Bothell Portuguese Transfer 2 Week 4

It is so hot!! I literally feel like I am melting as I write this email!! Seattle is passing through a record setting and breaking heat wave!! Usually it doesn't get above 85-90 in the summer, but it is 110 degrees today!! We are baking!! No one here has AC, so it is so hot!! We are super blessed to have a portable AC unit that is capable of keeping our bedroom a cool 84 degrees, but the other rooms in our apartment are toasty as can be!!

 

 

It was another awesome week here! We had MLC on Friday. It was super awesome, cause we got to do it with masks off for the first time!! President Beardall even gave us hugs!! We also got to have an awesome meal there!! During MLC, I learned a ton. We had some great discussions on faith, urgency, diligence, focus, and working with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength.

 

 

We set a baptismal goal of four for our zone this week. It is exciting, because we now have four on dates for July in our zone. It has been really hard for the last couple months after opening the Bothell Zone up. Almost no one had any investigators because the Everrett mission had been shut down for so long. When Bothell became part of our mission, missionaries hadn't really been out of the apartment for over a year. We have been doing everything we can to get this zone going, but we haven't had any baptisms yet as a zone.

 

 

We put Savia on date for baptism this week. She is so ready to get baptized!! She is also succeeding in stopping drinking coffee!! It has been super hard for her, but she is down to one cup a day. We are praying that she will be able to stop drinking coffee this next week. The 18th will be the week after Elder Ward and I go home, but Elder Almeida will still be here. I hope either Elder Diago or Elder Ludgate are with him so they can have the chance to baptize someone. It would be super good for both of them. Please keep on praying for Savia!!

 

 

So, Savia is one of the on dates for baptism in the zone. Two of the others on dates are Alex and Shonn. The cool thing about both of them is that they are both people the Lord guided our companionship to in the first week. We knocked on both of their doors and contacted them. We then passed them off to the English companionships. It was definitely worth the hard work!!

 

 

We went to a park to contact people this week. That isn't anything too crazy; we do that a lot because there are always people to talk to. The different thing, however, was that we found a huge biking and running path. There were so many people there!! I think that literally hundreds of people passed us in the park. We tried to talk with every single one of them. Elder Ward and I were having so much fun!! I don't think that I have ever laughed more during an hour of proselyting. It was the closest that I have ever felt to being one of those missionaries back in the day that would just stand up on a pedestal and preach to a crowd. It was crazy!!

 

 

We had a cool experience on Sunday. We had been tracting for several hours in the heat. We were just dripping with sweat. We knocked on this door, and this Indian family ended up letting us in. The dad's name was Ruben. They are Cathollic (which is super rare, 85% of India is hindu) and Ruben knows the Bible and what he believes extremely well. However, he was super curious about who we were and why we were sharing the message. He listened very intently and asked some great questions about key doctrinal topics. At the end, he looked at us and said, "Wow! This is super important. If I am wrong and you're right, I am in big trouble. If I am right and you are wrong, you are in big trouble. Salvation is at stake. If your message is true, my family and I need to join your church immediately!!" He understood better than anyone I have ever taught just how important the message that we share is and what he needs to do know. Heis very committed to reading the Book of Mormon and figuring out if it is true. I could see him having a Parley P Prat experience with reading the Book of Mormon this week.

 

 

Last night, we ended up having to go give a blessing to one of the Elders in our zone really late at night. He had just got news that his grandpa was in the hospital with a super serious heart attack. President beardall gave us permission to go give him a blessing. We talked everything through with him and gave him the blessing. The Spirit was definitely there. 

 

 

I love you all and am excited for another amazing week in the best work that has ever existed!! I hope I don't melt!!

 

 

Doctrine and Covenants section 130:18-19

18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.

 

 

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 - The Sammamish River

Photo 2 -Tracting trailers

Photo 3 Mount Rainier

Photo 4 - Finishing up the night after an online lesson at the church

Photo 5 - beautiful skies

Photo 6 - My call with the family at Lake Anna

Photo 7 - Double tags. I went the entire day without realizing I had two tags on

Bothell Portuguese Transfer 2 Week 3

This week will go down in history!!! It finally happened!!! The Portuguese group was finally officially organized. It was absolutely incredible!!

