Bothell Portuguese Transfer 1 Week 7

Olá!!!

 

 

Another week has come, gone, and flew by!!! 

 

 

This last week went by super fast. It was kind of different. All of our lessons fell through except on Sunday, so we ended up just having 3 lessons the entire week, which is pretty crazy. The lessons we did have were super good, though!! We just pretty much went looking every day all day. Lots of door knocking!! We were led to some really cool new people, including a Brazilian family that let us right in!!

 

 

On Sunday, Silvane, Maria, Jeff, and Shirley all came to church again. Afterwards, we went to their best friend Fatima’s house. Fatima is a member. A bunch of other members came over - Rita, Liv, Luiza, and Elisangela’s family. It was awesome. We had a fantastic lesson with Silvane, Shirley, Maria, and Jeff. We showed them the “Ask of God” video about Joseph Smith’s First Vision. The Spirit was so strong. Afterwards, we explained why the restoration is so important. Fatima and Elisangela are both converts, and Elisangela also served a mission. Both of them bore amazing testimonies right after thevideo, and it was so cool!! It was awesome because they are such good friends that it was such a natural and loving way of sharing the gospel. After the lesson, we all ate lunch together. They had all brought a ton of food, so that was just awesome!!!

 

 

We also had a lesson with Bruno, Daniela, and Bianca. They are the ones that we did a church swap with last week. They made us a really good dinner and are super fun to talk with. Afterwards, we talked about their questions. Bruno is pretty bashy. He won’t really listen or accept anything we say. His sisters, on the other hand, are super cool. They are definitely a little hesitant, but they are trying to understand where we are coming from and are asking a lot of good questions. One of them agreed to pray about the Book of Mormon and ask God if she should read it, and the other asked for us to leave her all of the pamphlets so that she could understand our belief better. It was really cool. I’m pretty sure that if their brother was out of the equation that they would accept the gospel. 

 

 

I went on two exchanges this week. One of them was with Elder Diago, and the other was with Elder Ballard.

 The exchange with Elder Diago was awesome. He is such a good missionary. We had a blast working together and talking through things throughout the day. We had a really cool service project. It was for a 94 year old man from Norway. He was super cool. He was driving an old 1961 tractor around the 5 acre yard while we picked up sticks that have fallen due to storms. He is a holocust concentration camp survivor. It was neat to get to meet him.

 

 

My exchange with Elder Ballard went really well also. He is a super good missionary, too. Elder Ballard was originally assigned to this mission, but got sent home with Covid because he was in the risk group. He was allowed to come back in December. It was good to be able to give him some advice about transitioning back into missionary life. We talked about how it is hard because we remember how it used to be, and how our recollection is always slightly skewed. The good memories, and even the bad ones, always seem so much sweeter with time. Sometimes it is hard not to compare memories of how our missions were before the pandemic and paint an unrealistic picture of expectations for ourselves, other missionaries, and the mission in general now. The good thing is that Heavenly Father is in complete control and has a perfect plan for all of us. Covid-19 has shown me that. I am so grateful for this pandemic.

 

 

We got our second Covid-19 vaccine this week!! I was completely fine (other than some pretty good back pain), but my companions got taken down. They are feeling better now.

 

 

We also had zone conference. This was one of my favorite zone conferences that I can remember. Sister Beardall gave an amazing talk about how important the Restoration and receiving a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith as the great witness of Jesus Christ in this dispensation. It was so good!! She went through a lot of Joseph Smith History. Here are the verses that stuck out to me:

 

 

21 Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of the Methodist preachers, who was very active in the previously mentioned religious excitement; and, conversing with him on the subject of religion, I took the occasion to give him an account of the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them.

22 I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects—all united to persecute me.

 

 

8 During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.

9 My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others.

10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

 

 

11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

 

 

20 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.” It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?

 

 

25 So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.

 

 

Please pray that we will be able to form this Portuguese Branch here!! It is looking like it is all going to work out, but we really need prayers now!! Also pray that we can find and teach someone that is ready to accept the restored gospel!!! 

 

 

I love representing the Savior in Brasil and Washington, 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 Dudley

Photo 1 - Terrific Trees of Washington

Photo 2 - Zone Conference

Photo 3 - Karate Kid

Photo 4 - A row of identical houses

Bothell Portuguese Transfer 1 Week 6

It has been another great week. I don’t understand how time is passing by so quickly. This week will mark a year since I arrived in the Washington Seattle Mission. I am so grateful the Lord sent me here. This year has made all the difference in my life. This has meant everything to me. I love this mission.

