👸🏻🏯🎎✌🏼

HEYOOOO!

This week was transfers!! I am now in.... ATSUBETSU. Home of the temple, our mission president, and the biggest ward in Hokkaido. I'm also back in the city!!! So many people. My new campionS (yes back to the trio life) are... SATO AND IWASA SHIMAI! They are both transfer 3 and Japanese. So yep I'm breaking 2 nihonjin! Didn't see that one coming!

Not gonna lie I had a bit of a panic attack when I got that transfer call. BUT turns out Atsubetsu is THE BOMB. 

1. We have the APs and honbu elders in our area. The APs right now also just happen to be my favorite elders in the mission so it's a PARTY and they drive us places in their car. (We're the cutest family ever rolling up to church in our swaggin van) 
2. The TEMPLE oh my goodness we get to see our beautiful temple whenever we go to Oyachi. So blessed. 
3. The ward is amazing. So many families so many kids so many YSA so fun. 
4. Our mission president and his family our in our ward!! Which means I get to go to young women's with Kacie and translate for her while my comps go to relief society hahah
5. I GET TO LEARN SHUWA (Japanese sign language) we have a class every Tuesday and our Sunday school class is all in Shuwa! So cool. 
6. The senior couple missionaries are also in our ward and we had a real American BBQ with them and kaicho on Friday!!! 
7. Costcooooooo!!!!!
8. I have a bunkbed!!!!! Which means for the first time in a year I'm not sleeping on the floor🏼

So yeah I'm living the life. Our zone leader called the other night and told me I'm officially the Princess of the mission because not only am I in Atsubetsu buttttt I'm also the only gaijin shimai in Atsubetsu. Reaping the blessings. 

My companions are super sweet. After our first day of being together one of my companions told me that her last transfer had been super hard and she wasn't able to leave the apartment much. She had an interview with kaicho a few days before transfers and kaicho had promised her that her next companion was someone he trusted and that would work hard and teach her how to be a good missionary.... no pressure

I'm so pumped for all the miracles we're about to seeeee! 

じゃっ～ またね。🤙🏽

ウィットリグズー

Saying bye to Yuki :(

Lucky 13 🤘🏼

おはようございます!

We got lost this week. A lot.

Monday we took the 6am train up to Asahikawa and when we got there we realized we left our phone in Ebetsu. First mistake. We had Zone Activity that day at the Suehiro church so we jumped on a bus that we thought would take us there, got off at what we thought was the right stop and walked in what we thought was the right direction forrrreverrrrrrr. We were wrong in every possible way. With no map, no address and no phone we were pretty かわいそう。we talked to sooo many people and no one could help us. We finally found a phone booth but only had one coin. So I called Hymas 長老。He gave us the address to the church but we ran out of time before he could give us any directions. Lay Shimai just looked at me and said "start praying Hymas comes to the rescue." We started walking again foreverrrrrr and right as we were about to turn down the totally wrong road and be lost forever who would come flying down the street but Hymas and Fukuda Choro to the rescue. Miracles are real people!! Hahaha so blessed.

Wednesday we went to the Hokkaido museum with an investigator except Lay Shimai and I got lost AGAIN. this time we decided to take a "bike path" through the woods, hoping it would get us to the museum. Yeah it wasn't a bike path. We started riding down this dirt path which turned to no path which turned to us flying through a bamboo forest which led to a GIANT drop off which we somehow managed to carry our bikes down, across the river and then back up the other side. All in the rain. But hey the museum was cool!

Thursday after teaching eikaiwa in Iwamizawa we jumped on a train back to Ebetsu. Except the train didn't stop in Ebetsu. Or anywhere near Ebetsu. So we got to take a unexpected field trip to downtown Sapporo! Good times.

This week is transfer week!! It's been a crazy 12 weeks with Lay Shimai. We've worked ourselves nearly to death haha but we've seen a lot of miracles. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" Lay Shimai and I definitely kept the faith the past 12 weeks and we've seen so many miracles because of it. The miracles don't come till after the trial of your faith but I know for sure that they come. Crazy to think I've only got 18 weeks left.

頑張りましょう。

愛してるるるる

リグズ

byebye hymas :(

🇯🇵🇳🇱

ヤーホ!

