July 20, 2015
Hey Everybody!
This week has had it ups and downs... Unfortunately the baptism of Gabriel didn´t go through and I don´t think that it will for some time. As we talked more with his family we found out that some of the issues of obedience he had at home were more serious than we thought and are impeding him from being baptized. I still think that he is an outstanding young man, but he just needs a little more time to really be fully prepared for baptism. Although I am sad that he will not get baptized I know that his time will come as he stays active in all of the activites.
There is another family that we have been working with a lot that is incredible! It is a family of three. Maria (mom) Daniel and Rafael (her two sons). Maria unfortunately is passing through some pretty hard times right now and has some very serious health issues, and to make it even worse during these hard times she is being kicked out of her house and must find a new place to live. Luckily we were able to find a house that is for rent about a block from the church and is within her budget. Today Elder Da Silva and I will help her move in to the new house. I think that this move will be really good for her and since she will be so close to the church it will be easy to help her out when she needs it. The real star in this family though is her son Daniel, this kid is something special. Pretty much everytime we have a lesson with them we ask Daniel to close with a prayer because his prayers are just so powerful. He is only 11 years old but his prayers come from the heart. And everynight he gets the family together so he can read the Book of Mormon out loud to his mom and younger brother. We could baptize Daniel and Rafael this week but we want to baptize the whole family together, unfortunately Maria hasn´t been able to make it to church yet because of her heath issues. But we are planning to make sure that when the baptism does happen it is something special.
I would like to leave you all with a scripture that is special to me, it is the scripture that my farwell talk was based off of and I love it. In Mosiah 5:13 it says ``for how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him and is far from the desires and thoughts of his heart?`` it truly is imposible to know the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ unless we serve him, and the best way to serve him is to share this incredible gospel with those around us. So let us all strive to the best of our abilities to invite others to come to Christ and enjoy the blessings of his perfect plan.
Love,
Elder Rice
Friday, November 6, 2015
July 13, 2015
Hey Everybody!!
There really is nothing like living in Brazil other than living in Brazil! When I wake up in the morning I look out my window to see a forest of palm trees in the distance and feel the cool air of the morning (which sometimes isn´t very cool...). And during the day I walk under a ball of fire but luckily the people here are kind enough to welcome you in and give you a ice cold glass of water if you just knock on the door. It's a pretty great experience to live amongst another culture and learn to love it.
This week Elder Da Silva and I were trying to finalize everything for Gabriel´s bapism but unfortunately we had to post-pone it. Although I think it was for the best. The day before his baptism Gabriel fought with his step-father and when we went over there to do the baptismal interview his parents were hesitant about letting him get baptized. They had hoped that as their son frequented our church and prepared for baptism he would change around the house. Gabriel has definatly been changing but unfortunately in the heat of the moment his temper got the better of him. So we are hoping to wait until this Saturday or possibly the next Saturday before we baptism him. We want to show his parents that we respect their interests and want to see the same changes in their their son that they want to see. I know Gabriel is a great young man and that the church would just help him to grow even more, and become an influnence within his family for good.
Other than the work that we did with Gabriel Elder Da Silva and I have been keeping busy with several other families. It seems like nearly every lesson that we have with an investigator or a less active we end up finding new people to teach. One couple, that we found yesterday, to teach that I am very excited to follow up with is Johnathon and his wife Camille. I recited the first vision to them and during the whole thing Camille wouldn´t break eye contact with me. I felt that the spirit really testified strongly to her about what I was saying, and after that her demenor changed. I feel there is great potential there and I can´t wait to see if she prayed about the truthfulness of our message.
The mission is unlike anything else. It is such a great opportunity to learn and grow. I try to take advantage of every minute that I can. It seems like the more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Luckily though I and all of us have the grace of God to make up for all of our short comings. Never forget that his arms of mercy are always extended to help us in every moment of our lives.
I love you all and hope that you all pray in gratitude for your blessing, and always study the scriptures.
Love,
Elder Rice
Hey Everybody!!
There really is nothing like living in Brazil other than living in Brazil! When I wake up in the morning I look out my window to see a forest of palm trees in the distance and feel the cool air of the morning (which sometimes isn´t very cool...). And during the day I walk under a ball of fire but luckily the people here are kind enough to welcome you in and give you a ice cold glass of water if you just knock on the door. It's a pretty great experience to live amongst another culture and learn to love it.
