Calling Letter

                 THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

                                 OFFICE OF THE FIRST PRESIDENCY

            47 EAST SOUTH TEMPLE STREET, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH  84150-1200

                                                    February 23, 2021

Elder Isaac Herbert Brice
18050 North Sophie Place
Nampa, ID  83687

Dear Elder Brice: 

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints.

You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as aminister of the restoredgospel of Jesus Christ. You will be an official representative of the Church. As such, you will be expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and appearance, keep the commandments, and follow the counsel of your mission president. As you devote your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs, the Lord will bless you with increased knowledge and testimony ofJesus Christ and His restored gospel.

Your purpose wil be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive hte restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As you serve with al your heart, might, mind, and strength, the Lord will lead you to those who will hear His message.

You are assigned to labor ni the South Africa Cape Town Mission and will prepare to preach the gospel ni the English language. Please report to the South Africa Missionary Training Center on Thursday, June 24, 2021, after being set apart by your stake president. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months. Please note that circumstances in the country of your assigned mission may require thatyou begin with a temporary assignment in your home country. You will receive further instruction ifthis becomes necessary.

Our Heavenly Father will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more joy than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in thislabor of love among His children. We place our confidence in you and pray that the Lord will help you become an effective missionary.

Sincerely,

Russell M. Nelson 

President

May 15, 2023 Grahamstown

 Hello from South Africa. It must be a long long time since you have heard from me. From what I understand everything is going well here in South Africa. I've decided not to ride any more donkeys or cows. First of all they are dirty, secondly they kick.... And mother cows are not afraid to chase you with their horns. Yes it's tough here in Africa, sadly the animals roaming the streets are able to prevent unwanted people from riding them. Now i'm just thinking about how I can become wanted... The donkeys did accept my bananas, peal and all. So there is a start.

But being honest I have enjoyed my mission immensely. It will be nice to go home and see my family again. I arrive home in about 12 days which I am super excited for. But enough about me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, mission is a life changing experience. I would recommend it for anyone, not only do you get to go somewhere cool and meet all sorts of amazing people, you also get to learn so much about personal resistance, love, and joy amongst all the challenges and experiences of this work. From a spiritual side, it will deepen your testimony in service and in love. It will prepare you to be a bishop, branch president or any other calling in the church. The love you will develop in your service will allow you to better love everyone, your family included.

Two years is a long time, but these two years will be the BEST two years for your life. I 100% recommend it.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

April 27, 2023

 Dear Brother and Sister Brice, 

We have the pleasure of advising you that Elder Brice will soon return home from the South Africa Cape Town Mission for his formal release.   You are no doubt eagerly looking forward to your son’s return, and although the Church Travel department may have sent you his travel itinerary, we nevertheless attach a copy herewith.  

 

We have loved having Elder Brice serve with us in our South Africa Cape Town Mission; he is an exemplary young man and has served well and faithfully during the last two years.  We wish you and your family the joy of having him with you again.  We are sure you are incredibly proud of this wonderful and honourable young man who has emerged as a valiant servant and soldier in the Lord’s Army. 

 

We have copied his Stake President on this email so he will be prepared to welcome him back into the stake.

 

Thank you for sharing your son with us – he will truly be missed!

 

 

Kind regards,

Sister Karen Barnard

Office Manager

South Africa Cape Town Mission

27 21-447-5530

Cell-27 83-391-2884

February 7, 2022 Grahamstown

 Well I figured something out. Riding the Donkeys is a bad idea. They are highly regulated and very stubborn. If you get a donkey I recommend not keeping it. There is another animal I recommend riding though. It is called an elephant. They have many talents, like a built in snorkeling equipment and a built in garden hose. And also a built in fertilizer producer.... I don't recommend buying one with this equipped though. It produces mountains of this stuff. 

It was amazing to see the elephant snorkel in the mud pit. You could see nothing besides the trunk jutting out of the water. But anyways this week was stellar. We went to an elephant park in which you pay to drive around this game reserve and look for elephants lions hyenas and what not. But it was a great experience. 

