November 14, 2013

Mauri Utu and Raoraon!!! (Hey Family and Friends in Kiribati)

Thank you everyone for your comforting words in all that we have been through. I love you all sooooooooooooooooooo much! This was our last full week!!!! Insane right? We got our travel plans and leave on Monday, November 18th. Yeah, a day earlier than I thought. Weird, but so exciting! I just really want to be able to get out there. I am loving the MTC, but seriously, I can't wait to be in the Philippines! This week has been wonderful! I got to be a host yesterday and greet all the new missionaries coming from all over the world. It was weird because there weren't as many missionaries as usual because the 6 week mark from today is Christmas and they didn't want people to have to leave Christmas day so people being here for 6 weeks will come the next week. Only 301 people came instead of the usual 600. INSANE!! So many missionaries it is wonderful! A teacher was telling us how inspired the timing was for new missionaries and that we are running out of time. That is kind of freaky. But AWESOME!!! Maybe the 2nd coming is on it's way. We have gotten to hear stories about the Philippines and just get more excited! It has been hard to focus though since it is our last week. It seems like there isn't much else we can learn here now, we'll just have to get the hang of it once we arrive. But we did have both of our MTC investigators agree to BAPTISM!!! It was so cool. Even though they aren't real, the Spirit was totally there when we talked with them and had them agree to baptism. It made us feel so good. The language is definitely coming, but there is so much I still have to learn. I know what I will be doing on the plane. Studying vocab and phrases, reading the Book of Mormon, and sleeping, hopefully catching up on sleep. It will be so nice to have so much personal time ;)

Okay so the speakers this week!! NO WAY, i feel so blessed. seriously. I got to sing in the MTC choir again and sang Redeemer of Israel, it was SUH-WEET! And I love the director. But anyway we heard from Sister Cheryl Esplin, the 2nd counselor in the Primary General Presidency who spoke to us on having faith and bringing people to Christ. In 2 Tim chapter 3 it talks about the perilous times that were going to happen, that are happening right now. It's crazy. Then we heard from Richard I Heaton again and loved it. He speaks with so much power and what he talked about really applied to our lives right now. Then, just wait for it. ... . we got to hear from . . . . . 

Elder L. Tom Perry and his wife!!! WOW, I couldn't believe it. The choir director said that enthusiasm is L Tom Perry's favorite word and it sure is. He says that to L Tom Perry uses it all the time and says it means full of the Spirit. I wanted to test it to see if he really was enthusiastic, he sure was! He jumped right up to the pulpit and throughout his talk he really showed enthusiasm. He talked a ton about the Philippines and it was neat to know about how many people know about what is going on. L Tom Perry said that the Quorum of the 12 actually talked about it today, meaning Tuesday. HOLY TAMOLEE, that's so cool. Our mission was talked about this week by the quorum of the 12 apostles.  It is so scary, but where we are going hasn't been hit. Apparently there is a lot of flooding, like always and strong winds, but nothing to harmful. I can't wait for all the service we will be doing. I know now why we all had to wait until now to go, this is so cool. I can't believe this has all happened, but hopefully  we will be able to help in some way spread some love and hope. He talked a ton about staying with your companion and how we will be protected if we are with them and love them. And so many other things I just don't have time. The main thing he stated was to 1. make sure companionship inventory happens. It is IMPORTANTE KAAYO! (super important) 2. Teach them the Scriptures, they are the most powerful tool in conversion. 3. Teach by the Spirit so be worthy to have it with you.
 4. Be a good listener to the spirit and to your investigators. 5. NEVER LEAVE a congregation without baring your witness of the truth. Wow, that was amazing. I learned so much from him and his wife and it makes want to strive to be better. I love it!

