Week 1 in Georgia - Lilburn

Dearest Mom and Dad, 

Thank you for sharing those wonderful insights behind Proverbs 3:5-6. I love what it has meant to our family and President Monson. That scripture has an even greater meaning to me now. Could you send me a picture of the plaque that hangs on Grandma's wall when you go to Oregon with that scripture from my great-great-grandmother? I would like that very much!! I love that you're able to go to Oregon so soon!! I hope you have a lot of fun with family, please send a picture of everyone (including Rosie) and let them know how much I love them! Also my P-Day is on Mondays and now that I'm in-field I have more time to email so expect to get an email either in the morning; 9am GA time (7am UT time)or the evening; 2/3pm GA time (12/1pm UT time). Hopefully we'll be able to start a conversation up! It would be like we're instant messaging but through emails haha. Anyway I'm so glad that I'm able to catch you before you go to Oregon! 

And just remember I LOVE getting letters (here are a few thoughts of what you can write if you can't think of anything: a meaningful message, a scripture you read and thoughts on it, inspiring quotes, etc.) and pictures so keep 'em comin'!! :)

Ok. So onto the questions! My first area that I will be serving in for at least 4 months is Lilburn, GA!! So in other words my ward consists of the Mission President, his wife, the office workers, a set of elders, the assistants to the President, and the rest of the ward. We also live super close to the Mission Office so we get special privileges hehe. President Bennion and his wife are absolutely wonderful! They are so sweet and kind! Elder and Sister Residori and Elder and Sister Jessen are the office workers and I absolutely love them! We get to see them almost everyday because we go to the office for all of our mail and packages. They take such good care of us! Which reminds me...my companion and I pick up all mail and packages at the office even though we have a mail slot at our apartment just because our mail and packages are safer that way, but as soon as I'm transferred to a different area (which could be anywhere from 4-6 months) all mail and packages need to be sent to the apartment address I'll send you because the office can't forward mail anymore. So (shout out to mom <3) feel free to send any and all packages in your possession as soon as you'd like. 

My companion/trainer is AWESOME! We're both really similar in our personalities and interests. Her name is Sister Bone. She's really understanding and is a great teacher, I like her a lot. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the apartment so I'll send you pictures of us next Monday. [In the MTC] I learned and re-learned a lot of really good lessons like how to roll with the punches, how to validate, how to step back and let someone learn important lessons for themselves, never giving up, looking at the positive, and most importantly loving someone with all of their faults.  In the end I'm glad for the experience.

Since my first area is in Lilburn, we never use our bikes just the car which is actually ok with me haha because I know that I'll be able to use my bike a lot when I'm transferred out of the area. So the first week I've been in Lilburn has been the first week in a long time that the members didn't really sign up for dinners with the missionaries but, the members who have fed us have made some of the most delicious meals!!! None of the meals have been like a traditional southern style meal but they have seriously just been really good. One night we had home made biscuits, fish with sund-dried tomatoes, veggies, and cookies. Last night we had this amazing pasta dish, home made bread sticks (to.die.for.), super good oven baked zucchini, and really good home-made chocolate chip cookies! Oh and Sister Bennion made the missionaries who stayed in their home (including me) this AH-mazing taco salad for dinner and the best breakfast casserole and cinnamon roles I've ever had (and mind you I usually don't like cinnamon roles). Overall I think I'm going to really enjoy the meals with members here very much! By the way the ward members I've gotten to know so far are super friendly! I love them!

The weather here has been kinda crazy; I love it! The first few days in Lilburn the humidity was really low, which was great but then we started getting these CRAZY rain/wind/thunder/lightning storms in the evening/night since Wednesday and ever since then the days have been super humid and you know what?! The Lord is really blessing me because I feel like if I weren't on a mission I would not be enjoying the humidity or tracting because you're literally soaked in sweat and the people who's home we tract seriously ask us if we want to come in and have water because we look hot, and mind you this is after they've rejected our message haha. We've had some really funny experiences with people here, because some people are so polite! For example the other day we came up to this door and this man answers with a phone in his hand and says, "Oh no no no....", starts to close the door then opens it again and says with the phone still up to his ear, "Ya'll are beautiful and I appreciate what'cha do but I'm on the phone with my brother long distance and can't hang up but ya'll are so beautiful" as he's closing the door, "Love you, love you, love you". Hahaha ok so it might not seem funny but my companion and I were cracking up! 