 

 

Eleven Months after being called to try and start up Portuguese work for the first time ever in Seattle, we witnessed the creation of the first official Portuguese group this Sunday. We have had unofficial group meetings every Sunday for Sacrament during the last 9 months, and it has been incredible. We have typically had anywhere from 25-45 in attendance. Due to some weird issues regarding boundary lines, they have not been able to officially organize the group and call a group leader, which would put it on track to becoming a branch. 

 

 

When our coordinating council and mission boundaries changed to include the Bothell stake three months ago, that resolved a lot of the problems. This week, Eric Santos was called as the group leader and the group moved up to Bothell. The plan is to fast track it to becoming a branch.

 

 

This has taken such a huge weight off my shoulders. For the last 9 months, we have been trying to do everything we could to help local and stake leaders figure this out. I have been assigning the sacrament meeting talks and topics for the last 9 months and just trying so hard to keep everything going. It has been really challenging because none of the members have understood why this is happening. They have had to stay on the fence between committing and not committing because they didn't know if it would work out or not. Most of them kept going to their English wards and serving in other callings. Now, they have some certainty. Eric Santos was called as the group leader, and he has started working with all of the Brazilian members to try and get families to commit to coming and supporting the effort to make this  branch. There is some incredible potential. Within these four stakes, there are 12-15 Brazilian families. One has already been a stake president, two were bishops, and another couple are high priests. Their wives have served as stake and local relief society and primary presidents. There are some of the best member missionaries ever!!

 

 

The meeting was so incredible. We moved from the Totem Lake Kirkland building chapel to the Westhill Bothell building primary room. It felt really good. The stake president started off the meeting with a 5 minute talk in english. I then spoke on how by small and simple things great things come to pass. I didn't have time to type up my talk this week (I got the topic on Friday night) so I will have to include it in next week's email. After I spoke, Eric Santos (the new group leader) spoke. The Spirit was incredibly strong. Many of the members were teary. It was definitely one of the highlights of my mission and my life.

 

 

There have been some incredible miracles happening with our friend Savia that we are teaching. She is progressing so much!!!! So, she has become best friends with one of the members, Elisangela (to no surprise, Elisangela did the same thing with Rita, Liv, and Luiza when they got baptized).  They talk every day for a super long time about the gospel. This week, Savia said that her husband had said something about the word of wisdom. On Tuesday, we taught her the word of wisdom. She has been drinking coffee 3 or 4 times every day for years. I never realized how bad coffee truly is for you until this week. After we taught her the Word of Wisdom, she tried just to completely and immediately stop drinking coffee. She managed to go 4 days without it!! 

 

 

We had a cool lesson with Savia on Thursday with Rita, Liv, and Luiza on the call. She just asked them questions about how theri baptisms were and what the difference is before and after. THey shared their conversion story and testimonies, and it was awesome!!

 

 

On Friday,  Elisangela called us and told us that Savia's husband was a member. It was crazy because Savia had no idea!! Elisangela had the prompting to tell Savia to ask her husband. She did, and found out that he is a less active member due to a disagreement with some ward members a long time ago. Elisangela was freaking out because she had seen a picture on facebook of a super tattooed man baptizing his wife. She said that is the exact same thing that is going to happen with Savia!! Her husband also hasn't been to church in years and has tons of tattoos. 

 

 

Elisangela set up a lesson with Savia and us in person (cause she lives far away, we usually teach her over zoom) at Fatima Cristina's house. Elisangela, Fatima's, and Savia's husbands (who are all Americans) went to a pool tournament while we were doing that. Elisangela had been with Savia for several hours that day, and Savia had no idea what was going on. Her body was having such bad withdrawals from coffee that she had no idea where she was. Elisangela had to buy her starbucks before our lesson, otherwise it would have been impossible to teach her!! We had a good lesson with her, but she was kind of confused and out of it the entire time. At the beginning, we had a hard time starting because she kept on having laughing fits. We had to say three prayers to start the lesson. It was kind of funny!! 

 

 

We ended up teaching her a lot of different things during the lesson. At the end, we told her that the next day at church, we would give her a priesthood blessing. We didn't explain what that was because we had already taught her so much. On the way out the door, we pulled Elisangela aside and asked her to explain on the car ride to church the next day, because she picked up Savia. 

