The End of an Era

My last weekly!! *wipes tear*

This week was the best, it included:

-helping a family move

-Saying bye to a lot of members

-lots of Food

-meeting a wonderful lady named Laura from Alaska who has gone through a lot but wants to make some life changes and know how God can help her!! It was so special

-leading the music at church on Sunday ofc

-a COVID scare when we thought we were gonna have to spend our last week in quarantine because some missionaries tested positive. But then we were cleared because we haven't seen them in weeks so we could go out. We were so relieved. I was not about to spend my last week on the mission in quarantine 

-churrasco with our ward mission leader. Eu amo comida brasileira

-SNOW!?!?!!?!? What??? In October!?!?!? 

-last splits with Sisters Davidson and Krumperman who I love, including Rancheritos

And finally, a super cute despedida (farewell) dinner prepared by the legendary Irmã Andrea who goes all out. It was the sweetest and I felt so special. 

I've loved my time here and I'm so grateful the Lord gave me the chance to come back out. The best part about serving in Salt Lake is I'll get to see and visit these people all the time! I love them so much. The mission is a special time. I've learned so much, but mostly how grateful I am for all the Lord has done for me. Ammon says it well: 

Alma 26: 16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

See you guys soon!!! 

Até breve! Tchau!!

-Sister Dobbs

 

Penúltima Semana!! Second to last week!

 Olá galera!!! Amigos e família tudo BEM!?!?

Guys, this week was absolutely surreal. Every day people asked and every day I had to tell them I'm going home. It's kinda sad but I know everything has it's time. I've loved my mission, though it's been the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm so grateful for the people I've met and the lessons I've learned. I really have come to know my Savior more. 

Life is not easy. And it wasn't meant to be. Often I wish we didn't have to endure heartache or tragedy or suffer. But, without those experiences, we would never come to "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," as Elder Holland said in his amazing talk in Conference about waiting on the Lord. I think of the promise in the Beatitiudes in 3 Nephi 12, "blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We can't forget that key phrase. We must come unto Christ in these trying times to really experience the power of His Atonement and so He can heal us. And I know He can. 

I love you all!! I will see you soon!!

Sister Dobbs

Pastels at a Brazilian food truck!!

Carving pumpkins!

Went to the temple to shoot a video!!! #asaltlakemissionary #lookattheconstruction

Pday lunch at the Habit!!

It's OCTOBER!! Which means Fall colors, spooky season, General Conference and GOING HOME! It's sad, there are so many things I'm going to miss. But, it's also exciting. I really really want to make every day count. 

The mission is the best. It's pushed me to be better. I still have so many things I need to work on, but one thing I have learned is that God is happy with our progress, no matter how slow. He is infinitely patient with us. We might mess up 1,000 times before succeeding, but that's okay. The success is in the trying, not in the result. I know that the Lord accepts my meager offering because it really was all I had. 

This week was so fun. I love Sister Riches and am gonna miss her. We are always laughing. 

Miracles of the week:

- We visited a mother and her daughter who are in the ward and she was so glad we stopped by. She had had a wrist surgery and was having a hard time. She knew that the Lord was aware of her because He sent us. 

-We visited another couple who we had been doing English classes with and then they got super busy. It had been about 2 months since we talked to them so we wanted to see how they were doing. Liliane shared with us that her dad had passed away. We had the chance to sympathize with her and bear testimony that even if no mortal person understands, our Savior does. We were able to begin teaching them and it was a miracle!!

-Our friends Claudia and Edivaldo watched the Sunday Morning session of conference and LOVED IT!! They felt the Spirit and really enjoyed it. Claudia said she loved the talk about guardian angels. They're amazing. 

Talk about a historical conference for Brazil!?!? This year the Sunday morning session was streamed on a TV channel in Brazil! And ANOTHER temple was announced in São Paulo!!!! Guys, I don't know of another city (other than Provo) that has TWO temples! Brazil is the best and the church is growing so quickly there!!

