Redondo Transfer 2 Week 4

What a week! It has been such an awesome week! We got off to a good start last P-Day. Elder Atkina and I went to the church and set up our hammocks in the trees out back behind the church. We just hung out and relaxed for an hour and a half, and then got to work when P-Day ended. It was super nice to just chill and relax for a little. 

 

 

On Tuesday, we didn't have district council (because we had zone conference on Friday), so I didn't need to prepare a district council. However, on tuesday, Elder Atkin and I did have ameeting with President Beardall and President Keeney. We talked about the 58 new missionaries coming in this transfer and all of the new languages we will be getting. We talked about which of those languages will benefit the zone. There are a lot of Korean  and  Ukranian speakers in Federal way, so some missionaries that speak those languages might come hereto try and work with those people. President Beardall is super excited for all of these new languages coming in, and really thinks that this will be an incredible opportunity because Seattle is such a diverse place. He talked abut how Elder Schelin (who was also reassigned from Brasil) and I have been working together to get english classes for Brasilians started up. President Beardall thinks that there is a huge chance to make a difference with Portuguese, especially in the Kirkland zone. Out of the 30 Brasilians  that we have been trying to help out with english, most of them live in Kirkland. Elder Schelin also received 55 Portuguese referrals from Kirkland! President Beardall wants to start a branch there. I don't know what is going to happen next transfer, but I would not be surprised at all if either Elder Schelin, or I, or even both of us go to Kirkland to help start that branch. That would be so cool! President also hyped up the Portuguese english classes and the potential that there is to start a Portuguese branch during  zone conference on Friday. It was super awesome!

 

 

This week, I also finally managed to get into the Brasilians in Seattle group on Facebook. I have been trying to do that for the last transfer and a half, but they weren't letting me in for some reason. I guess its probably 'cause I'm not Brasilian. This week, I felt the prompting to reach out to the admin of the facebook group. I explained to him why I wanted to be part of the group, and how we were offering free english classes to Brasilians. He let me in!!! I basically now have 8,000 referrals for Brasilians that live in Seattle. My guess is pretty much anyone I text on the group will either want personal, in home english classes, or will know someone who does. It is super exciting, and again, most of these Brasilians live in Kirkland. The exciting part of teaching English is that all of these Brasilians are super excited to have us in their homes and to get taught one on one. they are super grateful, and all believe in God, so it is super easy to share a message with them afterwards. It is going to be a really good tool to find people to teach. 

 

 

Zone Conference was really good. We had it on Friday at the pavilion at our stake center. The Redmond and Bellvue Zones were also there. Elder Atkin and I got there early to set up all the chairs and get everything ready. It was the first in person conference since Corona started. It was a good zone conference. President and Sister Beardall gave some really good training, as did the Assistants and some of the STLs and ZLs. Elder Atkin and I were supposed to give a training on Invitin with the Spirit, but we ran out of time. President did, however, ask for all the reassigned missionaries to share an effective thing that we did in our old mission that could be applied here. Not all the reassigned missionaries had something, but I talked for a little bit about how important the Book of Mormon is. In São Paulo, my companions and I would usually leave with 4-6 Book of Mormon's every day in our backpacks. We almost alwasy came home with empty backpacks. My old mission president, President Miller, taught me that the Book of Mormon is the best missionary out there. Even if we don't think they are going to read it, if someone is willing to talk to us, we should give it to them because we never know the effect it could have on them or someone else in their home. The next time missionaries knock on their door, they will might let them in to explain about the Book of Mormon. When we did our exchange with the assistants, I talked with Elder Anderson about the same thing. He totally agreed that we could totally give out more Book of Mormons here.

We had a good week in our area. We set baptismal dates with four of our friends, found some solid new friends, and taught a ton. Just on Sunday alone, we had 12 lessons, and set 3 baptismal dates!! The Lord is definitely hastening His work here. People have definitely been humbled by the virus. We are starting to see the miracles happen.

 

 

We have about 9 people with a baptismal date in our area. All of them are for next transfer. About 5 of them are really solid. Here is the update on each of them.

 

 

Velma is super sweet elderly lady that we found buried in our area book. we met her 3 weeks ago and have been teaching her regularly. Last week, we set a baptismal date with her for August. She loves the Book of Mormon, and we have taught her the Restoration so far.

