Hey everyone!

Not gonna lie it was a super awesome Christmas. It super fun to have the Assistants, Elder Bruce and Elder Otterstrom (my trainer) to come out for the weekend. They really have an incredible spirit and they helped us to get some really good work done. However, our Christmas consisted of a morning workout, teaching some investigators, a ping pong tournament (mini pini pong, haha), and a Christmas feast of chicken and mashed potatoes. No complaints here, some snow and a giant Christmas tree would have been nice though haha.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and really got to remember the reason for it all. I love Christmas and all the hymns that help us commemorate the birth and life of our Savior. After all if it wasn’t for Christ, we could never be free from the wickness and filthiness of the world. There is absoultely no other way to true and eternal happiness unless we follow the Gospel of Christ. Many people will try to say differently, but its not true. I have lived it. My life is happy and joyful because of the Gospel.

This week we found 17 new investigators. We are on the hunt to find the Lord’s elect. One of the days I was on a division with Elder Bruce, just about every lesson we had marked fell. The day was off to a rough start. We felt pretty tired so we got a juice. On the road I declared, ''I am going to down this juice and then we are going to find a golden family''. I and Elder Bruce proceeded to chug the whole liter of juice. Then we both yelled ''Golden Family Hour'' high fived and walked down the road. Probably 20 steps down the road I saw a woman in front of her house and came up to her and asked if she had a trash can. She took our juice bottle, but then we proceeded to contact the boyfriend. After a short contact he allowed us to come into their house. We taught them an incredibly simple and short Restoration lesson. They had the light of Christ in their eyes. They were shining. There was something so different about this family. They just looked happy. They told us they were Catholic but didn’t really believe in some of the things the church did with praying to statues and saints. We invited them to pray and they accepted. It was awesome, we are going to see them on Tuesday.

  Recently, we had asked our recent convert, Zeze, for references so we could start teach people that he knows and can help. Zeze used to be a member of the Universal Church, but the church left the island of Maio a few years ago. We asked him if there was anyone he knew from the Universal Church that still did not have a church. And he thought and suddenly a light turned on and said he had a young friend named Kaka that he would always go with. We started to teach Kaka and his family and Kaka really started to show a lot more interest than his family. Yesterday, Kaka came to church and just seemed to love it, you could tell he felt the spirit, his eyes were so fixed on us while we were teaching. later last night we took Kaka to Zeze's house to teach him. Kaka told us that he had in fact prayed about Joseph Smith and he felt the strongest sensation of burning in his chest. He prayed again at night and felt the same thing. He said he had recieved revelation from God. In fact he had. The Holy Ghost testified to him, the things we taught were true. I dont know how much more clearer to say it. God exists, God loves us and He answers our prayers with accordance to our faith. Anyone can know that this is the true church of Christ if they kneel down and pray to ask God. Joseph was called as a prophet to restore the Fulness of Gospel to our modern world.

 I have no doubt that this is true and I could never doubt the revelation I recieved by the Holy Spirit. I love this work. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church on earth that has the fulness of Gospel and the power and authority to administer its ordinances. President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet that recieves revelation to reveal the true Gospel. This is the only way to happiness, I promise, I see it every day.

Love,

Elder Rice

Hey,

Awesome week! We have been working harder than ever to find the Lord’s elect. We have been teaching and finding and walking and knocking, is there anything better? I have never quite experienced the rejection that I have felt on this island haha. A blessing of serving in Cape Verde is that everyone loves the ''Word of God'' and almost all will hear our message, but here in Maio, the Catholic church has taken over and it’s been a bit more difficult. 2 days in a row, EVERY single one of our marked lessons fell. How? I’m not quite sure, but the Lord wants us to learn something.

In the midst of this work we have been teaching some incredible people. Maruka is incredible, he is basically a member, we just have to wait on some papers to go through with the marriage. He comes to ALL church meetings and activities. His testimony is so strong. His wife wants to follow the church, but doesn’t want to be baptized. That doesn’t work, not if you want to be saved in the Kingdom of God. Maruka is a great support, always encouraging and teaching his wife, he is always insisting with her to be baptized with him. His ''wife'' Fatinha is doing super good though. At the end of one of our most powerful lessons with her, I told them we loved them, we pray for them and we would do ANYTHING for them. Almost immediately after, Fatinha said, ''We love you too, you are so nice, much nicer than the other churches''. I did not think we would have heard that, it was super cool.

Our recent convert Zeze has been getting more and more excited about the church. At church this Sunday, he got to pass the sacrament for the first time and he loved it. He came to church in his white shirt and tie and looked awesome. We have been trying to teach his other family members with him, but they just don’t seem to have interest. We have planted the seed and hope that a miracle can come about.. Zeze invited us to come over Christmas night to have eat with, we are going to bring the juice!

We have an investigator named Afons. He is a baker and makes bread for the whole town, everyone knows him. We have been talking to him about some commandments that he needs to start keeping, like the Word of Wisdom and the Day of the Lord, by not working or making bread on Sunday. He said he would keep all of these commandments if he received a sign. And so he started praying and asking God for a sign. Right after hearing that, I knew it wouldn’t work. I began to spend my personal study, studying in Doctrine and Covenants 63, that says that ''The person that searches for signs will see signs, but they won’t be to our salvation''. And it also says that ''miracles do not bring faith, but faith brings about miracles for those that believe''. I knew that if Afons saw a sign it wouldn’t convert him nor give him more will to keep these commandments. As I shared these scriptures with him, he began to speak and say that the other day he had seen a sign. It had rained in Maio for the 1st time in a long time. Afons had been praying for rain the previous days, but as it was raining, Afons said a little prayer and asked that the Lord increase the rain, he said as finished his prayer the rain started to come down much stronger. He was confused if it was just his mind messing with him or if God had truly given him a sign. Even though he really did receive a sign, it didn’t benefit him anything.  The testimony will come as we keep the commandments and exercise our faith, then the Lord will manifest his spirit and the blessings.

Church went very well this week, we had 14 people and 5 new men came. I was able to play all of the Christmas songs for sacrament meeting on the piano, it was super sweet! One of the men that came is named Cesar. Cesar has dread locks and is a trainer for a youth soccer team. He is a really sweet guy and we have had some incredible lessons with him. Like yesterday we watched the Restoration video and he really started to open up to us about how he feels about his life and the church, he loved church and committed to prepare for baptism on the 11th of January.

I love Maio, I love my companion, I love the people here and I love sharing the ''good news'' with them, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored by a prophet of God.

 Love,

Elder Rice

Hey family and friends,

Its been a crazy week! At the beginning of the week, I and Elder Christensen went to Praia on the boat. The boat takes about 4 hours to get to the island of Santiago. We arrived and hung out at the Assistant’s house. On Preparation day we got to play soccer with everyone, which was super fun, I love soccer now. On Tuesday, we had the Christmas party which was awesome. I got to see a lot of friends from zones in Praia and also from Assomada. it was nice to catch up and talk to everyone. There was SO much food. They had turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (canned, not even close as good as mom’s) and other stuff. Not nearly as good as my mothers cooking, but it will do until next Christmas. We got into groups and we went and sang Christmas hymns to random people on the street and in their houses. It was super cool experience. Later that night we did some divisions with some Elders. I went into an area where the Elders there had been ''Cash or Bodied'' (robbed) twice. They refused to leave the area even when President Oliveira told them they could leave. It was sketchy walking around at night.

We woke up the next day at 3:00 am to get on the boat at 4:00 am. We have been teaching a lot of lessons. We have been averaging 35-37 lessons a week. We are finding a TON of new investigators, because a lot of the ones we have found and taught are not doing much. However, after a lesson had fell, we started knocking on some random doors. We contacted a teenager that did not want to talk to us at all, he said he had things to do, so we asked him, ''who do you know that we can share this gospel with?'' and he said my uncle, he has nothing to do. Just as he said that, his uncle showed up from somewhere, we told who we were and we sat down and taught him the Restoration.

This uncle that we had met is named Ider. He is 23 years old and he is a fisherman. He has a giant fro type thing on his head. However he is very interested to hear the word of God. We taught him super well and the Spirit testified to his heart. We invited him to church and he came. We taught him later and he said he loved church and that he learned a lot and that a lot applied to him. he accepted baptism easily and he is going to prepare for the 28th of December. Sweet.

Maruka is still doing incredible, his testimony is strengthened every time we see him. Fatinha still has some doubt about baptism. She loves the church, she believes it’s true, she comes every Sunday, but baptism just throws her off. Maruka is always testifying and teaching his wife about baptism with the priesthood authority, but something just hasn’t clicked yet. There is a bit of a complication with the marriage papers so it will have to wait for a few weeks, but they are still doing great in the preparation for marriage and baptism.

We met this man named Va outside of a bar. Va is a tall, strong man, with earrings, piercings and tatoos. Apparently he drinks, smokes and does cocaine a lot. We taught him a lesson at the church. He couldn’t stop saying, " I want to change" We talked of Christ and the ability for us to be born again and live a new life, being completly clean, and that by real repentence we can recieve this forgiveness. He started crying and in the last prayer he cried to God saying " I want to change, in the name of Jesus Christ amen''. It was a beautiful thing.

Many miracles. The Spirit is truly the best tool in missionary work, because even when hearts are hardened the Spirit can touch and change them so they no longer have a disposition to do bad, but to do good continually. I love my call.

Love,

Elder Rice

Hey,

Its been an incredible week. A week that I will never, ever forget. The work is not easy, but as we are obedient and seek His will, the Lord will strengthen us and help us to do things we never could have imagined.

