May 28, 2013

Ola! Familia!

> Desculpe que nao fiz email ontem mas temos uma conferencia com
> Presidente e Irma Kretly. Entao fazemos p day hoje e tambem email.
> It sounds like you all had a blast this weekend at the good ol ranch!
> I alawys did love that place!
>
> So Huambo was the central point during the civil war and we see blown
> uo buildings and buildings COVERED in bullet holes. There are even a
> few half traks (its like a tank) still here with the guns mounted on
> top and everything! They are a bit rusty but its pretty cool. I will
> have to take a picture and send it. I dont have loads of time today
> so I will do pics next week...maybe.
>
> We became a Ramo (Branch) this Sunday!!!! Elder Castleton is the
> Branch President and Elder Fergesun is the second counselor and a
> Recent Convert of 2 months is the First Coulselor!! I cant believe
> what a miracle I witnessed on Sunday. The spirit that I felt then and
> that I feel now is a clear and perfect response from the Lord that
> this is right and it is now time for Huambo and the people here. Ah!
> It was amazing! I cant describe it. I love it!|
>
> Our conference yesterday was amazing and I learned SO much! And also
> learned (again) how incompetent I am, and how much more there is to
> learn. We have a new goal here in Huambo, To focus even more on
> families and to have 1 new lesson with 1 new family every day. It is
> a ginourmous goal....I love it!! We have been coulseled to do this,
> and I am reminded of what Nephi Said in chapter 3 verse 7. The Lord
> provides a way.
>
> Elder Kearney is a great guy!! I love him to death! We get along
> really well. Our investigators are mostly families and we even have
> several progressing families!! (the entire family!!) ( Sorry for my
> spelling) We have an investigator named Linda. She is 50 somthing
> and has lived a long life. She was shot during the war (when she was
> 16) in the stomach and the bulled paralyzed her from the waist down.
> (The bullet is still in her and has started to infect her blood, she
> is in a wheelchair) She is the most amazing woman ever and I love her
> so much! When I gave her the Book of Mormon she almost cried. She
> comes to church and we are also working with her son Supresa. She
> loves this gospel and I can fell the love that the Lord has for her.
> We met an amazing family the other night! They accepted to be
> baptized, but only on terms if they came to know that the gospel is
> true. I am very excited for them and know that they will progress as
> they learn more! The fathers name is Tohy and the mothers name is
> Ghina and they have a 10 month old child.
>
> Well I need to go. But thank you for all you do and for your support
> and know that you all ar in my prayers and I love you all so much!!!
> Just like President Eyring said "The lord is in a hurry in Africa!" I
> know it is true and I can see the vision of the Prophet Daniel and
> Joseph Smith, about the stone cut out of the mountain, taking place!!!
>
> Elder Dredge

May 20, 2013

Hey Everybody!

Thanks to everybody for all the emails and the support! I still cant believe that school is almost out! Im getting old, whew. Caleb, Emma, and Zach are doing a play in Chineese! Che! Thats crazy! They probably know more Chinese than I know protuguese. Noelle: Good luck with the job application and drivers licence eh?

Ok, so Huambo is pretty cold compared to Luanda. Or at least thats what everybody told me. it is like perfect weather. The Angolans think it is super cold and they all wear winter coats. Yeah, big poofy winter coats or at least a light jacket all day. We are in the mountains and there is A LOT more trees and plants and fields and flowers. There are for of us missionaries here and we dont have a senior couple here. Oh, and President Thompson is leaving tomorrow for Canada. I will miss him and Sister thompson a lot. They are amazing. My new companion is Elder Kerney. But he has been in Luanda the whole time ive been down here. I have not yet worked with him, but he should be getting here tomorrow. Our house is alot nicer than the one I came from. We have a table and chairs and even a water heater!! I havent taken a hot shower in a long time. We still fault energy a bit. Ad there are a lot less bugs here. So in the airport in Luanda I had to wait for three hours because my flight was delayed so I started talking to this lady that was going to Huambo as well. Before I knew it, it was time to board the plane and I had given her the first lesson, and gotten her contact information. My second day here we went by her house and did na overview of the First Vision and answered questions. We went back yeserday and levf her with a book of mórmon. I am really excited to see where it goes with her.

Interesting fact: We can but ice cream popcicle things on the street for 25 cents. Its pretty nice. I love it here in Huambo! On Sunday we had 30 people there including us missionaries and 5-6 babies. There are about 15 active members here in Huambo and we will be made a Branch this week!! I am so excited!! I know that the lord is with Africa right now and that Everything is possible through him! I love my Savior more and more every day. Without him I am nothing. Thank you for all your love and letters! I love you all! Keep the faith!

Elder Dredge

Oh yeah, letters will take a while to get here because they will still go to Luanda, so the only time we will get letters will be when someone needs to travel down here to us. Ate Mais!

