October 26, 2015 - John's Creek

This week we went on exchanges and it was great! My companion stayed in our area with the Sister Training Leader and I went Spanish for a day with the Sister Training Leader's two companions. I always love going Spanish for a day because even though I can't understand what's being said I have more opportunity to listen to the Spirit and it's beautiful. One of the cool things about our exchanges is that we were in Alpharetta (my previous area) the whole day and we were able to teach the awesome/golden Hispanic people Sister C and I had referred over to the Spanish Sisters. 

I have to tell y'all about one of the miracles we witnessed on exchanges. While in Alpharetta we taught this incredibly prepared Hispanic family! The husband said that he wasn't religious anymore because he knew that there was more truth than what he was raised in and that the truth was more important than following a culture. He said it never made sense to him that God reached out to His children in the Middle East, but not in the ancient Americas. He said that he knew God loved all of His children, including his ancestors that lived on the American continents thousands of years ago. When we taught him about the Book of Mormon and bore testimony of it he said that it just made sense. He knew that he had to read it and come to church and he said that because we were so sincere and passionate about what we shared he could tell that he needed to know for himself that this is true. It was an awesome experience and the Spirit was so strong!

On Saturday, two days after exchanges, we taught J (from Brazil) again! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and when we asked her to pray to know if the Plan of Salvation is true she said that she would not...a few moments passed by and inside of my mind I was like..."Whaaaattttt?! But why?!!" and then she explained. She said, "Why would I pray when I already know that it's true?" She then went on to explain how she is a "sensitive person". She said that ever since she was little she has gotten feelings that help her know if things are good/true or if something is bad. She said that every time she meets with us she has only good feelings and she said that she knew it was not a coincidence that we had found her. She knew it was God that led us to her. It was awesome!! 

Dad, I love the thoughts that you shared with me from the fireside; such awesome visuals!! I always love the thoughts you share - on life, the gospel, and you name it - they mean so much to me!! :) 

Thank y'all for making my heart, "soar like an eagle" by being my Mom and Dad. I love y'all sooo much. :) So long ~ until next week. :)

I love y'all soooooooo much-oooooooooo!!!!!! Remember that y'all are always in my prayers.

Lots of Love (from your favorite Sister Missionary), 

Sister Megan Rice

Me & Sister B :)

October 19, 2015 - John's Creek

This week we've had a lot of really cool tender mercies and miracles. One of my favorite experiences occurred with a young girl about 8/9 years old. We were out and about in an apartment complex following up with potentials when this girl on her bike rode up to us. She started asking us all about who we are and etc. We talked about our purpose as missionaries and had a really good discussion about prophets. Then we stared talking about prayer and she stopped us and said, "Can you pray for my mom?" She then continued to express her love and concern for her mom and then proceeded to give us her Mom's phone number! We were both a bit surprised, to say the least. Haha. A couple days later, and I'll admit a little hesitant, we called her mom. To our surprise the call ended up going really well! She opened up to us a lot and said that we could come over and teach her whole family! Talk about a miracle!
This past Saturday was the Ward Halloween Party and while there I got to know one of the elderly men in our Ward pretty well. He really opened up and I'm here to say that his story is incredible. He has been less-active for over 50 years and just recently came back. I asked him, "What brought you back?" He said, "For over 50 years my home teachers and my wife's visiting teachers never stopped coming. When my wife passed away a year and a half ago they were the ones who helped. They were there for me and even provided the chapel for her funeral. I had never stepped into the chapel before then." Just recently he has gone to the Temple for his endowment and was sealed to his wife. When he shared his story with me it reminded me of a time on my mission when a less-active member we had tried for so long finally let us in. I will never forget when she turned to my companion and I, gave us both a big hug and then said, "Thank you for not giving up on me." I am so grateful for a loving and living Heavenly Father and Savior who never give up on me, no matter how close or far away I wander from the safety of His fold and I know that that is not unique to me. I know He lives. He understands. Perfectly. 
I love y'all sooooooooo much-oooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Remember that y'all are always in my prayers and that I pray y'all have a blessed week!
Lots of love (from your favorite Sister Missionary),
Sister Megan Rice

Southern Country Scene 

Tee Hee :)

Sister B & me!

