Exciting News .... 6/27/16

Hello everyone!!

This week was probably one the busiest, most stressful of my mission, but I love it like that. I love that we have lots of work to do here. I´m so grateful for God´s help with this area.

SO! This week started off with a division with the Sister AP´s in the capital. It was exhausting, mostly because of the travel time to get there and sleeping on the floor, but it was really cool to see another area and be with our friends who are serving there. Sister Rechetinicou and I had one the worst lessons in the history of all lessons (her investigator invited a pastor from another church...I respect other religions, but he was not even willing to hear our testimonies, he just laughed at us),  but it was a great learning experience and Sister Rechetinicou and I got a lot closer :) It was also super great to see Sister Crapo again. I love that girl. I also had the opportunity to have an interview with President about our area on Wednesday, which helped me to understand a lot more about our investigators and ward leaders. I´m so grateful for President Silcox. 

We got back from the division and the craziness began to prepare Sivaldo for his baptism this Saturday. After various interviews and many lessons, he was ready. I have gained a testimony that we don not have to be perfect before we can be baptized. Baptism is the door to the rest of the journey. As long as we are humble and willing to change our will to conform with the Lord´s, He accepts our offering and turns us into new creatures. I´m so grateful for this process, and that I can participate in this process every Sunday when I partake of the sacrament. Despite some setbacks, the baptism was a huge success and Sivaldo was the happiest I have ever seen him. I know that God loves all of His children equally and that He wants ALL of them to have the chance to return to live with Him again. 

Ilma and Vanessa came to church yesterday and loved it. They will be baptized in two weeks from yesterday. I love these amazing women. They are so ready. 

This week, our big goal is to help all of the recent converts find a name of a deceased ancestor and take that name to the Temple. There, they will be able to perform ordinances in the place of their deceased family members who never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel or be baptized or receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that there are lots of people who have already passed away who are just waiting for someone to do their work for them. God gives a chance to ALL of His children. What an opportunity we have to be a part of this amazing work!!

I am absolutely loving my mission. To anyone who is debating whether or not to serve, just do it. Pray about it first, of course, but I guarantee you will never regret it. It has already blessed my life in ways that I never could´ve imagined before. 

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Random Pics of the Mission 6/20/16

           Pics from P-Day! Moving new beds into the apartment. So happy to have a new bed!!!

                                                   

Água :) 6/13/16

We went to the Fonte of Poá  this week and drank water straight from the spring. Pretty cool :) I´ve got a lot of pride for my little city :)

And the rain came a´tumbling down... 6/6/16

Hello everyone!!

This week was good! The pouring rain here in Poá makes it a little hard to work, but we´re still working and seeing lots of miracles.

This week, we had a cool experience with Ilma (Genilson´s mom), who recently went through open heart surgery. We taught her The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and after we taught her in detail about Christ´s baptism, she was amazed. She explained, "Nossa, my baptism when I was a baby wasn´t valid, because children don´t sin. I didn´t need to be baptized as a baby! Now I understand why God saved me during my surgery...He wanted me to have a chance to be baptized in the correct way so that I can be saved. I want to be baptized in your church, in the way that Jesus Christ was baptized." It was such a beautiful experience to watch someone just get it :) I´m so excited for the baptism of this precious woman :)

We had a council for all the leaders of the mission on Friday, which is always lots of fun. I love being able to learn at the feet of President Silcox. He´s an amazing example to all of us.

In other news, we´re having stake conference here in Itaquaquecetuba this weekend. But first, we´ll be having a mission conference! That should be exciting! This is the first time since I got here that all the missionaries in the whole mission will be in the same place at the same time! Should be a great experience. 

We´re still working with Sivaldo and Genilson and his wife, as well as a bunch of other great people. I´m loving Poá. 

Also, I made chocolate chip cookies this week!! Mmmmm! Also also, Sister Martinez cut my hair today! She did a really good job! I´m lucky to live with such awesome sisters.

All my love,

Sister Doyle

More Miracles!!! 5/30/16

Hello everyone!!

So last night, we received transfer calls! We we surprised to hear that there would be no changes here in Poa´. The four of us will be staying here! I´m super happy to not be leaving my beloved city :) This transfer is gonna be tough, but also really good. I know I´ll learn a lot!

You will all be happy to hear that last night, we walked all the way to Genilson´s house (where we had the miracle with the car not starting) and he was home!! His mom returned from the hospital and we had a marvelous lesson with them! The Spirit was so strong and I know that God has great plans for this man and his family! I´m so blessed to be able to teach them :)

In other news, during the third hour of church yesterday, we gave a training for the whole ward on how the members can become more involved in the missionary work happening here in Poá. It went super well and lots of members came up afterward to offer help and give referrals! I love this ward!

