Iai bom dia a todos!!!
Hey what´s up everybody? I had another great week here with Elder Pèreira. We're working like crazy! It´s pretty tiring, usually we spend 5-8 hours in the sun walking each day, but I love it. We try to talk with everybody, but we never have enough time in the day.
We had some pretty great street-contacting this week. Here are the top three:
3. I gave someone a Book of Mormon while carrying half a watermelon that was bigger than my arms could fit around.
2. I had the longest street contact of my mission. We started talking to this guy on the street corner about what we believe, and he started talking and wouldn´t stop. We wanted to be polite so we could give him a Book of Mormon, but he talked for an hour and forty minutes. It was so long!
1. We knocked on a door, and a guy came to talk with us. The first thing he asked is if Ronald Reagan sent us. I love Brasil!!!
The best thing that happened this week is that 7 people that we are teaching went to church!!!
Bruna, Adriana and her family (Junior, Agata, Diego, Erik), and Felipe. We were so happy to see them all in church. We have been trying so hard to get them there, especially Adriana and her family. Adriana told us that missionaries have been trying to teach her for years, and that we are different from all of the others. I think that we are getting close with her!! It is really incredible to see people gain testimonies, not because of what we say, but because of what the spirit testifies as they read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Jose and Norma are also getting closer to getting married and baptized, which is exciting. We have some other people that we are teaching that also seem genuinely interested.
On Wednesday, we had to go to the hospital. Elder Pereira was having stomach pain, and he noticed that he had a weird bulge above his stomach. We thought it was a tumor or something. He did an ultrasound, and it turns out that it's just a ball of fat. It was pretty funny! Unfortunately, we were there three hours to get that diagnosis.
We also did an act of service this week. We saw a guy carrying a big sofa on the street by himself. We offered to help. We ended up helping him deliver the couch to a bunch of drug addicts. We had no idea beforehand, but I thought it was pretty funny when I realized who we had delivered the couch to.
Scripture of the week: Alma 32:1-2
1 And it came to pass that they did go forth, and began to preach the word of God unto the people, entering into their synagogues, and into their houses; yea, and even they did preach the word in their streets.
2 And it came to pass that after much labor among them, they began to have success among the poor class of people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel.
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
Pictures:
#1 - We found this logo of a local soccer team. I thought it was pretty hilarious because the team just copied the Celtics logo.
#2 - Studying English in the park
#3-12 Proselyting in Villa Fatima
#4, 5, and 9 Elder Pereira really didn’t like the sun. He always used an umbrella, rain or shine. He used this flowery looking umbrella that was super goofy because he had lost his black one. Luckily, a couple weeks later, we found his black one at the church, and he gave the flowery one to somebody in our ward.
#3 Me on the streets
#6,7,8 Views of the favelas in Vila Fatima
#10-12 Having fun on the job!
