Great Conference!

Dear everyone,

Happy Easter! (Feliz Pascua!) I hope everyone had a great weekend with conference. Oh, and before I forget, a special shout out to Poppy--Happy Birthday! I hope this one is really great. That is awesome that Chile was so wonderful. I hope you gave everyone my love. So, to answer everyone's questions about General conference: Yes, I did get to see General conference--all the sessions. It was great!

I saw the Saturday morning session Saturday afternoon at 5. But, we were teaching someone and we got there late, so I caught Sister Beck's talk and on. I saw that session in Portuguese. It was good and I can understand the gist of what the speakers were talking about, but since I am still learning, it was hard to catch all of the stories. But on Sunday morning there was the priesthood session (10 am) and two of our investigators came! It was great! One came and we didn't even call to remind him. We basically spent all weekend cooking (when I say we I really mean Irma Nkutxi and Irma Coelho--both from Angola). They made Cashupa--an African dish for our entire zone who was going to come to our chapel to watch conference on Sunday. (I am in Oeiras area and in Oeiras stake, so therefore, our chapel is the stake center--really nice that I didn't have to travel!) But they made this dish for all of the elders (10 in our zone) and our investigators and a couple of members. Yeah, it consists of beans, pork, chicken, corn, carrots, mystery meat (yeah, I don't know what it is in English), and other stuff. It is basically a stew that you just throw everything into, and I mean EVERYTHING. It was cool, but we have leftovers, so I am pretty sure I am going to be eating it for the next week :) But it was fun. Then we watched the Saturday afternoon session at 1 pm our time, the Sunday morning session at 5 pm our time (this was live) and the Sunday afternoon session at 9 pm our time. So, we got finished at 11 and did not get home until LATE! But, conference was really great (and I got to see the rest in English because I was with Irma Morrison).

Basically, a lot of the talks inspired me to teach better. I tried to substitute children for pesquisador and I got a lot of new insights of how I can love, care, and understand our investigators better. And, I wanted to tell mom and poppy that I really love you. Thank you for teaching me. I was thinking of the principles that many of the speakers were talking about and I was thinking of experiences of growing up and I realized that you have applied most, if not all of those principles of family home evening, family council, talking about the scriptures, praying, service in the church, etc. I am so lucky. Thank you for your loving examples and teaching me about sacrifices. Because I am definitely learning more right now about sacrificing for others. It is hard! And I never thanked you enough for what you have done for me. So thanks and I love you both.

Irma Coelho and Irma Morrison have officially moved out after being with us for a week and a half. It was way fun having 4 irmas in one casa, but our house is really small and we hardly have any furniture or space, so I think they are happy moving onto their new house. The work is definitely moving forward. One of our investigators, Sebastiao, has so much faith. We have only known him for a week and already he has such a strong testimony of going to church and doing the right things. Now we just need to convince him to be baptized! :) We are also working with this couple who lost one of their children years ago and we watched the moving Juntos Para Sempre com eles. It was really spiritual because there is an account in there about a couple who found peace in the gospel after they had lost their daughter. They prayed together to know if it was true and they felt great! Now we just need to get them to church and get them baptized too! So, we have lots of potentials and will be working hard this week to find more.

I am so grateful for my companion. I never dreamed that I would be able to be in a foreign country with a companion from another foreign country with both of us having completely different backgrounds and families, etc. But, we both have the gospel that links us stronger than anything else. She is so patient with me and I love working with her. She is a powerful missionary and wants to serve with complete obedience.

This week I have had a lot of experience talking on the phone in Portuguese. Let's just say that once you think you are catching on to life, Heavenly Father has a way of humbling you :) So, I am learning a lot about talking on the phone in Portuguese and trying to understand what people say, but it is great because I am learning so much. Ha ha, yeah. I have some great stories. We also had interviews this week with President Torgan. It was really good. I felt the love he has for us and how much he wants us to improve. But, I am also learning to take everything one step at a time. Everything works out, and if it is not working out it is not the end. I liked what I think it was Neil L. Andersen who said that the end is better than the beginning. So far, the beginning has been awesome, so I can't wait to see what lies ahead!

It sounds like spring break was a blast. That is great that you all got to do such fun things. And that is good that the Zone conference worked out. It was good to hear the catch-up on the Albrights. I hope they are all doing great and in good health and happiness :)

This weekend was holiday here, so it a lot of things were closed, but Easter yesterday was great because of general conference and in between we just got to talk and converse with the elders. They are funny people, but good missionaries. And, elders are way funny about food. One elder spent about 30 Euros buying food in preparation for the day (even though we were going to cook for them). So, we had so much candy and cookies and chips and everything good. It was kind of like a party in the English-watching room. But, it was way fun. A great Easter with lots of chocolate. Oh! And a member from our ward--Niza made us a cake too! She is absolutely one of the best members ever! I want to be like her! She has lots of callings and work to do, but she still cares so much for us and knows our needs (she was once a missionary).

That is all for this week, I love you all too the moon and back. Thank you for your support and prayers. Believe me, I definitely feel it :)

Irma Perez

p.s.--Thank you for sending me letters from Bailey and Abbey.