"Stand on his toes, and then his knees won't come up!"

So one of our zone leaders is on crutches and has kind of been a little down so we put together a goodie basket for him and got missionaries and some people he is working with to send in their favorite things about him. We put those in a little notebook along with encouraging and uplifting scriptures. He loved it and told us how much he appreciated it and how much he needed that right now. I have told him I have been on his side so I totally understand but to hang in there.

For the last three weeks we have had the privilege of teaching Trevor. He is a pretty prepared young man. We met him at his friend Josh's baptism. We invited him to FHE and he ended up showing up and then we asked if we could schedule a lesson and he said sure and also had us over at Josh and Sam's(wife of Josh) for it. The first lesson we had he kept talking about thinking about converting and that he was able to sit in on a few lessons that Josh had so I invited him to be baptized and set a date to work towards. We continued to teach him and it honestly felt like he was teaching the lessons to us. Saturday we had hi as baptism and Josh had the opportunity to be the one to baptize him! It was such a great baptismal service. A good chunk of our branch showed up, so he was able to get the gift of the Holy Ghost right after because it was stake conference this week. And our mission President was in town so him and his wife got to be there. Josh is a little smaller than Trevor and also is recovering from a bad accident so we weren't sure how well the baptism would go. Sure enough the first one wasn't good. His knees came up and so someone said to stand on his toes and Josh thought that was really funny but did and then he was immersed again and all was well . Our mission President said that Heavenly Father must love the three of us a lot for giving us such a sweet experience with Trevor and Josh. That us what I have been able to see this week. Heavenly Father has so much love for His children. He loves us so much and is so aware of our needs that he sends people to us to help us get through this thing called life. Trevor was definitely sent to us because Heavenly Father loved us and loves Trevor. It has been such a blessing to be on this journey with Trevor. 

I know that this truly is the church of Jesus Christ. The very one that He set up while He wad on earth and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with the people of South Carolina! 

Love,

Sister Rice 

The Little Things That Let You Know Heavenly Father Is Aware Of You!

So this week has been crazy packed. First things first. On P-day last week we were able to go to Downtown Charleston to the Battery. I got to see Rainbow street, a pineapple fountain, and dolphins!!!! Real dolphins jumping out of the water!

Next:

Trevor is doing great and is all set to get baptized this Saturday so please be saying lots of prayers to help him overcome anything that Satan tries to throw his way. We got to meet his parents this weekend. They came to visit. They invited us to spend Saturday with them and we got permission to go to the USS Yorktown with them. So I got to go on a boat and on a submarine! Don't worry they were docked! And they are museums now. Oh my gosh it was so much fun! I can officially say I have been on an aircraft ship now. I will attach pictures. It was so nice. His parents paid for us too! We ran out of time and there is still quite a bit I haven't been able to see, like a interactive Vietnam war center they have, and also Fort Sumter. So it is on my bucket list to go back!

Last thing:

 I was able to be in contact with another Elder who served in Anderson and he told me some pretty exciting news!  He had told me that one of the people that I had been working with before I left had been baptized. He was supposed to get baptized the weekend I left and some things came up that needed to be taken care of so it got pushed. Well I lost contact with him due to getting the email wrong and have always wondered if he was able to get baptized. This elder told me not only did he get baptized but he got to be at the sealing of this gentleman to the woman who introduced him to the church. I was so happy to hear this news it brought me to tears and I could not sleep that night. My heart was filled with so much joy. I realized that if I hadn't come back who knows how long I would have gone without knowing what happened to this family.

Are Y'all Amish???

Hey Y'all! I am in shock that this week will be halfway through the transfer. Time just goes by so fast out here on the mission.

So last week whole we were at Wal-Mart a man walked up to us and asked, "Are y'all amish?" I mean I guess I kind of can see it. 3 girls in skirt standing in Wal-Mart and one of my companions had her hair up in a braid wrapped around her head hahaha. We said no and then a few minutes later he came back around and apologized if that had offended us and so we then explained no and were able to tell him that we were missionaries and what we do. So that was fun!

Anyways we have seen a lot of little miracles this week! Starting off with an amazing zone conference where President Innes challenged us to a 90 day Book of Mormon reading focusing on everything pertaining to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So marking scriptures about Christ Atonement, faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost,  and enduring to the end. I have also been marking anything that has to do with people in the scriptures that I think had to do with living the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I would invite each of you to join in on this challenge. Read the Book of Mormon and look for anything and everything that teaches about our Savior and His gospel. Then pray about the Book of Mormon and get your own witness that it is true! 

Another miracle from this week was at first something I thought would be negative. In our apartment complex we haven't had any one living under us for awhile, so we didn't have to really be aware of our volume level. The other night we were laughing about something (my companions have loud laughs) and we got a knock on our door. Now that is weird ad missionaries, no one ever comes to your door. It was this young mom who asked us to be quieter because we had woken up her baby twice throughout the week. She was super nice about it and we felt really bad and explained we didn't even know that they had moved in. We were bummed that that was her introduction to the church and we felt a little embarrassed. Well a few days later we got another knock on the door but this time in the morning. It was this girl. She told us about how she hoped she didn't come off rude and that she actually grew up in the church and was happy to find out that we lived above her. Then she started crying and asked us to pray for her family due to something going on and she gave us peoples names. She said she knew that we would do it right. And then she told us we were welcome to come to her if we ever needed anything as well. That was such a sweet moment and we continued to see the Lord's hand in that as we realized that morning we were actually at a flea market to talk about family history but left because the elders didn't show and we decided to go home. Then the fact that a few nights before that when she came to our apartment we were still wearing our name tags. We would have never crossed paths due to our schedules. They had been living there for over a week and we had no idea. Didn't ever see any one moving in. The Lord is aware of all His children and is always providing for them.

I have also had an increase of faith in that the Lord is truly the one running His work. I have been trying to put a focus on not only praying to find those that are ready, but that those who are searching will find us and be placed in our path. Last night while saying my prayers I realized that all the investigators we do have, have been led to us. I am grateful for the ability to pray and that Heavenly Father answers those prayers. I am grateful for my Savior who leads and guides and provides for His missionaries and all His children. I know that as we each do our best to develop that relationship with the Savior, He will help us along this journey we call life and that our Heavenly Father is there waiting to help us align our will with His. 

I will end with sharing a quote from a talk I studied this week called: "And This Life Eternal" by Elder C. Scott Grow from the April 2017 general conference. He says,

"God knows you and invites you to know Him. Pray to the Father, study the scriptures, seek to do God’s will, strive to become like the Savior, and follow righteous mentors. As you do, you will come to know God and Jesus Christ, and you will inherit eternal life. This is my invitation to you as an ordained special witness of Them. They live. They love you. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I love y'all and hope each of you take the time to strengthen your relationship with your Heavenly Father and your Savior throughout this week.