Hey Everyone!!!

I’m on the island of Fogo and its awesome!!!! I seriously love it here. I don’t think it’s ever been so easy for me to pass out at the end of the day. The entire island is uphill and then eventually downhill, by the time the day is over I’m dead. Last night I was just relaxing and accidentally fell asleep at 9:45, and forgot to plan and go to bed at 10:30, i was pooped. Anyway, we had a sweet week!!

Last p-day we went out to eat as a district, it was a lot of fun and really good. I never knew that mayonnaise could be so good on beans and rice, its delicious, try it!!! We had zone conference on Tuesday! It was awesome, some other elders and sisters from another area of Fogo traveled here and stayed the night at our house! There was an elder from Ethiopia, one from here in Cabo Verde. The one from Cabo Verde, elder Nhfe, had a beaten up, ripped paper back Book of Mormon for his main scripture, i don’t even think it had the d and c. I had an extra hard back Book of Mormon that I think Roman Laws gave to me and I gave it to him, i think he was pretty excited. Any way at zone conference I had to bear my testimony cause i was new, we learned teaching techniques, talked about goals and all shared a miracle that we had seen in our mission. I told the one about me in the airport getting past security.

I got to do my first division from my trainer Elder Christensen, having only like 7 days in the field. This wouldn’t be so bad if all the people here didn’t speak Creole. To make it a bit more intimidating, I had an elder that has only been out for a transfer come with me. He doesn’t know Creole yet either, awesome!! However, it went REALLY good! We were able to teach 4 lessons, us newbies. We taught Koko who had been taught in the past and had two Book of Mormons and a bible. We taught the importance of the Book of Mormon and challenged him to read and pray to know the truth. Our next lesson was Sarah at 6:00. I had to put my scriptures in my bag at the church so we ran to the church to get them. At that point we were already late for the lesson. Then I got us lost cause I don’t know the area that well. We ended up being 30 minutes late, and we knocked and she wasn’t there, I thought it was my fault. Then we talked to guys in the street that my temporary companion knew from his mission called Col Fageira on the island of Fogo. While we were talking, Sarah had just arrived back from work. If I hadn’t left my scriptures, got lost and talked to these men from a different part of the island, we wouldn’t have talk Sarah. Sarah is awesome, she has such a strong desire, but she works on Sunday, i think things will work out.

We found a golden investigator. Her name is Maiza, we contacted her on the street and she was talking about how she wants to learn more about our church. She wanted to know if she could live with her daughter after this life, we explained the plan of Salvation, she loved it!! Then we taught the restoration and asked her to pray for the truth. She prayed and says that she knows that we are from God and this is the correct path for her. Maiza, her daughter and her husband will be baptized on the 5th of January, awesome!

We have been working with Jardell, a 14 year old boy who has been taught for months, he has had like 3-4 baptismal dates set, but he always missed church. He will be getting baptized this week on the 22nd. Also, Auginaldo hasn’t drunk in 4 days and has a date for the 29th. He came to church and seemed to very interested

Before church, we had a referral from our branch president about an entire family that drives 40 minutes to come church that want to be taught. We talked with 2 of these family members while, the sisters talked with the others. We have committed them to be baptized on the 12th. After this meeting with this family, we had 10 minutes to go around our entire area and pass everyone to make sure they were coming to church; we sprinted the entire city in our suits and made it!!! we were worried about Jardell but he showed up after the 1st class. We have received 3 referrals for full families that want to learn about this gospel. I know that the Lord has prepared this people, they are ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ in their life. What seemed like so-so transfer may turn out to awesome!

This probably isn’t even half of what happened, but overall, this is the best mission in the world! I love serving here, talking with these humble people and sharing the best message in the entire world. I know the Lord is watching over me and will help this work progress. I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints so much, seriously, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the way we can live with our families forever, i love it so much, i couldn’t ask for a better call.

Love,

Elder Rice