December 21, 2015 - John's Creek

Soooo this week....I was bit by a dog lol...... When you come to Georgia, you discover that everyone and I mean everyone has a dog haha. Well, as Sister Missionaries you hear about stories where some poor Sister was bit by a dog and I'll admit I went through my mission thinking that maybe...just maybe I was going to make it without a scratch well that dream ended this week hahaha. We were on our way to a member's house and she warned us that their little shih-tzu likes to bite and about how they're worried about other people being around their dogs....well I just supposed that this dogs "biting" was similar to Brownie's nipping....so when we arrived in their home the dogs came over to us and I put my hand down for the dogs to smell me and the next thing I knew the little shih-tzu lunged for my hand which I took back immediately and then it proceeded to literally bite my foot ridiculously hard! Thank goodness we were doing service and I was wearing my tennis shoes because it wasn't able to break skin, but it sure did bruise me up - I've never realized how hard a small dog could bite.....especially since it was Brownie's size!! Haha it's definitely an experience to remember!
We've been doing a lot of living Christmas cards this past week, where we sing (my companion and I chose to sing harmony for "Away in a Manger"), share Luke 2 (the Savior's birth), and leave a prayer with specific blessings in it. Well....we've received a lot of referrals from this which is really good until the referrals didn't go so well hahah. So we did the living Christmas card for a member which then gave us three referrals in their neighborhood! We were super excited! 
The first door we knocked on the Dad answered the door and wanted us to sing for his whole family, which was great, until we finished our song and they quickly rushed back into their house so that they wouldn't have to listen to our message anymore haha....strike one.  The second door we knocked on a lady opened the door and her dogs came barking and rushing outside, which is nothing new for us, but she was kind of flustered and was also worried about waking up her husband who was getting some sleep before work....oops....so after helping her get the dogs back inside she quickly shut the door....strike two haha. The third door we knocked on they immediately said they weren't interested and then proceeded to shut the door....strike three. Fortunately my companion and I have been out long enough that it didn't affect us too bad, but it was still kind of disappointing for us. 
At this point you may be asking yourself, "Why is Sister Rice sharing something so disappointing with us?" Well....that's because after three strikes we had a pretty epic miracle! And to top it off it was with one of the families that closed the door....can you guess which one?? Hold on to that guess because I'm about to reveal it to you. :) So, that night we got a call from the same member that had given us the referrals. She explained that the husband of the lady with the dogs wanted us to come back and at first we were like, "Oh no. He probably wants us to come back so he can sternly tell us to never come back because we woke him up...", but then the member said that they wanted us to come back because they wanted to hear our message....sayyyy whaaaatttttt?? Haha They even set up a time that we could come back so that they would both be home and available! When we knocked on the door the husband opened the door and shook both of our hands with both hands and then proceeded to place us in front of their Christmas tree and then take our picture with his wife...twice! Haha it all happened so quickly! We were like, "What just happened?" Hahaha. As we sang for them they both got a little tear-y eyed and when we finished they said that we could come back anytime! Score!! It was great!! Also, we found out that the wife's aunt is actually a member! Cool right?!

It just goes to show that miracles are almost always preceded by a trial of faith, after all that's how it's been since the beginning of time down to this day. The greatest miracle of all creation happened over 2,000 years ago with the Savior's birth, life, death, and resurrection and I'm so grateful for this Christmas season which reminds me of the miracle that is our Savior and of the knowledge that miracles happen every day. I love y'all sooooooo much-oooooooo!!!!!! Remember that y'all are alwaysin my prayers!!! 

With the members! 

Merry Christmas!