Baptisms!!!

Hi everyone!!

I'm on some type of high after having baptisms this week so I will apologize in advance for the long email. But, it is really exciting because I see the Lord's hand in this work and it's really humbling to be a part of it.

Also, my comp got transferred and I got a new companion today, Sister Rassi from Syracuse,Utah. I'll miss Sister Lopes but she got transferred within the zone, so I'll see her around.

First off, the two families I was working with in my old area got married and baptized this month and I am so so happy for them and so proud of my girls in Itacolumí, Sister Santiago and Sister Oliveira for the great work they're doing. Regina and Luis are two very special souls who were prepared to hear the gospel. Luis had prayed for more direction in his life and we talked to him the next day in the street and he invited us in. Regina had had a dream that prepared her, so from the first day we talked to them, they knew that we were sent by God. Tibiriça and Leiliane and their family are so special to me and I know that the Lord guided them to us, in that they moved from Florianopolis to Gravataí and their circumstances lead them to accept the gospel and be baptized.

On Friday, Adilson was baptized. He was a referral from someone in our ward and was taught by the elders. He's super cool and we had a little party for him after. We made brigadeiro and empadão and the elders made a cake!

Yesterday Jenivar and Jennifer were baptized and they were miracles, without a doubt. Jenivar is the brother of a recent convert and when we first tried teaching him a few weeks ago, he wasn't really interested, but one day we went to visit his brother, Cleidemar, and he was super excited to see us. They're both older men and they live together and they're very funny. When we visit them, we sit on beach chairs on their porch and they play the guitar for us. They also have an accordion which I tried playing. When Jenivar went to church last week, he loved it, he accepted baptism and said he's really seen his faith grow in the time we've been visiting him.

Jennifer is the cousin of the family of Venezuelans in our ward and we've been visiting her for over a month. She has an incredible testimony and has been reading the Book of Mormon, but she didn't want to get baptized, at least not then. We didn't give up on her and kept visiting her, about once a week. Friday night, there was a baile and Sister Lopes did her and her cousin's
makeup (Sister Lopes is a pro at stuff like this and the girls loved it #servicecomesinmanyforms). Jennifer was at Adilson's baptism and really felt the spirit and said she wanted to get baptized too. We said it would have to be this Sunday because Sister Lopes would probably be transferred. Sunday was so special. We sang "When I am Baptized" in portugese and english. Jennifer cried. I'm so happy for her. We visited her yesterday and she was already working on personal progress and wants to finish it before the end of the year. Guys, this girl is golden.

I love the mission, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. You get to see a glimpse of eternity and understand more God´s plan for us.

I love you all!

Sister Dobbs

Baptism of Regina and Luis

Adilson and Elder  Souza and Kirkpatrick 

Jennifer and the baile

Jennifer and her uncle, Richard, who baptized her

my whole heart <3

Jenivar and Cleidemar

Jennifer and her family

Wedding of Tibiriça e Leiliane

Conferência de Zona, Aula de inglês, e pday com Mãe Rose

Hi everyone!!!!

It was a great week! I walked a lot, ate a lot, met some cool people, and had a lot of fun! We had Zone Conference this week which was super super good. It was about repentance and forgiveness and how to work with the members. I learned that the doctrine of repentance is something really misunderstood. Christ has already suffered, so it's us who suffer until the moment we repent (D&C19:16-19), and the fact that we can repent is truly a miracle, it is "boas novas de grande alégria" (glad tidings of great joy). Pain and guilt can become peace. It's a principle that we need to live as well as teach, because no one understands the Atonement better than someone who has applied it in their life. I love zone Conference because we are spiritually uplifted AND I get to see all the missionaries, including my sweet CTM comp Sister Maxwell. 

A mission truly is a sacred time and I'm so grateful for this time I have to study the gospel, learn more about myself and grow as a person, and see the Lord work miracles. One theme of the week was that Heavenly Father truly answers our prayers. I saw that in so many different ways. When the day doesn't go how we planned it, we thought of someone to visit, and followed the prompting. It turned out to be inspiration because they were really needing it. This happened with Irmã Mara and Jonathan, a recent convert who is the only member in his family. It was a testimony builder for me that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us and loves us so much.

Yesterday at the weekly english class, we made chocolate chip cookies because they wanted to try an "american recipe." The smell reminded me so much of home and my mom's cookies and it made me so happy. In the class, I get to help with the correct pronunciation and grammar and  I really like it. But it's occasionally embarrassing, because sometimes they ask me for a word in english and I can't think of it and yesterday, I thought "forty" was spelled with a "u." My brain just gets a little confused sometimes. 

Today we had a little birthday party for Sister Motta who turned 20 on Saturday! We had lunch with Mãe Rose and she made burgers with batatas fritas (french fries) and a delicious cake. It was delicious and super fun. 

I love you all, I hope you all have a great week, and I hope you all can find some small way to talk about the gospel with someone this week! 

