How ya'll doing??? (yes thats right...that word is already in my vocabulary). My mind after the third day here almost had an inner battle between what word to say haha so i gave in and now just feels like a lot to say you guys hahah.
We had a pretty interesting week getting here. On monday we were to fly out around 7 from Salt Lake but our flight was delayed two hours, so they gave us a new connecting flight time is Atlanta. But right when we got off the plane our connecting flight was leaving so we ran to terminal D(we were at terminal A) and missed it. We then had to go back to terminal A and ask about the next flight which was at 4:30. They only had two confirmed seats, the rest of us were put on standby. So 4:30 rolled around and we all sat there hoping for people to not show up. Slowly our names would get called about every few minutes. I was lucky enough to be the last one called. 9 out of 14 were able to get on that flight. We realized this was our mission presidents first transfer and we are not all on the plane and about 3 hours late. haha. He, his wife, and the A.P.'s had been there since 2:30. Later that evening only one got on the next flight and four had to stay overnight and come in the next day at 9:30. To top it all off their flight was 30 minutes late. :) what an experience!
Transfer meeting was really neat, all the missionaries getting transferred, going home, and coming in were there. We shared our testimonies(coming in, and leaving) and then had a slide show where an area would come up, the picture of the missionary staying, and then the picture of the one going in. Then they would stand up, find each other, give each other a great big hug, and go sit down together. I am in Anderson, South Carolina known as the upstate, and my trainer is Sister Hendrix. She is so sweet and been great. The ward is very nice and just in our ward we have 3 sets of missionaries, but it is very much needed. There is a lot of work to be done.
The Allen's ( less active family) drove us from Irmo to Anderson and took us out to lunch in Spartanburg to this place called The Beacon, it was on a diner tv show. It was a real southern experience haha.
The Allen's are currently working towards going to the temple. It is so neat to see their desire for that.
We are also working with this couple named Melanie and Tim. They have a strong testimony and desire to get baptized but are working on quitting smoking first. It is also very sad because Melanie has stage 4 kidney cancer that has spread to her brain. So pray for her!! They are trying so hard, but addiction is rough.
Alisha is another investigator who they have been teaching since February. She wants to be 100% sure before she makes a commitment but has told us several times she knows what we are teaching is true. Sister Hendrix was really happy because the other day I kept challenging her and telling her she wont know everything til she acts on the things we have already taught her and that she will continue to learn and progress even more after baptism. And something I said really clicked with her and we think we finally made a break through with her. She seems excited to begin acting by setting a baptismal date to work towards.
Some investigators that we have found this week in our new companionship is
Zekkia and Jocelyn, these two little black girls who are 11 and 12 and are so cute and want to pray and go to church and work towards baptism. But their grandma takes the to this church called New Springs. The members of the LDS church call it the great and spacious building in Lehi's vision haha. It is kinda true. They have video games, starbucks, chik-fil-a, pretty much a mall in the church, and give away the members money to random people each week. Its difficult because people here either love it or hate it.
We also met this guy Antonio yesterday. We went to this house for a refferal, a girl had requested a bibe, and he answered the door. He was asking so many questions and wanted to know more. Asked for a book of Mormon and set up another appointment with him for tomorrow. Im excited to see where this goes.
Sorry this is so long.
I love it here and am growing so much.
Remember anything is possible through Jesus Christ. He is our light and our redeemer.
Oh and I have already been asked to give a talk next sunday hahah:) They asked me the first night I got here.
I love all of you and miss you!
Love,
Sister Rice
"President Spencer W. Kimball stated: ' Make no small plans, they have no magic to stir mans souls. This is the Vision I have for the South. I believe one day the south will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together. There are hosts of marvelous Baptists, members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, and Catholics, who are honorable people and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off tho the right of the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we will baptize hundreds, and thousands, in your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the South state. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people."
The Gospel is true!!!!
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