(233)

  So I don´t have too much to say which is good cuz i only have like 15 more minutes but this week was pretty good. I can´t believe we only have one more week until the end of this transfer!! It feels like I was literally just telling y'all bout how this transfer was about to start and how weird it was going to be cuz it would be almost april when it ended and now... here we are. so weird.
     But let´s see. Real quick so stories for y'all.  So we live next to a 7th day adventist church right?? And they´re always singing and everything and Sister Dabelko and I actually now know a bunch of their songs cuz we hear them all the time, and so last night they were having a service and their doors were open like always and we went and asked if they had any cds we could buy of their music, cuz we like it so much.  They were so excited. Two mormon missionaries, asking for cds! hahahah we both ended up with two books, a dvd, and a cd that they just gave us! hahaha of course i cant use half of it for like a year still but it was so funny and awesome! haha plus we got to see what the inside was like, which I have been dying to know since I got here. haha
    Let´s see. what else. Oh also, I spent half an hour picking little baby ants out of my bowl of granola.  I accidently forgot to put the bag in my big tupperware to keep them out and they were swarming! But it was kind of the only thing I had left since it was the end of the week. and so like half an hour and 40 ants after i poured my bowl I gave up and decided i need the extra protein anyways and drown it all in yogurt! hahah oh the life of brazilian missionaries.
     But yeah I have no more time... I love you. Look up the talk "His grace is sufficient" by Brad Wilcox this week! But you cant just read it. you HAVE TO find a recording of it! Listen to it together. It is AMAZING!
     Sorry this letter is so lame. Love you bunches and bunches!

-Sister Rice

(226)

Weellllll....

    It´s only been like 4ish days since I emailed cuz of silly carnival buuuuuuut I am so grateful for Pday today! Sister Dabelko and I have already taken one 2 hour nap today and I most definitely plan on taking another if I can! But yeah this past week was pretty good... goodness I really dont have that much to write about... ummm ok.

    So the good news of the week! So last week all the youth of the church went camping right during carnival to get away and we had 4 investigators who went and one of them, Ian, came back and wants to go on a mission now! He´s not even baptized yet and he went to mission prep this past week! He´s been coming to church the past month so we are hoping to finish up teaching him this week and for him to be baptized this Sunday! We are so excited! It will be my first baptism here! =D and he is so cool and so solid and so excited!

     Also. more big news... well... "big"... but apparently starting this next transfer any missionaries who have been waiting on their visa for longer than two transfers and finally get it have to go back to the MTC for two weeks when they finally get down here.... bahahahaha. Goodness. That SUCKS. Seriously. Some of these people are more than halfway through their missions....(Sister Ray, my MTC comp is still in New Mexico waiting... and we´re about to hit halfway...) and they finally get their visas and have to go back to the MTC... wow. I am so glad I got here before that... BUUUUT  it will probably be good cuz it will help them adjust better I guess, and get used to the language again and might get rid of the first week depression/culture shock/general feeling of complete death.... hahah I hope.

     Also as a random side note, can I just say how HIL-LAAAAAR-IOUUUSSSS it is how terrified people are of us here.  And like I don´t know how I am just now noticing it... but seriously, people are down right terrified. They see us coming down the street and will literally do anything to avoid us talking to them.  Most people just like all of a sudden have a terribly pressing phone call or something like that but some people are just so hilarious with the things they do to get away from us.  One guy saw us coming like two minutes ahead of time and apparently had to spend that time bent over tying his already perfectly tied shoes... and quite literally the second we passed they were magicallyall done and he booked it... hahah and then yesterday! We stopped to talk to this lady and she freaked and started walking across the street as fast as she could... the street full of heavy traffic.... Sister Dabelko and I completely lost it. It was so funny. This lady would rather risk getting hit by a car and dying than talking to us for 15 seconds at the most and accepting a picture of Jesus... It´s completely ridiculous.  Especially when you think about the fact that we are just two completely clueless americanas who really have no idea what we are doing ever... buuuuuuut apparently we are terrifying... because we want to talk to people about Jesus... tudo bem. tudo bem.

   I don´t really have that much more to write about today... I hope yall have a fantastic week full happiness and joy and love and ice cream and your favorite movies. =D Love you all!

-Sister Rice

P.S. haha look! a ps! I guess I did have more to write! So I have an assignment for yall actually. Go and look up the talk "Lessons from Liberty Jail" by Jeffery R. Holland and read it together as a family this Sunday night, or I guess whenever you have time... It is fantastic. Read it. Do not forget. I will be asking you about it and expect everyone to email me and tell me their favorite parts and why. =D haha yall wont regret it! =] love you!!

(219)