Lots of love,

Sister Dobbs 

I've got a ton of pics this week of some members in our ward, lots of pics from Zone Conference and pics from today at Mãe Rose´s

Our friend Samanta 

Samanta's 2 filhas (daughters): Mari and Mariana

The best family in our ward who helped us unclog our sink and are always helping us: Elvira, Valdir, and Guillerme

Irmã Mara and her baby

Me and Sister Lopes

Zone Conference!!!!

My sweet Sister Maxwell, my CTM comp

More sisters in my zone who are from Switzerland, Utah, and Bolivia

More zone conf pics

Pday at Mãe Rose´s (uma delícia)

Chegou Verão- Summer Has Arrived

Hola família!!!!

This week was HOT! It was 36 degrees Celsius, which is like 96 Fareneheit. We are always sweating and we get a little darker every day. The nice thing is, when we're thirsty, we just knock on literally any door, and even if people have no interest in our message, we can ask for cold water and they'll give it to us. Sometimes we knock on members' doors if we know of any nearby, but it's usually total strangers. Just one neat thing about the culture and hospitality here.

I was super happy because this week, two couples I was teaching in my old area got baptized! Tibiriçá and Leiliane, and Regina and Luis. They both got married, got baptized, and got to make eternal covenants with the Lord that will bless their families forever. I'm happy that I got to be a part of that.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we're teaching some people from Venezuela. They're super cool, super neat, but, you guys..... I do not speak spanish. I tried, with the little spanish I remember from high school, but it came out all wrong. Luckily, Guillerme, a recently returned missionary in our ward, is willing to accompany us and he translates for us.

I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday! That was kinda fun. It was short and sweet, and in portugese of course, so that was a first. I'll pull a London Tipton (from the Disney TV show Suite Life of Zach and Cody) and say, "Yay, me!"

This week we had an apartment inspection, where a member in our stake came by and took pictures of everything to send to the mission president. The night before we scrubbed and scrubbed so everything was pristine. Also, we finally got our kitchen sink fixed! It had been clogged since the week I got here. Our kitchen had flooded many times and we had to do the dishes in this little sink in the laundry room, which was a good time. We are very happy now that it´s fixed. I feel like the feng shui of my life is restored.

My comp and I are going to the english classes on Sundays now and it's way fun. We met a woman one time in a thrift shop, who overheard me saying I was from California, and told me it was her dream to learn English. We told her that the church has a free english course and she came! We were able to start teaching her, so it just shows how the Lord places people in our paths and how we can use the resources the church offers to find people.

I know that this is the Lord's work, because if it wasn't, there's no way it would work. The system is perfect, this church is perfect, and God is at the helm. Imagine 60 million young people, in various countries all over the world, trying to learn foreign languages and invite people to come to Christ. Esta obra está crescendo diariamente, this work is growing daily and it is because of the Lord, not because of us. It is nothing short of miraculous.

Love you all so so much
Sister Dobbs

We ordered pizza one night and it was amazing!

Hellooooooo família!

This email's just gonna be a bunch of random stories and tidbits from the last few weeks:

This weekend was super fun with General Conference and all. This is a special weekend where we get to listen to our prophet and other church leaders through a worldwide transmission and it's super duper cool. I know without a doubt that our prophet is a man called of God and I certainly felt that this weekend. We watched it from the stake center here and it was kinda fun to watch it in portugese. A little different, but fun. In between the sessions, some elders in our zone had a baptism and my comp got to be a witness for the baptism so that was exciting. One thing I definitely felt this weekend was that the Lord is aware of each of us personally and He speaks to us, through His servants, the things that we need to hear. Also, I know that these are the last days and we need to repent and prepare because Jesus Cristo logo voltará.

The apartment building we live in is called Edifício California. It makes me feel famous

We met an old guy and he invited us in and he and his wife showed us LOTS of picture albums of their kids and grandkids. He explained that he had lost his thumb in an accident years ago and kept it because he wants to be buried with it and, as he said, he wants to arrive in heaven with all his body parts. Unfortunately, he did not want to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, but at least we got a good story out of it. The man and his thumb are pictured below.

We're getting out of winter and going into spring, but it's still pretty cold.  It's been raining a ton here. One day it even hailed!! It came out of nowhere. We had brought umbrellas, thankfully, because we could tell by the sky that it was going to rain. We were walking to a lesson and out of nowhere, it started raining and immediately turned into hail! My companion was freaking out because she had never seen hail before. We ran under a little covering on someone's porch. The hail stopped after about 10 minutes and turned into rain. It was a good time.


Teaching Maria and Luis with our friend Guillerme, a returned missionary who got home from Ecuador last month. He helps us a ton and is the best

General Conference with our sister leaders, Sister Motta and Sister Pereira

I really really love my mission and I just want to say something really quickly. As a missionary, we see just how important the role of members is. There's a quote in PMG that says that for converts, joining the church is like entering a whole new world and everything is unfamiliar. So many people are baptized but go inactive shortly after. I'm just gonna get on my missionary soap box for a sec and say that members are crucial because as missionaries, there's nothing better than when you bring someone to church and they love it because everyone welcomed them and they felt at home. I love you all so so much and I know that this is the Lord's work. I'm so happy to be here, grateful for all my Savior has done for me and grateful to be here serving Him.

Love,
Sister Dobbs