12-16-2013

Hello everyone!

This week has been great, but I am exhausted! So many good things have happened. We invited Marsha to be baptized, but she declined, saying she wanted to be able to stand up in front of the ward and tell them that she knew the Book of Mormon was true, then she would be baptized. Charlene is doing great and she actually read what we asked her to, so she is keeping commitments. Rick was able to get a heart transplant (hooray!) so he is recovering from that surgery. Heidi is in Hawaii right now so we haven't been able to meet with her.

This Wednesday are transfers. We got the text message from our zone leaders (one of which is form Hooper) stating who was transferring out of the Appleton zone, and guess what? I'm not one of them! The only one from our district who is being transferred is Elder Harper-Smith, our district leader. He is becoming one of the Appleton Zone leaders. Elder Cranney is staying in Sheboygan for his fifth transfer, so he will have been here for 7 1/2 months. He was asked by President Cutler to be our district leader, so that means when he has to call the other companionship's to get their numbers for the week, I can SLEEP! I most likely won't though, because I am trying hard to read the entire Bible. I'm in the book of Judges right now, and grateful to be so, because Joshua was good at the beginning but then it goes on to talk about which tribe of Israel inherited what city and there's a bunch of names that just go way over my head.

The temperature is dropping here. When we got into the car yesterday, there was ice on the INSIDE of the windshield! We had the wipers going and were wondering why it wasn't getting rid of any of the ice, then we realized that it was on the inside of the car. I am grateful to have a car though, because I sure don't want to be walking in this despite me having a parka.

I love you all, I miss you, and hope that you can find the Light of Christ amongst all of the tinsel and icicles. This is a special time of year, and I wish it would last throughout the year, but sadly it doesn't. The world forgets how to be generous and kind on Dec 26. This week I learned from my studies that "peace on earth" can be a reality but it will only come if we can find peace within ourselves. Michael Jackson put it well when he said, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror." Let us search for those things that bring us peace and joy and surround ourselves with them. I'll give you a hint for one thing: family. Now it's up to you to discover the other things!

--Elder Riggs

Frozen Missionaries - December 9, 2013

Hey Everybody!

It finally froze up here! There's about 6 inches of snow on the ground and it's super cold! The wind chill is probably the worst part because it just drops the temperature, like, 20 degrees! I have learned to layer up! The other day we walked to a dinner appointment (about 5 miles) and it was dark and cold! I have on a massive parka that Elder Brand found for me in his closet and I was sweating in that, but my face was like ice! It is so hard because it gets dark so early up here. The sun starts to slip beneath the horizon at about 4:45, so having to keep working is really difficult. I keep wanting to go inside and go to sleep, but then I remember that we still have 5 1/2 hours to go before bed.

Elder Cranney and I are going to Oshkosh tomorrow and Thursday for some more training for me. There's so much more training after the MTC that I didn't even realize! We are having to be very careful with driving because of the snow for one, but we also have a limited amount of miles to use. Driving to Oshkosh is going to take a lot of those miles, we we're walking a lot of places.

I weighed myself yesterday on Brother Klunk's scale, and came to find that I broke 200 pounds, despite me not drinking soda since I left for my mission. I can only imagine how big I would be if I was drinking soda! Elder Brand is the only missionary in my district who id heavier than me. He's 210 pounds, so I've almost got him beat. We'll see how large my belly is when I come home in two years....

By the way, if you would like to receive a Christmas card from Elder Cranney and me, please e-mail me your actually address so I can send them out and so I know how many stamps and copies I need to buy. It won't be anything spectacular, but we thought it would be fun to show everyone how we're doing up here.

I caught a minor head cold on Thursday and Friday. Missionary work is not fun when one is sick, especially because I wasn't sick enough to stay home. I still went out and tracted (which I still can't stand) and taught lessons to people. I just kept my distance from them so they wouldn't catch it! And yes, Juli, I am using my OnGuard so I don't get sick again. :-) Lesson learned: if you're going to get sick, make sure you get sick enough to prevent you from doing anything productive. ;-) Just kidding. Don't get sick in the first place.

Well, I love you all, I miss you, and I can't wait to hear from you!

--Elder Riggs

Appleton Zone Conference- November 12, 2013

Brother Pountain and his 1st printing edition of the Book of Mormon (with President and Sister Cutler)

In the early 70's Brother Pountain bought a paperback Book of Mormon at a rummage sale for 25 cents, not knowing what it was. After reading 10 pages, he knew it was true.  That paperback copy is more valuable to him today than the expensive edition in the photo. He told his conversion story and bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon at our zone conference. 

 Appleton's Army

Elder Cranney and Elder Riggs

Amazingly, Brother Pountain let anyone and everyone hold the original copy of the Book of Mormon. 

What A Week!

Wow.

So I've been reading a lot of your e-mails to me and I cannot believe how blessed I am to be serving here in Sheboygan. Everybody has been talking about how cold it is where they are serving their missions or how cold it is back home.  For the past two days we have had a high of 45 degrees. It was absolutely beautiful! I actually wore one of my short-sleeved white shirts around and wasn't cold! I remember back home when I thought 60 degrees was cold! I know that this type of weather isn't typical, but it will change soon; this Saturday we are supposed to have a high of 10. Yikes!

Elder Cranney and I have had some pretty great lessons this week. Charlene is doing great reading the Book of Mormon and as is Marsha.  Brother Klunk has been invaluable at coming with us to lessons to help teach. He is such a wonderful man, and is preparing to go to the temple in January to receive his endowment! We will most likely be dropping Titus as an investigator because he's not willing to change at all, but he will be picked up by another set of missionaries later on down the road. We are going to be teaching the Plan of Salvation to Virginia and Rick today, so we'll see how that goes.

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Elder Cranney and I had TWO Thanksgiving dinners. No wonder I'm getting fat! I am learning very quickly that it's hard to eat healthy when you are on a tight budget and when you don't have someone preparing healthy food for you (thanks Juli). All of our dinner appointments have been super unhealthy but amazingly delicious! Yesterday I tried "pho" (pronounceed 'fuh') for the first time. It's kind of like ramen noodles, but it's Vietnamese, and it's made with rice noodles (I think). It was pretty good, but the bowl it's served in is HUGE! I could hardly finish it! And Elder Cranney is being taught how to use chopsticks. He's doing pretty well for a beginner.  Oh! Along with the pho I had tripe! It actually wasn't too bad. Brother Klunk says he will cook me some blood sausage before I leave, but I'm not sure how well I'm going to take that, elder Cranney tells me to just try it, but I'm a bit nervous.

It is strange to be out here during the holidays and not really have to be so concerned with putting up a Christmas tree and having to go shopping sixteen different times for gifts and putting up Christmas lights on your own house.  All we are focused on is Christ and bringing the people of Sheboygan to Him.  I'm not looking through different ads and trying to decide what I want for Christmas this year; I'm looking through the area book to try to listen to the Spirit directing me to who is ready to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This time of year on a mission is awesome.  It really puts things into perspective on how easy it is to be caught up in the commercialism of Christmas, and what really doesn't matter.  What matters is that we remember Christ and His life. How He gave His life for us and what a miracle the Atonement is, if we are willing to accept Him. Salvation is free; we just need to take it.

I love you all, I think about you often (though not as much as my investigators), and I am so happy I am out here serving my King. May this week be filled with love, joy, and service towards one another, and may you feel the love Christ has for you.  May your family be watched over and protected. May God bless you that you might feel the peace He offers.

--Elder Riggs