DUDLEY, WARREN: Vista Verde, Weeks 3, 4, 5, And 6

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I sent an email. This transfer has definitely been by far the hardest of my mission. It is really hard to get my companion to work and be obedient. Lots of stuff has happened. I´ve gotten a couple calls from President to make sure I´m ok, and we´ve had emergency interviews because of something my comp did. It hasn´t been exactly fun, but I´ve sure learned a lot. Even though it´s been really tough, there are still some good things that happened.

4. New Years and Christmas in Brasil was certainly an experience. The only Christmas traditions I was able to discover were a ton of food, fireworks, fireworks, fireworks, fireworks, and more fireworks. There were literally fireworks all night long. Apparently, everyone here has access to the huge, launch-in-the-sky fireworks, and they all like to spend at least half of their savings on fireworks to use on Christmas and New Year’s. The sky was literally completely lit up all night. It was so loud!

3. I forgot to talk about this last time, but on New Year´s Day, our district made a Churrasco (barbecue). The other three Americans and I did the grilling. It was super fun. It felt like the Fourth of July - grilling, speaking English, hot summer day, and fireworks going off in the city.

2. I was able to go to the Temple a second time this transfer. We took two people that were recently baptized, and they were able to be baptized for their deceased ancestors. As always, there was a really sweet Spirit there. It was really neat to see the faces of the two people we helped as they felt the Spirit in the Temple for the first time.

1. Aline is going to get baptized this week! We have taught her all the lessons, and she has such a strong testimony! She read part of the Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and received an answer that it is true. It has been incredible to see her conversion take place.

This week, I spent some time pondering 3 Nephi 5:13. I really thought about what it means to be a disciple of Christ and why I believe and have faith in Christ. I think that this is something really important for all of us to do, to actually ask ourselves why we believe. The four main reasons I isolated are:

1) I was born to incredible parents that taught me the Gospel of Christ and set examples for me

2) I choose to believe in Him

3) testimonies of prophets in the scriptures and modern-day

4) the testimony I have received from the Holy Spirit

My invitation for all of you this week is to ponder why you believe in Christ.

I love representing the Savior in Brasil, I love my companion, I love the Gospel and Atonement of Christ, I love my family, and I love my Redeemer. I am ready and excited to work harder, learn more, and love better this week!

Love,

Elder Warren Matthew Dudley

Week 3

Pictures:

#1 Vista Verde (Green View) at its finest

#2-3 Elder Cuadra and me

#4 Up on the roads

#5 The long walk to lunch

#6 A great view of one tiny part of our huge area

#7 Some really good parmesan chicken and coconut rice that I made. It did turn out a little spicy (I thought red cayenne pepper could be substituted for paprika), but I still liked it.

#8-10 The farms by Irmão Shagas’s house

Week 4
Pictures:

#1 Rafael and I on the way to the Campinas Temple with our ward

#2 The Campinas Temple

#3-4 Elder Cuadra, Roberto, Rafael, and I at the Campinas Temple

#5 - The way back from the temple

#6 The Relief Society Christmas present for us (lots of food and chocolate)

#7-8 Christmas Day

#10 View from the bus stop in the Santa Ines 3 neighborhood

Week 5
Pictures:

#1 District Meeting on New Year’s Day

#2 Americans grilling a Churrasco. From left to right: Elder Hill, Elder Miller, Me, Elder Maia

#3 Churrasco ready to eat!!

#4 Eating the Churrasco with our district

#5 View from a park after really hiking to visit a widow in our ward

#6 My new study of O Livro de Mórmon

Week 6

Well, this has definitely been an interesting 6 weeks. A new area, a new comp, and all sorts of other things in between. It was really tough. I had a really tough comp. I really like this area, but both my comp and I were transferred to new areas. I leave tomorrow for Suzano to be comps with Elder Perreira, which will be very different from anything I have experienced yet. I’m going to the Capital. I´m excited, but also sad to be leaving here.

5. I ate the weirdest thing I have eaten yet. It is called mocoto, and it is a soup made out of beans, bones, fat, cow feet, chicken feet, and all sorts of other things. It actually wasn´t that bad. I just ate the broth and beans part, so it was fine, just like broth. Also, speaking of food, I tried cabbage juice. It was mixed with lime, so it wasn´t that bad.

4. We saw something pretty crazy. We were trying to visit someone one night. They lived at the bottom of a huge, super steep hill. At the top, we saw a guy collapsed on the ground, underneath his bike. At first we thought he was dead, but then we realized he was super drunk. We tried to help him, but he didn´t want our help. We went to the bottom of the hill. When we reached the bottom, we looked back up and saw him trying to stand up. He tried a couple times but fell every time. He finally succeeded in getting up, and somehow got on his bike. Then he went shooting all the way down the hill, super fast, and crashed super hard into a brick wall and barbed wire right next to his house. His son came running at the same time we did. We tried to help him out, 'cause he was bleeding all over, but his son was so ashamed, he just dragged him inside.

3. We had a ward activity on Saturday at a Shakra, which is kind of like a little farmette. They made a huge Churrasco there, too. It was a blast. It took us a while to find it. We took a bus for 45 minutes, and then we just had to find the right street. We walked for an hour, but we couldn´t find it. We ended up getting directions from a drunk guy that we found in the street. We carried him to his house, which happened to be on the same street as the activity. It turned out to be a win for him and us - he got home without being run over, and we got to lunch.

2. We found a new family to teach. they have already asked to be baptized. We´re going to have to leave that for the next missionaries in this area. They are friends of a less active member that we have been helping. They are super awesome and have kept all of the commitments we left - to read the Book of Mormon, go to church, and attend the BAPTISM OF ALINE.

1. Aline was baptized! She has been taught since a little bit before I got here. She is super awesome. Aline is a single mom, about 35, with a 15-year-old and a 4-year-old. She is super smart and understands and remembers everything we teach her. However, it is not because of anything that we have done that she is being baptized. She read the Book of Mormon, and prayed to know whether it is true, and if we have a prophet on the earth today. She received a very strong confirmation from the Holy Spirit of the truth of the Restored Gospel of Christ.

Scripture of the week: Ether 12:4, follow the footnote for glorificar Deus to Nephi 12:16, follow the footnote to luz to 3 Nephi 18:24, follow the footnote to Mosias 16:9.

When we have faith and hope in this life, we glorify God. But how do we glorify God? We have to shine our light before all. What is our light? Christ. How do we make it shine? By trying to be like him and by talking about him and testifying of him. My invitation this week is to make your light shine to glorify our Father in Heaven.

Love,

Elder Warren Matthew Dudley

Pictures:

#1 Aline’s baptism

#2-4, 6-7 Saying goodbye to ward members

#2 Saying goodbye to Rose’s family

#3 Saying goodbye to the Shagas family

#4 Saying goodbye to Fabricio and his family

#5 Packing up again

#6 Saying Goodbye to Eleni and Kenai, Less Active members of the ward that we visited a lot

#7 Saying Goodbye to the Venezuelan refugees in our ward

#8 the Map of Vista Verde