To answer your question I absolutely love being a missionary. I feel like I've been waiting for this for a long time. The MTC and in-field-work are so different. I'm not gonna lie the MTC was a real struggle for me in many different ways and part of the struggle was thinking that I was the cause for my struggles, but my Branch President helped me come to the realization that it wasn't me and that I was ready to go serve in-the-field. That's not to say that I didn't learn a lot of really important things at the MTC and had some wonderful experiences, but I was just ready to go and serve. I really really love being a missionary. There are ups and downs that come along with this work but that's just how life is. The point that we need to remember is that no matter what life or missionary work throws at us we will never be alone. Our Savior will always be there with us. 

I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I along with several others have been called to serve as representatives of Jesus Christ Himself. This work is important, it is the Lord's work. He is and has been preparing His children to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that as a representative of Jesus Christ it is my duty and my privilege to find them and to teach them with power and authority that I have been set apart to have. This calling is sacred and is a once in a lifetime opportunity and blessing. All of it, the ups and downs, are worth it. I love you, all of you. You are always in my prayers, every day. So long for now, till next Monday I hope you have a wonderful week!

Lots of love from your missionary,

Sister Rice

P.S. Congratulations Emily and Matt!! I'm so excited for what waits ahead for the both of you.

Sister Rice with President and Sister Bennions

Mission Farewell: "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator" 7/20/14

The message to the entire world from the Christian leaders in the beginning of 1820 was that the Heaven’s were closed, that God no longer speaks to man, and that everything necessary for salvation in the Kingdom of God was recorded in the Bible. But in the spring of 1820 all that changed. The young boy prophet Joseph Smith could declare to the world not with an eye of faith but with certain knowledge that the Heaven’s were open again. That God speaks to man with a message of great peace, happiness, joy, and salvation.

“Throughout history, God has chosen prophets, such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others, to teach the gospel and direct His Church (Amos 3:7). It is no different today. But that leads to these questions.” (Mormon.org FAQ) Why do we need a prophet and what are their roles in our lives?

The first answer comes from the very familiar analogy of the watchman on the tower. In ancient Israel the Lord of the Vineyard would protect his precious fruit against raiders by commanding that hedges and walls be built round about His vineyard and that a watchman be set upon a tower to sound the voice of warning while the enemy was yet afar off. The elevated view of the watchman allowed him to see what others couldn’t and protect the vineyard from the onslaught of danger. The Lord of the vineyard is Jesus Christ and the watchman on the tower is the prophet. I find it interesting that the warnings given by the watchman on the tower were given when the enemy was far away. The watchman gave plenty of opportunity to prepare, just like the prophet who may warn of danger that is yet to come in the future and gives us the time we need to prepare if we head his warning.

“We all need God’s guidance and warnings in a world that is sometimes confusing. Because God loves His children, He continues to send living prophets. Joseph Smith was the first prophet of our time. Thomas S. Monson is God’s chosen prophet today. Just as God led the Israelites out of slavery and to a better place through His prophet Moses, He leads His children today into happier, more peaceful lives when they choose to follow His living prophet.” (Mormon.org FAQ)

President Eyering said, “There seems to be no end to the Savior’s desire to lead us to safety and there is constancy in the way He shows us the path. He calls by more than one means so that there will be more willing to accept it and those means always include sending the message by the mouths of His prophets whenever people have qualified to have a prophet among them. Those authorized servants are always charged with warning the people; telling them the way of safety.”

The second answer is found in Mosiah 3:13,“And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them”

The fundamental responsibility of a prophet is to bear testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ to all the world. A Prophet serves under the direction of the living Christ; He is the cornerstone of our religion and through Him the way to our salvation. It would only make sense that a Prophet of God would testify of Him. “This basic call to be a special witness of His name has remained constant whenever…[Prophets]…have been on the earth. This testimony, borne of the Holy Ghost through revelation, was the heart of the New Testament Church and is the heart of the Church today.” (Dennis B. Neuenschwander, October 2000 Living Prophets, Seers, and Revelators)

