"While I Breathe, I Hope"

Well this is it...

I cannot believe how fast this time has gone! 

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me through my mission! Yall will never know how much you mean to me! 

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve the Lord here in South Carolina. Oh how I love this place and the people here so much! 

My testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been strengthened so much and I have learned so many things! I don't have time to tell you everything right now, but here are just a few...

18 things I learned in the 18 months I have served:

1) Gotta thank the Lord every morning for waking you up for another day!

2) BBQ is what you eat, not an event, that is a COOK OUT

3) Y'all is so much easier to say than "you guys"

4) Heavenly Father is so aware of ALL of His children!

5) We are here in this life to be agents, not objects!

6) You learn to love by serving those around you.

7) Never suppress a generous thought!

8) If a hurricane(or snow) is comin' you need bread, milk, and eggs...and fast or else the stores will be out! 

9) Mac and Cheese is a vegetable!

10) Biking with a skirt is NOT easy

11) Having faith in the Lord, also means having the faith not to be healed

12) Prayers are answered! Wait patiently and answers will come. Specific prayers bring specific answers.

13) DO NOT GO TO GASTON!

14) We are just ordinary people shooting for an extraordinary eternity.

15) Southern hospitality!

16) The people here believe in and love Jesus Christ

17) "Autumn leaves, Jesus doesn't"

18) You are placed in people's lives for a reason, and they are placed in yours for specific reasons!

I have loved getting to be here and meet so many amazing people and hear so many crazy stories. People are truly amazing! The people I have met have taught me so much and have become some of my favorite people. My companions have become some of my best friends. And most importantly my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ has grown immensely! 

Missions are not easy....nothing about a mission is easy. You are away from your family and friends, you are constantly rejected and criticized, you feel lonely at times, stressed, sick, disappointed. You give your heart to those you meet just to be told they don't want to meet with you anymore. You have to learn how to get along with companions, help to strengthen a ward, help strengthen other missionaries, and always be an example. You have to keep the daily schedule, spend countless times on your knees praying for those you are working with, and losing sleep over people, it seems like you never get enough sleep. You are pushed to the max physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But with all of that being said, I find myself in the last few days as a missionary not wanting to leave. Completely exhausted from the work, but losing sleep over the idea that I will no longer be here at the end of the week. A mission is hard, but leaving is a thousand times harder. Getting on that plane on Friday is going to be the hardest thing I have been asked to do so far as a missionary. I would so much rather take another 547 days of foot pain, rejection, and sleep deprivation than stepping foot on that plane. But I trust the Lord and know that He will lead me to the next thing He has in store for me. I know that with faith in Jesus Christ I can do anything and that is what will get me on that plane back home in a few days. I love being a missionary and in no way is my missionary service going to be over just because I have to take that name tag off. I will serve the Lord until I can return to Him and He can be able to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant". I love this mission and I love the people of South Carolina and above all, I love the Lord and that He has allowed me to be apart of this great work! 

Remember: No matter what, the Lord loves you!!!

Love,

Sister Micaela Ann Rice

"I want to sit by you because I love you!"

Well I hope every one had a great Christmas!

We had a pretty busy day and it ended up being a really good day. We had Christmas dinner with this cute family who have three boys under the age of 4. They are a handful and it was so fun to go over there and play with their new Christmas toys. We played baseball and sword fighting and with some remote control trucks they got. When dinner time came, the little 4 year old boy named Zach told my companion not to sit there because he wanted me to sit next to him. He then looked at me with his big blue eyes and said, "I want to sit by you because I love you!" It was the cutest thing ever! 

We have been pretty busy over here. Last week we had gotten a call from a member in Wisconsin who said his coworker was moving to our area and was wondering if we could help them move in. The family ended up needing help Christmas eve so we got some missionaries and people from our ward and in an hour we were able to unload everything and get it into the house. It was great! We went over last night and explained to them what we do as missionaries and they said since they just moved here they are looking for a church to attend. We are now teaching them and they will be coming to church on Sunday! We are pretty excited about them.

