A Week Full Of Miracles!

This week has been pretty jammed pack of little miracles which has been really awesome. I just wanted to be able to share the two biggest ones I saw this week.

First one happened on Tuesday: 

There was this guy on our map that I have been wanting to try to see. I was reading his record history and he got baptized in 2016 and was pretty awesome and strong in the gospel....and then there was no history for him at all in 2017. No record of missionaries teaching him, or attempting to contact him. I thought that was weird that he had been a recent convert and all of a sudden no history with the missionaries. When we pulled up to the house there was a guy outside and I got out and asked if he was Steven and his mouth just dropped and he said, "Sisters! I haven't seen sisters in a long time! I thought yall forgot about me." He was in complete shock. We were able to visit with him and he is quite a character! He told us about how work has taken his Sundays away and how he has just been going through a lot lately and hasn't been able to come. He got a new phone and didn't have our number and really thought that we had just forgotten about him. He was pretty cool though and really southern and really funny! He told us about how he was still trying to do his best but has fallen short but is trying to be better. He just said a bunch of funny things. He told us, " Three days ago I had to break up with my girlfriend because all she wanted to do was the hanky panky! and Im not lookin to do that." And one of his neighbor kids came over and he said, "Boy! It looks like your daddy just put a bowl on your head and cut around it!" It was so funny. He was making us laugh so hard. He kept telling us how in shock he was to see us and that we made his day!. It was really neat. Later he texted us and I will attach what he sent. It was really sweet and made our day!!

The Second one happened yesterday:

A mother's prayer was finally answered! We were at church a little early because Trevor was receiving the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. A woman came up to us from one of the other wards and she proceeded to tell us about her son. She said that he had moved to the other side of South Carolina and that she wanted us to get in contact with the missionaries there to give them his address so they could go check on him. She told us that we couldn't let him know that they were sent by his parents or else he would want nothing to do with it. So we got his address and told her we would call the missionaries and make sure they go try to visit him. Well while she is talking to us about something else we get a text from a number we texted a month ago!! We had been spending the beginning of February cleaning up our records and we texted and called a bunch of people trying to confirm they were at the same address we had record of. When we looked at the text this person had said that he had moved and that he wanted missionaries to come over so he asked us to send his information to the missionaries where he lives. When we looked at the address we realized that it was the same address this woman just gave us. We showed it to her and asked if this was her son's number. As she read it she just started to cry and fell into my arms. (We were all crying at this point). She told us that she has been promised that this son would come back and go on a mission but that she just needed to be patient. Well he reached out to us before we even had to do anything! He happened to text us back a month later at the exact time we were talking to his mom who had just told us about him!!! How crazy is that!?!?!? We also wouldn't have placed that together if he hadn't given us his address in the text he sent. It was so neat to see the Lord's impeccable timing and how aware He is of all His children and to see this sweet faithful mother's prayer finally answered.

Well the story doesn't end there! After church we got a call from her and she told us that her son actually called her and told her how he wants to come back to church and make changes and really just needs the gospel back in his life. So she called us and told us to make sure that the missionaries called him that same day because he is ready and she did not want to miss the window of time. How awesome is that?!?!?!?! I am so grateful that I was able to be a witness of such a sweet moment for this woman. I will never forget her face as she read that text and realized that her son was finally in a place where he was reaching out and asking for help. 

I know that the Savior is so very aware of us and what we need and He is just waiting with His hand stretched out waiting for us to grab it and let Him in to help us. I hope each of you will continue to develop your relationship with the Savior. 

I love you and miss you!

Thanks for all the love and support!!!!

Love,

Sister Rice​

"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.

I'm Not Kid(ney)ing You!

Hey Ya'll!

I will explain my choice of subject line in a bit, but first I am back in South Carolina! How great it feels to be back to a place I love so much!

Stepping off the plane and walking up to President Innes (my mission president), he gave me a huge hand shake and said, "Welcome Back Sister Rice!" I instantly felt like I am exactly where I need to be.

Transfers were Thursday and I am in another trio! My companions are Sister Robins and Sister Kim, they are both from Utah and have both been out amount 9 months. We are serving in the Charleston YSA branch! We are over the whole stake in Charleston so like 8 or 9 cities. We live in Goose Creek so kind of right in the middle. I am about 45 minutes from the Coast which is pretty cool. 

