Miracles

Lisbon

Dear family,

Another week full of miracles. They just keep coming :)

My new companion, Irmã De Almeida is completely amazing and adorable. She is probably about Summer's height and has long beautiful curly hair and a great desire to do missionary work and learn English. I am her first companion on the mission who knows Portuguese well (besides her trainer who was Irmã Geiger who never spoke English). So, I have been teaching her English and she actually speaks really well and is a fast learner. She teaches me obscure words in Portuguese too, so it has been a fun week.

Irmã De Almeida has a lot of fire in her and loves the Portuguese people. (I don't know if I had served in the United States if I would have such love for the people there).


Miracles of the week:

We found lots of new investigators and we are discovering Lapa together (because we all know how good I am with directions :). We contacted a woman that I had stopped on the street about two weeks ago. She was very nice on the street and we set up an appointment with her, but other things came up and we didn't end up making it. We didn't have her phone number, but just her address. So, one night when all of our appointments fell through I looked in my planner and saw her name. I decided we should go to her house and see if she was there. We did. And she was.
Her name is Lucy and she is a single mom with three kids. (Lots of single moms in this area...never have I found so many single moms in my life.) Ruben (15), Luana (11), and Kevin (2). We taught them only part of the 1st lesson and were about to just leave a Book of Mormon with them when Luana ran back to her room and found a Book of Mormon that she had been given 2 years ago. She said she had read some of it and still remembered what she read (3rd Nephi 11). So we left another reading for them.

We came back and Lucy was busy so we taught the kids really quick and invited them to church. On Sunday Luana and Ruben walked 30 minutes to get to church by themselves (Lucy couldn't make it) and they liked it a lot. They went home and told their mom about church. We visited them later on Sunday and little Kevin said that he is sad he didn't get to go to church. So, they are all in accordance to make it next week to church. :)

Another miracle we saw was that an old investigator came to church. Ilda was found about a month ago. We taught her the 1st lesson and she didn't make time for us to come over again, but we left a Book of Mormon with her and invited her to church. We went over on a Saturday to make sure she was coming to church and she said that she really wasn't that interested. I remember looking at her and saying a prayer in my heart pleading with what I should say to her that would help her. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember that I testified about going to church and I promised her it would change her life. She seemed a little taken aback and said she would come to church. She never came. Nor the next week. Nor the next week. So, we dropped her. Yesterday, while we were waiting to meet up with Luana and Ruben, I saw Luana walking up the road with a woman. (Since my vision is not that great with distance), I didn't recognize who it was. As she drew closer I realized it was Ilda. Ilda said that she had been looking for the church for the past two Sundays but every time she would look, she couldn't find it. She said that she was walking around trying to find it this morning and she had given up and headed for home. That was when she ran into Luana who said that she was going to church at the same place for the first time. So they walked together to meet us.

Ilda adored church and asked us to come to her house later on Sunday. We did and we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. It was a very spiritual lesson because she has lost 4 daughters and always wanted to know with certainty that she would see them again and that they are okay. She was really feeling the Spirit and said that when she walked into the Sacrament Meeting she said she felt like she had come home and never wanted to leave. So, obviously we invited her to be baptized and she will be baptized next week! She is amazing. I am always amazed at the faith of the elect who choose to follow Jesus Christ without hesitation.

I feel so humbled to be in this amazing area, with my amazing comp, in this amazing mission. The Lord is really preparing this people to receive a temple. He is really preparing the missionaries to find the people who can serve and work in the ward and in the temple. I know this work is true. I know that there are miracles happening everyday here. And that this is just the beginning...

Anyway, thanks for writing to me everyone. I feel your love and your support. Thank you for your prayers and I wish you all the best week filled with your very own miracles :).

Love, love, and love again,

Irmã Pérez