(177) I can't think of a good title for this...whatevs

So this past week was really good. Sister Dabelko and I got 20 lessons (the standard of excellence here is 22, so close!) and have seriously been working like crazy... it´s been good. oh! And my one shoes are officially dead. my left one has a huge tear down the side and I totally didn´t realize it until like 3 days after it happened so hopefully i don't get some strange Brazilian foot disease... hahah I should be fine. =] Hopefully I´ll be able to send pics.
      We also had interviews with President Tanner this week and they were awesome! I love President and Sister Tanner so much! Sister Tanner is so amazing. I never thought that I would ever feel so much personal love from someone who had spoken in General Conference before... It´s a little mind blowing. And she loves/knows all about y'all too! She tells me every time I see her how much she loves you guys for how supportive you are and I tell her all about you guys all the time. hahah But yeah interviews went really well. oh and Sister Tanner made us cookies! hahah Real American chocolate chip cookies. It was fabulous. I have no idea where she got the chocolate chips from but we were so grateful!
       Also, Sister Dabelko got bit by Bobby this week...... hahahahahahha not really... Bobby just likes to get excited and start jumping on us and nawing on our limbs and clothes... usually it´s not too bad but he got Sister Dabelko pretty good and actually managed to scratch her an insy bitsy tiny winy bit and she freaked out a little bit and thought she was going to die of a strange disease, even though bobby is a domestic dog and had never left the yard... hahahahah she ended up making me ask our District Leader about it, Elder Lago, and he pretty much just died laughing (especially when he saw the actual scratch, it was like nothing)... it was all pretty funny. But it´s actually pretty funny, the whole mission knows about Bobby... and you are either terrified of him or love him... I´m stuck somewhere in the middle... I usually just quote theIincredibles to him (I´m not happy bob, not happy) and expect him to think it´s funny and stop... that usually doesnt work though... hahahah
     Alrighty, time for just a bunch of randomness... The sun is bleaching my arm hair... like seriously... it glistens in the sun, it is getting so bleached... How long does something like that last?? And is my actual hair gonna start doing that?? Goodness... I´m gonna come home looking like a straight up freak...hahah
     Also, I am losing feeling in both of my big toes... hahaha I don/t know if that is normal and it´s probably just from all the walking, but yeah... part of my big toes feel like they just got shot up with numby stuff at the dentist office... and it´s pretty strange... but at least I don´t feel very much stuff with my big toes... so i guess that´s a blessing... hahah
     Also I ate corn candy today. No, not candy corn, corn candy... candy that tastes like corn. It straight up tasted like I was chowing down on some corn on the cob in hard candy form... it was probably one of the weirdest things I have ever put into my mouth...
     OH! And time for the big news of the week! Are y/all ready for this? I don´t think you are... I have officially lost 34 pounds since being here in Brazil! Yay! Go me! Yay for walking everywhere all day every day! I am officially back where I was when I came out on my mishh (yes yes yes the MTC and New Mexico did me wrong, I know...) But yeah, that´s pretty exciting... 34 pounds in a month and a half... and I still have 12ish months left. Who knows what I am going to look like by the end of it... =]
     But yeah... sorry this has been so random... here's a spiritual thought for y'all. Sister Dabelko and I watched the movie " Finding Faith in Christ" the other day in portugues for our language study and while watching it, it kind of just hit me the fact that Jesus Christ will never have a perfect body.  We all will have perfect bodies after the ressurrection, because of Him and His atonement, but He will always have the scars of His death on His hands and wrists and feet... The only perfect being to ever live on the earth is the only one who does not recieve a perfect body after being ressurrected... Think about that for a little bit... Or maybe I´m wrong and He will, but I don´t think so... If I am wrong, please tell me, but that just kind of blew my mind a little bit. The more I learn about Him and His atonement for us the more I am overwhelmed by His love and my own unworthiness.
      But yeah, I hope y'all are having a fantastic week and I love you all so much and thank you so much for all the prayers and support! I´m gonna try and send some pics now! =] Love you all!

