Just Like Old Times

Hi everyone!!

Not much to say this week, but the work has been moving along! A pipe exploded at our house earlier this week so we were without water for a day and a half. But we got to go stay the night with the other sisters in Vancouver! It was really weird staying in my old apartment with my old companion but so much fun.

Something I have been focusing more on this week has been daily repentance. One of my STL's challenged me to ask Heavenly Father every night in my prayers "Did I give you everything today?" When she first asked me to do that I was terrified because I thought I would just go to bed feeling guilty and chastised every night. But, as I have asked Heavenly Father, I have felt His love so strongly! I'm definitely not perfect and I haven't had a perfect day, but He does know that I am trying and I am repenting and when I do, I can feel of His perfect love and patience with His very imperfect daughter.

"Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind." -President Nelson

I love you all!

Love, Sister Rigby

درس فارسي‎

Hey everyone!

We heard from past North Shore missionaries that there was a man that taught them Farsi every week... so we called him and now Sister Horton and I are learning Farsi! It's so hard haha I don't remember anything he taught us last night
We're learning it because everybody we are teaching right now is from Iran and we teach an English class twice a week to a bunch of Iranians. They are the best people ever!

We've been teaching Eli a lot this week and it has been really great with her, but she won't be able to be baptized as soon as she hoped. For Iranians to be baptized, our church requires that they have a Permanent Residence (basically a green card) in Canada. It is just to make sure that they won't be deported or have to go back to Iran for any reason because if they go back as a Christian they will be killed. It's a really tough and sad situation because so many Iranians are so ready to be baptized and have very strong desires to follow Christ, but the process just takes a lot longer for them.

We had a church tour with a man named Salar earlier this week (he's also from Iran). We just showed him the rooms, talked about the organization of the church, then ended in the chapel and bore our testimonies. He expressed to us that he doesnt just believe in Jesus Christ, but he loves Jesus Christ! The Spirit was so strong as he tried to find the words to express his testimony, so we invited him to be baptized and he said yes! Obviously we don't know when because of the PR thing, but we are all so excited. He told us of how when he first walked through the doors of our church, he knew that he would find his family here and he would raise his family here. It was so sweet!

Other than the amazing Iranians, we got to go visit the Squamish branch yesterday! It was BEAUTIFUL! I didn't ever want to leave. The branch was so good. Really tiny, but really great. There were only 7 regulars and 10 visitors haha. But we had a lunch right after church and some of the visitors stayed and we made a lot of new friends! We also met a cute 9 year old girl that wants to take the lessons from us, she just has to get permission from her mom and then we will teach her over skype!

Another great week in the most amazing place in the entire world  (besides St. George, of course)

Love you all!
Sister Rigby

SURPRISE!

Hey everyone!!

Sorry this email is a little longer... but my first week in North Shore and it was AMAZING! So many surprises every single day. First surprise- Sister Horton and I are covering the North Shore ward AND two branches! So once a month we get to go up to Squamish and Sechelt and work with those little branches. I'm so excited for it!

Second surprise- we have to teach English class... yeah our first class did not go well haha. We had about 10 minutes to prepare... luckily only 3 women showed up and they were very kind and understanding.

Third surprise- we met with the North Shore bishop and he asked us to work with the Elders Quorum second counsellor to make a 30 minute presentation on how we can get the ward members more involved in missionary work and to present it two days later at ward council... so yeah a little stressful but so exciting! This ward is already incredible and the work moves so quickly when the ward and the bishop are supporting you.

The last surprise is more of a miracle- we were at church yesterday and this woman approaches us and says she wants to be baptized! We told her we had to meet with her to teach her a few things and that there were other things she needed to do before she could be baptized. We asked when she wanted to meet and she said "right now." So we sat down with her, talked about baptism, why she wanted to be baptized, her background, and the covenants we make. When we taught her about the Holy Ghost she got so excited knowing she could have that feeling with her always! The Spirit was so strong and she is SO ready! We set up lots of times to meet her for the next two weeks and she will be baptized as soon as possible! Sister Horton and I were in shock all day long hahah.

God is so so good and He is just waiting to pour out His blessings on us!

"And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Ether 12:6

Going North

Hey everyone!

I got my transfer news.... I'm being transferred to North Shore (aka North Vancouver)! So I'm not going very far haha but I am so excited! My new companion and I are going to be the first sisters up there in a long time and we will be the only missionaries! All the sisters in my zone have been joking with me because I keep saying that it is my dream to be one of the first sisters sent up north (as in Prince George) and now my dream is coming true and I'm being one of the first sisters sent up north... just not as far north as I was hoping haha.