This week we went to Kushiro!!! It's the opposite side of the island from Sapporo. It was a lot of fun. Ozaki Shimai and I decided to do some basketball dendo so we went to this court right on the harbor and played ball right next to the ocean and a bunch of pirate ships. It was awesome!!!

Afterwards we were walking down the harbor and my exact thoughts were: "Wow I like this place. This reminds me of the Netherlands. Man I wanna live in the Netherlands" Literally 2 SECONDS later we walk past a gaijin so I ask him where he's from and he's like "The Netherlands!"

*que me freaking out*

We talked about how great Holland was for a bit. It was a good time.

BUT WAIT it gets better.

The next day we went to catch our bus home and he was there taking the same bus as us to Sapporo!!! 5 hour bus ride with my new Dutch bff. Turns out he's been to SLC and has met the missionaries in Holland (probably my dad) before!!! I gave him the only English "I'm a Mormon" card that I've been carrying around since I left the MTC 10 months ago and told him to find the missionaries again when he goes home.

So cool that God would send probably the only missionary in Hokkaido that knows anything about the Netherlands to the other side of the island the one day that someone from the Netherlands also happens to be on the other side of the island. "There's no such thing as coincidence when you're on the Lords errand" -Elder Bednar. If there's one thing I've learned on my missions it's how God loves His children individually, not just as a mass whole. He'll go through great lengths just to bring a smile or comfort to one person.

In other news North Korea shot a missile this week that came within 70 miles of hitting Sapporo haha...... yeah one of our eikaiwa students told us we should go back to America because Korea is getting closer and closer every week and they're probably going to hit Sapporo by the end of the year. I guess we'll see! Good times in Hokkaido!

愛してるるるる

Rigs

This week we had summer festival and got to wear yukatas (summer kimonos)!!!

🕷🥒🙅🏻

HEYOOO

Happy Pioneer Day !!🎆

This week has been cool beans.

One day we were out housing and we knocked on a million doors and no one talked to us (typical) but the last door we knocked on a lady cameout. We told her we were missionaries and she told us that her daughter had just passed away that day. She was really busy so she couldn't listen to us but she was super grateful we had come. We asked if there was anyway we could help her and we were able to testify of eternal families and Gods love. It was a really sweet moment for me to see that God loved this lady so much that He sent us to her, just to show her He's there and He loves her. She's most likely Buddhist and doesn't even believe in God but He still loves her enough to send us to her.

Saturday we got to go cherry picking with our ward! Turns out Hokkaido is AWESOME. All I've seen of Hokkaido is the city and the farmland so that's all I thought there was BUT we drove 2 hours out and up the coast and holy cow Hokkaido is beautiful! We were cruising up the coast and turned a corner and all the sudden we were in the middle of a rainforest!! So pretty. I love Hokkaido.

Also had the worst experience of my life this week. We were housing and it was dark and we went up to ping a door and it was pitch black and Lay Shimai goes "oh flip don't look behind you" so obviously I did. Then my heart stopped, my legs went weak and I almost died. The BIGGEST spider I've EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. it's legs were probably as thick as my fingers. It was HUGE. once my heart started working again I screamed and ran out of there so fast. Lay Shimais new goal is for me to marry someone who is as afraid of spiders as I am. She thinks it'd be funny, I think it'd end with us burning our house down. I'm ready for the snow to come back so the spiders will go away.

Oh yeah we received 50 cucumbers from people this week so if you have any ideas for using cucumbers let me know.....

愛してるよ

リグビー

1&2- these kids were watching us house and then started going door to door with us hahaha #futuremissionaries. Then we played at the park :)

1 Year Later!

My name is whit rig and I'm a family history addict.

Yesterday at church we were sitting in a lesson about missionary work and Yuki told us the story of when she met us. She said the week before she met us she was so lonely and sad that she didn't leave her apartment for a week. Then she met us, learned the gospel, was baptized and her whole life changed. She was happier than she'd ever been, she was able to start making friends in school and the church members became her family. It was sooo sweet to hear how grateful she is for the gospel. Then she said "im never ever going to forget Rigby and Frank Shimai. They'll be my best friends forever." MY HEART. I love Yuki.

