and he's like, “What?” I said, “You go pray and see what’s up!” So he went and prayed. Same answer. It was weird. We had no idea what to do, so we made a quick plan to see some referrals. During that day, we found these two guys, one I had taught in Omaha, and the other Elder Moore had taught. So they were a couple lost sheep we found. Later, we found this family that had moved and had been taught before too! It was awesome. Two new investigating families! Oh yeah, we went to this one house, they were playing "Stayin’ Alive" by the Beegees, so we went and talked to them. Well, basically what ended up happening, is the guy called Jesus stupid for dying, and he threatened us with a hammer. He was so drunk. His buddy just laughed at him. Then he said he was going to get a gun too. We just jetted from that place. Crazy drunks! Then while we were walking back to our apartment, this African American girl came up to us and just asked for us to pray with her. Right in the middle of the street. It was kind of weird. But I guess she's having a hard time. So we gave a card with a number and website and said a prayer with her right on the busy street and asked for her to be blessed. It was random. But I hope we influenced her life for the better! After that, we went to visit Luis to see how he was doing. He was chillin’ with a drunken guy. This guy was insane. Name is David. He wants us to help him. But all he does is drink in front of us and yell swear words. We're like. uh ok? He lives in a van too. He's a strait up bum. But we kept trying to teach him and we made him cry. Luis was helping us, but yeah, so we left. That was it for the day. He was just so drunk.

Saturday - So we had some pizza with some other Elders and tracted. Then David calls us (the drunk from the day before). He calls us and says to come over to his van. So we went. We prayed that he wouldn't shoot us because we knew he had a gun. Anywho. So we go there and all he says is that he's going to kill himself - a billion times. He's friends with a recent convert, so the recent convert was there too. And yeah, his eyes were really red. He just looked a mess. So yeah, that’s when the week got even worse. We found out that the recent convert, who we're pretty good friends with, is back into drinking, sex, drugs, the mix. David is here saying he's gonna kill himself. Wow. Just a mess of things. It was pouring rain and storming. Just not a good feeling at all. So we left....we went and had dinner with some members and afterwards one of the members came with us and we taught some less active families. It was really good, but our minds we're still on the drunks. It was good because the member did most the talking. But yeah, after that, we kept getting calls from our ward missionary. He's 18 and he lives with the recent convert. He's freaking out saying that the guy is drunk and high and he can't find him. Just message after message. Just worse and worse. It’s really sad. I came to realize, I really do care about these people and to see them ruin their lives like this is so terrible. That night ended up just with us working out because we were stressed and needed something - so we worked out.

Sunday - So we woke up to a call from the ward missionary saying that the recent convert came in at 5am and just passed out. Another member had dropped him off and stuff. Oh, gosh. Just started off bad. The weather was stormy too and you know how I hate rain. The day was just bad. So after church, which was good, (we had some good speakers this week and good lessons) we went to look for David. He's gone. We don't know if he killed himself or not. The recent convert is gone, couldn't find him. “He could be in jail.” Luis said. I don't know. I guess they got in a fight the night before too. Luis had to go and save them. Luis is a good member. He wants to help everyone with their problems, which is good. But we worry that he'll get back into drugs and alcohol too. His wife is so good. She's not Mormon, but she knows the church and she keeps him in line. She tells us if something is up and we help him. So yeah. We couldn't find any of the drunks at all. So yeah, we left and went and had dinner with this American guy from our ward. We went with 4 other Elders. It was good. He's a fisherman! We talked about fishing and stuff. He might take us out next p-day! Yes! But he made us some man food. It’s awesome. Barry is awesome. Just a good guy. After that, we had an appointment with Hector. Earlier in the week, we called Hector to see how he was and all he said is not good. We're like, great, our only progressing investigator is going downhill too. This week was not good. So we went and saw him. It’s kind of a struggle with him sometimes, because he wants sex and drugs, it seems, but last night, we could tell he was in the lowest of lows. So we, pretty much, we're just blunt with him the whole time because he's 17 and he's chill with us. So yeah, finally, we just told him, “call us when you're ready to follow Christ.” My companion and I had the distinct impression to set him for baptism, even though we were about to leave. So we sat back down and we talked and talked and talked about how he can repent and everything. Then we asked him the question and he said, “Yes. I'm ready. I need to change my life. My life sucks right now.” So we set him for May 8th!! Which is such a blessing and an answer to our prayers! He wants his brothers to get baptized with him, too. So we're going to try for them too. They all come to church. Their mom is a member, so they come to church. So yeah, we have our work cut out for us with him - to get him to stop the sex. But yeah! We have him set. So keep him in your prayers, please. Hector. We have been teaching this guy for like 4 months now and, finally, he commits to the waters of baptism. It’s such a miracle. Honestly, that made our week. So yeah, we went home and called the President and people and gave them the news. It’s just so good! I love that feeling. But we have to work with him a lot to make sure he stays loyal. Hopefully, his brothers will get baptized too!

That’s all for the weekly update. It was just a crazy week, I tell ya. We learned a lot from this week. God really does answer prayers! And He's always there for us! I know it!

Well, I must get a going now! I love you all so much! Thanks for the love and support you show me and all the prayers that are given in my behalf. I really feel the miracles from your prayers and blessings. It’s just been a awesome time out here. I love the work and I really feel the Lord’s love for me. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabara de Dios. Y Por medio de las profetas nos habla. Esta obra, es la obra del Senor. yo estoy disfrutando mi servicio para El. Siempre sigue el ejemplo de JesuCristo. El es nuestro redentor y salvador. Espero que ustedes tengan buen semana completo del Espiritu y felicidad. Los quiero mucho! Siguen el Espiritu siempre and aman otros todas dias de su vida! Adios para ahora!


Con amore siempre!

Elder Bradley Don Rigby