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
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, October 21, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
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
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
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
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
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
Monday, September 30, 2013
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
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
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