We had the first baptism in the history of Maio. We had the baptism of Zeze. I don’t think I have ever taught so many lessons with the Spirit teaching and testifying so strong to our hearts. He felt it and could not deny it. After having some doubts, Zeze made the decision and was baptized on the 7th. We started with a little baptismal service at the church then we got in a truck and headed out to Ponta Preta, this SUPER beautiful beach. We wandered around a bit, looking for a good place to baptize until we just decided to go right up to the shore and walk out to see. The first few attempts at baptism were destroyed with giant waves smashing us, but finally, my companion, Elder Christensen baptized Zeze sucessfully. It was so beautiful. He couldnt stop smiling. He loved every moment.

The day after, Zeze recieved the Holy Ghost and the Aaronic priesthood and will be helping with the sacrament next week. Zeze is going to be a huge key in the work here in Maio. He is the first baptism and one of the only members. We are going to be working with him a lot.

Even more exciting news, we have been working a ton with Maruka and Fatinha, a couple that are investigating the church. Maruka is super down for marriage and baptism, Fatinha is down for marriage but does not want to be baptized. We had a little meeting with Maruka and Fatinha, and Maruka was saying that they were going to get married in January, because December is way too close. Inspired, by the Spirit, I told Maruka, ''You have everything ready for the wedding, you are ready to be baptized, you cannot wait, the Lord needs you more than any other time. You will be a great leader, whether you know it or not, you will lead the church here.'' The room was dead silent, the Spirit was so strong. In that moment I challenged him to be baptized in December, he said what day, and I replied the 20th. He said, ''We'll prepare.'' It was incredible. The Spirit guided my every word, absolutely incredible. He is going to everything he can to be married on the 20th and baptized on the 21st. He will be the group leader of Maio. He reads in the Book of Mormon every day, he comes to ALL the activities. He is awesome.

Transfers happened and we are staying here in Maio, what a blessing, there is nothing more I could ask for.

The work of the Lord is being hastened, we must be worthy to be instruments in the Lord’s hands. I love the mission. The Lord has humbled me so much. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, the only path on the face of this Earth that bring eternal happiness.

Love,

Elder Rice

BOM DIA!

Modi que nhos sta? Ami sta diret, ami sta ama tchea pa papia con nhos. (Creole haha)

What a fantastic week! We have been working harder than ever to find the Lord’s elect and most prepared. We had a great day on Sunday. There were 14 people in church. The same investigators are starting to come every week which is super good. They are all strengthening their testimonies and becoming more like Christ.

We have been teaching one of our most solid investigators Zeze this entire week. The 1st visit he accepted baptism. As we kept talking to him he kept talking about how he is going to need a lot of time to prepare and that he will tell us when he is ready. He is keeping all of the commandments, he has desire to repent, he wants to be baptized, he is incredible, he is fulfilling the requirements for baptism. We kept helping him realize that God had answered his prayer, which he agrees completely. Yesterday, we had the most incredible lesson with him. We taught him about tithing and fast offerings. I testified to him with all of my heart, that the Lord needs him to be a leader. Maio has no members, has no leaders, Zeze cannot wait any longer to be baptized, so he can start leading this group. I challenged him to kneel down with us in that very moment and ask God if he should be baptized, this week on the 7th. He knelt down and offered one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard in my life. He cried to God and said ''I have made my decision, I will be baptized on the 7th of December, I have made my decision". I couldn’t help but cry inside. So powerful. Yesterday night, Zeze came up to us on the street and he said, ''Elders I have really been thinking and I think that if we make an activity for young people to play soccer for the church, we could help a lot of people come to church''. That is something I never had thought about. Everyone here LOVES soccer more than anything else, what an incredible idea, he is already starting to act as a leader. What a miracle.

This week, 2 members from Praia came to visit. President Leonel Cruz (2nd counselor in the stake) and Brother Pedro Moreno (secretary of the stake). We taught some lessons with them and and had an awesome family night at our investigator Nadia's house. We invited a ton of people. We watched the Restoration on a giant screen TV, then we played some games and ate some bread (Nadia's dad is a baker). It was a huge success.

We have a Christmas Party coming up this week in Praia, we are going to go visit there for a few days. Also, transfers is already next week, it came up SO fast. I am almost POSITIVE that Elder Christensen and I are staying here, we only have 1 transfer here and still so much work to do!

We are planning Zeze, Nadia and Luizina for baptism this week. They will be the first baptisms of Maio. It has been a lot harder than we thought to find solid people to baptize. We will be talking and teaching them every day this week to make sure they are strong and do not fall into any temptation. The Lord is merciful. This should be a magnificent week.

God has a plan for us. We are so weak on our own; the Lord has truly shown me my weaknesses out here. It is only be Christ and His grace that we can be strengthened. His grace is always enough, for a member to become more of a saint or even for the vilest of sinners. I am happy to be here giving my life to spread the ''Good News''. I will never forget what I have experienced here.

Love,

Elder Rice

Dear Family and Friends,

Its been a fantastic week. We have been finding a ton of new investigators this week. I think we found like 25 new people. The only problem is that it seems like no one understands or comprehends what we say. The island of Maio has a lot more people that don’t understand Portuguese very well, everyone just speaks Creole. That has been a huge struggle here. However, we have found some truly incredible people.

For example we found a new family and as we were about to teach them, another family member walked into the room. His name is Zeze. We talked to him a bit and began to get to know him. Then we started talking about religion and he just kind of went off about how all the Catholics he knows don’t really live the gospel, they go to parties, drink, smoke, stop by in church on Sunday and forget it for the rest of the week. I testified to him, that this church is different and everything he could possibly want is found in the Church of Christ. We gave him a panphlet, invited him to church and he said he would be there. On Sunday, he showed up and LOVED it. He kept saying he had so much joy in his heart. Sunday aftersoon (yesterday) we went to his house and taught him the most amazing lesson. The Spirit was SO strong in the lesson, to the point that I and Zeze began to tear up. Before finishing my invite he said he would prepare to baptized on the 7th of December. What a blessing and a miracle.

We have been working with a couple named Maruka and Fatinha. Maruka has always had a ton of interest and wants to be married and baptized. However. Fatinha has been a lot harder to work with. She wouldn’t even sit and talk to us in the beginning. After a hard week of working with her, Fatinha came to church!!! Apparently she hasn’t been to church in like 20 years. She said she liked it a lot. She still has a few doubts about baptism, but she is progressing incredibly. They are super incredible people.

We have been working hard every single day, but we still have a ton of work to do, we need to find leaders to strengthen this group and make a solid base. I’m so grateful to be sent here to Maio and I pray that the Lord would grant us His spirit to always be with us, we can not do it with out Him.

Love,

Elder Rice

Hello everyone!!

It has been a fantastic week, but not gonna lie it’s been pretty tough. Probably one of the rougher weeks on my mission. We have been working with a huge family that comes all from the mother of Segunda. For some reason, just about all of them dropped off. The married couple Marino and Nilda called us over to their house. To our surprise they were setting up all of these Catholic decorations. The husband Marino was incredibly drunk and they basically told us they don’t want to have anything to do with our church, they are Catholic. That was a big surprise, considering the amazing lessons we had before and the date marked we had for their baptisms.

We had a lot of incredible, incredible lessons this week, but for some reason, they just stopped. A lot of them just didn’t come to church and are having more and more doubts about baptism. I don’t know exactly happened or what we are lacking at this point, but there is obviously something that the Lord wants us to learn.

 I gained a bigger perspective of what’s going on as I searched the scriptures. I read in Romans 5: 3-5, that Paul, glories in his tribulations, because it brings patience and hope. I read in Doctrine and Covenants 58:4, that after many tribulations come blessings where we will finally be crowned in glory. But then my favorite would probably be in Doctrine and Covenants 101:4-7, which basically explains that everyone needs to be tested/corrected, even prophets like Abraham. Those that can’t withhold correction will never be able to be sanctified. When we are slow to attend the voice/will of the Lord, He too will be slow to answer our cries. I can tell you, we have been praying and fasting a lot and truly pondering about these difficulties. We have a lot to learn, we need to be corrected and we need to repent and the Lord will make us stronger than we could ever imagine.

This week has opened my eyes. Everything doesn’t always go perfectly. We need to be tested so we can learn and grow. I’m excited to change and do everything I can to do the will of the Lord instead of mine.

I love you all so much!!

 Elder Rice

Hey,

It’s hard to describe in words what we are experiencing here in Maio. This is easily the most amazing mission experience I have ever had. And easily, probably, the most amazing experience I have had in my life. I do not exaggerate when I say the Lord has truly blessed Elder Christensen and I by putting us here to open the church. This has been so incredible. There are so many things that have happened I don’t even know where to start.

I guess we can start last Wednesday. We woke up at 3:00 am to catch a boat going to Maio at 4:00 am. We traveled with one of the members of Praia named Natalino, who is a church worker that helps establish churches and chapel buildings. He will be here to help us make a start in the establishment of the church. We also came with one of the very few members of Maio, Julio Almada, who is incredible. The mission bought his plane ticket so he could come to Praia to attend Stake conference. As a result we got to know his girlfriend Julia (ironic huh?). Julia actually has a ton of interest in the church, she came to watch stake conference. We gave the reference to some Elders in Praia and now she is being taught and now they are preparing to be married and their daughter will be baptized on the 23rd of this month. What a miracle. Anyway, back to the story, we arrived to Maio, tired as can be and loaded all of our stuff into a big truck and took it to the house. We unloaded, organized and set up everything for a good 6-7 hours. We actually managed to mark some people in the street and teach 2 lessons later that night.

