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
D&C 4:2
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." (D&C 4:2)
Monday, November 25, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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
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
Monday, November 11, 2013
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
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
Monday, November 4, 2013
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
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
Friday, November 1, 2013
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
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
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