FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICO!!!!!

Yup, it's official. I am reassigned to the New Mexico Farmington Mission!! I leave on Monday at 4:30 in the morning!! I'm not sure if I am allowed to call you guys yet, we keep getting different information... It might just be when we fly into Brazil since it's a different country. But my plane from Salt Lake leaves at 8:44 and we're gonna get there at like 5 so if we can I will try to call between those times... if not then I guess I just wont call... sorry I can't give you a more definite answer...

Oh! and i know all the people I'm flying with! Sister Ray, my comp, is going to New Mexico also, as well as the girl I met at Tucanos, Sister Haueter, and Ethan's friend that I became facebook friends with before coming here, Sister Hull! We are all so excited! Sister Hancock is going to Colorado Springs, Sister Jackman is going to Michigan, and most of our Elders are going to Atlanta, Georgia! 

I think that's everything!  I love you guys! 

-Sister Rice

(38) no reassignment as of yet...

So the district last week got their reassignments Thursday and it was super awesome and exciting since they usually come on Friday and we were all hoping so much that that would happen again this week for us... and it totally didn't... So I don't know yet, but we should be finding out where and when sometime later today! So I will  be emailing you later today with all the info! AHH! I am so excited! It's like getting another mission call!
     No, I haven't received any info about my visa yet... just what you have sent me. And I kind of forgot about that until just now... so I will totally get on that right after this and get all that info off to you today! Sorry about not getting it out sooner!
     So we do this thing called TRC in the MTC, which is basically this program where volunteers come to the MTC to be taught by the missionaries and we teach them  and it's pretty cool. It's cool getting to talk to and teach people other than our teachers in portugues.  So last Saturday we did skype TRC session with people from Brazil! It was horrible. hahaa Sister Ray and I  couldn't understand anything she was saying and it kept breaking up and we just had no idea what we were doing... haha but it was cool to get to listen to actual brazilians speak portugues and uh know that we are completely going to stink at the language when we actually get to brazil, whenever that is going to be... but yeah despite the horribleness it was a pretty good experience.
     Let's see, what else happened... Oh! I finished the Book of Mormon on Wednesday! The whole thing before I left the MTC! I didn't know if I was actually gonna be able to do it but I totally did and it was  awesome! Also speaking of the BoM, our sub (we've had 10 teachers so far here, pretty sure that's a record)  told us about how President Hinckley said once that if a person were to read the whole BoM in a different language you would be fluent in that language by the time you finished it... guess who is  reading the whole book of mormon in portugues now!! hahah seriously though, why didn't they tell us this at the very beginning?? I feel like that is something that should be told on the first day. Seriously.
     Yesterday was In-Field Orientation all day. It was ok. Not as bad as I thought it would be, since you know they had us do all these lame group activities and stuff, but I learned a bunch about the field (kinda...hahah) and got to hear a bunch of awesome mission stories.
     Oh and we also hosted again Wednesday! That was fun! I love hosting, you get to meet so many cool people. Not just the sisters I hosted, but also all the other missionaries helping out.  I met an elder from England and one from Scotland and just a bunch of other cool missionaries.  And I got to host 4 new sisters again, and actually the 1st and 3rd girls I hosted ended up being companions so that was fun.
    OHH! and I almost forgot!! Elder Larson got his visa yesterday and so did another sister, from the other district that came in the same time as us, Sister Green. We are all really excited for them! But  I am getting my reassignment later today so you'll be hearing from me again!
    Funny stories. Last night Elder Larson asked how fast email is in Brazil... hahah we all found it pretty hilarious. Um also, Elder Bernard and a friend of his have a uke right now, here in the laundry room and we are all  breaking it down to backstreet boys right now as I speak, pretty awesome, especially since we've just moved on to little mermaid haha :]
     I love you guys, miss you guys! I love hearing from you! I don't think DearElder works once I leave the MTC but I will  send all you guys my new address and stuff and it  should be easier to read emails, maybe, so you should start emailing me again.  Love you! can't wait to tell y'all where I'm headed! Talk to ya later!!