We also have been teaching this other family for awhile. They have five kids and are really fun. We have had a hard time helping them really understand what our purpose is. It was funny because last week we were teaching the Plan of Salvation and I made this puzzle that explains it for their little kids, and I was having them help me with it, and the dad told me I should get the puzzle patented and sell it because it was a good way to explain it. Haha it was funny. But anyways we went over there a couple of days ago and really laid it on them. We were bold and told them that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, standing in His place, and that the message we bring can change their families lives if they allow it to and do the things we ask them to like read and pray to ask God if it is true. It got really quiet and the little girl named Destiny(9) said the prayer at the end and asked God to answer her questions and tell her if what she is learning is true, and then the dad Charles continued to say a silent prayer to himself after the daughter finished her prayer. They all were like I am going to read this book and I am going to bring it to work with me. They finally understood the importance of our message and we are excited to see if they have read and prayed and received an answer. 

That is what I love about being a missionary. We get to meet so many different people but they are all trying to find happiness and figure out their purpose. It is such a blessing to be able to bring the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who are searching for it, or maybe don't even realize they are looking for it. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly softens the heart of men and brings true joy into this life that is full of earthly struggles. May each of you take the time this week to continue to draw closer to the Savior and His teachings, and then try to share that knowledge and light with those around you!

I hope you have a great week!

Love y'all!

-Sister Micaela Rice

Surprise! Surprise! Merry Frickin Christmas!

Well it has been quite the week here! Let me tell ya!

First off it snowed and well....every thing and every one shut down....it was worse than when the Hurricane was coming straight for us! We got like maybe 4 inches of snow.....

We have been pretty busy here and trying to keep up with everything....

So my email caption comes from one of my favorite people I have ever met! We have a member here named Sister Smith who helps us out with basically any thing we need to do as missionaries. She is like the best teacher ever! She carries around all the pamphlets with her and is not afraid to open up her mouth when we are teaching lessons. We love her. She is quite the character and says the funnies things. Last week she got bit by a dog and it was pretty bad....when we asked her how the bite was she told us about how she is going to have to go to wound care every week for a while because of it and as she walked away she said, "Surprise! Surprise! Merry Frickin Christmas!" We just started laughing...that is now our go to line when things aren't going well for us....and this week there has been quite a bit of that.

It is all good though because no matter how bad a day is, I have many things to be grateful for, and especially the opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ during the Christmas season.

Plus it is pretty hard to stay down when your companion has the best attitude ever and laughs at anything....it  is pretty contagious and we find our self laughing a lot. 

We have lots to look forward about this week and we are trying to work hard and find those that are ready for our message.

One cool experience I had this week was being able to go with another sister in the mission to a lesson with this lady named Norma. She is amazing and really trying to learn if this is true....we were able to have a huge break through with her and we were all crying and we promised her if she would act in faith the Lord would provide a way for her situation to work out to where she will be able to get baptized. That woman is such a great example of having faith and I am excited to see her continue to grow in her testimony.

We also got to go around offering to rake leaves for people....it turned into one yard...because it takes A LOT of time with just two people...but it was still fun...and then we drove around with the rakes in our car for about a week because we kept forgetting to give them back hahaha.

Also we stopped to do some studying at a Mexican restaurant and just ordered a drink...the lady recognized our name tags and said she use to go to our church so we got her info to give to the missionaries in that area to hopefully get in contact with her....then she gave us chips and salsa for free! It was great! 

Well I hope yall are enjoying this Christmas season! I know I am! 

We have so much to be thankful for and so many things that we can do to help bring people closer to the Savior this season. Please be looking for ways to serve those around you and spread the joy!

Love,

Sister Micaela Rice

"Melted my heart like butter"

Ok I know! I am awful at sending weeklys out.....I honestly don't know how long it has been since I sent out an email....very likely that it has been two months....which I am sorry for!

