Just a Missionary

My dear family and friends,

I loved hearing from all of you this week. Thanks for writing me, everyone! This week was completely amazing and I am so excited for this next one. Our ward is really growing!

Jorge, the man from Cape Verde who speaks Creóle, got confirmed yesterday. (A side note to Alex: I thought that you would find it funny that his name is actually Jorge Lucas. I didn't notice until yesterday because the Portuguese people have really long names, but his first name is Jorge (George) and his last name is Lucas. I turned to my companion and I said, "Do you realize that we baptized a man named Jorge Lucas! That is so cool!" But she didn't know who George Lucas was, so it was a little anticlimatic. But, I thought that you would think it was cool :)

Also, Cesaltina (the girlfriend of a member) got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was such a cute baptism. Her boyfriend baptized her and her mom even came! The timing was completely perfect because she just turned 18 and everything has been working out in her family so that she could be baptized. She is such a sweet girl (a little shy), but completely ready and on fire with the gospel. As with every baptism, drama always happens--I know it has to happen because it is the true church and Satan does everything he can to stop a baptism from happening, but we missed both of our buses AGAIN to go to the chapel in another area to have the baptism (same deal happened the week before with Jorge's baptism). So chato (annoying!) But, it all worked out in the end.

So, our chapel doesn't have a working baptismal font right now (I feel like we are in the olden days) and we have to go to the area of the Assistants to use their chapel and baptismal font. Especially since our font doesn't have a water heater and it is November...but bishop said it should be done in about a month, so I hope that it works out.

This week was good and we experienced a really cool miracle that is kind of like the experience that Elder Byers had that mom told me about:
Irmã Geiger felt like we should go knock a particular road near our chapel. We didn't plan to work in that area because it is a richer area with only people who have maids that answer the door and tell us that their boss isn't home or isn't interested. But, she felt like we should go, so we went. We weren't having much luck, but we kept knocking. We rang the doorbell of a building and someone let us in. We walked up the stairs and met Joy. Joy is from the Philippines and she didn't speak Portuguese but she speaks very good English. We started to explain who we were and the message we brought. She asked if we were sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. Obviously we said yes. She asked again, "So, you guys are Mormons?" We replied in the affirmative. She said that she was baptized in 1987 in the Phillippines and remained active for awhile but then fell away because of contention and pressure from her family. But, she said that she had moved to Portugal three months ago and had started the job as a maid for that house 2 months ago. She asked if we were angels sent to her because she felt that this was the right time to return to the church without the pressure from her family but didn't know how to find the church in Portugal. I just replied, No, we're not angels. Just missionaries.

The story continues as we have had contact with her and have given her a Book of Mormon to start reading again. We have a member in our ward--a woman named Elsa who is from the Phillippines as well and has been here for about 7 years. She doesn't speak Portuguese very well but speaks English well. She too works as a maid in houses. We gave Elsa the phone number of Joy and said she should call her. Elsa did. Turns out that Elsa knows the sisters of Joy and her family. They grew up on the same island and have heard of each other before. Who knew that they would find each other in Portugal? Random? Nope.

Joy came to church yesterday and loved it. Elsa was so excited she went to bear her testimony. As she bore her testimony in broken Portuguese, I felt something really special. She was truly happy. She was so thankful for the gospel and she said that Irma Geiger and I were "angels" to have found her a true friend in the gospel here in Portugal. She came up to me afterwards and said, "You do know that you and Irma Geiger are angels?" I said, "No, we're just missionaries." Oh how happy I am to be a missionary to be an instrument in the hands of God in his great, intricate plan. Who would have known that a woman who was baptized before I was even born, had gone inactive, had moved to Portugal, had been praying to find the church again would have been on that particular street that particular day? Who would have known that a woman had been secretly praying to find a true friend in the gospel in Portugal? I think we all know the answer to that--certainly not us, but our loving Heavenly Father.

So, in short, it has been a great week. And other news! Transfers happened. I am staying here in Lapa, but will be getting a new companion: Irmã de Almeida. She is from Porto, Portugal (from the north) and I have met her before. She is very sweet and a great missionary. I feel great about this next transfer and am excited about the adventures (and lots of miracles) ahead!

Love you all tons! I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Irmã Pérez :)

p.s.--loved the pink crayon story. I could see myself doing that. Seriously :)