July 7, 2014

Oi minha familia e amigos!

This week was great!  We helped three children of God enter the aguas of batismo (Jailton, Fransisca, and Uerle).  Fransisca and Uerle were married Friday (Sister J. Silva and I were the witnesses) and everyone was baptized Saturday.  We filled up the outdoor font Saturday morning and the water was already warm (the water here changes temperature according to the weather outside, so if it's hot the pipes will warm up and you'll get hot water, kind of ironic, seeing that when it's cold you want hot water and when it's hot you want cold water). 

However, by the time of the baptism the water was quente (HOT)!  It was almost like we wanted to cook our investigators.  They flinched when they stepped in and were a bit scared to go under, but thankfully all of the baptisms went well the first time, so they didn't have to repeat any (baptism by water and fire at the same time?). lol. 

Presidente and Sister Soares came to Mossoró this week.  It was just our luck, seeing that Jailton had to have a second interview.  Presidente Soares interviewed Jailton outside his house in Presidente's car and we had a lesson with Rosilene, Jailton's wife with Sister Soares inside the house.  It was really special to have the opportunity to teach a lesson with Sister Soares and hear her bear her testimony to this wonderful daughter of God who still doesn't know if she wants to be baptized. (she now has a baptismal date for the 13th).

Jailton and Rosilene's son was a strong member of the church who was baptized by the missionaries years ago and always went out to help the missionaries teach lessons.  However, he unfortunately got involved with the wrong people and is currently serving time in prison.  Rosilene goes to visit him every week and he is currently reading The Book of Mormon.  He was so happy when he heard that his Dad would be baptized. 

When Presidente and Sister Soares found out about Jailton and Rosilene's son, they responded with nothing but love.  Presidente told Jailton and Rosilene that although their son had made some mistakes, he could still repent and be forgiven, which I could tell definitely made a difference.

The night before Presidente and Sister Soare's came, Sister Arzani had a dream that she would have to cook a meal for them, and in her dream she was really scared because she didn't know what she would cook and thought she wouldn't be able to cook very well...and guess what?  Presidente and Sister Soares came to visit our house.  Sister Arzani and Sister Do Carmo's lunch caiu (was canceled), so Sister Arzani cooked beef stroganoff for us.  Only afterwards did we call the Sisters and tell them that we would be coming to the house with Presidente and Sister Soares for lunch. 

Sister Soares was so sweet and bought us juice, a cake, bananas, lasagna, and extra forks and knives, and Presidente and Sister Soares came over to our house for dinner.  They all loved the food and we had a great time talking to them and were able to share a message with them after lunch.

The game on Friday was really dramatic!  Neymar Jr. (our star player) broke his spine when someone on the Columbian team kneed him in the back for basically no reason at all and he will no longer be playing in the cup.  We also lost T. Silva for tomorrow's game when he received a yellow card for running into the goalie.  The game tomorrow is going to be really difficult. The only awesome player we have now is David Luiz and our goalie, Juliu Cesar. Brasil has to win!!! Just pray and keep your fingers crossed!

The Elders called me Friday night to sing Happy Birthday to me and Sister Olla, who is our new Sister Lider Treinadora, and the Sisteres in Urick Graff called me Saturday to sing.  I sincerely wasn't expecting much on my birthday aside from the three great baptisms, which included my first family baptism (greatest present ever), but Saturday night we had a meeting with our ward mission leader. 

Sister J. Silva and I were a bit late and Felip (our ward mission leader) and his family were sitting outside with the other sisters waiting for us.  (Everyone in Brasil likes to sit outside to catch the wind).  Felipe then told me to go inside to get some more chairs, so I opened the door and started walking inside and then everyone bursted out singing (Parabéns para vocé!  Happy Birthday to you!) So I had a surprise birthday party Saturday night with cous cous, cake, brownies, Guaraná, etc.  It was really great. 

Love yall!  Com amor,

Sister Dyer

Q: Can you describe what Açai is? It looks kind of like a "bing" from taiwan.

A: It's sort of like berry sorbet that you eat with a bunch of stuff on top.  I like açai with bananas, strawberries (if they have any), condensed milk, powdered milk, and granola, but you can eat it with a lot of other things.

Q: Is your new area in the same city? How many Sisters live in your apartment? Did you move to a new apartment this transfer?

A: My area is in the same city of Mossoró, but I am living in another house that is really big and nice with my filhina Sister J. Silva, and Sister Do Carmo (Fortaleza) and Sister Botsworth Arzani (Iowa - she served for some time in WA).  The only down side to our apartment is that we have a friend that likes to visit the other sisters' bathroom.  His name is Fred Pettigrew [an animal like in Harry Potter, not a person].

Sister Dyer and the Bishop's Family (Urick Graff Ward) - Brasil vs. Mexico

Sister Dyer holding an armadillo (The World Cup mascot is a tatu (armadillo) named Fuleco)

Açai is the BEST!!!  Don't know how I will ever live without it (Sister Dyer and Sister Adriane) - Sousa

Jocileno's baptism (Ivanaldo's father) - Ivanaldo, Sister Dyer, Jocileno, Sister Adriane.  He always wears sunglasses.  Not in the font though. We finally got to see his gleaming eyes as he embraced his son after Ivanaldo baptized him (Sousa)

We are as the Army of Helaman.  We have been taught in our youth. And we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world its TRUTH!

(Elder Clark, Elder White, Elder Bowman, Sister Souza, Elder Carvalo, Sister Adriane, Sister Merceleno, Sister Dyer) (Sousa)

Natanael's Miracle Baptism - Elder J. Castro, Sister Olla, Natanael, Lazaro, Elder Adams, Sister Dyer, Antonio (front)

Sister J. Silva and Sister Dyer - Brasil vs. Chile.  Woo! Woo!  Brasil!

Sister Adriane and Sister Dyer (Sousa)

Sister Young, Sister Acosta, Sister Dyer at Mission Conference with Elder Leal.  We love our Mainha!!!