The End of May!??!

Riberia Grande

To my dear family,

Wow, another week has already gone! Yes, indeed it is the end of may, and tomorrow the beginning of June! I am just glad that I am here in the Açores where it does not get that hot that fast. (I hear it gets hot and humid), but right now the weather is perfect. On the continent, I am sure it is way hotter because when I left in April, it was getting hot.

So, basically we have an investigator--Sergio who is really close to baptism. The only thing that is holding him back is the situation with his son. He just separated from his girlfriend and she will not allow him to see his son--only on Sunday mornings (during church of course--what are the odds?) So, we are still working with him. I have a feeling it will happen really soon. He is great and already believes that the Book of Mormon is true and everything. We have also been really blessed to find more people to work with and I am excited about this couple that we found—Ana and Roberto—they have already invited us over for dinner and last week we watched the Restoration DVD with them and Ana was really touched. She said that she wanted a copy of the DVD, she loved it so much! I am surprised every time at the power that that DVD has on people. I love that DVD (pretty much it is the only thing that I can watch here), but it has a beautiful spirit about it and it is really well-made.

Anyway, we also had a noite de cinema (movie night) this past weekend with the branch. We are trying to have more activities where people can bring their friends into the chapel and have it be a casual thing to introduce them into the church. We watched O Outro Lado do Paraiso (The Other Side of Heaven) and it was great! I love that movie too. We had a couple of investigators there, so that was good. (Let me tell you, that would be amazing if we had 18 investigators at an activity! That would almost double the attendance! :) But, we try our best. I found some similarities between the mission of John Groberg and my mission. Serving on an island is definitely different. President Resendes (the branch president) said that lots of people here are deep into tradition and they are hard to change, but he said that there are people being prepared all of the time to enter into the church. He is also really excited and enthusiastic for visiting all of the menos ativos in the area. The branch list consists of over 500 people, but only about 65 people come. He is willing to work really hard to get these people back into the church (not to mention that he probably knows all of the people personally--he knows everyone on the island or is related to them :).

The elders: They are absolutely great. The elders that we work with in Ponta Delgada got white washed, so we have two new elders: Elder Lindquist and Elder McLean, both from Utah. They are both really nice and kind of overwhelmed (I don't blame them. I am hoping that I don't ever have to white wash an area.) But, they are working really hard and doing great. I really appreciate their help with our investigators and they are willing to do absolutely anything to help us. The Elders of Ribeira Grande: Elder Rich and Elder Del Aguila. Elder Rich was here last transfer, but now he is the District Leader and Elder Del Aguila was in the MTC (left before me), so he is pretty young in the mission too. He is Mexican and speaks fluent Spanish, so we have talked about how we both speak with Spanish accents sometimes.

It sounds like you all are keeping busy and doing great! I hope that this next month is awesome for all of you! The activities in the church sound like lots of fun. Keep going and being strong and active in the church. You all are such an example to me and I am so grateful for everything you have done for me. Yes, sometimes the work is hard, but I am learning patience--as poppy was talking about in his letter. I am trying to see the eternal perspective more and trying to be completely obedient and diligent in all things. I have a long way to go with learning how to be a better missionary, but Heavenly Father is there for us. I know this work is so true. It makes me so happy to see others accept it and change their lives because of it. Thanks for all of your counsel and advice--believe me, it is exactly what I need to read every week! You all are absolutely amazing. Keep going. I love you and pray for all of you always.

Love,

Irma Perez

p.s. I still haven't gotten the envelope, but we've had two holidays last week and one this week, so that is probably why :).