Sister Mauri Dobbs: You can work hard and have fun while doing it

Hey friends and family!!!

This week was incredible and poderoso! I got a new companion this week. Her name is Sister Santiago and she's from São Paolo. She's been a member for almost two years, and she's been on the mission for 4 months. She's super energetic, super hardworking, and she's a powerhouse. I can barely keep up with her! She's got this crazy laugh and I love her to pieces. This week was WILD and just full of miracles. It was also one of the most fun weeks on my mission so far!

So, to start off, we're teaching a couple named Tibíriça and Leiliane (his name is way uncommon, even here, so if you're wondering how to say it, just know that everyone has trouble with his name). Their story is pretty incredible. We met him one day at a bus stop and talked with him for a bit, left a pass along card, and got his information to visit another day. Pretty normal stuff. We tried visiting his house but the address was wrong, and no one on that street knew anyone with that name so we just left it and didn't think much of it. One month later, we get a referral from São Paolo, Tibíriça, and we knew it was a sign. We went to try and visit him again, with a new address, and we found him! He was so excited to talk to us. Apparently, he had called the number of the church site to request a Book of Mormon, having heard a little bit about the church before. The sisters at the São Paolo Temple Visitors Center talked to him a bit and sent us his address and it was just so cool. We were truly led to him and I can see the Lord's hand in it all. We began teaching them and they're just so special. They had been through a lot in the last two years and were forced to leave their home in Florianopolis, and I know that the timing in all this was not coincidental. It was really neat to be able to testify to them that amid all that they're going through, the Lord has a plan for them and He is with them through it all. They came to church this Sunday with their two little kids and are going to get baptized not this Sunday but the next and I'm so so happy for them! We've been teaching them for two and a half weeks now and they are like our family. I'm so grateful that the Lord lead us to them and that we could introduce them to the gospel. This gospel really changes lives and makes all the difference.

We had this super cool ward activity on Saturday and it was so so fun! We went to this place called Planatlantica and had churrasco and played some futbol and it was so chill and so fun. My comp and I played with all the men in the ward lol, but it was so much fun. I wasn't super good, but I did make a killer assist in one of our 2 goals. We brought Tibiriça and Carlos, another pesquisador (investigator), to the activity and it was such a great opportunity for them to conhecer (get to know) the igreja (church) in a more casual way and they made lots of friends. The members are awesome and so friendly and inclusive. I love our ward so so much! Another miracle of the activity was that a member brought their neighbor, a 14-year-old named David, and we got to talk to him. He said, straight up, "I've been wanting to get baptized but my old church said I was too young" and we were so shocked/happy and said, "hey that's literally what we do as missionaries, help people prepare for baptism!" He went to church yesterday and is gonna get baptized this Sunday! It's so, so cool to see that truly people are prepared to hear the gospel and "only kept from the truth because they don't know where to find it." The work is incredible here in Brasil and it's just awesome to see it progress. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and that we are in the last days, preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Savior. There are so many people who are ready to change their lives and follow Him and we need to find them and baptize them. It's a powerful thing to witness and I´m amazed every day at the miracles I see.

I love you all so so much! Thank you for your prayers and for your support! I'm really happy here and I know my Savior is with me, bearing me up, in every moment of every day.

Ericka, a dog, that followed us for almost two hours one day, and that found us the next day. I think she wants to help this work too

Me very excited to eat this sacole (popsicle). It was way hot one day and we saw a sign saying they sold sacoles so you know we bought em and had a good time