Hey Everyone!
This week has been a difficult one. There has been a lot of opposition lately in the area, but Elder Ostergaard and I are working to overcome it! We know that there are a lot of people here who are ready to hear about the gospel, because Satan is working so hard to keep these people from the fulness of the gospel!
The gospel truly is amazing. It's like a diamond. There are so many aspects of it and the whole thing is just beautiful. The Atonement is real and a wonderful gift that our Savior, Jesus Christ has given to us. We need to be the ones to use it, though. As we come unto Him, we can be changed. our hearts can be softened. We can be healed. He loves you and so do I!
--Elder T. Riggs
Sunday, August 10, 2014
July is Over: August 4th, 2014
Hey everyone!
I honestly have no idea where the month of July has gone. I've changed from Green Bay to Marinette and have just felt the time slipping by me.
For the message this week, there's a great new Mormon Message that came out this week. Please watch it. It's made very well and it's a very inspiring video. The address that you can find it is:
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001&cid=HPTH073114368
God it real. He loves each of us and is nurturing us to become the kind of person He needs us to be. But we need to be patient with God, because His timing is perfect. He watched out for each of us. The feeling we get when we are close to God is indescribable, but it is good. We need to be the ones to come unto Him, though. We need to take those steps of faith. God will not abandon us and he is patient with us.
I Love You!
--Elder T. Riggs
I honestly have no idea where the month of July has gone. I've changed from Green Bay to Marinette and have just felt the time slipping by me.
For the message this week, there's a great new Mormon Message that came out this week. Please watch it. It's made very well and it's a very inspiring video. The address that you can find it is:
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001&cid=HPTH073114368
God it real. He loves each of us and is nurturing us to become the kind of person He needs us to be. But we need to be patient with God, because His timing is perfect. He watched out for each of us. The feeling we get when we are close to God is indescribable, but it is good. We need to be the ones to come unto Him, though. We need to take those steps of faith. God will not abandon us and he is patient with us.
I Love You!
--Elder T. Riggs
Another Super Short Update: July 21st, 2014
Marinette is tiny compared to Green Bay. Being senior companion is weird. I don't like driving Jeeps. Heat + Humidity=YUCK! Prayer works with the big stuff and small stuff (it made my hiccups go away the other day). I love the gospel! Everything in the Church makes sense! "Do not underestimate the influence of a father."
--Elder T. Riggs
New Area: July 21st, 2014
This week has been really stressful! It hasn't been bad stress, there's just been a lot of things happening. Getting used to a new area is really difficult, because you have to learn how to navigate the city, learn how you are going to work with your new companion and develop a system that will allow both of you to work at your peak condition, learn the current members' names (and try your hardest to remember them), learn where the area's investigators are at in their spiritual progression, drive a car that I've never driven before in my life (we have a Jeep Compass), understand how the branch president wants missionary work to be done in the branch... There's a lot to it!
And I actually have to make a correction to something I said last week: I'm not in Marinetter, MI. I'm living in Marinette, WI but my proselyting area is Menominee, MI. The city is TINY compared to Green Bay! In Green Bay we had 14 missionaries for the whole city and here we have 4. Elder Ostergard, my new companion, says that they're probably going to be combining the two areas in the branch after this transfer, so I'll have to learn another area too! Whew! All in a day's work for a missionary. :-)
--Elder T. Riggs
And I actually have to make a correction to something I said last week: I'm not in Marinetter, MI. I'm living in Marinette, WI but my proselyting area is Menominee, MI. The city is TINY compared to Green Bay! In Green Bay we had 14 missionaries for the whole city and here we have 4. Elder Ostergard, my new companion, says that they're probably going to be combining the two areas in the branch after this transfer, so I'll have to learn another area too! Whew! All in a day's work for a missionary. :-)
--Elder T. Riggs
I'm Leaving Wisconsin: July 14th, 2014
Hey everybody!
I'm getting transferred! After 6 months in Green Bay, I am going up to serve n Marinette, MI! I'm going to be senior companion finally. I'm almost 9 months and I've spend all of that time being junior companion. It's not that I actually care about that, but I think it's pretty funny. :-D
It's really sad to be leaving the Brown family, but I'm needed elsewhere. There are people in Marinette that I need to teach! And maybe I'll learn how to talk with a "Yooper" accent! Hahahah! I'm just going more north! Perhaps when I get transferred again I'll just keep heading up north and end my mission in Houghton! Wouldn't hat be something?
Anyway, the Church is so true! The Book of Mormon is the BEST book I have ever read! It changes people's lives. It changed mine. It's true. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet who has been called of God. True happiness comes from sharing the gospel! I never want to leave my mission!
Love you all!
--Elder T. Riggs
I'm getting transferred! After 6 months in Green Bay, I am going up to serve n Marinette, MI! I'm going to be senior companion finally. I'm almost 9 months and I've spend all of that time being junior companion. It's not that I actually care about that, but I think it's pretty funny. :-D
It's really sad to be leaving the Brown family, but I'm needed elsewhere. There are people in Marinette that I need to teach! And maybe I'll learn how to talk with a "Yooper" accent! Hahahah! I'm just going more north! Perhaps when I get transferred again I'll just keep heading up north and end my mission in Houghton! Wouldn't hat be something?
