The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
When Robert and Darice Dudfield of Melbourne, Australia, were called in late 2019 to serve as mission president and companion in an English-speaking assignment in mid-2020, they had no idea what awaited — presiding over a new mission, arriving late but before missionaries, battling COVID-19, sending missionaries 2,700 miles away for their temple endowments, and recently relocating to a neighboring country because of civil unrest.
Welcome to the Ethiopia Addis Ababa Mission and the present life and times of President Robert Dudfield and Sister Darice Dudfield, who see how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has great potential to grow in the northwestern Africa nation and bless individuals, families and communities.
“We see the Lord’s hand guiding us continually,” said President Dudfield, as he and Sister Dudfield recounted their mission experiences to date in a Jan. 11 Church News podcast.
“It’s just been such a tremendous blessing and a privilege to be able to be serving and witnessing a small part of the great and powerful work of the Lord, which will continue to move forward, in spite of any of the restrictions that we might be facing.”
Mission beginnings
After the June 2020 seminar for new mission leaders, the Dudfields didn’t reach Addis Ababa until that August due to COVID-19 restrictions. A handful of local members greeted them, since the new mission was without missionaries. Those to be assigned from nearby Uganda had been returned home due to the pandemic.
Eight missionaries soon arrived, with limited remote training and wearing their best attire.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
