29 November 2010

Mon 11/29/2010 1:25 PM


Dia de Pavo

Why Hello There!!

So as I am writing this letter, the first snow is falling down. :( Ugh! We had such a streak without it! But oh well, what can you do? This last week was actually a really boring week.....a lot of people, because of the holiday, didn't really want to see us. But oh well!!! I can't even remember what happened this week. It was kind of long this week. But we did get in to teach a couple people!

Norberto is still going on, but we only found him at home once last week. He continues to be golden, but is kind of falling off the map. So that’s no bueno! Also with Jose. So basically he got paid this week, and just went and got drunk, bought play boys, and basically got kicked out of his trailer. So yeah, he is dropped.....which is bad. Then we still have the ongoing saga with Lorenzo and Soledad. They are doing really well. We had a lesson with them on Saturday, and they were asking us about baptism a lot. It was kind of interesting. Maybe they are getting closer to getting married! I hope so! They came to church on Sunday, which was just great! It was good to see them there! I hope they get baptized someday. It would be good for them! We also have Sajid, who is difficult to find as well! Oh well, we will keep going on en la obra! It’s crazy how fast November went by. I can't believe it’s almost December and my year mark. I haven't been out that long have I? No way!!!

So Thanksgiving was super awesome! We played football! and we made some delicious foods! Turkey, yams, cranberry sauce, potatoess, gravy, I made 2 pumpkin pies!, rolls, etc. It was so bomb! Then we took it to the Catalan's, and they had made some tortillas and what not and some Mexican drinks! Then we feasted! It was really good! They brought some non-member family so we taught them! It was so enjoyable! The Catalan's always bring us so many investigators! It’s great! They brought us one on Saturday - another Norberto that owns a local store. He is way intelligent and we taught him and he had tons of questions. But it turned out pretty good! So he is a future hopeful!

So yeah, that was basically the week. Church was good, kind of boring. but oh well! Last night we helped decorate the Absher’s house. It was pretty fun! Today, I think we might put the lights on the outside. We will see.

Well, I just want you all to know how grateful I am for all of you! I pray for each of you every day and hope your well being is good. We must all be grateful for all the things that our Father in Heaven has given us. I know I am so grateful for Family. It is the best thing that I have in this life and the only thing that makes me happy. I miss you all and love you all! Have a great first week of December!

con amor siempre,

Elder Bradley Rigby

utting the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner.

Scrapimg off the inch of ice from my widshield. I'm so glad winter is here.

22 November 2010

Mon 11/22/2010 3:08 PM


Arribas y Abajos

Pues hola,
So this week was suuuuuper de duper busy! Our p-day we spent decorating the George's house for Christmas. It was so fun! I love those old people. It was really fun! I installed a timer too, so they don't have to get up and do it. Man, it was good. The work this week wasn't as good as normal because we had a lot of other stuff to do.

Wednesday we had district meeting and afterward we had to translate for the bishop storehouse people. It’s amazing how much the people get from that place. But at the end of that, they had like 10 boxes left over....so they gave it to us! So we have a whole lot of food now. But we gave a lot of it to our investigators and what not. They need it more than we do. So yeah, that took a while. Plus, Elder Meza had his ingrown toenails taken out that day, so we couldn't work at all after that. So I just worked out, took a nap, studied. It was boring....haha.

But....with the baptisms. Jose: We went over to do his interview, and he pulls out a pack of cigarettes.....and we are like, “What the?” OK. You can't get baptized and proceeded to teach him everything over again. Hopefully he will feel better and get baptized. Then Norberto: We went and did his interview - he passed every question except....are you ready to make this covenant? and he said, “No.”....so that was sad.....but oh well. Everyone has their agency. So we are just going to continue with them! So that was all I remembered from the work this week,.because not much went on! But it’s ok! We were doing some good stuff!

So the greatest thing happened though, this last weekend. The Spanish Meeting. So we left from Grand Island and picked up people in Columbus and went to Omaha! It was like a road trip. We went to the Sandoval's and had dinner, and they made me a cake! Sister Rivera was there and she got me some gifts. They are such nice people! We played some games and then left and slept in the North's apartment with Elder Orellana and Elder St. Clair. They are so funny. I was laughing all night!