President Oliveira and the assistants recently came here and that’s when they decided to open the island. We had 2 main family references that we utilized. There is woman named Segunda (like 70 years old), who has like 7 kids, each of these kids has a spouse ( most not married, of course) with kids. We began to divide the familes and teach them individually. I have enver taught so many entire families ever in my mission. We have taught a ton of families. In the last 4 days we have managed 31 new investigators.

We are working with a family of Tine and Joanna, they have a lot of interest and could make a very strong base for the church. We are also teaching an already married couple named Marino and Nilda (its basically impossible to ever find a couple that is already married), that has a ton of interest and has accepted to prepare for baptism. We also have an incredible investigator named Indira who has been loving our lessons, The Book of Mormon, and tells us that God has answered her prayer that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

Other than that we have been carrying 50-100 pass along cards with us at any time to give to everyone in our sight. We are trying to talk to the most amount of people possible to let the island know the restored truths are on the earth. Not only that but we are giving our investigators pass along cards to give to their family and friends. They are all super excited to share the gospel and they all want to bring someone to church.

This Sunday, we saw the most incredible miracle. Since the day we got here, I haven't felt that we have rested for more than 5 minutes, we have always been doing something! After all the hard work and teaching and preaching, the fruits of our labors arrived, thanks to the love and hand of God in our work. Before church I saw some teenagers walking down the road in white shirts, and I thought to myself ´´are they coming here? I hope they do.´´ I walked up to them and said ´´where are you going?´´ they said ´´the catholic church´´. I briefly told the restoration and bore testimony and promised them they would learn a lot more in the Church of Jesus Christ. I invited them in, they hesitated and entered, that was sweet. We had 2 hours of church, the 1st hour, we taught the Gospel Principles class, which went super smooth and everyone loved it. Then we had sacrament meeting. Everyone was very reverent and payed attention to the talks and I even got to use my newly acquired skill to play the piano for the whole meeting (I knew I would need it some time). All the talks were simple and powerful. After 4 days (3 and a half days of teaching) we had a final count of 37 people. What a blessing. The Lord is so loving.

I know that the Lord works with us. I know that He loves us. I know that He hears our prayers and He answers them. I will never forget Him, and I will never forget what He does for us. I know God lives, this is His work and His church. How lucky are we?

Love,

Elder Rice

HEY!!!

I have been transferred to serve in Maio with my beloved companion Elder Christensen. Unfortunately, we are not leaving on the boat until the 6th of November. So I have currently been here in Praia for the last week doing divisions in the Assistants area. They say I’m the banana, that’s not cool. We are currently living in the Assistants house while we wait until we leave to Maio. It’s been a kind of a weird week, but this week should be super exciting when we get there.

We have been having a few meetings with the Stake President who is directing our entrance into Maio, it is under his direction. We are bringing 15-17 boxes of books, pass-along cards, electric piano, and other supplies. We are bringing hundreds of pamphlets because we are going give something to EVERYONE we see. A lot of the people on the island have never seen Elders before, so it’s going to be super cool. Also, I received instruction from President Oliveira that I need to practice 30 minutes on the piano every day, so I can be ready to play in sacrament meeting. It’s a good thing I learned how to play right before the mission.

We played soccer this morning and it was awesome!!! We had like 25 people there! I actually made a goal by doing a header, it was fairly impressive.

 We had stake conference this week and we bought the ticket for a member from Maio named Julio to come watch it. He is such an awesome guy and he is going to help us A TON in Maio. He has a girlfriend too that is also SUPER interested in the church named Julia. She lives in Praia, so we gave the reference to some other Elders and they are going to start teaching her. We are going to help her get married and baptized.

We have a lot of work to do, and a lot of praying to do. We are going to need the Lord’s guidance more than ever when we get to Maio. We are here to do His will not ours.

Love,

Elder Rice

Hello Family and Friends!!

What an incredible week!!! Truly a blessing of the Lord. There is nothing better, or more rewarding than missionary work, especially when it ends up in helping others come unto Christ. It’s a truly beautiful thing. Last night was transfers... After 4 transfers (6 months) here in Assomada, I will be transferred. Oh how I will miss Assomada, the members, the recent converts, the ward, the investigators are so immensely incredible. I WILL NEVER forget them, never! I and Elder Otterstrom went running this morning to say good bye to everyone, it was sad, i love them all so much. Anyway, i have been transferred to the Island of Maio!!!!! Maio is an island next to Santiago that has never, ever had missionaries serve there. Me and Elder Christensen (my first trainer who was the assistent) will be opening up this new island. Apparently there are 6 members that live on Maio that were baptized on other islands and went back to Maio. I cannot even begin to describe the pure excitement I have to open up a new island. This has been one of my BIGGEST dreams on the mission, it will be a life changing experience, and I know we are going to see MANY miracles. This task will not be easy. I have realized that I am nothing. I and my companion must rely completely on the Lord, in prayer, in fasting, in study, in obedience, in everything we do. Only like this the Lord can prepare the way and help us to have success among this people.

I will miss dearly my beloved companion, Elder Otterstrom (my second trainer). We had an incredible transfer, saw many miracles, found some incredible families and helped some enter into the waters of baptism, opening the door to their eternal salvation. Elder Otterstrom is a very patient companion, I love him for that, he always puts up with me. I love him and will never forget him.

Anyway, we have been teaching Herculano and Ivone and they are doing fantastic. Members and the bishopric are visiting to help them feel more integrated in the ward. Right now, Herculano has a major doubt about money and financial situation. Honestly this is nothing. We are trying to help him understand that the money will be taken care of, one way or another, if they both make the decision to keep the commandments to prepare for baptism and eternal life. They will get married and baptized, I know it. Unfortunately I won’t have the opportunity to see it.

We also had a super great lesson with Dulce and Carlos, Irlandina and their kid Yasmine. They had not read the section we left in 3 Nephi 11, so we read it together. The Spirit was so strong. Everyone really began to focus as we read about Christ arriving in the Americas. A smile crept onto Carlos face, who was actually trying to get out of talking with us. I know the Spirit testified to them that Christ is our Savior and manifested to them the Book of Mormon is the Word of God.

This Saturday, we had a magnificent baptism. We helped Tilish, Gery and Aleida be baptized. Tilish is the nephew of Nininha (who we helped me married and baptize) and Gery is her son. They both had a super problem with alcohol, but they have left it behind to repent and follow Christ. They are so much happier now. Aleida was just always super bomb and super prepared, she is awesome. After Nininha's other son, Ivandro saw the baptism, his entire attitude changed. He used to not give value to the things we taught, nor did he want to change. After seeing the baptism, he wants to be baptized this week. What a blessing to help families be united in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What can I say, I love this work!

Love,

Elder Rice

Hey!

We started the week with a super solid family night in the house of some awesome members. We have an investigator living in that house that is the granddaughter of a member. Her name is Aleida, she is only 12 years old but she is INCREDIBLY smart. She recited the whole story of 3 Nephi 11 and expounded on doctrinal points, incredible. She is preparing for baptism this week. We made a super yummy cake using yogurt and using the yogurt cup to measure the ingredients, kinda cool haha. It was a cake that proportionally the same amount of sugar as flour, it was super sweet, probably too sweet.

We had the 1st ever Assomada zone conference. In the past, Assomada has been such a small zone that they always combined with Praia, but now we have gained a ton of new missionaries and will be getting more so we have our own now. The presence of President Oliveira is always inspiring. He helps me to be better. We received the sad news that we shouldn’t be speaking Creole to other people and that we should always be speaking Portuguese because it is the language of the scriptures, all the manuals and for other reasons. I’m kind of sad, I love speaking creole, it’s kind of hard not to speak it, it’s just so natural, but it’s a rule now, so I will obey it.

We have been working since the beginning of the transfer with Ivone who has been absolutely incredible. Now her boyfriend Herculano has moved back into the house and we have started to teach him. He is incredible. He loved church SO MUCH!! He loved everything about it, he wants to go back every week. Not only that but he has now read around 60-70 pages in the Book of Mormon, he says it’s the best book he has ever read. They have both told us they know that this is the true church and they want to be baptized. We talked to them about getting baptized. They must fulfill the commandments of the Lord, mainly the Law of Chastity. We set a goal for marriage on the 29th of November and baptism on the 30th, they accepted. What a huge, huge, huge miracle. A lot of praying, pleading, fasting all answered by the Lord. We still have a lot of work to do with them, but they are going to prepare to make an eternal family. Honestly, they were going to separate forever until we showed up and started to help them come back. What a blessing.

Our recent convert Edimilson is so awesome. He keeps giving us references and friends that he wants us to teach. He is now the 2nd counselor of the young men. He has only been baptized for 2 weeks! He is so incredible, I love him. Also, Hernani, another recent convert was called as the leader for young single adults, she is awesome! I love the members here so much, I love them all.

We also have been teaching a family, their names are Dulce and Carlos, we are teaching their parents and their 3 children. The Lord truly led us to teach them, it’s crazy how a simple contact in a dry cleaning shop can lead to such a miracle. We came to pass them 30 minutes early for church to remind them and as we showed up they were walking out of the door, dressed and ready to go to church. Their entire family came to church and last night in a prayer that Dulce said she said she wants to enter into this church. Just in the little more than a week that we started to talk with this family, Dulce says there have already been big changes in their family and blessings. The gospel blesses families.

The couple that we helped get married last transfer, Ze and Nininha have 6 kids. We are currently helping the 2 most interested kids be baptized this week. They came to church and have a lot of desire to abandon their sins. The other kids will need some more time because they have some problems with alcohol, drugs and keeping the commandments. But we will not give up on them.