THIS WEEK I HIT MY YEAR MARK WHAAATTTT. It's been the craziest year of my life. Learning a language I never thought I'd learn and loving a people and culture I wasn't sure if I'd ever love. I've had the highest highs and the lowest lows of my life and I've learned more than I could ever imagine. I've made the best friends I could ever ask for. There's no one quite like the frozen chosen:) Most importantly I've come to know that Gods love is real and Jesus Christ is sure proof of that. The Book of Mormon changes lives. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's true church on the earth today. And I am super blessed to know that!!! I can't imagine life without the peace and happiness this gospel brings, especially in the world we live in. I love getting to share that every day, even though it's breaks my heart into a million pieces every time we get rejected (which is 99.9% of the time). Can't wait for these next 6 months :)

So back to the addict thing... this week we were with the elders and someone brought up family history and long story short, we all downloaded the app and we're all ADDICTED. seriously it's all we do with our free time. Gosh I love family history. You all should look into that stuff!!

じゃね!

リグビ姉妹

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived- that is to have succeeded"
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

1- We teach these cuties English
2- My bfffffffffffffffs

How It's Already JULY! 🎉

こんにちは!

We had a crazy big earthquake the other night. It was my companions first earthquake haha it was awesome! (and pretty scary)

This transfers has been pretty tough. We've been working soooo hard every day trying to find people to teach and it's just been rejection after rejection but this week we finally met some really cool people and it's been so fun!! The craziest thing is that THEY have been coming to US. It's still not people that are interested in the gospel but they're willing to let us visit them so it's a start!

We've made a goal to hand out one Book of Mormon everyday and it's been working!! We devote the last hour of our day solely to finding someone that will accept a Book of Mormon. It's been so cool to see God prepare people for us every single day. There's been days we've doubted if we could do it or not but we just kept going with faith and every. single. day. God has provided. If you have a goal, do all you can to achieve it, and trust God, He will do the rest.

One day we went to the park by our house trying to find someone to give a Book of Mormon to. We were riding around and there was a boy playing basketball by himself. He started talking to us so I asked if he's ever played basketball with an American before, he said no so I jumped off my bike and we shot hoops for a bit and then we got to give him a Book of Mormon! We saw him at the park again a few days later and asked if he's been reading and he said yes!! So cool and fun haha.

Tomorrow is my favorite holiday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!! If there's one thing I've learned from all my travels, it's how blessed I am to be American. Enjoy the fireworks and eat lots of watermelon for me. 🇺🇸🎉🎆

愛してるよ

whit

1. Sea snails🐌
2. The dancing never ends

🎁🎊🎈

こんにちは!

Mazu, thanks for all the birthday wishes! Today just started and it's already been my favorite birthday ever.

Holy, this week was jam packed with awesomeness!!!!

On Thursday we had a talent show with half the mission. It was a goodbye to our Mission President and his wife and the Arrington's since they go home this week :( it was sooo much fun to be together and just laugh for a few hours. Early in the week I had the idea that we should do a flash mob for the Nakatsuka's so I called everyone and sent them a video of the dance and it was the last thing we did at the talent show. It was SO fun. It's not everyday you get to have a dance party with half your mission- haha. And It made the Nakatsukas cry.  I love my mission so much.

The next day we had a mission conference and said bye to the Nakatsuka's and Arrington's. It was sooo sad. They really are family to me, I'm going to miss them so much.

This week we went to football practice again and Andy (Yukis friend) asked for a Book of Mormon so we gave him one! Yayyyyy!! Then we were talking to some baseball players and I pulled out an eikaiwa flyer and one of them started freaking out and said "I've gotten one of those before from 2 guys in Hakodate!! And they gave me this old book that I still have!" And I showed him a Book of Mormon and asked if it was the book and he said it was!! So I invited him to church. It was super cool and he was so amazed. And one of the elders that first met him was Bateman 長老!

One day we were housing and we met this guy that was Christian so we gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to church. 20 minutes later we were walking down the street in the rain  and he pulled up in a car and handed us an umbrella and told us to be careful because Hokkaido is cold. It was seriously the most Christlike thing that's happened to me in Japan. Then he told us he wants to come to church!!! What a guy!

I heard the Book of Mormon got translated into Nepali this week!!!!!! Now my favorite country can have my favorite book! They just need some missionaries to give them out... I volunteer!!!

Last but not least, Thursday is the number 1 homie (Lafas) birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We're so ichi we came to earth just 3 days apart. You're my fav kiwi. Have a sick day ya rippa. 愛してる。


リグビ

1. FLASH MOB
2. Squad goals