 

 

We had a great week this week. We finally got some of the people that we are teaching to drive down to Kirkland for church!! We had 7 people at church. It was awesome. Bruno, Daniela, Bianca, Sirlei, her husband, Maria, and Silvane all came. The cool part is, two of the Brazilian members are super good friends with Sirlei, and we didn’t even know that. We made plans afterwards with the members to do a family home evening with this family of four. We are going to get some really good member fellowshipping and help with this family!!

 

 

On Saturday, we went to Congregation of Christ church with Daniela, Bruno, and Bianca. They are three siblings that we taught two weeks ago. They are very stalwart in their faith, and are kind of bashy, but they invited us to come to their church, and told us they would come to ours. It was interesting to see their service. Let me just say that it was very different from ours. I can really appreciate how the Spirit is invited into our church services and sacrament meetings now.  

 

 

On Saturday, we got a text from Silvane asking us to come over. We ended up teaching her, Sirlei, and Maria the Plan of Salvation. We invited them to come to church, and they did, which was awesome!!

 

 

We had a really cool miracle on Wednesday. We were knocking on some doors, and we felt like we should go visit a contact named Exequiel. We went over there, and his wife let us right in. He was in the shower. This was the first time we had ever sat down and talked with them. They might be the coolest family I have ever taught on my mission!! They have a super cool story. They are from Curitiba, Brasil. Exequiel was a very successful civil engineer. He owned a company and 9 cars, including a Porsche. You don’t see many of those in Brasil!

 

 

At the end of 2019, things with his company turned bad. They couldn’t understand why. They began selling off their cars to keep their family afloat. They also began praying about what to do. Unexpectedly, they received the answer to come to the United States. I asked them why they think this all happened, and they said that they are still praying to find that out. I believe that it is because they need the gospel.

 

 

Their home felt so good. I could totally feel the Spirit there. We had the most normal and natural conversation about the gospel as we got to know them. We were talking about how they prayed to know what they needed to do and how God answers prayers at one point. I shared James 1:5. It just so happens that the scripture that initiated the restoration of the gospel is Exequiel’s favorite!! 

 

 

Later, we introduced the Book of Mormon. After we had introduced the Book and given it to them, I felt inspired to take it back and read Moroni 10:3-5. As soon as I started reading, Exequiel got this really focused, intense look in his eyes. He immediately asked me to mark that scripture. I could feel the Spirit testifying to his heart that the Book of Mormon is true. It was so cool!!!!

 

 

We also had a great lesson with this guy named Marcos. He is really cool. He works for Microsoft. Marcos is very intelligent. He did read the entire Restoration pamphlet and 3 Nephi 11. He understood them perfectly and thought that they were very cool. He really liked the ideas expressed. The challenge with Marcos is that he has a very detached way of observing religion. He likes religion and believes in good because he realizes it is a good thing to do. His scholarly approach to things along with growing up in religion-heavy Brasil has resulted in a belief in God because he sees all the good things that religions bring. It's interesting because his approach to things is similar to the process of an atheist, but with the opposite result. We had a good lesson though, and we just talked about receiving spiritual witnesses and what faith really is and means.

 

 

We also had a super fun churrasco (brasilian barbecue) with some members, the Peris family. Sister Peris is from Rio de Janeiro. It was awesome. They made a ton of food. It was super good.

 

 

Scripture of the week: D&C 33:6-12.

6 And even so will I gather mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, even as many as will believe in me, and hearken unto my voice.

7 Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength.

8 Open your mouths and they shall be filled, and you shall become even as Nephi of old, who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness.

9 Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you.

10 Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying: Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;

11 Yea, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for a remission of your sins; yea, be baptized even by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.

12 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved;

 

 

I love representing the Savior in Brasil and Washington, 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 Dudley

 

 

Photo 1 - The fire alarm for our entire complex went off on Monday morning and the fire fighters came!

Photo 2 - The view of Bellevue. We had to go get some of Elder Ludgate’s visa stuff figured out

Photo 3 - There is a coyote in the background of this field. It looks tiny, but it was huge!! It was pretty much a wolf

Photo 4 - The sky

Photo 5 - Comp study at the park

Photo 6 - Coxinhas

Photo 7 - Elder Simms with Elder Ludgate and I on an exchange teaching Edgar (That guy from Itaqua)

Photo 8 - Service with Elder Diago. The guy we served was a Holocaust survivor from Poland

Photo 9 - The Zone. Left to right: (Back row) Sister Callahan, Sister Wagner, Sister Schnebly, Sister Rees, Sister Crookshank, Elder Depew, Elder Keil, Elder Dudley, Elder Carpenter, Elder Whitley, Elder Williams. (Next Row) Sister Crabb, Hermana Zacarias, Hermana Covert, Elder Robb, (Front) Elder Ward, Elder Almeida

Photo 10 - The temple with all the departing missionaries. 

