Dear Family and Friends,
I can't believe I am writing you guys my fist letter after a week at the MTC, this is absolutley crazy!!!!! I miss you all like crazy, but I can assure you I am in the right place! Man, this place is great! My companion for the next 8 weeks will be Elder Heagney (pronounced Hey knee), he is the only Australian that came in this last wednesday! He has the craziest accent ever and I love it!!!! He says things without the pronuniation of r, its really funny. and he calls candy "lollis", and says things like "dodgey" and a bunch of other stuff. I joke around with him but we are really tight with each other only after 6 days! I love this guy so much, I got so lucky getting such a great companion that loves the gospel so much, he has a crazy awesome testimony and know doctrine and can teach great! My district is just awesome, we all clicked and are just becoming great friends, we have alot of fun, but still work really, really hard. The first day of the MTC, we went straight into portuguese class and the teacher only spoke portuguese! I have never learned something so fast in my entire life. My only explanation is the spirit. After 2 days of learning gospel words and such, me and Elder Heagny taught our first lesson to a mock investigator, solely in portuguese. We said a heartfelt prayer before our teaching and then went into the room. I was able to formulate sentences and teach simple and basic principles to "Renato". Learning the language before i came to the MTC helped "heaps" (thats another thing the aussie says haha). I was miles ahead before i even got to the MTC, it says alot of frustration. The branch president made us a challenge to start over in our book of mormon reading and read the book of mormon in 8 weeks. That seems pretty fast, but when you do the math its about 4 chapters a day. I have never been so excited to read the book of mormon in my entire life, I am so pumped!! The Book of Mormon is the word of God, i can tell you that. Its kinda funny how just about every missionary here has a way that they gained their testimony. One thing I've seen is almost everyone here says they didnt know the book of mormon was true, and all they did was ask there father in heaven if it is true and they all recieved answers. I can tell you that I too didnt know and only by asking God did i know that the Book of Mormon was true. I love the Book of Mormon so much, if we would just be willing to listen to its counsel we would be closer to God, understand and become like Christ and have a happier life. I challenge everybody to read the Book of Mormon in 8 weeks, its easy!!! Wow wasn't conference amazing!!! How about President Monson coming out with that missionary statement for girls and guys, never saw that coming! I guess I'll see danny in 4 years, that kinda makes me sad, but he'll be doing great work. I loved David A. Bednars talk about being converted to the Lord. I also really like Jeffery R. Hollands talk about the apostles and Christ and how there is so much work to do. Conference pretty much just got me stoked to serve. I love this gospel, its makes me happy. Cant wait to share it with the world. The food here is so good! Except for I feel 10 pounds heavier after 6 days. I have a dessert with almost every meal i gotta stop haha. I just do push ups, pull ups and sit ups. Im getting out of shape, but thats alright, thats not the point of a mission haha. Chad Lewis, an LDS ex-NFL player for the Eagles came and gave a devotional, it was inspiring and about working hard on our missions and the benefits of a mission. I got to meet him!!!!! We had a second lesson with the fake investigator Renato. We taught him a simplified plan of salvation and doctrine of Christ all in portuguese. We asked him if he'd follow the example of the Savior and be baptized but he said maybe another day, we are gonna get him. Me and Elder Heagny are such effective teachers, we kill it together, im so glad we are companions!! Overall the MTC is absolutely awesome, im learning so much, having a ton of fun and working as hard as I possibly can. I love this church, everyone is so nice here and I cant wait to get out of here and serve in Cabo verde! By the way, i wont be able to write friends by email, so you can either write to the address I have in this message or you can log onto dearelder.com, where all you do is type a letter on the internet and it comes directly to me without writing a letter and you dont have to buy any stamps!!!! All you have to do is look me up with the information i have below. I will write anyone that sends my mom your address. I have no ones address but if you send it to my mom ( who forwards the emails) I will write you. Writing at dearelder.com will be the easiest thing you can do and wont take anytime. I would love to hear from everyone!
Elder Matthew William Rice
MTC Mailbox # 166
CAP-VDP 1204
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793