Update on Elder Rice

I have been really bad at updating Elder Rice's blog. No real excuse, just haven't done it. That will change because he is writing letters that I can put right on his blog, so he will be updating it, kind of.

Elder Rice stayed in Moreno Valley, or Moville, until March 29, 2010. He said that the work was great there and had several slated to be baptized when he left. He loved the area--gangs, drug deals, etc. included. He said that it was understood that you left the gangs alone and they would leave you alone, but that they would "protect" you if you needed it. He met lots of great members of the ward there, and truly loved working in Moreno Valley.

During the time he was in Moreno Valley, Elder Rice got really sick. He lost 60 pounds in 4 months and was not feeling well at all. To make a long story short, on March 28th, his Mission President told him he was going home to figure out what was wrong. Elder Rice asked if he had a say in the decision because he did not want to go home, and President Reeves said "No, you don't." So, needless to say Elder Rice came home on March 29th, 2010. We did not even recognize him at the airport, except he was wearing his name tag. He looked awful! We took him to the doctor the next day, and found out that he had developed Type 1 Diabetes--yes, insulin dependent! He had gotten a virus in the MTC (probably the swine flu, but was not diagnosed. Just "got through" it as he said), which triggered Type 1 Diabetes. Anyway, without going into all of the details, he has to take insulin at least 4 times a day by giving himself shots for the rest of his life, and he was really sick. The doctors were kind of surprised that he was even able to function and not in the hospital. The good news is that the Lord was protecting him while he was out, until he got smart as Elder Rice said looking back at it, and continues to protect him in his recovery. He was able to get his blood sugar regulated very quickly, and the GREAT news is that he is back out on his mission!!! He was home just shy of 4 weeks, which surprised us all that he was able to do it that quick. He is now serving in Riverside, Ca., in the same Ward as his Mission President. He really loves being back! So, we had to send him out twice--there was something we had to learn better the second time. We didn't cry when he left again because he was so excited to get back. He kept checking his watch at the airport as we sat outside of security waiting for his flight. Finally, we told him to just go! He told us later that he was actually on the same flight from Salt Lake to Ontario as Elder M. Russell Ballard and he got to say "Hi". He thought that was pretty cool. He had a mission wide conference on the Saturday he got back and Elder Ballard spoke at the conference.

Anyway, I won't go back and update everything from before he came home, we will just go forward and see how we do!