-Sister Rice

Bonus Letter!

    Alright, so I totally just got down mailing you and I honestly didn't get half of what I wanted to put the email.  Ok, so they changed what my mission looks like!  Remember how they were making a new mission out of ours?  Well, the Brazil Santos Mission took all of our coast!  There is not coast/beach in our mission anymore!  I am so sad!  I was so looking forward to getting to see the ocean!  But, we actually have more of the city of Sao Paulo now, so that's pretty cool.  Before we had such a small little part of the actual city, so it's a fair trade, I guess...or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
    Oh, so Sunday's here at the MTC we have films in the evening.  We usually have a devotional speaker at 7pm and then at 8pm we can go watch a film like the Restoration or like Legacy/stuff like that.  Or, we can go see films of old talks and stuff.  So, this past Sunday, Sister Ray and I went and watched Elder Bednar's Character of Christ talk.  And it was so FABULOUS!  Seriously, it was so good.  I would highly recommend it to everyone.  I don't know where you would find it online, but you should try to find it and watch it!  It is so good!  He talks about how Christ's character or one part, maybe the biggest part was the fact that Christ was constantly turning outward towards other people during his trials, when the natural man/us almost always without fail, turn inward.  And I am probably really bad at explaining, but it was just a wonderful talk that you should look up.  It is kind of geared toward missionaries, but it can totally be applied to everyone.
    Oh, and also!  One of our Sister Trainer Leader came in to see how we were doing and talk, which they do every night.  So she came in Friday night and told us about how her companion had twisted her ankle and chipped a bone earlier last week and was on crutches and couldn't walk and in pain AND was told that she probably was going to need surgery AND probably just be sent home AND not get reassigned/end of her mission.  So, obviously she was pretty upset about that.  But, Friday they were resting in their room since it was P-day and when she woke up her companion asked her how she was feeling and she told her that she needed a blessing. She wanted Elder Fields to give her a blessing and she would be healed. Which obviously her companion was like uh sister, isn't that a little much to be asking? but the girl was 100% sure if she got a blessing from elder fields, she would be healed. So later, right before everyone on her district left the classroom for the night, she asked elder fields if he would give her a blessing. She went to every single person in the room and asked them if they had the faith for her to be healed and if not, if they could please leave. Then elder fields gave her the blessing, but he didn't specify when she would be healed or anything, just that she would be healed in the lords time according to her faith and the faith of those in the room. They then went back to their room and our trainer was getting ready to go visit everybody and was thinking about what she was going to talk to us about and then her companion started bawling and told her that she knew exactly what she would tell us. She then took off her brace and started walking around the room with no problem, completely fine. After a week of swelling and pain. That was a miracle! An actual miracle! That sister was going to need surgery and go home and she was healed! I'm pretty sure she straight up ran a mile the next day! And it happened just right next to us! I have been talking to the elder that gave her that blessing just an hour before it happened. I can't tell you how amazing it is to know that things like that, miracles, actually do happen. To realize the power that these elders really do have. The small, baby child 18 year old boys have the power of God and can perform miracles and it blows my mind a little bit. The knowledge that i am literally surrounded by people whose faith is immeasurable and powerful enough to heal and be healed. There is no where else on this earth i would rather be for the next 18 months than surrounded by and numbered with these other missionaries. I know that without a doubt i am suppose to be here and that my mission is going to be full of miracles if i exercise even the smallest particle of faith.
    Well, I think that is all i have time for. I may or may not have fallen asleep and took a nap during my letter writing time so i am finishing this up right before bed. I miss you guys muito muito! Can;t wait to hear from you guys!! I loved getting your letter tonight momma, that was wonderful! Harrsion where is my letter? Abby, you're quote is coming don't worry, love the last one. Love you dad! Love you Gid (hahahah). 

                           Ev amo voces!
                                      Love Sister Rice

   Oh! And please tell sister Gadberry thank you for me. Her primary class sent me pictures and it was wonderful!! I love them!