 

 

Daniel has been taught for the last year. He used to be homeless and addicted to drugs, but has been clean for a couple years. He started reading the Bible and has devoted his life to Christ. He has two young kids. The tricky thing with him is that he has schizophrenia. He honestly manages it pretty well, but he is convinced that he has a demon possesing him. Despite that, he has a testiony of Joseph Smith and has been taught all of the lessons multiple times. We had a great lesson with him on Sunday. I bore my testimony to him about how baptism by proper authority is so important, and how the gift of the Holy Ghost will bless him. We then set a baptismal date with him. It was awesoem! The Spirit was so strong! I think that Daniel and one of his sons will get baptized as long as they start reading the Book of Mormon regularly.

 

 

Brian was a referral that we got from the Tacoma Mission this week. The first time we called him, we read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and asked him if he wanted to get baptized. He said yes, and we set a baptismal date in August!!! We met him in person on Sunday, and taught him the Restoration. He is super awesome, and has a lot of faith. Brian is 21 years old, and moved here a few years ago from Kenya. I think that he is definitely going to be baptised as long as we can stay in contact with him.

 

 

The Warbus family is a part member family. Sister Warbus wants het two 10 year old grandsons that live with her to be baptized. We have been meeting with them, and on Sunday, we set a baptismal date with them for September 9!

 

 

All in all, it was a super good week! I definitely feel gratitude that we are able to help with these people's conversions in the tiniest way. Heavenly Father is truly doing a marvelous work and a wonder.

 

 

Scripture of the week: Alma 26:11-16

 

 

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

 

 

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

 

 

Bonus Story:

We talked to the craziest person I have ever met in my life. We were meeting one of our friends to teach them at a park (which was actually super cool, because it was a Bonsai tree museum), and this crazy lady started to talk to us. She babbled for a straight 20 minutes, and could hav egone on for an entire day if we had not just left. If you have ever played that game where you say one word, and someone lese has to say a word that is related, and then you pick a new word, and back and forth, so on and so on, it was like that. She was making the craziest connections in an almost monologue of poetry. She was anywhere from Corona to bible quotes, to latin roots of words, to churches, conspiracy theories, aliens, Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Medieval torture, singing, and a whole bunch of other weird stuff. It was the craziest thing.

 

 

Pictures 1-4 - One of our lessons with Lashanta was at a Bonsai Garden this week

Redondo Transfer 2 Week 3

This week went by so fast! We were really busy, which is really good. Last P Day, we had a zone activity at the stake center. It was a blast. Elder Atkin made a whole bunch of hamburgers, so we ate a fun lunch as a zone, and then we played kickball, wiffleball, and ultimate frisbee from 1 pm until 5 pm. I also set up my hammock under the pavilion at the stake center. It was a blast. It was so fun just to run around and just play games for a day. The entire zone had a good time. Everybody was super sore the next day. When I woke up on Tuesday, my legs were dead.

 

 On Tuesday, we had district council. It was probably the best one yet. We talked about the importance of still finding people to teach and how we 

can do that,  correlation meeting with the ward mission leader, and prayers of faith. It went really well. For the prayers of faith part, I gave each companionship a set of scriptures and asked them to read and then share with us. It was really good. We used 2 Nephi 4, Enos, and Alma 31.

 

On Wednesday, we had interviews with President for the first time since quarantine started. It was awesome. He came down to our stake center and did the interviews outside the building. The Lakota Creek elders were first, so we gave them a ride to the building and then took them back home. We did that from about 8 until 10, so afterwards, we came home and did personal study and daily planning. We had our interviews scheduled for 12, but President ran late and we ended up going at like 2 in the afternoon. It was fine, though. It is always good to have interviews and just get a chance to talk with President. I really like President Beardall. 

 

On Thursday, we did an exchange with the Lakota Creek Elders. I went to Lakota Creek with Elder Richards, and Elder Baptista went to Redondo with Elder Atkin. It was my first day on a bike as a missionary! It was super fun. I really liked it because we were able to talk to so many more people. Elder Baptista's bike was terrible, though. The brakes did not work at all, and it was only a 7 speed. it was not good for going down or up hills, and there are plenty of hills. It was fine, though. We had a good exchange. We talked to a lot of people, gave out a Book of Mormon, and got out some return appointments. 