This week Elder Da Silva and I were trying to finalize everything for Gabriel´s bapism but unfortunately we had to post-pone it. Although I think it was for the best. The day before his baptism Gabriel fought with his step-father and when we went over there to do the baptismal interview his parents were hesitant about letting him get baptized. They had hoped that as their son frequented our church and prepared for baptism he would change around the house. Gabriel has definatly been changing but unfortunately in the heat of the moment his temper got the better of him. So we are hoping to wait until this Saturday or possibly the next Saturday before we baptism him. We want to show his parents that we respect their interests and want to see the same changes in their their son that they want to see. I know Gabriel is a great young man and that the church would just help him to grow even more, and become an influnence within his family for good.
Other than the work that we did with Gabriel Elder Da Silva and I have been keeping busy with several other families. It seems like nearly every lesson that we have with an investigator or a less active we end up finding new people to teach. One couple, that we found yesterday, to teach that I am very excited to follow up with is Johnathon and his wife Camille. I recited the first vision to them and during the whole thing Camille wouldn´t break eye contact with me. I felt that the spirit really testified strongly to her about what I was saying, and after that her demenor changed. I feel there is great potential there and I can´t wait to see if she prayed about the truthfulness of our message.
The mission is unlike anything else. It is such a great opportunity to learn and grow. I try to take advantage of every minute that I can. It seems like the more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Luckily though I and all of us have the grace of God to make up for all of our short comings. Never forget that his arms of mercy are always extended to help us in every moment of our lives.
I love you all and hope that you all pray in gratitude for your blessing, and always study the scriptures.
Love,
Elder Rice
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
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
June 29, 2015
Hey everybody!!!
My first week here in Sao Mateus has been awesome! My new companion Elder Da Silva is great too, also super old... haha he is 25, which is a grandpa out here! He has a great work ethic though and is super humble. By the end of my first day with him I felt really impressed with the Christ-like attributes that he has. All of the love that he has just seems so natural. I strive to be Christ-like, but it seems like I always have to catch myself and correct my actions. For him it was just a stream of goodness. I think will have a great opportunity this transfer to learn from his example. And just a little bit of background info on Elder Da Silva: he is from Rio Janeiro, has six months on the mission, and almost went pro playing soccer. But. because of a knee injury he couldn´t. He is the second youngest of five kids in his family. And, he has a brother who served a mission.
During this first week here in Sao Mateus I had the chance to get to know a ton of people. Which is awesome but also kind of annoying because trying to remember Brazilian names is still super hard for me. So I usually end up asking people what their name is about 10 times before I remember it, but they are usually nice about it. While getting to know the members here in Sao Mateus i was really impressed with the youth here. They are incredible! For such a small group to have 12 youth that are actively engaged in seminary and other activities is incredible. And the best thing is that these youth help us get in to their families and start teaching them! This week we started teaching two brothers, Daniel and Gabriel, and their family. When we sat down to teach the whole family the mom fired about a hundred questions at us. Luckily we were able to answer them all and I could tell that the spirit touched her and her husband. They told us they would go to church this coming week with their sons, which I am sure will start to bring about a big change in their lives.
Other than the youth here in Sao Mateus I am enjoying helping out more with the organization of church. Because the membership is so small the missionaries end up organizing a lot of activities. Every week we have seminary, a movie night and an English class, so there are always plenty of things to stay busy with.
I am loving it here in Sao Mateus and I can tell that we are going to help out with the great work here. I am super excited with this transfer! I hope everyone has another great week!
Love,
Elder Rice
Hey everybody!!!
My first week here in Sao Mateus has been awesome! My new companion Elder Da Silva is great too, also super old... haha he is 25, which is a grandpa out here! He has a great work ethic though and is super humble. By the end of my first day with him I felt really impressed with the Christ-like attributes that he has. All of the love that he has just seems so natural. I strive to be Christ-like, but it seems like I always have to catch myself and correct my actions. For him it was just a stream of goodness. I think will have a great opportunity this transfer to learn from his example. And just a little bit of background info on Elder Da Silva: he is from Rio Janeiro, has six months on the mission, and almost went pro playing soccer. But. because of a knee injury he couldn´t. He is the second youngest of five kids in his family. And, he has a brother who served a mission.