 

 

The next day at church, I went to talk to Savia after the meeting. This is the third Sunday in a row she has come, and she loved it again. Then, she told me the miracle that had happened. She told me that during the night, she had a dream that after church, one of the us placed their hands on her head and all of the bad things in her life left!!! This is incredible because Elisangela had not yet explained about priesthood blessings yet!! Savia had no idea what a blessing was, but God gave her that vision. After church, we went to a room in the building, adn Eric gave Savia a priesthood blessing. It was incredible. He blessed her with many things, including the ability to overcome all the challenges she is facing. The Spirit truly confirmed the blessing. It was an incredible moment. I definitely believe it was a miracle. I am excited to see what happens with her this week.

 

 

Savia's completely inactive husband also told her that he has no problem with the church, that she can keep going, and if she keeps liking it, he will come too!!!!

 

 

It has been quite the week of miracles!! 

 

 

I also went on two exchanges this week, one with each of the district leaders, Elder Depew and Elder Robb. They are both awesome missionaries. I learned a ton. I got to give 2 priesthood blessings with Elder Depew. It was really neat. 

 

 

These next three weeks are going to be the most incredible weeks ever!! I am excited to grow, learn, consecrate and dedicate, and sacrifice with more faith every day!! I truly love this great work!!

 

 

Moses 1:39

39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

 

 

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

 

 

Photos 1-2 Exchange with Elder Depew

Photo 3 - It’s a beautiful world

Photo 4 - Exchange with Elder Robb

Photo 5 - Elder Almeida tried Sunny D for the first time this week and is now hooked! He also loves Dollar Tree

Photo 6 - Rita, Liv, and Luiza made us some awesome food!

Photo 7-8 - I love Washington

Photo 9 - Elder Almeida wanted to buy us McDonald’s ice cream

Photo 10 - First officially organized group

Bothell Portuguese Transfer 2 Week 2

Óla!!!!

 

 

Wow, I feel like I typed my last email just yesterday! I blinked and the week was over. And it was quite the spectacular week!!

 

 

Our friend Savia progressed like crazy this week!! She went to church last week and loved it. We had taught her the Restoration twice that week. One of the recent converts (Luiza) bore her testimony on her conversion story during sacrament meeting, and it really helped Savia. We planned on just reading 3 Nephi 11 during our next appointment, but when we started, the Spirit indicated that we needed to change plans. We read the last paragraph to the Book of Mormon intro and asked her if she believed in the Book of Mormon and the three things that the Book of Mormon proves. She said yes. We asked her if she believes that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God. She said yes. We asked her if she believes that this is the one true church of Christ restored to the earth. She said yes. We then asked her what difference that makes in her life. We talked about how if the gospel was truly restored, it is important to follow that gospel. We then read 2 Nephi 31 and asked her to be baptized. She said yes!! We tried to put her on date for baptism on June 27th in each of our three appointments with her this week. She still isn’t sure about june 27th, but she promised to pray about it. She had an awesome time at church this last week and made some awesome friendships with some of the members. One of the members, Elisangela, picked her up for church. They had a really cool experience together. On the way down to church, Elisangela mentioned that one of the other members needs someone to help her at work doing house-cleaning. savia told Elisangela that she doesn’t work, but has been looking for something to do and that sounded perfect to her. They decided that they would call this member after church. At church, one of the members that spoke gave an awesome talk about Elder Rasband’s conference talk from April, “God is a God of Miracles.” This member talked a ton about answers to prayers. After church, Savia and Elisangela talked for like 2 hours about everything. They created a super close friendship and talked about all the things that we are teaching her. Then, they called this other member, Cristina. The first thing that Cristina says when she gets on the phone is that she had been praying all morning for God to make a miracle happen and send someone to help her at work. It was really cool for all of them when they told her that Savia wanted to work with her. It was a big evidence to Savia that God really does answer prayers and is a God of miracles. She has now been to church twice. I believe that she will be baptized before the end of this month.

 

 

Noemia 

Another of our friends, Noemia, came to church as well. I think I talked about her last week. We had a bomb lesson with her last week on the Restoration and she loved how we believe in personal revelation and prayer and not just blind faith. Well, we weren’t able to get any lessons with her this last week, but we stayed in close contact with her over text. She ended up coming to church, and she loved it!! Everyone talked with her afterwards, especially Rita, Liv, Luiza, and Elisangela. They all exchanged phone numbers, and it was super awesome!

