Fair as the moon

Landing in Lisbon

Hello everyone,

Before I say anything else, I just want to give a shout out to poppy, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY yesterday. And to mom: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope that both days were amazing for both of you and please know that I have been thinking about both of you a lot. Thanks for your examples and everything. You're the best parents ever.

So, how is life going back in the US? Everything here is pretty great still--I just feel lucky that I get to serve on the most beautiful island in the world. Granted, I don't think I have been to any other island in the world, so for now, it is completely true in my opinion. Lisbon was great. It was very tiring but it was really fun to see all of my old district and talk about all of our experiences so far. It is kind of hard to believe that we have all been out for almost six months. I can't even believe that this adventure is almost a third of the way over. But, at the same time, I am very grateful for all of the things I have learned so far and am excited that I still have a whole year left.

So in the mission right now, there are a lot of new irmas. There was a period of time where no irmas came in for a long time until my district, and after us there are four other irmas who have come in. And since there are only 13 irmas in the mission right now, this means that most of us are new. Kind of fun. The mission is kind of changing right now too, which is kind of exciting. About a year ago, the mission had a lot more missionaries in it. But, since there weren't that many baptisms, the mission down sized so that missionaries could go to missions where they were baptizing a lot and grow in that way. Well, ever since President Torgan got put in, the baptisms have been going way up. Last month, the mission had 61 baptisms with only 44 companionships. The mission is doing great! Also, the area presidency told President Torgan that all of the rest of the missions in Europe are looking to our mission to see what we are doing differently to be having such success. I owe it all to President Torgan. He is such a great leader and really knows how to inspire us to make us want to do better. So, the mission is doing really great. Many prophesies are being fulfilled about Portugal.

Anyway, as for the Açores, in my area, things are going pretty well. We are teaching a woman right now named Marisa. She is showing such faith. She actually asked us about baptism and wants to get baptized. She said she was baptized in the past, but that she did not feel any differently afterward and is looking for something else. She is such a woman of faith and reads so much in the book of Mormon even though she has four children under the age of 6. (three girls and one boy, ages 5, 3, 2, and 1). Yeah, she is pretty much amazing. Her husband Marco, is not really that interested, but I think he will come around eventually. It has just been very spiritual to teach her and see her willingness to follow the right things. I am excited for this next week to see her progress even more.

I also love seeing the fire in recent converts. One of the recent converts here, Aguinaldo, is sharing the gospel with all of his family. He keeps asking us for Books of Mormon to hand out to his family. One night this week, he called us and said he set up an appointment with his ex-sister-in-law for us. We went over there and his ex-sister-in-law, Susana, said that she always leaves the Book of Mormon open on her table and whenever she has a spare moment, she goes over and picks it up and reads a little bit of it. We asked her how she was doing and she said, “Oh, I am only in 1 Nephi 6.” We were excited for her. That will be fun to see her progress too. But, it is even more fun to see Aguinaldo share his burning testimony with her that he knows these things are true and that he has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Anyway, everything is going great. I am back on the island. Everyone is getting excited for transfers which are in a couple of weeks...we'll see what happens. The summer is going great for me so far and I am excited to stay on the beautiful island for the rest of it and keep working here.

I love you all so much. Thank you for everything you have done for me and are still doing for me. I really feel the strength of your prayers.

Love,

Irma Perez