(31) WEEK 5

    So at the beginning of the week Sister Hancock stated that she was going to have nothing to write home about this week... and then everything that could ever happen happened. hahah well, except for visas but that's not that much of a surprise. No one else has gotten their visas since Sister Doman and Sister Tucker. And at this point if we got them we would just stay here until the end cuz NEXT WEEK IS OUR LAST WEEK! OHHMEEEGEEEE.hahaha yup. we get our reassignments next week!! We are all pretty excited, it's like a new mission call! So yes you will definitely be hearing from me next week with where I am going. They have usually been coming on Fridays buuuut they came on Thursday this week, so we aren't sure when we'll find out! But I totally get to email you and tell you guys and then we get a phone call at the airport (!!!!) so yes you will be hearing from me! :D
     Alright so yeah, Sister Hancock made that comment and then boom everything happened! Tuesday all us sisters and most of the elders went to go sing in the choir for the devotional (yes i sang in the choir, and yes it was great... shhhhush.) And so we are sitting there practicing and Sister Jackman and I started to notice how nice the setup on the floor looked. Like there were plants and waaaay more chairs down on the floor than usual and they usually put the name of the speaker on the jumbotron thingy but they were totally freaking out that it was an apostle or President Monson.  And so then everybody else who wasn't in the choir finally all showed up and we all started singing the prelude songs and stuff and in walks Elder Richard G. Scott!! It was so cool! We all stood up as soon as we saw him while singing and it was wonderful!  And he gave such a good talk! He spoke on prayer and our relationship with Heavenly Father and seriously as soon as he started talking the whole place was crying. AND he straight up gave all the missionaries who are learning a language an apostolic promise that if we work hard and have faith, we will be blessed with the spiritual gift of tongues and be able to quickly learn the language! and he said it twice! At two different times! It was such an awesome wonderful experience!  I love Elder Scott! He is such a sweet, sweet man!
     So yeah that was totally great and then the next day on Wednesday we all got to host!! Which means that basically my district and a bunch of others all stood on the curb in front of the MTC and got to tear 822 new missionaries from their families! It was so much fun! hahaha Basically we just would grab a noob from their cars/families, take them to go get their stuff, carry their luggage for them, show them their residence, and then take them to their classroom. I got to host 4 new sisters and it was pretty cool. But um seriously we were all freaking out that we were actually doing it cuz that means that like we've been here long enough to know how to pretend  we know what we are doing here and that's just crazy! Literally it feels like it was just yesterday that I was the one being hosted, scared out of my mind... So crazy.
     Yeah so hosting was a ton of fun. It was so nice to get out of class and I only got lost once! Not as bad as Sister Ray though...!! She somehow managed to lead her new sister down into the male international dorms (I couldn't even tell you where the heck those are...)!! bahahahah so funny.
     Um yeah so I know that I said a bunch happened this week and that I've only told you about like two things... but I think that's  all the big stuff... hahah whatever... it felt like a bunch had happened! hahah OH! Today we get to go to the temple for the first time since we've been here since it's been closed for cleaning!!! We are so  excited!! It is going to be so awesome!
    Also. Hugs. or more the lack of hugs.  I'm pretty sure the fact that as sisters we are not allowed to hug the elders in our district is the worst thing that has ever happened in this world/the hardest part of the MTC... haha you think I'm joking, totally not.  It is literally the strangest thing to get done having an awesome testimony meeting with your district who you love more than is comprehendable(i spelled that wrong, dont judge me), full of tears and happiness and the spirit, and have to settle for a solid, two pump handshake from the elders...  THE. WORST. THING. EVER. hahahaha but whatevs... we've all just decided we're gonna have a big hugging party in two years and it's gonna be the greatest thing to happen on this planet.
     Alrighty, I think that's pretty much everything. Thank you so much to everybody who sent me letters and DearElders this week! They make my life every single time!! I love hearing from all of you! OH! also fave portugues word ever. Are you ready for this??? Paralelepipedo. (para-laylay-peepee-do) BOOM.  yes. that is a real thing. What does it mean you ask?? cobblestone. hahaha just the best. 
     I hope you guys are all doing great! I can't wait to write you guys next week and tell you about my reassignment!! Miranda, where  have you been?? write me. now. I need to hear from you. haha Love you all to death!!!

