Time Flies!

Wow, is September nearly done already?? I can hardly believe it! This week was really nice; Sister S. Silva and I are already very good friends. :D She taught me to make pizza on Wednesday--which was utterly fantastic, of course. And I'm absolutely loving this branch! The members are very loving; they treat us like their own kids. There's a really sweet young woman who always draws pictures for us and a six year old who proposed to my companion (no worries, she said that he would have to wait 20 years first).

This week we had much more success finding people to teach, and we had five investigators in church!! (It was quite the feat, since they all live really far from the chapel and they were still sleeping when we got there haha). But they all really liked it. :) We had a lot of really special moments this week in our teaching. People here are very open; they tell you their entire life story the first time you meet them. I think the most special was teaching a mother and son. The mother had just lost her other son, who was only five years old. Naturally, we taught about the plan of Salvation. It was so special, to console that mother and tell her where her son is and what she needs to do to be with him!! 

This week was also full of embarassing moments... 1. We found one investigator because my skirt was dirty and she offered to let me use her bathroom. 2. An old man hugged me. He did it so fast I had no idea what to do! And there are probably others that aren't coming to mind... 

Also: mini miracle!! We had a fast for our zone (we haven't had much success this week) and afterwards nearly every house offered us food. Seriously. Blessings of the Lord. haha :)

Love you all!!

Sister Dickerson

Primeira Semana em Paragominas!!‏

Wow, so this week was NUTS!! I left Cabanagem Sunday night, spent the night with some other sisters, and Monday morning went to Belém, thinking that I would be heading for Paragominas that day. NOPE. I had to wait in Belém with another group of sisters until Wednesday, because my new companion, Sister S. Silva, had to take a plane from her old area to meet me. On Wednesday we headed for Castanhal for a zone conference (about 1.5 hours from Belém), and from there to Paragominas, which is 4-5 hours more. It was pretty cool to actually see the jungle on the trip--you don't usually see much nature in the city. 

Sister S. Silva is super cool! She's from Bahia, and we have a deal. She's going to teach me how to dance Baiana style and cook super good food, and I'm going to teach her to read music and cook American desserts! We are getting along great!! 

Paragominas is wonderful! There is just a branch here, and we don't have a chapel yet, but we are loving it! We already have some super great investigators. The city is beautiful, and clean!!! The only problem is we haven't had electricity for five days and we don't have a phone charger... And we are opening the area again, so we get lost all the time. haha! Oh and Saturday there was a baptism!! It was so special!! The other missionaries had been teaching them before us--Luciano and Cleonice. They've been being taught for two years! I even got to speak at the baptism-- It was so neat. 

Anyway, love you all!! Have a great week!

-Sister Dickerson

It's hot here...

Cleiton e Yarlei!! 

Henrique!

Transfer!

Oi!! Boa tarde!!

So yesterday I had the surprise of my life! I'm being transferred! It's really unusual here to be transferred in your training period or when your companion is headed home... but the mission doesn't have very many missionaries right now. 17 missionaries are leaving this week and only a couple are coming in. Because of this, they closed five areas. Since Cabanagem Ward had two sets of missionaries, they closed our area. :( But I'm headed to the interior!! Whoo-hoo!! Paragominas, Castanhal Stake. :) I haven't met my companion yet--she is going to arrive tomorrow. I'm spending the day in Belém with other sisters.

I'm pretty sad to be leaving Cabanagem. It is honestly an AMAZING ward. Amazing. The members, our investigators... ahh!! It was really sad to bid them all goodbye. I love them all so much! It was also really hard to say goodbye to my companion, Sister Mimbela. We honestly became best friends! But she promised to write... so she better. I need to see pictures of her wedding. 

Henrique had his interview for baptism this week, but our District Leader didn't think he was ready.. and I think he was right. I got to teach him with a member yesterday while Sister Mimbela was visting other areas that she had been in, and it was wonderful! We talked about repentance, commandments, and how baptism helps us endure to the end. It was really fantastic. For the first time he said that he actually wants to be baptized, and he is going to really try to prepare for it! Ahh!! Amo trabalho missionário!

Anyway, I love you all! Life is great!

-Sister Dickerson

Zone Conference Choir

Boa tarde todos!

Boa tarde todos!

Well, this week has been an interesting one. Sister Mimbela only has one week left in the mission... so we have been trying to work hard, have fun, and change lives. I love her so much!! I really wish she could stay longer... we've become the best of friends. I don't really have much to report this week... the majority of our appointments fell through, a baptism fell, and other things of the sort... but what is amazing about it all is that I still feel happy and positive! The gospel is still true, for all people, all children of God, whether or not they are willing to accept it in this moment. 

This week I had the great opportunity to get to know lots of missionaries better! We had more practices for the choir throughout the week in Belém, and on Friday we had the conference! I was so great! It was entirely focused on preparing investigators for baptism and confirmation, which is what we've been working on with Henrique. Henrique knows that all the things we have taught him are true, but he's still struggling to find the desire to be baptized. The conference was a great reminder that we need to be patient and loving--he needs to find that desire in order to endure to the end. :) 

That's about it! I love my companion, I love my ward, I love my mission, and I love all of you! Have a fantastic week!! 

-Sister Dickerson

                                                                

Ola!

Ola!

Another week! This one flew by! Fortunately, Sister Mimbela and I are feeling much better now health-wise, so we were able to do a lot more work! This week we experienced a lot of rejection... which is of course part of being a missionary. However, we have two really special people that I want to ask you to pray for! The first is Emily, who is 16. Emily is the perfect, golden investigator that every missionary wants. We had the sweetest lesson ever when teaching her about the Book of Mormon this week. She sincerely reads, prays, and reflects on the things we teach her. She received an answer to her prayers! The only problem is her mom... She is very nice to us, but because she loves her church, she won't let Emily come to church with us. Please pray for this family--they really need it!

The second is Henrique--who is simply fantastic! He's 17, and we are hoping to have his baptism this coming Saturday. The only problem is that he's not feeling prepared enough to be baptized, even though we know that he is. We are going to fast for him tomorrow... You don't have to fast as well, but your prayers are very appreciated!

Other than that, this week has been rather slow. We have a big conference on Friday, and Sister Mimbela and are singing in the choir, so we have gone to Belém twice now for practices. It is very... interesting to sing in a Brazilian choir. The majority of people here are slightly tone-deaf, but it's still so fun to hear their enthusiasm!

To sum up--I'm great! It's still interesting to have people attempt to speak English to me every day and to give pamphlets of the Word of Wisdom to drunk people... And we watched the Testaments twice this week with recent converts... I'm going to have that movie memorized by the time I come home. In Portuguese.

Amo vocês!

Sister Dickerson