-Sister Rice

(170) Oi Oi Oi Oi Oi

     So uhhhh how´s it going?? It´s going pretty good down here! This week has been pretty great, exhausting, but great! I´m pretty sure this past week is the most tired I have ever been in my entire life, but it´s been good. Sistr Dabelko and I have been working hard and that´s really what it´s all about. =]

      But yeah so I can´t really remember a bunch of what happened this past week so this might be a little scattered... I can really only remember super non important/interesting things like that fact that Sister Dabelko and I have been OBSESSED with smoothies this whole past week and make a giant one at least once a day and may or may not have run out of regular food this weekend cuz all we bought last monday was fruit and yogurt and juice for out smoothies (did I tell you dad?? They have like THE BEST juices down here. seriously. you would be in juice heaven...)... but dont worry... we were much smarter this week and bought more actual food as well... hahah We´re thinking about opening up a smoothie place after the mishh, cuz let me tell ya, our smoothies are dang good. haha =]

     But um yeah other than that.... what else has happened... oh! I think we´re gonna be starting up an English class this week hopefully with Sister Cozzens and her companion... That should be fun. Don´t ask me how I am going to be  able to teach english... I couldn´t even explain the verb/word ´do´ to Sister Viana (it´s a lot harder than it sounds ok...) but yeah it sounds like funn... OHHHH and we´re going to Mickey D´s today!! Whooo party! Apparently there´s one in Sister Dabelko and mine´s area (dont ask me where, I have never seen it before) and Sister Cozzens got permission to go today adn we´re going with her! BIG FUN in Brazil on Pday! hahah Apparently though only rich people eat at McDonalds here in Brazil so that´s pretty cool/hilarious... everyone will think I´m rich...

     What else happened?? Oh! On Saturday the power went out... Yup, there was a HUGE storm that afternoon (It´s stormed like every single day here this past week, Heavenly Father loves me) and I guess it knocked our power out and we got home and had to finish up out language study and progess record in the dark with a flashlight... annnnnd I may or may not have toasted bread using an  entire box of matches.... cuz at that point all we really had left to eat was bread and I really just wanted to toast it buuut the power was out and on top of that our stove was out of gas so I wouldnt have been able to anyways and so I just kind of lit match after match and held them over my piece of bread.... it kind of worked... It tasted like slightly toasted bread and butter with a lot of campfire.... hahah Don´t worry though mom. I know you are probs worrying about how all we had was bread to eat, it´s really no biggie. We eat lunch with members every single day and they practically shove their food down our throats till we are bursting so yes I am eating...

     Oh and so we had that goal of having 5 baptisms this month right?? And like everything was going great, we set two dates this week, got a bunch of acceptances w/o dates and like had all these people lined up to come to church (10, TEN PEOPLE said they were going to come to church) and even called all of them the night before and everything was going wonderful and absoultely no one showed up to chuch yesterday... even the people we got rides for... so yeah our goal pretty much went down the drain, especailly since they changed it from investigators having to come on only two week of church to three, buuuuuuut just because these people won´t be getting baptized in January doesn´t mean that they wont ever and I am really excited about them all and for the next couple of weeks!