 

While Elder Atkin was with Elder Baptista, they set a baptismal date for Velma! She is going to get baptized on August 15!

 

On Saturday, we did some service in the morning. At 8, we helped a sister in our ward move all of the stuff in her house to a storage unit. We got there, and the only other people helping move her stuff were 5 80+ year old brothers from our ward. It was definitely good that we were there to help. We got that done, and at 9:30, we started an exchange with the Assistants (because Elder Atkin is Zone Leader). Elder Atkin went with Elder Morgan to Newport, and Elder Anderson stayed with me in Redondo. It was super cool to be with Elder Anderson for a day. I really like him. He is a good missionary. We basically spent the whole day at our zone free car wash. It was pretty fun, and we got about 35 people to come through.We had a family history and service booth set up as well. It was good. I did get super sunburned because Elder Anderson and I flipped signs on the street to advertise the car wash for three straight hours. My neck is usually protected by my collar, but it is glowing red now because I was in normal clothes.

Scripture of the week: 2 Corinthians 4:17 

 

 

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

 

 

Photo 1 - Summer!!

Photo 2 - Out Working!!

Photos 3-4 - The Puget Sound!!

Photo 5 - My Sunburn!!!

Photo 6 - Some awesome food that some Mexican Members gave to the Hermanas, who then gave the extra to us

Redondo Transfer 2 Week 2

I finally feel like summer has hit!! It has been sunny almost every day!! Even though it is still only about 75 degrees, just seeing the sun makes it feel like summer. Last P-Day was super awesome because Elder Atkin and I went to Saltwater State Park, which is right on the Puget Sound. It was really fun to just be in nature, especially close to the water. A cool thing about the Puget Sound, or at least the part by us, is that during low tide the water goes almost 60-70 feet out because the Sound is pretty shallow. You can walk along the ocean sand during low tide. We flipped over some rocks and found a ton of crabs and other ocean life. 

 

 

This week has been super good. We set a baptismal date with someone!! Her name is Martha. She self referred herself to us. She met with missionaries in West Virginia. We talked with Martha over the phone and extended the baptismal invitation, and she accepted! She seems pretty ready. The only problem is that she works in a care center and can’t meet with anyone right now. We set a date for July 27, but that might have to get moved back.

 

 

We met a guy named Nelson Valdez this week. He is paralyzed from the waist down, and has absolutely no attention span whatsoever. We could not even get through one verse of scripture with him. He made some pretty funny comments. The best one happened after he got distracted by my name tag. He thought it was in Spanish, and when I told him it was Portuguese and that I served in Brasil, he got super excited. He asked me, “Isn’t Rio de Janeiro the downtown of Brasil?” It was pretty funny. 

 

 

We started meeting with an old lady named Velma this week. She is super sweet. She was contacted once by missionaries almost a year ago. We went to contact her this week, and we ended up teaching her the Restoration. She loved it! The Spirit was super strong, especially when we said the first vision. It was a really good lesson. We went back on Sunday, and she didn’t really have time, but she decided to just talk with us for a couple minutes because she felt bad. We read part of 3 Nephi 11, and she loved it again! She loved the fact that it is so simple and straight-forward. She said the prayer at the end of the lesson, and it was super pure and powerful. She thanked Heavenly Father for us teaching her. It was awesome!!

 

 

We have been doing a lot of creative finding, including some stuff on Facebook. I have been posting ads for free service on a bunch of community pages. This week, we had an opportunity to serve someone named Kristin. She lives in the Hylebos area, so we went over there with the Hylebos Elders and pulled a bunch of blackberry bushes out. It was pretty fun.

 

 

We also did some service at the Federal Way Senior Center. It is run by volunteers, and no one had done weeding there in a couple months. We went there on Wednesday and did some weeding for a couple hours with the Dumas Bay Hermanas and the Star Lake Sisters. It was pretty fun. They were definitely very grateful. We are going to go back there this week.

