This is in the Barrett's home. Elder Uppencamp and I finally figured out how to turn this thing on. It's a sauna!
This is Brother Barrett, with whom we live. He's a lot like Parker, so we get along really well. :-)
Monday, September 14, 2015
Trusting the Lord: August 24, 2015
Hey Everybody!
You know what's awesome? Missions! You know what's not super awesome? Realizing that you have become cliche! But that's okay. Sometimes the cliche things really do mean the most. Missions really are the greatest thing one can do. I've changed a lot, as I'm sure all of you have realized, but I seriously doubt these changes would have happened if I didn't go on a mission. Being surrounded by the gospel 24/7 and having this amazing opportunity to escape the world and truly see people change. One quote that I received today really stood out to me. President Ezra Taft Benson said, "The way to feel better about your own situation is to improve someone else's circumstances." How true is that? As we lose ourselves in the service of God, we feel better about ourselves and love people more deeply because we understand them better.
This week we had an investigator, Lizzy, come to church and bring her 8-year old cousin with her, who also wants to get baptized! And we now have a regular, Samantha, coming to church with Lizzy just because Lizzy is her friend. It's really amazing to me how well non-members do missionary work. Sometimes I feel like they do it better than the members (including myself)! Samantha is not even an investigator yet, so that's fantastic! This week Elder Uppencamp and I are going to be striving to teach Samantha's family alongside Lizzy's family and Lizzy's cousin's family. It's amazing to watch the Lord move His work forward through children. They are so sensitive to the Spirit and just really have the desire to make the Lord happy, which I have learned for myself makes me happy! As we focus on the happiness of others, we ourselves are made happy too!
The hard part about the upcoming week is that we BARELY have any miles left, so I don't know how we're going to accomplish everything that the Lord needs us to accomplish. What I do know is that there is always going to be a way, if we act in faith and trust Him. So we're trusting Him to help us with this work despite our not being able to travel much. I've calculated it out, and we will be just under our limit if we don't travel anywhere we haven't planned for. The Lord will provide a way, even when we can't see one in front of us.
I love it here! I love the Lord! I love all of you!
~~Elder T. Riggs
You know what's awesome? Missions! You know what's not super awesome? Realizing that you have become cliche! But that's okay. Sometimes the cliche things really do mean the most. Missions really are the greatest thing one can do. I've changed a lot, as I'm sure all of you have realized, but I seriously doubt these changes would have happened if I didn't go on a mission. Being surrounded by the gospel 24/7 and having this amazing opportunity to escape the world and truly see people change. One quote that I received today really stood out to me. President Ezra Taft Benson said, "The way to feel better about your own situation is to improve someone else's circumstances." How true is that? As we lose ourselves in the service of God, we feel better about ourselves and love people more deeply because we understand them better.
This week we had an investigator, Lizzy, come to church and bring her 8-year old cousin with her, who also wants to get baptized! And we now have a regular, Samantha, coming to church with Lizzy just because Lizzy is her friend. It's really amazing to me how well non-members do missionary work. Sometimes I feel like they do it better than the members (including myself)! Samantha is not even an investigator yet, so that's fantastic! This week Elder Uppencamp and I are going to be striving to teach Samantha's family alongside Lizzy's family and Lizzy's cousin's family. It's amazing to watch the Lord move His work forward through children. They are so sensitive to the Spirit and just really have the desire to make the Lord happy, which I have learned for myself makes me happy! As we focus on the happiness of others, we ourselves are made happy too!
The hard part about the upcoming week is that we BARELY have any miles left, so I don't know how we're going to accomplish everything that the Lord needs us to accomplish. What I do know is that there is always going to be a way, if we act in faith and trust Him. So we're trusting Him to help us with this work despite our not being able to travel much. I've calculated it out, and we will be just under our limit if we don't travel anywhere we haven't planned for. The Lord will provide a way, even when we can't see one in front of us.
I love it here! I love the Lord! I love all of you!
~~Elder T. Riggs
This is Elder Uppencamp using his lint roller as a pen holder. We get creative in the field.
Answered Prayers: August 17, 2015
Hey Everybody!