It’s been a truly beautiful week, truly spectacular. I can’t believe we have already came to the 6th week of the transfer.. I hope I get to stay here and work with the amazing families we have been finding recently. I can’t describe with words the love I have for this gospel. The things I have seen and felt here will forever impact my life. There is no better time than a mission!

Love,

Elder Rice

Bom Dia!

This has truly been a marvalous week. Weeks like this make me never want to leave the mission. There is no better time than to serve a mission. I sincerely was a child before the mission, but I am starting gain knowledge, little by little, seeing the Lord’s hand in our work. There is nothing greater.

 One of the less actives that we helped to bring back, Gugas, is absolutely incredible. He has SO much desire to serve, to learn to do and to obey. He will be great leader one day. He is currently living with a girlfriend, with whom they are not married and they have some kids together. Gugas wants to marry her, but he wants to make sure that she really is converted to the gospel first. We have started to teach her and have seen some real changes. We are going to help them prepare for marriage.

We held a zone meeting this week, where Elder Otterstrom and I got to do some of the trainings and help our zone gain a greater faith to baptize. Our focus was the Declare Faith and Repentence. As missionaries, we have the right and authority to pronoune the truth by denouncing sin (HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!) It was a huge sucess. I then went out to do a division with companionship that has had a lot of trouble baptizing. We had a fantastic division, and he agreed that he had learned a lot, and now they will be having a baptism for this week!

We went to teach a man named Ubaldo, who is a guard for a Residency where many students come nation wide to stay and go to school here in Assomada. We started to teach this man and we started by singing a hymn. Sooner or later, 3 students showed up and started listening to the hymn. A few minutes later 2 more came then 1 more until we had 9 people present. We taught them about God’s plan and the Restored Truth. By the end, they all wanted to hear more, they were asking us when we could come back. We marked to talk with them and potentially others a few days later. When we came back to teach them we brought 12 Book of Mormons. Before entering we said a prayer so that every thing would run fine. When we showed up another guard said that we couldn’t teach them, and that we would have to talk with the Director. We left, a little bummed out and waited in thought. Moments later, one of the students that we taught showed up and he brought his student friend that is a member of the church. They said they would talk to the director and there wouldn’t be any problem that we could talk with them next week. It was a miracle. After having that lesson fall, we were a bit confused what to do, so we said a prayer and starting walking to another investigator. Suddenly my companion remembered a woman that we have contacted weeks earlier. We called her, found her house and taught her entire famliy. The dad had started going to this church 11 years ago, but was never baptized. I know the Lord placed this incredible family in our path.

 This week we had a fast and we decided mainly to thank the Lord for all the miracles and goodness he has given us. We also asked that he would help us to find someone ready to be baptized this next week, because we didn’t have anyone really solid. After our only potential baptism (Bruno) didn’t come to church, we recieved a call after church. We recieved a reference of a 12 year old young girl that has been coming to church and seminary for the last month. She is the grand daughter of a very strong member family. We talked to her yesterday and marked her to be baptized this Saturday. I know the Lord works with us.

 Ivone´s boyfriend, Herculano finally came to church and really really liked it. He is for open to talk with us and know we are going to help their family be eternal.

I have never been so proud of our recent converts. We go out to teach EVERY SINGLE DAY with our recent converts. Whether it be Ja, Wilson, Hernani, Edimilson, they always want to come out and teach with us. They have incredible testimonies and love to spread the gospel. They are all currently preparing to serve missions!!! They have made some big changes through repentence, but they have truly become great men. They all bore their testimonies yesterday and it was so sincere. I love each and every one of them so much, it’s going to be so hard to say good bye to them one day, they are like my best friends. Its great to know that i will see them one day as we enter into the rest of our Fathers Kingdom.

The mission is incredible! the Lord has truly spoiled me. There is no greater gift than that of eternal life. Only the true gospel of Jesus Christ and his power and authority can get us there.

Love,

Elder Rice

Hello Family and Friends!

It’s been a spectacular week!! We had the most incredible Missionary Leadership Conference this last Tuesday. President Oliveira really focused on how that NOTHING is hard, NOTHING is impossible. If we search for the Lord and truly use our faith, we can do ANYTHING. I testify that this is completely true. If we humble ourselves and make ourselves available to the Lord, we can be an instrument in His hands. This is something I must improve, I need to be more humble and always search to do the Lords will instead of mine.

We had an incredible baptism this week! His name is Edimilson. We have been teaching him for quite some time, we lost contact and then we found each other again when he moved houses. Edimilson made some big changes in his life and repented sincerely of his past. Our recent convert, Hernani is his neighbor. Hernani was baptized 4 weeks ago. Hernani received the Aaronic priesthood a few Sundays ago and was able to baptize his friend. It was something incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, Edimilson had to be baptized like 10 times because he kept coming out of the water, other than that it was awesome.

We are now working with Edimilsons friend, Bruno, this huge buff guy. He is almost impossible to find at his house, we went by there every day but didn’t find him. He has some good desires we just need to find him and help him to repent and come unto Christ.

We have been talking to Ivone, she is still doing really well. She studies in the Book of Mormon every day, I think she is up to like Mosiah now. She loves the words of Prophets SO much. She is in a bit of a difficult situation with the father of her son, but we are going to keep working with her, I know she will be baptized.

These last couple days have been unreal. I have been so incredibly spiritually uplifted these last couple days. I feel bad for have wasted some many chances to watch conference in my youth. We had the privilege to watch Conference in the church office in English, wow that was incredible. It hits me so much harder in English than it does in Portuguese. I cannot even begin to describe my love for living Prophets and Apostles. Their words give me SO much strength and are so perfect for these wicked latter days. I was truly sad after having watched 10 hours of conference and it already having ended. These men and women are called of God, I know it. They receive the will of God and spread to us, how lucky are we!!!?!?!? There is no doubt in my mind that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. The Lord space anciently, he speaks and he will speak to us. This is the true, living church of God with all the proper power and authority to act in the Lords name. I cannot wait until the next conference, 6 months from now.

 One of the phrases I really liked in the talks was, ´´Doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith´´ Doctrine and Covenants 6:36. Don’t doubt, the Lord is with us.

Love

Elder Rice

Hello!

Well it’s been a crazy sweet week, not gonna lie! So this last week, we had done a week long division! There were some new elders went to another area, so my comp, Elder Ottrstrom went out there. He is back now, I missed him. Last week, we had an incredible family night at a less active members house, named Gugas. he recently returned to church. He has been a member for like 15 years. HE LOVED the family night so much. Some people, including one of our investigators stayed at the family night until 11:15 at night haha.

This week, we have truly seen some miracles of the Lord. We have been working very hard with Ivone to prepare for baptism this week. She was very excited and ready to keep all of the commandments. Then we found out that she has an ex-boyfriend that used to live with her. We wanted to make sure she would keep the commandments after baptism so we did a fast and planned to talk to him. We were going to visit his work, but before we went to Ivone’s house. To our surprise, we found him there. We taught him the restoration, invited to baptism and gave a Book of Mormon. Apparently they had decided right before we arrived that they were going to separate completely (even though they have 1 kid together). So Ivone was going to live by herself to keep the law of chastity. Later at night we stopped by to see how she was doing. When we stopped by, the ex-boyfriend, Herculano, was still there. Apparently, they decided on separating, he left and was on the way home. On the way home, he realized he left his Book of Mormon at Ivone’s house, he went back to go get it and they started to talk again. After talking for a bit, they resolved a misunderstanding and decided they wanted to stay together. All because he left the Book of Mormon. Even though Ivone was not baptized this next week, we are now going to work with both of them and help to create a happy family and be married. The Lord truly works miracles.

One day we were buying bread at a bakery and I just made a random contact with a teenager named Danilson. Later in the day, we found Danilson at his house and he offered to let us in. We taught him a short lesson and left. In the next lesson we had with him, he told us that the very day we found him at his house, he was praying and asking the Lord which path he should follow. We taught him and marked him for a baptismal date on the 12 of October, he has already came to church twice and really likes it.

We are preparing a young man named Edimilson for baptism. Edimilson is incredible. We started teaching him a few months ago but he never really did anything. We wouldn’t accept a baptismal date, but he finally came to church and LOVED it. Later that night we taught him the plan of salvation and invited to be baptism and he accepted. The Spirit truly touched his heart, he is super incredible. He loves to learn. He has been doing a lot of repentance, but is ready to change. He is like a different person. He is always happy and loves our studies. Through him, we also started teaching his friend Bruno (who we also talked to a few months ago and did nothing) and he will be baptized the week after Edimilson. The Lord has been truly merciful.

On my own, I am nothing. The Lord has made me something much stronger that I could be. We are not in this work alone. I work with Him and teach by His Spirit. What a magnificent blessing I have to be an instrument in His hands.

Love,

Elder Rice

MODI!!?!?

Well it’s been quite a crazy week! We had new Elders coming into Riberao Manel. Now they have 2 sets of Elders instead of 1. The Elders that arrived were Elder Guy, who is from France and awesome. Then there was Elder Lopes, who was my ward mission leader in my first area on the mission!!! Crazy. Elder Lopes is waiting for his visa to go to Brazil for his mission. For the whole week I have been doing a division with Elder Lopes, and Elder Otterstrom went with Elder guy to start up a new area. So it’s been pretty sweet to serve with my old ward mission leader ha-ha.

We had some awesome baptisms this week. We had the wonderful privilege to have the baptism of Carina, Lucia and Zani, they are all sisters. We have been working with them for close to 2 months. The baptism was beautiful and they were so happy. At church the next day, Lucia was saying in one of the classes ´´The elders used to come over all the time, at first I didn’t really care what they said, they were actually kind of annoying always asking us to read and pray, but then we came to church and starting to read and now I know that this is the true church, I a so happy to be here and I don’t want to leave.´´ It was kind of funny, but they are super sweet!