     Also. Apparently, the Brazilians don´t have a word for awkward... Like awkward does not exsist here... Which is just like the funnies thing ever in the history of the world since that is literally all my life is now... like literally. especially since i can barely speak or understand portugues... it´s so awkward/hilarious all the time. For example... There are a lot of Apartment buildings here in our area Mirandopolis right?? And each one had their little guard guy who and gates and like you have to know exactly who you are visiting and what floor they are and what room and all this stuff, and considering Sister Dabelko and I can barely pronouce simple names like Ana and Marie here correctly and struggle with numbers above 40, you can imagine what getting into these buildings to visit people is like... hahah ohmygoodness, they are some of the most awkward interactions I have ever had in my life... Like this one time we were trying to get into this one building and Sister Dabelko gives the name, Bruna, and I give the number ( um cinco tres... cuz I dont know how to say it all together 153... hahah) and the guy (who is new, not the usual guy,)  is like ok yeah I´ll call and see if they are there/want you, and then this guy who was talking to the guard guy starts trying to talk to us in english (cuz it´s pretty obvious we are americanas and have no idea) but at the same time he´s hacking up a lung and the guard guy is calling the wrong room and trying to explain who the heck we are (americanas, seeeester daaaabekuuu e seeeeester heeeeseeee, nao entendo muito portugues, muito dificil... americanas) and the guy dying next to us, hacking up his lungs is trying to explain to him that he has the wrong number and we´re trying to calm him down in broken portugues and then the guard finally gets the right number and is trying to explain everything over again, while also trying to calm the other guy down while we´re trying to tell the guard that it´s ok that they dont know who we are and that we´ll just try back later... and at this moment the guy who ususally sits at the desk walks up and just stops and stares at everything that is going on and just looks at us like ´oh goodness, these two again...what the heck are they doing´ and finally we manage to explain they everything is fine and calm everyone down and leave as quickly as possible and it was so hilarious and just terrible and that is basically my life every single day... hahah

      buuuuut yeah, i don´t have much time left but I hope yall are having a great week and loving life and sorry this email was so lame. OH!  and i almost forgot!! Today, is a HUGE day! Today I officially only have one year left of my mission. Janurary 13th of next year I will be getting on a plane to fly home! My 6 months is on the 17th!! SIX MONTHS! How crazy is that?!? It really has gone by so quickly already! 

     But yeah I love you all and can´t wait to talk to you next week!! =]

-Sister Rice

(163) I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I'M FEELING TWENTY-TWOOOOOO!

Ummm... I think that´s a song right?? that goes something like that...? maybe... I´ve never actually heard it before but this elder in the MTC would sing it all the time... but it seemed pretty appropriate since uh... IM FREAKING TWENTY TWO NOW! booyahh. Yup my birthday was Saturday and it was pretty good! Sister Dabelko (my new compy comp =]) made me a cake and card and bought be mentos and a snickers! It was great! And it was cloudy and rainy all day so that was fabulous too! and I was totally supposed to use my fake snow that lincoln gave me for christmas before I left New Mexico since I forgot to use it... but I totally forgot again... That´s ok. We´ll prob do it tonight. =] I´ll send pics!

     But yeah so transfers was also this past week and like I said earlier I got a new companion, Sister Dabelko! She is pretty much the most awesome thing to ever happen to this world! She´s from Layton, Utah and has been out 8 months and we have so much fun together. Annnnd we´ve only gotten lost a few times since I took over the area (that was slightly terrifying but really no biggie hahah).  But we are working super hard and have a goal of 5 baptisms this month... Do not ask me how we are going to do that, especially since pretty much all of our investigators decided to drop us or just straight up tell they dont want to get baptized... but that is the number that we both got while praying about our monthly goals and that is the number of people that we are going to help be baptized this month! It´s gonna be really hard work but I know that we can do it! We´ve worked really hard this past week and got 13 novos (new investigators) and had 65 conversastions with people, which is only 5 short of the standard of excellence for the mission that I thought was completely ridiculous like a week ago... but we are doing it! We are talking to everyone and hunting down all our formers and it is going to happen!

     Oh! and we have like the BEST ward mission leader in the history of the world. No offense dad, but seriously. We had a meeting with him yesterday to just kind of go over everything and talk, especially since sister dabelko is new and i practically know nothing and it was amazing. like by the end of it he was filling in our planners for this coming week for us and we told him about our goal of 5 baptisms and I totally expected him to think we were crazy (cuz everyone else does, two americanas who dont know portugues and have no investigators and want to 5 have baptisms... yeah its a little crazy) but he totally just was all like ´no no it´s not a crazy goal especially since it´s what you recieved from Heavenly Father and we can totally do this´and we spent like another 45 minutes talking with him about who we could visit that he knew of and what members we could take with us and it was just amazing... I think we both almost started crying... hahaha But seriously it was so amazing and it just went with all the other amazing stuff that has happened this past week.  Seriously, this past week has been so amazing. There have been miracles every single day. People who used to run away from us (this happens a bunch hahah no biggie) talking to us for like ever and asking for book of mormons or so many of the people we talked to having experience with the church or having been before or had a book of mormon or just stuff like that. Or like actually having lessons with people right after meeting them (most people just tell you to come back) or the lesson we had when I just spewed portugues like I actually knew it, or the fact that Jose our ward mission leader is amazing. Just so many things have happened this week and I am so excited for the rest of this transfer!