Photo 11 - President and Sister Beardall and I

Photo 12 - Saying good-bye at the airport with President and Sister Beardall

Photo 13 - A teary plane ride home

Photo 14 -a last view of Mount Rainier

Photos 15-16 - Reunited at last

Bothell Portuguese Transfer 1 Week 5

Bom dia!!!

 

 

Exchange with APs

On Tuesday, we had an exchange with the assistants. I went with Elder Rose to their area. They are serving in a YSA ward in Bellevue. The exchange was really awesome. Elder Rose originally served in Tonga. It was fun to be with him for the day. 

 

 

We got to go to institute because one of their friends was supposed to show up to institute.The discussion was on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One of the students asked a question that caused me to reflect and ponder. He asked, "I understand and believe that Christ completely and totally suffered for me. He knows everything about me - all my pain, all my sorrows, everything. There are still times when I feel completely and utterly alone, when I can't feel Him with me. What can I do to access His power if I can't feel Him with me even though I know He is?"

 

 

As I thought about this question, the Spirit taught me. We all have moments in our life when we feel completely alone. Moments where we feel like we are completely beyond anyone's power to comfort. Moments when we know Christ felt this but we have a hard time recognizing His power in our lives. Jesus Christ Himself also felt this abandoned, sorrowful feeling. He cried out, "my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 

 

 

So, what got Jesus Christ through that crucial moment of agony and lonely suffering on Golgotha? I believe that the thing that gave Him the courage to do what He did was the premortal covenants that He had made to come to earth and be our Savior. He drew upon the power and the promises of those covenants. His faith in those covenants helped give Him the courage.

 

 

It is the same for us. When we have times in our lives when we feel utterly lost, abandoned, and confused, we must remember our covenants. Faith in the promises that we and God have made will get us through those moments. We can have faith that as we honor those covenants, we "will have His Spirit to be with" us. We can trust that the Spirit will always return.

 

 

Exchange with Bothell

 

 

We also had a good exchange with the Bothell elders in our zone this week. They are struggling a little bit, so it was really good to get to be with them and help them out. We had a really good day. We didn't really find anyone new to teach, we just found a lot of people that wanted to bash with us, but it is ok. Days like that happen.

 

 

At the end of the exchange, we had an appointment with some new people we are starting to teach named Edgar and Eduardo. They are super cool!! They made an entire steak dinner for us to eat before we taught them!! It was so good!! Edgar is super excited to be meeting with us and really wants to come to church. He met with missionaries in Brasil. The coolest thing is that they both are from São Paulo East. They both actually worked in my last area - Itaquaquecetuba!!! That was such a crazy amazing connection!! It'd be so cool if (when) we baptize them!! 

 

 

Elder Cook and President Pearson

The most amazing thing that happened this week is that Elder Cook (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) and President Pearson (Area President) did a mission devotional with their wives. It was just for the Seattle and Tacoma Missions. I learned a ton. I learned so much from each of them. President Pearson taught us based on Doctrine and Covenants 4 and serving with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. It kind of all boiled down to our willingness and focus. As we put forth more effort and become better disciples, that is when the miracles happen. He taught us that we need to find out what our frontiers of faith are and break through them. 

 

 

It was so special when Elder Cook spoke to us. He taught us for a while and based a lot of his teaching off of D&C 31. It was so good. The most incredible part of it all completely changed my life. He bore us His simple, yet incredibly personal and powerful testimony as a special witness of Jesus Christ. I will never forget the words He said. The Spirit was the strongest I have ever felt in my life. I am so grateful for the experience. It has completely changed me. The scriptures talk about being purified and sanctified by the Spirit. I believe that happened. That has made the gospel so much more of a reality and increased my urgency and desire in every moment. I am so grateful for the witness of Jesus Christ that prophets and apostles bear.