I'll start off with the great news. We had four investigators come to church yesterday! It was so wonderful to see them there! Kat and Lizzy came (thanks to the Winsors driving them) and Mike and Kay came! We weren't expecting to see Mike and Kay because they said they were going to be out of town for two weeks, but I guess now they're back! Kat and Lizzy have baptismal dates for the 19th of September, and Kat seems to be really on fire about it. She wants to get baptized, whether or not her husband does too. He's being a little difficult, but I know that something in the gospel will help him realize why he needs to act in order to prepare himself for baptism. That's so cool that four people came to church. It's been a while since I've seen that many investigators in one sacrament meeting.
We are preparing for stake conference in two weeks! Elder Renlund (who was a missionary companion of President Cutler's!) of the Seventy is coming to speak to us and I'm totally excited about it! The meeting is up in Wausau, so that's a bit of a drive, but that's alright. At least we have the Barretts to give us a ride all the way there. We don't have miles for that anyway. In fact, we barely have miles to do anything! Oh well. Somehow the Lord will provide a way for the work to move forward.
Alright, I've done terrible at including pictures in my e-mails, so here's one of Elder Meservy. He's been out for 3 weeks and this was my first exchange as a district leader. He's really funny and doesn't have that "deer in the headlights" look, even though he's so new. He's going to be a great leader one day. ;-)
I'll start off with the great news. We had four investigators come to church yesterday! It was so wonderful to see them there! Kat and Lizzy came (thanks to the Winsors driving them) and Mike and Kay came! We weren't expecting to see Mike and Kay because they said they were going to be out of town for two weeks, but I guess now they're back! Kat and Lizzy have baptismal dates for the 19th of September, and Kat seems to be really on fire about it. She wants to get baptized, whether or not her husband does too. He's being a little difficult, but I know that something in the gospel will help him realize why he needs to act in order to prepare himself for baptism. That's so cool that four people came to church. It's been a while since I've seen that many investigators in one sacrament meeting.
We are preparing for stake conference in two weeks! Elder Renlund (who was a missionary companion of President Cutler's!) of the Seventy is coming to speak to us and I'm totally excited about it! The meeting is up in Wausau, so that's a bit of a drive, but that's alright. At least we have the Barretts to give us a ride all the way there. We don't have miles for that anyway. In fact, we barely have miles to do anything! Oh well. Somehow the Lord will provide a way for the work to move forward.
Alright, I've done terrible at including pictures in my e-mails, so here's one of Elder Meservy. He's been out for 3 weeks and this was my first exchange as a district leader. He's really funny and doesn't have that "deer in the headlights" look, even though he's so new. He's going to be a great leader one day. ;-)
This is the last picture I took with this SD card. I've finally run out of room on this one too! Thankfully I have another one. This is the image of how I feel about weekly planning.
That's it folks! I'm off until next week! Love you lots!
~~Elder T. Riggs
: August 10, 2015
Hey Everybody!
Just out of curiosity, I was looking at the calendar and it hit me that I have been a missionary for 93 weeks! That's so long! To be completely honest, I don't even remember what real life is like, so when I return home, I'm going to have a really rough time adjusting to "normalcy."
This week Elder Uppencamp and I went to ward council and the new bishop is awesome at keeping order and has a great vision for how he wants the missionary work in this area to move forward. We're going to be focusing heavily on the North American Initiative and be working with the members to visit the part-member families, unbaptized children >8, and prospective elders. This is going to be awesome! And to make things better, Kat and Lizzy came to church yesterday! What's truly amazing is that Kat had a baby last Monday, and still made a point to come to church. She's so great. ^_^ We set up an appointment with her for Wednesday, and plan on setting a baptismal date with her and Lizzy, so this week we should have 4 dates! The goal that I have set is that by the end of the transfer, I want to have 10 baptismal dates. So far we're at 2, but I know that with a little (okay, a lot) of hard & smart work, prayer, and faith, this can happen.
Zone Conference on Tuesday was awesome! Brannick (Elder Ewing), if you go ZL, then you'll have to present the trainings for those meetings! Ha! ;-) President Cutler presented a great analogy where he had Elder Moffett come up and have a Snickers bar. On the back of the bar it said, "Satisfies," and President asked Elder Moffett it that was satisfying. He said it was pretty good, so President pulled out another one, just in case the first one wasn't. By the fourth bar, Elder Moffett looked pretty sick. President Cutler asked him if the Snickers was still satisfying, and pulled out another one for him. Snickers has now been ruined for poor Elder Moffett. The analogy was that the world will tell you that certain things are satisfying, but in all actuality are very superficial and don't give you lasting satisfaction. He then related it to the story of the Tree of Life in 1 Nephi 8 and taught that the Lord wants to give us something that will satisfy us for all eternity. Christ can deliver real happiness; the world can't. It was a great training.
