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