Successes in Brewster- March 27, 2017

President Lewis with Brewster Elders, Elder Garcia, and myself

Elder Garcia and Elder Rigby (me)

zone conference schedule

Dear Family and Friends!

Dad thank you so much for the package that was so greatly appreciated! I absolutely love the music and that was so thoughtful of you to put lyrics in their as well. I love you Dad. We meet so many little boys I'm sure they are going to love the candy as well! cant wait to use the nut cracker this week:) I've read a little more of your missionary journal this week and early memories of you playing with me and the brothers when we were pretty young have recently been filling my mind. Your mission changed you; and therefore it changed my life. Dad, may our Father be thanked for your making you into the Dad I needed. He could have never have changed you if you didn't let him. I pray that I will let the mission change me so I can be that Father who not only provided greatly but loved me enough to spend summer days spraying water guns at eachother. Love you Dad!

Thank you for all your prayers this week. I know your prayers helped this week. They are enabling us to go where we need to go and say what needs to be said to those people God has prepared. I cannot do this without you all. Thank you. I was very surprised to see that Jose and Amalia are progressing and we actually found them. I know this had to do because Grandma and Grandpa Rigby were praying for them. I know your prayers also helped us to find Raquel and gave us the spirit that she might understand that this is the path for her.

Stockton I'm so happy that you beat my ACT score good for you pal! That is super cool you are driving the jeep! it made me smile to imagine those skid marks just there. I love you bro and I love looking at your funny card you gave me. I love you man. You are awesome! Please take full advantage of Conference this week please prepare and pray earnestly that God may give you the guidance you need! He loves you and is ready to give you the direction you need right now! Be ready for it Pal! I love you a ton! I hope your ankle is feeling better! Stockton can you pray for Gilbert that he will make it to general conference?

Hey Maleck! Alex comes to Church all the time! That is so cool you went rabbit hunting! Good luck with little league tryouts man you are going to do such a great job! I believe in you Man! You are going to have a great Season! maleck can you pray for Sergio's Dad that he will let us teach him?

Madsen! I love you a ton Bro don't feel bad at all that you haven't emailed me too much. Madsen some days are tough they are but it is just a lesson. And I know you are going to kill it so believe in God and Believe in yourself. I believe in you! I hope baseball goes great for you this week! Thank you for your prayers for me this week for learning the language it really helped. I'll pray for you Madsen! I love you Madsen!

Emma! Good luck for your games this week! You are going to do such a great Job! so proud that you made your first basket! you are doing awesome! I love you a ton! This last week I was helping Sergios's little cousin Alyssa read the Book of Mormon. I felt like I was reading with you all over again. I love you so much!

Mom thank you so much for saying what you said to me. It made me feel so good to know just because I'm different than Elder Garcia I'm not bad. I could just feel the sunshine of your words today! I'm so grateful I have you and Dad! You have always taken care of me so well! Elder Najareian said I need to stop being the Mom and doing all the dishes. I hope you like that! I love you with all my heart. I took pictures and did videos but I ran out of time( I will send you them when I can). We are doing so well up here! I know you pray for me. Thanks Mom. Please don't stop. Can you make sure everyone is praying for someone on this letter please. Their faith is so powerful! I love you with all my heart! We're are going to kill it this week Mom! Oh and please tell sister Grimshaw I loved her letter it was so thoughtful. And please tell Gpa Jake and Grandma I love them and hope all is well!

Mission update   

I'm doing Great! The weather is so warm and the work here is going crazy! President Schoenwald said it has never been like this while he has been here the last decade. God has pointed me to focus more on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have loved going through chapters and scriptures such as...

Isaiah 53

Alma 7

2 Nephi 27

3 Nephi 21

John 8:12

Luke 10:25

I have been simply taught that Jesus is in fact the savior. He loves me. Through his Mercy I can live in light. I simply must be grateful enough for him and love him by following his path.

This has lead me to learn that our message is so simple. The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no more than bringing back the knowledge and power that enables us to grab the Savior's hand. 

Sometimes I feel like I just want to take off and bust down the track so to speak but Elder Garcia's slower pace forces me to slow down. There is no such thing as a perfect missionary. We all our different and I'm learning so much from him! This week I have felt the importance of many things but from him I learned and am learning the importance of slowing down and listening. If we just listen God will guide us. He will confirm to us that we are good enough. We can do this work. We can help them.

I love helping others grasp the hand of our Savior, Jesus Christ, He offers so much happiness and peace that calms the troubled heart.