This week we made a FIRE video for conference. It was some pretty professional editing. Go check out Facebook.  

We watched conference on our legendary pull out couch so it was amazing. We got Crumbl cookies and Sister Riches made cinnamon rolls so I had enough sugar for a month. Conference was incredible. I have such a testimony that these men and women are Christ's representatives and spokesmen (spokespeople?). We are preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Savior and they encouraged us to be courageous, faithful (not fearful!), prepared (emotionally and temporally), more Christlike, more unified and more pure. We can do it!! Vamos!

Abraços e beijos de Sister Dobbs!!

A miracle- filled week!

 Helloooooo!!!

Alright, this week was my *LAST* zone conference. Weird!! It was super special because it was all about the Book of Mormon which was the same theme of my first zone conference, way back in Gravataí. #tendermercies The Book of Mormon is the ferramenta da colheita (the tool of the Gathering of Israel) and has such a power. It is an inspired book and is how we are spiritually nourished day after day. 

Then, on Thursday, we had interviews with President Terry (President Prier's counselor) and he is the sweetest. We got lunch at Firehouse sub. 

On Saturday we helped a part-member family move. (See pic below)

Sunday was awesome because Claudia, Edivaldo, and their two kids AND Odilon, another man we began teaching this week came to church! They're amazing!!! I was so happy!! They're super good friends with families in our ward already (all the Brazilians know each other). One irmão gave them a tour of the chapel after and explained about primary, youth programs, relief society, and elders quorum. In the picture below, peep the Book of Mormon that Claudia brought to church. So cute.

I have such a love for this gospel and sharing it with others brings me such great joy.

I love Sister Riches. My companions and others I've met have been the biggest blessing of reassignment. I really am grateful for how well it all turned out.

God is good.

I will see you all in 4 weeks!! Beijos!! Have a great conference weekend!!!

Sister Dobbs

Hello!!!

This week I entered my ~last transfer~ which is crazy. Ainda não caiu a ficha. It doesn't seem real to me. I just want to make every last moment count. 

I'm staying in Portuguese with Sister Riches!! I'm super happy. I'll have served Portuguese-speaking my whole mission. But, there were a lot of changes this transfer. 2 new zones were created and now there are 11!! Guys, there are so many missionaries. Over 300. Our mission is HUGE.

Kinda sad that the zone got split, but now we have an all-Portuguese district so we do district council in Portuguese. Kinda fun. 

The Neves family we were teaching all got COVID so Ágata did not get baptized yesterday, unfortunately. Once they're better, we can teach them and hopefully invite the whole family to baptism. But this was kind of a RIP.

But, we were so blessed this week with a miracle. We got a referral from a member in our ward last week, contacted him and set something up for Sunday (yesterday). We could already tell this guy was golden because on Saturday HE sent US a message to confirm the lesson (guys, this never happens!) It was such a powerful lesson and the Spirit was present. I know they felt it. We taught the Restoration and both really identified with Joseph and his search for the truth. We shared a video about the first vision and after Edivaldo said that it made sense, the Lord said to wait until the true church came along. Right then, we could testify that we don't need to wait anymore. Christ's church has been restored and this is it! It was a really powerful moment. I know the Spirit guided every moment in the lesson, from the planning, which member to invite, and everything that was said. I'm so grateful to share these truths with others. It's all so awesome!!

We are having a blast here in Millcreek and I'm just grateful for every day I have to be alive and serve the Lord.

Love you!!!!

-Sister Dobbs

 Helloooooo!!!

We are living our best lives here in the USLCM!! Since I didn't write an email last week, I have a lot to catch up on. I feel like our weeks fly by. We keep pretty busy. Two weeks ago for pday (on the 24th) we went to Fashion Place Mall with the sisters as and got lunch + new dresses. Then, last week we got lunch and ate at Wheeler Farm which was super cute. 

