Transfers, Baptisms, and More!

So on Monday we had a transfer and Sister S. Silva was transfered to Belém. :( But she's a sister training leader now, so that's pretty cool. And I don't need permission to call her, so that's even better! My new companion (it looks like I'm going to have lots of companions on this mission...) is Sister Colussi. She's from São Paulo and is downright adorable! 

The best part of this week was that we finally had a baptism!!! Woo-hoo!! Victoria was so excited! I love that girl so much! She was most nervous about the interview beforehand (she even took to studying her pamphlets on the way there haha). She said that afterward she felt so much lighter and so much happier. :) My camera is dead and wasn't able to take pictures, but Sister S. Silva took lots. However, as she was transfered.... I don't have them. Darn. But the next time I see her, I'll try to send them. :)

This week really had a lot of ups and downs... We were preparing Erleane to be baptized as well, but at the last moment she decided she didn't feel ready yet. But we are going to continue working with her and I'm sure it all is going work out! Also--funny story: We were at a member's house for a family home evening with some of our investigators, and the member decided to show us what he had been teaching his one-year-old son. He said, all super excited, "Who is it that's never going to marry a Sister??" To which Marcos Paulo (the one-year-old) shouted, "ME!!" Please don't teach your kids this... us sister missionaries want to get married too ya know. Haha

Other than all of that... life is good and busy. We have so much work to do... so much... I'm trying not to get stressed. But I have faith that it's all going to work out. This work is so marvelous! I love this gospel. Also--we had a great activity on Saturday with the young women when we went on splits and contacted as many people as possible, and the young women gave sweets to each person. It was lots of fun and very effective! If there are sisters in Sauk Rapids see if you can to that with them!

Oh!! I almost forgot--Eddy Mercado arrived yesterday! My zone leader called and I got to talk to him for a bit! I didn't realize until that moment that I am no longer fluent in English... But it was really nice to talk to someone from home!

Love you all!

Sister Dickerson

"Be of Good Cheer"

Hmm... Where to start... This week was pretty good, I'd say. (Just about every week is pretty good on the mission). I think first I want to start with my favorite part--people recognizing answers to their prayers! I believe it was on Tuesday or Wednesday, but we visited five or six investigators just to follow up on the commitments we gave them last time. What was so cool was to hear each and every one of them talk about how they felt when they prayed. Each of them described the good, peaceful feelings that they felt praying and reading the Book of Mormon. Ahh!! I love this gospel! It is so true. I know that any person who prays in faith, with an open heart, will receive an answer because this gospel is soooo true. 

But you know how I love to say that everything comes in opposites? One investigator, Geovane, who was supposed to be baptized this week got appendicitis, so he's recovering... And Vitoria's dad also had to go to the hospital Sunday morning, so she wasn't able to come to church either... So her baptism will have to be next week too. And two of my favorite investigators who already have a testimony of the Book of Mormon keep flaking out on church... ugh. On Sunday, as we were waiting for investigators to come to church, I was feeling pretty low. But!! My wonderful companion started talking about good cheer. :) We do our part; the Lord does His; and the people have to do theirs as well. I'm working as hard as I can, so that will have to be enough. :)

For fun little tidbits of the week, it was my companion's birthday on Friday! She's 24 now. We ate lots of great food. :) And I learned that icecream is super expensive here. And we're singing in the branch choir here (you know how I love music. :) )

That's about it for this week! I love you all so much! Remember to "be of good cheer--the future is as bright as your faith." (Pres. Monson). And remeber to work with the missionaries! Missionary work is the union of member missionaries and fulltime missionaries. :D

Love you all!

Sister Dickerson

Conferência Geral!!

Needless to say, I was incredibly excited for General Conference. And
it was so great!! The only problem was that the translators spoke too
fast haha. But I understood the majority of what was said, and I loved
it!! I have so many things to improve in my life... But so much hope
in how to do it. :D

This week was a week of miracles! (And the opposite... everything
comes in opposites...) There was one day when we had walked from one
side of town to the other to see an investigator, and he turned out
not to be home. By the time we got back to the area we usually work
in, we had very little time to work. We visited a few people, but
still we weren't finding much success. It was just then that a woman
called us and asked us to teach her. Just like that. She had already
been taught by the sisters but hadn't been baptized because her
boyfriend doesn't want to get married. However, she told us that she
really wants to be baptized, and she is willing to leave her
boyfriend, raise three kids on her own, in order to receive the
blessings of baptism. I was so astounded at her faith. We also found a
really great family (who is married--shocker here). The wife isn't
terribly excited... but the husband, Misarel, loves the gospel. He
came to conference. :)

Oh!! This week I went on splits!! We have a lot of investigators right
now, so Friday we had to do a division in order to visit everyone. I
went with a recent convert, Elica, to teach people. I think, for the
first time, I felt completely confident in my ability to lead as a
missionary. :) (It's really easy to let your Brazilian trainer do the
majority of the talking... so this was really good for me). Elica and
I found three new people too, which was super super great. :) Anyway,
I have a lot of pictures to send... but I think that I'll have to wait
for next week when the internet is better to send them.

Remember that the Lord loves you! Stay strong! And remember to do the
little things--family prayer, scripture study, FHE, and Church
attendence go a long way to strengthen your faith.

Love you all so much!
Sister Dickerson

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!