...with a perfect brightness of hope...

The Azores

To my loving family,

How are all of you? It sounds like everything is going well. Thanks for sharing all of the exciting news of the end of the school year and all of the fun things you are looking forward to for the summer. I am definitely looking forward to the summer because I think that people will have more free schedules here, so it will be easier to find them in their houses :)

Congrats to Summer for your trophy! That is awesome! yeah, I am pretty sure the last trophy I got was when I was in soccer, and we all know that was awhile ago...way to go, sis! You are one smart girl.

I really enjoyed hearing about the Christensen family. They are doing well as always. I hope that baby Conway is healthy and happy--he is coming into such a great family. And I hope that they all have fun in Mexico. I can't believe that Westley is already coming home! I feel like just a couple of months ago he left for the mission. Wow how time flies. And that is exciting to hear that Nano is going to UVU. I hope she has a fun time in Utah. I personally loved studying there and I am excited to go back after the mission.

Just to let you know in advance, I don't know how my schedule is going to be next week because I am flying into Lisbon to renew my visa, so I may or may not be able to email next week...we'll see. Just to let poppy know--I know you don't like it when I don't write :)

So, this week has been pretty good. We are teaching a couple--Ana and Roberto that are probably in their fifties. They are really great and just love on us. They already invited us over for dinner and we watched the Restoration DVD with them and they really felt the spirit. The only problem is that Ana works every Sunday and she doesn't have a Sunday off until June 20th! So, we're still working with them and hopefully we can convince her to be able to switch schedules with someone before then so that she can go to church this coming week. Another person that we have been trying to work with is Joao Correia. He works for the university on the island and is a very busy man. But, one night we were on our way home and we were walking down a street that we had already knocked earlier that day. We passed a man putting his garbage can in the street and started talking to him. We asked if we could share a message about God and he said yes. Joao invited us into a beautiful big house and we taught him about the restoration. He really felt the spirit and said that just earlier that day he started talking about God with his coworker and they had a really long conversation about whether God existed and things like that...He then said to us, "And then tonight, two girls come to my door wanting to share a message about God. I think He is trying to tell me something..." So that was a really cool experience.

As for the other investigators we have been working with...let's just say they have been disappointing us this week. But, I still have hope and I know that even if they don't work out that there are other people on this island that do want to listen to us that do want to get baptized. I just have to keep reminding myself to be patient and realize that I can't make anyone change. But, all in all, life is great and the gospel is still true. Thank you for your prayers and fast. I really feel the strength. thanks for everything. I love you all.

com amor a lua e volta,

Irma Perez