October 5, 2015

Hey Everybody!

General Conference this weekend was great! On the mission I have grown to have a much greater appreciation of the words of the living prophets and apostles and the council that they give to us. It is such a blessing to know that there is a man on the earth who receives direct revelation from our Heavenly Father and in turn gives us council on how we can better serve and love our Him.

As I watched the transmission of conference here it took me a little while to get used to listening to the translation, but as I became accustomed to it I was amazed at how the translators were able to relate the message of the apostles and prophets with the same spirit. Every aspect of General Conference really is touched by the spirit and I am grateful for the gifts those translators have to take the words of the prophet to all the ends of the earth.

There was one talk that particularly stuck out to me, I can´t remember the name of the man who spoke but he told about several people who asked God ``what is impeding my progress`` and all those who asked were able to receive answers. This talk highlighted one aspect of God´s love for us. And that is his desire for us to change, and become perfected. In order to help us change he has given us the path of the Gospel doctrine with tools such as prayer and revelation that illuminate this path. The challange he gave to ask God this question is one I hope that all of you take. I did, and I was able to see a weakness that was holding me back that I had never noticed before. It is a great faith building experience!

The work that Elder Juliani and I are doing here in Universitário is going along really well! It seems that every week we see miracles and have the opportunity to feel the spirit strongly in our messages. We have a baptism coming up this next Saturday with a young man named Eduardo. He is very involved with the church and a member of the bishopric has been bringing him to church for the past 4 weeks. I am very excited for the chance to baptize this young man and to start to work with his family and share with them the truth of the gospel that can bless our families. There is nothing better than the doctrine of Christ and keeping the commandments that will make us happy in this life! 

Everyday I see the hand of the lord in my life as I help his work, but this is not something just for missionaries. I know that God loves and is watching over each and every one of us! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Rice