This week, we truly found woman prepared by the Lords hand. Her name is Ivone. She came and watched a baptism and came to church by herself. She took a few liahonas home. Later she told us that started to read and couldn’t stop until 1130 at night. She had read the entire liahona. She says she knows that this church is true and is not saying it to please us. She wants to be baptized as soon as possible, so we are planning her for this week. She is awesome!

We also brought a teenage named Edimilson to church. His neighbor Hernani was baptized a few weeks ago and he is helping us out a ton to help him be integrated in the church. Edimilson really liked church and knew a lot of people there. We taught him the Plan of Salvation yesterday and he accepted to prepare to be baptized on the 12th of October. He is a great guy and would make a fantastic priesthood holder. He read 3 Nephi 11 and marked a bunch of questions he had and what he liked, he is awesome!

 The work is going well here in Assomada. This is my 4th transfer her and I love it. I need to rely more on the Lord, I have been relying on my own forces and it doesn’t work. As Elder Holland said in one of his talks, ´´the devil makes us think that change takes years and, the truth is that we can change as fast as it takes to say ´´I will change´´. I have some repenting to do.

I love you all!

Elder Rice

Modi que nhos sta!?!

It’s been another awesome week here in Assomada. Last night we had transfers! Unfortunately my companion Elder Haile will be going to Fogo today. I don’t think it has ever been so hard for me to be transferred from my companion. I love him so much. Elder Haile is a disciple of Jesus Christ, I don’t know how I got to be so blessed to serve with I’m for 2 transfers. It was an absolute pleasure. He has taught me so many things. Especially how to preach repentance with power and authority. We had a lot of success together. I will never forget the time I had with him.

 However, today, I will be receiving a new companion, Elder Otterstrom. In my 2nd transfer Elder Otterstrom trained me, about 9 months later we are going to serve again together here in Assomada as Zone Leaders. I am very excited to see the miracles and success to come as we exercise our faith. Our zone is growing even more. We will be putting 2 more Elders in an area called Riberao Manuel. Also, we will have a lot of new missionaries arrive in almost every area, so it should be an awesome transfer. Last night President Oliveira told me very specifically that we need to have EVERY area baptized, every week. This will be our focus, to help all companionships to have the attitude to bring sons and daughters of God by baptism and confirmation. This work is incredible.

This week was fantastic. We had the wonderful privilege to have the baptisms of Hernani and Emily. Hernani has had a change of heart, he has become completely converted to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and he could not be happier. He is so anxious to learn new things, read in the book of Mormon and prepare to serve a mission. There was such a huge change in his heart from the first day we met him when he had a ton of doubts. Also, Emily, who was basically running away from us in the beginning, is ready to fulfill her covenant with God. She even showed up to church at like 820, when there were only 3 people at church (church starts at 9). It was a day full of joy to see these incredible people enter into the waters of baptism and be baptized by someone that holds the real priesthood authority of God. It was marvelous.

 Other than that, we had a great lesson with Ze and Nininha (recently married) about temples and eternal marriage. We talked about the covenants and ordinances we make in the temple and how they lead to an eternal family. We challenged them to prepare and they accepted. Hopefully a year from now they will be well on their way to the temple! They are awesome.

I have had the chance to recognize many weaknesses that I have. I know that as we become more like Christ humble ourselves before him and are ready to do his will, our weaknesses can truly be made strong. Pray for charity, pray that virtue may garnish thy thoughts, and pray for opportunities to serve and to share the gospel. The Lord will help us to be strong. I know for a fact, that this is the only living church that has the proper authority of God to act in His name. I testify that there is no other name, path or means that salvation can reached if not by the pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ that was restored in these last days. I know the Prophet Joseph Smith saw God and His Son and brought to the Earth what was lost for such a long time. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and I know these things are true.

 Love,

 Elder Rice

Modi que nhos sta!

We had a great week in the Assomada zone. Almost every area in our zone baptized this last week, we ended the week with 13 baptisms, it was awesome. The elders in a nearby town called Riberão Manuel, had 7 baptisms and a wedding, they, did really good! Our zone is starting to have the mentality to find the Lords elites and baptize every week, it’s really sweet!!

We got some unfortunate news that Vera would be waiting for baptism. She has a boyfriend in Portugul, that ironically showed up this week and now it is a bit difficult to baptize her if she doesn’t have a certainty to keep the commandments. She is currently living with him. We explained very clearly what needs to happen, she has a strong desire to follow this church, so we will see what happens. Apparently she doesn’t really like him, but she is giving a pretty good amount of money to take care of his child. Its a weird situation.

 However, Irnani is doing incredible. He always wants to come to every activity, meeting, church service, baptism and everything. I think he has learned how the Spirit speaks with us. he has quit weed and is preparing really great! Also, Emily is doing super solid, her cousin Stacy, who the sisters of Assomada are teaching will also be baptized this week. Should be great!

We had zone meeting this last Saturday and it went really good. Sister Wilson and Sister Thembo (from Mozambique) gave a training about teaching simply by using scriptures. We have made a challenge for our entire zone to memorize 1 scripture for every segment of the 5 missionary lessons in Preach My gospel. That comes out to memorize 44 scriptures. I have already memorized them, but I need to review them again. I want to memorize a new scripture every day for this week and the weeks that come. Great power comes when we use scriptures in our teaching. There is so much wisdom and so much vital information for our salvation.

I love the Book of Mormon, I wish I had 5 hours to study it. That book has made me who I am. I know it is the word of God, nothing could ever change that. I know that families can be happy, truly happy and prepare to live together forever if we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my mission, and I love all that I am learning.

Love,

Elder Rice

HELLO!

 This week was pretty crazy awesome and tiresome haha. We had some awesome family nights at Hermanas house. Hermana is a single woman of about 55-60 years. She is such an incredible member and has helped us to have a bunch of baptisms in the area that she lives. She has recently been preparing to go to the temple. So we had a family night farewell (Everyone here LOVES to do family nights with a spiritual part, games and a snack). Elder Haile and I talked about temples and how families can live together forever. There were actually a bunch of non members there so it was super cool. Then we let Hermanas kids share their testimonies and all 3 of them started crying because of how much their awesome mom has done for them. It really reminded me of my mom. Who would I be if it weren’t for my mom? I would not be on the mission, nor would I be doing good things or even close to happy. My mom kept me on the right path and helped me to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, for that I too am very thankful. We had some cake played some games and bid our farewell (we would later found out that they didn’t make it to the temple, later in this letter).

Anyway, we started off the week by helping the Elders in Riberao Manuel move their house. We would then do a division with them. It was good division, I got to stay in their area and teach a couple they are teaching that is preparing to be married and baptized this week. The Elders there are really doing a good job. That area slowed down for a while but now is really picking up. After being gone for a day, i really missed my companion so it was good to see him again the next day, haha.

We have been teaching this man named Irnani. Irnani had previously been studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses and he had a ton of doubts. Now we have begun to teach him the restored truths. His heart has completely changed. he had the chance to come to church for the last 2 Sundays and see a baptism and it seems like he is a different person. The spirit of the Lord truly touched him and now he is willing a ready to prepare for baptism. Besides him thinking that weed is a medicine and ok, he is doing really good haha.

Also, there is a less active in our ward named Gugas who has not came to church for a long time. This Sunday, we passed him and he FINALLY came. one of his daughters that lives in Praia has come here to Assomada to stay and he really wanted us to teach her, so we have started and marked a baptismal date and she came to church. Their entire family came to church, which has not happened for about a year.

Also, a member named Daisy brought one of her friends Emily to church a few weeks ago. We tried to contact her and teach her but she literally had NO interest, she did not want to talk to us. Finally we got a chance to sit down with here and teach her the Restoration. She was basically taken back by the message we had just testified. She was very interested. She had no idea that something like this could happen. She committed to be baptized and to read and pray to know the truth. In our next visit she had shared with us that after praying she felt something different and recognized it to an answer from the Holy Ghost. Her whole character has changed. She came and saw the baptism this week and came to church and is preparing to be baptized on the 14th.

 The Spirit of the Lord can touch the hearts of man (2 Nephi 33:1) . The spirit brings about change that leads to repentance. I have seen it, i have felt. The people that heard King Benjamin felt it and have no more will do bad, but to continually practice righteousness. I know that the spirit of the Lord only teaches truth. The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith is the truth.

We have missionary leadership conference this week. It was incredible. I just want to repent for everything. I want to be a better leader, a more diligent missionary and become more like Christ. We received some great council about how we can bless and help our zone. We have a lot of work to do. Funny story, we arrived to the missionary leadership council at 8:30 in the morning and it didn’t end until 7:00 at night. Little did we know we would be invited to a meeting with the stake president and President Oliveira for another hour. After that we had to go out on the streets and look for a car to take us back (the stake president helped us out). Then we found out that all the people that were planning to go to the temple from Cabo Verde didn’t go, because the airplane didn’t come. So we went to the airport and waited with them and found a Hiace together. We didn,t get home until 12:30 in the morning. It was crazy. Not only that but we had to wake up at 6 am to go out to Tarrafal attend their district meeting.

 A crazy week, but overall awesome!! We are planning some sweet baptisms this week, like Vera. Vera was very accustomed to the world and other bad stuff, but we have helped her know the commandments and now she is completely ready to change. Then we have Tilish who is a son of Ze and Nininha (The couple that just got married and baptized), who really liked to drink and smoke but now has quit. Hopefully everything will go as planned and we will have an awesome week!