 

 

On Tuesday, we had our second district council. It went pretty well. The Dumas Bay Hermanas are doing super good. They set a baptismal date for Solidad this week, and she is super solid! It was super cool. The Lakota Creek Elders are doing pretty good. They are getting outside and doing some productive stuff, but they are not being super effective. I am going to do an exchange with them this week. It’ll be good. During district council, I had the Hermanas and the Elders do some role playing for the first part, and then I led a discussion on personal revelation. I think it went pretty well. There was pretty good participation. I based it off of two talks from the last general conference - Prayers of Faith by Elder Eyring and Continuing Revelation… by Elder Cook. Everyone prepared pretty well for the discussion by reading the talks.

 

 

The Boyds gave us a ton of food again. I guess this is the upside to being in a ward where the average age is 60 and up. They called us and told us they had some food for us. When we got there, they gave us a huge crate of food - canned goods, butter, bacon, Jimmy Dean sausage rolls, enchiladas, 72 eggo waffles, syrup, hamburgers, bread, cheese, mac and cheese, and a bunch of other stuff. We literally couldn’t even fit it in the fridge. It was awesome.

 

 

Scripture of the week: Alma 31:26-28. I really love these scriptures. Alma was truly a great missionary. I want to pray as earnestly as he did, and be saddened at the sight of ignorance and sin as he did. I want to have the same love and concern for those I teach and am called to serve. I especially love the last verse, where it states that there was no trial or affliction that they had that could not be overcome by joy in Christ. It then states that this happened because Alma prayed with faith. I think that we can all follow Alma’s example to pray with faith. I think that he sets agrat example here by the simpleness of his prayer. He was not blessed because of the eloquence of the prayer, but because of his faith. While we should obviously refer to our Father with respect, it does not matter the words we use if we lack faith. If we have faith, our Father will hear our cries and we will feel His presence in our lives. 

 

 

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

 

 

Photo 1-3 - Saltwater State Park on P Day

4-5 - Gotta love hammocks on P Day

Redondo Transfer 2 Week 1

Happy 4 of July!!!! I love America!!!! It was so fun to get to be in the United States for Independence Day! I totally thought that I would be spending this fourth in Brasil. Being in the US for America's birthday was definitely awesome! I love America so much and am so grateful to have been born here and live when I do. It is incredible how God has blessed this great nation. There has never been another country like this since the beginning of time. That may sound a little arrogant, but hey, it's true. Heavenly Father has prepared this land for centuries. It was especially prepared for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Religious liberty offered in our country is so incredible. Our Heavenly Father truly inspired the founding fathers as they drafted the Constitution and led our country. He definitely was on their side as we fought against the British. 1 Nephi 13:12-19, 30. 

 

 

Even 600 years before Christ's birth, Nephi was shown that the power of God was with us. 

 

 

The first verse of My Country ‘Tis of Thee starts with “sweet land of liberty” and ends with “let freedom ring”. America the Beautiful contains the line “thy liberty in law”. The Star Spangled Banner ends with “the land of the free, and the home of the brave”. As these great patriotic choruses reflect, America is built on the promise of freedom and liberty. It is what our Independence was declared for. Freedom and liberty is what we have always fought for, our own and that of others. An intrinsic part of God’s great plan for us as His children is our ability to choose and act freely. One of the great teachings God revealed through one of His prophets in the Book of Mormon was “men are free according to the flesh….. they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men". As put forth in God’s holy scriptures, our great Constitution reflects the inspired foundation of our country by guaranteeing these privileges to us. So long as Americans hold up these values of freedom, liberty, and justice, our great nation will stand apart from all others. So long as we remember that it is by and through God, and built upon His principles, the Stars and Stripes will continue to proudly wave.

 

 

America. The very name of our country brings sentiments of pride, gratitude, and patriotism. America is a sanctuary and refuge of hope and dream, a place where legacies are made and destinies made possible. America radiates hope for a better tomorrow throughout the most challenging of troubling times. While imperfect, as all things are in this world, the pattern has been well established that this country will continue to progress and move forward to give all people more opportunity than they had yesterday. True patriots are committed to the ideals that the Constitution set forth and to see those values brought to every one of God’s children. America embodies the hope of unity in times of division. Repeatedly in our great history, conflicts of the day have divided and pulled us part, placing temporary rifts in us as a country. Racial, ethnical, ideological, religious, and political differences have generated conflict, injustice, and even civil war. However, throughout every challenging time, America pulls back together to its roots of hope in progress.We work towards a brighter tomorrow each time, always improving in understanding. America has always been a true residence of hope and will continue as such. We are God’s light to the world.

