Merry Christmas and Feliz natal!
It has been a great start to the new transfer. We had an absolutely wild week. On Monday, we had transfers. The next day, we picked up the new missionaries from the airport, and then we went immediately to zone council. The craziness has not stopped since. We have been busy every day. We did two exchanges this week. I was with Elder Charles one day and then with Elder Ward. Elder Ward is the new district leader here. He is also Portuguese speaking, and is training a brand new missionary that is going to eventually go to Porto Alegre Norte. It was really great to be with Elder Ward and get to know him. He asked me a ton of questions about training and being a district leader. It's weird to be getting to the point in my mission where other missionaries are the ones asking me questions. It is going by too fast!!!!
Many of you probably saw that video that we put out. Yes, you saw right, that was me. In the video. Singing. Shocking, I know. Believe me, I was shocked I did that too. It was honestly a really cool experience to get to put that video together. We went to brother Richardson's house to record the audio. He has a recording studio in his house. He has a ton of super nice equipment for recording, and just tons of musical equipment. He was in a bunch of bands in the 80's, and he builds guitar for a hobby. The guitars he makes are sweet and sell for thousands of dollars!! It was super cool to just be in his house.
It took us three hours to record the audio. I think it turned out pretty good for the three of us, having never practiced together before. Elder Breinholt (who played the guitar) is really good, and so is Hermana Bringhurst (who sang). She was actually super into music production before her mission. They were definitely the stars of the video, but it was super fun to do it with them.
To take the video, we went to a really cool area in downtown totem lake. Another member, Brother Christensen, camera and filmed it for us. He has a ton of really nice cameras and other filming equipment. He really went all out. It was super fun. It took us about an hour to get all the shots.
I never expected to do anything like this, and definitely not on my mission, but it was a cool experience. It was really fun to kind of learn how to do this kind of stuff. I hope it helped you have a very Merry Christmas.
I ran out of time to finish my email, but I love you all. I will really try to get a better email out next week
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
Photos 1-3 Filming the Video with Elder Breinholt and Hermana Christensen. Video Credits to Brother Christensen
