...having seen the promises afar off...

Odivelas

Dear family,

Hey! I actually got to write this week! So, right now I am in Lisbon with the sisters of Odivelas, who are Irma Speigle and Irma Graf. I was with them in the MTC. I flew in last night (Sunday night). My flight was supposed to leave the Açores at 9:30 pm, but it did not end up leaving until about 10:30. Then it took about 2 hours to get to Lisbon plus with the hour difference. I got to the Irmas apartment at about 2:30 in the morning. Yeah, it was very tiring. But, I got to travel first class, which was awesome! I just wish that I had more energy to enjoy it, but it was good. I traveled by myself. My companion and all of the other missionaries on our island flew over to Terceira (the other island on the Açores with missionaries) for Zone Conference and interviews. So, I guess this transfer I will miss Zone Conference and interviews because of renewing my visa. Yeah, I don't know why we all have to come back to Lisbon to renew our visas now. I am not familiar with the process, but all I know is that my whole [MTC] district had to come to Lisbon to renew visas. Basically, this morning we went to two buildings and waited in line to fill out some papers and sign some things. Tomorrow we will have to do it some more in the morning. Then, I will work with the Irmas of Odivelas for a little bit and then I will go back to the Açores. I will get there at probably 9:00 tomorrow night.

Anyway, it has been really great to see all of the people from my old district of the MTC and talk about our areas and experiences until now. I also got to see my trainer because she is serving in Lisbon right now. She is doing really great. Plus, I didn't mind coming here because I love traveling and having a little change in the routine. I am a little sad I don't get to experience Zone Conference, but there is always next transfer. Elder Deffense (an elder from my district of the MTC) who is serving on the other island is missing Zone Conference as well, so as they say in Portuguese: Tem que ser, or It has to be.

Wow, congrats to Alex on the new calling! That is really exciting. I am proud to call him my brother. It is interesting because we have a counselor in the branch presidency here in Ponta Delgada that is only 24--he is an RM, not married, and he served in the Portugal Lisbon mission three years ago. He is great. I love working with him because he is young and has energy and just really gets how the church is supposed to work (and how missionary work works as well, which is my main concern at the moment). But, he kind of reminds me of Alex at times, so it is really cool to hear that Alex is now a counselor in the bishopric. He will do great!

One really cool experience that I had this week was that we were going to visit a potential investigator that we had. IT is a couple named Gloria and Humberto and they have a 6 year old son named Marcelo. We had only taught them once and it went ok. Gloria was listening and seemed like she understood much more than Humberto, who seemed like he had interesting religious beliefs and liked to interrupt us and ask a lot of interesting questions. He also seemed like a gruff man who wasn't that interested. But, we wanted to give them a chance because we felt good about Gloria. So, we visited them and Gloria answered her door and said that she was busy. We just asked if we could say a prayer with her. We went in and prayed with her and Marcelo. Afterward, Marcelo wanted to show us their hens in their backyard. We stayed and chatted for a little bit and asked when we could come back. Gloria said the next Saturday (we were there on a Saturday). We were kind of sad about this and reminded her about church the following day. She said she couldn't go because they had a car wreck and were in the process of getting it fixed. Just then Humberto came into the door and walked right up to us and asked if we had already said a prayer. We said that we had and we were going to pass by again the following week. He said that he wanted to say a prayer with us, which was kind of surprising to hear from him. So, we all sat back down and talked for a little bit. Irma Howard and I sung “I Am a Child of God” and then I said the prayer. During the prayer, I felt prompted to ask Heavenly Father to bless this family to know of the powerful love that he has for them. After I said the prayer, I looked to Gloria to see if she would be touched with the words that I felt like I should say. She looked pretty normal, and so I just thought, Ok, I guess we'll just pass by next Saturday then. But then as I looked over to Humberto, I saw tears running down his face. I was very surprised, which just goes to show me how I should never make judgments or assume. Humberto then leaned forward to me and said, I would really like to go to church tomorrow. How can I get there? It was a very powerful lesson to me. The Spirit can touch anyone. I know that Humberto was touched that day. So, we arranged a ride for them. Unfortunately, Humberto couldn't go because he had to help a neighbor milk their cows, but Gloria and Marcelo went and they really liked it. So, I am excited to work more with that family and help them learn the wonderful truths of the gospel.

Anyway, I think that is all for this week. It was great to hear from all of you. It sounds like summer is coming on full swing. It is here. I am excited to stay in my area and work really hard. But, it has been great to have this little break so that I can see other missionaries and gain greater perspective on how to better the work in my area. Thanks for everything. Your prayers and words of support have been inspiring. I love you all,

Irma Perez