 

 

We are back to doing overnight exchanges!! We did one with the APs this last week. Elder Almeida and I stayed with Elder Dymock in our area. It was a blast. He is a super good Elder, so we had a ton of fun. I haven’t done an overnight exchange since I was in Brazil. We are also allowed to ditch the masks at district councils and when we are with other missionaries, which is amazing!!

 

 

One of the funny happenings of the week happened on Sunday night. We somehow let our car get down to empty on Saturday without refilling. On Sunday, the car was already below the point where it tells you how many more miles you can drive. We prayed really hard, and we made it all the way down to church and back, a trip of like 20 miles. We went about the rest of our day like normal. On the way from one appointment to another at 8:00 PM, the car ran out of gas on a very busy road. The Lord blessed us with a tender mercy, as the car ran out of gas going downhill right before we got to the other Elders’ apartment complex. We coasted in and pushed the car into visitor parking. We left the car there over night and walked home for like 45 minutes because we didn’t want to buy gas on Sunday. This morning we went with the other elders to get some gas.

 

 

So for the past 10+ months, the Portuguese Group has had plenty of people coming to sacrament meeting each week to have an official group, and maybe even a branch. However, due to some weird boundary things, they have not been able to call a group leader yet.  So, for the last 10 months, we have assigned the talks and topics of talks each week and basically run everything. I was starting to get stressed that they wouldn’t be able to call someone before we all left. When our mission expanded to Bothell two months ago, that fixed some of the problems. This week, the stake presidencies started working with one of the members, who they are going to call as group leader, to organize everything officially. It is going to be so awesome. We went over to those members' houses a couple times to talk about everything and give them some information. It is really starting to take off, and this member is the perfect one for the job. He is really going to fight to get this to a branch. There are plenty of Brazilian members in the area to have a branch, it is just getting everyone to commit. It is all going to work out though! Talk about perfect timing!! It took a year and is ending up being resolved a month before we all go home. A ton of stress just vanished this week thanks to that!!

 

 

We had some really cool experiences following the Spirit this week. We were tracting that morning, and we were kind of feeling frustrated because it is so hard to find Brazilians. They all work until almost 9 o’clock at night, and we have multiple cities that we have to go through to find such a small population. We spent all morning thinking about how we could be more effective and praying about what to do. Later that day, we had a prompting to go up to a neighborhood by some of the members. We went up there and started knocking on doors. We knocked on a particular door in the middle of this neighborhood, or actually, we rang the ring door bell. It was connected to Alexa, and started malfunctioning, just repeating the same phrase over and over again. We tried to ring it a couple more times, and it didn’t work. We were about to go to the next one when Elder Ward had a prompting to go back and knock the door. We did, and met a Brazilian family. It was awesome!!

 

 

Another one happened when we went up to get in contact with one of the families that we are teaching. We went up to their complex, which is right on the border of the mission. They weren’t home. We were about to leave because we had other appointments, but then we felt like we should knock a couple doors. We did, and no one answered. Just as we were leaving, someone walked out of one of the doors we had just knocked. We stopped him and talked to him. His name was Ruyan. I thought for sure he was going to be Russian by the way he looked and talked. It turns out that he is Brzilian, and super cool!! He has a young family. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and we are going to go back to teach him this week.

 

 

Another day this week, we were planning the places that we should go finding that day. We felt really good about a neighborhood of townhomes (or so we thought) down close to Kirkland. That day, we ended up getting behind schedule because of interviews with President. We had to take one of the other Elder companionships home. By the time it was time to go to that neighborhood that we had felt inspired to go to, it didn’t make a ton of sense because it was far away and we didn’t have a lot of time. We had also never found any Brazilians int he southern part of our area. Well, we decided to give it a shot. We got there, and the supposed town homes turned out to be massive, super nice 3 or 4 story modern houses that were well upwards of a million dollars. We did not have any luck whatsoever in finding any Brazilians for the first 45 minutes. We started to wonder if we should leave. We said a prayer on the side walk, and then we walked a good bit farther down the street. When we started knocking again, the first door to open up was a member family in one of the english wards. We explained that we were the portuguese elders and had just tracted into them by accident. When we said that we were the portuguese elders, Sister Christensen’s eyes totally teared up. She explained that they had just sold their house to a Brazilian family. She said that they had many offers, some of them better, but that they had felt very strongly that this family needed the house. She believes that this was why. We gave her a Book of Mormon in Portuguese and she wrote her testimony in it to leave for them. We are going to stop by this week or next week once they are all moved in!!