During this first week here in Sao Mateus I had the chance to get to know a ton of people. Which is awesome but also kind of annoying because trying to remember Brazilian names is still super hard for me. So I usually end up asking people what their name is about 10 times before I remember it, but they are usually nice about it. While getting to know the members here in Sao Mateus i was really impressed with the youth here. They are incredible! For such a small group to have 12 youth that are actively engaged in seminary and other activities is incredible. And the best thing is that these youth help us get in to their families and start teaching them! This week we started teaching two brothers, Daniel and Gabriel, and their family. When we sat down to teach the whole family the mom fired about a hundred questions at us. Luckily we were able to answer them all and I could tell that the spirit touched her and her husband. They told us they would go to church this coming week with their sons, which I am sure will start to bring about a big change in their lives.
Other than the youth here in Sao Mateus I am enjoying helping out more with the organization of church. Because the membership is so small the missionaries end up organizing a lot of activities. Every week we have seminary, a movie night and an English class, so there are always plenty of things to stay busy with.
I am loving it here in Sao Mateus and I can tell that we are going to help out with the great work here. I am super excited with this transfer! I hope everyone has another great week!
Love,
Elder Rice
June 15, 2015
Hey Everyone!!
When people say that time flies by while you are on the mission they aren´t kidding. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting down writing another letter to all of you guys. But I have had another busy and productive week with Elder Tibbitts.
This week we had a bunch of service projects with members, everyday, except for Sunday and Friday. It is an awesome opportunity to give service to the members of our ward to gain their trust and show them that we are willing to work hard, but it also made me gain an appreciation for scripture study. Because we did all of the service projects in the morning before lunch we missed out on our daily study almost everyday, and I could definately tell the difference. On the mission I have the blessing of being able to have 3 hours of my morning devoted to studying the scriptures, the language and practice teaching with my companion. And without that this past week I could really feel the difference. Being able to study the scriptures in the morning is a catalyst for growth. Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah, were some of the greatest missionaries ever, and it was because they had given themselves to much fasting, prayer, and study. They waxed strong in knowledge and like them we can do the same if we have effective daily study. This is a habit I hope to keep after my mission as well.
We also made some good progress this week with one of our investigators, Edson. The first time that we visited him I felt really good. He had a desire to learn about the gospel and how it could bless his life. In fact during the lesson he said, ``I want to check out your church, I´ll go there tonight to see what its like``. Which was awesome but we don´t have church on Monday nights so we just explained to him about family home evening and that we only had church on Sundays and made sure to keep this day holy to show reverence to the Lord. He said he would come to church the following Sunday, and he did! In the Sunday Schoool class we talked about prophets and how important it is to have a living prophet today, during the whole lesson Edson was just shaking his head in agreement and afterwards told me about how he liked the lesson. It was so great to see him have such a postitive experience and if he starts getting involved in church I know the rest of his family will follow suit as well. We just need to get him and his wife married so they can be baptized, this is always a problem in Brazil.
We also had a good lesson with Janaina and her husband. We were able to find out the root of his doubts about joining our church and now we know how to better help him. Even though he doesn´t have a desire to be baptized he is willing to support his wife in her decision, so we hope to help get them married as well and then baptize Janaina. And who knows perhaps in the process of helping Janaina prepare for baptism Samuel´s heart will be softened as well. There is a lot of work going on here in Pedra Noventa and everyday seems like a new blessing! I love you all! always remember to look for the good all around you. No matter what the situation you can always learn something about how you can better yourself!
Love,
Elder Rice
Hey Everyone!!
When people say that time flies by while you are on the mission they aren´t kidding. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting down writing another letter to all of you guys. But I have had another busy and productive week with Elder Tibbitts.
This week we had a bunch of service projects with members, everyday, except for Sunday and Friday. It is an awesome opportunity to give service to the members of our ward to gain their trust and show them that we are willing to work hard, but it also made me gain an appreciation for scripture study. Because we did all of the service projects in the morning before lunch we missed out on our daily study almost everyday, and I could definately tell the difference. On the mission I have the blessing of being able to have 3 hours of my morning devoted to studying the scriptures, the language and practice teaching with my companion. And without that this past week I could really feel the difference. Being able to study the scriptures in the morning is a catalyst for growth. Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah, were some of the greatest missionaries ever, and it was because they had given themselves to much fasting, prayer, and study. They waxed strong in knowledge and like them we can do the same if we have effective daily study. This is a habit I hope to keep after my mission as well.