I love it here so much. There is nothing more awesome than preaching repentance and having the authority of God to do it.

Love,

Elder Rice

Bida sta diret!!?!?

It’s been a great week! A little slower than our last couple weeks, but nonetheless, very awesome! Our ward mission leader had his birthday this week, so we all went to his house to have a giant family night. There was A TON of people that showed up. There was a bunch of food, and dessert and they had a time to share testimonies, it was really sweet. Our ward mission leader is super incredible, he works.

This is the first functioning ward that I have come into, where everyone really strives to do their job, its super nice. This week we have been teaching with our recent convert Wilson. He is a great kid, he is 18 years old and he came to Assomada to visit his family. While he was here, we taught him and he was baptized. Because of the church, he is going to stay here and go to school this next year. He says he wants to serve mission so we are going to continue to get him excited and help him.

We have been working with 2 less active members named Ness and Gugas. Our ward really needs more Melchezidek priesthood holders to make the split and make 2 wards. The Elders quorum has given us a list of names of men that are less active that could receive this priesthood. We have been working with them for weeks. They both promised to come to church but unfortunately did not. They have so much potential to be incredible priesthood holders, they just need some push.

We had zone conference in Praia this last Friday, it was super great. I got to see ´´Nha fidju´´, or ´´My son´´, Elder McKissik. Elder Mckissik stayed in Mosteiros for 4 transfers now he is here in Praia and we will see each other in zone conference. Man, I missed him a ton, he is such an awesome missionary. He just told me that one of the recent converts we had in Mosteiros, Edy, received the Melchizedek priesthood and is putting in his papers to serve a mission!!!!!! SO AWESOME!!! I wanted to cry, I was so happy when I heard that.

We didn’t have the most success with investigators in church this Sunday, but that just means we need to work even hard this next week so we can help these people feel the Holy Ghost and know the truth.

The mission is incredible. There is so much to learn in the scriptures. STUDY EVERY SINGLE DAY!! You gain great blessings and know exactly what you need to do. I love the Book of Mormon and the Bible for the countless lessons I am taught and for the testimony it gives me of my Savior Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Rice

HEY!!

It’s been such an awesome week! I love the Assomada zone so much. We have a lot of new missionaries here that are ready to work and are really looking to baptize. This zone hasn’t done so well in the past, but I really think its going to pick up. This week I totally forgot it was my birthday. We were in our correlation meeting and our ward mission leader said, does anyone have a birthday this month? And I said yeah, and then I looked at my watch and realized that it was that day ha-ha. I totally forgot, but the sisters that are working here made some super good oatmeal cookies for my birthday, super nice.

This week was sweet! Ze and Nininha were married this week, it was truly incredible! We had a family night at Nininhas salon the night before with a bunch of members of the ward. We talked about how the gospel blesses families and the importance of marriage in the family. Marriage is ordained by God, it is a commandment, and I can tell you that it brings so much happiness. Both Nininha and Ze began to cry as they talked about their experience in the church and preparation for marriage, it was truly a special moment.

The actual wedding happened on Friday. The best man and bridesmaid (I think that’s what it’s called) had just arrived Friday morning for Brazil. They went to be sealed in the temple and made it back right in time to be their for the marriage. We took a bunch of pictures, it was great. Afterwards, they had a little party in the salon. They had a bunch of huge pots cooking rice, cachupa (special dish of Cabo Verde, corn, beans, meat, broth) and other dishes of meat and potatoes. It’s actually super good. They had a TON of food, and a lot of members came, it was great.

Even better, on Saturday, they were baptized. Overall we had the baptism of Ze and Nininha, their daughter Erika and a young man named Wilson. They all are SO incredible, I love each one of them so much. They had really taken the gospel and lived it and now they are receiving the blessings, it’s so incredible.

At church yesterday we had part of a new family come to church, their names are Lucia, Clarinda, and Zani. They are all sisters. They are only part of a family that we just began teaching. They have accepted baptism and are doing really well. We have been finding lots of new people and their is just so much work to do.

We have a lot planned for this next week, I sure how everything works out well and we can continue to be an instrument in the Lords hands. I truly love this gospel, it’s the best thing that anyone could ever have or share. I continue to gain so much counsel for the Book of Mormon every single day. I wish I had more than 2 or 3 hours to study every day, there is so much to learn and so little time. Read the book of Mormon every single day, without fail, you will become so happy. It’s when we stop to do the little things like reading and sincere prayers and paying attention in church that we fall into the temptations of the adversary. This church is true.

Love,

Elder Rice

HI!

It’s been a crazy awesome weekend! I love the mission, I love my companion, and I love my calling! It’s been a crazy week helping all the new missionaries get settled in their new areas. We have 2 sisters that went to a closed area called Calheta. Then 2 more were added here in Assomada. We are working to split this Ward in two here in the next couple months. We have A LOT of work to do. We need to have 40 active Melchizedek priesthood holders, its going to happen. We also need to increase the frequency to an average of 180 for the month of September. It’s going to be a lot of work, but the members and we are definitely willing to get it done.

We have found some new families this week that have some really good potential. We are trying to talk to EVERYONE, in every place. We need new investigators, we need to find the Lords elites. However, Wilson (Carlitos nephew) is doing awesome. We teach him and he just loves all the new things he learns. He has even come walking with us and came to teach a few lessons with us ha-ha. He really likes the church. His family lives in Praia, but they came to visit this weekend. He invited us to teach his family and they came to church this Sunday and really liked it. We are going to hand off the reference to Elders in Praia.

 Ze and Nininha are going to get married this week!! They have marriage marked for Friday at 10 in the morning. We have been working with them for like 2 and half transfers and finally we are going to see the fruits. They are super excited and doing super well. The only possible problem is that the Registry needs a photo copy of the best man’s passport, but right now he is Brazil. We are going to have to get in contact with him and hopefully everything works out alright.

 This work is so rewarding. I’m learning so much every single day! I just wish I had more time to study the scriptures, they just give so much wisdom that can’t be found anywhere else. I love this church. This is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Never take for granted being a member of this church. As a member, we have been given the commandment to teach others. Talk to your friends, testify and invite. There is no other way.

 Love,

Elder Rice

HEY!

The mission is fantastic. No complaints here. We just had transfers last night. I’m staying here!!! I couldn’t be happier I truly love it here in Assomada and I love serving with my Ethiopian Companion Elder Haile, he is so awesome!! Our small zone is growing finally; we are receiving 4 new sisters this week. 2 will be coming to Assomada, so there will be 6 here and 2 more are being sent to Calheta, which has been closed for a while and is only a group. There will be a lot of new missionaries coming so we have to really help them all gain our vision for the zone. It should be an incredible transfer, im very excited!!

This week was truly incredible. I couldn’t have asked for anything better! This last Saturday we had the chance to help 6 enter into the water of baptism and make a covenant with their loving Heavenly Father. The people that were baptized were Siza (sister of Carlito, a recent convert. She doesn’t talk very much, but has learned and grown a ton while talking with us.), Lanira (We found her one of the first days of the transfer doing a random street contact, she is the neighbor of a really good member family), Jacinto and Elton (friends of member in the ward. They recently returned home from serving in the military for 15 months. They are currently staying in a members house), Kelida and Rosangela (Invited by a member to church. We managed to get the mom’s permission for them both, but not for the 3rd sister, they are super super awesome!!!!). It was a day full of white, it was so awesome. We have so much thanks to give to the Lord. We ask and ask so much, but sometimes we forget to give thanks. This was a miracle, only could have been done by the hand of the Lord, I just don’t know how I got so lucky to be an instrument in His hands.

We are working with another family member of our recent convert Carlito. We are teaching his nephew. His nephew is from Praia, but he has been visiting here a bunch and has a ton of interest. He is planning to be baptized this next Saturday, he is incredible. When we first met him he did not want to talk to us, but we had him sit in a lesson with us and Carlito and he could really feel something different. He is repenting and growing in faith everyday. he even came to a fire side just for members.

Ze and Nininha have not yet been married. They are planning to be married on the 16th of August. If everything runs well, there will be the marriage on the 16th, and baptism of Ze and Nininha and their daughter Erika on the 17th. They are all very excited and the members are helping to loan a suit for Ze and provide a bit of food for the after party. Should be great!

I’m super excited to see what happiness this transfer. We have already seen so miracles. I love teaching the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. The doctrines are pure and true. There is no one or nothing that could ever take me away from this work.

I love you all,

Elder Rice

Corpo stà diret (Creole)

I may have been chased by a cow this week, super scary.

It’s been one crazy week! We have been working with Nelida, Kelida, and Rosangela this entire week, every single day. They have been progressing incredibly; they are so prepared by the Lord and have felt the Holy Spirit and never want to stop. They are awesome. We were planning there baptism for this last week. On Friday they all passed their interviews and were ready to go and they were super excited. Then on Saturday, we passed their house and they were not there, then we went to the church to wait for them and they were not there. We called their mom and she told us that their real dad that lives on the island of Sal doesn’t want them to be baptized. We had already gotten the permission and signature from the mom and step dad, but at the very last minute, it went down hill. We are not even close to giving up. We talked to the mom yesterday and I think we made some good progress, she said she would support her daughters decision, because it is what the Lord wants. We are going to plan them for this Saturday, but we will see what happens.

Also, Jacinto and Elton, unfortunately had been lying to us, they in fact had a problem with alcohol. We have had some GOOD lessons with them and made it very clear what they need to do. They have a ton of desire to change and want to be baptized this week. They asked us for a priesthood blessing yesterday, I know they are going reach their goal.

