Week #12 - January 20, 2014

Wow.... 3 months can go by pretty quickly. It's not a super long amount of time, but it does add up. I still remember hugging my family goodbye at the MTC and watching them drive away, unsure of what was to come. I'm still unsure of what's to come, but I have gained a better understanding of aligning my will with the Lord's will. Now the unknown is not so scary, because I have faith that everything will be fine!

I am about 1/8th of the way done with my mission already. Things seem to be going fast, but I'm sure that by the time I am halfway done with my mission, I will feel like I have been out here for forever! This is totally worth it thought, and I would never trade these experiences for anything!

Live life to the fullest, and never life below your potential! Sorry this e-mail was short, but we've got to go!

Love you all!

--Elder Riggs

Pictures - January 13, 2014

This was before we cleaned our apartment!

This is after we cleaned our apartment..... Almost a month later. But hey, wouldn't these before and after pictures make for a great "missionary maid cleaning service?" It would only take a month for us to clean!

This is Elder Cranney doing his responsibilities as District Leader. This is the time I can study or sleep, whichever I feel I need more of at the time. 

Mission life with a sprained ankle - January 13, 2014

Hello Everyone!

This week has been quite the adventure with a sprained ankle!  The first half of the week was spent inside due to the cold and on crutches due to my injury.

 To make matters better, it rained this week, in January. Up here they call it "frozen rain" because after the water hits the ground, it freezes, thereby making everything covered in ice. Ice + crutches = a recipe for disaster.  Thankfully the Lord looks out for His missionaries and nothing has happened to injure me further.

I also found my camera! I had to take a selfie of me in my ugly sweater! I love this thing so much! Elder Cranney likes our apartment to be around 63 degrees, so it gets slightly chilly by my account. This sweater keeps me nice and warm!

I can't believe that I'm almost done with my second transfer! There are only 16 transfers in a mission, and I've almost completed two of them. Elder Cranney thinks he's leaving because he's been here for 5 transfers, but everyone else thinks he's staying, including me. He just became district leader this last transfer, so why would he leave?  Of course, the Lord works in mysterious ways, so he very well might be right! It's going to be kind of exciting to be done with training, because them I won't be reminded of how long I've been out here serving. This week is week 11 of training, and next week is the last one! Then it's only two hours of studies every day and lots of proselyting!

Our lessons this week have been great. We have a new investigator who is really wanting to learn and find out for herself if this church is true, despite having much opposition from her step-dad and husband. She has so much faith in her Savior. One of our investigators, Marsha, is having knee surgery done next week, so we are praying that everything goes well and that she heals quickly.

Brother Klunk has been a member of the church for one whole year! We tried to take him out to lunch at Gosse's, but he wouldn't let us pay. That's Brother Klunk for you, though. He has become my best member friend out here, and I'm going to be sad when I get transferred. He is definitely up there on my list of favorite people.

This week I have been amazed at how much the Lord is able to work with us imperfect people. We try and try to follow His teachings and do what's right, but we slip up. We all sin. We all make mistakes. But He is always willing to pick us up, dust us off, and set us back on the path. In my daily scripture study I am reading through 2 Nephi and comparing the chapters with the ones in Isaiah. There aren't a whole lot of differences between the two, but there's a phrase that continually comes up in those chapters: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." No matter what we do, He is always there beside us, waiting for us to take His hand and follow Him. "Behold, I stand a the door and knock." He is waiting for us to open the door to our hearts and allow Him to change us. We are all the natural man, and we must all take advantage of the Atonement in order to "put off the natural man and become a saint." The Atonement is what allows us to get back on the path. This is my testimony. I know He lives. I know He is mindful of us and our lives. He cared enough for us to suffer all things in the Garden of Gethsemane and die for us on the cross at Golgotha. I know the Book of Mormon is true, because it teaches us these things. That is where we get our knowledge from. The scriptures. Joseph Smith did translate the gold plates into what we have today. One of our biggest challenges for us is getting people to just read from the Book of Mormon 10 minutes each day. It will change your life, guaranteed. My challenge to you is this: if you have not already read the Book of Mormon, read it. If you do not have a copy, get in contact with the missionaries in your area. They would be ore than happy to vie you one. 10 minutes  a day isn't much, but as the scriptures teach, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." I have some to know my Savior and understand so much more about my relationship with Him as I've read, and I know you can too. I love you, but not as much as He loves you.

--Elder Riggs

New Year's Events- January 6, 2014

Well everybody, it's a new year and I am cold!  The high today is supposed to be -10 and the low is about -20, so our mission president has asked us to pretty much stay inside until Wednesday. Elder Cranney and I played each other in chess yesterday and I was able to checkmate him with only my rook and king left! It was a REALLY long game, but he won one and I won one, so it's all good. :)

In other news I'm pretty much immobilized for this week because I sprained my ankle playing basketball on Saturday morning! Yay! I can't send any pictures because I forgot my camera back at the apartment, but I can let you all know that I have a pretty gnarly looking bruise on my ankle and it looks like a tennis ball is sticking out of my foot. Not fun. I'm on crutches as of now (which are really hard to walk with, especially in the snow and ice), but hopefully I won't need to be using those for much longer. Until now though, we can't be doing much because of my ankle.