     Now for some funny stories! There are a bunch of them! Out first night together we decided to make popcorn on the stove (my favorite =] ) and sister dabelko burned hers and so of course i had to show her up and it ended up popping all over the place... hahah it was literally all over our kitchen. so that was fun hahaha  and then the next day we were half way to the chapel for district meeting and we realized we had left our phone at home... but we decided that since we were going straight back home afterwards it would be ok... well after district meeting we decide to go to the bathroom and whatever and after that go to leave that part of the building (our building is really like just a bunch of different buildings surrounding a courtyard) and it´s locked... the elders had freaking locked us into the building and left! We were locked in the church, without a cell phone! Buuut thankfully we had not been the only sisters to go to the bathroom after district meeting and thankfully they had not been stupid and forgotten their phone but seriously we could not stop laughing about what would have happened if they had not been there... we probably would´ve been stuck in there for days...! hahahah can you imagine explaining that to President... hahaha it would have been hilarious.  We figured we would have been good cuz it was the part of the building with the drinking fountain so at least we wouldn´t have died... hahaha so yeah that happened our first full day together... and then Friday we had to call and buy some new water ( all the water here from the sinks and stuff is bad and will make you terribly sick if you drink it so we have to buy like 20 liter mineral water cooler like things every week...) and so we call and they ask for our address and we totally have no idea how to pronouce it and Sister Dabelko just kept repeating ´Casa um cinco zero Itchy-poo´ into the phone cuz that´s what it looks like and we both kind of died of laughter and now the people that run the water place know that a bunch of americana crazies live there... hahaha so yeah i live at 150 itchypoo... hahaha pretty funny.

     But yeah so this past week has been great and I am so excited for this transfer. I am kind of starting to feel like a missionary again so that is great! I hope everything is going great with all yall! I hope that yall had amazing new years and didnt cry too much on my birthday cuz you missed me so much. =] I love you all! Thank you for all the support and prayers you give me! Talk to ya next week! =]

-Sister Rice

Me and my companion Sister Viana! Can you tell that I am trying not to die from exhaustion(question marks cuz they dont exsist on this computer

 My first meal that I made in Brazil...Bread & butter with noodles, tasted horrible...haha, welcome to Brazil!

                                                      Our house isn´t it beautiful

(130) alrighty. BRAZIL!!

Alright. So last week I only really had time to email about the freaking crazy driving here, and it really is just the most ridiculous thing ever. But let´s see what´s the next thing that you notice about Brazil... oh, the smell. It smells funny here. Not like a bad funny, but just a different kind of funny... it´s probably all the pollution/smog...It took me awhile to get used to it... But yeah it smells weird... Ít might also just be my companions deodorant...they have weird deodorant here... I haven´t figured it out yet... hahaha

     Anyways but yeah those were the first two things that I noticed... you know, other than the Portugues... Yeah I still don´t really have any idea what people are saying... I just kind of nod my head and smile and hope they aren´t asking me a question... which they usually are. Seriously, I am just not getting it yet... It´s getting better, but I am still just so lost all the time.  And I swear half the time it sounds like they are speaking straight up chinese... And I don´t mean like the phrase or whatever, I mean they straight up sound asian sometimes and it´s just weird... but you know whatever, one day i am going to be one of them! =D

    My companion´s name is Sister Viana. I don´t remember if I talked about her last time or not. She´s Brazilian and speaks very little english and is pretty cool.

    Oh! and we have a dog! Well the people we live behind has a dog. A big ol´black lab named Bobby.  I have to manhandle him everytime we go to leave our house cuz Sister Viana is scared of him, but he´s a sweety.