Anyway, the Church is so true! The Book of Mormon is the BEST book I have ever read! It changes people's lives. It changed mine. It's true. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet who has been called of God. True happiness comes from sharing the gospel! I never want to leave my mission!
Love you all!
--Elder T. Riggs
Major Suspense: July 7th, 2014
Hey everyone!
This is the last full week of the transfer....Wow. We'll be finding out who is getting transferred where on Saturday. I'm most likely leaving Green Bay because I've been here for 6 months. Well, what comes will come and I will deal with whatever the Lord has in store for me!
The 4th was a very uneventful day. Not a whole lot of people wanted to talk to us, but as we were walking through a bunch of the celebrations on Main Street, a few people who were proselyting for their church stopped us and talked to us. I guess they weren't having much success either so they figured that of all people who would actually listen to them, it would be us. All of them were really nice though and didn't want to bash with us (which I was really relieved about). No fireworks for us either. Our apartment faces the wrong direction, so we didn't get to see any of them. :-(
Other than that, I'm taking a challenge to study the book of Enos for 30 days, and I completed my first week! There were many, many things that I got out of reading it over and over again. Prayer is essential for anything we want to have happen. And it might take a lot of praying for certain things before they happen too. Enos was a great example of one who really learned how to communicate with God, how to truly repent, and how to show charity towards his fellow man. He prayed and labored with all diligence to bring his brethren to the knowledge of the truth. How are we doing with our prayers? Are they rote, or are we pouring out our whole soul to God? If we give him everything, He can make us a masterpiece.
I love you!
--Elder T. Riggs
This is the last full week of the transfer....Wow. We'll be finding out who is getting transferred where on Saturday. I'm most likely leaving Green Bay because I've been here for 6 months. Well, what comes will come and I will deal with whatever the Lord has in store for me!
The 4th was a very uneventful day. Not a whole lot of people wanted to talk to us, but as we were walking through a bunch of the celebrations on Main Street, a few people who were proselyting for their church stopped us and talked to us. I guess they weren't having much success either so they figured that of all people who would actually listen to them, it would be us. All of them were really nice though and didn't want to bash with us (which I was really relieved about). No fireworks for us either. Our apartment faces the wrong direction, so we didn't get to see any of them. :-(
Other than that, I'm taking a challenge to study the book of Enos for 30 days, and I completed my first week! There were many, many things that I got out of reading it over and over again. Prayer is essential for anything we want to have happen. And it might take a lot of praying for certain things before they happen too. Enos was a great example of one who really learned how to communicate with God, how to truly repent, and how to show charity towards his fellow man. He prayed and labored with all diligence to bring his brethren to the knowledge of the truth. How are we doing with our prayers? Are they rote, or are we pouring out our whole soul to God? If we give him everything, He can make us a masterpiece.
I love you!
--Elder T. Riggs
The Ultimate in Short Missionary E-mails: June 6th, 2014
I love you all, I'm out of time. I've been studying about prayer in Preach My Gospel and how essential it is to everything we do as missionaries, and how we need to be doing His work, His way, and with His power. We must trust in the Lord in everything we do as humans!!
On to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary for the 2nd time!
Elder T. Riggs
On to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary for the 2nd time!
Elder T. Riggs
Miracles in Green Bay: May 27, 2014
Hey Everyone!
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| The Brown Family at Baptism |
This e-mail is going to be short (again) because I'm almost out of time, but there is something I wanted to bring up to everyone. In the April General Conference, Elder M. Russell Ballard gave two commitments to everyone. I wanted to follow up on those two commitments.
Commitment #1= invite someone every three months to take the discussions from the full-time missionaries. That's only four people a year per person, but can you imagine if all 15 million members in the Church id that? If every single person that we invited go baptized, how many more member would we have by the end of the year? The amount of people who have received the saving ordinances of baptism will have exponentially increased! We will have gone from 15,000,000 to 240,000,000 members in just one year. Within a two year mission that number will increase to 3,840,000,000! And all it takes is an invitation to one person. Then in three months, one more invitation. Can you see the power of member missionaries?
But how can we overcome our fears about that? How can we invite our friends/family members to listen to the missionaries without sounding preachy or pushy? How do we bridge the gap between the members of the Church and the missionaries?
Commitment#2=obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel and include it in your daily scripture study. Share what you are learning form it with the missionaries in your ward and or the missionaries in your family that are currently serving. Preach My Gospel is a manual for missionary work, and every member in this Church is a missionary. That is how to bridge the gap between your friends and the missionaries. It is a wonderful tool that really opens eyes and enlightens understanding about how to do missionary work the Lord's way, for the Lord's way is the most effective way. We have gospel truths that the world desperately needs. Why are we holding them back? Why would we not want to share pure joy with those we care about?
Brothers and Sisters, friends whom I love and care about, I will follow up with all of you on these two commitments in a month. In the meantime, I would request that each of you keep the commitment that Elder Ballard has asked us to keep. President Monson has said, "NOW is the time for members and missionaries to come together." There are around 84,000 missionaries out right now, ready to teach people that are prepared to hear about the gospel. .The members are the best way to prepare people. May everyone do their part and contribute to the Kingdom of God.
I Love You All!
--Elder Riggs
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| I traced my family history back to Adam in familysearch.org! Awesome! |
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