This week for my studies I have been reading a talk called "The Fourth Missionary." This talk is amazing. It really shows how to be the best missionary you can be. The person giving the talk quoted C.S. Lewis in what the Lord expects of each of us, not just the missionaries.

"Give Me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work; I want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to Me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to Me, give yourself to Me and I will make of you a new self in My image. Give Me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will shall become your will. My heart shall become your heart."

If we want to become more like our Savior, we cannot be holding on to ourselves. We need to give everything to Him, the Master. This concept was/is very hard for me to grasp and to understand, but I know that in the Master's hands, we can become great. We can become like Him: perfect. That should be all of our New Year's resolutions. It can be done. It should be done. Imagine what this world would be like if everyone gave up their will to Christ. This world would not be as scary and frightening as it currently is. The world can change, but it starts with YOU!

I love you all, and Happy New Year!

--Elder Riggs

Skype - December 25, 2013

It was perhaps the best Christmas gift this year to be able to see Tyler's face and hear his voice. He called around 1:00 and we had 40 minutes of catching up.  Tyler looks great (yes, they are feeding him well;) lets just say his shirt is fitting a little more snug than it did when we bought it.  He told us a little about the area of Sheboygan, and how hard it has been to adapt to the cold out there but he loves where he is at and has a great companion. We did get to meet Elder Cranney on Skype as well and we are so grateful that they have had such a great experience as companions thus far. Tyler has changed so much in the short two months that he has been away from home serving the Lord. He has learned the importance of keeping a planner. He knows what complete exhaustion feels like and he has discovered a relationship with his Savior that we had prayed he would find.  We are so proud of him and the sacrifices that he is making to serve the Lord and others.  We can hardly wait for Mother's Day when we can sit as a family together around the counter and see him again. We are grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who has showered Tyler and our family with so many blessings this holiday season and we are also grateful and feel truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who continue to pray for and support Tyler in this adventure.

With Love,
The Riggs Family

A Very Quick Update - December 30, 2013

Hello everyone!

This is going to be a super fast update because we have to leave very soon to go to a dinner appointment so I'll just cover the basics.

-The Church is true.
-The Book of Mormon is the Word of God.
-It's cold (today it was an average of between 4-5 degrees)
-Missionary work is tough but rewarding.
-I've never learned so much in such a small amount of time.
- A CLEAN ROOM/APARTMENT/HOUSE INVITES THE SPIRIT!
-It's cold (see above rating)
-People are not willing to meet with missionaries during the holidays.
-Too many sweets make you gain weight
-Not enough real exercise also makes you gain weight.
-It's cold (see above rating)
-Be very careful about how many miles you use in a mission car.
-God loves ALL of His children, including you. Yes, you. The one reading this e-mail.
-Being a missionary is the hardest thing I have ever done.
-It's also the most rewarding.

I know that was a really weak update, but I promise I'll do better next week! I love you all!

--Elder Riggs

Merry Christmas - December 23, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Christmas is almost here! And today is my two month mark! I only have 22 more months left here in Wisconsin!

It has been pretty cold, not just the weather, but a lot of the people as well. That's okay though, because there are always beams of light shining through the storm if you are looking for them. Elder Cranney and I are struggling to help our investigators progress towards baptism, so we decided to try to make a bigger pool of investigators (plus it will help me get out of knocking doors). We were trying to contact some former investigators and some potential investigators this week and found a few of them that were actually interested and really friendly! We were unable to set up return appointments with them due to the busy Christmas schedule everyone has, but we were actually able to get in contact with them. There are so many blessings if we but look for them!

Elder Brand showed me a video today of the nativity that I have never seen before. It was a little embarrassing to watch at the library because it was so powerful that I was almost crying while watching it. The Piano Guys are performing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" while there are scenes form the birth and life of our Savior playing. The web address to this video is http://www.mormonchannel.org/christmas-videos?v=2008190983001. I don't know if this e-mail will be able to provide a link that you just click on or not, but check it out!

This is a time to remember the birth of our Savior and try to live the way he would. I'm reminded of the phrase, "What Would Jesus Do?" I challenge each of you to ask yourself the very same question. Service is the best way to get into the Christmas spirit. Find two people to help this week, one before Christmas and the other after. I know that if we are doing the things that Christ would have done, we will be happier, have charity towards all men (which by the way is how we start world peace), and come closer to our Savior He loves you. I know it to be true. He shows His love for us in countless ways. The real question is, how are we showing our love for Him?

--Elder Riggs