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