-Sister Rice

Pictures!

                                                             Aren't we cute??

                                                          Elders at the temple

                     Elders Morales and Hoeft. Yes, that's a where's waldo tie. Booyahh.

                                                        Sau Paulo!! Whooooo

                                                            I can't wait.

                                                        Sisters at the temple

                                                     The whole district! =]

(24) OOOOOHHHHH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE!

     Seriously I don't even know how I am halfway through my stay at the MTC already!!!! Technically next week is going to be considered our 5th week here and it is just so crazy! We are going to be hosting next week... that's how long we have been here! Hosting is when you stand out on the sidewalk and usher in all the newbies.  So basically I get to be the one who tears a bunch of baby childs from their family for 18 months and tell them it's going to be great... i am so excited!
     Ok so last Friday Sister Tucker got her visa! So both Sister Doman and Sister Tucker left this past Tuesday for o Brasil and it's just so exciting! but kind of really sad cuz now we are two people short and our bedroom feels so empty and quiet and we have so much extra room in the class and we just miss them.
     Oh! and Sunday was our first and only Fast Sunday here in the MTC! It was pretty awesome. Instead of Relief Society and Priesthood meetings we had a Mission Conference with everybody and that was really cool. We got to listen to a recording of Wilford Woodruff's voice! Apparently Alexander Bell didn't just invent the telephone but also a recording device made out of wax or cork or something weird like that (how does that even work?!?) and Wilford Wilson was one of the first people to try it out! He recorded his testimony of the gospel and Joseph Smith and it was so cool! It was definitely really hard to understand what he was saying of course, since you know he  used wax or whatever to record it, but it was really awesome to get to listen to it. 
     I also read 60 pages of the Book of Mormon on Sunday, which might not seem like that big of a deal but considering I usually fall asleep after  5 pages, it's pretty impressive.  I am almost done with Alma which I am pretty proud of. Reading the whole Book of Mormon while here in the MTC has been so awesome.  So far it's been such a wonderful experience. I've learned so much. Like the BOM is actually really funny sometimes... hahah no that is not all I have learned about it, but who said that you can enjoy and get a good laugh out of it?? that's right. no one. :]
     Ha so everyone here is getting sick. It's just making it's rounds and I'm pretty sure I am the only one in my district who hasn't been sick yet in some form.  Seriously I'm pretty sure I put on a gallon of sanitizer every single day and I downed a whole 32 water bottle of like 5 emergen-c's yesterday (so not worth it... "this burning sensation must mean something!") Hopefully I'll be able to stay healthy. It would stink so much to be sick here in the MTC.
     Portugues and lesson teaching are going well. I mean sometimes I feel like I don't know anything about the gospel/the language, but then I think about how I have only been here for 3 weeks and I can pray in portugues and teach full lessons and am working up to trying to only speaking portugues throughout the day and I realize that I do. I dooo. hahaha =] No but seriously it's been going pretty decent. I've made a goal to memorize a notecard full of words everyday (roughly about 60ish...) and it's going pretty good so far. I'm only like on day three of it but yeah it's going great so far. hahah
     Ok so the investigators we have... they are all just roleplayers. Out teacher Irmao Mummey was our first investigator Arisvan and then he became our teacher and now he is both our teacher and a new investigator Alex.  Sister Ray and I are also teaching Elders Hoeft and Morales who are pretending to be these two guys names Tyler and Ubaldo. It's pretty awesome.  I kind of hate roleplaying with all of my soul and have a really hard time taking it seriously (not so much with Alex, but definitely with the elders) but it's so helpful and can be really awesome.
    Ok now for some funny things. So I may or may not have figured out how to say 'long ago in a galaxy far far away' in portugues. hahaha we were learning how to say ' a long time ago' and i had to ask and it is awesome. "Muito anos atras na galaxia muito longe daqui..." hahah awesome.
   And also as a district we are working on memorizing James 1:5 and we were trying to translate it to better understand it and memorize it better and at one point it literally translated to 'spear in face'... like the Lord will upbraideth not and not spear you in the face.... literally that's kind of what the words translate to... at least with our limited portugues knowledge... it's kind of hilarious.
   Alright so i really really have to be finishing this up. But um a few shout outs. Rachy Rach. I LOVE YOU.  i just got your postcards this past week and it was so wonderful to hear from you! and I dont have a return address for you so yes, my mission will end up being more or less 500ish days, but that's including my time here in the MTC so it's not completely 500 of Brazil but  it's still awesome. hahah
   Also. Shane Horlacher. Where are you?? Write me. Like right now ya pansy.
   I seriously love all you guys so much! I love hearing from all of you! seriously the end of the day when we get letters is the best ever! Keep sending DearElders they literally make my whole exsistence here! Love you guys and cant wait to talk to you again next week!!