Another great thing this week was the opportunity to read and share the Scriptures with people. It was nice when we started them off reading the Word of God each day, you could almost feel the change in them as they read daily. The Book of Mormon and The Bible are the word of God and they change peoples life's. If you want to find happiness in Jesus Christ and recieve peace I truly do recommend reading each one. 10 out of 10 stars. 

Let me know if you want me to get pictures of anything specifically but here's some of this week

January 30, 2023 Grahamstown

 well it's been another great and majestic time in the land of South Africa. Today the city decided to grace us with a little water which was a blessing. It's like when Moses broke open the rock and water gushed out that's how I feel when I hear the water bubbling out of the facet. It keeps us alive. Barely....

Anyways this wonderful little town is full of Donkeys and Cows. They think they own they road, they all walk and stand in the middle of the road in the middle of this town and no matter how much I want to ram them and make them move I am reminded that the car I'm driving is not mine. Which is frustrating, I mean the thing would learn if you hit it (softly preferably). But the scary thing is those things are protected by quite a few guys with guns. Illegal guns which is the scary part. But each day I find myself wishing for the moment where I will get a chance to get revenge on these animals and eat them. Or at least help them get out of the road. 

Another fun story for the week. My companion loves to do everything his way... and so when we were getting keys (to the church) back to the branch president or the leader of the small congregation he wanted to throw them over this electric and barbed wire fence to land them next to his door. And I'm like "no you do everything" so as he came for me to try and take the keys away I threw them. And to make sure I would land it near the door I threw them hard. And guess what...

...they landed near the door. But on the roof. So we had to hop over this fence and while the security company wad coming because of the alarm we tripped off we got next to their roof and got the keys. It was fun. But ya, make sure you throw keys well.

Anyways make sure you trust in the lord. The lord gives us revelation or guidance through his holy ghost and we are all given guidance. But the real question is will we follow it. As we use our agency (or the ability to choose) to choose God we will be blessed and we will become a better nicer person. It's a simple philosophy. Follow God and he will make you better. Revelation from God is one of the best things for us. And I'm so grateful for it. We get revelation not only through the holy ghost but through scriptures too which is awesome. It's also a great reason to read if you have been slacking off. (You know who you are....) and the final way we receive revelation is through the prophet. It's wonderful to me to know that God has given me so many ways to find him. And as I have come to realize this I have found joy. Be happy ladies and gents. Shoot guns and do a lot of swing dancing. We only live this life once. But live it well and follow God

January 23, 2023 Grahamstown

 Well well well. It's been a long time. Also a well is a pretty deep subject. It's funny that I brought up a well too. I'm now in a town called Grahamstown. Or better known at mkanda and this town doesn't have water every other day. And better still we don't have power for about 6 to 9 hours a day. The nights are the worst when the fan stops working and you wake up lying in a pool of sweat when you literally have no blankets on you and just a pair of shorts. And the mosquitoes are Relentless. Not like the ones in Idaho which sit in one spot and soak up your blood till they are full, no these ones are smart barely even sipping in one spot then going to another part and getting more blood. We need to invent a disease to kill all mosquitos... or we could hire a gecko 🦎.  There are a few in our house and they love to eat the mosquitos so I try not to eat the geckos. Sort-of like a you scratch my back ill scratch yours. Good old geckos am I right.

Anyways we also cover the beautiful town of Port Alfred which is a small Port full on amazing views and good hikes and lots of work. We have to drive about a hour there each day when we go. But grahamstown is nice. There is nothing that brings people to this town other than the university. So we are focusing on teaching a bunch of YSAs or young single adults. But we are busy, really busy. We have 13 solid people we believe are going to get baptized and we taught 41 lessons this last week. We have been pushing hard, got to finish with an all out push. But I have loved being here. Its so hard, I wouldn't ever do it again but the changes I've had and the love I've gained for the Savior is amazing.

I can truly testify that if you want to know that Jesus Christ has once again called a prophet to this earth to guide us and to help us in his love then you should read and pray about the book of Mormon. It's the simple message we share.

Tips for south Africa... 

Guys, if you see a police man in south Africa 100 rand will get you out of trouble. I don't bride cops though. But it's a helpful hint.

If you are going near a township lock you doors and whenever you stop even at the red lights be on a look out.