So that's that, but let's get back to this subject title! On our way home from transfers (it is about an hour and a half drive), my companion(sister Kim) got super sick. She was super nauseous and in a lot of pain. When we got to our apartment we called the mission nurse and she told us it sounds like she might be passing a kidney stone, we had to stay in the rest of the night. The next morning she was still in a lot of pain and wasn't keeping anything down, so we called again and got permission to go to the doctors. The doctors gave her some prescriptions to help. All day long she kept sleeping, waking up to drink and take meds, and ended up only puking everything up about a half hour later. So about 9:30 pm that night the mission nurse told us to take her to the ER. The ER was crazy busy and on a lock down when we arrived. They had the security out and they were having us go through metal detectors and searching our bags. When we were about to put our stuff down the security guard said, "oh yall are missionaries, yall are fine! come on in." He then explained how he joined the church when he lived in Michigan with his family, but since he moved here hasn't been. We were able to give him the address to the church and we are going to try to meet with him this week. (The Lord still provided for His missionaries even at the ER). He seems awesome and was so excited to run into us, he kept coming back up to us talking about General Conference and firesides and how there is refreshments at everything. It was awesome. Anyways we were in the ER from 10pm-4am when they decided to admit her. The kidney stone caused a pretty severe kidney infection which is why she was so sick. They kept her until yesterday around 4pm. She wasn't aloud to leave until she could eat solid foods without getting nauseous. So we spent our weekend in the hospital which was super fun! How many missionaries can say they got to pull an all nighther in the ER! She is doing a lot better now, but we are all pretty exhausted from this weekend. The mission nurse was nice enough to come stay with her on Sunday so me and Sister Robins could go to church so I could meet people. The branch is about 20 people, so we have a lot of work to do to build up this area! I am excited and hopeful for what the Lord has planned here for the Charleston YSA area!

Hope yall have a good week!

Love,

Sister Rice

Taco Bell and Elder Bednar???? What can they possibly have in common?

THEY WERE BOTH AT THE MTC THIS WEEK!!!!
ok that is not all I had to share about the MTC hahahha. For some reason it sent in the middle of my typing, but like I was saying Monday night they brought in Taco Bell to the MTC which doesn't happen here....it is cafeteria food usually, and Elder Bednar(An Apostle) came Tuesday night for a devotional. So this week has been pretty amazing!

I have done so much and I can't even think what to share. I have two companions. Sister Smith from Anchorage, Alaska and Sister Henry from Rigby, Idaho. We are having a lot of fun together and working hard! On Sunday we woke up to the power being out and it didn't come back on until 11:30 so we went to church with the lights out and it was freezing cold, but luckily we had big windows so we could see!

I would just like to take a moment to say that prayers do work and Heavenly Father truly cares about each of us and is truly listening! On Tuesday night I was talking with my companions about how dinner would be so much better if they had some berries and also some guacamole. Well the NEXT day at DINNER we had both berries and guacamole(it went with a salad that night)!!!!!! Can you believe it?!?!?!?! Something so small and simple as that....Now it has been a joke that missionaries are supposed to tell me what they want here and I have to pray for it since it seems to work from me!!! They are having me work on trying to get Chick-fil-a here so I will let you know if that happens!

I just wanted to say thank you for all the support and helping me get back out on my mission. I am enjoying it so much and working so hard! I am exhausted but I am also the happiest I have been in awhile. I know that as we each live our lives in accordance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by having faith, repentance, being baptized, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, we can become closer to our Savior and Heavenly Father than ever before! Our life may not be perfect and will still have trials, but I know that through Christ Atonement we can overcome this mortal life. 

I love all of you so much and am praying for you daily!! 