Well, I have to give a training tomorrow for district meeting. I have no clue how to do this, but I know that if I prepare to the best of my ability, then the Lord will assist me. Hopefully this training turns out to where the 3 other elders in my district learn something good... Guess we'll have to see!
I love you all!
~~Elder T. Riggs
Just out of curiosity, I was looking at the calendar and it hit me that I have been a missionary for 93 weeks! That's so long! To be completely honest, I don't even remember what real life is like, so when I return home, I'm going to have a really rough time adjusting to "normalcy."
This week Elder Uppencamp and I went to ward council and the new bishop is awesome at keeping order and has a great vision for how he wants the missionary work in this area to move forward. We're going to be focusing heavily on the North American Initiative and be working with the members to visit the part-member families, unbaptized children >8, and prospective elders. This is going to be awesome! And to make things better, Kat and Lizzy came to church yesterday! What's truly amazing is that Kat had a baby last Monday, and still made a point to come to church. She's so great. ^_^ We set up an appointment with her for Wednesday, and plan on setting a baptismal date with her and Lizzy, so this week we should have 4 dates! The goal that I have set is that by the end of the transfer, I want to have 10 baptismal dates. So far we're at 2, but I know that with a little (okay, a lot) of hard & smart work, prayer, and faith, this can happen.
Zone Conference on Tuesday was awesome! Brannick (Elder Ewing), if you go ZL, then you'll have to present the trainings for those meetings! Ha! ;-) President Cutler presented a great analogy where he had Elder Moffett come up and have a Snickers bar. On the back of the bar it said, "Satisfies," and President asked Elder Moffett it that was satisfying. He said it was pretty good, so President pulled out another one, just in case the first one wasn't. By the fourth bar, Elder Moffett looked pretty sick. President Cutler asked him if the Snickers was still satisfying, and pulled out another one for him. Snickers has now been ruined for poor Elder Moffett. The analogy was that the world will tell you that certain things are satisfying, but in all actuality are very superficial and don't give you lasting satisfaction. He then related it to the story of the Tree of Life in 1 Nephi 8 and taught that the Lord wants to give us something that will satisfy us for all eternity. Christ can deliver real happiness; the world can't. It was a great training.
Well, I have to give a training tomorrow for district meeting. I have no clue how to do this, but I know that if I prepare to the best of my ability, then the Lord will assist me. Hopefully this training turns out to where the 3 other elders in my district learn something good... Guess we'll have to see!
I love you all!
~~Elder T. Riggs
Pictures: August 3, 2015
This is a flyer posted at the library. I thought it was perfectly fitting. :-)
I've become a cheesehead. Don't stare at my gut for too long; I know it's large.
Something I Forgot: August 3, 2015
Also, our mission is doing a pretty neat study of the Book of Mormon. A few months ago we all studied the Atonement as a mission and marked everything in red and green. This time we're studying the Atonement, but specific chapters over the next two months. If you would like to join us, you are more than welcome to. ^_^ Here is the schedule for our study.
TO UNITE OUR HEARTS AND LIFT OUR VOICES (D&C 84:1)
---A STUDY OF THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE BOOK OF MORMON---
Dear Elders and Sisters,
There is a spirit of optimism and faith in our mission right now that is exciting. The
Lord is blessing us with miracles. Lives are changing because of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We can learn from the example of Joseph Smith and six other elders who were in
“a season of joy” because of their missionary labors. They “united their hearts and lifted
their voices on high” and received the amazing revelation on the priesthood that we
now have as Section 84 of the Doctrine & Covenants. As we unitedly exercise our faith
by fasting and praying for the Lord’s help to convert and baptize 44 more people by
September 30th, we can expect revelation, both for ourselves and our investigators.
Power in missionary work comes from the Lord when we do everything we can do.
