Sister Mauri Dobbs

Helloooooo!!!

Sorry about no group email last week! But it was a fun week. We had Zone Conference, made a fun video for Facebook (in Portuguese), KELLI WENT TO CHURCH! and we went to the baptism of a kid in the ward and got invited to his BIRTHDAY PARTY after. It was way fun. We stayed outside and wore masks but it was fun. We also got to eat good old Brazilian food: salgadinhos, brigadeiro e bolo. Kelly LOVED church and felt the Spirit. There was a musical number and she said she wanted to stand up and clap after, it was so good. A super great week.

Now on to this one:

Super great news!!! Kelli was baptized yesterday!! I'm so so happy for her! It's been really special. When we got the referral in May when we got here, she was suuuuper busy so it was hard to get a hold of her. But, we were able to have a cool lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon, promising the power it can bring into our lives. She was super diligent about reading it and it helped her make a lot of changes in her life. I'm so happy for her and proud of her progress. People CAN change!!! She made the decision to be baptized! The service was so special yesterday. A cute family did a musical number and the spirit was so strong. I got to be a witness! Kelly cried during the talk, during the musical number, when she received the Holy Ghost, basically the whole time. She's so funny. She had to be baptized 3 times because her left hand didn't go down and she laughed about that the rest of the day. But, the whole thing was so special and such a miracle.

Another miracle!! We found someone to teach through Facebook!! We posted something about doing a Bible Study in a Brazilian Facebook Page and someone named Frank messaged us saying he wanted to learn about the church!!! It was awesome!! He's super cool and super interested. He just texted us right now that he's been reading the Book of Mormon on the plane and is loving it! He lives in another mission so we passed him off to the elders there but he is awesome. Eleitos!!

We made more pão de queijo and it was yummy! We tried making cuscus and brigadeiro (a Brazilian truffle thing) but it did not work out. Also, if anyone's in doubt, baking powder and baking soda are VERY different and can NOT be used as substitutes, as we learned with some brownies that turned out super weird. We still ate them though.

Today I was kinda stressed because there's a lot going on at home and here but I found a lot of comfort in the hymn "Be Still, My Soul." I especially loved when it said:

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In ev’ry change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

This was just such a comfort to me because He has guided me in the past and will continue to do so. Everything will work out. I know it will.

Beijos!!

Sister Dobbs