We also made some good progress this week with one of our investigators, Edson. The first time that we visited him I felt really good. He had a desire to learn about the gospel and how it could bless his life. In fact during the lesson he said, ``I want to check out your church, I´ll go there tonight to see what its like``. Which was awesome but we don´t have church on Monday nights so we just explained to him about family home evening and that we only had church on Sundays and made sure to keep this day holy to show reverence to the Lord. He said he would come to church the following Sunday, and he did! In the Sunday Schoool class we talked about prophets and how important it is to have a living prophet today, during the whole lesson Edson was just shaking his head in agreement and afterwards told me about how he liked the lesson. It was so great to see him have such a postitive experience and if he starts getting involved in church I know the rest of his family will follow suit as well. We just need to get him and his wife married so they can be baptized, this is always a problem in Brazil.
We also had a good lesson with Janaina and her husband. We were able to find out the root of his doubts about joining our church and now we know how to better help him. Even though he doesn´t have a desire to be baptized he is willing to support his wife in her decision, so we hope to help get them married as well and then baptize Janaina. And who knows perhaps in the process of helping Janaina prepare for baptism Samuel´s heart will be softened as well. There is a lot of work going on here in Pedra Noventa and everyday seems like a new blessing! I love you all! always remember to look for the good all around you. No matter what the situation you can always learn something about how you can better yourself!
Love,
Elder Rice
June 8, 2015
Hey everybody!!
It has been another awesome week her in Pedra Noventa! The family of Nelia (the young girl who wanted to get baptized) is really starting to get involved in the gospel. This Sunday Nelia´s mom, Janaina, came to church! It was so awesome to see her there and I could tell that she enjoyed it. In between some of the meeting Janaina was talking with one of the members and told them that she got her family together one night to have a scripture study from the Book of Mormon and that they had a family prayer! When I heard that I got so excited. Whenever people start to read the Book of Mormon with the intent to actually understand it changes began to occur in their lives. If Janaina keeps pushing her family to read and come to church it will bless their lives greatly. The only obstacle with them right now is Janaina´s husband Samuel. He is a great guy, but he is kind of indifferent about trying to learn and change with the gospel. He is just content to hear the message.
This week we also found some other peopel who are incredible! One man who´s name is Edson really seems special. We taught him the restoration yesterday and the entire time he was so attentive to what we were saying. At the end of the lesson he had some great questions and said that he would pray about the truthfulness of our message. Tonight we are going to teach him about the Book of Mormon and invite him to read. I always love teaching about the Book of Mormon because it is such a powerful tool to receive an answer about the truthfulness of our message. If the book is true, then so is our church it is that simple.
Everyday I gain a new appreciation for missionary life. There is so much to learn in this life and a mission is such a great place to do it. For two years you spend everyday thinking and working to help others. Nothing that you do as a missionary is for you, it’s all about others. And ironically, the more you focus on others the more you grow yourself. When we look to the example of Christ we can see that in his life he never made one selfish action. He was always focused on others and did everything out of love. To really be a disciple of Christ we must try to put as much of our time and attention to those people around us and as we do this we will grow and learn in a way you cannot accomplish if you focus on yourself. Always remember that as you serve others you are in the service of your God. Think about that and read Mosiah 5:13. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Fique firme!!
Love,
Hey everybody!!
It has been another awesome week her in Pedra Noventa! The family of Nelia (the young girl who wanted to get baptized) is really starting to get involved in the gospel. This Sunday Nelia´s mom, Janaina, came to church! It was so awesome to see her there and I could tell that she enjoyed it. In between some of the meeting Janaina was talking with one of the members and told them that she got her family together one night to have a scripture study from the Book of Mormon and that they had a family prayer! When I heard that I got so excited. Whenever people start to read the Book of Mormon with the intent to actually understand it changes began to occur in their lives. If Janaina keeps pushing her family to read and come to church it will bless their lives greatly. The only obstacle with them right now is Janaina´s husband Samuel. He is a great guy, but he is kind of indifferent about trying to learn and change with the gospel. He is just content to hear the message.
This week we also found some other peopel who are incredible! One man who´s name is Edson really seems special. We taught him the restoration yesterday and the entire time he was so attentive to what we were saying. At the end of the lesson he had some great questions and said that he would pray about the truthfulness of our message. Tonight we are going to teach him about the Book of Mormon and invite him to read. I always love teaching about the Book of Mormon because it is such a powerful tool to receive an answer about the truthfulness of our message. If the book is true, then so is our church it is that simple.
