Let the carnival begin!! 2/8
Hello everyone!!
I don´t have much time to write this week, sorry! The internet is being slow. But I love you all and I´m doing well!
On
Tuesday, I got my new companion, Sister Hilgemberg! She´s Brazilian, so
obviously we are a little different, but I love her and I´m learning a
lot of Portuguese! She´s teaching me a lot and I know I will grow so
much this transfer :)
Pics:
- Sister Hilgemberg! Francis and her two sons.
- Francis made us bread. :)
Our investigators are
doing so well!! We had seven people at church on Sunday! Francis and her
sons are as great as ever and are preparing really well for their
baptisms. I know that God prepared them for us to teach and that He´s
helping them along the path back to Him :) I love them so much. I love
that being a missionary allows to feel some of God´s love for His
children. It´s incredible :)
This week is
Carnaval, which means Brazil is crazy!! I have never seen so many drunk
people in my life haha But it will pass and things will settle down
again. We´re going to be staying in the house a lot this week, which
will be kind of tough, but necessary. I think there are a lot of really
beautiful aspects of Carnaval. I love how creative the people of Brazil
are :)
That´s pretty much all the big news I
have for you guys this week! Keep being awesome and relying on the Lord.
I know that He has a plan for each and every one of us, and that if we
kneel in prayer, He will show us what we need to do. He wants ALL of His
children to return back to Him some day :) Thank you, as always, for
all the support and love!
All my love,
Sister Doyle
God is so good :) 2/15
We´re having a baptism!!!
Hello everyone!
Yep, you read that right!
Francis and Nikolas and Gabriel are going to be baptized this Saturday
night!! I am so incredibly happy and stressed and excited!! I can hardly
handle it!! :)
We´ve
also been working a lot with less-actives, which has been surprisingly
enjoyable. This week, we have been working a lot with a less-active
young woman named Eve. She was offended by someone in the ward a while
back and hasn´t gone to church in years. As we visited with her, she
told us that she hasn´t felt the spirit in a long time and that she
thinks she needs to just drop the church altogether. I felt prompted to
invite her to go teaching with us the next day, and surprisingly, she
said yes. The next day, she went with us to visit a man who had helped
me and Sister Bundy when we were assaulted (hidden blessings :)) and we
taught The Restoration. The Spirit was very strong, and at the end, I
asked Eve to bare her testimony. She bore a strong testimony of Joseph
Smith and The Book of Mormon. Afterwards, she said that she had felt the
Spirit for the first time in a while, that she knows the church is
true, and that she wants to serve a mission a year from now. She then
asked us to come home with her and teach The Restoration to her parents.
It is hard not to cry, even as I´m writing this, because of the immense
love I feel for this young woman and her family. I know that every soul
is precious in the sight of the Lord. And I know that Eve will be a
great influence for good in the world.
In
other news, I´m going to be speaking at Stake Conference next week.
Yep. Nervous and excited :) God will loose my tongue so that I can speak
what´s in my heart. I know that the gift of tongues is real.
My
companion and I are doing well, just trying to work hard and be the
best missionaries we can be :) It´s been really hot here, which is hard.
But God´s sustaining us through this Brazilian summer :) Cold showers
and frozen cups of yogurt have become my new favorite things!
Hope
you are all doing well and feeling the light of The Savior´s love this
week and always :) Don´t forget your prayers or your immense worth!
All my love,
Sister Doyle
"Yea, they were baptized [...] and were filled with the grace of God." - Mosiah 18:16 2/22
Well, I think this week was the most stressful, exhausting, crazy, wonderful, happy, glorious week of my mission so far.
The
highlight? Francis, Nicolas, and Gabriel were baptized this Saturday
night, along with a young woman that the sisters have been teaching!!
And then they were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost
yesterday! They looked so glorious in all white :) The whole ward got so
excited and involed in the baptism...the Relief Society made treats,
the Primary sang, the Young Women sang, the Young Men talked, the Sunday
School set up a video...everyone did their part. The chapel was filled
to the brink, and we even had people standing in the back. There were
more than 110 people there! I think that´s more than we had at church
the next day! Although Francis was very nervous, she and the boys had so
much support, members and non-members alike, and the Spirit was so
strong. I am so honored to have been a part of this journey for them,
and I look forward to continuing visiting them in the coming weeks :)
Now
that the baptism is over, I have started preparing for my talk at Stake
Conference this Saturday. I´m pretty nervous to be speaking in
Portuguese in front of so many people, but I know that the Holy Ghost
will bring to their hearts the message that they need to hear.