If you ever come across a Gatspy invite me... they are a giant sandwich. Imagine a footlong sub or a little bit longer filled with French fries, meat lettuce onions and who knows what else.

Also no one here can weld to save their lives. You will find security bars over everything and half of them will have their welds rusted away.

Also final thought. When the cows are in the road, lean out of the window, spake them and yell YEEHAW.  It's tons of fun 😂 

Also I shaved my hair off... sorry

October 25, 2022 Mdantsane

 Molweni wonderful people. It's been a long time sense I've sat down and gotten time to write out a email. It's good to finally send one out to all of you. I just hope you are doing as great as I am.

I've officially been out a long time. Around abouts 17 months. Which is weird to thing about, time flies. But it's been fun. Now to start us off, I need to warn you there is a lot I could talk about. So with my skill in writing many things will probably not be mentioned nor explained well. I hope you all can follow along though. 😁

I am serving in Mdantsane still. And am the only white person in the ward and even in the whole town besides the other missionaries. So it's fun, I get lots of looks and some weird experiences. Like I've had random people want me to marry someone. I've had a guy bow down to me and kiss my hand. I've had quite a few compliments. And a few opposite compliments. (what are they called?). So I mean. So if anyone has any recommendations on what to do let me know. I would love some help. I get called a white man where ever I go... So I don't know how I feel about that, I just try to smile and wave.

But work wise. I'm now covering 2 wards, and boy is it busy. I'm running up and down trying to make it to stuff on time. We have a YSA family home evening that we started that meets Tuesdays and Saturdays. We also are teaching at a few schools. And we are planning on teaching at the college too. (I'm flexing right now) just kidding, kind of...

Anyways it's sad with the Xhosa culture (BTW Xhosa the X in it is a click on the side of your mouth. It sounds like a horses gallop almost) the Xhosa culture is almost reverse gospel. We teach no alcohol they teach drinking everyday. We teach worship and pray to God they teach pray to your ancestors. We teach about families and Chastity. They teach - and almost encourage- and have a lot of single young mothers.

So all in all it's pretty interesting. But it's a wonderful fun experience. If anyone wants to come to South Africa after my mission I'll take you. (expessially if you pay) but I Know God Loves you. And he wants you to be happy. So stay awesome and stay loving and stay away from wasting time on social media.

With love, and school kids. Elder Brice (the boss)

I've also realized I am not good at taking pictures. So I'm taking applications for anyone who wants to start taking photos of me.... 

August 9, 2022 Mdantsane

 How is everyone. Sorry I've been slacking on my emails. Here's a quick update, I've moved to a new area. I'm now working till 530 at that point we have to be out of it because it's a little sketchy sometimes. I'll include some pictures of nice to shacks. I tried not to take to many pictures of people to avoid arousing bad feelings. Anyways I love y'all. Stay awesome and live life to the fullest!! 

July 11, 2022 Mdantsane

 Its been a while guys, and I am sorry about that. Its been a bit of a hassle trying to write my email each week. But each week has been blessings after blessings. I am grateful for everyone. But in regards to writing my emails, I guess I should step up my game. 

   But anyways. Its been a great week this week and the past few weeks. We have been blessed this week with a few people who want to be baptized. We have 3 great friends who want to make that promise with the Lord so we will arrange that. But on my side not much have been happening besides missionary work and a bit of running. The stake YSA activity happened at our chapel this week and they ate all of our food. It turned out they failed to estimate how much food some of the guys can eat and a bunch of people where left without food. So we gave up our last apples, oranges, bread, and peanut butter to better to world and the YSA's activity. So that was fun, and we learned how to avoid divorce in that YSA (something I'm total planning on happening). It was tons of fun. I enjoyed every little bit of information. They were asking when we planned on getting married and I was throwing my hand up with the 6 month people (it was a competition don't judge lol)

Anyways...

We had a wonderful experience eating a peice of chicken between two donuts. It was totally healthy and filling and not full of sugar. But I was good. 10 out of 10 recommend.

But all in all thats it for me. Let me know if you have any great questions that I can try to answer, but no promises because I am a mad genius but sadly I dont know everything. I love you all!!! Stay awesome

Also I totally didn't burn a extra shirt we found for a year mark tradition