October 13, 2015 - John's Creek

This week has felt like it has gone by in a blur! We did a lot of service this week and one of my favorite experiences was helping an incredible family who's been through a lot. They are not members of our Church. They heard about the missionaries from an LDS friend. About 2 years ago their new house flooded and destroyed everything and I mean everything. Right now their house is pretty much an empty shell. We've been able to help them clean and we just barely started painting! I have to admit that it reminds me a lot about the good ol' days when we would work on our home. :) This experience has been a testament to me that our experiences prepare us for the future and if we choose they can bless the lives of others. Besides that we've been staying busy visiting less-actives, former investigators, and etc. This morning we got back in with V again! (She was a former investigator). We had a member with us and it went super well. I was surprised to find that V remembered a lot of what we had taught her back in Webb Bridge which was comforting to know, because of the language barrier. 
Recently I've found a lot of comfort and peace in Mosiah 23:21-24, Mosiah 24, and Alma 34:41. We've been asked by our Mission President to study an attribute of Christ everyday for 30 minutes (15 minutes personal study, 15 minutes companion study). I always love studying the attributes of Christ in Preach My Gospel, but recently the attribute of patience stuck out to me a lot. Recently (in the past 5 months) I've had a lot of missionaries express that they don't feel successful because they work so hard and nothing happens and as I've been studying it really hit me; sometimes “the heavenly virtue of patience is required.” (President Monson). In Alma 26: 28-31 we learn that these ancient missionaries did a lot of the things that we do today. They, " traveled from house to house...and...entered into their houses and taught them...and...taught them in their streets...and...upon their hills." They were cast out, mocked, and so much more and yet they never gave up because they loved God, His children, and trusted in the promises He had made. 
"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and [the promise] bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." (Alma 26:27) A scripture that has great significance to me states this, "And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out...lest ye become sinners like unto them; But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." (Alma 34:40-41). 
This is another one of His many promises to us. I know He lives. This is His work and I thank Him everyday for giving me this opportunity to be apart of it in such a personal way. I know that life is full of many challenges and difficulties, but if we patiently hold to the promises and covenants that have been made by actively following Him (taking the sacrament, having scripture study, prayer, temple attendance, loving, and serving each step of the way), trusting Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we can look towards the future with optimism and a brightness of hope. With faith in Christ, hope in His promises, and love towards God and His children nothing can stop us from reaching the full potential that our Father in Heaven sees in each of us.
I love y'all sooooooooo much-oooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Remember that y'all are always in my prayers, everyday. I pray y'all have a blessed week.
Lots of love (from your favorite Sister Missionary),
Sister Megan Rice

