Oh man, what even happened this week? Apparently the longer you are out the more the days just blur together. Ok i am going to try to come up with five interesting things to tell ya'll...This may be rough.

1. TWUBLE: So awkward moment when you get a call from the Mission President at 10:15 at night. Then he tells you that people in the Branch have been complaining to him that we are too young and energetic....that happened to us. Pres. was all like i don't know why this is a thing but you guys are awesome and just try to be on your guard around members. So know we have to be those boring missionaries. Yuppie. Who complains about missionaries being too energetic? Thats just silly.

2. SATAN BUG: Another late night story. I was lying in bed and i saw a black spot that isn't usually there. So I ask Hna. Moses what it is and she doesn't know so we turn on the light and its this HUGE mutant centipide thing! Seriously it was huge and scary and i would have prefered it was a spider! So we sprayed it with pesticide and squished it with a broom but it was still alive! So we put it on a plate and squirted hand sanitizer on it and lit it on fire! It was very satisfactory.

3.MELISSA: Melissa is an investigator that we have been working with for a long time. She hasn't been progressing so we went over to drop her the other night. Well, that didn't happen. We get there and have a lesson and we start talking about trials and she tell us how she is so stressed about life and is having all these problems and she can't sleep and she broke down in tears and it was awful. Well i had the thought to get her a blessing so we told her about them and asked if she wanted one. She said yes so i called the Branch President and he came over with another member and they gave her a blessing. It was super powerful. After the men left she asked us when she could be baptized! We told her to pray about a date. The next day she called us and said she had the best sleep of her life and she felt so much better and she wishes she could have a blessing every week! haha so needless to say we are still working with her and the blessing was just the push she needed to start progressing!

4.FLEAS: So we were at a beloved members home for dinner and she told us that her new kitten had fleas. We examined the kitten and he was covered in them! So nasty!!! Hermana Moses offered for us to give him a flea bath and to get all the fleas off. So we did. We scrubbed the little guy with flea shampoo and picked off every single flea and then scrubbed him again. It worked like a charm! It was quite an adventure! We now offer ammeture pet grooming with every Book of Mormon given:P

5.SUICIDE PREVENTION: The other night we got a call from a beloved member saying she was at the square and she was going to kill herself. Well we live across the street from the square so we ran over there and had a nice long talk with her. We went through ethos, pathos, and logos and used those to reason why she shouldn't kill herself. It worked and by the end of our hour and a half with her she was laughing. So we drove her home and made her promise to text us what she had for breakfast in the morning. She had a cinnamon taster strudel in case you were wondering. It was a pretty intense night.

So yep that was my week. Not a lot of exciting missionary stuff but definitly not a boring week. As far as missionary work we are just doing a lot of knocking. This area is not receptive to missionaries but hey, were just gonna keep on trying:) Anywhoozles, I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!! Until next time...xoxoxoxoxoxo Hermana Rice

Hola Everybody! This week has been a pretty great week and i can't wait to tell you all about it! So heres my Top 5:)

1.YMCA: No, i am not referring to the Village People. I am talking about the establishment here in Washington. We started doing service there and it is awesome. A less active in our branch runs an after school program for elementary age kids where they do fun activities or just hang out. We basically get to play with a bunch of kids for two hours every week while trying to reactivate a member. It might be my favorite part of the week. So fun! Kids are the greatest!!! 

2.LA's: This week we have been focusing a lot on visiting all the Less Actives in our branch and let me tell you, there are A LOT. We took a Branch Directory and every name that we don't know we have gone to visit. It has been pretty interesting. Some people are really welcoming and others were not happy that we dared to go visit them. It has been great! People are so funny about church! They need to stop getting offended and realize that people are idiots and say/do stupid things but the Gospel is perfect and that is what matters. Ugh! 

3.CHEESEBURGERS: Every once in a while we have late night Cheeseburgers. It is fun. Sometimes its just a really hard day and we say to ourselves, "Its always a good time for a cheeseburger!" Yep. We do that. 

4.KNOCKING: Its still a hard knocking life for us. We have no one to teach! Where are all the investigators? They are hiding, but we will find them!!