Ze and Nininha are doing super solid. We are going back to the Registry to mark their wedding date this Thursday. The ward has been very supportive and they are going to help organize a little party afterwards. Nininha couldn’t be happier. It’s going to be a truly beautiful day.

We have also been teaching a woman named Siza. We are pretty sure she has a mental problem because she is super quiet and does not understand very well, but she is progressing a little bit every day. She recently has started to say prayers in front of us. She is the sister of one of our recent converts. We made some flash cards that say things like ''Who is Jesus Christ, what is repentance, what is the word of wisdom...' and we gave it to some of the neighbors that are members. They are going to go by every day and review the questions with her. Our only worry is how she will respond during the interview.

It rained quite a bit yesterday, which is not cool. I don’t really miss rain at all, especially when you are in a suit, white shirt and tie and you feel humid and sticky and nasty for the entire day.

It’s going to be a marvelous week. We are going to Praia tomorrow for missionary leadership conference and transfers are this next Sunday, CRAZY!! I hope I stay here for a few more transfers, I love it!!!!

Love,

Elder Rice

Modi que bu sta!? (That is Creole for how are you)
Como está? (Portuguese)

 It’s been an incredible week! It’s actually starting to rain a little bit here, its kind of weird. It’s been sunny and hot my whole mission but now it’s a bit cloudy and rainy! This morning we went with some members and the sisters and elders in our district to hike down to this giant tree! We got permission to pick mangos off this farmer’s tree and they were incredible. I think we have a bag of like 15 at home. This transfer is going by super duper fast. It’s already the 5th week, crazy!

This week we had the baptism of Edgar, who is super awesome. He was invited by bishop to attend church a few weeks ago. He had already gone to church for quite a while, but now he came back and we helped to be baptized. Edgar is a super smart guy and had a great testimony of Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon. The Bishop has been working with him, so he baptized him. Edgar is thinking about going on a mission, we are going to help him. He bore an incredible testimony after his baptism saying that he knows this church is true, he is going to keep the commandments and he is not going to stop. He also received the Aaronic priesthood, the class of priest on his confirmation.

This week we found some INCREDIBLE people! A member had invited these 3 girls to church and they came and loved it. We went to their house and met them, their names are Nelida, Kelida (twins) and Rosangela. They are SO smart. They understand the restoration better than probably any investigator I have every taught. They are 14 and 12 years old. They have a TON of questions and love to talk to us. Last week we taught them every single day! We gave them all book of Mormons, pamphlets and a calendar to prepare for baptism. They each have a little plastic bag they put it in and bring it to our studies. They also write questions they have, look of scriptures recommended in the pamphlets and write them down on a sheet of paper.... Incredible. They planned to be baptized this Saturday!

Then we met these two young men named Elton and Jacinto. They served in the military for 15 months with a member and are now living at his house and working for their dad, Max. They have come to church a few times with their family and we recently started to teach them. We also taught them everyday last week. They are both 20 years old and have a ton of desire. They are also planned to be baptized this Saturday. Ze and Nininha are doing super well, they managed to gather together the money necessary to pay for marriage. This morning we went to the City Hall or Registry or something and submitted all their papers. We are going to return on the 2nd of August to mark the date for the 16th of August. They are super excited and so are we, should be awesome!!!

Our bishop has really wanted us to focus on teaching all of our lessons with a member present. That has been our sole purpose for this last week to help our investigators get to know members by having them teach with us. We have brought a young man named Kioma, to help us teach, because he is going to serve a mission. Only a few weeks ago he was less active, but yesterday he was called as a ward missionary and we have been working with him almost every day. Our members present lessons jumped up from 17 to 29. We are going to have even more this week.

No complaints about this week, super excited to see what miracles come this week and the baptisms of some awesome people. God is a God of miracles, he always has been and he always will be. You'd be surprised at all the miracles you see in your life if you pay attention.

Love,

Elder Rice

Hey Everyone!

It’s been an awesome week!! The attendance in our ward has been really high lately. That one Sunday of 193 was super ridiculous, especially because not even a year ago it was around like 70. This week was 173, the ward leadership is super pumped to make Assomada a stake before the next coming year!! The bishop and the ward mission leader are super pumped. They have come to do divisions with us. Bishop is an ex missionary, he was doing street contacts, asking for references and giving us a bunch of people, it was super funny. The thing is we are so packed with investigators; we don’t have enough time to teach all of them. We are going to have to start doing more divisions.

We have been teaching Chalana. He is a guard, is about 30 years old, and has a girlfriend and a few kids. He is the son of a very strong member named Hermana. He is the only one in the family that is not a member. We had a super powerful lesson on the word of wisdom and committed him to stop drinking. Apparently he is doing super well.

A member invited some friends to church and 3 of them came. Their names are Nelida, Kelida and Rosangela. We got to meet their whole family and teach a lesson. They liked church a lot, I saw one of them on the street and they asked me for a Book of Mormon, so I gave her one. We haven’t been able to find them after that, but we have plans to teach them this week.

This week we had the baptism of Shawn!! Man it was so great! Even though her kids showed up late, she had a ton of support from the members. Shawn had some problems waking up and getting to church on time, but when we went to pass her in the morning early, she was already at church! She loves the Book of Mormon, she says when she is stressed or something goes wrong she reads and she just feels peace. She says she takes it everywhere she goes and even sleeps with it, ha-ha.

We have been teaching an investigator that the bishop gave us named Edgar. Edgar is pretty much shadowing the Bishop’s work and learning with him. Edgar lives in a town that is like a 25 minute walk from Assomada so we try to teach him at the church. We are planning for him to be baptized this Saturday! He is progressing super well, and yesterday asked us what he had to do to serve a mission. I’m super excited for his baptism. There

 is also a member named Celso that works in a bakery. Every time we pass by he gives us free bread or cookies. He’s super cool. He gave us the reference of one of his co workers named Ze Maria. At first Ze didn’t really want to talk to us, but then we had a lesson with him this week and he was telling us how he has just wasted some much time and money on drinking and really wants to follow the right path. We invited him to follow Jesus Christ through baptism and he accepted a date.

It’s been a super great week. I can’t believe how fast time is going. This transfer is flying by. It weird how fast transfers go by, they are 6 weeks and it literally feels like nothing. This is the best call in the world!

Love,

Elder Rice

HEY!

Man, it’s been a sweet week! It turns out last week in sacrament there were around 193 people!! That is the most the ward has ever seen! It was super awesome. Anyway, this Monday, we had a family night at Herman’s house, one of the sweetest members I have ever met in cabo Verde. It was really cool because we invited a ton of non members and some showed up and had a great time. We are working hard on Herman’s street. We are trying to help every person that lives there be a member.

This week we had the Missionary Leadership Conference, for zone leaders and also now for sister leaders. It was super awesome. We received some really inspiring training on how to work better with members, ward council and less actives. It got me super fired up to help all the less actives return. This is going to be one of the main focuses for our zone. When you talk and teach with less actives it’s so important they know why you are there, we are here to bring them back to the fold. I have never met a less active that said they are happier in that moment compared to when they were strong in the church. Why is that? Because when you keep the commandments, you are blessed. We are going to help our zone gain this desire to bring less actives back.

We are working a lot with Ze and Nininha! They are doing super well. They are coming to church and love the lessons we are giving them. Nininha has a salon here in Assomada so she brings her pamphlets and Book of Mormon and reads when customers are not there. They just talked with the bishop yesterday in church and talked about marriage. They are super excited, but they want to wait a few more weeks so they can get everything prepared and ready. All the papers are ready to go, we are going to go to the Registry and have them sign the papers tomorrow.

  Also, this Saturday, Carlito was baptized! The service was incredible! Carlito showed up to the baptism before we did and was super anxious. He has been talking about this day for a while. We had the Elder Quorum President, President Torres baptize him. As we have been teaching Carlito, we have met his brother in law Wilson. At first Wilson thought we were pretty weird and he said he would be traveling back to Praia soon so he didn’t want to talk with us. But as we persisted and had him sit in lessons with us, he really started to like it and now is progressing towards baptism. He came to church and really liked it. The Lord has prepared so many people, now it’s just a matter of the will we put forth to find and touch the hearts of these people. One thing I have learned is that we can never let fear stop us from doing anything. Fear does not come from God. We must follow the Spirit, act with boldness, teach with power and the hearts of the prepared people will be touched.

We have also been teaching a woman named Shaw. She has two kids that are members, who were less active, but have recently came back. Shaw is doing super great! She came to church this last week and is reading in the Book of Mormon. We have her marked to be baptized this week, I can’t wait to complete this family and help them all be strengthened by the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is one daughter that is still resisting a bit, but I think with the baptism of her mom, she will too want to be baptized.

Yesterday night we had a really neat experience. We went down into Fonta Lima, about 25 minute walk, to visit Ze and Nininha. Unfortunely only Nininha was there, but we got to talk to her a bit about marriage and also about the impact of the gospel in their life. She was telling us that the first day we visited their family, there was a lot of sadness and hard times. Apparently, Ze and Nininha both didn’t have jobs, they didn’t eat breakfast very often, and were having a lot of problems with money. These financial problems soon led into disputes between the family. Ze started to drink and that caused a lot of problems too. She said that the day we came, a new light entered their family. They didn’t fight, Zen found work in a carpentry, he stopped drinking and later Minima found a salon to start her business. She was telling us how truly sad they were, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when put into practice, brought enormous blessings. She says she know that this is the true church. She said she wanted to bear her testimony yesterday but was a little scared. They are such an incredible family. I am so lucky to be able to help teach them and help their family enjoy the blessings.