May 13, 2013

Ola Famllia!

It was good to see you all yesterday! I loved hearing from all of you and and very happy that all is well at home!! Caleb that is a pretty cool machine that you have there! Dave also seems like a really nice guy! Heh, we skyped yesterday and now I get to do emails. Cool huh!? I am going to send some pictures so this email will be a little shorter.

We found out transfers and I am going down to Huambo... I dont really know anything about it except that I will be flying down some time this week and that it is only a group right now. It is a little province town. I dont really know much. just that Thats where im going. Im pretty excited! But I am a little sad that I have to leave my area. And I just found out that they are dessolving our area. Luanda 1 C. It will be split up between two other areas. Or something like that. But I will miss Palo and Dalilson and all the other members and Investigators that We will have been teaching. It is the will of the Lord and I am totally fine with that. Thanks so much for all you do and for your support and love!! I love you all! And I know that Christ is our Savior! I know that The Book of Mormon is true and that it changes lives! I have seen it. I love what President Holland said two conferences ago. "The crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty!" I know that to be true! If we love the Lord then we will always strive to follow him and submit out will to his! Of this I testify! His hand is beckoning to us. All we need to do is have the courage and love to grab hold.

Com Amor, Elder Dredge

May 6, 2013

Ola Dredges!

This week was great and as always it is great and I love to hear from you all! Jessiqa!!!!! AHHHHH che! I cant believe that you are actually going! I think im more excited then you are!! Is is Spanish speaking? Waow, Carlsbad California! Congradulations! I love you all and am so happy to know that all is well.

We will be doing a skype thing this Sunday the 12th at 16 or 17 hours our time, so it would be 7 or 8 or 9 oclock for all of you. I dont know exactly how it works but, we shall see. I know that you need to make 2 different Skype acocunts. one for me and one for you. And then you will need to "Friend" the two accounts. Send me the login and passcode stuff for the account you make for me and I will log on on Sunday at the appointed hour. I will just get on my email right before we skype to figure it out. ON Sunday I guess you just log in and we connect. Thanks!

This week we had Danilson Baptized on Saturday and Confirmed the next day in church! I cant begin to describe how it feels. I even got a little choked up when he was lifted from the water by his best friend Nuno. In total the mission had 15 baptisms that day!! What a blessing!! We also did a lot more contacting and for some reason this week we ran into a lot more door slams. More than ever before...it was a little weird. But the lord is blessing his people here A LOT! Palo is just a spiritual sponge and he wants every single pamphlet we have and film we have to watch. He asks us at the end of evey lesson if we have a another pamphlet for him. We ran out last week. He understands the gospel better than I do. He understood about Stick of Joseph and Judah and made the connection with the Book of Mormon and Lehi, how those families are related. Just from reading!!! He is amazing and now we are teaching his wife who is a Methodist but she really likes our message and she has started reading the BOM! We are so blessed here! Thank you so much for all of your support and I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday! I will try and send some pictures this week or the next week. Remember, The lord is in everything we do. I love my Savior and know that He lives!!

Elder Dredge

April 29, 2013

Thanks for the emails from everybody! I love reading about how life is going for you all! And I did recieve some letters from some of Dads seminary students! Obrigado! I cant believe that Jessiqa is going to get her call this week!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!! Im about to explode! I think Im more excited than her! I think she Is going to get called to the (the best missison) Luanda, Angola mission! Yeah!? If not, I think it will be either England or Florida. You have my guess. Oh I cant wait!!
    
      This week I had my first divisions where I went to another area for 24 hours. It was really fun and I learned a lot from Elder Mariquelle. He is from Mozambique. We also got to watch General Conference with the ward yesterday and Saturday. It was really cool, even though I had no idea what anyone said because is was in Brazilian Portuguese. Which is like a totally different language. But I did feel the spirit and nothing could stop me from knowing and feeling that these men are called of god and they have the authority to recieve revelation for the world. How great and marvelous is this work!!
Danilson is going to be babtized this Saturday!! AH! I am so excited and very happy for him! He knows this is true and he is just like a spiritual sponge, soaking up everything that is good and virtuous! We are still doing a lot of finding and we have lots and lots of new investigators. We just need to find those whom the lord has prepared. The language is still hard and I still have have a hard time understand everything that is said, but I can get enough to understand. I love this language of Portuguese!! I had a gross fish the other day. They just fried the fish for like an hour, (it was fried to a crisp) the whole thing, skin, bones, head, all of it. Heh...it was...yummy?
I learned this week that I need to focus, not on just baptizing people, ( of course this is the reason we are here) but I need to focus more on testifying and bringing these people the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have been doing some soul searching and I have been digging in there pretty deep. Kind of like at the dentist when he drills on your teeth and you can tell when he gets just a little too far. You can feel that new sensation of ZING! all through your body! Its kind on like that. I rely more and more on the Lord as I learn that I can do nothing without him. Like it says in Alma 26. I rejoice not in myself, but I do boast in my god, for in him I can do all things. I know that I am week according to the flesh but in and through Jesus Christ I know that Miracles can be performed. Thanks dad for those thought and for sharing those experiences with me. I have learned a lot from each one of my companions as well. And I continue to be amazed at how much I can can learn from every person that we talk to. I love this people so much!! Sometimes it gets hard to love them. But as I think of the savior and the love that He has shown for me, "I Stand All Amazed." Thank you so much for all of your support and love! Love you all!!