Saturday, we woke up and went to Gandolfo's. Man it was good!!! Then we had the meeting until like 3. It was really good! It was all in Spanish and it was really fun trainings. So it wasn't as boring as a zone conference! I loved it. It was also good to see some people I hadn't seen in months! It was just a really fun time. I really loved it a lot. I couldn't have had a better birthday weekend! After that, we went to the Temple in Spanish, and that was so great! It’s been a while since I have gone to the temple and it was really good. I learned even more stuff! It’s true, you learn stuff each and every time you go. After that, we got to go through the trail center and look at the Christmas stuff. Then we all went out to eat in South Omaha at the Mexican place. It was so good! By the time we ended, it was like 9:45. So we started driving. We got to Columbus at like 11:30, dropped them off, then continued onto Grand Island and arrived here at like 1:30. Yeah, late night. But we had permission to do it. So we grabbed all our mail (including those heavy boxes ya'll sent me!) and went to sleep. We woke up at 9 and went to church and I was dying. I was going to fall asleep and it was the primary program as well. I was just wanting to sleep all day. But we went and taught Jose, and Sergio, and Lorenzo, and had dinner with the Catalan's and it was good. Finally, I went to sleep and man I slept good!

Today is great! I loved all the grand presents you sent me. You guys are too nice! I love you all so much! I love all the gifts! Thanks for not sending candy. You know I am trying to get off sweets. I mean it’s hard enough with Christmas and such coming up. People just give us fattening stuff. But the birthday has been great. We have a dinner at 5. so p-day is cut a bit short! Oh well, I love you each. Just know that I do. I will have more time next week! It was a really happy week, besides the baptism part! But all is well conmigo. I hope all you have a grand semana of Thanksgiving. GIVE. Give all you can to the Lord and to others, and you will be more happy than you have ever been. We find in the scriptures that “Love thy God” is the first commandment, and then “Loving thy brother” is the second. And by loving our brothers, we give to them, and by giving to them, we are giving and loving our Heavenly Father. I know that that is real, because I have felt that! I feel that giving is so much better than taking and we will become more Christ-like by doing so. I love you all and I GIVE my prayers and love to you always and hope all is well back home. This 20 year old still gots work to do! Love ya and miss ya! Enjoy the week!



Con amor siempre,

Elder Bradley Rigby

ps. It’s my birthday. I am 20. WOOHOO!!!

Birthday at the Catalan's. Pushing your face into the cake is a tradition.

Me with my Birthday presents from home.

All of the Spanish speaking missionaries in the mission.

15 November 2010

Mon 11/15/2010 2:09 PM

Pasame la Salsa por favor!

Feliz 15th de Noviembre Muchachos!

So this week went super fast and I have no idea what we even did. So this email will be kind of short, I guess. But, oh well. The weather here is still very pleasant. I don't think it’s that cold. Everyone else does. But it’s like 50 degrees and it feels good!!! All is well though! We are just doing work and having fun at the same time. And of course being tired! That happens in the mission. Everyday I come home, and Elder Morrill and I are in bed by 10. The greenie is still hopping around. But man....I feel like an old man. Just getting in bed early, I like sleep though. I miss sleeping in! Now if I wake up at like 8, I am sure I will feel the same as when I used to sleep in until 12, because I am used to 5:30 every morning!!! So 6:30 for me is sleeping in!

Tues we went and helped Hermana Blanca move. We had Jose come with us! It was so funny. We just moved like a couple of Mexicans - threw stuff in the truck and just went. When Elder Meza asked Hermano Catalan where the tie downs were, he pointed to us. So we sat in the truck holding all the stuff down so it wouldn't fly out. I loved it. Elder Morrill made a video of me just holding stuff and trying not to fall off the truck. Don't worry, the other trailer was only like 2 blocks down. Jose is progressing really well though! We taught him the commandments and all the lessons this week and he is doing really well. He still kind of acts like a homeless guy, but, oh well. We went on Sunday to go remind him about church, and he said I am ready. I asked him, “Have you showered?” and he was like, "no....why?" I was like, “For church!! Go shower.”So yeah, he is going to reach his date if he doesn't drink. He has pretty good support. Noe Catalan takes him every day and they go work and do service! So it’s good!