5.FLU SHOTS: I saved the best for last. So i found out that in the month of September it is mandatory for all missionaries to get a flu shot. Great, right? Well Hna. Moses was set on getting them done as soon as possible, aka last P-Day. Well, I said only if they have the nose spray. So we called all the places in town that you can get a flu shot at and asked if they have the nose spray...none of them did. So Hermana Moses said i would have to suck it up and get a needle. You can imagine how i am reacting right now. Its not pretty. Well, she drags me to the local pharmacy and tell the lady we need flu shots. She has us fill out a paper and then takes us in the back room where there are two needles and one of those red boxes full of used needles.*Intensify the shaking and sweating* Hna . Moses gets her shot first and then its my turn. Well as usual i am jumping up and down in corner trying not to cry. Luckily the nurse was very patient. Heres the miracle: After only about two minutes of my usual fear induced panic, i took a deep breath, hugged Hermana Moses as tight as i could and buried my face in her shoulder and got my flu shot. So let me paraphrase: i got my flu shot without crying and only spending a total of five minutes in the Doc. office. Thats the fastest i have ever gotten a shot in my entire life!!!! This is a big deal. Family, i hope you are proud of me cause it was truly a miracle! 

Alrighty that is all i got for this week! As always I LOVE AND MISS YOU TONS!!! Until next time...xoxoxo Hermana Rice

This is how our relationship works...

​Moses got in my makeup! She clearly had fun.

Buenos Dias Everyone! Its a beautiful afternoon here in Warshington! So this week in honor of me hitting my 6 month mark i decided to share five things that i have learned on my mission thus far...Enjoy!

1. LOVE: Probably the most important thing that i have learned on my mission is love. Loving everyone no matter what. President Jensens favorite phrase is "Love them to pieces!" and he tries to imprint that into our hearts and minds. When i first got to Iowa the first family i met was a very unhygienic, hoarding bunch. I would cringe when they hugged me and not want to go visit them. By the end of my time in Mt. Pleasant when we hugged goodbye, i didn't want to let go. I have learned that no matter what we look like, we are all children of God and i can see them how God sees them and i just love them and want to help them in whatever way i can. I just love everyone I meet instantly and i don't even try! One of the first things that come out of my mouth when we meet someone new is "I love them!". Christ said that the second greatest commandment is Love thy neighbor and i promise that when we do that, everything else in life is happier!

2.PATIENCE: I have never been a patient person but just like it says in Ether12:27 God can turn our weaknesses into strengths, if we let him. I didn't want to let him for the longest time but I kept finding myself in situations that required so much patience and finally i decided alright, i guess i am gonna develop patience. And man, what a blessing it has been! Patience is required for...everything! Patience is a necessity for happiness. Its soo true!

3. COMFORT ZONE:The concept of a comfort zone cannot exist in the life of a successful missionary. We learn to EMBRACE THE AWKWARD in everything. As missionaries we give up a lot of things and one of them is definitely the comfort zone. Its just doesn't exist anymore. End of story. Missionaries don't have comfort zones and lemme tell you it is awesome! Its feels so free and unrestricted. I love it!

4. I CAN DO HARD THINGS: Alright Momma this one is for you. I finally get it. All those years of grabbing my face and telling me over and over again "You can do hard things!" finally sunk in. Being out here is one of the hardest things i have ever done but it is also for sure the most rewarding things i have ever done! I have conquered so many things and accomplished so many things in these last 6 months that there is no doubt in my mind that i can handle whatever comes my way! So there you go, sorry it took so long for me to realize but better late than never, right?

5. WORDLY STUFF: Along with all the important life lessons, i have also picked up some fun but not big or spiritual things here in Iowa. Such as beat-boxing, ping pong, the names of the main ponies in My Little Pony, the alphabet in sign language, not to drive on B roads, Spanish is evil and awesome all at the same time, how to eat nasty things without vomitting, money is very easy to spend, Goodwill is the greatest thing ever, if you make friends with peoples animals they are more likely to be nice to you, and homemade popcorn is better than microwave popcorn.

Well, thats all for now, I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU TONS!!!! until next time...xoxoxo 

Hermana Rice

I haven't sent pics in a while so here ya go! Heres us in matching t-shirts on the Swinging Bridge:D