    Let´s see what else....?? Oh yeah. The sidewalks here. Ohmygosh. They all slant.  they all slope down towards the road and are uneven and everybody used different cobblestone for in front of their own house and I can´t even count the number of times I've almost twisted my ankle a day. It´s so ridiculous. Seriously, I am going to be so buff by the end of this thing. I´m gonna have the greatest looking calves ever. I´m gonna come back and people are just gonna stare at the legends that are my calves. =]

     But yeah. So now for a rundown of this past week.  So this past Tuesday was pretty awesome. I got to hear from all of you guys and finally figured out how to flush the toilet properly.  That was a pretty big deal... only took me a week. haha.  Wednesday was pretty much the worst day of my life.  I don´t think I have ever been more miserable or lonely in my life. Seriously. You don´t know misery until you are sitting in a tiny bathroom in Brazil trying to sob as quietly as possible so your companion wont hear, all the while drenched and dripping with sweat, to the point where you can´t tell the diference between your tears and your sweat. Seriously. You know that saying that floats around the internet,´Í love the rain cuz no one can tell I´m crying´... yeah that was me. except the rain was my sweat... so yeah that was great. BUT it was later that night that I met Claudia. I honestly just spent the whole day praying, just praying with every step.  I didn´t really know what I needed, I just needed something (not to die, really, if we´re being honest, but that´s beside the point...) And we end up at this house and I figure out about 10 minutes into it that the lady is a member and that her daughter speaks english. and so I talk to her a little bit and that was nice, and then they all talked together and then Sister Viana starts in with the teaching. And I really do try to pay attention. I really do. It´s just so incredibly hard to be interested in a conversation you cannot understand, but I was trying and then Claudia, the daughter who speaks english, interupts Sister Viana in the middle of her, I mean, our, lesson and tells me that she is worried about me and felt bad that I couldn´t understand and had been praying to know what she could do to help me, to help me understand and she said that if I read the book of mórmon out loud it would help a lot. Which I already knew, but I´m not gonna lie, i kind of completely lost it. I tried so hard not to cry in the middle of that lesson in these stranger´s home and I failed. Just the fact that this lady who didn´t even know me, had seen how hard it was for me and how much I was trying and had been worried and praying for me... She was the answer to my prayers all day. It was the most love I had felt since getting to Brazil, other than from President and Sister Tanner.  Heavenly Father answered my prayers and gave me the comfort I needed through Claudia and she made the most miserable day of my life so much more bearable.

    But yeah, so that was Wednesday... Thurday it was super hot (It´s been fairly cloudy the whole time so far... they must have known I was coming =]) and so I just kind of offhandedly prayed for rain as we were scaling this street. And about 20 minutes later the clouds started rolling in... and it stormed. Basically, I´m a prophet. hahah no. never. But yeah, it was quite the storm. The wind was crazy. My skirt was all over the place. All these people seeing my knees. It was quite the show. =]

    Hahah oh and speaking of shows, I saw my first Brazilian prostitute on Friday. And let´s just say she was showing a little bit more than just knees... as in she had no pants on... yup. no pants. a shirt, but no pants. Welcome to Brasil. hahah