Love,

Sister Rice

Heavenly Father Does Answer Prayers, But In His Own Timing

It has been over two years since I posted something on here, but that's because the last time I wrote I thought I was closing that chapter of my life. But Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? Almost three years ago I came home from serving my LDS mission in South Carolina due to an injury I had while out there. After a lot of physical therapy, a lot of praying(a year and a half of praying), and a lot of faith I realized that it wasn't part of my plan to go back and finish my mission.....well at least not then. I will be going to finish my mission! How crazy is that? This completely shook me to my core. It has been almost three years and I finally closed that chapter and accepted how it all played out, but Heavenly Father has other plans. I am so excited for this opportunity to be a missionary again, and do things over and be a better, more devoted missionary. It is amazing how everything has fallen into place for this next step in life.
It is also unbelievable how the Lord starts to prepare you for things and to receive direction on where to go next.
About four months ago I received a blessing that said that in 30 days my foot would be healed and no longer cause me any problems in my life. I thought that was very interesting since it wasn't something I really focus on anymore and just have learned to live with it, but I had faith in that promise and went with it. About three months ago I had a prompting to not sign another contract for my apartment for the winter semester, but being who I am and wanting to not lose my spot I signed a contract. I kept feeling though that I wasn't going to be in Rexburg by then. Then two months later, driving back to Rexburg from visiting my family, I had a really difficult time going back. I just felt like it wasn't where I wanted to be or where I needed to be. While driving I had the thought pop into my head, "you need to go back on your mission." I quickly pushed it out of my mind not wanting to open that again. I kept thinking how I already got my answer for that and it was always no, it must just be me still not fully accepting that answer. Just a few minutes later it came back but with even more power behind it, "you should go back on your mission, you could start saving now and leave the first of the year..." For the next four hours driving I thought about this and I kept trying to figure out in my mind how I could make this happen and if I could even do this, or if I even wanted to go through it all again. Returning back to Rexburg I spent the next week praying and going to the temple trying to figure out if this was really what Heavenly Father wanted me to do next. I decided that I would meet with my bishop on Sunday and whatever he had to say about it I would accept as my answer. I figured he would have questions or tell me it probably wasn't possible, but to my surprise as I begin to tell him I wanted to go back out I started to cry and the spirit filled my soul. Bishop Young got a big smile on his face and said, "I think that is a great idea." No questions, nothing. In that moment I knew I was receiving an answer to a prayer that I had been waiting for for a long time. He told me he had done this before with one other missionary who had been home for about two years and said that they probably will send me to a new mission, but that he wasn't really sure. The next step was to get permission to open up my papers again and that took about two weeks. As soon as they were open I filled out all the paperwork in about an hour and the next day called for medical appointments. Amazingly I was able to get in for a dentist appointment that same day I called, and then a doctors appointment the next day. Everything went smoothly there. That following Sunday I had my interview with the Bishop and then the next Thursday interviewed with the Stake President. My application was submitted that Friday. Only about a week and a half after I started them. I also decided that I need to spend some time with my family before I leave so I had to sell my fall contract for housing and cancel my winter one. I hadn't even had the ad posted for 24 hours when I had received about three different offers on my contract. It seemed like everything was working out in my favor, but at this point there still was a possibility I could be told no. It wouldn't be a growing experience if there wasn't a time period of a trial of my faith. A month has gone by and no one had even looked at my papers, they hadn't moved at all. I begin to start questioning if I made the right choice and if I really wanted to do this again. I thought I was nervous the first time...I have been about ten times more nervous and terrified thinking about going back out. There are so many fears and worries about trying to do this all over again, and it is harder this time knowing exactly what I am signing up for. I started to give up on the idea of being able to go back out and honestly wasn't sure if I wanted to. Friday morning I received a call from my stake president asking when I wanted to enter the MTC and gave me some options. He then told me, "Alright Sister Rice how does reentering the MTC on January 3rd sound? You will be going back out to your mission in South Carolina."
And just like that all the doubt and questioning left. I am still not really sure why this has all happened the way it has and why I had to wait three years before returning, but I do know that I have faith in my Heavenly Father. If there is one thing I have learned in the last three years through all this is that there is a Heavenly Father who loves me and is so aware of my every need. I have learned to put all my trust in Him for He knows what is best for me. I am so grateful for an answer to my prayer and for the chance to serve and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ for a second time. I cannot wait for what this next year will look like. I know this is not going to be easy but nothing worth learning is easy.
Thank you for everyone who has supported me through this trial and journey and those who will continue to support me as I put my faith in the Lord and His next step for me.
One of my favorite scriptures is 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."