 

 

The Spirit is truly one of the most essential elements in missionary work. That is why the scripture on the front of Preach My Gospel is Doctrine and Covenants 50:13-14. “Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question - unto what were ye ordained? To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth.” One thing that has become evident to me on my mission is how argely the Spirit influences everything we do. We have the promise of the constant companionship of the Spirit when we are baptized if we will do our part to live worthily and to actively receive Him. If we are doing what we need to do, we will have His presence. Elder Bednar has talked about after the fact revelation, times where we don’t recognize the Spirit guiding us until afterwards. 

In my mission, I have tried to do everything possible to have the Spirit with me. The recipe is pretty much prayer+faith+obedience+diligence=the companionship of the Spirit. Miracles like these have happened constantly as I have followed these steps. I can testify that this work is impossible alone. A big proof of that is the number of Brazilians that we have met in the last 2 months compared to the other companionships in our zone that are working in the same geographic areas. We have met 50 plus just from street contacting and tracting as compared to a grand total of 4 from the other companionships in our zone. To think that out of multiple cities of I don’t even know how many people, the Lord has led us to those Brazilians is remarkable. Beyond that, out of such a small sample size, He has prepared people for us to help enter into the covenant path. The Spirit is definitely guiding us. After the fact revelation is something that I completely believe in. Very rarely do we have powerful, recognizable promptings. Usually, we just have feelings, thoughts, and ideas that gently guide our footsteps to where we need to go. It just requires a step of faith first. Elder Klebingat came to our mission last year. He made the remark that “the Lord cannot steer a parked car. Revelation comes to those on the move.” I truly believe in this because I have seen and lived this. As Nephi said, “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.” (1 Nephi 4:6).

 

 

Scripture of the week: Alma 26:22, DC 31:11

22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

11 Go your way whithersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go.

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 - Elder Dymock, Elder Almeida, and I

Photo 3 - King of Pride Rock: Elder Almeida’s Lion King moment

Photo 4 - Out of gas

Photo 5- 8 views from the long walk back after the car ran out of gas

Bothell Portuguese Transfer 1 Week 8 and Transfer 2 Week 1

Well, I sure do have a lot of stuff to write about today!! So much has happened in the last two weeks!! 

 

 

We had a great awesome last week of one transfer and the first week of this one!! Time is flying by!! Elder Ludgate was transferred back to Totem Lake to be with Elder Schelin and Elder Beardall. Elder Ward and I are finishing Elder Almeida’s training for this transfer. He is my second native Brazilian companion. 

 

 

Elder Almeida’s story is really cool. His parents were visiting relatives that lived in New Jersey while his mom was pregnant with him. He was prematurely born on that trip, so he actually has American citizenship. Elder Almeida spent his entire life in Brasil. He always wondered why he had been born in the United States. When he finished high school, he decided to come to the United States and try to find out why. He tried a couple of times to come, but it never worked out. Finally, a friend of his mom that he had never met told him that he would help Elder Almeida. This friend is a member of the church and lives in Utah. Soon after arriving in Utah, Elder Almeida began going to one of the many portuguese wards. He was soon baptized in August of 2019 (which is when I was in the MTC!!!). One and a half years later, Elder Almeida began his mission. He is truly here for the right reasons and has a really strong testimony.

 

 

I was sad to see Elder Ludgate get transferred. It was super fun to be with another missionary from Virginia for two transfers. He sure grew and changed a ton, which was awesome. He is so cool and has such great desires. 

 

 

We have had some awesome miracles happen in the last two weeks. Here is the list:

 

 

After MLC last Friday, we were finally able to teach Exequiel and his family the Restoration!! It went so well. They are such a cool family and truly do have the Spirit in their home. They are very ready for the gospel. We were teaching the Restoration, and it was going so well. They were asking very inspired questions and had a lot of really good input. When we began talking about the Joseph Smith story, the atmosphere completely changed. The Spirit entered the room  and they became extremely focused on what we were saying. They became very attentive and understood it all perfectly. It was amazing!!