There is no joy greater than bringing the Holy Ghost into a home. As members of the church we have the sacred responsibility to be a testimony of God in all times, things and places. We have the Gift of the Holy Ghost and we can testify of these truths. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have received a calling to serve her Cabo Verde. I love this place more than words can describe. Serve the Lord, you will be blessed.

Love,

Elder Rice

July 1, 2013

Hey Everyone!

It’s been a crazy, sweet week! I received my new companion Elder Haile last week! Man he is awesome. He is the first Ethiopian missionary to be called to Cabo Verde. He is also the first person in Ethiopia to get the Duty to God, and he got to meet Elder Holland!! He is a super awesome missionary that works hard and works smart. I’m excited to keep working hard with him.

We had a sweet family night at Carlito's house. His mom made the traditional dish of cachupa and juice, it was awesome. We gave a spiritual message about faith and repentance then played games and hung out! It was bomb! Carlito was supposed to be baptized this week but he drank a tiny bit of coffee, so we are going to wait till next week. He feels really bad for what he did and knows it was wrong. He is super excited for this next week! Also, Carlito made me a weight that I can use so my muscles don’t turn into apple sauce. He made it like 60 pounds, it’s pretty nice.

We are currently working with a less active family. There is Daisy and Carlos, who are the kids that haven’t came to church in a while. We recently have started to teach their non member mom and Daisy's boy friend, Va. They are all doing super well and really understand the doctrine well. All 4 of them showed up to church this last Sunday and are playing to be baptized on the 13th of July.

We have also been working a lot with Ze and Nininha, who are planning to be married. They say they want to be married and baptized in the church. Their only worry right now is money for the wedding and the dress and suit. We are going to do our best to find some clothes we can borrow for them. They both came to church and had a great time. The ward I am working in has just been exploding!!

The ward has really been focusing on member missionary help. Every one is really focusing on Home teachers and Visiting Teachers. The church was SO FULL this last Sunday! Man it was ridiculous. In every class we had to get a other chairs from other classrooms, it was packed. The attendance was around 170. When I arrived here like 7 weeks ago it was around 95. The members are awesome! They are all super fired up, it’s sweet. The members in the ward have such a huge role in missionary work. Talking, inviting, befriending, integrating, and having a love for others. Always be an example and always be a missionary.

 There is a ton of work to do in this area. I am super excited to keep serving here, I love it so much!!!!

 Love,

Elder Rice

June 24, 2013

Hey!!

Its been a crazy awesome week, as always!! Assomada is so awesome, the members her are incredible, and the ward is really starting to grow! Last Monday, we had a family night at Toca's house (one of our investigators). We shared the story of the Tree of Life and encouraged everyone to share the gospel with everyone. Toca made rice and a fish broth stew thing. It had vegetables and broth and we brought the juice, it was all super good and a bunch of people ended up showing up.

 Toca got baptized this week and it was awesome! She had some major problems with commandments before but has truly made a change and repented. She left her old life behind and now is just pressing forward by keeping the commandments. The thing is that she doesn’t speak Portuguese, so its fairly tough for her to understand. But by keeping the commandments and making this covenant with God she feels it. I’m so glad I had the chance to help her be a member of this church.

Toca was actually a reference from her member neighbor, Hermana. Hermana is incredible. She has 2 awesome daughters and a son that are super strong in the church. They are actually planning to go to the temple this august in Brasil. Hermana has a fire to share the gospel, its super great. She actually recently gave us another reference for a man named Carlito who has already came to church a few times and is planning on getting baptized this week. Hermana is doing a huge favor for us and the Lord. Her joy will be so great as she finds her friends and family in happiness with her after this life.

We are currently working with two couples to try and help them be married and baptized. The first is Gugas and Janira. Gugas is already a member, but they haven’t come to church in quite a while. Before we help them be married we are going to help them keep all the commandments, to truly be converted and enjoy the blessings that the Lord has waiting for them. The other is Nininha and Ze. They are awesome. Nininha is super excited for marriage and they really like the church a lot. They have 6 kids we are working with, unfortunately, use drugs and alcohol, but we are going to continue to help them gain a desire to repent and be baptized.

Transfers just happened last night! I will be staying her in Assomada, but my comp, Elder Reeser will be going to Praia to finish up his last transfer and a half as a trainer. Man, I’m going to miss him a lot. He was an awesome companion and I truly learned a lot with him. However, I am now with Elder Haile. He is from Ethiopa and super cool. he speaks very good english and he was zone leader already in Santo Antao( Another island of Cabo Verde). He is on his 12th transfer. I know we are going to work really hard and have good success.

We have just cleaned out our entire house and packed everything we own into our bags because we are moving today. We haven’t made the payment to the new house, so they wont let us in, but they should make the payment this afternoon at around 2. I don’t like moving houses, its definably a pain, but now we have all new stuff haha. We don’t have a table or chairs though. It’s gonna be a weird first week, haha.

Tonight we are going to have a family night in Carlitos house. It should be super cool! Apparently a member is going to make Cachupa. Cachupa is a mixture of pretty much everything. You put in corn kernels that soften and turn all big (not popcorn), meat, fish, carrots, seasonings, vegetables and whatever else and let it sit in a pot for like 4 hours. Its actually super good. For breakfast they just throw an egg on it, its good!

Also, Carlito, who works construction, told me that he would make me a weigh that I can lift. He is going to get a rod of steel or iron and then just stick a block of cement on each end. I’m excited because Im getting super weak. I have been lifting boxes of Liahona magazines, its not cutting it! This is the most awesome call in the world. I’m excited to see the miracles that the Lord gives us this transfer.

I love you all!!!

Elder Rice

Dear Everyone!

It’s been a crazy week, but super awesome!!! This week we had zone conference in Praia. Man, it was super awesome! Their were some great trainings given by the assistants that focused on using the spirit in our work, and how only by the spirit can true conversion come. I remember the very day when I felt the spirit so greatly that I just cried. I was reading the Book of Mormon. I had asked the Lord countless times to help me know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Everything just came together. My life changed after that day. Zone conference was incredible. President Oliveira helped us to understand how we can strengthen our wards and to strengthen the members.

We were walking on the road this one day and we were passing this guy and as were passing each other, he kinda slowed down like he wanted to say hi, but he didn’t. I stopped and started talking to him. Apparently he had been taught EVERYTHING in Praia by sister like 1 week earlier. he had already gone to church a bunch and he had actually been interviewed to be baptized but his family basically said they would disown him if he got baptized. He is staying here in Assomada for 1 month and he says he wants to get baptized. We have talked to him a few times and he is super pumped, he is getting baptized this Saturday. Its weird how the simply the Lord gives us miracles. Pay attention for the miracles you see, they happen every day, or at least it seems like it.

We are also planning to have the baptism of Toca this week. Man, Toca is great. Toca ONLY understands Creole, so its super hard to teach her sometimes, but we have a member that is her neighbor, whose name is Hermana. She helps us teach her all the time. Toca had some serious problems with commandments when we first met her, but she has stopped completely, is repenting and wants to change for good. She has showed up to church for the last like 2 months straight. She doesn’t understand that much at church but she says she feels good. She doesn’t feel good when she is not at church. We had a family night and Toca was there. We watched the restoration film and we all bore our testimonies. Toca was the last testimony and man was it good. She bore a great testimony and she knew it was true. I’m so excited to see her be baptized this week!

We have been working with this less active brother and sister named Karlos and Daisy. They are super cool and have great testimonies of the gospel, they just got distanced and now feel like they don’t have a ton of friends at church. We have had some great lessons with them and now we are working to teach their friends. This Sunday we passed by Carlos and he opened the door like he had just woken up in his boxers haha. We gave him a white shirt and tie and he came to church, he loved it! He says he wants to serve a mission now, I think he is 17 years old. Man he is great, now we just have to work on Daisy.

We went to visit Ze and Nininha and their family again. They are doing great! We marked them for baptism and helped them understand that to be baptized they have to be keeping all of the commandments. We taught them the Law of Chastity and taught them the blessings that will come to them and their family through marriage. They agreed to prepare to be married on like the 20th of July. Nininha is a lot more excited than Ze, but we will keep working with them. Also, one of their sons named Ivandro showed up to our activity on Saturday and also to church, it was great to see him.

I went on a division to a nearby area called Riberao Manel. I worked with Elder Gomes, a Cabo Verdian, he is from the island of Fogo from Cova Figueira. I don’t think I have ever walked so much in one day. Just to reach one part of their area you have to walk at least 1 hour and a half. It was ridiculous, but super cool!

We also had an awesome activity again this last Saturday. The activities are really helping the ward come together have fun and integrate the recent converts and investigators, its great. They did a dance night type of thing where groups of people would come up and dance to music of their choice, it was actually really sweet!

On Saturday night, I prayed specifically to know that Joseph Smith restored the true church on the earth and if he really was a prophet, I don’t know if i have prayed so much intent before. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would receive an answer. On Sunday morning, the bishop calls us and says he needs us to give a talk in sacrament meeting. He said the topic was the restoration. I gave the first talk in sacrament meeting and i have never told that story with more surety in my heart that Joseph Smith saw God the father and his Son and was called a Prophet of God. I know for a fact that God answered my prayer. Even if it was just to give a talk, I have never had so much surety the words I spoke were true. I honestly feel that the words that came out of my mouth were not mine.

Man, it’s been a great week, I’m so excited to see what happens this week. At least like six more missionaries should be coming into our zone, so that should be super awesome. I’m pumped, transfers are this next week! Crazy how fast time has gone.

Love,

Elder Rice