8 Months down...
Dear Family and friends,
I've finished a third of my mission. Wow. I don't really know what to say! Only questions are put into my head...
Who have I helped
Who have I become
What have I gained
what have i been missing
Do I understand and am I living the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Because the focus of our last zone conference and our mission in general has been to focus on teaching repentance and baptizing converts I have been drawn to study more and ponder on the meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how I've applied it to my own life to follow my Savior.
As I've been thinking more questions have come to my mind.
Who is Jesus Christ
Why do I need a Savior?
How can a knowledge, a belief, in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, change my life and those around me?
What must I do to repent, change, to become a Son of God that thereby I may obtain my greatest desire to live in the love of God with those I love.
This process of taking moments to think and ponder my questions and my beliefs has allowed God to speak to me.
I have felt him say several things
I am his son
He loves me
I'm doing a good job
I'm a good missionary
I need to believe in Jesus Christ and understand what it means to have a Savior
I need to focus on listening to God's will for others and myself and then act on these promptings. God's will is everything in a sense that is not under God's will needs to be burned therefore I must obtain his will and act in faith in Christ to achieve it.
Yesterday I finished the Book of Mormon. During my studies I took Elder Bednar's Challenge to read with a question and mark according to the answers of that question I find. My question was "what is the Character of Christ" I have come to begin to truly understand that his character is to do the will of his Father. I've also learned that normal people can choose to follow Christ and become Sons of God. People who act instead of Objects that are acted upon. They create their destiny(God's will) by obtaining the power of the atonement through fatih in Jesus Christ, repentance, committing to follow Jesus through baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost which enables them to be empowered, and continuing joyfully forward in a constant process of becoming more through choosing to follow and rely on our savior Jesus Christ.
I love the last verses of the Book of Mormon because they describe this for me.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
I know I do not understand it all and so many others don't understand it either. That is why I am so glad I have 16 months more to help others as well as myself understand that through our Savior Jesus Christ we can by living his gospel find more joy than we can imagine! I'm excited and I pray that this hope can continue to help me through those rough days to come.
On more of the events of this week we helped this widow fix a pipe that allowed her to get water back in her home. Because we did not have tools, member help, a store near by, common sense/knowledge this took us many hours but we were able to remove the tree that broke the pipe, cut the excess pipe/broken off, then screw it off, buy the correct part after a couple of failed attempts of wrong sizing and material, put it on and turn her water on. At this moment I was really hoping my dad wasn't watching me because I'm sure if I woulld've paid more attention back home this would have been a quicker fix but now I know haha
This week we had some amazing moments with Judith's friends. Judith is an amazing missionary and her families example is opening the hearts of many of their friends that came to their baptism. These are some of the experiences we had thanks to her
We taught her friend Asusena.
Asusena lives in the same trailer park with her 2 girls(Aniee-8 Alexia-2) and she has 2 boys that are around 13 and 11 that separated from her in Mexico-very sad. Asusena is very close with Judith. She sees the happiness and light the Gospel has given to her friends family and asusena wants this as well!
We taught her the simple principles that God is our loving heavenly Father, Jesus is our Savior, and his teachings can change our lives in a beautiful way and bring us hope and happiness even in hard times if we follow them.
She has tons of potential I'm so excited. Also continue support from a member named Brother brown who helped all along the way with Judith is helping with asusena his is a little odd still but I love the guy to death. He learned a little spanish to talk to the very large hispanic pop. in Bridgeport and he's putting it to use!
We latter had a Family home evening at Asusena's home with Judith her boys, their friends and and many of the Children of Judiths other friends so probably 6 kids above the age of 8 plus Judith and Asusena's family.
It was such an awesome experience being able to sing hymns and share The Joseph smith Story!
Also we had a little activity at the Church called the Salsaria fiesta where we played games, ate salsa, got to know each other, and had a very spiritual church tour. Again all these kids came and it was incredible. we have a great Branch president
One of Brian's friends his name is Antonio was among them that came to the F.H.E and the salsa party. We found his house yesterday and had a little lesson with him in his house. He's a pretty shy, nice 13 year old that luckily speaks english!(spanish is struggling but hey it's getting there!)(all is possible through faith in Christ!) He has a desire to follow Christ and wants the change that he has seen in Bryan. He has the Book of Mormon and is on chapter 3. He also has a sister that came to the baptism and party who has tons of potential and desire but we have yet to teach her.
Also we are still teaching gustavo, yaretzi and their very young family. He has desires to follow God but his understanding is very small. It will take much faith but I believe that he will make it!
We are finding more people everyday wish I had time to write about them but finding efforts are going well!
Elder Garcia and I had a great talk(comp inventory after weekly planning) He voiced how when I feel stressed it chases the spirit away. I expressed that he makes me feel like I'm the one who is always the problem and this causes me a lot of stress. We both decided to work on helping each other out.
I'm trying to loosen up and joke around a little bit. This is helping so much with my mental health. God is answering my prayers and helping all these people as well as me. He's real and he can help us is we ask.
I've finished a third of my mission. Wow. I don't really know what to say! Only questions are put into my head...
