Hey everyone!

After not being told where I’m going for like 4 days, in the middle of Missionary Leadership Council, Elder Campbell, announced, ''Elder Rice, stand up, you will be transferred to Varzea with Elder Ernst!!'' Even though it was very sad to leave Maio, I have gotten very lucky to have the opportunity to serve with Elder Ernst. Elder Ernst is from Georgia, he is super nice guy and we get along great. I am currently serving here in Praia in a zone called Varzea. I was missing Maio pretty bad for the first few days, but now I’m getting used to it. Its super weird to have to get to know a whole new area, get to know and remember all of the names of members and start from scratch. But it’s going super well.

When I first got here the house was a mess. Cockroaches EVERYWHERE! Super dirty, I didn’t want to touch anything. I decided I couldn’t live like a pig, so today for P day, we did A SUPER DUPER MEGA clean. It took like 4 hours. But now the house is the cleanest it’s been... ever. The members here are super friendly and I have got to know all of the leaders of priesthood and auxiliaries. That is the greatest key in missionary work - knowing by name, caring for and loving the members. Missionary work cannot have success without the members working together.

Elder Ernst and I made some goals and plans for our zone for the month of May. We focused on using our time wisely. In our lessons with investigators and also less actives, the most effective time is spent when focused always on our purpose, declaring faith and repentance. We talked about how Jesus Christ should be the center of EVERY message and that our goal is help others gain more faith and repent of their sins, making necessary changes to keep the commandments of God. It was a really good training.

We had two baptisms this last week, two teenagers named Ronny and Omar. They are friends of the Bishop's son, Igor. Bishop Martins is a super cool guy, I haven’t got to know him super well, but we are going to work a lot with him. This week we will also be having the baptism of a man named Jailson. Should be awesome!!

I’m still getting to know my new area, investigators and members so it should be fun as I learn more information next week. I’m so grateful to be here in Praia, I will work as hard as I possibly can to bring souls unto Christ, there is nothing better.

Love,

Elder Rice