Father's Day

(Note:  All of today's pictures were originally posted on President and Sister Waddoups' blog)

Anziano Rigby playing missionary bingo at Zone conference

Anziano Rigby and his companion, Anziano Fossa

Hey there!

   Haha, I have to admit, I forgot all about Father's Day.... :(  I have been so busy I forgot it was the middle of June!  I still can't believe it!

   Well, this week has been really good. We have been busy with investigators, members, scambios, and Zone conference!  I got Hailey's letter last Tuesday.  It was awesome!  Haha, I laughed a lot :)  It was just what I needed.  I also got a letter from Chuck!  I was really excited to hear from him :)

  

 

   Well, we have been working hard this week, rain, or shine!  Haha, we did a scambio in Ascoli which went really well.  I love doing scambios.  You always learn something and you always see miracles. Before we left for that, we had a lesson with Francesco.  He is really cool!  He is reading the Book of Mormon every night, and he came to church yesterday (right as it was ending, but it's a step), haha. We taught him the Restoration and showed him the video.  He really liked it.  I remembered that President Waddoups said we should invite all our investigators to baptism within the first 2 lessons, so we did! And....he accepted! He said if he recieves his answer that this is the right thing to do, he will do it. Towards the end of the week we taught him the Plan of Salvation as well.  He really enjoyed it and said he wants to be with his family forever.  Haha, he also taught us how to make granita.  Yummmm :)

   

   

   Long story short, things are going well :)  We receive the calls for transfers this next Saturday so we'll see what happens.  

   Well, I love you all and I hope you are having a good day.  I'll talk to you soon!

   Love Always, Anziano Rigby

This is at Rocca Calascio It was really pretty! haha I'm sorry i don't have any more time to send pictures. These computers are the slowest thing on the planet! But I love you guys! Thanks for all you do! haha Talk to you soon :)

Hello! haha

   Holy cow, that puppy is cute!!!  Ahh!  Haha, it's going to be HUGE.

   Well the last week was really awesome. On monday we went to L'aquila for P-day and then we stayed there to do a scambio.  L'aquila is really beautiful.  I love it.  It's in the mountains, it has fresh air, it's dryer, and there are pine trees!  Haha, I felt like I was on vacation!  It was so relaxing!  Tuesdsay we did the scambio which went well. The missionaries there are really cool, and they are doing some good work. We came back just in time for English course and afterwards I was talking with one of our students who likes to cook.  He wanted to give us some pesto that he made, so we set up a time the next day to meet up.  So we met up and he gave us the pesto, and started talking. We asked him if he wanted to learn about what we do as missionaries and he said yes.  We set up an appointment for that night.  It went really well!  Haha, he is really cool.  He's really open and willing to learn. We will see what will happen this week. 

  

   We are really busy.  Haha, we planned for the week, and we were barely able to find enough time to do all the we wanted. The work is being blessed for sure. 

   I am doing well too.  Haha, I'm really happy here.  Not just because I like the people and my comp and what not, but because we are working hard.  The secret really is to work hard.

   During the weekend we had Stake conference in Rome and I was finally able to get my guitar!  Haha :)  So that was cool.  On sunday there was a broadcast from Switzerland where Anziano Uchtdorf and Anzano Anderson spoke.  It was really good. They talked about the importance of "the one" and about the importance of faith in our lives. "Doubt your Doubts," it is so true.  We need to feed our faith or else it will never grow.

   Well I better get going.  I want to try and send some pictures to you guys!  Haha, I love you and I'll talk to you next week! 

   Love Always, Anziano Rigby 

Pescara missionaries ready to do interviews with the Mission President

Giugno

Hey ya'll!

   Man I love you guys!  Hailey you are growing up so fast!  And Porter, you are getting buff!  Haha, I think you could beat me up already! 