    But yeah, those are the highlights of this past week. Pretty dang exciting huh? But I guess to move towards a more spiritual side, I´ve been thinking a lot about the condescension of God lately and His atonement... is that weird? Maybe it´s just because it´s close to Christmas or probably more likely because I´ve been needing His help more than ever lately, but it´s been on my mind. And I think I am finally starting to have a baby understanding of it.  It really is just mind-boggling and just incredible to think of what the Savior did for us.  The choir diretor in the MTC told us one night that he had heard somewhere that if you took all the intelligence and creativity and just goodness of every single person on the Earth, who has ever been on the Earth or will be, and put it all together, you wouldn´t even be able to begin to touch the glory and majesty of the Savior.  And then when you think about Him having all that glorious power, and choosing to be born on this Earth as a small mortal baby to live a mortal life... it´s not really fathomable. He was a small child. He got sick. He went through puberty. He had to go to the bathroom...  The Creator of this world and everything in it and all of us, had to use the bathroom because of His mortal body... And then He was tortured and killed.  That alone is too much to take in and understand and then when I think about the reason why He did all these things, it just really becomes even more unbelieveable beause He did it all for me. And for my Family, and my friends and everybody on this Earth. He did it all simply because He loves us. And I think learning Portugues and walking up some hills is hard... I have a very basic understanding of the atonement, but I have felt it so much in my life these past two weeks.  I have felt that love so much these past two weeks. His love and your guys love.  There are days (everyday) where all I do all day is pray. Just pray with every step because I really honestly don´t believe I am going to make it through. But yáll believe that I can and He believes that I can and so I pray for that strength. The strength that everybody else believes that I have and He gives it to me and I have never been more grateful in my life. 

     Thank you all for your prayers and support. I feel it everyday. I love you all so much . I´m gonna try to send pictures real quick in the couple of minutes I have left. Love you so much! Talk to yáll next week!

-Sister Rice

(123) SO BRAZIL!

I am in Brazil yáll! Freaking Brazil! I have a Brazilian companion, Sister Viana, who only speaks portugues! I have no idea what is going on at all times and I never have any idea where I am, or who anybody is... hahah pretty much I walk when Sister Viana walks, and stops when she stops and testify of what I think we might be talking about in broken horrendous portugues when she stops in the middle of a lesson and looks at me...  It´s the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life... But it is getting better. Honestly, in just a week I see improvement. I am understanding people more and I can walk faster and I´m not playing nearly as many movies in my head anymore... =] hahah No but honestly Sao Paulo is so different! It´s crazy! I can´t believe the thing I was worried about the most was flying here over actually being here! The flying was a breeze! The hardest part was trying to ignore all the movies everybody around me were watching... The guy next to me was watching World War Z and the people in front of me were watching Monsters University and they had the Great Gatsby! The Great Gatsby! and Midnight in Paris and pretty much every movie I have ever loved... the worst. 

     No but seriously Sao Paulo. Goodness. How do I even begin to describe this city...?? It is crazy. the first thing you notice riding from the airport is the driving. I now understand 100% why the missionaries down here do not drive. We would all be dead in seconds. Seriously, this is some of the craziest driving I have ever seen in my life, and I lived in Utah for 2 years... =] I think I´ve seen a total of like 10 stop signs here and pretty sure I have never seen anybody use them.  Pretty much if your car fits, you go. Doesn´t matter how many cars the road was originally made for.  I have almost gotten run over by many a car and bus.  And ohmygosh! The buses here in Sao Paulo are just as bad! I have never experienced something more terrifying than zooming through Sao Paulo, up and down these ginoremous hills at like 80 miles an hour in heavy traffic... you think I am exaggerating. and the hills here are killer. It´s like this group of people saw a mountian range and thought to themselves, hey let´s build the 5th largest city in the world right on top of that! yeah that sounds like a good idea... ughhh seriously...

But I am out of time. I didn´t even really get to any of the good stuff and have so much more to tell you guys but it´ll just have to wait until next week! I love all of you! Thank you so much for your support and love and prayers! I can feel them all. Sorry this is so short! Talk to yall next week!

-Sister Rice

Letter Sydney sent us in the mail...

Alright,                                                                                                                      November 11, 2013                                        

Sorry about not having time to send an email today!  I had so many emails and I just ran out of time...and sorry if my handwriting gets crazy.  I'm probably gonna be writing most of this in a car...on our way to Mesa Verde!  I AM SO EXCITED!

