Well, this week was pretty crazy!!! On Monday, I packed all of my bags up. It took a little while, but I got everything packed. The next day, we went to the Metro Station in Suzano. Elder Pereira and I went to Itaqua to leave my bags with the Elders there, who then took my bags to the house. I then went with another Elder to the mission office in Belem, São Paulo by the metro. It took about an hour to get there. Once we got there, we waited for a while until President called all of the trainers into his office. He, Sister Miller, and the APs gave us a training. It was pretty good. Then, all of the brand new missionaries were invited in, and we met our new companions. My new comp is Elder Ellingson, from Mesa Arizona. He is number twelve of thirteen siblings. He did one semester at BYU, and then went to the São Paulo CTM for 6 weeks. President gave us some more instructions with our new comps, and then we ate lunch in the mission office. Afterwards, we all went back to our areas.
We had to wait in the Mission Office a little longer than the other companionships because the house that we are going to in Villa Virginia, Itaquaquecetuba already has two other missionaries and only three beds. We had to wait for an air bed and some clothes racks. Once we had everything and duct taped the stuff to my comp’s bags, we went to the metro station. There, we found some Sister Missionaries with a million bags, lost as could be. Luckily, we were going to the same zone as them, so we were able to help them with their bags until we got to the meeting point with the zone leaders.
At the meeting point with the Zone Leaders, we meet up with Elder Messace and Elder Tinorio, the missionaries from Villa Virginia that we live with. They helped us with the suitcases and we went to the apartment with them. They are both pretty cool, and super funny. Both of them were baptized just a short time before their missions. They are pretty great to live with. The apartment is pretty good, but it is a little small for four missionaries. It's only got one bathroom.
So, there we are opening up an area that has been without missionaries for about 6 months, maybe a little less. I´m responsible for teaching a new missionary Portuguese, how to be a missionary, and how to survive in Brasil. We are living in a house in Villa Virginia, our church building is in Jardim Odet, and our area is Caiuby. It takes us about an hour to get to the church, and an hour and a half to get to our area if we walk. There are three other areas in Itaqua, and our area basically makes an L around all of them. Our area touches four other cities: Guarulhos, Aruja, Suzano, and Mogi. When we got here, we didn´t have a map of our area, and we got a new phone, so we didn´t have the numbers of any of the members. We also didn´t have an area book, real beds, or tables to study. HOWEVER, I`M LOVING EVERY MOMENT AND EVERYTHING HAS WORKED OUT GREAT!!!! A little challenge is good.
This week, we basically just knocked doors and made contacts because we are starting from scratch. I was able to schedule a meeting with the quorum presidency, and another meeting with our Bishop because the other missionaries passed me their numbers. The Bishop is great, and the Quorum Presidency is awesome. The quorum president is 25, the first counselor is 24, and the second counselor is 23. They all served missions, and are super, super excited for us to be here. We had so much fun with them during our meeting with them, and they are going to help us out a ton. I am so excited. The entire ward is awesome. Sunday was the best. It is the biggest ward I have seen in Brasil - 110 to 130 people there on Sunday. There are youth, and everybody is super excited to have missionaries again. I think that we will have a ton of help from the members!!!
So, this week, we had two big tender-mercies in which we saw the Lord´s hand in our lives. The first was when we were trying to find the church one night. We got pretty lost, but two 18-year-old guys from the ward came across us and took us to the church. I don´t think we would have found the church without them. The second happened after lunch one day. I´ve been having stomach problems all week, and after a particular lunch, I was feeling really bad. I really needed to use the bathroom, but we were super far from any bathroom that we knew of. However, an Irmão from our ward found us on the road, and I was able to use the bathroom in his house. I ended up throwing up quite a bit, so it was good to be in a clean house. I´m really grateful for times like those, when I am praying and I need help, and the Lord responds so quickly and perfectly to prayers.
Scripture of the week: Mosias 3:19 I really love how in this scripture; we see the effects of the Atonement of Christ and how we change through the Atonement of Christ.
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
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 The Map of Itaquaquecetuba in the apartment. Our area was not marked, so we had no idea where to go the first day
#2 Our room
#3 Elder Ellingson and I doing language study on his first real day
#4-5 On the way to Milton’s house for lunch
#6-7 Scaffidi 2, close to Milton’s house
#8 The Church in Jardim Odete
#9 Elder Ellingson and I on the first day at the mission home
#10 Elder Ellingson and I by the Estrada dos Indios in Caiuby
