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
