Ola!!
This week was a good week. It went by so fast that I feel like I can barely remember what happened.
This is going to be a pretty brief email because I'm super tired. I've just been super slow all day.
The biggest miracle we had this week was at church. We had another amazing fast and testimony meeting for the Portuguese group. We had 7 of our friends there, including Rosi, who has a baptismal date for the 27. The very first testimony was the testimony of a recent convert from Kent. She basically told her conversion story for 20 minutes. She came to the States to learn english. She was here for four months, and was about to go back to Brasil, but due to some legal complications, she had to stay in the US. She talked about not understanding why, and being frustrated with God, but because of the extra time, she met her husband. They got married. He was less active at the time, but they decided to go to church. The missionaries started visiting them, and she was soon baptized. She then talked about all of the blessings that have come because of her decision to join the church. She also talked a ton about the Plan of Salvation because her husband actually just passed away. All in all, it was the perfect Sunday for all of the people we are teaching.
After the meeting, Rosi was finally able to stay and meet some church members. It was great. One of them asked her if she was a member, and Rosi said, "not yet." It was awesome! I really think that she is going to get baptized. It is so amazing to see her progressing so much.
I had an interesting experience the other day. We were doing our zone finding day, where we split all of the companionships up and sent everyone into two areas to work. I was with Elder Moyer and Elder Koenig. We met a man named Justin. Justin has met with many missionaries in the past. He really loves the church. He is also severely disabled. His hips never formed properly, and he is missing a leg. His hips cause him chronic pain that worsens every day. This has severely impacted his outlook on life. I understand that. I think that it would be impossible to not see things differently. However, he doesn't believe in God. He said that he was not blessed with faith. This made me think a lot about that statement. I think that most people in the world, to some degree, are not blessed with faith. I think for the majority, if not the entirety of the world, faith is a choice. That is how God intended it to be. It is a righteous use of our agency. Alma 32 teaches us that the first steps to faith are desire and a willingness to experiment and try it out. Then with time, patience, and diligence, faith is grown. And when we have faith, we have hope. Hope and joy come through our faith in Jesus Christ. Hope that sorrows will end, wrongs will be righted, loved ones will be seen again, aches and pains will be cured, wounded souls will be mended, and imperfect bodies will be resurrected. That is the hope that we have that comes from our faith in Christ.
Ether 12:4
4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
Moroni 7:41
41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.
I loved representing the Savior in Brasil, I love doing the same thing in Washington, 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 - Elder Schelin and I after and online lesson
Photo 2-3 - The view from the morning workout