Who have I helped
Who have I become
What have I gained
what have i been missing
Do I understand and am I living the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Because the focus of our last zone conference and our mission in general has been to focus on teaching repentance and baptizing converts I have been drawn to study more and ponder on the meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how I've applied it to my own life to follow my Savior.
As I've been thinking more questions have come to my mind.
Who is Jesus Christ
Why do I need a Savior?
How can a knowledge, a belief, in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, change my life and those around me?
What must I do to repent, change, to become a Son of God that thereby I may obtain my greatest desire to live in the love of God with those I love.
This process of taking moments to think and ponder my questions and my beliefs has allowed God to speak to me.
I have felt him say several things
I am his son
He loves me
I'm doing a good job
I'm a good missionary
I need to believe in Jesus Christ and understand what it means to have a Savior
I need to focus on listening to God's will for others and myself and then act on these promptings. God's will is everything in a sense that is not under God's will needs to be burned therefore I must obtain his will and act in faith in Christ to achieve it.
Yesterday I finished the Book of Mormon. During my studies I took Elder Bednar's Challenge to read with a question and mark according to the answers of that question I find. My question was "what is the Character of Christ" I have come to begin to truly understand that his character is to do the will of his Father. I've also learned that normal people can choose to follow Christ and become Sons of God. People who act instead of Objects that are acted upon. They create their destiny(God's will) by obtaining the power of the atonement through fatih in Jesus Christ, repentance, committing to follow Jesus through baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost which enables them to be empowered, and continuing joyfully forward in a constant process of becoming more through choosing to follow and rely on our savior Jesus Christ.
I love the last verses of the Book of Mormon because they describe this for me.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
I know I do not understand it all and so many others don't understand it either. That is why I am so glad I have 16 months more to help others as well as myself understand that through our Savior Jesus Christ we can by living his gospel find more joy than we can imagine! I'm excited and I pray that this hope can continue to help me through those rough days to come.
On more of the events of this week we helped this widow fix a pipe that allowed her to get water back in her home. Because we did not have tools, member help, a store near by, common sense/knowledge this took us many hours but we were able to remove the tree that broke the pipe, cut the excess pipe/broken off, then screw it off, buy the correct part after a couple of failed attempts of wrong sizing and material, put it on and turn her water on. At this moment I was really hoping my dad wasn't watching me because I'm sure if I woulld've paid more attention back home this would have been a quicker fix but now I know haha
This week we had some amazing moments with Judith's friends. Judith is an amazing missionary and her families example is opening the hearts of many of their friends that came to their baptism. These are some of the experiences we had thanks to her
We taught her friend Asusena.
Asusena lives in the same trailer park with her 2 girls(Aniee-8 Alexia-2) and she has 2 boys that are around 13 and 11 that separated from her in Mexico-very sad. Asusena is very close with Judith. She sees the happiness and light the Gospel has given to her friends family and asusena wants this as well!
We taught her the simple principles that God is our loving heavenly Father, Jesus is our Savior, and his teachings can change our lives in a beautiful way and bring us hope and happiness even in hard times if we follow them.
She has tons of potential I'm so excited. Also continue support from a member named Brother brown who helped all along the way with Judith is helping with asusena his is a little odd still but I love the guy to death. He learned a little spanish to talk to the very large hispanic pop. in Bridgeport and he's putting it to use!
 |
| FHE |
We latter had a Family home evening at Asusena's home with Judith her boys, their friends and and many of the Children of Judiths other friends so probably 6 kids above the age of 8 plus Judith and Asusena's family.
It was such an awesome experience being able to sing hymns and share The Joseph smith Story!
Also we had a little activity at the Church called the Salsaria fiesta where we played games, ate salsa, got to know each other, and had a very spiritual church tour. Again all these kids came and it was incredible. we have a great Branch president
 |
| Salsa Festival |
One of Brian's friends his name is Antonio was among them that came to the F.H.E and the salsa party. We found his house yesterday and had a little lesson with him in his house. He's a pretty shy, nice 13 year old that luckily speaks english!(spanish is struggling but hey it's getting there!)(all is possible through faith in Christ!) He has a desire to follow Christ and wants the change that he has seen in Bryan. He has the Book of Mormon and is on chapter 3. He also has a sister that came to the baptism and party who has tons of potential and desire but we have yet to teach her.
Also we are still teaching gustavo, yaretzi and their very young family. He has desires to follow God but his understanding is very small. It will take much faith but I believe that he will make it!
We are finding more people everyday wish I had time to write about them but finding efforts are going well!
Elder Garcia and I had a great talk(comp inventory after weekly planning) He voiced how when I feel stressed it chases the spirit away. I expressed that he makes me feel like I'm the one who is always the problem and this causes me a lot of stress. We both decided to work on helping each other out.
 |
| Family Home Evening |
I'm trying to loosen up and joke around a little bit. This is helping so much with my mental health. God is answering my prayers and helping all these people as well as me. He's real and he can help us is we ask.
This is the weekly report now I'll reply to your emails!
Love, Elder Rigby
Comments
Post a Comment