I am excited for this upcoming transfer but so sad to leave Van 1st and Sister Dagley. This past transfer has been so much fun! It has definitely been challenging, but Sister Dagley and I have worked so well together and we've seen a lot of miracles! I know I'll continue to see miracles with my new companion in North Van.

This past week was really good... I honestly can't remember what happened because all the days just blend together. But I do remember the 4th of July. It was so sad. I was the only person wearing red, white, and blue. The only people who said Happy 4th of July to me were some Irish guys on the bus. But all the sisters had our own 4th of July BBQ and made some hot dogs so that was good. I hope everyone in America enjoyed the fireworks for me!

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

1) Me and my BFF Sister Curd
2) 4th of July BBQ 🇺🇲
3&4) Sister Dagley
5) My favorite city :)

🇺🇲❤🇨🇦

Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦
And Happy 4th of July!!! 🇺🇲

This week was so great! On Tuesday we went to Langley and had a Zone Conference with the whole mission to say goodbye to President Wong. Then he left on Thursday and we got our new president, President Wahlen! Monday was Canada Day, then Tuesday we went to Langley again and we met President and Sister Wahlen. They are so amazing! I'm excited for the next 13 months with them.

Today we got to go back to Langley and actually go inside the temple. It was so nice! I have missed the temple a lot. The Vancouver temple is BEAUTIFUL! I love it so much.

Transfers are next week which is crazy! The past 6 weeks have flown by! I have grown to love Vancouver and I don't want to leave... I'm praying I can stay one more transfer. Sister Dagley has been such an amazing companion, we've had a lot of amazing experiences together.

I love the mission SO MUCH! People reject us all the time, we're exhausted 24/7, we're always stressed about others, and people's agency frustrates us but I am so happy and have never felt closer to Jesus Christ in my life!

I hope you all have a great week!!

♥️Sister Rigby
1)The temple!
2) HIIT Squad
3)Surrey, Vancouver, and Abbotsford Zones with President Wong
4&5)yellow with the Vancouver sisters ️⭐

6)our friend Theo! He's an exchange student from Korea :)

Chef in Training

Hey everyone!

Sorry I didn't email last week, I didn't have a ton of time! It's been another crazy week. This week will be crazy too... President Wong is leaving! Tomorrow we're having a multi-zone conference all day long and I'm so excited! And then our new mission president, President Wahlen, will get here on Friday.

Sister Dagley and I are doing so great here in Vancouver! We only have 2 weeks left this transfer so we're praying we get to stay together. She's teaching me how to cook since I've set the fire alarm off twice in our apartment hahah. She said "You're training me how to be a missionary and I'm training you how to not kill people while you cook."

I still can't believe how fast time is flying. It feels like I just got here yesterday. I'm loving every minute of my mission! I don't ever want to come home! Sorry family.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Rigby

PICTURES!
1)Our spiritual Father from Turkey, Erol
2)Zone Pday!
3)Sister Ostler!

4)Me and Sister Griffin

5)The city 🤩

Freezer Trash

Hey everybody!

This has been the busiest week of my mission so far... I can't even remember everything that happened!

Something really embarrassing happened... some women from church asked us what the weirdest thing about Canada was and we told them it was that they put their food scraps in their freezer. Then all the women started laughing at us and told us somebody must be pulling a prank on us because nobody does that... so somebody and some point told the missionaries that we have to put our compost bin in the freezer and all of us have been doing it since but apparently that's not what they do here. So yeah, that was a bit embarrassing hahah.

We got to teach a guy named Aaron who made it very clear at the beginning of the lesson that he was not interested in converting and he just wanted to learn more about our church. We taught him the Restoration and after we told him the First Vision he just leans back and goes "Wow... that's beautiful. I can feel that!" Then we gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read and pray to know if it's true. He said, "I will read it, BUT I'm not going to pray... Actually, what am I saying, of course I'll pray about it! God is not going to lead me astray." We're meeting with him again this Tuesday so we'll see how that went for him (but I'm pretty sure it went really well).

My favorite thing is to teach people the First Vision. There's no way you can read, listen to, or say the First Vision without feeling the Spirit! And that's because it is true! Joseph Smith did see God and Jesus Christ and through him, the Church of Jesus Christ was restored.

Love, Sister Rigby

Pictures!! 

 
1) Bubble tea with Sister Ostler!
2) Me, Sister Dagley, and Sister Ostler

3) Sister Ostler

4) Sister Dagley

5&6) The beautiful portraits my district drew of me at District Council