            The third answer is similar to first in that they both go hand in hand. In the October 2004 General Conference Jeffrey R. Holland gave this wonderful explanation of the Prophet’s role he said, “Among other reasons, so ‘that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.’…Thus the…prophetic foundation of the Church was to bless in all times, but especially in times of adversity or danger, times when we might feel like children, confused or disoriented, perhaps a little fearful, times in which the devious hand of men or the maliciousness of the devil would attempt to unsettle or mislead. Against such times as come in our modern day, the First Presidency and Quorum of the twelve are commissioned by God and sustained by [us] as prophets, seers, and revelators, with the President of the Church sustained as the prophet, seer, and revelator, the senior Apostle, and as such the only man authorized to exercise all of the revelatory and administrative keys for the Church. In New Testament times, in Book of Mormon times, and in modern times these officers form the foundation stones of the true Church, positioned around and gaining their strength from the chief cornerstone, ‘the rock of our Redeemer, who is [Jesus] Christ, the Son of God.’ He who is the great ‘Apostle and High Priest of our profession’… Such a foundation in Christ was and is always to be a protection in days “when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you.” In such days as we are now in – and will more or less always be in – the storms of life “shall have no power over you…because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

The fourth and final answer is one that is very important in our religion, if not one of the very foundations.  “Elder John Taylor, a young English immigrant to this country, was called to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, a prophet, a seer, a revelator. In that calling Elder Taylor once said in sympathy with honest seekers of truth: “Whoever heard of true religion without communication with God? To me the thing is the most absurd that the human mind could conceive of… I do not wonder that so many men treat religion with contempt, and regard it as something not worth the attention of intelligent beings, for without revelation religion is a mockery and a farce…The principle of present revelation…is the very foundation of our religion.”

Jeffrey R. Holland said, “ The principle of present revelation? The very foundation of our religion? Let me return from those foundations to the present, the here and now… For one and all…the issue is still the same. Are the heavens open? Does God reveal His will to prophets and apostles as in days of old? That they are and that He does is the unflinching declaration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to all the world. And in that declaration lies the significance of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, for nearly 200 years now.”

At one point in my life my family and I lived in an area in California that was a little scary. For a year while our home was being built in Orem, we lived in an apartment complex with little backyards connected to one another. The only thing that separated one backyard from the next was a wooden fence. This fence ran between our backyards and a parking lot on the other side. One night my family was away and I was alone. As I was cleaning up a little and getting ready for bed I remembered I had left something outside in the yard that I needed to retrieve. Before I could go outside I remember getting the very distinct and strong impression that I should not go outside. At first I thought I was just getting scared and overreacting because I was alone, it was dark outside, and we lived in a scary place, but then the prompting came again strong and clear so I decided I to head the warning. That night when my dad got home I learned that an angry drunkard was hanging out in the parking lot and that eventually the police came to pick him up.

The reason I bring up this story is because the Holy Ghost and the Prophet are very similar. Though in this moment in my life I received this prompting from the Holy Ghost it can be compared to the times we are heeded by the Prophet. If we listen to the Prophet and act upon his words I know that we will be protected and blessed just as I was protected and just as the people below the watchman on the tower were protected.

           I love the Prophet. He testifies of Christ, guides in times of turmoil, warns of dangers ahead, watches over, protects, and is a mouthpiece of the Lord. The message that I will take to the people in Georgia is that the heavens are opened; that God speaks to man again through His chosen prophet; that the full power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ can once again be activated in the lives of all people through Priesthood authority, ordinances, and the making and keeping of sacred covenants; that these greatest of all blessings and privileges are once again available to all mankind. In these final times of the world’s history, the great ‘Plan of Happiness’ that gives hope, understanding, reveals hidden pearls of truth and extends unlimited possibilities to individuals and families, will never again be taken from the Earth. As Elder Holland observed, “Later, the incomparable Ralph Waldo Emerson rocked the very foundations of New England ecclesiastical orthodoxy when he said to the Divinity School at Harvard: “It is my duty to say to you that the need was never greater [for] new revelation than now.” “The doctrine of inspiration is lost…Miracles, prophecy…the holy life, exist as ancient history [only]…Men have come to speak of…revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead…It is the office of a true teacher,” he warned, “to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.” In essence, Mr. Emerson was saying, “If you persist in handing out stones when people ask for break, they will eventually stop coming to the bakery.” I know that God is our Father in Heaven and that His Son Jesus Christ, our Savior, lives. They love you and me. This along with other knowledge has brought much peace and happiness to my life. This message is one of joy, peace, and happiness and I can’t wait to share it with the people of Georgia. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.