His talk made me think of my companion and things are so much better. We have gotten so close, she talks to me more now and is super cute. There still are days she doesn't talk a whole bunch, but it's probably just because we are speaking English and she really doesn't have a ton to say. she will tell me what her and her friends talk about and she includes me more. We got to talk to her parents and it was so great. They actually speak English incredibly well, I was impressed. After she talked with them she felt so much better has decided to stay on a mission for sure and it's just been wonderful. I think she just needed time with her parents to talk. She was so giddy last Thursday when we did get to talk and so cute. I LOVE HER TONS AND HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM HER. I know why we were companions, so thanks for the prayers. LIFE IS GREAT ;D

So we leave this Monday and here is our itinerary: We leave Salt Lake City at 4:58 pm November 18th. We arrive in LA 5:56 pm, leave from LA at 9:10 pm, AR in Manila at 4 am, YIPEE, LV Manila at 7 am, and AR in Cebu at 8:15 sa buntag (morning)! It will be long, but so cool! Oh and we get to call our families in the Airport so I would expect us to be at the airport in the afternoon so maybe expect a call around 2, 3, or 4. If you have a time you'd like me to call please write a Dear Elder Letter to let me know when and what number to call!

So my address in the Philippines will be: 

                               Sister Laurel Ann Riggs

                               Philippines Cebu Mission

                               Temple Complex CJCLDS

                                   Gorordo St. Lahug,
                                         Cebu City
                                          6000 Cebu

as far as I know, but if it is different I will let you know for sure. Also I found out that it works better if you send things with pictures of Christ or Virgin Mary on it because then the people think that it is for the church and won't think it's valuable. But really, I won't need anything while being here. I am totally fine just waiting to receive gifts and things when I return. E-mails mean just as much, plus it will take a while to ship and is expensive so really, AYAW KABALAKA!! (don't worry) about sending anything :) k!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ellie, Grandma Riggs, Grandma Pace, and Desi, and others I missed. Sorry about such late notice. I have been thinking about you on your birthdays and hope all is well!!!! AND have a WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE, MAANINDOT THANKSGIVING!!!! I'm going to miss being with family for Thanksgiving, but maybe we'll do something cool in Cebu, who knows.

I wish I had more time, but I have to get going thanks again for all the letters and packages and prayers that I've been getting I feel so loved.

Have a MARVELOUS WEEK, EAT A TON,  a little extra for me hehehehe ;) and I LOVE YOU ALL. 

    Sister Riggs

November 7, 2013

HEY ALL!!!! KOMUSTA KA? (HOW ARE YOU DOING?)

I'm doing just dandy! Loving life, learning a ton, and studying.I keep wondering if time has gone by fast for you all or not. I feel like since there is so much packed into the day the days go kinda slow, but weeks are sooooooooooo fast. WEIRD!! 

So this week we have been doing pretty much the same thing, nothing super exciting has happened, but I am still learning a ton. The investigators we teach are our teachers, which makes it fun, but one of our investigators agreed to baptism!!! AHHHH, it isn't the REAL word, but we still got so excited, I couldn't believe it. His name is Jerrick and he is really doing well. He said he doesn't feel ready, but wants to get baptized so we will just keep teaching him until he feels ready. I can't wait. It will be nice to actually have people commit to things and do things for real, it's kind of scary, but cool! 