So I'm going to catch yall up to speed!

First things first....I got transferred last week. I am back in the upstate in Spartanburg with Sister Sanders. We whitewashed in(meaning both of us are new here and are running around like chickens who just got their heads cut off). Ok it isn't that bad, it's just an adjustment trying to both learn what is going on in the area and how to get around. But it is going well so far and the people here have  been so nice.

It was really hard to say goodbye to people in Lake Murray! I miss them so much already. I'm broken inside so no tears happened.....apparently getting use to all the changes has just made my heart cold or something because tears are non-existent in my life now. Even though I couldn't cry I was really sad. I don't know if yall remember me talking about Drew because it has been so long but he was our neighbor who we would talk to almost every night. He is quite the guy. We were able to get him to come to church with us our last two Sundays and then we surprised him Thursday morning(the day we had to leave) coming out to say goodbye one last time before he went to work. We gave him little notes that we wrote for him. He messaged us later and told him our notes melted his heart like butter! He is such a goof but I love that guy!

Thursday was really hard.....I had to say goodbye to one of the greatest sister missionaries that South Carolina has ever known. I definitely was able to shed a few tears that day! Sister Robins went back home and I am so happy for her but sad to have her leave me. She has left me three times this year! She likes to play with my emotions like that haha. I definitely was blessed to be her companion TWICE! and She is going to kill it back home!

I also got to see a few of my old comps! Shout out to Sister Tucker, Sister Callahan, and Sister Christensen!! I miss being with those girls every day! They are some amazing peeps! Sister Ogden I will be seeing you at zone conference!!! Woot! Woot!

I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for the people I have been able to meet on my mission. I am sorry I have been bad at sending updates but it's only because I'm busy enjoying being here and maybe a little bit of it is I am too lazy to take the time on Mondays when I much rather nap. Sorry not sorry! But I do love yall and hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving!! And please don't die going black Friday shopping!!

Check out the Light the World website as well! I hope all of yall will spend the time watching these Christmas videos and finding ways to serve those around you the month of December! It is going to be a party!

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/day-of-service

Love,

Sister Rice

I Went Out and Picked Some Cotton Mamma!

Well Hello Everyone!!!! 

Sorry I have literally not wrote an email for the longest time ever....

Today we went and drove out to a cotton field and picked some cotton! The field was already on the down hill so not as white as they usually are:( but I still got me some cotton!

A couple of days ago we went on exchages with our Hermanas! I got to be a Spanish missionary for a day and it was so much fun!

We were able to see some really cool miracles. One in particular was a lesson with a lady named Olivia. This lady had to leave one of her children in Honduras because she could only carry one child to walk here. It was pretty heart breaking. It was that daughters birthday the day we were over there. It was interesting being able to feel the Spirit so strong and be able to follow the lesson a little bit with not really understanding what was said, but at the end I felt very impressed to promise her that if she continued to meet with the missionaries and read the book of mormon that her family would be back together in this life and the next. I asked Hermana Bechtold to translate it and Olivia just got really big eyes and said "woah". The Spirit was definitely testifying of the truthfulness of that promise.

Did yall get to watch General Conference??? If not you should!!! It was amazing and you can find it on lds.org

I love the prophet and the apostles....their messages are so inspired and exactly what we need. 

I am truly grateful for a Savior who knows us so personally and is there to help us with anything we need. That is one of the greatest lessons I have learned on my mission....Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are aware of every single one of us!

I love being a missionary and wish time would slow down!!

Hope all is well 

Love,

Sister Rice

Southern Word Of The Day: Namaste

This week has been one for the books! Hurricane Florence was slowly.....extremely slowly moving our way. People every day were like "this is going to be worse than Hugo!", "It's a cat 5 hurricane!", "Its as wide as both North and South Carolina!" and on the other hand people were like "We are just going to get a little bit of rain.", or "I have seen way worse!"