 

 

Another miracle happened with Noemia. We have been teaching this guy named Edgar English for the last month. Two weeks ago, he brought a friend named Noemia to the class. We taught the Restoration afterwards, and she didn’t look super interested. This last week, we had another lesson with her, and we showed the “Ask of God” video of the First Vision. Afterwards, we asked her what she had thought. She talked for several minutes about how much she loves what we teach and how she has always had these questions about which of all the churches on the earth is the true church of Jesus Christ!! She said she loves the fact that we don’t ask her to believe or accept what we teach, but to ask of God. It was so awesome!!

 

 

This last week, we were shopping on P Day, and we ran into the relief society president of one of the wards up here. She told us that a Brazilian family had recently moved into her ward. She had tried to go visit them, but she said that it seemed like the wife was kind of against the church. The wife is American, and the husband is Brazilian. She told us that it would be worth going there and trying to talk with them, but to not tell them she sent us. So, this week, we dropped by. Before we went up to the house, we said a very fervent prayer that a miracle would happen and that the Lord would touch their hearts. We walked up to the house, and we saw the wife sitting back behind the house, so we walked around to talk to her. When we walked up, she got a huge smile on her face. We started talking with her for a minute, and she was super cool. There were a bunch of old cardboard boxes piled up over the yard from their recent move-in, so we asked if we could help break them down. She told us that would be wonderful, so we jumped right in. As we were breaking down the boxes, the husband came out. He is American, but his parents are Brazilian and moved to Utah before he was born. He grew up speaking mostly Portuguese, so his Portuguese and English are both perfect. He also served his mission in Brasil.  The really cool miracle was that the portuguese ward in Utah (one of many portuguese wards in Utah) that he grew up in is the same one that Elder Almeida was baptized in!!! They knew a bunch of the same people. It was a super cool connection. After a little while, he started talking about how cool it was that we are serving in a group right now. He served in two groups on his mission. He talked about how fun they were. After a little while, he just turned to us and asked how he could transfer his records to the Portuguese group. We didn’t even have to ask!! It was amazing!! The Lord keeps on preparing all things to happen for the group to become a branch!! Another really cool part of the story is that they came to church last Sunday. His wife has been struggling with her testimony, and they haven gone back to church since before Covid, so it was so cool to get to see them there. Afterwards, they went over to an activity at one of the members houses, which was super cool. 

 

 

Josue and Marta. So on Sunday night, it was 8:50, and most all of the contacts that we had that day had not opened the door. We were at our last apartment complex for the day, and we decided to contact Joseu and Marta, who we had met several weeks ago. They were home, and let us right in!! We ended up having an amazing lesson with them!! We taught them the entire Restoration and we committed them to read the Book o Mormon. The Spirit was definitely very present, and they understood everything perfectly. They became super interested when they heard that we have a church here. It was so cool!! The best part is that they are from Sao Paulo!!!

 

 

We had a bunch of other amazing miracles and tender mercies the last two weeks, but I don’t have time to write about them all. One thing I can testify of is how much God truly loves us and how great our responsibility is. I cannot believe sometimes that He places such trust in us. I guess I have to trust in God putting trust in me! 

 

 

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 31:3

3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.

 

 

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 - Uncle Ryan Whitney, Aunt Chelle Whitney, and cousin McKenna Whitney that live in Washington stopped by after church

Photo 2 - Mission Leadership Council

Photo 3 - Elder Whitney and I at transfers

Photo 4 - Elder Ludgate+mini fridge=cool picture

Photo 5-6 Incredible views

Photo 7-11 - first days with Elder Almeida

Photo 12 - When I was called to Brasil, I heard from someone that it was common to have pizza with chocolate stuffed crust. I never came across it. I told Rita, Liv, and Luiza about it one time, and they thought it sounded gross. They made it for me as a joke and it was so good!!

Photo 13 - Elder Gurr and I at his last MLC. Elder Gurr was a missionary that I really looked up to at MLC. He had been reassigned from Panama and got to Seattle at the same time as me. His brother was actually the AP in my mission in Brasil when I first got there.

Photo 14 - Elder Breinholt and I at his last MLC. I became really good friends with Elder Breinholt. He was reassigned from Australia Chinese speaking. He was in the hotel right next door to me for two transfers in Kirkland