Tuesday, was a very interesting day. We started out the day with personal exercise and my companion didn't really want to join us. She did the same thing last week, but we just kind of let her be. So Sister Grigg, a Sister in our district and one of the Sister Training leaders went to go talk with her and tell her that exercise is important and that it will relieve stress and that we need to be obedient and do the things we are supposed to. Sister Tune, my companion was already feeling stressed and homesick and who knows what else so she started crying. Something just triggered it I guess. So we went to breakfast, but she didn't want to eat so I just let her be, but Sister Grigg kind of forced her too and that made things worse. After Sister Grigg talked with her for a little bit we came to come check on them and see what was going on. Both of them looked sad, but Sister Tune was the one crying. She said she wanted to go home and to see a counselor right then? OH MY GOODNESS. That triggered something in me and I started to cry to. What is this? I hardly ever cry. Well, maybe just everything is piling up inside or something, basta (anyway) while they went to go see the counselor Sister Warner took me back to class. I was blaming myself for everything. I was worried she wanted to go home because I wasn't being a good enough companion. I kept thinking that I wasn't being there for her or just so many little things that I thought I was doing wrong. She had joked about going home before, but I didn't think she was really thinking of it. During personal study I wrote her a letter telling her how much I love her and that she has such a strong testimony and that she can totally do this. I encouraged her as much as I could and told her Heavenly Father wouldn't have put her here if he knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. He only gives us trials we can get through. It's great! I also added some scriptures in their and gave it to her later that day. We were not getting a lot of studying done because I just kept thinking of her and hoping she was doing fine. Every time I would look over at her tears would be streaming down her face. It made me feel so bad. She made an appointment to talk to her parents, but when we went to go try, we couldn't get through. It just kept saying, "Calls are not permitted to this country." We tried so many times with the sweet counselor man, and it still didn't work. So he told us we could come try again on Wednesday. After taking a nap she felt a ton better and then we got some food in her. As the day went on she did get better, but still seemed sad. Singing songs would trigger emotions or other things. It was just sad. Later that night we heard from Sister Jan Zwick and W. Craig Zwick of the 70! I feel so lucky to be hearing from all these wonderful speakers of the seventy! All that they said went perfectly with what had gone on the whole day. They talked about obedience and how doing what's right brings blessings and how disobedience brings spiritual/physical pain and unwanted consequences. Also we were given principles to follow. 1. Follow inspired Priesthood counsel 2. listen and act on the voice of the Spirit. 3. obey the commandments. We will be protected if we follow these commandments. Also the Preach My Gospel book is a sacred gift-an inspired book so we need to use it all the time. And Christ has a pattern we can follow. 1. Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ. 2. Have a perfect brightness of hope. 3. have a love of God and for all men 4. Feast upon the words of Christ 5. Endure to the End. Elder Jacobs in our district mentioned that he doesn't like the word endure because he thinks it sounds like a bad thing and we are hanging on for dear life. We need to triumph and prevail through trials not just endure. We talked about the devotional after and I love hearing everyone's insights, it's wonderful! She is so much better now and wants to stay, but it was scary at first. 

And fast Sunday was so wonderful here! We had Mission Conference and heard from all the members of our District Presidency. They all are so inspiring and I admire them for all they do for us. I loved hearing members of our zone bare testimonies during sacrament meeting. I got to bare mine and it was great. It was cool to hear a little about everyone's background story and what they know about the gospel. And we made it until 5:30, dinner time!! YIPEE! It feels good to fast until dinner.

Well, I gotta go, I so wish I had more time to e-mail, but that's been my week. We just keep studying so there's not a ton to report back to, but here's what happened. It was intense. So thanks again for all the letters and things that have been sent to me, I am so spoiled. You are all wonderful, and the church is true. I have had so many tender mercies being here and I hope you are all looking out for them everyday. 

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!! 

October 31, 2013

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FAMILY AND FRIENDS! 

I hope this week has been super exciting! It's cool I get to write you on Halloween. I'm glad Halloween is on our p-day so we can be two different things. One, a normal person. WOE, WEIRD, and two a MISSIONARY!! I bet none of you guessed that huh? 

Well a lot has happened this week HOLY COW! We got to hear from a ton of cool speakers and learned so much from them. In Sister Loraine Swenson's talk we all read scriptures together and were able to make comments. Usually in Relief Society here we just get spoken to, but it was kind of nice to have a little bit of a variety. So she is from the Relief Society General Board and my favorite scripture she shared with us was D&C 25:7-16. A lot stood out to me in those scriptures. I learned we are ordained under His hand, we need to expound upon the scriptures. Do not have fear, have courage, ALL things shall be revealed unto them according to their faith. And of course Baylie's favorite kasulatan (scripture) D&C 25:12! My soul delighteth in the song of the heart. Be aware of Pride and in Heaven we will be able to receive a crown of righteousness. I love that part!! We also heard from Rogger Connors who used to be a Branch President here at the MTC. He was a convert and decided to make everything right before baptismal date. It's cool he was so dedicated. His parents said they wouldn't let him in their house if he got baptized, but he still chose to do so because he knew it was true. He told us that the word for fun isn't found in the scriptures because fun only lasts for a short time and then it is over. Joy lasts forever and it is found in the scriptures a ton. He told us we can count on Christ to always be there for us and we should put our trust in Him. His advice was to be converted to him, love the people we teach and be a representative of Jesus Christ. 