Elder Garcia and I are doing pretty well! We are having so much success and helping so many people. I feel so blessed not only to serve so many people that are humble enough to receive the message but with a great fellow servant of the lord Elder Garcia. He is all about listening to the spirit. He is kind of slow moving but hey it works for him and he has lead us this week to a young single mom with triplets that I had stopped by a billion times and was never home. I wish he was as great as starting a conversation with me as he is following the spirit but hey no one is perfect. We are very different people but he shows his love for me here and there and it means a lot. I wish I could know what is going through his head so we could talk more and I could be a better friend

Miracles are happening in our Branch. With the other Elder's(Elder Najarian and Elder Holly) efforts combined with ours we are seeing great miracles. Here are some of the amazing people and experiences we have had this week.

The Aguilar Family

They are doing fantastic! The branch got them all scriptures with their name on it. Judith is excited for Conference and Bryan is so much more of a smily guy and he gave a great talk on sunday.

Raquel and her kids(Freddy-12, Edwardo-9, Yesenia-7, and Fermin-2)

We have known Raquel for a while she works with us in the food bank every other Thursday in the basement of an old Church. We went out on a limb, found out where she lived and knocked on her door. We talked for a bit, gave her a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, and scheduled an appointment for the next day. 

The next day we shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She loved the message. Though her little boy fermin was waving his arms, laughing, yelling, or crying, she focused on the message. We helped her understand that Jesus not only taught us the way he showed us the way. He showed us that we must be baptized by immersion by someone holding the power of God. We as well briefly helped her understand that God has sent heavenly messengers to return that power to the Earth. We asked her if she would follow Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the power of God on April 22. She said yes and so did her boys.

She came to Church Sunday and she and her kids loved it. It is a great change for them because the little ones seemed to enjoy primary so much more than their time previously in the JW Church.

Raquel is an amazing woman. She moved from Mexico, is taking English classes, strives to take care of her 4 little kids, is going to begin working when the work in the orchards heats up as a manager for all the immigrant workers, and most of all she fights to follow Christ and help her kids do the same even though her husband has very little to no faith in God. We fear that Raquel is not married to her "husband" like many other hispanic moms. This would be very sad. Raquel was also taught the restoration in Sunday School and loved it.

Fredericko(14)

We found Fredericko tracting this last week. He has a strong belief in Jesus Christ but doesn't classify himself with a specific denomination. We met him, introduced ourselves, got to know him, gave him a brief powerful restoration message, and set up a return appointment. While I was on exchanges in Brewster, Elder Holly and Garcia found him in the home of one of our other potential investigators where he accepted to prepare to be baptized on April 22. What a cool kid. Loves math and loves reading the bible. Wasn't able to go to church because he was in Spokanne but he is going to love general conference.

Jose and Amalia

The young family we began to teach this last week is doing very well. While I was away on exhanges with Elder Najarian, Elder Holly and Garcia had a great lesson on the last part of the restoration lesson(book of Mormon and Joseph Smith). They accepted the challenge to pray to know. I am pumped to go visit them tomorrow to see how they are doing.

Feddy and Diana

Elder Garcia and I shared the message of the restoration early in the week. Honestly they weren't quite ready for the whole thing and we should've cut it a little shorter. Hey we're not perfect. Anyways going to go follow up tonight very excited. Great young family with 3 little kids. Almost exactly the same as Jose Amalia but they speak spanish. It's pretty funny 80% of all the people we work with are in this tiny trailer park called orchard view.

Azucena 

We want to help her so bad to come closer to Christ but she just doesn't have the desire to very sad. We will continue to be friends but discontinue teaching her for a time

Robert

We found an amazing work opportunity for a poor friend but he forgot!!! Ugh! Just getting this guy to work would be so huge on his path to quit smoking. Nephi taught his people to work hard. Sure wish Nephi was here to do a number for Robert. However, he is reading and praying. I love sitting next to him in Church. He has little by little gained confidence singing the hymns. I can feel Heavenly father's love for him in church and it's amazing. 

Gilbert

We were unable to help our good friend Gilbert this week. We couldn't find him but we are going to get this kid to General conference!

Sergio Britt

We taught this little 10 year old guy about the Book of Mormon and and how to pray this week! He is doing awesome! We have a little handshake and he really wants to follow God. All we got to do is get his parents permission to teach him and we are on our way!

Henry

His mom is being very difficult and though Henry wants to be baptized I don't know how long it will take where his Mom will be supportive of him coming to church and being baptized

I absolutely loved my Day in Brewster with Elder Najarian this week. We have very much the same tempo. God placed person after person in our path who we shared the message of the Restoration with. It was incredible. I'm a strong believer that we as servants of the Lord can only work hard and have the spirit. It is God who prepares them and they are simply put in our path when the time is right. 

Also we taught the primary class mostly compiled of new investigators(boys from 9-12) it was pretty fun!

God lives. Jesus is the Christ. He is the life. Let us love him as he loved us.