In
other news, our English class had more people than ever this week! More
non-members than members! It is stressful, but also super fun, to be
teaching English. We´ve started doing verbs and conjugations, so I think
I might need to start studying English during language study :) I
really do love teaching. And the people in our class are so humble and
excited to learn! Most of them have hopes of living in America one day. I
hope I can help them with their dreams :)
Other
than that, life has been pretty normal. Super hot. Lots of rain. Lots
of dogs. And lots of rice and beans. Hope you are all doing well and
know how much I love and appreciate you! Keep your chin up and
everything will work out :)
All my love,
Sister Doyle
"The Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain..." - Zecharias 10:1 2/29
Hello everyone :)
Not much to tell this week, other
than the fact that we have had A TON of rain :) I´m not complaining,
though. I´d take pouring rain over blazing sun any day :)
Francis,
Nicolas, and Gabriel are doing well and loving being members of the
church. Nicolas and Gabriel are going to receive the Aaronic Priesthood
(The priesthood is the power of God given to men in order to do things
in the name of Jesus Christ. The Aaronic Priesthood is the first
priesthood that a young man can receive, and worthy young men of certain
ages can use this priesthood to bless and pass the sacrament, baptize,
and help the people around them.) I am very excited for them to take
this next step and continue progressing and becoming like Christ. I love
them all so much :)
The English class is going
well. We´ve started learning verb tenses, so it´s getting complicated!
I´m loving it. It´s hard to switch back and forth between English and
Portuguese really quickly, but I´m starting to get better at it. And
living with an American in the house helps me to keep my English up :)
This
Saturday and Sunday, we had Stake Conference. My companion and I had
the opportunity to prepare talks for the Saturday evening session.
Sister Hilgemberg talked about eternal marriage, and I talked about The
Atonement.The whole session went really well and the Spirit was strong. I
love this stake so much. It will be very hard to leave Cidade Lider
when I get transferred.
Right now, Sister
Hilgemberg and I are just trying to find some new people to teach who
are ready to hear the Gospel. I know that if we follow the Spirit, we´ll
be led to those people. I´m excited to teach them :)
Alright,
I´ve used too many smiley faces for one day. I love you all and I hope
you are all doing well. Don´t forget that you have worth and value in
the sight of The Lord and that He´s rooting for you. And so am I :)
Don´t forget your prayers!
All my love,
Sister Doyle (or Dolly if you´re Brazilian)
My comp with a cat alseep on her skirt (she´s allergic to cats so it´s kind of a hilarious picture)
Another rainy week in Brazil :) 3/7
Hello everyone!
Pics:
I
hope you are all doing well! It´s been hot and rainy here in Sao Paulo,
which has been interesting :) I am never dry...I´m drenched in sweat or
drenched in rain. No other options ;)
In
all honesty, this week was kinda tough. My heart has been aching for my
people. There is a lot of sadness and addiction and rejection of the
truth, and I feel as if I could shout with Alma, "O
that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I
might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake
the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea,
I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder,
repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come
unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of
the earth." (Alma 29:1) We had an investigator drop us who I have been
teaching for almost 4 months now. It broke my heart more than I thought
it would. But that´s good, because I know that I´m truly caring for
these people. And I hope and pray that they can see and feel my
desperation and hope that they will accept this amazing blessing of the
Gospel in their lives. I know how much it can change lives.
The
English class is going well and Sister Hilgemberg and I are doing lots
of contacting and door-knocking to try to find some new investigators. I
know that God will help us as we work our hardest :)
I
wanted to do a special little shout-out to everyone who put together
that amazing Valentine´s Day box! I absolutely loved it and it came
right when I needed to feel a little extra love. You guys are the best
and I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life. All the
Valentine´s Day cards were adorable :) You guys are the best!
I
hope you are all doing well and staying close to The Lord. He has a
plan for each and every person on this earth, and He will help you know
what you need to do if you pray and ask Him.
Keep being awesome!! :)
All my love,
Sister Doyle
Pics:
- The skirts we made with the irmas of the ward.
- My normal breakfast
Last week in Cidade Lider... 3/14
Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well and finding all the beautiful in life :)
This
week was pretty rough. Lots of knocking doors and being rejected. But
we had some miracles too :) We met some of the most amazing people I´ve
ever met in my life and drank grape juice and ate fancy cheese with them
in their wine shop (it was grape juice, I promise). They really
re-established my belief in humanity and that what we do as missionaries
makes a difference. I´m so grateful to meet wonderful people like that.
I
don´t have much time to write today, but I wanted to let you all know
that I´m being transferred! I´m going to a more suburban area of Sao
Paulo called Itaquaquecetuba (yep, don´t even try to pronounce that). Me
and my new comp are going to be opening an area there! It´s going to be
an adventure to get there tomorrow
knowing absolutely nothing but the address of our house, but I know
this is where the Lord needs me right now. It will be sad to leave my
beloved Cidade Lider, but I´m excited for the change and the opportunity
to meet new people and get to know a new area!
Have
a great week everyone, and don´t forget your prayers. Prayer is the
single most important thing you can do in your day. So make sure it gets
the time it deserves ;)
I love you all! Thank you for the continued support and love!
All my love,
Sister Doyle
P.S.
- I woke one day and went straight to the bathroom. Half awake, I heard
a rustle next to me. I turned and saw a moth the size of my head. Not
exaggerating in the slightest. I freaked out and it freaked out and much
flapping of wings and screaming ensued. I´m still alive. Moths are
gross. Have a great week everybody.