Later Sunday night we watched a video of when Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to the MTC on Thanksgiving day in 2012! He stated that we will never do anything more important than this. We are going to be engaged in saving a human soul-the most important thing in the universe. Wow, I love him so much!!! ;) 

Tuesday we got to sing in the MTC choir again and loved it! We sang "Be Still my Soul" which is such a great song with wonderful harmony. Carlos A Godoy of the 70 spoke to us and WOW, i'll tell you what WOW! He told us his conversion story and it was so powerful. He would get really spiritual and start crying and then be funny and crazy and shake the microphone. He was a wonderful speaker from Brazil. 

Also Sister Rimai had a hard week this week. OH MY GOODNESS. She is such a strong Sister. I can't even imagine. Well here it goes. . . .  both of her parents passed away last Thursday. :( What?! HOLY SMOKES. She didn't even tell us until Friday night. Friday during one of our classes we were talking about the Plan of Salvation and how we don't need to explain every little detail, but just explain the parts that pertain to investigators and that they will learn from. She started crying because she said she felt really close to her parents right then. We hoped she was fine, but didn't really tell us anything else. So we had a great day and then were all getting ready for gym and I came back from the bathroom and a few of the Sisters in my room were just outside the door. One was talking to Sister Rimai I guess and then we found out what had happened. None of us could believe this. How was she able to act so normal and be totally fine. She is my hero. We all talked for a while about things and she seemed to be doing okay, but was crying quite a bit. I mean two parents really? I just didn't want her to think that it was her fault or anything like that. I hope she's okay. So the two sisters in our room that are training leaders went to go tell our Branch President and the Zone leaders and our District leader what had happened. We were going to see if we could get Sister Rimai a blessing tonight. So they ran all over the place while the rest of us were still talking. It was perfect because Sister Tune is really good at English so she was able to translate for us how Sister Rimai really was feeling. Because Sister Rimai doesn't know as much English as Sister Tune. So that night we got to go back to the classroom and watch one of our Zone leaders Elder Reupena give her a blessing. OH MY, THAT WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!!! The Spirit there was sooooooooooooo STRONG. and the power of the priesthood is so real and so incredible. We started out the "meeting" with the song "Families can be together Forever" AHHHH, who choose that song, that is probably one of the worst songs you could possibly sing at a time like this. I mean, it was perfect, because it tied in so well, but really? Everyone was balling, including me. I think I maybe sang the first line, and seriously could not sing anything else. The song kind of worked out, but everyone was sniffling and their eyes were puffy and pouring out tears. If someone were listening in they probably couldn't here even what the song was. MAN! So then he gave Sister Rimai the blessing. It was one of the most powerful blessings I have ever heard. It talked about how she will be able to withstand this storm and that she is so brave and that her Heavenly Father is watching out for her right now. I can't even believe it. I would be so lost right now if I were her. She doesn't even want to go back to the funeral, she wants to stay here, finish strong, and go on a mission. What a trooper. I admire her so much for her positive attitude and her incredibly strong testimony. After the blessing we hugged her and told her how much we loved her. This is a moment hugs were needed. It was so frustrating to not be able to hug our elders after a time like that. We have become so unified, it's amazing. After we the blessing we all caught our breath and cooled down from all the tears, we went to go get ready for additional study tonight. Instead of studying we were going to have FHE as a district. So we all got together and sang "Ako anak sa Dios" ("I am a Child of God") sa Cebuano and then had a little lesson by our district leaders and then pretty much just sang the whole time. I loved it. We sang so many good ones and were able to harmonize and ah, it was so wonderful. People were sharing testimonies and scriptures that had to do with certain songs we sung and the Spirit was just amazing this whole night. After family night we went back to our resident hall and had snacks and wrote in our journals. We just had a girls night. We went to bed around 12:30, because we talked and ate and wrote for a while. I hope Heavenly Father understands tonight and is okay with us not going to bed at our usual time. I just can't believe what has happened and hope that Sister Rimai is okay the next few weeks and even out in the field. 

