President Beardal:
This week has been incredible. We are still getting swamped by people that want english.
We are having to tell them to wait because we just don’t have enough time to teach them.
We probably have upwards of 30 people on the waiting list! I think that by the end of this
week, we will have enough people that we could keep 3 or 4 companionships busy up here
in Kirkland, and probably 1 or 2 companionships busy down in Renton.
I have been amazed by how many members that we have been able to find. We have a list
of 25 different Portuguese speaking households that are members of the church. A lot of
them are active, too! Everyone that we have been able to get in contact with is super excited
for the possibility to attend a Portugese Branch.
We had a huge miracle this week. We were in a park doing Facebook finding to get more
people for english classes. We had a free english class poster and a Brasilian flag set up as
we were sitting there. After a little while, this Brasilian lady named Katia came up to us. She
thought that what we were doing was so cool. She took a picture of us and posted it to the
Brasilians in Seattle Group on Facebook and posted it on some huge Whatsapp group chats
with our number. Within the next 24 hours, we got 20 different messages from 20 different
people that want the english classes!! Katia also gave us the contact information for one of
her best Brasilian friends, who happens to be a member! We texted the member, and the
member is so excited about the possibility of a branch!! The member then passed the
contact information for more Brasilian members, so that was amazing!! Also, we found out
from the member that Katia lives with some inactive Brasilian members in Renton. While we
were in the park, we had given a Book of Mormon to Katia, so hopefully we can both visit
and reactivate the inactive members and teach Katia and her family. Also, one of the people
that reached out to us wanting english classes because of her social media posts is a
member that has moved here in the last 6 months during the shut down, so no one knows
about him. He lives in Kirkland, so we are excited to be able to teach him and get him
involved with the church here. It was so incredible. It was definitely a huge testament to me
that the Lord really wants the work to move forward with the Brasilians here. When we are in
the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, the Lord is able to work miracles.
We were able to set a baptismal date with two of our friends this week. We were teaching
them english for the second time. The first time, we taught the Restoration, and it went super
well. This time, we went over what we taught last time, and they remembered pretty much
everything! They had some great inspired questions about baptism, so we read 3 Nephi 11
and invited them to be baptized! They got super excited, and we set their date for October
10! We are so excited to be working with them. It is so exciting to see people progressing
because of english classes!
Our district is doing good. There is a pretty good energy. The Chinese Elders seem to be
doing a good job trying to teach and find. It is hard for them to find people to teach, but I
think that they are doing a really good job. The Finn Hill Sisters also seem to be doing the
best they can to creatively find and work with members. They tried the member method out
with some success this week, so that is good. The Willows Elders also seem to be doing
well. Elder George is starting to really find his place in their companionship. It took him a
couple of weeks to get into the swing of things, but it seems like he is going at 100% now.
President, thanks for all that you and Sister Beardall do.
Love,
Elder Dudley
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President Beardall’s response
Wow! This reminds me of the stories from Wilford Woodruff and Heber C. Kimball when they
opened up missionary work in the British Isles back in the 1830's. You can see it starting to
happen. We will definitely apply all the available resources this next transfer to capitalize on
this surge in momentum. Thank you for all you are doing. It is exciting. We are so grateful!
We love you Elder Dudley!