October 5, 2015 - John's Creek

This transfer is going to be great! My companion is awesome and a delight to be around. :) John's Creek will probably be my last area, and I'll most likely have one more companion, but then again you never know what can happen. Webb Bridge and John's Creek are right next door to each other so I literally "hopped the fence" this transfer and it's great! This area has a really good feeling and I know that everything is going to work out and be ok. :) I just pray my next companion will be just as awesome! Do y'all remember the less-active family that I was kind of bold with and because of that they came to Church? Well... I moved to John's Creek on Wednesday morning and they followed me on Thursday! Hah! I don't know their new address...yet....but we plan on visiting them when we do have their new address. Another cool thing about this area is that the Stake President, President Ernst, (who is in our Ward here) grew up in Yorba Linda, worked at Disneyland, and graduated from Esperanza High School! His Sister is also a "semi" less active that I worked with from my first area, Lilburn, and is now currently living here!! So it feels like I have a piece of my first area and that is a tender mercy indeed....so many tender mercies from Heavenly Father!
Every 6 months General Conference feels like Christmas! I love it so much and am so grateful for the words that were shared on those days. We had a couple of cool miracles leading up to General Conference. So the first full day I was here we were tracting because the majority of our lessons fell through, which is totally fine, and the third door we knocked on this nice lady opened her door and let us in! Just.Like.That. :) After chatting a little we started teaching her the Restoration and towards the end her cousin walks in and sits in on our lesson. The Spirit was so strong! When it was over we learned that when these two cousins were younger that missionaries would often stop by their house and pray with them. S, the first lady we met said that she had always been searching for truth and her cousin, Shauna, said that she was so glad that she came when she did because she needed to have that "good feeling" in her life. It was awesome!
The other miracle has to do with a lady I taught in Webb Bridge. She speaks Russian and we almost had her on a specific date to be baptized in Webb Bridge when she moved to John's Creek...well....now I'm in John's Creek. :) haha so Sunday morning we stopped by V's apartment because the Sisters had been having a hard time getting back in with her. When we knocked on the door V opened up and with a big smile let us in! We communicated a little bit and then we remembered that music and the spoken word would be starting soon so we put LDS.org on her computer and watched music and the spoken word with her in Russian. Several times she expressed how much she loved it! Right before General Conference started we invited her to continue to watch General Conference and then we left praying in our hearts that she would take up our invitation. Later that evening, during the Sunday evening session V texted us asking what the name of the website was again because her daughter had accidentally closed out LDS.org. She said that she wanted to watch the second session! The awesome part is that not only did she contact us because she wanted to watch it, but we hadn't told her about the different sessions in General Conference because we were rushed....which means that she watched the full morning session on Sunday and must have heard them talk about he next session! It was awesome!!
I loved what Elder Renlund said in General Conference, "It's not about you. It's about the Lord, His work, and the love He has for His children." This is His work. I'm just an instrument in His hands and I pray that I may continue to be for as long as I live. I know He lives and I know He loves everyone.
I pray that y'all have a blessed week!! Y'all are always in my prayers and remember that I love y'all soooooooooo much-oooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
Lots of love (from your favorite Sister Missionary),
Sister Megan Rice

 One of my favorite families from the Webb Bridge Ward; the Perry Family :)

New companion!

Being silly!

September 28, 2015 - Last of Web Bridge

Y'alls email just brightened up this rainy week. Every week I look forward to reading what y'all write me.  I haven't been very good, as of late, about my intake of sugar I will try to do better next transfer. Speaking of transfers...

Today we're running around crazy! I found out that I'm being transferred to John's Creek Wednesday morning and I actually went on exchanges with my new companion, her name is Sister B and she is from Utah. This week we had a lot of miracles one such miracle happened last Monday. We met an Indian man a little while ago and taught him for the first and last time last Monday night. His name is E and he will be returning to India for good next month. We had an incredible lesson with him. He wanted to know the truth so badly. I wish y'all could've seen the look on his face when we told him that there is a living Prophet on the Earth today. He was shocked and super excited all at the same time haha. :) By the end of our lesson he wanted a set of scriptures soo badly. When we told him that he could have a copy of the Book of Mormon for free he was shocked yet again haha. :) He said that he couldn't accept it free, but that he would have to pay for it so after a long discussion we all finally came up with the agreement that he would keep the Book of Mormon we would give him until he could order a full quad and receive it in the mail and then he would return the loaned Book of Mormon to local missionaries wherever he was. Haha talk about a dream come true. Anyway he said that when he finishes reading he Book of Mormon and prays about it then he will let us know. It was such an incredible experience and I feel blessed to be apart of it.

Remember that y'all are always in my prayers. I love y'all soooooo much-oooooooooo!!!!!!
Lots of love (from your favorite Sister Missionary),
Sister Megan Rice