Norberto is progressing really well as usual! He is so chosen, he just accepts everything we tell him. Seriously, Word of wisdom, chastity, 10 commandments. All he says is, "if God wants me to do this to become closer to Him, I'll do it!" I am so excited for him. It’s crazy how we just ran into him accidently and now he is getting baptized. The Lord really did send us there for him, and in that exact time and place the Lord wanted that to happen. He is so cool too, and he gets so excited when we talk to him in English. He is learning it right now, which is awesome. But I can't wait to see him raise up out of the water clean! He has had a tough path getting here from Cuba. But man, what blessings he will have now because the Lord found the exact time he needed the Gospel!!

Lorenzo and Soledad. Still the same thing....man. I don't know what else to do for them! Monday night we had a really good lesson. I kind of started it off and I really didn't say anything until the end of the lesson. I was just sitting there thinking of what to say to them that could help them. My companions were reading scriptures and having a discussion with them, and I was just sitting there. Finally a pause came, and I had a feeling to just tell them we love them and that I love them. So I started basically just telling them that we are here because we love them. We aren't here just because it’s our job, but because we love them, and Heavenly Father loves them. And it was so crazy. Soledad and Lorenzo both teared up, and I had never seen that before. It’s just crazy how the Lord wanted them to hear that at that moment. As we left, the greenie said, "OH Elder Rigby - bringing in the Spirit" and all I said to him was "I didn't do anything, I just opened my mouth" and it’s true. I don't do anything out here. I really don't. I just put myself in a place where the Lord wants to talk to His children.

We also had Zone Conference this week; it was really good. We learned a lot of stuff and a lot of things are changing in the Missionary Department. Like now they don't want to focus on the 6 week transfers schedule. So instead of having like zone activity, temple trip, and district activity, once every 6 weeks, we have it like monthly. So zone activity one month, district activity another month, and temple trip every other month. So that kind of stinks....but oh well. I guess they are changing everything up for a reason, just like that meeting everyone had on Saturday. There must be a reason for all this change. We may not like it, and it may be different, but oh well! We just gotta do it. After zone activity, Mac (Elder McClain) and I had to go to the George's and get some jumper cables for President because his battery died. This, while everyone else was playing dodgeball. It was good. Mac has been one of my really good friends on my mission. So we had a good talk. When we got back we played dodgeball. I hit like 5 kids in the face..... I felt bad. One kid I hit made his glasses fall off. I felt so terrible! That kind of stuff always happens to me. I don't even try and it just happens. He was alright!

The rest of the week was good. Sunday went well. We had 4 people to church. But only Brother Catalan was there on the stand…and me. I had to speak. So I sat by Brother Catalan so it would look like we had more priesthood authority presiding over the branch. But yeah, everything is going really good here, just need to find some more investigators! Because we have 2 getting baptized next week! But I am loving it here in Grand Island, I don't want to leave it. I have really grown as a missionary and a person here and I really do love it here! But we always have to say goodbye at some point! It will be sad, But I hope I get to stay another transfer!!!

WELL. I think I am pertaneer done here! I want you all to know that I love you and miss you every day. But we are all here for a reason, and it is hard as well. The mission can be compared to life, us as missionaries leave our homes and we miss our families and they miss us, but for life, we leave our heavenly family, and Father, and He misses us so much! But He knows, as all of you know, that it is good for us to be here, and we grow and learn and become more like Him. I pray for you all every day, and I hope that you are all doing your best to become as our Father in Heaven. I love and miss you all so much! Have a great week in the labor of our Father.