April 22, 2013

Ola! tudo bem!? Bem! Entao it was super good to hear from you all and to get the weekly update of the Dredge Clan! Zach is waching the best two years!? That is awesome! Its a great movie to be quoting. I think I may say flip out on the mission than ever before. Heh nah. 

So dad: Im just a young guy and your a... not so young guy. What was the hardest thing for you on your mission and what you did to overcome it? I want to learn a little bit more about your mission. And thank you for being such a great Dad. Mom: thank you for everything and for being MY mother! You are amazing! Remember the strippling warriors? Yep, Without you I would be nothing. Thank you!

This week was really great! We had a lot of first lessons. Because we are finding like crazy. My testimony of Joseph Smith is stronger than it has ever been before. The other day when I told the account of young Joseph in the grove I nearly cried. I was staring right at Sergio and I knew that Joseph had seen God the Father and Jesus Christ. I felt like, for the first time, that what I knew with 100 percent of my being was true. I know that Joseph Smith was called to restore this gospel to the earth. And that through him we have The Book of Mormon: the Keystone of this gospel.

Palo is doing great and he is just progressing super fast so all we have to do is find out a way to get him married. And Ana and Danilson will be babtized on the 4th of May!! Ana is 18 and Danilson is 20. Danilson is almost done with the book of Alma! And he is already inviting friends to church! They are so amazing and I still cant describe the feelings that come when you bring the Atonement to somebody, and offer them the chance to use it. I HAVE NOT KNOWN A GREATER JOY than this. I joy and rejoice in my savior as did the prophets of old, because without him I would be nothing and litteraly fall to the ground with no strength. I rejoice in my god for in him I can do all things. Thank you so much for giving the the grand opportunity to be a part of this family! I love you all so very much and pray for you and wish the best!

April 15, 2013

Good to hear from the family again! Emma and Caleb way to tear it up in Soccer! Caleb, Im sure that you are already better than me. I never could dribble to save my life. So way to go! I cant believe its already spring, well back home anyway. Here we have two seasons. Hot and More Hot. They do have a winter but it only gets down to maybe 50 degrees at night at the lowest. Heh, Glad to hear that the little blue honda is still pumping out the miles! but for them that is like crazy cold! Anyway, so Zac and Lindsey are going into the MTC! That is so cool!! They will be great missionaries!.
This week was full of the spirit. We have done a lot of contacting and door knocking. I love it so much! Teaching people and bringing them the atonement is what Ive wanted to do all my life and now it is here!!! I cant describe in words what it feels like. We have and investigator named Palo. He has a wife and two little kids that are the best! They are so cute! We met him a couple of weeks ago and he is just on fire.! He understand everything and reads all the pamphlets and is already done reading 1 Nephi after like 2 weeks!! I love thins man. He truly has been prepared by the Lord. But he told us of an experience that he had only a few days ago. He had fallen asleep in a class and had a dream. In his dream there were a lot of religeous groups and people arguing about church. He turned to leave and a man dressed in a Black cloak pointed at him and said YOU! You are right. You have the right church. Then the man slowly took off the black cloak and was dressed in a brilliant white robe. He was super excited to tell us this story! And we were awestruck! It was very spiritual and, wow. It was amazing. He is progressing very rapidly. What a blessing!
We also had another investigator have a dream. Her name Is Ana. She had previously been an investigator of the church in another area. But was dropped for some reason. Then she moved into our area and called us up and told us to come over. She said that about a month ago her grandfather had died. About a week after he died she had a dread where he came to her and wrote something on a piece of paper. He wrote (her grandpa in the dream) 2 Nephi 31;4-5. Wow! She said right there. I need to be babtized. When can I be babtized! It was a week full of miracles and more miracles! The Lord truly is in every moment of our lives and knows what we need and how to help us. I love my Savior Jusus Christ, He is everything. The hard work does pay off. We are finding more and more people that want to hear our message! I love them all so much! Thank you again for all your emails and for your support and prayers! I love you all! Let me know where Jessiqa is going when she finds out. I am super excited for her!!