 

 

We are a country of patriots. We love this land, and must always do so. We must always remember the incredible sacrifice that so many millions of our fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters, and countrymen have paid - not for themselves, but for us. As we celebrate this holiday, let us not forget the burdens others have borne, the challenges they have fought and struggled to overcome, the sacrifices so many have made, and why they have done so much for us. Many have even laid down their lives so that we can celebrate this land. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ taught, “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'' (John 15:13). America was built and maintained on the backs of well known and celebrated heroes, men like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and so many others. In addition to these great men, unknown and unnamed heroes have done just as much. The farm boy that fought on the frontlines, the firefighters that gave their all in 9/11, the police force that protects us, the school teachers that educate us, and all the other unsung heroes preserve this great nation. We are seeing throughout this current crisis of Covid-19 how many heroes there really are in our country. All the doctors, nurses, and first responders are willing to do so much for the well-being of other Americans. It is our duty to remember all of our heroes and honor them through our actions. We must continue to embody the true American Spirit, even as they have done. America being great depends solely on us. It is our responsibility to sacrifice, to fight for the truth, independent of ourselves.

 

 

As we celebrate our great nation on the Fourth of July, thank God for all that he has blessed us with. The cause of this nation always was and should be that of our Father. As we celebrate, look past imperfections, and begin to hope for a brighter future. Seek for improvement and liberty, and forget injustice and hate. There are always those who seek to destroy hope and opress, but we as Americans must always seek to liberate and to raise others up. America is not an inherently hateful country. Our country was founded on our ancestor’s hopes, prayers, dreams, and wishes for us. They sacrificed for us. What are you willing to sacrifice to ensure that what they have done is not sacrificed in vain? What are you willing to do to sacrifice for the future, to preserve liberty, independence, freedom, and equality? Are you willing to put aside bias, hate, and prejudice? Are you willing to serve your neighbor? Are you willing to be a good citizen, to teach your children the blessing it is to live here? Are you willing to forget division and take a step forward with love, gratitude, an open heart, and hope? Are you willing to sacrifice for God and our country? Are you willing to do what it takes to be a true American?

 

 

 It is our duty to qualify for those blessings of freedom, liberty, peace, equality, justice, and hope. God will bless this great country as we celebrate our great country by showing Him our gratitude through our actions. 

 

 

I love America so much. There is a reason why my favorite superhero is Captain America. I love my home. I have always been a Patriot, but I even more so now after seeing the stark contrast of all the blessings and privileges I have grown up with to the opportunities that are not quite as accessible in Brasil. Brasil is still a really good country, but America is incredible. 

 

 

Well, I think that I probably wrote enough about America. I just love the Fourth of July. This week was really good. On Wednesday, we had our zone/district council. I lead the district council for the first time. It went really well. In this mission, they do three parts for district council: accountability, effectiveness, and discipleship. During accountability, we talk about our goals as a district, how our areas are doing, what problems we have, and what miracles we saw in the last week. President or the APs send out a specific topic for the effectiveness portion. It is generally something we can do to improve in the work. Discipleship is then left to the discretion of the district leader. This week, I decided to lead a discussion on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the role of His Atonement in missionary work during the discipleship portion. It went pretty well.

 

 

This week we also had MLC (mission leadership council). It was super awesome because we were able to do it in person at a pavilion outside of our stake center. It was so fun to be with everyone in person. President Beardall, the APs, and some other companionships gave some really good trainings. Elder Schelin and I were asked to talk about our English class for Brasilians. We talked to everyone about how we got it started, what the format is, what we are trying to do with it, and how they can implement other classes like this for the other languages that we have in our mission. It was pretty cool to do that.

 

 

This week, we started posting ads on Facebook for community service. We have had probably ten or so people respond, so that should be pretty cool for the next week or so. I am excited. Service is one of the biggest ways that we can find people to teach right now. 

 

 

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 1:7

 

 

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

 

 

Photos 1-2 My favorite USA scriptures. There is something kind of funny about reading these scriptures in Portuguese