con amor siempre,

Elder B. Rigby


Moving Sister Blanca - Mexican Style



Elder Power Ranger





King-sized cookie for Ted george



Me and my companions



08 November 2010

Mon 11/8/2010 2:30 PM


Paso un Nuevo

Good Afternoon Everyone-

So first things first. So right after we left the library, we received a call from President Kunz. We were thinking, “Oh, what did we do? I swear we didn't do anything!!” Then the second thought was, “Oh, he probably wants us to do something in the Spanish meeting on the 20th.” So Elder Morrill answers....and he just kept saying, “Yes, ok, uh huh.” Then he hangs up and just looks at me. And I am trippin!! And he said. “We are training a new missionary.” And I was like, “Aahhh....shoot.” And so yeah! On Tuesday, we received Elder Meza de South Jordan, Utah. So yeah. My life just got even more interesting. We are stressed out of our minds for this Elder, Because he is definitely a greenie and definitely just came from the MTC. So yeah. That’s how the week began. Crazy huh? So Tuesday, except for the morning, we spent prepping for him and kind of showing him around. But Tuesday morning, we taught Norberto. He is just so perfect and loving. He is totally going to meet his date of the 21st of Nov. I am so pumped! After that, we went and had interviews with President. I think it’s the best interview I have ever had with President. it was good. After that, we went and picked up the newbie and then went to lunch with our district. So that was good. After that we just went and saw people. We saw Lorenzo. He is doing well. We just taught him a little bit. Nothing too special.

Wednesday. We just got to work with the new Elder. I can't really remember what we did. But it must have been super good, I guess, since I forgot. We had some lunch at Fazolis and oh yeah. This is a good one. So our first day with the new guy. We went to the lady with the naked kid...ha ha. Oh man. So that kid was running around naked again, and this lady is breastfeeding, and the greenie is just freaking out. I was laughing so hard at him. Now I am used to it because that’s just how the culture is. But, man o man, he was freaking out. We had a good laugh about it afterward. It was actually a really good lesson! She asked a lot of questions and we had the answers. We invited her to church, but she never showed. Oh well, we have faith! We also introduced him to the George's, I don't think I have ever written about them, but they are like grandparents to me. They are just really awesome and funny. So we took him to meet them and ole Ted George isn't a member. So I always try to baptize him. I always say, "Ted, wanna get baptized this Sunday?" and this time he told me, "When the huskers win a national title, I will think about it. But until then, I am the bus driver to purgatory" ha ha. I love that guy so much. He is a really good guy though. Just an old man, but yeah, they're a hoot.

We met with Norberto three times this week. Each time he was like, “If that’s what God wants me to do, I will do it because I know He wants what’s best for me.” It can't get much better than that! We also showed Lorenzo the movie "Together Forever" (I fell asleep during it.) He said he really loved it and wants to show Soledad, so maybe she will have more desire to get married! We will see! We also taught that Jose guy that we met at the church cleaning! We set him for baptism as well! He will be baptized on the 21st as well if he fulfills everything. He and Norberto came to church Sunday and they both loved it! So I hope things will just get better and better with them! I am pretty sure things are going to be well with them! I have so much faith in them!

Things are going well though. It’s still crazy that it hasn't snowed yet. It’s been really warm. I still am wearing short sleeves! But Sunday was really crazy though! We had potluck and what not. A lot of people showed up! It was great. I think they showed up for the food, but hey, they came to church! And hopefully experienced something new! But yeah! It has been a good week! We have zone conference this week. So that should be good! But yeah! I’m just loving life. I’m getting used to training. Oh, we got cut 250 miles. I don't know why. So I called and complained because, without those miles, the work will not go on in this area! Because it’s huge. And plus, we are driving to Omaha on the 20th for the Spanish meeting. Other than that, all is well. I’m just losing weight or trying. We had a dinner and lunch Wednesday - Sunday. So that threw me behind on the diet. But, oh well! Asi es la mision!