Insane right? Well I just wanted to bare my testimony and say  I am so grateful for sa opportunidad pagerbisyo kanimo (the opportuinty to serve thee). Being here has strengthened my testimony so much and I am so grateful for that. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he really did die for me and every single person here, individually. That is crazy. He sacrificed so much. And same with Joseph Smith. I can't believe all that Joseph Smith had to deal with from friends and everyone else. He always stood for what was right! I am grateful for both of their examples and for this gospel. I am so so so grateful for the knowledge of forever families and can't wait to always have them with us in Heaven. I say these things sa ngalan ni JesuKristo, Amen. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week. Thanks for all the support and love I have been getting. It makes me feel so great! 

Love Sister Riggs (Laurel)

Second Email!

October 24, 2013

Komusta ang akong pamilya ug mga amigo!! 

I have loved all the letters I got from each of you so thank you so much! I hope you are all doing well and are having a wonderful time in school at work or whatever you are doing. Sometimes I still feel like I am in school because I am learning a ton and study a lot, but it's more fun that than. And the feeling here is better. 

First of all thank you so much Bradshaw's for that delicious bread. I'm pretty sure it was homemade and man did that make my day. And the honey butter!! Wow, that means so much. And my district loved it. So you all are great ;) Also tell Kayla CONGRATULATIONS for me, that is sooooooooooo exciting. I know she will do incredible and bring so many people to this gospel because of her strong testimony. 

And sorry Grandma and Aunt Rebecca I got your letters, which were so sweet and heartfelt, but I don't have time to write back separately, but they made me feel so loved when I read them so thank you. And Grandma, just ask my family about Dear Elder, you need to make an account, then you are good to go. 

So last week I didn't get to say all I wanted about last week, but I wanted to say that when Dallin H. Oaks spoke I got to be in the MTC choir. HOLY SMOKES!! Most amazing experience ever. We got to sing Praise to the Man and wow, it was so powerful. Our director told us a lot more about Joseph Smith which made the song a lot more meaningful. That night was broad casted to all the MTC's in the world. And apparently the camera showed me and Sister Hamson, a girl in my District 2 times, during the video. It was so hard not to look up to be able to see yourself, but I was able to manage. It was just cool to hear friends come up to me and say they saw me in the choir. I am so doing that again. I love being in that choir. It's wonderful!

   We got 2 new investigators this week to teach and I feel more comfortable with Cebuano. I can at least make simple sentences in my head without reading from the books, but sentences for lessons are so obscure and don't sound anything like the normal words so they are a little more difficult. My companion and I are trying not to use our notes as much, but it is tricky. It's just easier to connect with the investigator that way. Then they trust you more. Oh and the investigator I told you about last week that we taught, um. . . . yeah,  he's our teacher. WHAT?! that was so weird when we found that out. So both our "investigators" are our teachers. Which makes it kind of hard to stay in character, but they are both super nice, which makes it easier. We were told to think of the investigator as a friend you have always wanted to share the gospel with and pretend like you are teaching to them. 