-Sister Rice

PICTURES!!

                                         
                                                    All the Elders in my district! =]

                               

                                                        All the Sisters in my district!

                          Sister Ray and I! And just for the record, she's not really Asian. hahaha

                                                    My nametag!!! BOOYAAHHH.

                                                  The greenie package that Bekah sent me! =]

                                         Sister Ray and I at the temple this past Sunday.

(17) PDAY NUMBER TWWWWO.

    Alrighty. Let's see. I dont have as much to write you guys about this week so hopefully I will have time for everything AND sending pics! yay! pictures! hahah

    Anyways this week has been good! Still loving the MTC.  It's just the best. I see Irmao Nothum all the time and I see Elder Anderson like at least 3 times a day cuz his meal times are scheduled right after mine so that's fun. We talk at each other in Russian and Portugues, and by talk I mean he talks to me and I just kind of say any random Portugues words that pop into my head... so that's fun. hahah It's kind of super hard not to call him Ethan though, Im always messing up with that... but that's ok I guess. =]   Still haven't hit the 'ohmygoodnesswhatonearthamidoinghereletmedrowninmytearsofoverwhelmedness' point yet, still going strong. soooo hopefully that will never happen and my whole mishh will just be full of rainbows and butterflies and unicorns and baptisms. Wouldn't that be nice?

    Portugues has been going good. Still teaching lessons in all portugues, though we do use some notes in some of them... It's kind of difficult cuz you feel like you know nothing and need to know more more MORE  and then you realize that you've only been here for two weeks and you are praying and teaching whole lessons in portugues already and that is pretty fire actually. hahah it's going good though... the grammar part of it is annoying and hurts my head though. We learned about subjunctive tenses yesterday and out teacher explained it as talking about possible alternate realities... and i may or may not have totally spaced out at that point and was only able to think about Pete's World and how the Doctor had to leave Rose on that beach and how horrible it was... hahaha

   So the big news of the week is that Sister Doman (one of the sisters in my district) got her VISA! WHOOOOOOO! She's leaving for Brazil on Tuesday!! We are all so excited for her!! And a little sad. It's sad that the district is already starting to break up (the breaking of the fellowship anyone?? I would totally be listening to that song all day on Tuesday if we were allowed to listen to music at the MTC). But like I said we are super happy and excited for her, even though we will miss her to death back here in spirit prison... I mean the Provo MTC... hahah OH! And also cool, Sister Doman's brother, who is here at the MTC as well (he is actually in the district next to us), and is also going to Brazil got his Visa too! So they are leaving for Brazil together! BOOM.  Awesome. They're from Missouri, Kirksville actually, and so our visas prob went through the same government place thingy... I can't remember the name for it, so uh keep your fingers crossed and pray that I'll get mine soon! =]

