July 6, 2015

Hey Everybody!

I am loving it here in Sao Mateus! This week Elder Da Silva and I have been able to get a little bit more involved with the members. I´m not sure if I already mentioned this but there is a much bigger ward that is located about 45 minutes by car from our group and they help us out a lot. The second counselor in the bishopric is actually our group president. This week we were able to have a meeting with the leader of the ward. It was a great meeting and we set up a day to have splits with the young men’s leaders and visit all of the youth. The strong youth here in our group is great because they really get the atention of the ward. In fact sometimes the ward and the group have activites together and usually there are more young men from the group at the activites than from the ward. It really is a blessing to have the help of this ward for our group and I am impressed with the willingness of some of the members to sacrifice to help us out. It always makes me happy to see members who are willing to give up their own comfort or needs for those of others. These are the members who really understand the importance of the Lord’s work and the importance of our sacrifices to contribute to his work.

This week Elder Da Silva and I will be preparing for a baptism of a young man named Gabriel. He is 12 years old and has pretty much been active in the church for about a month. This Sunday we will have a special conference at the church building in Mapim, (where the ward is) so we hope to be able to do the baptism there after church so we can have a lot of members present to welcome him. This week I was reading a favorite scripture of mine and i wanted to share it. In 2 Corithians 12:7-10 Paul is talking about weaknesses and how he glories in weaknesses and infirmities because in his weakness the grace of Christ is sufficient for him. Sometimes we look at our weaknesses or difficulties that we are passing through in life and just wish that they could be taken from us. Instead we should glory in them and turn to Christ knowing that his grace can strengthen us.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Rice