  I´m not quite sure how to start this... This week has been really really big actually. Full of fabulous stories and wonderful insights and lots of crazy people.  But let´s see.... I guess I´ll start with Carnival... Oh Carnival! ...turns out Carnival in Sao Paulo is actually extremely disappointing... at least in our area. The whole world leaves and goes to the beach or to family or just somewhere else to party, members and non members, which leaves us missionaries here by oursleves with no one to visit and a normal work schedule... It was interesting... Actually it wasn´t as bad as I thought it was going to be... We did a booth!! On the side of the road! And handed out pamphlets and talked to everybody waiting at the bus stop near by and gave out candy! It was kind of one of the most exhausting things I have ever done! hahah But we figured it would be infinitely more effective than knocking empty houses and really it was... We got 80 conversas... ummm aka "conversations".... The goal for the mission is 70 for a whole week. And we got 80 in one day... We ended up with 126 conversas for the whole week!! It was crazy! But yeah so that was a great met a lot of people... met a lot of crazy people.... but it was good. =]
     Annnnnnnnd then one of my life long dreams finally came true this past week!! I finally ate from a Food Truck!! hahah We pass this food truck every single day and I know it´s recommended that we don´t eat off the street but OHMYGOODNESS I dont think I´ve ever had a better hot dog IN MY LIFE.  The hot dog was fried and put in this delicious roll thingy with melted cheddar and catipury ( a type of cheese that is literally straight from heaven...) corn, tomatoes, mustard, and mash potatoes!! NOOOOOSSSSSAAAAAA. It is offical. I am eating all of my hot dogs with mash potatoes for the rest of my life... Oh it was delicious.
    Oh and also I ate corn ice cream this week... also surprisingly delicious.
   But on to the important thing... The big thing of this past week... I was brushing my teeth the other day (isn´t that when all the big things happen haha =])  and I realized that I had changed... Like I have really changed. And it´s funny. I remember before I came out on my mission I did not want to change. That sounds bad but I was afraid of changing... I was afraid of coming back different. Of not being me anymore. And I realized yesterday actually that it´s happened... I´ve changed. And I can barely write it out to you guys with out starting to bawl like a baby in this puny little lan house. I am different and I don't really know how to explain it. I know my Savior now and I think I am finally starting to understand Heavenly Father´s plan for us and what it means to be trucly converted to the Lord and to have no more disposition to to do evil... Because I truly feel that way.  I realized today that absolutely nothing is worth risking being with my Heavenly Father and Savior forever encircled in the arms of their love with my family for all of eternity.  There is nothing that the world could offer that would be even the tiniest bit worth risking that happiness and love.  And I want to promise everybody who reads this, with all the power and authority that comes with my sacred calling as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ that He loves you and will help you no matter what you may have done or even not be doing. He loves you. And you can accomplish anything through Him.

-Sister Rice

(212) HAPPY ONE YEAR SINCE RECEIVING MY MISSION CALL TO MEEEEEE!

Yup. That´s right. It was one year ago yesterday that I received my mission call to serve in the Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission... and now look at me! Stylin my way through the incredibly uneven streets of Brazil with my disgusting strappy shoes, broken Portugues, and Americana charm.=]  How did I even get here?? I have no idea...
     But yeah. First things first. Rachy Rach. I got your letter! It was so delightful to hear from you! I would write you back but I kind of still havent figured out how to send letters there yet... but yeah it was wonderful!! And BEKAHHHHHH! You have a baby!!! I don´t know if you read these but OHMYGOODNESS I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS! I have been praying for you and every time I´ve been to the temple so far I´ve put your names in and I am so HAPPY!!! =D AHHHHHHH
     ALRIGHT! Now for the good story stuff! Starting with the best! We had NINE investigators at church again yesterday!! 6 of them walked themselves to church without a ride from a member and 2, Elaine and her daughter, where formers who we stopped teaching my first transfer here and just decided to get up and come to church for the first time yesterday morning!!
     Oh and we have SEVEN people on date right now!! Josy and her 4 kids, Diane and a girl name Nayara! They are all so awesome and I love them all so much!
     We also were invited to an English class this past weekend as well... It´s with the other ward (we´ve been trying to start our own for like a whole transfer now but its not really going yet...) and it´s actually really funny cuz the guy teaching it was one of Garrett Egan´s (one of my really good friends from out at school) companions while he was serving down here. He was just like "hey! do you know garrett egan??" And I was like "uh heck yes I know garrett egan!" And then he was all like "Awesome! He was my companion! You should come help with my english class!" hahha So we did. It was fun. It was mostly just a bunch of old ladies trying to learn a little english (this weeks lesson was on asking personal questions politely... It was full of "Just out of curiosity"s and "If you don´t mind my asking"s... I was dying the whole time...) from this super energetic 21 year old Brazilian.... It was fabulous. We are definitely going back this week.
     Let´s see what else happened? Oh. I officially became an elder... or at least when it comes to eating food. I may or may not have at one point this past week consumed a giant bowl of nothing but Jello, frosted flakes, and sweetned condensed milk.....It was the greatest and the worst thing I´ve ever had in my entire life... hahah There was also supposed to be fruit with it and those things were just supposed to go on top of the fruit (jello i understand... but frosted flakes?? really?? annd the brazilians have a crazy unhealthy obsession with sweetened condensed milk... they put it on and in everything....) and somehow I ended up just eating those things... Dont Judge Me. =]
     And now for the spiritual thought. =] This weeks spiritual thought is brought to you from my wonderfully fabulous friend Elder Lincoln Sherwood who is currently serving in Houston, Texas waiting for his visa for Porto Alegre Brazil.  Apparently they had a big something down there in the stake he is serving in about missionary work and this was in his email this week, and I really enjoyed it....:
   "Stop praying for the missionaries to find people and start praying for you to find people. Missionaries are not there so you can help them but so we can help you! Stop feeling guilty about not doing missionary work and start enjoying the blessings of doing it! The Lord is preparing people every day. Alma 13:29."
    BOOM! So yeah! Get on out there and start helping the missionaries in your ward!! They will love it!
    Sorry! I once again am out of time! But just know that I love you all very very very much and that I am so grateful for all of your love and support and prayers!! Love you!!
-Sister Rice