 

 

So, after the devotional, I went and prayed in gratitude for 10-15 minutes. My companions did the same. We were all really affected by Elder Cook's testimony. The Spirit has been with us in greater abundance every day since. The last three days have been some of the most incredible spirit-filled days of my mission. One of the other really cool comments that President Pearson made was that the Spirit has infinite power and knowledge. When an infinite number is added to 1, it equals an infinite sum. So, when we are willing to let God prevail and do what is necessary to have the Spirit with us and guide us, we have access and are working with infinite power and knowledge. I have truly seen the difference in that in the last 3 days. I have always tried to do everything to have the Spirit with me as a missionary and be as completely  obedient and consecrated as possible. This week was different though, and I think every week will be different now. Here are the miracles that happened starting immediately after the devotional:

 

 

Miracles start

 

 

Friday after the devotional

• Janice - Elder Ward had seen a cleaning shop on an exchange. He asked somebody on the road if there were any Brazilians that worked there. They said the manager was Brazilian. We had tried to get in contact with her, but she had never been there. Immediately after the devotional, we went to try and contact her. She was there!! Her name is Janice. We started talking with her, and we told her that we really wanted to share the gospel with her. She whipped out her work schedule and scheduled an appointment to meet with us in the middle of her workday - one o'clock on Wednesday!!

• We had just finished tracting in a certain apartment complex. We were looking at where we should go, and I looked on the map and felt inspired to go to the Miner's Corner County park. We went, and on the way we saw an apartment complex we had never been to. We felt prompted to go there, but we kept on going to the park so that Elder Ludgate could use the restroom in the porta potties. While he was in the porta - potties, I felt like we needed to talk to this guy that was playing basketball off to the side. I was staring at him, and we made eye contact several times. I kept ignoring the prompting and we left, but as soon as we pulled out, I knew we had to go back. We did, and we talked with him, and it turns out that he had been taught by missionaries in the past!! He was super cool and just gave us his number right there.

• After being at the park, we went back to that new apartment complex that we had seen. We drove around aimlessly for the first 15 minutes!! We could not find parking. While we drove, Elder Ludgate saw a little kid that he thought was Brazilian (which is actually really hard to identify because Brazilians are as diverse as Americans). When we found parking, we just went straight up there to knock on that door. It was a Brazilian family!!

• Earlier this week, on an exchange, we ran into the Relief Society President of one of the wards around here. We asked her if she knew any Brazilians, and she told us that her neighbor was Brazilian!! We went to contact them on Friday night, and they are so cool!! We set up a return appointment with them for this week!! They were awesome!! Her name is Ivone.

 

 

Saturday

• On Saturday we did an exchange with Elder Diago and Elder Kelley. I went with Elder Kelley to their area. It was a little bit of a different exchange. Elder Kelley is super awesome, but he has severe anxiety about knocking doors. We talked about that all day and how to overcome that. He is doing really good though, and has a ton of faith. The coolest thing that happened with us is that we knocked into a guy named James. He let us right in and we taught him the entire Restoration. At the end, we invited him to be baptized. Turns out that he was already baptized in the church with his family when he was eight!! He was super less active, and I don't think that he had ever really heard of the Book of Mormon because his mom died right after they got baptized and they stopped going. It was really cool to be led to him. In the other area, Elders Ward, Ludgate, and Diago had a ton of incredible miracles as well!! They met about 12 different Brazilians!! They found like 6 families!! I guess I should say that they didn't find them, the Spirit led them!!!

 

 

Sunday

• Sunday was absolutely incredible as well!!! Church is always so good!! Mother's Day is also the best. We got flowers for all of the women. I am so grateful for my mom. She is such a big part of who I am today. She is the most loving, kindest, most amazing mom ever. I love her so much. 

• After church, we had all the 9 Portuguese elders gather together. We talked about how the work is going and what we need to do. We set a goal to baptize 6 people before the end of June, and I really believe that it is going to happen. This is going to be absolutely incredible to see these miracles.

• After church, we went to contact a Brazilian referral. They were home, and let us right in!! The entire family was there, including the grandparents. They are super cool and we set up a return appointment for this week.

• We stayed in that complex. The fourth door we knocked was a returned missionary that is here doing summer sales. We asked him if he knew any Brazilians, and he had just met one this week! He gave us their phone number and told us that he had actually talked to this Brazilian about missions!!

• On the next floor up, we ran into Marcos!! He was one of the coolest people that we have met all week!! He works at Microsoft and has had tons of coworkers that are members of the church. He has met with missionaries before. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and we scheduled an appointment with him for an hour-long lesson on Wednesday!! He put us in his work schedule for an hour-long appointment!!

 

 

The biggest of all the miracles happened on Sunday afternoon. We were knocking doors when we ran into Josiane. We began to testify to her about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so, so strong. When we gave her the Book of Mormon, she just broke down in tears. WE testified that God knew her perfectly and had sent us to her specifically today. She kept on crying and promising that she would read the book. It was the most incredible contact of my mission. I believe an incredible miracle will happen when we go back.

