Hello Dear Ones!
Happy Voting Day! My goodness I can feel the anxiousness involving
tonight's announcement...I pray the voters will be intelligent and that
the Lord's will will be done! Happy Birthday this week to my awesome
Sister LaDawn, and to my amazing mother! Hope your birthdays are blessed
and that it reminds you how lucky you are to have had these years here
with all of their joys and sorrows that have made you the incredible
people you are today!
Another week gone! They really are quite slow in the beginning but
are speeding up now and going by faster and faster. I really can't
believe it is already November! Holidays are coming around and it is
getting harder not to miss you all so much. Send lots of pictures! I
want to feel like I was there!
This past week will probably not be in my memory as one of my
favorite...it was pretty hard and my heart was broken but the Lord was
right there to lift me up and help me keep going...as He always is. But I
had another really neat experience with being guided by the Spirit.
Last Friday all of our appointments were falling through again and we
were going from one place to the next with no success and I felt bad
because we were on exchanges and I wanted the sister visiting our area to
have neat experiences and I was just thinking of all of these names and
who we could see and would even be home on a Friday at 1pm. A name of
an less-active young woman came into my head and as soon as it did my
list of names just stopped...hers was all I could think about and what's
crazy is I have never even-met her before. I thought, "Why am I
thinking of her name? ...She's probably not even home...she should be at
school." But it just wouldn't leave and I have learned never to second
guess and to just follow and heed those promptings immediately. So I
flipped a U and we went. We knocked on the door and her mother came and
said her daughter only had class 'til 1 and would be home in about 30
minutes. We asked if we could come back another time because we had a
meeting at 2 to be at. She got her calender to schedule it...in talking
with her at the door we learned that she was baptized into the church
but had left it and not been in years but that she wanted to come back. I
asked if we could come in and share a message with her. We sat with her
and she began to tell us of some struggles she's had but that she had
realized that all of the bad things happening in her life, or that had
happened, started because she stopped going to church...the true Church
of Jesus Christ. She told us of some fears she had for her daughter and
how she wanted her to come back too. She then began to cry and said she
had been praying for angels to come and help her....to come and be in
her home....I told here, "Well guess what? Heavenly Father loves you and
He has heard your prayers, because here we are." She told us being a
single mom was so hard and that it always hurt her feelings when the
Elders would come because they could never come inside when she was
home. Like I always testify...Heavenly Father micro-manages! He knows
every need! We shared our testimonies with her and of the Atonement and
her Savior's love for her. Then her daughter walked in and we got to
meet her and get to know her too. She was a little reluctant and threw
some attitude at us like some 13-year-olds do...but by the end she was
singing a hymn with us and committed to try coming back. I left that
meeting in awe...mostly because I was feeling like I wasn't as in-tune
with the spirit as I have been and that the thought to go see her came
as natural as, "I'm hungry I need to eat." Then to just follow it
immediately and see it was needed and see you were on the Lord's errand
to answer prayer is just indescribable. The spirit doesn't have to shake
us too hard when we are always listening and ready to receive it's
promptings...so don't doubt it if it just feels like a random
thought...hearken to it.
We also had a couple more meetings with the woman, Teresa, that I, a
couple weeks ago, felt prompted to go see on our way to lunch...she is
progressing and keeping all of her commitments and it is so wonderful!
She read everything about the Restoration we asked her too and came to
church and this last weekend we just taught her about where she was
before she came to earth and God's purpose for her here and the worth
she has and all her potential and we related to the sweet baby boy she
is pregnant with right now. The spirit was very strong and at the end we
asked how she felt and she just cried and said, "Very touched." She is
so sweet and you can tell she doesn't like it when we have to leave.
I got to see Micheal Tilly be baptized this weekend! It was one of
the best baptisms I have ever been to. I have been teaching this man
since I came out on my mission and I am not sure how much of him I
mentioned in my letters...but he is the one who is very knowledgeable in
the scriptures and active church-goer his whole life...who had 5 or 6
fellowshippers at each lesson who all use to go to his old church with
him (including his pastor and his wife) and who had all converted to The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was always sooooo
intimidated to teach in those moments and felt like I had nothing to
offer....but again, the Lord showed me tender mercies and that with him
and with the power and authority of this calling He has ordained me to, I
can confound and teach the wise. I honestly never thought I did
much...but he told me with conviction what a blessing I had been to him
and that I had shown him many knew things. His girlfriend (a member who
was at all the lessons) also told me what an especially great blessing I
had been in teaching him...that I was often so inspired with my words
and the scriptures that I shared and that she had thought and said of me
that I was a spiritual giant....Who ME? No...I stood in awe as they
told me these things..in shock..and then just full of gratitude that the
Lord has blessed me and been with me and helped me to be able to teach
this man so full of faith. I was honored when he asked me to sing a duet
with him at his baptism. He has a very Irish kind of sound and voice
and we sang, "Who At My Door is Standing?" and it was really fun to
match my voice to his and sing like an Irish singer...lots of falls and
fast vibrato, ha ha. It was such a happy day!
It was Stake Conference this weekend here in El Cajon and we also
were calling a new Stake Presidency so we had a member of the 70 here,
Elder Kollicker (sp?) And wow! What amazing meetings! I was so filled
with the spirit and very edified. Some things that were said at stake
conference...one man was asked to bear his testimony on the spot and
something he said that struck me was, "If we just do all the things the
Church teaches and has been telling us to do our whole lives, it will
change our lives!" SO TRUE! So silly huh? How miserable we make
ourselves when we know the exact right things we need to be doing to be
happy? My companions and I have come up with this great statement, "We
can do anything, if we just do it!" Think about THAT one for a minute ha
ha..too too true! Also, the Elder shared an amazing experience that the
spirit confirmed to me powerfully. He was in Africa waiting to cross a
bridge in the car and there was a little girl who came up to the window
and pushed her nose against it and looked in at him. She didn't speak
English but he said "Repeat after me...and pointed: I - I, am-am, a-a,
Child-Child, of-of, God-God...and she repeated it. The mission president
started singing the primary song for her to hear. The car moved on and
when it stopped again that little girl came running back to the car and
repeated, "I am a Child of God." He testified that this little girl was
just as present there with any of us when we were in Heaven and heard
the Father's plan and raised our hands to accept it. Her arm was fully
extended just like mine, and just like yours...and it is up to us to be
that voice of remembrance. Wow...it truly is. Do we love our brothers
and sisters here on earth enough to remind them of who they are and to
help them get back home to our Father in Heaven? Isn't that what we all
promised to do?! How are you fulfilling that promise?! What more can you
do? It is truly up to us. You do not need a name tag!
I say it every week and I'll say it again! I LOVE BEING A
MISSIONARY! You all can have this kind of joy in your life too! It comes
from sharing the gospel, serving, and loving others unconditionally
simply because you know they came from the same place you did and are
trying to get to the same place you are, whether they realize it or not!
I love you all so so much! Thank you to those who have sent me
letters and little emails of encouragement! It means the world to me
to be thought of so much and I hope you keep them all coming! Your love
and support really does lift me up and keep me going!
Love Always,
Sister Riggs
