Feb. 23, 2015

Hey guys  :)

   Wow, this week has gone by fast!  It was packed with stuff, which was cool.  First, we had a scambio with the Zone leaders Wednesday and Thursday.  It went well.  I was with Anziano Grahm on Wednesday and we were doing finding.  I always enjoy doing finding with new people because it gives you a chance to try something new, see what they do, and it helps get you out of the rut of saying the same thing over and over.  We had some success and I'm hoping that they get some new investigators out of it.

   Zone conference was really good and I really thought that it was directed to our Zone.  A lot of it was about using time wisely.  If I have learned anything, it's that time is precious!  So I'm hoping we can take the teachings and roll with them this week and into the next transfer.  Which brings me to that.  We get transfer calls this Saturday!  It's crazy how fast time flies!  Haha

   I am really excited to see the miracles come from our faith and our hard work!  

  Other than that, I don't have much to say for this week.  Francesco was sick, and we saw Pietro once. We talked about baptism. We covered it really well, explaining the why's, how's, blessings, promises, and everything else. His problem was that he was already baptized as a child.  So we explained a little more about authority and the restoration of that authority to Joseph Smith.  In the end, he agreed to pray to know if he needs to be baptized again.  So, yeah.  Haha, that's about it!  I love you guys and hope you are having fun!  Take care  :)

   Love always, Anziano Rigby

Valentines!

Hello Y'all! 

   Haha ....Ah! That's my reaction to you receiving that e-mail! Mamma Mia! I'm not sure whether to be happy or scared!  Haha, not scared just...I don't know.  I can't explain it.  (We received the email with his release date of May 26th and I asked him how he feels about only having three and a half months left.)

   Haha, well this week was a whirlwind of action!  We moved into our new apartment and it is pretty cool (literally...the heater is broken).  Haha but we have one that works in one of the rooms so in the morning we go in there.  :)  But as soon as we moved in there, we started to see miracles.  It was/is really cool.  The first night we were there we dedicated it and as we did so I felt a difference in my surroundings.  I always like to think about it.  The ability we have to call upon God for his protection and blessing is amazing.  Only if we are righteous though!  And then I think of the priesthood and I think of all the things that have happened during my mission that have strengthened my testimony and my knowledge that the priesthood is real.  It is power, real power.  And hardly anyone knows about it!  Some do, but they don't have it (even if they think they do). We are acting as God's messengers. 

   (His dad asked him what his most uplifting experience was this week)  I don't know, I guess you could say that was one of my uplifting experiences.  Haha, also, we were studying the Abrahamic covenant and it is really cool.  I am constantly amazed at how much I can learn just by studying the scriptures!  I often forget the power in studying with the spirit.  There is no substitute.  

   So, like I said, we are now moved into our new apartment and we are seeing miracles!  We have found people that have been in contact with the Church in the past but stopped meeting with them. There's a lady that lives above us that had the missionaries over for dinner and she has a Book of Mormon.  This was a long time ago, but she remembers!  We also found this man... well, he found us. He lives above our investigator, Pietro.  He wanted to meet with us after our lesson, so we went to his house and started talking.  Turns out he is, or was, a member of the Church.  He was even married in the temple. As we talked, he expressed his desire to come back.  We left a spiritual message and he, along with us, bore testimony of the truthfulness of this Church.  Meanwhile, Pietro sat listening.  I think it was good for Pietro.  We want to set a baptism date with him, and I think that he is ready.  We will see!  I laughed a little at your joke about Pierre.  (Our family prays for his investigators by name and a couple days ago our other son forgot Pietro's name during prayer and called him "Pierre"...he knew it started with a "P."  I joked that there is now an investigator somewhere in France who is receiving an extra dose of the spirit.)  Haha, but at the same time I choked up a little.  I can't express my gratitude that you are all praying for those I meet here.  I feel power in that fact.  I can't tell you how sure I am that prayer works. It works!!!  Especially in settings like this.  God listens to his children.  Jesus loved little children, and isn't he the Only Begotten of the Father? Aren't they one in purpose and desire?  So then why would we think anything other than that God is aware and very pro-active in comforting and answering the prayers of children?  (Sorry, I went off on a little tangent there. There are just so many cool principles to learn!)   We invited Francesco to baptism again and it was a long lesson.  He said that he knows that the Catholic church is not correct all the time and in his words "fa schiffo," but he's happy where he's at?  He really doesn't want to leave that church.  And he says he hasn't received an answer that this church is God's true and only church.  He kind of takes it as an answer, you could say, that God doesn't want him to leave the Catholic church... It was...disheartening.  I came to the realization that he's not ready yet to receive his answer.  Even if he did get it (which I think he kind of is getting an answer)...but he just isn't willing to follow it.

   Alright, well, funny story for the week!  Haha, so last night we were coming back from Fratelo Bonner's house after correlation and we get on the bus and we're talking. Twenty minutes later I look out the window and we are turning on a weird road. ...Huh that's weird.  We start asking around and it turns out we were on the wrong bus!  We were on our way to Aversa! Haha, fun detour.  Anyway, we had to get a train from there to Napoli and while we were on the train we were all talking and telling stories.  We sat by this nice-looking lady,  probably mid-fifties.  She seemed like a business lady.  We continued to tell stories and, as we are getting to Napoli, I was finishing this story that was kind of funny so we were all laughing and what not.  And we started to get ready to get up when the lady across from us starts laughing...and laughing and laughing!  Haha, we were all so confused!  And then she said, while laughing, "I'm sorry, I just understood what you were saying!" Haha, as she continued to laugh and leave the room!  Hahaha, it was the weirdest thing ever.  She apparently understood English enough to follow along, but she didn't realize what happened in the story till a little later.  She also apparently thought it was funny!  Hahahaha, It was a good laugh.  I was glad that I could brighten someone's day.  :)

  Well guys, I love you all!  Thank you for your prayers and for your support.  Take care and I will talk to you soon!  :)

   Love always, Anziano Rigby

   P.S. Happy Valentines day!!!! <3 <3 <3

9th Feb. 2015

Another visit to Pompeii

Rock Band Cover!  :)

Wow, I still can't believe it's February!  Crazy!