   This week has been really busy!  It's awesome!  We are meeting with members, less-actives, and investigators.  Cool things are happening right now!  We had a scambio with the zone leaders this last week and it went really well.  Me and Anziano Pizza were together and we saw some cool miracles. We decided to go visit some less-actives in the evening.  I felt impressed to visit a certain family that we had never seen before.  As we rang their bell, they let us in and we were able to meet and talk with them. They are very old and the husband can't come to church anymore because of his legs, he has diebetes.  But what was really cool was we were able to teach their son.  He is about 40 years old and he is really interested in our message, especially the plan of salvation.  It really made an impact on me on how important members are in the work, and how we need to visit them all.

   We are still meeting with David. He is really cool, he just needs to try a little harder with the gospel. He likes to ask us his questions instead of searching for himself, but we are working with him slowly. :) 

    Tulio, the freind of the Bishop, is way cool and we need to meet with him this week. We invited him to church but then on Sunday he didn't pick-up.  Later he texted saying he slept in.  Hahaha, oh well.

   The work is good and so am I.  It's amazing to watch, as you lose yourself in the work, things go well. :)  I love you guys!  I'll talk to you soon!

    Love always, Anziano Rigby

Pescara

Playing a hymn, on a harp, on a train, on the way to Pescara!!

Hello fam!

   Haha, wow time flies.  It is crazy.  This week we have been working our tails off!  I am really tired, but also really happy :)  The work is satisfying. 

   This week we got 3 new investigators:  David, Crizia, And Genni.

   David is 20 years old and is agnostic.  He has a sad background because his dad died when he was 5 and his mom died when he was 15.  So now he is alone. We had an interesting lesson with him this last week. We both felt that we should teach the plan of salvation so we prepared for that. As we started to teach him, it just wasn't working. The spirit wasn't there and he was asking questions just to argue. So we followed the spirit and talked about prayer and recieving answers to prayer. We also read Alma 32 with him (we had given it to him to read between lessons but he hadn't finished).  At the end of the lesson the Spirit was there, and we were able to bear testimony of our message. 

   Crizia says she is looking for the truth, but she also says she is looking for what fits her lifestyle. We are planning on passing her off to the sisters this week.

   Genni is a freind of a member.  She was curious about what we do as missionaries and wanted to talk about the gospel with us…we can do that!  :)  So we met her and her friend.   It was a good lesson and the spirit was there.  Me and Anziano Fossa haven't been together for very long, but I feel like we teach well together. We obviously have room to improve, but it is nice.

   The work is going well and I am learning the area and the people.  I am also getting tan!  Haha, I need to take more pictures.  I am really bad at it.  I'm not sure I've taken a single picture here!  :(

   But rest assured I am doing well :)  The people are a lot different here but they are cool.  Not quite as open, but I love them still the same :)

   I love you guys!  You are awesome!  Keep your heads up, and I'll talk to you next week. 

   Love Always, Anziano Rigby

Anziano Fossa and Anziano Rigby

Goodbye To New Friends…Hello To Old Friends!

(Note:  All pictures in this post were sent from John in Palermo, Susy in Palermo, and Joyce in Rome - thank you!!)

John (in Palermo) and Elder Rigby

Palermo missionaries singing together

Meeting with friends in Palermo one more time before leaving for Pescara

Hello!  Haha, wow it has been a long week!  I can't believe I'm back near Rome!  Haha, I've already seen a couple people from Rome 3!  It was sad to leave Sicilia, but at the same time I know that there is work for me to do here. We have been really busy the last couple days. with sevice, lessons to less-actives and what not. There is a member here that is blind and we go with him to do home teaching. His name is carlos. He is ingamba! He is in his thirties, and he doesn't let anything bring him down. For instance this morning we went running with him. haha! He puts his hand on your shoulder and runs right beside you. What a Boss! But more important than that, he is a solid solid member. One of the best i have seen here. I would venture to say that he has mastered the art of listening. Not just to sounds but to the spirit. It is something very awesome to see.

Umm other then that, haha it has just been awesome!  But I don't have much to say.  I haven't met any investigators yet.

Leaving Palermo, headed for Pescara

   

What are the chances?!  Transferring from Sicily up to Pescara, Elder Rigby was in the train station in Rome and ran into some old friends from his time spent serving in Roma 3 Ward.