 

 

So, from all this, I hope you can see the difference the Spirit makes. We have followed so many promptings, many of which we may not have even completely understood or recognized, but for which we are so grateful. God's work is hastening. It is incredible to be part of this. I know my Savior lives

 

 

DC 88:73

73 Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.

 

 

I love representing the Savior in Brasil and Washington, 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 1-2 - What a view!!

Photo 3 - Miracles are in the air!! This picture was taken right after we were led to Josiane

Photo 4 - Elder Cook!!

Bothell Portuguese Transfer 1 Week 4

Bom dia!

 

 

It has been a really good week this last week. We had a lot of really cool miracles happen. We went on two exchanges, had Mission Leadership Council on Friday, and had stake conference. It was just a really solid week all around. 

 

 

On Tuesday, we had a good talk as a companionship about things that we could do as a companionship to keep sanctifying and consecrating our efforts to the Lord. We came up with some really good ideas to move forward with. We had some really cool miracles happen as we have tried to find new people to teach, and I attribute that 100% to our redoubling of our efforts. There is always something more you can give, and when you consecrate yourself, the Lord will then consecrate your efforts. 

 

 

I have a bunch of good tracting stories from this week - stories of people that were really open and familiar with the church (watching 6 hours of this last general conference), following promptings, finding Brazillians, and being in exactly the right spot at the right time. My favorite miracle was a hometown connection. 

 

 

We were knocking doors in this massive apartment complex. It was a really nice one, as well. After about 45 minutes, we met this guy named Mike. He was super cool. His best friend for the last 40 years has been a member of the church that recently passed away. We had a really cool contact with him. Right as we were testifying about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit started to get really strong, we saw a security guy come down the hallway out of the corners of our eyes. This complex was super nice, so he had a badge, uniform, walkie talkies, and was pretty much a police officer. He waited and let us finish testifying. After the contact, we went and talked to him. He said that the office had received a call complaining about our knocking. We were bracing ourselves to get kicked out of the complex, like what usually happens. We gave him our names, and he wrote them down. Then he said, "I can see what is going on. Keep doing what you are doing. God bless." He proceeded to walk away and leave us stunned. We were pretty shocked. We knocked two more doors, and then we knocked on Josh's door. He opened up, and we started talking to him. He is a super cool young Christian guy. He is probably about 28. We talked for probably 2 minutes, and then he said, "yeah, I just moved here. I was going to school at Liberty University." Elder Ludgate and I immediately freaked out!!! I'm pretty sure Elder Ward was really confused at first. We told osh that we were both from Virginia. Elder Ludgate is pretty much from the city that Liberty is in, so that was crazy. We kept talking about Virginia, and then we figured out that he is from Chesapeake!! Josh graduated from Oscar Smith!!! That is the high school right next to the one I went to! It was the craziest thing because he went to college in the town Elder Ludgate is from and high school where I am from!! The chances of the 3 of us meeting in the way we did are so small!! It was definitely a miracle!! I know it was the Lord that touched the security guards heart and let us keep going. Josh is going to come to church with us, and we are going to start teaching him the gospel!!

 

 

I also loved Mission Leadership Council. I always learn so much. One of my favorite things this time was as we talked about beginning with the end in mind and always picturing everyone that we contact and teach in not just baptismal clothes, but in temple clothes. I really liked that. I think that one of the promptings that I got dring Mission Leadership Council was to just study the basic, pure doctrine of Jesus Christ. It is so simple, and nothing else is really that important. That is what was restored to the earth 200 years ago, along with all the priesthood keys and authority necessary to follow the gospel. 

 

 

We also had stake conference. It was awesome. President Sowby is the Sammamish Valley Stake President, and he is so cool!! He spoke on not looking beyond the mark, which goes exactly along with the impression I had during MLC. President Sowby specifically addressed following prophetic priorities. He listed all of the things that President Nelson has invited us to do. I really loved his talk. I love when the Lord shows us exactly what we need to focus on in our lives. 

 

 

We still really need prayers that we are going to be able to form this portuguese branch. Please also pray for us to find some more Brazilians to teach!! It has been really hard to find them so far. We had some cool miracles this week, but we are still looking for the one - the one that is ready to immediately embrace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

 

Scripture of the week: DC 42:61

61 If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.

 

 

I love representing the Savior in Brasil and Washington, 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!  

 

  

I love you all!!!

Elder Warren Matthew Dudley

Photo 1- The mission leadership council

Photo 2-4 - One of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen