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