Everyday I gain a new appreciation for missionary life. There is so much to learn in this life and a mission is such a great place to do it. For two years you spend everyday thinking and working to help others. Nothing that you do as a missionary is for you, it’s all about others. And ironically, the more you focus on others the more you grow yourself. When we look to the example of Christ we can see that in his life he never made one selfish action. He was always focused on others and did everything out of love. To really be a disciple of Christ we must try to put as much of our time and attention to those people around us and as we do this we will grow and learn in a way you cannot accomplish if you focus on yourself. Always remember that as you serve others you are in the service of your God. Think about that and read Mosiah 5:13. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Fique firme!!
Love,
June 1, 2015
Hey Everybody!
This week was awesome! Elder Tibbitts and I have been working really hard to start getting some progress with investigators. And we finally have one progressing investigator, but she is only 9 years old... I´m not really a big fan of baptizing little kids becuase it is almost guarenteed that they will go inactive, but I think that this could be good. Yesterday Nelia (our investigator) and two of her siblings (they are both less active) came to church and they all loved it. It was awesome to have them there. Next week their parents said they would come as well. This family is super open to hearing our message and seems like they have a desire to follow the example of Christ more closely. I hope things progress with them and they are able to fully recieve the Gospel. A lot of times people are happy to hear our message and believe that what we are saying is the word of God and even that the Book of Mormon is the word of God but have no desire to change. I just hope that the spirit touches this family so they can all become active in the church together. If the parents get baptized I am sure they will all be able to stay active, the only problem is that they have to get married first... There are very few people in Brazil who are legally married.
Other than this awesome family we have some other very promising investigators. It seems like this last week all the hard work Elder Tibbitts and I put in finally paid off. We have taught a ton of lessons this week and now we are just trying to get some of the members in our lessons too. The message of the Gospel is so special and so powerful, and we want to present it in the best way possible so everyone can enjoy the blessings that come from it.
The mission is so awesome in so many ways, it gives you the opportunity to be immersed in the gospel and always serve others. Everyday I feel that I learn something new. Something that I have realized is the most selfish thing that you can do is to be selfless. When you spend your day in the service of others not only do you learn from your experiences with the people you are serving but God blesses you beyond measure. And when you feel you don´t have the capacity to work any more just thinking about the people you will help is more than enough to conquer any bad attitude. Those who keep the commandments and lose them selves in the service of others will always be ``blessed and happy`` Mosiah (2:41). So you if feel a little down, forget about whatever it was that happened and do someting nice for someone else! I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Look for opportunities to serve!
Love,
Elder Rice
Hey Everybody!
This week was awesome! Elder Tibbitts and I have been working really hard to start getting some progress with investigators. And we finally have one progressing investigator, but she is only 9 years old... I´m not really a big fan of baptizing little kids becuase it is almost guarenteed that they will go inactive, but I think that this could be good. Yesterday Nelia (our investigator) and two of her siblings (they are both less active) came to church and they all loved it. It was awesome to have them there. Next week their parents said they would come as well. This family is super open to hearing our message and seems like they have a desire to follow the example of Christ more closely. I hope things progress with them and they are able to fully recieve the Gospel. A lot of times people are happy to hear our message and believe that what we are saying is the word of God and even that the Book of Mormon is the word of God but have no desire to change. I just hope that the spirit touches this family so they can all become active in the church together. If the parents get baptized I am sure they will all be able to stay active, the only problem is that they have to get married first... There are very few people in Brazil who are legally married.
Other than this awesome family we have some other very promising investigators. It seems like this last week all the hard work Elder Tibbitts and I put in finally paid off. We have taught a ton of lessons this week and now we are just trying to get some of the members in our lessons too. The message of the Gospel is so special and so powerful, and we want to present it in the best way possible so everyone can enjoy the blessings that come from it.
The mission is so awesome in so many ways, it gives you the opportunity to be immersed in the gospel and always serve others. Everyday I feel that I learn something new. Something that I have realized is the most selfish thing that you can do is to be selfless. When you spend your day in the service of others not only do you learn from your experiences with the people you are serving but God blesses you beyond measure. And when you feel you don´t have the capacity to work any more just thinking about the people you will help is more than enough to conquer any bad attitude. Those who keep the commandments and lose them selves in the service of others will always be ``blessed and happy`` Mosiah (2:41). So you if feel a little down, forget about whatever it was that happened and do someting nice for someone else! I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Look for opportunities to serve!
Love,
Elder Rice