Please remember to pray every day that we will meet our goal. We also invite you to
join us in a “quick study” of the Atonement in the Book of Mormon for the next two
months. Start with a new copy and follow the schedule below, marking everything you
learn about the Savior and His Atonement. We promise that your love for Jesus Christ
and your understanding of His Atonement will increase. His gospel will be written in
your heart, making you a more powerful instrument in His hands.
We love you!
President and Sister Cutler
A Short Time Left: August 3, 2015
Hello Everybody!
This week I came to the sudden realization that I will only be e-mailing all of you as a missionary 11 more times... That's totally crazy! I seriously cannot believe how quickly this has gone. You know, I never believed the cliche things that people told me about how fast your mission will fly by, but now I understand why they say it. Because it's true! I only have 2 Fast Sundays left! AAAHH!!
So Elder Uppencamp and I have two baptismal dates right now: Brandon and Ariana. Brandon's wife is having a baby today, so we've been praying for them that all goes well. He is a really cool Native American who is actually married (a very rare occurrence here) and will have 3 kids by the end of today. He knows a lot about the gospel already, having been taught by missionaries before, so it's been really neat to go back and visit him and be able to talk about gospel principles that are familiar to him. We haven't set a date with his wife and daughter yet, but hopefully this week we'll be able to! Ariana is the niece of one of the members and we met with her on Tuesday. She's really smart and can make connections better than most adults we teach, and she's only 8! It's so cool to watch the lightbulbs go off in people's heads and see them understand why what we teach is important. Also this week we helped a new investigator family move in: the Parhams. They were being taught by the sister missionaries in Shawano, so already know a bit about the Church, and we're really excited to be teaching them. They have around $1,000 worth of board games, so any guesses what we'll be doing for the next few P-days? ;-)
Today I watched a Mormon Message that I haven't seen before. It's called "Strive." The message is that we should be striving to be our best selves because that's what the Lord expects. One of my favorite quotes that it shares is by Henry B. Eyring that says, "No one is destined to fail." That's so true! We all have divine potential because we are children of God! He created us to succeed, and if we are trying our best to do His will and not ours, then that is how we will change and become a better person. Our legacy will not be forgotten the more and more Christlike we become. Think about Christ. What kind of Man was He, and what legacy did He leave behind? I love the Savior and am ever grateful for His Atonement, which allows me to change and become a better man.
I love you all, too!
~~Elder T. Riggs
This week I came to the sudden realization that I will only be e-mailing all of you as a missionary 11 more times... That's totally crazy! I seriously cannot believe how quickly this has gone. You know, I never believed the cliche things that people told me about how fast your mission will fly by, but now I understand why they say it. Because it's true! I only have 2 Fast Sundays left! AAAHH!!
So Elder Uppencamp and I have two baptismal dates right now: Brandon and Ariana. Brandon's wife is having a baby today, so we've been praying for them that all goes well. He is a really cool Native American who is actually married (a very rare occurrence here) and will have 3 kids by the end of today. He knows a lot about the gospel already, having been taught by missionaries before, so it's been really neat to go back and visit him and be able to talk about gospel principles that are familiar to him. We haven't set a date with his wife and daughter yet, but hopefully this week we'll be able to! Ariana is the niece of one of the members and we met with her on Tuesday. She's really smart and can make connections better than most adults we teach, and she's only 8! It's so cool to watch the lightbulbs go off in people's heads and see them understand why what we teach is important. Also this week we helped a new investigator family move in: the Parhams. They were being taught by the sister missionaries in Shawano, so already know a bit about the Church, and we're really excited to be teaching them. They have around $1,000 worth of board games, so any guesses what we'll be doing for the next few P-days? ;-)
Today I watched a Mormon Message that I haven't seen before. It's called "Strive." The message is that we should be striving to be our best selves because that's what the Lord expects. One of my favorite quotes that it shares is by Henry B. Eyring that says, "No one is destined to fail." That's so true! We all have divine potential because we are children of God! He created us to succeed, and if we are trying our best to do His will and not ours, then that is how we will change and become a better person. Our legacy will not be forgotten the more and more Christlike we become. Think about Christ. What kind of Man was He, and what legacy did He leave behind? I love the Savior and am ever grateful for His Atonement, which allows me to change and become a better man.
I love you all, too!
~~Elder T. Riggs
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