Well, I am out of time this week. But I just want you all to know how much I love you and thank you for continually praying and giving support to me, but more importantly, to our Heavenly Father. I really gained a testimony this week how much He really does love us and really does want the best for us. At times we may feel as if it’s hard and we can't do it, but know that the easy way out is never the right way. I always remember the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley "I never said it would be easy, I said it would be worth it" and that’s just how it is. The mission is NOT easy by all means. But I have come to find out that it is worth it. Some way, some how, we will always see the better part of things after we have done them in faith and with love. I love you all and I hope that you will put more faith and love in our Heavenly Father as He has done for us. I love ya, and I miss ya, have a great Spirit filled week!!.


con amor siempre,

Elder Bradley D. Rigby

ps. 11 months? Where did that come from? It’s going fast!

01 November 2010

Mon 11/1/2010 1:01 PM

Dia de Los Muertos y Translados

Bueno Bueno Bueno!

So this week was really busy, but really went well! We met two new people who want to be baptized and yeah. Things are going well. I received a new Companero. Se llama Elder Morrill. He is from the Cedar Hills/Highland area of Utah! We get along like peas and carrots! We have made some really good goals for ourselves and we are going to baptize this transfer, not only for the Lord, but for the Branch. I think it’s exactly what we need right now, here in Grand Island. Plus it would make President Absher (Branch President) pretty happy. When a baptisms happen, it really brings people up in the branch and what not! So yeah. I am really excited for this transfer. We have some good things going on. We have a Spanish meeting on the 20th and we might be going to Omaha another time to see a family go thru the temple! - which will be an awesome experience to witness! I am loving the mission a lot! It’s just getting better and better. Right now we are doing this thing called "fasting for 40 days" I think I said something about it before. But by purifying myself I have received the Spirit more and more and it’s just amazing to see the difference in our lessons, my Spanish, and just everything else! It’s just going dandy right now.

So at the beginning of the week, I just remember teaching Norberto Guerrero, who is set for the 21st of this month. We really focused on the Authority of Christ and the Priesthood, and every single question we asked, he just answered perfectly. He is so chosen, it’s insane. After we got done talking to him, I asked him about being baptized and he said, “Yes, yes, I will.” It was great. All he has to do is come to church and keep the commandments, which is a lot of stuff to do. But yeah! I have faith. We also did some service that day. We mowed a lawn and moved some railroad ties, but nothing too much.

Wednesday, we had district meeting, then lunch, then district activity, and we played some ball. It was fun. We did that until like 4! Then we found out about transfers, so we just visited people that Elder Stephenson wanted to see and take pics with. We also went to the Halloween Carnival. It was pretty fun! So yeah.

Thursday, I received my new companion, Elder Morrill. I just took him to see people in the ward and introduce him and what not.

Friday, I can't remember much.

But Saturday was a good day! We cleaned the church at 8am. The Catalans brought some guy with them. We thought he was a member, then all the sudden he is asking about baptism and what not. So we showed him the font and explained it. We asked him if he wants to be baptized and he said, “SHooooree!” haha. It was funny. His name is Jose. We will see what happens with him. He has a lot of member support, so it’s good! Later that day we taught Norberto again and we taught the Plan of Salvacion. We were like, “Besides baptism, what other steps would you need to take to get closer to the Celestial Kingdom?” and he said, “Going to church.” We were like BAM! He is so golden! I can't wait to see him get baptized! Also, later that night, we taught to some drunk guy. Man, he was messed up. We kind of played around with him for a little bit and then left because he wouldn't shut up. Drunks are so fun. . . not!

Halloween was really kind of boring. We went to Stake Conference in Kearney. I saw some members over there that I knew before and what not. We saw some missionaries! It was good and yeah! The theme was temples, which is cool, because I am reading a temple book right now on my free time. It was fun and what not. After that, we came home and ate and then, seriously, just passed out on accident. All of a sudden, we were talking and then we were out. We woke up and were like. Oh man!!! So we hurried and left and got some visits in before we had to be in by 6pm. It was funny. We managed to see one kid, but that’s it. Not much. So we got home and ate dinner with our members and then passed out candy to the kids. Then we basically just read books for like 4 hours. I was kind of a long, but alright.

I love the mission so much! Good things are going on right now! Love you all and miss ya all!
con amor,

Elder Bradley Rigby