We had some really good lessons over the last 2 weeks. We had a lesson with Ágata last Sunday and it was incredible. We felt inspired to teach the plan of salvation and it was seriously one of the most powerful lessons of my whole mission. She had gone to Catholic school so she knew a good amount already, but so many things we taught filled the gaps in her understanding. When she learned that the Fall was actually a good thing and was necessary, she loved that new perspective. But, then there was a moment when she asked what happens if someone dies before they got a chance to repent sincerely. (Guys, she's 18 and asks these kind of questions. Amazing!!) She began to cry and said she was scared someone in her family wouldn't have the chance to repent and wouldn't be with her after death. We got to explain about the Spirit world and how everyone will get a chance to hear the gospel and repent and she LOVED that. She's preparing for baptism in a couple weeks and she's so excited. 

Her mom, Karina, is a cutie too. We gave her a little sticky tab to mark the chapter in the Book of Mormon for her to read. Then, she went out and bought some for herself to mark her favorite chapters. So precious. 

We're teaching her 14 year old brother, Gabriel, too. We gave him his own Book of Mormon and I marked Alma 17 (when Ammon cuts off all the arms) for him. He'll love it.

Rodrigo got his answer that the Book of Mormon and the church are true. 

I go on splits about twice a week with the girlies, but it's only from 6-9pm. It's still fun. Whenever the sisters in the English area come to our area and we have lessons in Portuguese, it's definitely an experience. Another funny thing about serving in Utah is there are so many missionaries and our areas overlap and we see other missionaries ALL THE TIME. In any specific area, there's English missionaries, Spanish, us-- Portuguese, plus all the other language programs: Thai, Laotian, Chinese, Japanese, Karen, Swahili, South Sudanese (Arabic) and more. There's so many. There's one set of elders who are always in the same apt complexes as us. But they're cool and send us referrals all the time. 

This week I also had MLC and Multi district council, which were both super fun. We did service at the Granite Education Foundation again putting together school kits. We had a ward activity last Saturday morning playing volleyball. The members were teasing us so much and I loved it. 

I started MyPlan this week. It's something for your last transfer to get ready to go home. This feels surreal. 

I really am so grateful because my mission has taught me so much. I've grown so much. I've learned so much about myself. I've grown to know my Savior. I know He loves us so much. I feel so much closer to Him than ever before. I love Him. The mission has taught me how much I would do for Him. I've learned about sacrifice and consecration. I really am so grateful. 

Love you guys!!!!!

-Sister Dobbs

Pday with the Sisters:

Sister Aki from Hawaii, Sister Spencer from Gilbert, AZ, Sister Krumperman from Redmond, WA (who's going to Portugal) and good old Sister Davidson

Sister Almond @ MLC!!!

 Heyyyyyyy!!!!! 

Another amazing week!! And it FLEW by!! I can't believe I have 9 weeks left on my mission. I want to make these the best ever. 

Our mission made a video this week to teach members how they can help with missionary work in the age of Corona and not gonna lie it's fire. We're kinda the stars. I'll probs post to FB soon or send to y'all. 

We had church this week (it's every other week) and all the missionaries gave talks. Because we go to all 3 sessions, at 9am, 10:30 and 12pm, we're in the chapel for like 4 hours. Also, there aren't too many people in the 1st session so I have been called on to lead the music every time without fail. Which, is usually fine, leading isn't hard. But one time it was this random song that I had never heard before (I'm pretty sure it's just in Portuguese) so I had no idea how to lead or sing it. So that was a train wreck. But it's okay. Fazer o que. Good times.

We had Zone Conference this week which was just amazing and super spiritual. 

We wanted to bike for our morning exercise so we borrowed the elders bikes. It was such a meme. 

I got to go on splits with Sisters Krumperman and Aki!! Probs my fave part of being an STL. I love them so so much. 

I love you all!! 

-Sister Dobbs

Pics from our hike last week to Lake Blanch