We had the opportunity to do a division this week with the Sisters of Jundiapeba, so that was a cool experience. I love being able to see the way that other sister plan and teach. I´m learning a ton!

Also, Sivaldo came to church for the third time in a row this Sunday! He is marked to be baptized the 18th of June! I´m so happy for him. He´s a great man who deserves the blessings of the Gospel in his life :)

Anyways, I love you all and I´m so grateful for all the prayers and support! You guys are the best!

All my love,

Sister Doyle

P.S. - This week, I discovered my happy place. I was sitting cuddled up in my bed, listening to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, eating cheese and crackers and reading "Jesus the Christ," by James Talmage. Doesn´t get much better than that.

It beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... 5/23/16

Yep, that´s right. I´m feeling ready for Christmas music and decorating the tree. It´s gotten so cold here!!! Okay, so it´s not THAT cold, but for someone who´s only been feeling 85-90 degrees for almost a year...it´s pretty cold.

I received a new companion this week, Sister Nunes!! It´s been really cool to be back with her again! It´s not very often that you get the chance to be with the same companion twice.

She´s a sweetheart. She´s been super sick though, so that´s been kinda tough. And I think I´m coming down with whatever she´s got as well, so that should be an adventure :)

Cassio passed the sacrament this Sunday, which was the sweetest thing ever. He absolutely loves the church and his new responsibilities, and even recieved the calling of "Bishop´s Assistant," so he sits up on the stand and runs (literally he runs....he´s so exicted <3) to get anything the bishop needs. I am so proud of him.

We´ve been teaching Talyta, and although she doesn´t feel the need to be baptized yet, she has been enjoying the lessons and feeling the Spirit. I know that God will touch her heart soon. We´re also teaching a man named Sivaldo, who came to church for the second time this Sunday. He´s an older man who lives alone. He has loved the warm welcome from the members here in Poá. He told me "I´m going to come here every Sunday that I don´t have anything to do...and I never have anything to do on Sundays!" He´s the best :)

This week, we contacted a referral in the neighborhood I had never visited before. It´s a very poor neighborhood with a lot of problems. The referral herself didn´t want anything, but as we were walking away from her house, I felt prompted to talk to an older woman, Nilza, standing the doorway of a humble house. She welcomed us in and explained that her house had flooded last night and introduced us to her husband, who is confined to a wheelchair because of a recent stroke. Although they didn´t let us help with the flood, we shared a scripture and Nilza thanked us again and again for lifting her spirits and said we should come back to talk to them again. I know that God sends us to people just when they need us, and that He is aware of all of His children in their times of need. He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. And I needed Nilza just as much as she needed us.

I hope you are all doing well and feeling the Hand of God working in your lives. He is so good. And He loves you.

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Hello!!! 5/16/16

I´m sorry, this one is gonna be short! But everything´s going well here in Poá!

We gave a training on Friday at a Zone Conference with two zones. It was stressful to prepare everything for it, but it was a big success!! I think everyone had a good time and learned a lot too! I definitely learned a ton as well.

We´ve had some sad moments this week with investigators cutting us. It´s really hard for me to see the people I love reject the thing that I know will bring them happiness. But I know that God is a God of second chances, and that He wants all of His children to return to live with Him someday. That gives me hope for all of the people I love here.

In other news, tomorrow, Sister Nunes will be arriving to be my new companion for the next two weeks! It will be fun to live with 4 sisters and it´s exciting to know that Poá is ready to be divided into two areas!

I love you all and I hope you are doing well and remembering how much you are loved by the Creator of the Universe. You are special. To me and to Him. 

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Pics from Poa 5/9/16

Pics: 

• The Ward Mission Leader and his daughter. 
• The Chapel in Poa. 
• Couch Photo..what can I say more? 
• We went to an English/Spanish school for a Mother´s Day party and talked to everyone and sang Come Thou Fount in English. Way cool experience. We´re going to start going there every Friday to help the students. 
• Ward Mother´s Day breakfast, run by the men. I was seriously impressed by this activity. Men are great! :)

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam :) 5/2/16

Hello everyone!!

Hope you´re all doing fantastically! This is gonna be another short e-mail, sorry! But I have good news!!

CASSIO GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!

