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