   Umm...haha The church is true! I can't tell you how many times i see people who are sad, or depressed, or lost, that could find happiness or that could have prevented something by following the teachings of the Gospel.  Pretty sad. But!  We are here to change that!  I love you guys so much!  You are the best!  Haha, I will have more for you next time I promise!   Keep your heads up!   I love you!

   

Love always, Anziano Rigby

Q & A with Elder Rigby

How are things going in Pescara?   

Good!  haha I really like it.  It's all new. Very different from Sicilia but I love it. :)

How did your travel go?   

It was good, really tiring. I left Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Pescara Friday morning. Woo hoo! But it was beautiful! We took a train up the entire coast. What a sight. Haha, I also got to play a harp. Awesome right? There is a Sorella that came up with me to Pescara from Sicilia and she plays the harp...Sorella Rossell. Anyway, she has a little harp and I got to play it!  Haha, I played a hymn on it. Remeber this was all on a train. Pretty fun. :)

Tell us about your new companion.   

His name is Anziano Fossa, he is Italian and he comes from...I can't rememebr exactly where. I think it is near Udine?  I'm not sure… haha, he is really cool!  Really funny but at the same time is very caring and can follow the spirit.  Good guy :)

Do you have any investigators there yet?   

Yes. I havn't met them yet though. haha :) We have 3 or so.

Hey! haha man, it was awesome talking with you yesterday! you are all looking great and sound like you are doing well! Thanks for everything! I love you guyyyys!!! :)

Panoramas of Monreale!

 Okay sorry about last week, haha, I forgot to write it! I was so busy worrying about the music thing.

 Well this week has been fun and good! This week in Monreale there has been a festa for a cross they found a long time ago, Il Santissimo Crocefisso.  It's pretty big around here… haha, there about 10,000 people in the streets on the last day.  It has been fun to talk with people and to learn about them and also a little about their traditions here, but it has not been too good for the work because they were all distracted, and there were too many people.

 They really get into things here... haha They carry this cross around all day and into the night and then they set off fireworks at midnight or one

All the people.  Yeehaw!

 Something that we are seeing however is that many people remember the missionaries from 6 years ago or so.  And what they remember about them seems to be very positive!  It is making it a lot easier for us to talk with people, and they are much more open with us as well.  We met a really cool lady this week named Adrianna. She has met with the missionaries in the past, and she has read a little of the Book of Mormon. And she liked it!  So we exchanged phone numbers and are in the process of getting an appointment with her. We called her yesterday and she said she talked with her kids about it and they said we can come, and now they are trying to find a day where they are all at home.  Her kids can't be more then 18 years-old or so, so it should be really cool. I am praying that we can do our job and that they can have the time to meet.

Haha I made rolls :) they are very tasty!

   We also met with Francis yesterday and we talked with him about church. When we got there he was watching a dvd of his brother who is a big pastor in Ghana.   He was giving a discourse on the spirit. We talked a couple minutes about his brother and what he does, and then we prayed and got started.  As we talked he kept getting stuck on one thing which was group prayers.  He really likes group prayer and he really wanted to know if we did group prayers (like evangelists).  It turned into a discussion about prayer and why we pray the way we do.  In the end, we invited him to come to church this next Sunday and he said he would love to, but he has work.  And we both felt inspired to promise him that if he prayed this week every day with real intent to be able to come to church on Sunday, he will be able to come.  He said he knows it is possible and he will pray everyday.  It was not exactly how we thought it would go, but in the end we felt like we were able to follow the spirit in the things that we said.  It was a good learning experience in that aspect.

The view over Palermo and the ocean from Monreale. Beautiful!

Haha, we had a bbq at the bishop's house a week or so back. He speaks perfect English. He is way cool! Haha, so this is at his house. It was for Il giorno di liberazione. He also really likes cars so that is pretty awsome.  Haha, we talked a while about cars. I hadn't done that for a while!

 The work is slowly growing and we feel like we are doing our part. I sure love you guys! Hope everything is going well!  Talk to you soon!  haha

 Love Always, Anziano Rigby

Anziano Rigby with his companion, Anziano Burnham