People were told to evacuate from the coast so we got some missionaries our way. Other people chose not to leave....hence my subject line.... southern word for the day "namaste"

"Yall goin evacuate?" "namaste here!" hahaha I got a good laugh at that one.

Hurricane Florence came and went. Totally wrecked North Carolina but left South Carolina with a few fallen trees and wind and rain. We are glad that the Lord heard our prayers and lowered it from a cat 4 hurricane to a tropical storm by the time it hit us! 

So I am safe and alive and ready to get back to work!

Hope yall have a great week!

Guess Who's Back, Back, Back....

Back again, 'gain, 'gain...

Sister Robins, Robins, Robins

And her friend, friend, friend( awkwardly dancing around pointing at myself with so much excitement I could explode!)

(FYI this is going to be a long one! But soooooo worth the read!)

That's right ladies and gentlemen! I am back with Sister Robins! I got transferred last week to a place called Lexington and am in the Lake Murray ward. When President called to tell me I would be leaving my beloved Simpsonville and Sister Ogden I was so sad, but  I could not help but to dance around and sing this in my head knowing I was coming back to a companion I admire and look up to so much! It is going to be a party! When I got dropped off at transfers we locked eyes and then came running towards each other and embraced in a big hug. Sister Innes came and took pictures of us and said, "It's like you two are excited or something." It was a great moment. 

It has already been a party! The ward here is great! We were over with this one family who has the cutest kids ever! One of their boys names is Harrison. He was a hoot! He wanted us to jump on the tramp with him so he went and got basketball shorts from his dads closet and gave them to us. Then after we got done with that we went inside to do our lesson and he had my name tag on and said, "Let me go put on my skirt!" He quickly ran upstairs to his sister's closet to go grab a skirt and match us for the lesson. He was cracking us up all evening! I have made a new best friend here in Lake Murray.

The last evening in Simpsonville I had I got to spend at a baptism. One of the greatest human beings I have ever met in my life enter into the waters of baptism Wednesday night and covenanted with God to live a new life. Marlon is by far my favorite human! Rewind back about four months...Sister Tucker(love you!) and I went to go meet Marlon. He was a former investigator and had been dropped due to not agreeing with the word of wisdom. When we went and saw him it was a Thursday afternoon around 3pm and him and his friends were drunk on his front porch. He sure enough told us about why he stopped meeting with the missionaries. So we said, "Well have you ever prayed about the word of wisdom and asked God if it is true??" He said no and so we invited him to spend the next week daily praying to know. We said we would come back and check what happened. We walked away from that thinking there is no way he is going to do that and this is going nowhere. Well a week late we stopped by to keep our word and when we got there he had actually spent the time praying about it! He said he hadn't gotten answer, but he actually did it so we started to teach him. A couple weeks later he was trying to quit smoking so we taught him about priesthood blessings and how that could help. He got one and ever since then he hasn't smoked and that made him realize that the word of wisdom is true and made him get his answer that this is Christ Church. He said one night laying in bed after praying to know, he just got this overwhelming feeling come to his chest and he just knew that this is true. So it took a few ups and downs and curve balls Satan threw at us but we got him to baptism! It was the most sweetest moment of my mission so far. After he was baptized we gave him a gift. He laughingly said no one ever gets me gifts and when he opened it up and pulled out the tie that we had signed on the back, he began to cry and said. "no one has ever gotten me a gift, no one has ever treated me like this." We all were crying and it was the most tender moment ever. As we said our goodbyes Marlon told me he would never forget me and I told him the same back. I have grown to love that man so much and I am so blessed for the Lord allowing me to be apart of his conversion process. I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that allows us to find peace and a fresh start in our life no matter what our past looks like. May we all find ways to come closer to the Savior this week and become better. That is what it is all about!

Love,

Sister Rice 

-Marlon's baptism

-last picture with Sister Ogden

- Reuniting with Sister Robins

-Yes! We drive a mini van! 

-My new best friend Harrison