     Let's seeeeee.... What else has happened?? Sunday we had our first temple walk. The temple is closed until Aug. 11th so we haven't been able to go to any sessions since we've been here but just being able to go over onto the grounds is a wonderful break from being stuck in our classroom 24/7.  OH! and there were picketers there! People were picketing us! There wasn't very many but it was kind of awesome. I've never been picketed before so uh that was pretty cool.  Other than that the temple was pretty wonderful.  Sister Ray and I took a couple pictures and then just sat on one of the benches talking. Which is when these two elders passed us speaking some language, I wasn't paying attention at the time, but they ended up stopping and talking to us cuz they saw the Potugues on our name tags and they were from Brazil!!  They are serving in the Salt Lake City and the Boston Missions and they knew absolutely no English before coming here (the same day we got here I might add...) and we were having full convos in English with them. I was so impressed! Seriously their English was fab. And it was kind of super embarrassing cuz Sister Ray and I couldn't think of any Portugues to say to them (we are lacking in the normal everyday normal conversational portugues... but I can totally tell you about God's love and the BOM in two seconds... and by two seconds i mean half an hour...) But talking to them totally gave me hope about when we finally get down to Brazil and how quickly we are going to pick it up once we are completely immersed in it... or at least I hope that's what's going to happen...

     We also started teaching a new investigator named Alex this week... Weelll, I say new... really he's just our teacher Irmao Mummey... who was our investigator Arisvan last week... so it's a little weird... but whatevs... Alex is way harder than Arisvan... Our first lesson with him was probably my worst and best lesson so far. The worst cuz I continue to butcher the language... it was pretty bad, worst than the baptism invitation to Arisvan... hahah but it was kind of the best ever because I could totally understand what he was saying to us! And I responded to what he was saying!! It was in horrible Portugues but I was able to answer his questions/concerns and it was FREAKING AWESOME. Funny story about that though. So it got to the point in the lesson were we were going to have him read the last two paragraphs of the BOM introduction, and so I open it up and hand it to him and point to the last two paragraphs on the page and ask him to read them for us, in portugues of course, and so he starts reading it and he gets to what i thought was the end of the last two paragraphs and turns the page and i realize that whatever he is reading is totally not the last two paragraphs cuz the last two paragraphs are on the page he just turned to and I have no idea what we just had him read.... And so he gets done reading and Sister Ray who at this point doesn't know what has happened asks him how he feels about what he just read and he goes in to this big long thing about how he doesn't understand how the BOM could be more important than the Bible cuz his whole life he's been reading the bible and why do we even need the BOM, all of which i understood btdubs, so i was able to somehow explain that the BOM and the Bible work together and how we need both and blah blah blah blah blah and we actually managed to patch it up pretty good even though we had no idea what he had read. And so afterwards we look it up and we had had him read the part about how Joseph Smith had said the BOM is the most correct book of any book ever and everything!! We kind of died! So stinking funny that that was what we actually had him read in our first lesson! hahah His response totally made sense after that, but we are still kind of mortified. hahah

     Ok ok....um let's see... Oh we got a new teacher this week. Out old one, the first one we had, Imrao Duerden, got asked to leave us and go teach a brand new district, which is totally lame cuz he was awesome. But it means that by the end of this week we will have had 6 teachers here at the MTC in two weeks... which is not normal. But it's cool, more knowledge right??

    Alright... I am running out of time, but some last minute things before I go. We learned how Brazilians would pronounce our names and my name is now pronounced Sister Hee-see. The 'r's in portugues make 'h' sounds and the 'i's make 'e' sounds and it's kind of awesome. Except that Sister Ray likes to call me Sister HeShe... ha ha She's so funny right??

    Um also a couple requests. If someone could send me that one quote I love by Mariane Williams I think it is... I dont remember what it's called... It's the one that's all like 'our biggest fear isn't that we are blahblahblah... but that we are blahblahlbah...' hahah I know that's a bunch to go off of but it'd be great if you could find it and send it... ALSO.  the lyrics to 'this little light of mine'. we sing it all the time and there is like a 2nd and 3rd verse and i cant remember it and it is so frustrating so if you could send me the lyrics that would be magical.

    Um also speakers. If you could maybe somehow possibly send me some that would be divine. they dont have to be super intense or expensive, just something simple that i could use would be awesome!

    But other than that stuff I'm doing great! Thank you so much for all your letters and packages and DearElders! it is so wonderful to hear from you guys throughout the week! i love you all and cant wait to talk to you again next week!!

Love, Sister Rice (Hee-see =])