     It is weird sometimes to know what to do with my kaupon (companion) She is so sweet and I do love her so much, but when I try to talk with her and she isn't saying a lot back to me, it is so hard. I don't know if she just isn't in the mood to talk or is having a bad day. I think it might just be because she misses her family, i'm just not exactly sure. And there are other days she just loves to talk and tells me all about home and other things. And then on the way to dinner or something she'll see some of her friends and just start talking in Kiribas to them and I have know idea what they are saying. So she talks to them a ton with a lot of energy and just seems sad with me. I don't know, but hopefully I can figure her out. Also she likes to take her time doing things. We are late to pretty much everything, so I am definitely learning a lot of patience. I don't know if I should encourage her in a kind way to try to get ready faster or something, but I'm just not sure. I don't want to be to pushy, but feel like I do need to tell her something. I feel like in their country things are a lot more laid back and they don't have to tight of schedules, I just don't know. So maybe i'll just talk to her about it and that would be better than just waiting. Cuz sometimes I can just be waiting for 5-10 minutes, which really isn't that long, but I don't really like being late. plus we have been told, we are on the Lord's time and if we are a 15 minutes late everyday, that means we just wasted 2 weeks of our mission. UGH, WHAT?! I don't want to do that, so I need to do something about it. I do think she's awesome and love her personality. She is starting to come out of her shell little by little, I am just being taught a lot from her. And she doesn't make decisions. Um. . . sound like someone you know?. . . MMMEEEE. oops, guilty. I know how all of you feel now, it's kind of frustrating to always be the one making decisions. That's funny, i understand now. So sorry. but she is great and we have some great times together laughing, taking pictures, and teaching together. I feel like we are becoming more unified as time goes on, it's great!!! 

         The teachers here have taught us so much. There are so many different styles in their teaching and they really all are so helpful. I have learned so much more about teaching with the Spirit and listening to the investigators so you know what their needs are so you can help them in all the ways that you can. 

              Oh my gosh the temple is so neat I love having it so close! We get to walk there every Sunday after Sacrament meeting and every P-Day to actually do work at the temple. It is the best thing ever. We just did family names today, one of the sisters in our District had her mom send her some and it was really incredible. While I was doing one name during initiators, the Sister helping me started crying. She told me, wow, she must have been waiting. AHHH, that was so cool so hear her say she knows this lady has been waiting to get her work done and have me be the one helping her. 

        This week has been pretty cool, we do the same thing over and over which kind of gets old. We have so much class time, but it has been refreshing to hear new speakers and teach new people and be taught from different people. This week we got to hear from Sister Elizabeth Rose a member of the General Board who talked to us about her mission in Japan and how we need to bring "souls unto Him". I love that. Also from Stephen B. Allen, managing director in the missionary department. And Lynn G Robbins, of the 70 and his wife, Jan Robbins. Does Grandpa know him? All that they have said has really given me inspiration. I don't have time to say it all, but I did write it down and will read it throughout my mission and be able to share so much more of it when I get home. The parts that stood out to me in their talks were if we are diligent and obedient we can be GOLDEN missionaries. I love the way Jan Robbins put that. We were told again and again by Lynn G. Robbins to open our mouths, how can Heavenly Father put people in our paths if we don't open our mouths? He related that to the chances of hitting a ball in baseball without swinging. um. .  . it doesn't happen. I thought that was a perfect example. We also need to open our eyes before our mouths and make sure that we teach people not lessons. We can't just go up to some one and start reciting what we have memorized from a lesson, we have to ask them questions about themselves and get to know them before we know what they need to be taught or what they already know. It is so much better to connect with people than contact them. I think that is so sweet and so true. I have learned so much from being here, and I have probably heard these things a thousand times, but it all seems to relate to missionary work. Even scriptures I read, I can apply it to my life right now. It's weird. I never thought about certain scriptures that way before, it's neat. 

I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, my thoughts are probably scattered everywhere and I really don't like how we don't have much time to write to everyone. It's annoying. Please bare with me. And forgive me for again not having tons to say, but life here is great and it feels more like home with people here from school. I love it!!!

Thanks for all you're great examples and for all I have been sent, I love getting mail and having so much support, it's WONDERFUL!!! It feels like Christmas, just like when new people come into the MTC, i feel so cool since I've been here for 2 weeks now. I feel like I know where things are and kind of what I am doing, it's great!

i'll try to send more pictures/info next time, but this is what I had time for 

I LOVE YOU ALL TONS AND HOPE ALL IS GOING WELL!!!! 

             SINCERELY SISTER RIGGS (LAUREL)