   Well, this week has been pretty good.  Right now it's snowing so that's weird... I'm freezing my behind off!  Haha, I'm not outfitted for all this white stuff to be floating around!  Haha, so we went to Pompeii today and it was funny because we were standing there as it was snowing and we were wondering if that's what it looked like when the ash was falling...?  Maybe?  Haha, but, yeah, it was fun!  It's still weird to think that I live under Mt Vesuvius.  Weird.

Snow!  Brrrrr!!!  Hahaha 

  Oh! Haha, so weird, unexpected news.  We're moving apartments!  We now have a new one much closer to the church. You can still send stuff to the old one because the other Anziani will still be there.  So you can do that until I can get you the new address.  Yeah, it's pretty cool.

   So this week we taught Francsco and he is progressing!  Haha, and he is coming to church!  It is so cool to see him because he is changing.  That's when you know that it's sinking in.  Hehe  :)  So yeah. He is praying for a date right now.  We want it to come from him.

Haha, I look sad in this photo!!!  Practicing the puppy dog look  :)

   Pietro is also doing well.  We invited him to be baptized if he recieves an answer that this is true and he said he would!  He still can't come to church but he is getting there. Thank you, thank you,  thank you so much for your prayers! You are making the difference.  You are helping the Lord perform his work!

   I have realized even more lately the importance of prayer.  Prayer is such a special part of our lives. Never forget to pray.  Always make time for it.  It will help you tremendously!

   Alright, well, I have to go but I love you guys!  I'm sending some pictures!  Ciao! :)

A castle we visited last week

Ciao, Ciao!!

Feb.!!

   This week has been really rainy here in Napoli.  It even hailed a little!  Haha, not many people knew what to do on the road!  But it was a good week for missionary work.  We are working towards our vision of a family and we are also working towards working with/ helping members come closer to Christ in their daily life, but also through missionary work!  I really have a testimony of the importance of this work.  I also have seen and come to know that even solid members that have been part of the church forever need a boost every now and then too.  There is no one who is above learning and growing in the gospel.  I truly believe that when we understand the gospel more fully, we have the natural desire to share it because we are more converted.  I have to say that my desire to share the gospel with others has grown a lot during my mission as I have become more converted.

   So this week we were going out finding and we ran into this man we had met a couple weeks back. It was funny because we had tried to call him the day before but he didn't answer.  But anyway, he remembered us and said he was free that morning and we could come to his house so we went with him.  We began to see that he wasn't all together.  He had gotten into something that had affected his brain but he was still a really good guy.  So we went to his house and he rung the doorbell and nobody answered...apparently his mom had left and he didn't have any keys.  He started to freak out pretty bad as he began to cuss and think of what he could do to get in.  After a couple minutes Anziano Pope suggested that we pray for help.  The man was willing so we stood there and said a prayer, after which this man calmed down substantially.  And a couple minutes later his mom came walking around the corner!  He soon realized that God had answered his prayer and he was very grateful.  His mom is Catholic but nice.  It was a cool experience and you could see the difference that the gospel makes... not even the gospel, but just prayer alone makes in our lives. 

   Pietro is reading and praying, and he is doing well.  We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week and he agreed with it, but as we talked about the lesson we both felt that we didn't explain well enough that this means that his baptism in this church is vital, or the fact that the other churches don't have authority.  So this next time we go over we are going to talk about that.

   Francesco is doing better but sadly he will not be ready for his baptismal date the 14th of February. He still has quite a bit to learn and do before he is ready for baptism.  One of the biggest problems is his obedience to the word of wisdom.  He needs to start following that.  We are working with him a lot and, step by step, he is improving.  We are getting him to read and pray everyday and then to come to church every week.  You can see a difference.

    We are trying to find more ways to get investigators to church because it seems to be a big problem here.  We are all having a hard time getting them in church.  So, yeah, we are working on that!

   Me and Anziano Pope are doing well. We are looking for new investigators and trying to contact the people we have talked to in the last couple weeks.  No one will answer their phones!!!  Lame! :( Haha, It's okay.  We keep trying.  But, yeah, that's pretty much it.  Life is good!  I'm glad that I can be here.  It really is a huge blessing.  The church is true!  AND IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS, PRAY ABOUT IT!  :)  

   Love you guys! Have a good week!

   Love always, Anziano Rigby

Questions and Answers

1.  Do the wards over there have many 8-year-old baptisms when their children are of age?  Having gone to a baptism this weekend, I began wondering if the Church is growing much in Italy due to     8-year-old baptisms or if the growth is mainly coming from converts still? 

You know, it really depends on the area.  There really aren't that many little kids.  There are a couple but I don't think I have ever been in a ward when an 8-year-old has been baptized. Just because there aren't any!  Haha, so I would say new converts are the majority.


2.  How is English Course going in your area now?  

It's going well.  It is slowly growing. We have around 20-25 students.


3.  Being in a ward with great diversity, do you get to translate much? 

Haha, oh yeah.  I translate a lot.  Especially now since there are two missionaries that don't speak English that much.  Plus newbies, and then Anziano Pope.  Haha, I translate a lot more now.  But it's good.  It's really good practice!