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!!