AND both of his parents came! Cassio even bore his testimony in sacrament meeting and his mom commented in Sunday School about how her feelings are changing. She talked about how when we first got there, she was cold to us and didn´t like the church, but that she has realized how good it is and that Cassio really is ready to take this step in his life. It´s not very often you get to hear people´s feelings about your work like that, and I was really touched. This weekend was one big miracle :)

This week, we had interviews with President and I loved it so much. He is truly called of God and I have already learned so much from him. I´m so blessed to have President Silcox as my Mission President :)

We also had vaccines for the bad cold that´s been going around. The whole mission went to the mission office on the same day to get it done. While the vaccine itself wasn´t so much fun, it was great to see all my old companions and the people I love from this mission :)

In other news, the weather has taken a complete turn. It´s sooooo cold!! Okay, so it´s only been in the 60´s, but for my body that´s accustomed to 90´s? That´s pretty cold! Without the sun here in Poá, I know that it´s our responsibility to bring the warmth and sunshine of the Gospel to people´s homes and hearts (wow, can´t get much cheesier than that!) But anyways, I´m just so happy to be here and be able to be a sunbeam of the Lord :)

Hope you find all the happiness God has prepared for you this week! I love you all and you´re in my prayers!!

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Everyday pics from the mission! 4/25/16

Pics:

• Our District
• Our renovated apartment
• A P-day adventure to a museum
• Our new Tri-panionship
• The view from our street
• One of the families we are teaching
• Opening my Easter package...My favorites!
• Making traditional food with some members in Poa

God is so good. 4/18/16

Hello everyone :)

I hope you are all doing fantastically and absolutely loving this beautiful life we´ve been given.

This week was full of miracles here in Poa! I would love to tell you guys every detail of everything that happened, but I don´t think I´ll have time for that, so I´m just going to tell you about one night :)

Thursday night, we were on our way to teach Cassio (13-year-old boy who is super strong in the church but whose parents won´t let him get baptized yet), and we passed a man standing in his doorway. I had the slight feeling to talk to him, but I knew we didn´t want to be late to our appointment with Cassio, so we walked by. Within a few minutes, I felt awful. I knew that I had brushed aside a prompting from the Spirit. It was too late to walk all the way back to the man, so I just prayed, asking foregiveness and for another chance to talk to that man. We arrived at Cassio´s house and before his mom came in, he explained to us that he´s feeling really frustrated about the whole situation with his parents. We assured him that we´d talk to his mom about baptism during the lesson. His mom came in and we started with a prayer, as always, but when we said "Amen." Cassio immediately began explaining everything to his mom. He explained, "Mom, I am doing everything I can to prepare for this step in my life. I know that this is right and that I need to be baptized. There is no point in the Sisters coming here every week to teach me if I can´t follow what they are teaching. This is something serious, mom." The whole room was silent. And then his mom replied, "Fine. I understand. It´s your decision, Cassio." And just like that, this amazing young man, after being taught by the missionaries for an entire year, is going to be baptized, the first day of May. He was overjoyed. We are overjoyed. It was the miracle that we´ve all been praying and fasting for. 

So we taught him and then basically flew home, but on the way, guess who we saw on the other side of the street?! The same man! More than two hours later! So we crossed the street, super excited to talk to him. I asked if we could leave a pamphlet with him and he declined super rudely. I was suprised, because I thought for sure this would be a golden contact. But we stayed and tried to talk to him. He was super hardened and had a lot of tough questions, but in spite of the difficulty, the Spirit was super strong! We were able to answer all of his questions calmly and in a way that he understood and agreed! It really was a beautiful experience for me. After talking for about 45 minutes with this man, we needed to leave, so we said goodbye and left the pamphlet with him (hehe) and before we left he said, "There´s something different about you girls. I´ve talked with so many pastors and missionaries over the years, but you were able to answer questions that no one else ever could. I´m not saying I want anything to do with your church...but if you´re ever passing by here again, knock on my door. I´d love to talk to you again." It was such a tender mercy from the Lord. I know that He knows all His children and what they need right when they need it. God is amazing.

So that is just an example of one night this week. The whole week was full of miracles like those :)

Also, we received tranfer calls! Sister Felartigas and I are going to stay here in Poá and finish the training of Sister Martinez, an adorable girl from Idaho :) I´m excited!

God is so good. His Hand is in everything. I know He is aware of my needs and the needs of those I teach :) And your needs as well. Until next week!

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Loving our new place in Poa! 4/11/16

Hello everyone!

                                                      9 month mark! Woot woot!

Things are going swimmingly as always :) We´re working really hard in Poá, and although lots of people are rejecting us, we still have the opportunity to meet a few goldens each week!

This week started out wonderfully. On Tuesday, Sister Felartigas and I and the Zone Leaders gave a training for the whole zone on listening to the Spirit and changing the culture of the mission (obedience). It went so well! The Spirit was way strong and our zone felt so united! I love the missionaries here :) We also did our secret-friend-Easter-chocolate-exchange-thing, so that was fun. We all drew names a few weeks ago and then brought chocolate on Tuesday for our person. I gave chocolate to Elder Bicca and got some chocolate from Elder Fonicello. He´s from Belgium, so I got some Belgium chocolate!! I am a lucky (chubby) Sister :) 

The rest of the week was good. Super hot. More walking than I think I´ve ever walked on my mission so far. But we met some really great people. We are teaching a boy named Cassio right now who goes to church every week with his grandma. His parents have never let him be baptized. But right now, we´re teaching him and his mom is sitting in and listening, so we´re hoping this will soften her heart. I believe in miracles :)

We´re teaching a lot of pregnant women right now, (not sure how that happened), and they´re all due this week! So it makes teaching a little complicated :) But yay for babies! 

We are loving our new house and loving Poá. This week we get to go on divisions with the Sisters that we watch over. I´m excited to get to know them all better. 

I hope you are all doing well and feeling the Spirit and seeing the Hand of God working in your lives. He´s there for sure, watching over you. 

Thanks for all the support and love! You guys are the best!

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Crazy Week!!! 4/4/16

Wow, I just realized that my time is almost up and I didn´t write a general e-mail!! Sorry everybody! But tell you what, I´ll write an extra big one next week!

Biggest news:

- went to the Temple on Wednesday - it was amazing! What a blessing!

- conference was amazing!!

                                                         

 - we had another miracle with that man this week! We went to his house to teach him with that same member...We got there and he wasn´t home and wouldn´t answer his phone :( We were pretty bummed. We decided to try someone else on the other side of town, so we got back in the member´s car and...it didn´t start. Didn´t even turn over. So we sat there for half an hour trying to fix the car, and who shows up? Our elect investigator :) We had a fantastic lesson with him and his wife and the Spirit was strong. When we finished, we got back in the car to go home, and sure enough, it started without a problem. I think God wanted us to teach him ;)

Main thing I´ve been thinking this week: I am loved by the Savior. It is a love that transcends human understanding, and does not fade or decrease based on my weaknesses or sins. It is perfect love. And I want these people here to feel that same love. The world needs more love. The wars and fighting and addictions and drugs and violence and abuse and hardness of hearts are suffocating the love in the world. And I have the unique opportunity right now to directly bring the love of the Savior into the lives and homes of other people. How could I not rejoice in this? I´ve only got nine more months to spread the love. And I´m going to make the absolute most of it.

God is good and miracles are real. Don´t forget your prayers everbody; God is listening and answering, every moment of every day.

All my love,

Siser Doyle

Milagres in Poa :) 3/28/16

Hello everyone!! How was Easter? I really missed it! They don´t do much here for Easter. The parents give a chocolate egg filled with candies to their kids, which I think is a really cool idea, but that´s about it.

Whew, this week was exhausting, but wonderful. We are working hard to get things going here in Poa and things are really starting to happen. We did a fast and were able to find a map because of it :) We´re having a lot of success contacting less-actives and recem-conversos who fell away. The members here are so helpful and ready to serve. I know that this area has had baptisms in the past purely because of the faith of these members. And I know this ward will continue to grow and improve because of its members. They are golden. Everyone does their part. Exactly how the church should be run.

We saw an amazing miracle this week and I wanted to share it with you guys. Last week, a member remembered that the Elders had given a blessing to someone and never returned, so I called the Elders that were here before and asked for the address. I figured we´d just stop by if we were in that neighborhood. Fast-forward to this week. We had set up an appointment with a menos-ativo and his non-member wife with a member of the ward. On the way to pick us up, the member got completely lost and ended up showing up 20 minutes late. While waiting for her, I called our appointment to let them know that we were going to be late. The husband answered and said that his wife had left and didn´t want us to come anymore. When our member-present arrived, we explained the situation and asked her if she´d like to just try some people with us. I remembered that old referral that the Elders had, and we decided to try. When we arrived at the house, the man let us in and ended up telling us all about his life and his relationship with God. His dad had been very sick and he had prayed with everything he had that God would cure him. But his father died, and he decided that God must not exist. Or if He does exist, He doesn´t bother to help us. Years later, he decided to try again and prayed and prayed that God would give him some kind of sign that He exists and cares. But again, nothing happened. So he gave up. But he said that that day, he had been feeling something strange. Like something big was about to happen. So when we clapped at his door, he let us in, curious, but full of doubts. We promised him that God exists, that He knows him by name, and that He sent us to him to help him. During the lesson, I felt impressed to share a video with him. So he opened Youtube, and there was the Church´s Easter video. He stopped, surprised..."Is this a video from your church?" Yes! He just stopped, in silence, and then replied, "God´s finally speaking to me." We watched the vidoe and it was absolutley perfect. He accepted The Book of Mormon. When we marked a chapter, he asked, "Would it be alright if I just read the whole thing? And can I come to church too? I know this is God´s answer..." It was the most miraculous experience. And I don´t think I had to think about my Portuguese once during the lesson. After, as we were driving home, the member who went with us thanked us for the experience and said she would tell all of the irmas in the ward that if they need a spiritual uplift, they should go out with the Sisters. 

I am so grateful to have had that experience. The Spirit was so strong, and I felt so much love for this individual. I know that God heard his prayers when his father was sick. I know that He was there when he prayed for a sign. And I know that He was there with us as we taught His son. God hears us and He responds. But He waits until we are ready to accept His answer.

In other news, I am so excited to go to the Temple!! I think one of the blessings of being on a mission is being able to feel the lack of the Temple in my life. (We don't get to go very often) It makes me want to prepare and receive whatever God has for me there. I read the book, "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple" today, and I am so excited for the opportunity to visit the Campinas Temple this week. I hope that I am ready and prepared to not just enter the Temple, but let the Temple enter my heart.

Other than that, not a lot of new news. It´s hot, like normal, and we´re still living in Vila Virginia, but I think we´re going to move to Poa this week!! Woohoo!!

I love you guys so much and I hope you are finding all the happiness and beauty that God is placing in your path through life :)

All my love,

Sister Doyle

The Founding Sisters of Poa :) 3/21/16

Hello everyone!!

Whew, it feels like it´s been a lifetime since I last talked to you all! So much has happened!

On Tuesday, I said goodbye to my beloved Cidade Lider, as well as the amazing sisters that I lived with and headed out to Itaquaquecetuba with Elder Merrill (he was in Itaquera with me and now he´s our new Zone Leader in Itequaquecetuba). We finally arrived, and I met my new companion, Sister Felartigas. She is from Uruguay, is almost done with her mission, and reminds me so much of my first trainer, Sister Hingano :) We are super different, but I know I´m going to learn a ton from her. It´s been good so far. We have the assignment to be Sister Training Leaders here in Itaqua, so that means that we look after and do divisions with some other sisters in the area. It´s going to be an adventure :)

                                                               

 We arrived in Poa, dropped our bags off at our house (which looked pretty dirty, but we just left it) and went to the chapel to meet some of the members. The members here are amazing. We are the first sister missionaries to ever serve in Poa, so the members are pretty excited. They are all super willing to help, and I know that we´re going to have a lot of success here. We went back to our house and discovered that it didn´t have power, so we borrowed some flashlights from the members and just went straight to bed. Good thing, because I think if we had had time to look around the house, we would not have been able to sleep...

We woke up the next morning and immediately began cleaning, but it soon became apparent that this house needed more than just a sweep-over. Broken windows, old broken furniture, black toilets, moldy walls, cockroaches, no power...it was pretty bad. We called President, and he sent some Elders to come look at it. When they saw how bad it was, they told President, and he got pretty mad. He sent the Elders who were here before us to come clean up their mess (awkward). So they came, and we helped them clean ALL DAY. But still, the house didn´t have windows or power, so they are sending someone to come fix it up. Until then, we are living with Sister Tordecillas e Sister Martinez in Vila Virginha. We take the train for about 45 minutes every morning and every night to get to and from our area. It´s pretty annoying, but you gotta do what you gotta do (right mom?) :)

Other than the house situation, we are loving Poa. It´s pretty hard to start an area from scratch, with no one to teach or anything. But the members are awesome and we know that the work is going to start picking up soon. :) We´re gonna work harder than we´ve ever worked before to give the people of Poa all that they deserve :)

I sincerely hope you´re all doing well. I know life isn´t easy, but it´s for sure easier when we work alongside The Savior. He´s been there and He gets what we´re going through. And He really does want to help us. 

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Collection of emails from 2/8 - 3/14

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!!!

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

Hello everyone!

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! 

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.