So, I totally did not write on the way there...but, it was so AWESOME!  I can't wait to send you guys pictures!  The main section (the big one) was closed for the season, but I got pictures.  It was so cool!  And then we took a tour down to the smaller one.  We got to go down into one of the rooms!  It was amazing!  haha!  I really don't know how else to explain it.  I am sending pictures next week! :)  It really was a dream come true.  I was freaking out all day!  They kept having to calm me down.  haha   OH!  And the ride up there, it was horrible!  I thought driving through the Colorado Mountains was hard!  This was the worst.  And it went on forever.  I was pretty convinced we were going to go off a cliff and die in a fiery car wreck!  But, Lincoln did a great job...yep, Lincoln drove us there.  Well, not just him, obviously, he brought a friend.  It was a fun day!  :)  I'll send y'all pics next week, get excited!  But, now onto the big, BIG stuff!

 NOVEMBER 25TH!!  I don't even know what to say or think!  Seriously, I don't think it's completely set in yet, or maybe it's just the fact that I completely have no idea what to expect and so just don't feel, I don't know.  I do know that I am extremely sad to be leaving these people here in Kirtland.  I have met so many wonderful people here.  And I love them so much.  Like Fern Harris.  I love Fern.  She's 100 years old as of a couple months ago and is like everyone's grandma.  She's lived through so much, 100 years!  She has so many awesome stories and doesn't know what pretzels are!  Pretzels!  haha   And then Brother Bond, who was in Vietnam and has a story about everything and we always end up staying way too long.  But, it's just because his stories are way too good!  He washed a lepers feet in Vietnam!  How many people in this life can say that?  And then Bishop Hoffman, Brother Sherwood.  So many other people and of course the Benally's.  I love that family.  Their house is home.  They are all so strong and such wonderful women and I can't imagine my life without them.  I am so grateful for my time here in Kirtland.  I am already planning all my road trips back!  :)  But, I am excited to be in Brazil, kind of scared of course, but excited.

Lets see...what else happened this week?  I finished the Book of Mormon again!  That was fun and I'm already almost done with 1Nephi again.  Oh, and I've decided that I like tracting.  Shocking, I know.  It's just so awkward.  And it just gets to a point where you are just like "yes, this is awkward, just accept it, and let us talk to you."  There are so many funny things that come w/tracting.  Like this guy we tracted into the other night who when he realized we were missionaries was all like "oh, what up Jesus?!"  And I totally just wanted to turn around and be like "What?!  Where?!"  haha, but obviously i did not...sadly.  Or how when we're knocking on doors we always knock a standard two times and then a third for Jesus.  :)   Oh, and being tracted by Jehovah's Witness while on your mission is kind of the funniest thing ever.  That just happened! haha!  I don't know...it's just all fun.  You have to let go and accept the awkwardness!

Also!  The Carr's are moving?  I'm so sad!  Why the heck are they moving to Nebraska?  What on earth is in Nebraska??  Seriously.  Lame.

Have I ever talked to you guys about Hank Smith?  Hank Smith is a LDS motivational youth speaker and we listen to his CD's all the time.  He has a bunch and they are all fabulous and I highly recommend them to everyone!  But!  Funny story...So, it was week 3 or 4 of last transfer and we're driving around Kirtland listening to one of Hank's talks, enjoying myself, when a thought pops into my head.  So, I turn to one of my comps and ask "Hey, do you know if Hank Smith teaches at BYU?"  and she says "Yeah, in the Religion Dept"...and it hits me.  Hank Smith is Brother Smith, my 2nd semester Book of Mormon teacher my first year at BYU!!!  My mind is blown.  He is so awesome and knowledgeable.  We all love him out here, and he was my teacher!  Now, I feel so bad, cuz I totally squandered that wonderful, wonderful opportunity...his class may or may not have been super early in the mornings and I may or may not have taken full advantage of them...aka...wasn't fully awake for the majority of them.  I feel like such a loser!  I just want to beat myself up for it and then when I get off my mission go and apologize to him profusely for not appreciating him!  haha!  The last CD we just listened to he ended it with this quote  "God is anxiously waiting to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, but He can't if you don't pray and He can't if you don't dream...In short, He can't if you don't believe."  I love that.  Go and listen to them/buy them.  Seriously.  Do it.

Alright, I'm done.  haha   I love all of you so much!  Y'all are the greatest!  Thank you for all of the support.  I can feel it and I can feel your prayers!  Love you!

Sister Rice